Today we are looping around the Isle of Skye. Headed northwest from our castle and travelled the winding roads. Many wonderfull road signs. Most have exlcamation marks and some form of picture. Common ones are school and children but my favourites are for sheep, deer, elderly and blind people. And when they show a sign for road narrowing they mean 1 lane and they mean it NOW! You had best be having your foot on the brake right away. Very majestic mountains that are strangely bare of trees. We noticed some clear cutting of forests as well when ever we did [View Full Entry]

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Left the spanish hotelBarcelo Carleton) in Edinburgh this morning to head for Invergarry. As I had to walk 2 blocks to the rain (that's th way it should be - 1 day nice 1 day rain - well only the morning) We drove along the motorway up to Perth and turned westward toward the Highlands. OK now I appreciate the term Highlands. In some of our pictures you are going to see white dots (resolution not good enough to zoom) you are going to have to trust us - they are sheep. Very Isolated out here. Pulled off to the side [View Full Entry]

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Leaving Peebles and heading for Edinburgh with a stop at Rosslyn Chapel (made more famous by the Da Vinci Code). It is undergoing a massive restoration project expected to take around 8 years. Left in pretty bad condition due mainly to the water retention of the sandstone which it is made out of. Another drive through the countryside to Edinburgh. We were lucky enough to be on the same road as our hotel and were able to drive straight to it. Which is a miracle considering the congestion and confusing highway signs (some one took pity on us after the Norwich [View Full Entry]

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We are leaving Whitby and heading along the coast and then north east to Peebles Scotland. Fantastic countryside! Rolling hills and sheep everywhere! In some cases the farms have no fences and they warn the drivers that the sheep may wander onto the road. A little tidbit… there are no stop sings in the UK. Everyone just has to be careful. Stopped for lunch at Hadrian’s Inn which is just south of the wall. We will stop on the way back down the west coast for pictures since the wall runs coat to coast. WE MADE IT TO SCOTLAND!!! And it [View Full Entry]

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Leaving Grimsby we continued up the east coast headed for Whitby we stopped in the town of Scarborough and visited Scarborough Castle. This ruin was started in 900 AD. There was evidence of settlements in 500 BC from archeological digs and there are remains of a Roman signal station. Scarborugh is also a great shopping town with huge pedestrian malls. Did a little shopping for the grandkids. On up the coast we stopped at Whitby our and our next hotel but before dinner we were to visit the Whitby Abbey. Also a ruin (obviously) it was constructed in 657 AD but [View Full Entry]

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It's Canada Day and we are off to tangle with more roundabouts and pubs! Left Norwich for Sandringham the Royal summer home. Queen not at home (She is defintely avoiding us). Toured the grounds and left for Cleethorpes on the east coast. Landscape in this area is gently rolling hills and quaint little villages. Arrived in Cleethorpes and walked the promenade looking for a pub. Found the Smugglers Inn and stopped by for a drink and a bite to eat. I tried 3 different beers (more properly ales & bitters) and Elke had the Wine special. Buy 2 glasses and get [View Full Entry]

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Headed off to the country. Grabbed a cab from the hotel and went to get our train @ Liverpool St. station. Very civilized travel here. Kiosks to buy tickets, put tickets into turnstiles which open automatically and off you go. Punctual smooth and fast. Taxi waiting for us and within five minutes we were at the car rental in Norwich. We had requested a small Vauxhall but they didn't have one so they gave us a Mercedes (pretty "posh" as the Brits would say). With Elke's excellent navigating we drove straight to our hotel. Checked in and back out the door [View Full Entry]

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We are on our way to the seacoast when out of nowhere there appeared yet another cathedral and we just had to stop. It was the Norwich Cathedral which has the highest spire of all gothic cathedrals in Britain. Originally built starting in 1029 and partially rebuilt in 1529. Even the rebuild is 300 years older than Canada. Left the cathedal and headed east. I will say that the English people have preserved their homes and properties at all costs. No home is moved or torn down for the betterment of highways or roads. In some cases they are crazy!!! Oh [View Full Entry]

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Holy crap it's hot here and because this type of heat is unusual, there are NO AIR CONDITIONERS!!!!! Totally soaked all day. Today is our day to travel with the locals on the underground. A little intimidating at first but the system is well laid out and fairly easy to understand. Our first visit is to St. Pauls Cathedral at the St pausl stop. (from Euston down the northern line to the central line then est to the St. Pauls stop) Forthos of you have not been here - trust me... Magnificent .... and massive. Since it was a Sunday there [View Full Entry]

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Wow! What a day! Started with a full English breakfast at the hotel. Sausages were great and the strawberries were awesome! They are way better than back home. Left the hotel @ 7:30 and headed for the Big Bus double decker tour. It is a hop on hop off tour.We must have completed 3 laps of London in the total process. Got off at Buckingham palace and watched the changing of the guard. And yes we brought the hot weather with us. Temp's were around 29C and few clouds. Very difficult to get close enough to get good pictures. Huge crowds [View Full Entry]

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