UK2011 Golfing

---

Monday 27 June 2011 We finally made it to the little village of Stoke-by-Clare where we are staying at Hope Cottage (only 260 years old). Our trip started with a delay when the plane coming from South Africa to Sydney was held up because of problems with the volcanic ash coming from the South American volcano.
Graham was loading the luggage into the car to head to the Canberra airport when Qantas rang to tell us we had been booked on a 5pm flight to Sydney because the Sydney London flight had been delayed by about 3 hours. Of course there was nothing left in our fridge and the heating had been turned off so we headed to our neighbours house where Noel and Halina looked after us with 5 star accommodation and food for the day.
Had a nice little 24 minute flight to Sydney and then headed to the international terminal and Qantas Club. Finally started boarding at 8.50 and departed at 9.50, just before the 10.00pm Sydney flight curfew kicked in. Arrived at Bangkok International Airport at 3.00am in the morning and the whole place was shut down except for the cleaning staff and a few staff who checked us all back onto the plane after a refuelling stop which took an hour longer than anticipated.
Back on the plane we settled in for the 11-12 hours to London. After a bit of turbulence the food was served and sleep was the order of the day. About 2 hours before landing we put up the window shutters and were treated to great views of the Danube River near Warsaw and the Rhone in Rotterdam. Then we tracked across the English Channel up the Thames and onto Heathrow. Our landing was delayed with no available landing slot for QF1 so we had to circle London and the South East area for about 35 mins waiting to find a landing gap. Great views of London from a Jumbo and an opportunity to take our first photos on the trip. Finally we able to land only to be told that a Finnair Jet was parked in our bay and we would have to wait another 30 minutes for it to load and back out. By then all passengers were over waiting.....anyway after about 15 mins Finnair was pushed out and we finally disembarked. OOps another little problem popped up. ‘Could passengers Graham and Leanne Guymer make themselves known to ground staff to discuss their luggage?’ Imagine what we were thinking. Well it turned out that our golf clubs had been left in Sydney and Qantas needed to arrange for them to be couriered to our B&B. Now that is a trip of just over 2 hours – imagine what that is going to cost them!
So having sorted out that little problem we headed to the bus stop to go across to the hire car company. The bus took ages and in the mean time a bunch of American tourists turned up with heaps of luggage (3 bit suitcases each) on trolleys. One lady accidentally let the trolley run away and it smashed into the bus wiping out its lights and blinkers. Whew that got the bus driver excited! Thank goodness our bus arrived and we left them sorting out who was going to pay for the damage to the bus.
Our car turned out to be a new, blue Hyundai baby – very small but goes well. Headed out to Suffolk on the ring road around London and very quickly realised that 70 miles per hour is the slow lane. No wonder they think Australia is such a backward place with its speed limits! We arrived at Hope Cottage about 4pm and Cecilia and Dave welcomed us with cups of tea out in the garden. It was quite warm (28 degrees hot compared to Canberra). They recommended the local pub, the Cock Inn, for dinner. What a find. The young man who was the chef was really well clued up on gluten free food and although it was Monday Pizza and Pasta night, he offered to cook anything I felt like. Talk about great service. I ordered a GF pizza and it was great! Guess where you will be able to find us eating regularly!!
By now we were exhausted and it was time to go back to Hope Cottage to catch up on a lot of lost sleep. Finally we felt like we were starting our UK Golfing holiday.
Tuesday 28 June
Great weather – spent most of the day waiting for the delivery of our golf clubs. Went into Clare Village late in the afternoon and got caught in a heavy storm for about an hour which resulted in localised flooding. Headed to the pub to dry off and enjoyed another top meal. Returned to the B&B and finally at 10.10pm our golf clubs arrived. Phew – better late than never.
Wednesday 29 June
Spent the morning driving to the villages of Little Thurlow, Great Thurlow, Little and Great Wratting looking at the churches and the village areas where the Guymer’s lived. The churches were large and made of flintstone. There were many headstones around the churches but the old saying ‘etched in stone’ was a bit useless because the stone was soft and all the writing was worn away. (Not that any of this lot could afford a headstone!!)
