Of castles, abbey and ferret.

Day 4 : New Lanark to Edinburgh
Km driven : 226
Explorer Pass : Melrose Abbey, Tantallon Castle, Dirleton Castle and Gardens

Snobbing New Lanark, we drove straight to Selkirk, in the Tweed Valley... to a factory outlet of high-end tartans. We spent an outrageous amount of time and money there.

Our next stop was Melrose Abbey where the ruins were of yellow stone (or a very yellowish pink if you insist). One of the highpoints is a gargoyle representing a bagpipes-playing pig. In order to see it, we had to climb a tower (three towers a day keep the doctor far away).

We moved on to the castles of Tantallon and Dirleton,  both well-kept ruins. Lilly insisted on climbing every tower we found. Tantallon we remember for its location (on top of a wind-swept cliff), and Dirleton for its magnificent gardens.

We successfully found our way to our host's, who was eager to imtroduce us to her ferret, with whom we shared the flat (he is an old, in-bred, incontinent, smelly animal with a very sweet disposition). We had our first experience of a Scottish pub, ale and cider.