Up North

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It's been more ups and downs but right now I am having a good time discovering all that the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh has to offer. Edinburgh is another stunning city with old old history and a great skyline, I love the castle perched on the sharp bluff. The festival is fun, and since it pours rain on and off it doesn't get too overly crowded, but last night was a bit squeezed for me. This morning it hasn't been raining, so I am thinking I should scoot down real quick, but I'm sure if I rush and try to force something the sky will open up. Most of the time the rains not too bad, like it rains but you don't really get wet. But that's not too say that it is incapable of giving you quite a soak. Anyway I am aiming to find a comedy show this afternoon and enjoy more of the street performers, but I am not too worried about cramming in sights, because I will actually be swinging back through here in a couple of days.

Before this I had an encouraging bus ride from London up to Newcastle were spirits were high, and for the first time in to months of travel I was able to enjoy a private room!! Unfortunately the two girls I was hoping to meet I was unable to reach, as they had just rounded out their travels getting back from Paris the next day, but there phones weren't working and their internet at their flat turned out to be broken, so alas no local knowledge or tour. But honestly the two and a half days alone (really alone, not just lonely and sleeping with ten other people) seemed to help clear my head and I had plenty of time to plan my next moves, instead of just rushing to book places and make decisions under the time limit of hour purchased internet sessions. I booked a 3 day mini bus tour around the highlands of Scotland that leaves tomorrow morning and I am definitely looking forward to it (mostly jumping into Loch Ness). After that I'll have another night in Edinburgh before I am going to meet up with the Australian friends me and Shannon met in Barcelona and join in their itinerary for a while. That entails meeting them in Glasgow for two nights, back to Edinburgh for two nights (lol) and then down to Manchester for a night. From Manchester I have a flight into Cork, Ireland where I plan to work my way up the west coast to Galway, over to Dublin and then up to Belfast.

So the planning and surfing took up most of my time in Newcastle, but I did manage to have some good Indian food and had a pint of Newcastle Brown Ale while I watched Newcastle play Manchester Utd to a 1-1 draw in what I think was the English Premier League Opener (felt that was a fairly decent sample of the type of activities I was looking for in Newcastle), and last night nursed a pint of Bellhaven Best (it's a honey brown ale but it pours like Guinness, out of a nitrogen tap i think? Delicious nonetheless) while watching a rather chippy friendly between Northern Ireland and Scotland (also felt that was awfully appropriate). Well it's been a while and it's still not raining so I am gonna get down to Festival and find a comedy show, there are loads for free, and then tomorrow it's off to the highlands!

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Photos

My private room
Ahh peace and quiet for almost three days, very refreshing

Me enjoying my room
There's the hat I've been pinning up.

Some of sunny Newcastle
Proper English weather

Full English Breakfast
A proper English breakfast to deal with the proper English weather. I really liked the beans, the bacon was really salty.

Newcastle
It looks somewhat like the picture on the beer label

Fringe Festival
Some of the crowd gathered around a street preformer

Harry Potter
The window above the furniture word is the Elephant Cafe, and apparently JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter while looking out of the window over the 'nit'

The Castle
Very dramatic

Floral Clock
One of the first in the world

Fettes College
Great architecture, Tony Blair went here as well as