We then spent the day in the lovely town of Bury St Edmunds researching Guymer family history. This town is so old. This is where the Magna Carta was signed in 1066. Found records of Guymers dating back 1740’s but one of the Guymer’s married a woman called Mary Anne Bentley and we found that her family went back to the 1600’s. The Bury St Edmund Record Office were really helpful and we were there for the whole afternoon. After spending some time walking around the ruins and the gorgeous flower gardens inside the city ruins we headed back to our favourite pub and B&B.
Thursday 30 June
Spent today in the university city of Cambridge. This place is so lovely and of course dates back to the 1500’s when King Henry VI established the place as a University. We headed to St Johns College to take a photo of Graham at the front gates (his College at Uni of Qld was St Johns). There were learnt that most of the colleges were closed to the public for three days because it was Graduation Week. We were treated to all the parents dressed in top hats, coats and tails, lovely outfits for the graduation ceremonies. The students had white fur trim on their black gowns – looked much more stylish than our Uni of Canberra graduation robes.
We then went to Kings College Cathedral which just blew us away. It has an amazing interior Fan Arched roof which took about 90 years to build because of its size and intricacy. We were treated to a Choir session by the Kings College Boys Choir – the voices were so amazing- many of the senior boys were wearing their graduation gowns and their proud parents sat with us in the Cathedral seats.
Then we headed to the library where Graham checked some more family records. I went to the shops for a bit of retail therapy. He managed to find some good information and on the way back to Clare we drove via Castle Camps to see where a few of the Guymer’s lived. It was amazing to see that this area was a medieval village dating back to Roman times. We could have spent a lot more time there getting a better understanding of the history of the area. Also need to check the Ward history as we think they have also lived in this area.
Friday 1 July
A golf day. Set off early for Haverhill golf course – thought being a Friday it would be quiet WRONG!!. Got there to find the PGA were running a ProAm with a field of 175 players. The Proshop were ever so helpful and said to come back for 18 holes at 4pm with a discounted rate. Now it is not dark here until 10pm so that worked out well. Course was in fantastic condition and we played well.
To fill in the hours before 4pm we went up to Bury St Edmunds again to check more church records in the Bury records office. On this visit we found the Guymers featuring in the Parish records receiving money from the Parish in 1791. We need to understand more about these payments but think they may be the equivalent of the now old age pension. Looks like it was the older generation (referred to as Dame Guymer) getting money to survive and receive medical help. The medical person helping Dame Guymer received money for this treatment. Robert Guymer received 4 shilloings to buy a spade. It seems he was a farm labourer and she was paid for doing farm duties for the parish. Another record showed her receiving 3 shillings to have her shoes mended. Thank goodness the financial situation improved over the years!!
We then headed back to Haverhill Golf Course where we had a great round of golf. Being the ProAm day, the course was in perfect condition and the greens were quite fast. – It was a great day all round.
Saturday 2 July
Set off for Newmarket to visit the birth place of horse racing in England (and I think the rest of the world). Luck was on our side today as we were able to go into the Rowley Racecourse to see where they run the Rowley Mile (the 2000 Guineas). The Morgan car club in England was holding a car rally for old Morgan sports cars at the racehorse. We were not sure whether only the Morgan club had access to the race course but we strolled through the gates and had a great time going through all areas within the race course. We were able to take photos from all parts of the grand stand and took a photo looking up the straight. It is a straight track (not circular like in Australia) but runs 1200 metres up a straight past the grandstand. We could not believe how much turf surrounds this amazing race track. All beautifully manicured and very green, at a guess well over a thousand hectares of grass (2-3 golf courses). This was just one race course. On the other side of Newmarket there is another area known as The Gallops. This is the English term for a training facility. Again, unbelievable areas of green grass covering three hills with a road up the centre. The hole area is mowed, with starting barriers, training tracks and vast areas for galloping. Then the area is surrounded by horse studs that are obviously for the well heeled with lots of money.
Racing in Newmarket was setup by King Charles 2nd in the 1600’s. There are in excess of 5000 thoroughbreds registered in the Newmarket area. Newmarket is surrounded by horse studs, training facilities, big mansions - all worth many millions. Some owned by the Arabs and at least one by the Queen. There is still a lot of money in racing in the UK.
We then started back to our B&B but just happened to find a little 9 hole golf course. We pulled in for a look and even though it was 6.30pm they offered us 9 holes. So off we went to the car, got out the clubs and had a great time on the tricky little course.
