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Published: August 3rd 2014
The flight from Darwin was delayed by 4 hours and there is not a lot to do in Darwin airport.The flight was straight forward however our baggage was taken off at Munich and left there! We were rewarded by the airline with 55 pounds each to buy essentials.We were met at Manchester airport by a good friend who we stayed with overnight,we were joined by other good friends and spent the evening reminiscing over past adventures,thanks guys for the accommodation and good company.One of our bags was delivered the next morning before we set off on our travels the second bag was delivered to our hotel the same evening.
Several reasons for making this trip,to attend my sons wedding,and to say hello to a new born granddaughter,and of course to visit family.The wedding was taking place the next day in Williston a small country village in the county of Cheshire.This was to be a country wedding.The bride Alison now my daughter in law walked from her overnight hotel accommodation to the church escorted by her father , bridesmaids and two horses.The wedding took place in the village church which dates back to 1800's and is still used on a daily
basis.This historic and beautiful church was a perfect setting for the wedding although the organist could have done with some more practice.The service over everyone headed back to the stables for the reception which was held in a marquee erected in the space normally occupied by the menage or schooling yard.With over 150 people invited this was to be a big celebration which lasted well into the early hours.
After spending several days with family we headed off to Nottinghamshire, home of the legendary Robin Hood.Our destination was Carlton in Linderick another small village in which our son and wife live with their two children one only being 8 days old our new granddaughter.We had already decided to only spend a couple of days here so as not to exhaust the new mum and to let the family settle down into a routine.Two very proud grandparents spent a couple of days getting as many cuddles as we could before setting off toward Scotland.
We broke our journey to Scotland by staying overnight in the Lake District,an area dear to our hearts for this was a place we walked and roamed for many years before moving to Australia.We stayed
in the Brothers waters hotel which is perched on the side of a hill overlooking Brotherswater a small lake given it's name because legend has it that one winter when the lake was frozen two brothers ventured out on to the ice and fell in never to be seen again or so the story goes.Memories came flooding back of week ends spent roaming all over these fells and of light evenings after work rushing up and down before the light failed.Nearby is Ullswater a lake made famous by the late Sir Donald Campbell and his attempt at the water speed record, his last attempt ended in disaster when his speed boat flipped over and he was killed, although his body was never recovered.Nostalgia abounds as we sip a glass or two watching the rain fall over the hills and the mist forming across the tops.Alas we must move on and continue our journey to Scotland were a warm welcome awaits.
Our journey takes us past several notable places of interest,Carlisle and Gretna Green being two of them which we will visit on our return journey.Continuing onward we head for the Irskine bridge which straddles the river Clyde and is
on the outskirts of Glasgow.Once over the bridge we are in true Scottish country side passing through small hamlets and villages.We are heading for Campbletown on the Mull of Kintyre but before we reach there we will be passing through some of the most beautiful and stunning scenery to be found anywhere. Loch Lomond,Loch Luss, Loch Fine are vast masses of water that border the road and help make this a memorable road trip. Heading toward Campbeltown we stop at Tarbert a small fishing town for a chance to take on some refreshments and note that a sea food festival was to be held there next week we will be back.Arriving in Campbeltown we are at our destination for a couple weeks and home of Jackies mother together with other relatives.
Campbeltown was founded around 1609 by Archibald Campbell 8th Earl of Argyll but it's history dates back many more years before Christ was born and its ancestors can be traced to Irish descendants.The town is situated on the Mull of Kintyre a name made famous by Sir Paul McCarthy with his song Mull of Kintyre. There are many churches around the Kintyre with gravestones and carved slabs dating
back to 2500BC.
More up to date a planned settlement of Lowland Scots was undertaken in the early 17th century.The new settlement was named after the Earl of Argyll's family and Campbeltown rose to the status of Royal Burgh in 1700.In Victorian times the town achieved commercial success in fishing,agriculture,ship building,coal mining and of course the distilling of Whisky.
