2nd Stop - Almost to Scotland

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Sunday, August 4^th—Drove from Scarborough to Dunstan Hill (Alnwick) dropped of the caravan, had lunch then went directly to Hogwarts AKA Alnwick Castle. While we were at the castle we went on a Dragons Quest, watched Raphael’s Falconry—an old form of falcon training and the kids enjoyed rolling down a large hill. For the Harry Potter fans reading, we had dinner at the Hog’s Head then back at the campsite, took an evening stroll down to the sandy beach with tons of jelly fish to play with, explored until after sunset, got home right before dark (9ish), showers, a game of war then off to bed!

Monday, August 5^th—Rainy day at Alnwick Castle, not pouring but enough to soak through rain jackets after about an hour long tour entitled “Battle Ax to Broomsticks” which took us around the castle and pointed out various defense strategies used in the barbican (gatehouse) during the medieval period and then different areas of the castle and grounds where movies such as Braveheart, Robin Hood and of course the first two Harry Potter films where filmed. The end of the tour lead us to the entrance of our next magical experience where we met both Hagrid and Harry Potter and they interacted with the audience including Princess of Hogwarts of the day—Becca! Unfortunately, broom stick training (learning to fly on a broomstick) was cancelled due to the soggy slippery ground on which to land. So we left Hogwarts and decided not to endure the weather any longer, changed clothes in the car (yes, Mama brought extra) and went on to a nearby theater to watch Monsters University. Then off to the caravan for pizza and Rummy Cube.

Tuesday, August 6^th—The kids woke up to the promise of clear skies and a beach morning and so began the adventure. The kids got Dada to drive to the “beach”. And after a short walk (45 minutes) down the coast to the castle, through cow and sheep fields, past a Scotsman building a stone fence, we finally got to the beach where Mama was to meet us by foot, walking from the other direction. This expected sandy beach turned out to be a rocky shore below the cliff upon which the castle stands, with tide pools and sea life. Mama made her way down eventually by way of flip-flops and mud after tidying up and doing a quick load of laundry at the caravan site. We walked back to the car through oodles of tiny beetles that swarmed us, especially Becca, (who for the first time ever was a bit freaked out by nature) and drove back, had lunch and left the Dunstan Hill site and trucked on to Scone. On the way our trusted new Sat Nav decided that our fastest most direct route was through the city-center of Edinburgh, somehow she likes to challenge Greg with thin busy streets, fast cars, buses, bikes and pedestrians, whilst pulling a caravan! When we got to Scone which was behind a Palace we set up and luckily, a local butcher was visiting the site in her truck and we decided to stay in and have steaks, onion and mushrooms with pasta. She even had a jug of milk for the morning! Hurray! The kids were pleased not to have to get back in the car and were able to play and enjoy nature!

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