To complete a great time in Suffolk we went back to our favourite Pub (The Cock). The food had been awesome and it turned out to be another night of great food. We thanked everyone at the pub and returned to the B&B only to find we had been locked out. We sat in the car waiting for the owners to return. The neighbours noticed we were locked out and they invited us in for a cup to tea. What a lovely idea and we ended talking and drinking coffee until after midnight. We really enjoyed ourselves and reluctantly left to hit the sack after a very long day.
Sunday 3 July
Our last day in Suffolk. We loved Suffolk – the villages were beautiful and we have lots of photos. The thatched roof houses were gorgeous we had to stop taking photos after the first couple of days.
Before leaving Suffolk the B&B owner convinced us to drive to the Suffolk coast before heading down to Kent. After a 2 hour drive we ended up at Southwold where there were thousands of people enjoying the hot 22 degrees sunshine.
The beach was typically British with a pier, colourful little beach cottages lining the beach (just like Portsea in Victoria). It was not your Aussie beach – no surf, little sand but lots of POMS enjoying themselves. We departed for Kent but had one final family history lead to follow up. One branch of Leanne’s family came from Chelmsford and we had to find George Street in Moulsham, Chelmsford.
No one in Suffolk had heard of Moulsham so that was an issue. We ended of putting George Street into the “Tom Tom” not knowing whether it would be the old George street dating back to the early 1800’s or a much more recent version of “George Street”. As it turned out it was the very old version and we were able to tick another box in the family history saga. The area was tired and run down with only a pub and a car park on the tiny little George Street site. We walked up the hill and found the old church where Robert Thomas Ward and Ester Emery were married. It was typical stone Georgian church and we have some great photos. Job done, it was time to drive on to the St Crispin Inn, Worth, near Dover on the South East Coast.
Monday 4 July
Today we played golf at Royal Cinque Ports in beautiful summer weather 25 degrees. Cinque Ports is a typical links course and the Queen is the President. Talk about toffs at this place!! We had a great round of golf. The fairways were hardening up and the balls were doing huge bounces when they landed. Apparently links courses are supposed to be like that, hard and dry with lots of rough, wind and tough, fast greens. I had a net 72 but the CCR for ladies was 73 so I was one under my handicap on a course where they once played the British Open. Graham also played well and had a net 76.
The greens were small and the pot bunkers were everywhere. My first bunker was scary – it had a 4 metre high wall in front and I thought how am I ever going to get out of this dam thing? So I opened up the club face and wacked the crap out of it and can you believe it – the ball sailed up over the bunker wall and up the fairway. I was thrilled with the result!! Graham also had a few interesting shots out of the bunkers with one landing right beside the pin. He had a par on the hardest hole on the course from a green side bunker.
It was a great day of golf and we finished with lunch up in the Members Dining room. Two ladies came over and chatted. They asked us where was our home course etc. and were very nice. Of course there was a group of Committee men in their suits, ties etc having lunch. We were amazed at the names of the club patrons, presidents etc including the Duke of Wales, the Queen and a bunch of other Lords !! Then it was time to head off and get back to reality.
We headed up to the town of Sandwich where they are hosting this year’s British Open starting next Thursday. The place is like tent city with huge tents being erected everywhere. We wandered through the little streets and old town square. The shops are full of interesting things to buy and I bought a nice pair of sandals. We ended up on the old walled seafront area in Deal and had a huge bowl of yummy, steamed garlic mussels for dinner. And so ended another great day on holiday.
Tuesday 4th July
Day 2 of the serious golf. Today we headed to Princes Golf Course. It is right beside Royal St Georges and as were walking along the course boundaries we were able to check out the workers preparing the fairways, greens and stands for the Open.
Princes is another great links style golf course. The front 9, called Shores was fantastic. It had some of the prettiest greens we’ve seen to date , lots of pot bunkers and flat fairways. The back 9, called Dunes, was a lot tougher than the first 9. You could not see the bunkers that were hidden in the swales in the middle of the fairways and sometimes it seemed unfair when a great shot disappeared only to be found in hidden fairway bunker. Graham had exactly the same score as yesterday and I was 3 shots worse. We were both pleased with the results cause the wind blew on the back nine making it a lot tougher.
After finishing we headed up to the Members Dining Room. It was the most beautiful room we have ever seen on a golf course. Every side looked out over the sea and the fairways and it was decorated so nicely. Of course the Prince of Wales was also the President of this club – he gets around!
