After a quick breakfast, we repacked our three suitcases' worth of stuff into two because our suitcases were bigger than we thought. We hit the road about 10:00 AM GMT, heading north through Coventry, the industrial North of Manchester and Blackpool, and the Lake District of Penrith and Carlisle.
We crossed into Scotland at Gretna Green, where English couples too young to marry in their own country used to go to elope. We stopped briefly in Moffat for postcards and fudge.
From there we went east on a narrow winding road through this valley:
From where I was standing on the hill when I took that picture, I turned right to see the waterfall known as Grey Mare's Tail.
None of the pictures I took give any indication of how steep or high the hills are. In this picture, the falls are about 200 feet high and about a quarter mile away. Left to right, that's Al, Sarah, Danusia and Adam trying to hold his hat on in the wind. The pictures don't show how windy it is either.
From the falls, we continued northeast though the valley on narrow roads. It was my first experience with "tracks," single lane roads that handle traffic in both directions. Every now and then, there's a "passing place" where the track widens. If you meet an oncoming car, you might have to back up to a passing place to let them by.
We arrived in Edinburgh by early evening, checked into our hotel and went for a stroll on the Royal Mile - a street of shops, restaurants, churches and government buildings. It ends at Edinburgh Castle, where a marching band was playing, among other things, Sousa's Liberty Bell March, better known as the theme from Monty Python's Flying Circus. There was a huge crowd so we decided to wait until morning to visit the castle.
After several unsuccessful attempts to get seated for dinner, we had a great meal at The Wee Windaes (which means, of course, the little windows). Danusia had rabbit, I had venison with blackberries and raspberries. It was great!
After dinner, Danusia needed to catch up on her sleep. It had been a long day for her, getting up at 7:00 AM EST, going to the passport office, flying all night, driving to Scotland - about 36 hours in all, with very little sleep. Adam was tired too, so they both stayed in the hotel while Al, Sarah and I walked to Princes Street and found a great pub near the Scott Monument. Edinburgh is a party town on a Saturday night and there were happily tipsy people singing in the streets.
Next: June 11, 2000
| Florida to London: Danusia's side trip | ||
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June 10, 2000
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London to Edinburgh: Grey Mare's Tail | |
| Edinburgh to Luing: Edinburgh Castle, the ferry to Luing | ||
| Luing to Aviemore: Hill climbing, grey weather | ||
| Aviemore to Foyers: Glenfiddich distillery, Loch Ness, Falls of Foyers | ||
| Foyers to Glen Sheil: More of Loch Ness and Falls of Foyers, Urquhart Castle, Glen Sheil | ||
| Glen Sheil to Stornoway: Eilean Donan Castle, ferry from Uig to Tarbert | ||
| Stornoway, Luskentyre and Tarbert | ||
| Callanish | ||
| Dail Mor | ||
| Ceilidh on the lawn | ||
| Stornoway to Inverness: A quick good-bye, foggy ferry ride, bus to Inverness | ||
| Inverness to London: Hot Hamlet, Floridians get sunburned |
Our other sites:
X Takes The Square
Distinguished Women of Past and Present