I realized that I still had a day left on my 4-day rail pass and I thought that today I would just ride trains. That was a pretty low energy thing to do. So, I got on at the SECC stop and headed down to Central Station.

At Central I saw that there was a train leaving for Ayr in a few minutes so I went and hopped onto that train. I had been checking some bits out and found that the train to Ayr passed by the Royal Troon and Prestwick golf courses.

It was a pleasant ride with some beautiful scenery. I passed a dog and pony show going on in the Glasgow suburbs. It went by so fast, I didn’t have time for a picture. Past Glasgow, the Irish Sea was not too far from the train tracks and a number of golf courses unfolded in the area between the tracks and the sea. They looked so beautiful and the weather was so pleasant. I wanted to turn around and get my clubs. But, I wasn’t really up for it physically.

So I continued on to Ayr and oohed and aahed at Royal Troon and Prestwick. The trip to Ayr took about an hour and I figured to wander around town for a while and catch a train or two later back to Glasgow. Ayr had some interesting walking sites to visit and a very busy High Street (for a Wednesday Morning, I thought)

I did my walking bit and went back to the train station, boarded the train back to Glasgow and sat back and relaxed. The train wasn’t leaving for a while. Now, in all my travels by train that day, from the SECC to Ayr, no one had come by to look at my ticket. (If they do catch you on the train without a valid ticket, there is a big fine to pay, but I still hadn’t noted the date on my ticket since I was waiting for a conductor with a pen) Eventually, when we passed by Prestwick, the conductor came by and filled in my ticket. I tried to capture a shot of the Dog andPony show on the way back, but I think it was over by then. (I got a picture of the area but the horses were gone. See the Travelling section.)

I was starting to feel better and thought about coming back with the clubs, but I decided to go on to Aberdeen. The train to Edinburgh was about to leave the station as I arrived back from Ayr so I ran over to that train (Remember; Edinburgh trains at Central are a rare species) figuring to catch a train at Waverly to Dundee and Aberdeen.

Alas, it didn’t quite work out that way. I found out that I had just missed the Aberdeen train and that it would be a while before the next one. And then I would only have a short time (20minutes) in Aberdeen before catching the last train back. That didn’t seem to be a good idea and the Dundee connection/timing wasn’t much better, so I decided to stay in Edinburgh.

I had been to the Castle and the Park the last time I was in Edinburgh, 10 years before, so I went in the other direction, looking for the End of the World (or World’s End). I found it on the Royal Mile, went in and had a pint. Then started walking downhill from there. I was snapping pictures of interesting signs and places.

One of the noticeable aspects of Scotland is that the cities and towns are basically grey and dreary. It’s the stone they build everything with. I don’t think I saw a wooden house in any proper city area. There may have been some in the suburbs. But everything was pretty dreary.

So there are bright patches of color that appear everywhere: flowers in windows, doors painted in bright colors, more flowers hanging on hooks or in flower beds. It is noticeable just for the splash of color. This was true in St Andrews, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Ayr. And visible from the train as we passed the towns.

As I was snapping away, going downhill, I came across a Free Fringe Venue, The Canons’ Gait. They were offering free comedy in the basement bar and I went on into see the show. Turns out it was shows. Every hour or so, a different act would show up and perform. They were funny when I could catch the references. For me it was about 75% of the time.

After a dinner break there was an evening show that brought in 5 performers from around the fringe for a sampling show. I showed up early and saw there was an easy chair up by the stage. I went for the easy chair. I had a feeling I would be setting myself up with that chair so close to the stage and sure enough the MC established my presence and the fact that I was the only American in the crowd. Fortunately, only a couple of the comics had American-related humor and it was all pretty funny.

By the time that show was over it was time to head on back to Glasgow so I wandered around looking for the train station. I found it and decided to wait for a Glasgow Central train. I made the mistake of not checking carefully and found out, not too much later, that it was local that stopped at every stop along the way. By the time I got to Glasgow, the train station was locked up and the last train to SECC was long gone. So I walked on home.