After some yummy food we hopped in the little car to drive past Royal St Georges and back to our hotel. On the way we noticed a few people walking on Royal St Georges and a few of the qualified players practising. We decided to walk over and see who it was. Blow me down if it wasn’t Ernie Ells and a group practising for next week. We watched them for a bit and then noticed another player and his caddie coming down the 8th. Graham said the guy is walking like Phil Mickelson and guess what he was right. It was Phil with his caddy, Bones. So we walked up to where he was teeing off, stood and listened to them discussing how to approach the hole. Then he lined up the shot and hit a great drive that ended in the middle of the fairway. After he finished he turned to us and said hello and thanked us for coming out to watch. We were thrilled and thanked him. We then followed him to the next hole and as he walked past us he again chatted to us about the lovely weather and said he hoped it was going to stay like that for the Open. We chatted on for a bit and then he and Bones walked off the course. Considering he did not have to say anything it made our day – and we got some awesome photos as well. As we headed back to the car we couldn’t help but think that it had turned out to be a terrific day at golf. The rumour mill is saying that Rory will be practising tomorrow.
Hope you enjoy reading the tales to date – tomorrow we are going to spend the day in Canterbury. A rainy, cooler weather front arrived tonight and heavy rain is predicted so it might be a good time to have a rest from golf and spend some time enjoying Canterbury Cathedral .
Travel update 2
Wednesday 5th July
Today is a rest day from golf and a day touring in Canterbury and Sandwich. After another big English breakfast we set sail for Canterbury. We were early enough to find a central car park not far from the city and cathedral and discovered the camera battery was flat and the second camera was in the B&B. Big mistake! No option but to return to Worth to get the second camera. Lucky it was not too far – about a 50 minute round trip – just annoying having paid a half day parking fee. We were now ready for a tour of Canterbury cathedral which turned out to be well worth the twenty pound entry fee.
We joined a guided tour and received some great historical information that helped us appreciate the magnitude of the historical events that happened in the Cathedral over the years that changed religion in Britain. It turned out archbishop Thomas Abeckett was murdered in 1100 in one of the side chapels by 4 knights on behalf of the king. There are some really graphic details about how his brains hit the floor with the blow from their swords etc - the school kids who were part of the tour were a bit shocked that an assassination had happened right where they stood and three jagged wooden swords identified the spot. Apparently, the pilgrims were paying Abeckett money to hear his religious preachings which were seen as being opposed to the new Church of England religion decreed by the King. This murder happened in the 1500’s and this huge cathedral has been in a continual state of expansion and building for around a thousand years. Then about three hundred years later (after they murdered him), another king reminded pilgrims of how much the monarchy hated Abeckett when the king ordered the smashing of Abeckett’s tomb in the cathedral’s high altar – the spot is now marked with a single candle. Talk about holding a grudge! The Cathedral achieves its purpose and sends a message of the power of the monarch and archbishop. It also has many wonderful works of art, stained glass windows and historical stories that make this place a great visit.
After our dose of history we needed coffee and food and headed into the tiny alleys and lovely shops around the cathedral. Found a great little coffee shop and learnt that the place to go for great local food, including gluten free cakes etc, was up at the railway Goods Shed. So off we headed and what a find it turned out to be. The stall holders were keen to offer samples of salamis, cheeses, olives and wine so we tried them all. We left loaded with little packages, yummy GF cakes and a few bottles of Spanish wine.
Had a look around the shops and found the clothing sizes a bit strange – not for us but we had lots more success at the discount sports shop. As a result, we left there with 2 new golf buggys, balls and a collection of clothes for Graham. Nothing here in the shops for female golfers!
Thursday 6th July
Ah another morning of English bacon and eggs. Mike the pub owner started to tell us about his favourite parkland golf course Chart Hills. He was so keen for us to play the course (designed by Nick Faldo and is in the top 100 courses), that he insisted on ringing and making a booking for us. So we got the gear and headed up the road towards Maidestone, Kent, to find this course. It was about an hour’s drive and the course turned out to be a great experience. Faldo had designed the 18 holes to be similar to great holes around the world and he had even incorporated a par 3 with an island green just like the par 3 at TPC Sawgrass in the US. It was a great course and we left there exhausted, but pleased we had a terrific afternoon of golf.
