Casa Grande, AZ
Our last travel day took us traveling north where we saw Bassenthwaite Lake, the only lake in the expensive Lake District and Penrith where the last battle on English soil was fought. We also discovered the stone circles and henges.
Anita had told us that the weather near Hadrian's Wall was usually the worst in Great Britain but once again the weather gods were with us.
Hadrian's Wall was the Roman border with the barbaric country of Picts to the north. We saw Birdoswald Fort and then travelled back and forth between Roman Britain and Scotland.
Our bus stopped along the narrow road and backed into a clearing. Anita wanted to celebrate our arriving in Scotland.
Well there's a reason I didn't get the group photo of everyone as we entered Scotland. Anita had a bottle of Scotch to toast our journey. She also had Iron Bru for a non-alcoholic drink. She told us Iron Bru outsells Coke.
The next stop was Gretna Green, the home of the run-away marriages. If anyone is a fan of Downton Abbey, you'd love this place. There was a wedding just finishing up when we arrived.
I was told that, Wellsburg, WV served as the Gretna Green for the Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland areas at one time in it's history and had taxis that would pick up couples who wanted a quick wedding and take them to individuals who were licensed to perform marriages for a fee.
What a fun and happy place this was. Bagpipes were playing everywhere.
After our stop in Gretna Green we travelled to Moffat. It was Sunday and we had a traditional Sunday lunch in a hotel. There was roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, and veggies. We were both stuffed but somehow managed to "lick the plate clean" when our bread and butter pudding and custard was served for dessert.
I do believe a few people took a nap on the bus after that meal. Edinburgh was our next stop and the Hilton Edinburgh Carlton was our last hotel of the tour. It is located in central Edinburgh on the Royal Mile.
After we arrived, Anita led a walking tour of the area. Needless to say everyone went on the tour. Anita led us for a walk along South Bridge, Chambers Street, George VI Bridge and onto the Royal Mile. We decided to return to the hotel and just veg the rest of the evening as there was a lot on the schedule for the following day. We must have been tired as there was a Wetherspoon's pub nearby. It served as our "come down" location.
Turtle Safely.......
Casa Grande, AZ
Anita, our program director, had told us about the Lake District while we had other discussions about the United Kingdom during our tour. She lives in the Lake District.
Our journey went through Yorkshire Dales and we stopped for a break in the town of Skipton where we had time to visit the market.
Our next discovery experience was a stop at a local farm. Roger, our host, was there to greet the bus. We had to wear surgical style booties before we could step off the bus.
Roger demonstrated how his dog herded the sheep. We'd seen a sheep dog work sheep in New Zealand before, but this dog knew what she was suppose to do when she saw the bus pull in. Roger didn't really have to do much, his different whistles told the dog what he expected her to do.
Roger also showed us where and how they milked the cows. Once again nothing like what is required of the Shamrock Dairy near Casa Grande.
Another experience was a traditional ploughman's lunch in the hay barn. I can't remember everything in the boxed lunch but there was a salad and a meat pie.
We had to clean our booty covered shoes by stepping on a disinfectant type mat by the bus step. Anita pulled off our shoe coverings as we entered the bus.
Everyone was back on the bus and Anita said she had another surprise for us. We rode over to the town where Anita lives. When the bus stopped, she told us to cross the street and enter the tea shop.
Anita said we couldn't come to Great Britain without having a real cream tea. Each table was set with a wonderful sconce and cream. It took us a while before we figured out that this was Anita's daughter, Sara, that was our host. Mother and daughter do look alike.
We arrived at our next hotel, The Swan at Grasmere, which was our favorite. Anita told us she'd do a walking tour of the area in a half hour. Everyone on tour joined in. This is one area, I wish we would have had more time to explore.
Anita showed us the burial place for William Wadsworth and the St. Oswald Church built in the 9th century.
Robert was our guest speaker before our included lamb dinner. He gave a very interesting talk on dry stone wall fences. The fences were made of stone from clearing the pasture lands. No wonder they last a thousand years.
That's what one typical day on this tour was like. Hopefully, I can finish up our time in Scotland blog in the next couple of days.
We had such a great time, that we've booked another trip in a little over a month. The price was ridiculously cheap for a river cruise and I've been watching the sales on the Romance of the Rhine and Mosel and knew it was time to book it. Bill thinks I just wanted some more of that French wine we had on the Paris to Normandy river cruise. I must say with the included wine and beer the waiters never let your glass get past half full. This trip will take us from Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, France, Luxembourg and ends in Switzerland.
