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Published: August 7th 2007
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Wet, wet ,wet
Dad, Mum and Liz braving the cold Our last adventure was in May when Liz and I travelled with my parents to the Lakes District in Northern England, then drove up to Edinburgh and finally flew over to Cork in Southern Ireland to visit my sister Jade who now calls Ireland home.
Practically everyone had told us it always rains in the Lakes District but when we set out in the morning the weather looked ok other than the standard English cloud cover. That quickly changed and for the first 2 days of our holiday it did nothing but bucket down. We refused to let it dampen our spirits and spent a couple of lovely days basing ourselves in quant Keswick.
The first day we just looked around the village which featured a plethora of hiking shops. Seriously, 70% of the shops sold hiking gear. It was crazy!! Dad was keen to get a nice jacket but I think a quick glimpse of a few of the price tags changed his mind.
The next day we drove to a small town called Buttermere as recommended by our slightly zany B&B host who said it had the best scenery in the Lakes District. She wasn’t wrong, and despite
Winner!!!
Liz after clinching the game with a perfect shot. Nevermind the other two, she was just creating tension. Mum and dad gave us a lesson in darts after this. Winner!!!
Liz after clinching the game with a perfect shot. Nevermind the other two, she was just creating tension. Mum and dad gave us a lesson in darts after this.the torrential rain we got to see some amazing mountains, lakes, and stone bridges. As well as the scenery, there was loads of black sheep, black sheep with white faces, white sheep with black faces and white sheep. We could have been in New Zealand!!!
We left the Lakes on Tuesday morning and wouldn’t you know, the sun started to come out. We weren’t too bothered though as we were heading up to Edinburgh. On the way we stopped off at Penrith, the English version which funnily enough was also at the foot of some mountains.
Got a couple of funny photos there and headed up to see Hadrian’s Wall which was the northern border in Britain for much of the Roman Empire's rule, and also the most heavily fortified border in the Empire. It is 80 Roman Miles (117km) long and although mostly ravaged by time, (it was built in 122AD) some of it is still in good condition and the countryside was lovely.
We arrived in Edinburgh
Old bridge
Liz and I on a rather old bridge at about lunchtime and by that evening we’d all fallen in love with the place.
The first thing we did was an open top bus tour to get our
Old bridge
Liz and I on a rather old bridgebearings and a general overview. We were blown away by the history and buildings, especially the castle which sits impressively on a crag overlooking the city.
The bus took us around all of the tourist attractions including Princes Street, the Royal Mile, and Holyrood Palace.
The next day we headed up to do a tour of the Castle and as it was ANZAC day, were lucky enough to attend an ANZAC service in the War memorial. The Castle itself has been slowly built over time so the oldest building is a small chapel dating back to 1130 and the newest was built last century.
Liz and I did a tour of Holyrood Palace in the afternoon which was the home of Mary Queen of Scots before she was imprisoned by her cousin Elizabeth the 1st. As far as palaces go neither the interior or architecture were overly spectacular although it is where Queen Liz stays when she visits Scotland so that was
Buttermere Valley
Some of the amazing scenery on the drive to Buttermere kind of exciting.
In the evening we all took the plunge and tried haggis for our entrée. For those not up to date with their Scottish cuisine, Haggis consists of sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced
Buttermere Valley
Some of the amazing scenery on the drive to Buttermerewith onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally boiled in the animal's stomach for approximately an hour. Sounds delicious!!!!!! So we all closed our eyes, and nervously spooned it into our mouths expecting to be sick within minutes but to our surprise it was actually quite nice. Would definitely do it again!!!
After two days in Edinburgh we flew to Cork in Southern Ireland for a couple of days with Jade. It turned out to be a hectic trip and we packed plenty into the 2 ½ days. First night Jade showed us around her new home town which seemed more Mediterranean than Irish with its pastel-coloured buildings, markets and crowded streets. We met Jade’s room mate, a funny Irish bloke called Gavin who did a cracking impersonation of Alf Stewart. He’s also recently signed a big record deal-watch this space.
The next day we
Welcome to Penrith
Liz feeling like she's home headed to nearby Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney stone. Now kissing the Blarney stone apparently gives you the gift of the gab. The only thing it’s likely to give you is Meningococcal or a Cold Sore as literally hundreds of tourists, especially loud Americans, kissed it in the
Welcome to Penrith
Liz feeling like she's home15 minutes we were there. But apparently it’s an Irish ‘must do’ so it was good to cross it off the list.
From there we all jumped back in the car and headed for Killarney, our port of call for the evening where we dropped off our bags and continued driving on to the Dingle Peninsula. The next day we drove the famous ‘Ring of Kerry’ road around the Kerry Peninsula.
The Dingle and Kerry Peninsulas have some of the best scenery in Ireland, with stunning mountains, valleys, and then beautiful sandy white beaches and islands. There were also some lovely towns along the way and the locals all seemed very friendly, especially the enormous sea gulls (could have been albatrosses) who hung around like a bad smell waiting to steal your lunch.
So after a couple of lovely days with Jade, and
Edinburgh Castle
Not the best view of the Castle, but you can see how it impressively overlooks the city a few more in London with Mum and Dad it was back to work.
A couple of weeks back we visited Oxford and Portsmouth with a friend from school named Anmol and his girlfriend Laura. Despite it absolutely hammering down rain for two days we had a good time and really enjoyed Oxford and the
Edinburgh Castle
Not the best view of the Castle, but you can see how it impressively overlooks the cityhistory there. The architecture of the university buildings was amazing and there seemed to be a story to every alley way and pub.
Our next trip is to Spain next week where we go to Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, then jump over the border to Lagos in Portugal. Looking forward to the seafood!!!
Take care. Hope you’re all well.
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Bucko
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Clarkey Looks great mate. How good is Penrith!!! see you in a few weeks