Friday 7th July
Today we farewelled Mike and the St Crispin Inn. We headed in the direction of London to Stephen and Karen’s house in East Sheen, Richmond, via the White Cliffs of Dover National Park and Dover Castle.
The morning weather was unpleasant – grey, windy and squally showers. Walking on the Cliffs of Dover in a howling gale is bracing to say the least. We enjoyed walking the cliffs and watching the Dover ferries leaving and arriving.
Headed up to the Castle and had a great time checking out the reconstructed rooms etc. We also learnt that there had been a castle on site to protect Britain since the year 187. There was still an old Roman Lighthouse there dating back to that time – those Romans were busy expanding their empire everywhere! Also did a new Dunkirk exhibition down in the Castles secret tunnels. It turns out that they had 5000 men hidden underground here to protect England in WW2. Also this was where they planned the evacuation of over 180,000 British soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk.
After spending a few hours at the Castle it was time to head to London – a trip that we thought would take just over an hour but we had underestimated how heavy the traffic heading into London was going to be. It took closer to 3 hours and we were exhausted when we finally arrived at Stephen and Karens. Graham was sick of driving and luckily the seafood restaurant in East Sheen was only a five minute walk.
Saturday 8th July
Super weather with a slow start to the day. Went to the Waitrose super market to get our supplies for the evening concert at Kew gardens. Thousands of people were lined up at the Lion’s Gate at 5pm with deck chairs, picnic hampers and lots of champagne to see Brian Ferry who was highly entertaining. Fireworks ended the show and it was still twilight at 10pm. We had a great night which finished in the early hours of Sunday morning. Good thing we were not driving as there 4 empty bottles of wine left in the recycling.
Sunday 9th July
Visit to catch up with Paul and Charlene – very slow start to the day after our big night out. Three of us headed out and left Karen behind to rest up. Steve was the navigator and Graham the driver. The traffic was horrendous and 2 and a half hours later we arrived at Paul’s place. We enjoyed lunch at the local Turkish restaurant and returned to Paul’s to drink bubbles and eat strawberries in the London sunshine. The kids were having a great time playing in the back yard with us.
It was soon time to say goodbye and deal with the traffic all over again as we headed back to Steven and Karens. This time the trip took us around the perimeter of the city of London and that was interesting. Traffic better but it still took us one and half hours.
Monday 10th July
Golf at Richmond Park Golf club – Steve had a day off work and we had a great day golfing at Richmond Park GC. Then headed back to prepare for the final summer concert at Kew Gardens which featured the old 70’s rocker, Blondie. She was great and the crowd loved joining in and singing the old songs.
Tuesday 11th July
Hampton Court Palace – Graham and I spent the day at the palace. It was so well set up to explain the history and times of King Henry VIII, 6 of his wives and how they lived at that time. Again it turned into an excellent history lesson. Afterwards we went shopping in the high street in East Sheen Richmond and found a nice treat for the grandchild (later this year).
Wednesday 12th July
Farewelled Stephen and Karen and drove to Brighton, a famous English beach place with a lovely old pier and lots of seaside restaurants. As expected it was quite different to our beaches but there were lots of people enjoying being at the sea. They seem to like mussels, eels and sardines and we tried some fish soup at an award winning shop and we rated it as 2 out of 10. They headed off to our BB&B in Dover to prepare for the next day at the British Open. Found a great restaurant for dinner which had 16 day old aged steak- it was fantastic.
Thursday 13th July
The first day of the British Open Golf. It was a very early 5.00am start and the weather was very windy and cold. We were on the first bus in from the park and ride car park about 15 mins drive away from the venue. We walked in the gates at 6.00pm and headed up to see Nathan Green tee off in the first group. After grabbing some coffee we headed up to the grand stand to watch them all at the first tee. It was really freezing but the golf was really entertaining. We saw five chip ins on the first hole (including John Daly).
Moved on to follow Matt Miller (Canberra golfer) for a while as well and then found a great spot at the 8th green where we saw the first of the hole in ones. These guys are such good golfers. Saw Adam Scott, Aron Baddely and Geoff Ogilvy all trying their best but of course others were doing a bit better. Jiminez was fantastic and so was “old” Tom Watson. By 5 o’clock we were exhausted and it was time to do a bit of souvenier shopping ant the official tent and return to Dover. We felt so lucky to have been part of a great day of golf at the Open. Also, as it turned out the weather may have been cold but there was worse to come in the next few days. Grabbed some dinner and headed to the B&B for sleep.
