Day 10 - into Scotland

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We knew we had a long travel day (4 hours) today so slept in a bit in Liverpool. After a nice breakfast at the hotel, we hit the road.

Most of our drive today was on motorways. Since today was about driving, here’s what we’ve learned about UK driving.

1. Lane markings are only suggestions. You can wander across the lanes if someone is parked in your lane or it just feels right.
2. Any type of intersection can be called a roundabout.
3. Local drivers have a rhythm as to when to take turns on narrow streets or congested intersections.
4. The left side of the road is closer than you expect.
5. Parking “just down the street” is always farther than expected.
6. The bigger the road number, the smaller the road. The A5414 is much, much narrower than the M6.

Our only stop of interest was Greta Green when we first crossed into . Having read about it as the place to elope in many books, we had to stop. There was even a wedding going on in the blacksmith’s shop. We touched the anvil which is supposed to bring good marital luck.

We arrived in Edinburgh too late to go to the castle but we wandered down The Royal Mile to St Giles Church where Queen Elizabeth laid in state just a couple of weeks ago. There were shop after shop of wool and cashmere goods - not surprising given the vast number of sheep we saw!

We walked down to Holyrood Palace where the royals stsy when doing business in
Edinburgh. We were not invited in but it was interesting to see. A cab was miraculously waiting for us when we finished there so we went back to our room to chill.

Don has on his Marriott profile that he likes to be far away from the elevators. Our room tonight is a full quarter kilometre from the lobby. I measured it. :-). It does have a lovely garden patio where we sat out and had a glass of wine.

We went to an Italian place recommended by the concierge for dinner and now Don is preparing for a very early start tomorrow to head up to Saint Andrews to play golf tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be terrible - fingers crossed he gets to play!

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