Judi and I had great plans for today, which centered around a trip into Glasgow to watch Andy’s beloved football team, the all mighty Rangers F.C. Rather than driving along the motorways we planned a circuitous route bypassing Glasgow and taking in some of the highlands – Loch Earn and Loch Lomond. Alas, we awoke to a bitterly cold morning with gale force winds and torrential rain, which dictated a change of plans.

The unfortunately too typical Scottish weather severely curtailed the visibility, so had we taken the scenic route we would have seen very little of the amazing scenery, and arrived at the football soaking wet. Therefore, discretion being the better part of valour, we elected to drive directly to Glasgow to take in the match and then return home for a fish supper.

Rangers have had some recent troubles off the pitch, which have impacted the playing staff, so the recent results have been poor. The result is a stadium normally filled to the 52,000 capacity every week had a reasonable selection of seats available, only a week before the match. I scored a couple of excellent seats in the middle tier of the main stand in row 5.

The Ibrox Stadium Main Stand

The stadium is now a modern all seated venue that has changed greatly from the days when my grandfather had a couple of season tickets next to the Director’s Box in the Main Stand. As a child, I have vivid memories of sitting on his knee listening to stories of the great players and huge crowds, with him actually present the day Ibrox held over 118,000 people for a game against our arch enemy from the other side of Glasgow.

Although the Main Stand, where we were seated was rebuilt in 1990, the exterior, a Archibald Leach designed red brick grandstand, is a listed building so the façade will be maintained in perpetuity.

View from our seats

While not the best match from an entertainment perspective, at least I was happy with the result, with Rangers winning the match 4 goals to 1.

Heading back to Strathkinness, we were getting a bit peckish so decided to visit the local chippie in Guardbridge for a carry-out. Departing with 3 steaming hot fish suppers and a single black pudding, a Scottish delicacy, we drove the 2 miles back to the house, where we enjoyed the fry-up washed down with a pint of McEwans Export.

Disappointed that we had to cancel the sight seeing portion of our day, it was still an enjoyable first day on our world wide travels. Tomorrow we are off to the world’s most famous golf course, the St Andrews Old Course.