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Published: January 19th 2009
St. Giles Cathedral
The High Kirk of Edinburgh, also known as St. Giles Cathedral.Well we certainly have a bit of catching up to do, but hold onto your hats, it's episode fourteen!
The day after we last spoke Sharon and I went on another of 'New Europe's Free Walking Tours', this time in Edinburgh. Like the tour in Berlin this one took around three hours and gave us a great perspective of the city's rich history. We visited such sites as Edinburgh castle, the Heart of Midlothian, the Royal Mile, St. Giles Cathedral and many others, all the while being entertained and informed by our young and enthusiastic tour guide. The tour ended with the long but entertaining tale of Scotland's Stone of Destiny, the prophecy attached to it and the way in which the English decided that holding onto it for several hundred years would be a good idea.
We spent the rest of the evening resting and playing pool in the hostel's bar. Speaking of the bar, before we had even arrived at the hostel we had heard stories of the legendary bar at the Caledonian Backpackers in Edinburgh, their website telling tales of ridiculously cheap drinks including free tequila on Monday nights. As we checked in to the hotel the
Rosslyn
Rosslyn Chapel, protected from the elements. receptionist told us of how the bar was officially supposed to close at 2am, but a more realistic time would be 5am when the bartender would be so drunk that serving others would become impossible. A multitude of brochures and posters covering the walls of the hostel served to reinforce the reputation of the hostel - 'double your spirits for £1', 'free tequila with every alcoholic drink', 'JD & coke £1'. And yet, the bar stayed shut for our entire stay. Evidently there wasn't enough people staying at the hostel to justify opening the bar at night. I gotta say, we felt a bit jibbed.
The following morning we packed our bags and left them in the hostel's luggage storage before making the 30 minute walk across town to the closest Europcar outlet. We had looked at bus fares from Edinburgh to Leeds and they would have cost us £80 but hiring a car for 3 days was about the same price - it was a no-brainer.
We picked up the car two hours earlier than we were supposed to and realised with utter delight that the lady had either made a mistake, or had decided to upgrade our
Trip-step
Notice the third step from the bottom. This was used to deter burglars back in the day. Illegal now due to health and safety regulations. car for free. We now had a GPS system with which to navigate the laneways and motorways of Britain rather than relying on our own questionable navigational skills. Furthermore, the lady had neglected to charge us the £14 per day surcharge for having a driver under 23 years, but we weren't going to complain.
After getting used to the car and navigating Edinburgh's traffic we picked up our bags and then headed south. The half-hour drive landed us at Rosslyn Chapel, the building so famously referenced in Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code'. While the entire structure is covered in a massive shed-like shelter to protect it from the elements - it was built in the 15th century after all - the chapel itself is still remarkably beatiful. The Apprentice Pillar is quite spectacular regardless of the authenticity of the story attached to it, and the building in general is well worth a look.
After a hot chocolate at the chapel's shop we headed down a dirt track past the nearby cemetery to Rosslyn Castle which was also quite spectacular. Despite being rebuilt several times throughout its 500 year history, the ruins were still fairly impressive and the high bridge
which replaces the original drawbridge is quite a sight.
Back on the road we continued driving south. Unlike in Australia where speed-limit signs appear every couple kilometres or so, we found that in Scotland and England this wasn't the case. As you exit cities or towns you get a sign with a white circle covered by a black slash, presumably meaning that one is to revert to the national speed limit. However, not knowing what the national speed limit was we found ourselves very confused as some cars dawdled along at around 50 miles an hour, while others clearly thought they were on a German Autobahn, cruising past at around 80 or 90 miles an hour. It turns out that the speed limit is 60 mph on single-carriageways, and 70mph on dual-carriageways but we wouldn't find that our for a couple of days.
