During a trip to Dublin a few years back, we flew over to Edinburgh for a few days. I fell in love with the place. We will go back and explore more of the country but we couldn’t have been more delighted with our experience in Edinburgh and vicinity.

One day, because it sounded like an adventure, we decided to take the train and a ferry to visit Inchcolm Abbey on an island in the Firth of Forth. This post is about that excursion. I confess that I didn’t take many notes that day so most of this will be from memory. If you’ve been and I get something wrong, please forgive, but feel free to correct me in the comments.

Getting There

We started by catching the train in Edinburgh for a short jaunt to Dalmeny Station about 15 minutes outside of town. After a pleasant walk through a lovely but unassuming Scottish village

we walked into the woods

and down, down, down, toward the water

following signs until we came to the Hawes Pier South Queensferry, in the shadow of the Forth Rail Bridge:

After a ride on the ferry the Maid of the Forth, we came to serene and beautiful Inchcolm Island. Once off of the boat, Debra had to touch the water. The Firth of Forth is the estuary where the Forth River meets the North Sea. (Touching all of the seas of the world is a sort of goal with her and I’m delighted to help her do it.)

When you get off of the boat, there is a small visitor’s center to the left of the pier where we stopped briefly to get our bearings. We’ll come back there at the end of our time on the island and take a look at some of the exhibits in the small museum.

On to the Abbey

Here is the view of the Abbey from the visitor’s center:

On our way into the Abbey, Debra wanted to document that I came on this excursion, too.

Inchcolm Abbey dates to the 12th century and much of it is amazingly well-preserved. As with most structures from that time, many doorways are small by modern standards

and there are a lot of stone spiral staircases:

You can almost see tonsured monks gathering in the chambers, smoke from censors drifting along the ceilings and chants filling the air.

The Abbey consists of several buildings and there are lots of opportunities to step out onto balconies or look out of large windows. The winds coming off of the Forth are brisk.

The best views are, as you might expect,  from the top of the tower added to the First Church. It takes some effort to get there, though. Up some more narrow stone spiral staircases and, as I recall, a long, narrow, and steep wooden ladder, until you finally emerge onto the platform that leads to the parapet.

The view is worth it:

Ending the Excursion

Back at the visitor’s center, the little museum’s exhibits have more meaning after you’ve visited the Abbey, proper.

In the next photo, taken from the top of the hill behind the visitor’s center, you can see a storm blowing in from the left of the picture.

It came fast – we weren’t able to get back to the shelter of the visitor’s center before it hit. We got a bit wet and cold but were able to warm up quickly enough. It’s all part of the adventure!

Thanks for coming along With the Barretts on our Inchcolm Abbey excursion! You make it even more fun!