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Published: August 6th 2007
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Aira Force
Waterfall in Cumbria Not so much planning required for this little trip compared to Australia. We felt that instead of going off to another country again, we should do some travelling around the lands of our birth.
I think that we were trying to relive some of the 'good feeling' that we'd had while driving around in our Toyota Hi-ace Camper, so Phil bought a Toyota Corolla for the trip. Not quite the same eh, but at least we knew we had a better chance of getting there without breaking down...
On Sunday morning, I woke up feeling really excited, it was going to be great to be off travelling again. We jumped in the car (I say jumped - it was more like a slow laboured daudle, because of tiredness) and off we went.
The journey on the way up to Cumbria wasn't as bad as we had expected - I think that we have a higher distance pain threshold now so driving over 200 miles really isn't too much of a problem. We made it to Windermere and "College House" our home for the next two nights quite quickly, and by 3pm we were out and about climbing up
Scared yet?
At the start of our white knuckle ride. to see Aira Force, and driving over Kirkdale Pass.
On Monday, we went on a boat trip on Windermere, not exactly Sydney Harbour - but still very beautiful. We then sat in the car for about an hour trying to decide what to do next... (it doesn't help when both of you can't make a decision) Anyway, we got back on the road to drive over Wrynose and Hardknott Pass. We definately made the right decision. It was breath-taking scenery and a white knuckle ride at the same time. We stopped at Hardknott Roman Fort for a wander round and some photos. It was raining but, very quiet, our peace was only interrupted from time to time by people burning their clutches out trying to get back up the hill!
We (or rather I) decided that the shortest way back was the way we had come so, we had the white-knuckle sheep dodging ride back. I was actually shouting at the sheep to get out of the way- Baa...
On Tuesday we started out earlyish to make our way to Edinburgh. With a stop off at Birdoswald fort on Hadrian's Wall. Without knowing it I had printed
Hadrians Wall
Phil took this from up-top out directions for the scenic route, so we were pleasantly suprised when we started driving through and around some beautiful mountains.
We arrived in Edinburgh and immediatly got lost, (I think that we were both having blond moments) After some searching we eventually found our guest house. It was a bit of the flashback to the Kingsgate in Melbourne to be honest - not that great and over priced, and they served salami as part of the cooked breakfast which was unusual! We made our way to Princes Street to get our bearings and find the tourist information for ideas on things to do.
On Wednesday we went to Edinburgh Castle, and the Whisky Heritage Centre - we we had a free dram of the good stuff and a tour. We then went to the 3D Loch Ness Experience - mmm, I think it might have been better to actually see the Loch... Then we went window shopping.
Thursday was our bus trip day - we went to the Royal Yacht Britannia and saw the Queens bedroom - it was really interesting, and then we went on 3 bus trips around the city! Once with a normal
Princes Street
This is the view down Princes Street, Edinburgh voiceover guide, once with a horrible history guide and once with a live person guiding! We were definately bussed out by the end!
On Friday it was time to move onto York. Having been before, my memories consisted mainly of the smell of Rowntree's chocolate wafting through the air. After finding our base, we went for a wander around the York Minster. I am pleased to report that the chocolate smell is still wafting when the wind is in the right direction!
On Saturday we went to the Castle Museum, which has to be one of the best museums that I have ever been to. It was just as good as I remembered and just as enjoyable. We then went to Jorvik, which has changed quite a lot since I first went. They now have this really elaborate ride that you go on. The smells of the Viking village were the same though!
Again, I managed to fit some shopping in - this time actually making some purchases. After I had bored Phil half to death, we went and found the best fish, chips and mushy peas EVER!
As we were making our way home yesterday
I was feeling a little down because our holiday for this year is over! All I have to do know is plan another one...
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