A romantic message-in-a-bottle discovered by a mother and daughter at a Scottish beach has sparked  a mystery about whether it could have travelled 5,000 miles across the seas from China. Nicola MacFarlane, 41, and daughter Lucy, four, from Portobello, near Edinburgh, were looking for driftwood  on Portobello Beach when they came across an old glass bottle containing a note inside written in _ . Now the family are trying to work out if the letter has managed the extraordinary journey across the Philippine Sea, into the Indian Ocean and through both the South Atlantic and the North Atlantic Ocean's before washing up on the shores of Great Britain. It was written on Chinese Valentine's Day or Qixi Festival as it is more traditionally known, lunar July 7, 2012, so it sent off as recently as six days ago because it followed the modern calendar, which celebrated the occasion on August 23. Nicola was still excited to read about the Chinese love story after having it translated. "I really do hope that it is from China but even it is from nearer to home, it's still a lovely gesture and an inspiring find. It's a love story regardless of where it came from. Nicola, who runs a beach art business in Portobello, added: "I'm always at the beach looking for bits of driftwood but I've never come across anything like this before. We knew it was Chinese, but we had no idea what it said.' Unable to read the Mandarin text, Nicola turned to the internet and her Australian friend, Julie Gould, whose daughter attended a Chinese school in Sydney. Several hours later Julie returned with the news that it was in fact a love letter. The translated letter reads: "Da Hai(Ocean), I hope no-one will get this bottle, as we just wish you can hear our voice, and get your blessing. Today is the Chinese Valentine's Day, we pray that our relationship will last forever and we will have a long happy life together..." Nicola said: "It sounds to me like the couple are in love but cannot be together so they have sent the message to tell the world of their love." What were Nicola and her daughter probably doing when they found the bottle?
They were walking on the beach. They were washing hands and feet. They were looking for the driftwoods. They were lying on the beach resting.