Chengdu The next morning we had a flight at 10.40 to Chengdu and arrived at our hotel in our next smog ridden destination about lunchtime. The food in this area is particularly spicy so we skipped lunch and wandered down to the local park where it was jam packed of people dancing, singing karaoke, acrobatics, playing musical instruments! Quite a racket!! Soaked up the atmosphere and had a boat ride on the lake before heading back to our hotel for a beer before bed! (Hotel Starway) The next day we left Chengdu at 7.30am to go and visit the Breeding and Research centre for the Giant Panda as if you go early in the morning they are more likely to be active! We were lucky!! Got some fantastic pics and also some good bits of video ... read more

Shanghai The train arrived on time at 9.30am so we reached the hotel by about 10.30am. A quick shower and lunch, we then had a walk along Nanjing Road, in the pouring rain, to Shanghai Museum! Spent a couple of hours wandering around looking at old Chinese things ( sorry Nick...I still can’t get into museums!) - apart from some jade items that were made between 2200BC – 3200BC that were slightly impressive! Anyway, back out in the rain and took the little train back along the Nanjing Road as it was now thunder and lightening and rain! Didn’t venture out from the hotel again until early evening – still raining but not quite so heavy – and walked down to the riverfront! Wow! Amazing skyline, all the skyscrapers were lit up as well as the ... read more

Friday 20th May 2011 Haggerston to Hadrians Wall 108 miles + 206 miles on 21st May 2011 Chris woke up at 5.30am, listened to politics on the radio, got up at 6.30am which explained why we were sat, eating breakfast, overlooking the causeway to Holy island at 07.15am, waiting for the tide to go out! We were the 2nd vehicle to cross the three mile causeway when the tide receded, and after doing the recommended three mile hike around the island, we visited Lindisfarne Castle. It has been wonderfully renovated and we had views of the Priory and the harbour from the Castle windows. We noticed that there was a falcon display at 11.00am at a nearby farm, so raced back to just get there in time! It was wonderful – they had this huge baby ... read more

Wednesday 18th May 2011 Pitlochry to Peebles 96 miles Another showery blustery day but with plenty of sun! Chris wanted to go to the cemetery at Logierait to find three mort-safes, used in the early 19th C to protect corpses from body snatchers. The coffins were placed inside metal frames, which were then padlocked and buried. After the bodies had decayed, making them useless for medical research, the graves were re-opened and the mort-safes removed for future use. Anyhow, we found the cemetery but no sign of the mort-safes!! We stopped at The Hermitage (NTS) and had a beautiful walk, through the rocky gorge, along the river Tay, underneath huge Douglas firs, including one of the tallest trees in Great Britain, with no other sound other than birdsong and the fast flowing river as it tumbled ... read more

Saturday 14th May 2011 Dornoch to Loch Ness 62 miles........................ Quite a short driving day today as it was quite heavy showers and the road we needed to take was closed due to an accident. We stopped at Evanton to try and find a walk to Black Rock Gorge but sort of gave up as the rain had started and carried on driving along the Cromarty Firth where we stopped and watched a group of seals swimming and playing in the water! We also had a short stop and a walk along the river at Beauly where there is a 12thC ruined Priory of the valliscaulian order, one of only three houses outside France. It was visited by Mary Queen of Scots in 1564 who called it Beau Lieu ( beautiful place). Nothing too spectacular! We ... read more