Fish & chips as we watched tide come in

I’M SURE I’m not the only one who feels that little bit of pressure when you have to show visitors from abroad around bonnie Scotland.

There’s so many different options, and when their time is short you always want to make sure you make the most of their trip to ensure they go home raving about our beautiful wee country.

Over the last two weeks I’ve been lucky to have my Aunt Jacqui and cousin Alexis here from Sydney.

Having both lived in Scotland before, it was even more tricky to find a spot they hadn’t visited to make their stay as interesting as possible.

While the main reason for their trip was to see our cousin get married, a wedding which hit all the right notes, there were still days before and after to fill in to try and make their trip extra special.

It was time to repay the favour after they did the same for us when we visited Sydney back in April.

The pressure was on to compete with Sydney Harbour views and Australian beaches.

Thankfully for us the weather did its best to match what they’re used to back home in Oz – most of the time.

On one of the hottest days ever recorded in the UK, we headed like hundreds of others to the coast.

Instead of joining the hordes at Troon in Ayrshire, we travelled a little further afield to the East Lothian gem that is North Berwick.

Somewhere neither of them had ever been, a new place to tick off their list.

While the beaches by the town were still pretty busy, they weren’t hoaching and it was easy to find a lovely spot overlooking the harbour to soak up the sun (and a little fizz).

They couldn’t believe they were sitting on the beach in their shorts in Scotland cooking away nicely in the afternoon sunshine.

It was something neither of them had done before on our shores, or certainly not for over 20 years at least!

And no trip to the Scottish seaside would be complete without fish and chips and a can of Irn Bru as we watched the tide come in and the sun set.

With the sand between our toes we all headed for home thankful we got to spend a sunny day together and with no obvious sunburn.

It was a truly special day, much like the wedding, and hopefully these memories will make the (very) long trip home that little bit easier.