A few hours later we pulled into Dumfries in southern Scotland to try and retrace a bit more of my family history. Well, to be fair, when I say 'retrace' I should probably say 'embark on a wild goose chase'. You see, my mother had given me the name of a long-dead relative that we know
Me and Rosslyn Castle
Awesome pose. Notice the drop to the left... is buried in Dumfries, our family lineage being rooted quite firmly in the aforementioned city. So, armed with a name and convinced that Dumfries was a small town with probably only one small cemetery, we marched over to the tourist information office and asked where the local cemetery was. In fact, as we found out, Dumfries has at least six cemeteries all of which are massive. The lady at the tourist office was able to narrow it down to two or three of the six cemeteries, given that my relative was a local reverend, but even that wouldn't be enough. We wandered to the local municipal buildings where we asked the registrar if she could tell us where Mr Dunlop would be buried, and she promptly laughed. She explained that without a date of birth, date of death, full name and a few other pieces of information our search would be like finding a needle in a haystack.
Despite it being a long-shot we headed to the cemetery which the tourist-office-lady thought was the most likely to be the resting place of my ancestor, and began searching. We wandered up and down paths, between gravestones, along fences, under trees, all
Sick wheels
Better than the VW Golf we were supposed to get anyway! to no avail. After about half an hour of focused searching night had fallen and we had had enough. We took a few photos of the cemetery to prove that we had at least tried to find the ol' reverend before getting back on the road.
After about an hour on the A75, heading south-east across the border into England, we arrived at Carlisle, our stop for the evening. As we approached the Cumbrian city the traffic started to pick up and despite the lovely GPS lady helping us to fight our way through, the drive into town was a little hairy.
The next morning we woke an hour earlier than we had planned - having left our alarm clock on Berlin time, oops! - and after a lovely continental breakfast we got back on the road. After finding our way out of Carlisle we headed east along the A69. Despite having a long day's drive ahead of us we spent very little time on the main road, deliberately turning off the highway to see what Miss GPS would say and generally enjoying the little English villages, some of which consisted of little more than a few houses and
Miss GPS
The lovely lady herself. a general store. All day we revelled in the freedom to stop the car and take photos whenever we wanted, stop at a little town just to wander around, or just drive in any direction to see where the road took us. It was such a positively beautiful day just driving along at our own pace and it added a whole new dimension to a holiday which had previously been dominated by rigid point-A-to-point-B train journeys.
During our eastward journey we stopped at various points along Hadrian's Wall, built in 122AD by the Roman Emperor Hadrian (streuth, I never would have guessed!) to stop invasions by the Pictish tribes from the North. It was amazing to see how well parts of the wall are preserved despite being the best part of 1900 years old. Of particular note was the Housesteads Roman Fort, built a couple of years after the rest of the wall, and which stands overlooking an amazingly green valley to the north. Quite stunning.
After a couple more hours of driving we reached the town of Durham, famous for its cathedral and castle which stand within a couple hundred metres of each other at the Palace Green. Despite
Hadrian's Wall
It might not have been the highest of walls, but a pretty good defensive position nonetheless. getting a couple of good photos of each building, the Durham University had taken control of both the cathedral and castle for their graduations which just happened to be taking place that day and consequently we weren't able to explore either building. That aside, amazing buildings and quite a beautiful town to boot.
After lunch it was time to continue our trek south. We had organised to stay with Sharon's brother's partner's parents that night and given that they live around 100 miles south in the town of Halifax, we still had some driving ahead of us.
We arrived at David and Jackie's place at about 5pm and before long it became clear that we would once again be spoiled beyond compare.
We spent two nights with the lovely couple, spending the majority of the time sitting around, recharging our batteries, and enjoying long chats in front of the TV or over the dinner table. From the evening of the 15th to the morning of the 17th we only really left the house once, enjoying a walk up the steep hill behind our hosts' house to enjoy some great views of Halifax and the valley beyond. While our stay
Awwh.
It's been used to keep the baddies out and now Hadrian's Wall has been used as a tripod too! in Yorkshire was different from our time with Ivon & Henk, in as much as we didn't get driven around everywhere to see the sights, we still had an amazing time. It was so good just to sit down and relax for a couple of days, while enjoying some great company and some marvellous stories. They fed us to bursting point at every meal, and we enjoyed regional delicacies such as the famous Yorkshire pudding, all the while enjoying David's homemade red wine.
