jumarem

1st July 2012

Hi all

Well we arrived in Cairnryan on the 27th to a beautiful Scottish afternoon. We decided to drive to Ayr about an hour up the coast and spend the night there. It was really beautiful driving along the coastline. Scotland has loads of golf clubs, many of them quite famous and very proper!! We came across the Turnberry Golf Club which was established in 1901 by a golf pro from the very famous Royal Troon Golf Club. We must have arrived just at the right time as there was a bagpiper playing on the steps of the club house....very entertaining and a nice introduction to Scotland.

The following morning we awoke to a not so nice day! It was very overcast and cold. We headed off into the Scottish Highlands and on to Inverness to see Loch Ness and of course the Loch Ness Monster. The drive through the highlands was amazing. The low cloud and the very green mountains were spectacular. We stopped briefly at Loch Lomond for a look around but by then it was raining so we werent there long, just long enough for a few quick snaps.

We arrived late in the afternoon at Drumnadrochit, a little village on the shores of Loch Ness. We were hoping to get accommodation here but unfortunately everything was full so we travelled on to Inverness for the night.

Thankfully, the next day was lovely and sunny. A great day to go out on the Loch in search of Nessie. We took a 1 hr cruise of the Loch, passing the ruins of Urqhart Castle along the way.
Loch Ness is very deep and the water a very deep, dark colour( due to the high peet content in surrounding soil) and on that morning it was like a sheet of glass. After the cruise we visited the souvenir shop where Mark tried out a few different hats...I think he is considering a change of image. Check out the photos and let him know what you think.

So did we see Nessie? Well I will post a couple of photos and you can decide for yourself!!

That afternoon we has planned to travel down as far as Edinburgh to have a night there and explore the city the next day. Unfortunately the weather really started to close in again and by the time we reached our destination the rain was unbelievable. The forecast for the next few days was not good, and as we had limited time left, we decided to keep driving all the way to our next stop which was York in England. We were hoping the weather might be a bit better so we could make the most of our last few days.

We arrived quite late in the evening, had a good nights sleep and woke to a much better day. We headed off into York for a walk down an area of town known as The Shambles. This is the oldest street in Yorkshire and dates way back to the 15th century. This street today is filled with teahouses and lovely little shops but it was once home to more than 26 butcher shops. For someone like me who loves history it is just amazing to see the old two story houses, so crooked that they almost meet in the middle of the street.

After the Shambles we walked through the town and on to Clifford tower, which is the ruins of the keep of a medieval Norman Castle. By this time, as is normal in England, the weather had turned again so we had a quick tour through, walked the wall and took a few photos.

Today we decided to take a drive through the North Yorkshire Moors and on to Whitby and Scarborough on the coast. I have to admit to not really knowing what a moor is until today. I was quite surprised to find it is a large expanse of uncultivated shrubland that in North Yorkshire is covered in Heather. At this time of the year it is just starting to bloom but apparently by mid July it is in full bloom and the moors are an explosion of purple.

We stopped in a little town called Goathland along the way to check out the old steam train that runs along this line. The station is very old but really pretty. It is actually the Hogsmead Station out of one of the Harry Potter movies and also features in other British programs like Heartbeat.

We had a traditional Sunday lunch while we were in Goathland, complete with Yorkshire pudding and then travelled on to Whitby.

Whitby is a very popular coastal town in Yorkshire. It has plenty of narrow little streets full of shops and is famous for its fish and chips. The town was absolutley packed today so we just had a quick look around and then headed to Scarborough.

Scarborough is the town that Simon and Garfunckle sing about in "Scarborough Fair". In medieval times Scarborough was famous for a 45 day long market held every year in August. Merchants from all over the world would come here to trade goods. Today it has a promenade lined with arcade galleries, shops, icecream parlours and fish and chip shops. It is a very pretty town.

After an enjoyable day we headed back to York and tomorrow we will head to London for our last 2 days in the UK before we fly to Hong Kong. We have 3 nights in Hong Kong and arrive back in Sydney on the 8th July.

Hopefully I will get one more blog done before we get home but for now some more pics and I will catch up soon.