Friday 14 July
Driving from Dover to York – the drive took us about 6 hours arriving mid afternoon. The weather was lovely and we quickly headed to the old city centre to take photos of the York Minster and the old city centre known as “the Shambles”. It is called this because the old houses (about 400 – 500 years old) have bowed walls, in tiny crooked, cobbled streets and it is a great place to enjoy the sights. The Minister (Cathedral) looked splendid in the sunlight and the music of the buskers playing the harpsichord was lovely. We took lots of photos and then had a great Italian meal in one of the old buildings that was part of the shambles. Yummy Italian food and great wine made it a good day.
Saturday 15 July - Day 2 in York
Slept in and listened to the rain tumbling down. Finally got ourselves organised and after a late breakfast walked along the river bank, checked out the old castle grounds and then headed up to the York Museum to learn more of the history of the area. Finished with a tour of the Minster where we were learnt that the Romans had an abbey on this site back in 187AD and the ruins are underneath the existing Minster. Considering there were no cars or tanks 2000 years ago the Romans certainly walked their soldiers a long way to establish the Roman Empire.
Sunday 15 July
Drove from York to St Andrews. Along the way we took the scenic route across the Yorkshire Dales. It was a really beautiful drive. The wheat and barley crops are so heavy with grain heads and the purple, white and yellow wildflowers make the roadside look like one continuous garden.
We took the road to Jedburgh so that we could find the ruins of Hadrian’s Wall which we tried to find on all our previous trips to England but have never found – no time. This time we were on the right track and finally found an area where this famous old Roman wall was still intact. It was in a paddock with lots of sheep as well as some other tourists. After taking a few photos and dodging the rain, we followed the wall to Chester to see the Roman Fort and Baths on the river. By now the river was in flood and we using our golf rain jackets to keep us dry.
The drive was really worth it. The Baths are right by the river and even had underground floor heating. Not bad for 2000 years ago.
We then crossed the border into Scotland and drove to the famous old town of St Andrews which is famous for being the home of golf but also has the very first University in Scotland, an awesome set of Castle and Cathedral ruins, and it is where Wills and Kate went to University.
Our B&B is about 10 mins walk along the seafront to the Cathedral ruins, then onto the town and old St Andrews golf course, as well as the new St Andrews course which is called the new course because it was established in 1896, much later than the old Course.
The place is crawling with American tourists who are all on golf tours that buy up all the old course tee off times. These tee times are guaranteed tee off times for about $3000 per person. The only other way to get a game is to go in the daily ballot. Sadly, I have to report that despite trying the ballot system 6 times, we were unsuccessful. Not to worry cause each day we have played another amazing golf course starting with Carnoustie on Monday, Tuesday was a rest day, Wednesday we played the new Course at St Andrews, Thursday we played Scotscraig, Friday was like we were in golfers heaven at Kingsbarnes where we finished in the twighlight at 9.15pm and Saturday, we played the Torrance Course at the Fairmont Hotel complex. Basically we are golfed out and need a rest. Our feet are exhausted from all the walking.
Like I said Kingsbarnes was awesome – right on the ocean front and the later the day got, the stronger the wind blew. We played with a lovely family from Belgium. The dad caddied for me and took photos of us, (he hates golf and plays tennis) his wife was playing off 14 and the 21 Year old son was off 5. I had an awesome round and shot a 68 so I loved the place. The secret to these courses it to stay straight and out of the bunkers and the rough. The greens seem impossible – it has taken us 5 days to get the speed right and get the putts to drop. They are also huge greens and you can putt from about 20 metres off the green. Also some of the fairways are really wide – sometimes it looks like there is more green grass on the wide fairways than in the whole of Canberra.
Anyway, we have driven to all the little fishing villages, eaten fish and chips, photographed the little tidal harbours and walked away holding our noses from the stinking crab and lobster pots!!
Tomorrow we say farewell to our B&B hosts Bill and Anne who have been wonderful. We are heading further north past Inverness to a little town called Tain to play golf at Royal Dornoch . While we are there we will also be driving to the most northern tip of Scotland called John o Groats where we will catch the ferry to head over to the Orkney Islands.
Photos will be added soon. Taken more than 1000 in the first week, so plenty to choose from....

---