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Scotland continues its heat wave and much to our dismay, it is muggy. I would have killed for a fan in our room. Killed for oneAnyway, today we headed out to our favorite of the Border Abbeys – Kelso. It had the beginnings of a stunning day and we seemed to be on the early cusp of tourists, which was perfect! This time around our admission included little audio tour devices. So while the Abbey itself hadn’t changed much in the last 11 years, we learned an awful lot more. It was, in short, splendid.

We took some of the same photos as our last trip. Or at least we think we did while we were up in the tower near the bagpipe pig.

And of course, I took so many more photos of the amazing window tracery that we used for Chad’s brewery logo. I was thrilled to see that at least one was still complete. The photos can’t do it justice, of course, but that didn’t stop me from snapping away!

We decided to do one more Border Abbey before heading back to Edinburgh to drop off the car and meet up with Sam & Gwen. Off to Jedburgh Abbey we headed.

The area seemed to have grown up quite a bit. I certainly don’t recall the visitors’ center / ticketing place being so elaborate. Once again we used the audio tour device. It really helped get a grasp on the buildings that surrounded the Abbey.

I’m also 100% certain that the burial room for a certain family (the name escapes me) was not open 11 years ago. There is no way I would have forgotten such a magnificent Victorian tomb and effigy. Not possible.

Luck smiled down on us, as we had Jedburgh nearly all to ourselves. So much so that when we took the steps to the top of the west work and looked down into the main aisle of the church, I was able to get a photo with the Abbey empty.

We finished our tour and figured we’d have lunch here and enjoy a last little bit of quiet before heading to the delightful chaos that is Edinburgh. As we stepped out of the Abbey, a herd of tourists were descending on the ticket gate. Perfect timing for us!

Back in Edinburgh we met up with our friends Sam & Gwen at The Jolly Judge for a pint before heading down to Holyrood 9A for a delicious dinner. I was excited to share our favorite pub in Edinburgh with friends and even more excited to be able to meet up with them before we headed out.

We parted ways after scrumptious dinner. Chad and I took the tram back to our hotel, which sounds easier than we made it. What we failed to process at first was that the tram stops were in the middle of the street. Once we figured that out, things went swimmingly.Tomorrow is going to be an early day. We need to leave the hotel by 6:30 am to head to the airport.

Check out our amazing photos in the gallery. As always, click on the tiny photos to embiggen. The Border Abbeys are stunning. It’s difficult to capture them in photos, but we tried.

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