Day 9 - Tuesday 07 March - Norton Corner -> Edinburgh 🥂

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Wow! What a day!! We left our cottage at 8am this morning when it was just 1 degree!! We drove down to Norwich, and of course a light came on in the dash to tell us the air in a tyre was low! We stopped just before the hire car office to put some petrol in the tank and Tom put some air in the tyres - he had to insert a coin!! Air is not free!

Anyway, when we arrived at the office, lovely Matthew (who put us in the car the other day) noticed the light still shining on the dash and had to take the car around to the service bay to check the tyre - he returned saying it was fine, but that we would get an email asking us to rate him as a hire car agent - of course we will say lovely things. He rang the taxi company for us (all non verbal communication by phone). The taxi driver was fascinating - from Turkey (near Budapest). He said he tries to go home every year - it takes 35 minutes to get across to Europe on the train. You stay in your car (have lunch or whatever) and there are toilets nearby. Then when he gets off he drives through France, Belgium, Germany and Austria then into Hungary! On the other side of the road though! He’d also noticed some cars in Norwich

Our first train, Norwich to Peterborough, was like our usual trains where you sit anywhere. The second train, Peterborough to Edinburgh, was a booked seat train - we had purchased our tickets a couple of months ago on the internet. As we were going past Morpeth station, in Northumberland (where my great grandparents were married) we noticed there was snow by the side of the tracks, and it got heavier, but by the time we got to the Scottish border, it was totally gone. We also saw canal boats, waiting for summer; wind turbines, and the original Sydney Harbour Bridge, albeit a smaller version, in Newcastle.

Our hotel was just a couple of minutes walk from Waverley Station. We have a lovely room with dual aspect up on the second top floor, and laying on the bed is like laying on clouds, I don’t think I can leave. We did pop out for a quick dinner at a pub around the corner, where the house Shiraz was from Western Australia! (Amelia Park). It wa soooo nice, I asked the waitress where it was from, she thought for a bit and said “I want to say Argentina”, but then she returned and said “Australia, but they both start with A, right?” The battered haddock I had for dinner was the most moist, flavoursome fish I’ve ever had. It’s been lovely!

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