In more recent times the town was home to a naval base for refueling war ships including submarines,with it's deep water Loch it made a safe place to refuel, along with the USAF base at Machrihanish the town prospered.Gone however are the ships and the USAF base has also closed,gone also are the many fishing trawlers that once lined the quay although a few still remain.The surrounding logging industry utilize the deep water jetty to ship harvested timber to other parts of Europe.A small but expanding tourist industry also takes advantage of the towns long history attracting visitors from all over the globe, not just for the history but also it's majestic scenery.
The town once boasted over 40 distillery's but now only one remains in production sending Springbank single malt whisky all over the world,tours of the
distillery are conducted daily.Depending on the day the art of distilling whisky can be witnessed the traditional way ie the malt is still turned by hand on the malting floor.
We are here to see family and spend most of our days catching up with them.However we also spent some time visiting old haunts taking day trips to places
like Oban,Carradale,Tarbert,and even managed a climb up a hill overlooking the town and loch called Ben Gullion.Our visit to Tarbert was timed to experience the sea food festival which is held every year and showcases the sea food products of the area.Here I tried a pot of Cullen Skink a traditional Scottish fish soup or chowder, yum. Oban is a port and offers a ferry service to all the islands off the mainland,a busy and thriving town again steeped in history. Carradale once a thriving fishing village now is a sleepy hamlet overlooking the the sea toward the islands not to far away.The opportunity for taking photographs are endless around this countryside but non can capture the true beauty of this landscape.
Our time here goes quickly and we say goodbye to friends and family and head once
more along the winding road that runs alongside the lochs taking us back toward Glasgow and the motorway heading south.We stop at Inverary but only for a short rest before continuing our journey.On the border with Scotland and England is a historic hamlet called Gretna Green famous for it's weddings over the anvil, a traditional way for couples eloping from England to get married usually with out parental consent dating back to 18 century. Now it is a major tourist attraction (and some would say spoilt) Weddings continue to be performed her but are now a bit more up market.We stop here for refreshments and a look around before heading off to Carlisle and our bed for the night.We take the opportunity to visit friends in Brampton our old home town before arriving at our friends B&B for the night.Carlisle is a city with a long and bloody history and boasts a well preserved castle once used as a base for the troops to keep out the marauding Scots.Over the years Carlisle has been under the command of both the Scots and the English.Our B&B is in a row of Victorian town houses very spacious and well built, in their
heyday these houses were built for the wealthy merchants and form part of the old city.Another night of good food and wine while reminiscing over past times with good friends.
Leaving Carlisle behind we head for Nottinghamshire and meeting again with family.Over the next couple of days we enjoy the hospitality of our son and daughter in law together with our grandchildren, visiting a small local butterfly park as well as a visit to an aquatic centre.Living so far away in Australia we take every opportunity we can get to experience these moments.
Time fly's and it's time to move on this time back to Williston and the scene of the wedding.The marquee has long gone and the stables return to its former glory and working status.With more time on our hands it's time to catch up with family and wonder at how the grandchildren have grown.Our visit here coincides with Jackies birthday and also Lucy one of our granddaughters so a birthday Bar B Q was organized but not before we had our first visit to a Dressage competition. Our new daughter in law Alison was to take place in a Dressage competition with a horse that
she is schooling, this was to be the horses first time at a Dressage competition. The morning was a success with both rider and horse enjoying the event and I learned about the rules, fascinating.We also took a trip down memory lane and made a trip to Chester a haunt of ours over the years.Chester being a walled Roman City has a great history and it was great to walk the wall again wondering at the Tudor Rows before sitting down at a local pub along side the river Dee and enjoying a drink overlooking the water with it's many boating activities taking place.
Our last night in England was to be spent with our dear friends again in Manchester but before heading there we slipped into Chester again for one more look and the opportunity to take some more photographs.Meeting up again with our friends was a great way to finish our holiday in the UK.We will take away many fond memories of this visit and hundreds of photographs.
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