On the morning of the 17th we packed our things and reluctantly said goodbye to David & Jackie. We were sad to leave them behind as we had enjoyed a relaxing couple of days in their company. The incredible hospitality wasn't over yet though, as we had organised to stay with Sharon's brother's partner's brother - David & Jackie's son - and his family for a night or two. We made the 45 minute drive across from Halifax to Rochdale and met up with Andy, Natalie and their adorable son Oliver. No sooner had we arrived than Andy was driving us south into Manchester for a guided tour. We spent several hours wandering the streets, checking
Granary at Housesteads
The 1900 year old granary at Housesteads Roman Fort. our the local sights like the town hall, the printworks and enjoying a real ale at Manchester's oldest pub, the Old Wellington. Of course, no trip to Manchester would be complete without at least a mention of soccer, and so Andy took us to the home grounds of the city's two rival soccer teams -Old Trafford, where Manchester United play, and Eastlands, which Manchester City call home. Not surprisingly the rivalry between the two teams is immense and as we fought our way through the soccer traffic around Eastlands on the way home, Andy told us that if we had been showing any evidence of supporting Manchester United, we would have been attacked by the City supporters. Luckily we weren't displaying any memorabilia of any sort and we arrived back at Andy & Natalies unscathed.
We spent the rest of the evening watching TV with Natalie's son Josh who had come over from his Dad's place while Andy, Sharon and I had been in Manchester.
Yesterday morning Sharon, myself, Andy, Natalie, Josh, Oli, Natalie's father Gordon and his partner Sue all met at Andy and Natalie's place before driving south for a day trip. We were headed to the
Durham Cathedral
Pity we didn't get a good look inside. Quarry Bank Mill which was build in the 18th century and is still in working order today. Nowadays the mill is used as an educational facility, giving its visitors an insight into the way mills of the time were built and run, and what they were used for. It was a fascinating day and having learnt a fair bit about the Industrial Revolution at uni over the last few years, it was great to get a local perspective on such an important part of England's rich history.
After we had all spent several hours in the mill Sharon and I said goodbye to our lovely hosts as, having travelled half an hour south of Manchester to get to the mill, we were closer to our next destination - Oxford. After around three hours of driving south and a break at Banbury for some dinner, we arrived at Oxford, the town so famous for its 800 year old university. After checking in and getting settled at a local B&B, we spent the rest of the evening watching the final of the Masters Snooker championship which was being contested in London.
So, finally, we reach today. After a lovely breakfast at
English country lane
Beautiful view into the valley. the B&B we drove toward the centre of Oxford. We parked the car and spent a good couple of hours wandering around the centre of town and the university grounds. Oxford truly is a university town - everywhere you look there are students walking around with books tucked under their arms, talking knowingly to one another on the footpath or riding their old bikes, presumably from class to class. Speaking of bikes, as we drove the couple of miles into the centre of town this morning we pulled up to a roundabout. Just ahead of us was a young gentleman on a bike who hadn't seen that a car was coming through the roundabout. No sooner had he pulled into the intersection than he collided with the car which had come from his (and our) right. The cyclist hit the passenger's side window, smashing it and sending glass flying into the car. Although the cyclist didn't look to be seriously injured, he certainly seemed a little bit sore as he pulled the handlebars out of the passenger's side window and stood up.
Anyway, that leaves us pretty well up to date. This evening we will be driving to Bath
Me, Sharon, Jackie & David
Marvellous hosts and a great, relaxing couple of days. in south-west England where we will stay for either one or two nights. Either way we will be dropping our car off somewhere on the western outskirts of London on Wednesday morning before catching the tube into the city centre - I don't fancy sitting in traffic for four hours.
Until next time, thanks for reading.
Matt & Sharon
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