"The rain it raineth every day"

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Geo: 56.4245, -3.46242

We awoke to sunshine in Bamber Bridge. I was deceived so wore a T shirt and shorts. After breakfast and packing up we bade farewell to Cath and Chris after they had steered us to a petrol station and the entrance to the Freeway. We had had a fantastic time with them. Thanks, Cath and Chris for your wonderful hospitality!!!
We drove on the M6 towards Edinburgh. the clouds gathered and the rain bucketed down. The scenery was great, what we could see, green fields, hills, stone fences and sheep. After Carlisle we headed up the A7, the historic tourist route to Edinburgh. It continued to rain, we listened to the England/South Africa 4th Test match and we finally stopped for some lunch about 1-50pm in Stow at the Cloud Cafe.
After an half hour break we ventured off again in more rain. Fletcher and I had been sharing the driving and it was now his turn as we approached Edinburgh. We drove into the city centre and encountered massive traffic snarls and huge numbers of people. We realized that the Fringe and the Tatoos were on and we would have no show finding accomodation here.
We eventually found our way to Leith, (after Fletcher had gone into a bus/taxi only zone in Princes Street with much gesticulating all round. It wasn't his fault it is so poorly signed) From there we made our way towards the Firth of Forth Bridge and onto the M90 towards Perth. We came off the freeway here as neither of us had stopped in Perth before and it seemed to be a good spot to stay. After driving around we found a tourist info spot and the lady there directed us to the location of some hotels/B&Bs. We chose The Grampian Hotel which is a middle of the range place but with free internet and very comfortable rooms.
We wandered down to the city centre and visited the Tay river. There were few [eople about but we had a great meal in a French restaurant, Cafe Tabou.
This is a pretty city and tomorrow it will be easy to head north to Inverness and beyond.

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