Turtle Safely.......
Casa Grande, Arizona
The following morning our bus took us to Whitby. The drive took us through the beautiful North York Moors National Park. You'd think we'd be tired of the beautiful scenery but we weren't.
Our first stop in town was the Whitby Abbey. Anita had advised everyone to bring a jacket as the Abbey is up on a bluff overlooking the sea. She was right and it was windy but sunny.
Once again Anita showed us how to avoid paying to pee. I'm happy to say we never paid the entire tour.
We had an audio tour of the Abbey museum before going outside to view the actual site of the Abbey. The Abbey was built in the 7th century. The view of the North Sea and the village below were spectacular. Hard to believe how well this was constructed back in 657 AD by the Saxons.
The Abbey sits on a bluff that has 199 steps to the village. Lucky for us the bus left us off at the Abbey.
The village people used to carry the caskets up these 199 steps to the Abbey for burial.
There is also a footpath if you don't take the steps, but the steps are much easier.
I think everyone immediately fell in love with the quaint whaling town of Whitby. We walked down the steps into the village and had some time before our lunch to visit the shops. Whitby is famous for Jet Black jewelry that Queen Victoria loved and the shops were full of it.
I wish I had taken photos of our lunch restaurant. Anita had told us this would be our best fish and chips ever. Once again, she was right! The place was called Trenches. On a big chalkboard was the name of the fisherman that caught the fish and also the farmer who supplied the potatoes for the day. It was absolutely the best fish I've ever had. I did try the Yorkshire mushy peas, but I can live without them, but at least I tried them.
After our group lunch the bus picked us up and drove back through the National Park. Our next stop was a tour of the Castle Howard. How do you possibly describe the size of this castle?
I was happy that Bill took this photo of the fountain while we were still inside the castle as they turned off the water at 3 pm because of the drought.
This room had Ruben and Gainsborough paintings among many others.
Bill asked the same question he's asked in every castle--"How did they accumulate so much wealth." He got the same reply. "They married well."
There was a room that showed how they filmed Brideshead Revisited.
That's how we spent a typical day while we were in York.
Now you know why I didn't have time to blog at all while we were in the UK. I must confess, that England, Scotland and Wales wouldn't have been my first pick of countries to visit but since it was on sale and Bill is Welsh we went. Now that I can sit back and reflect on it, I'm so glad we toured it. It's one place I could go back to.
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Casa Grande, Arizona
Playing catch up on our England, Scotland, and Wales trip.
I forgot to mention one town we stopped to visit while in Wales. The name of the town is Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwymdrobwillantysiliogogogoch. I never ever wrote one word that stretched across the page and didn't leave room for the period. Needless to say it has the distinction of being the longest name of a town in the world.
After we left the Caernarfon Castle and Snowdonia, Wales we had a travel day to York. The bus stopped in Chester and Anita led us on a discovery walk of the city and the city walls. As we were walking across the walls she was greeted by John an artist that was painting some beautiful portraits. The one he was working on, was being to sent to someone in the states.
We knew there was a big dinner scheduled when we arrived in York, so Bill and I had ice cream for lunch. I know the butter in the UK is so much better than what we have in the states, just imagine how good the ice cream was.
We enjoyed the beautiful day eating our ice cream and listening to music on every corner. Musicians were playing everything from violins and keyboards to singers singing. The people were just standing in the square listening to them.
Sadly, we left that town too quickly, but York was calling. Anita took us on a walk of the city before our included dinner. Our hotel, the Radisson Park Inn, was said to be the only purpose built hotel. It was our least favorite because it had very modern furniture. The toilet was square! Have you ever sat on a square toilet seat? The hotel dinner was great and the wine was very nice.
The following morning Anita led us in a different direction to the York Minster. Sister Linda was our local guide and you needed a guide in this cathedral. The Great East Window is the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world. It's hard to describe how large 76 feet of stained glass covering 1,680 feet is. It was created in 1408 by John Thornton of Coventry. Americans think 200 years is old in this country.
Molly Pinner had told us to make sure we visited the Shambles and the Railway Museum. We enjoyed walking through the Shambles. We had the whole afternoon to explore so we walked around the town.
The next thing I knew, Bill was walking up the steps of the Mansion. The Mansion is directly across the river from our hotel.
Bill really enjoys all this wealth these people have.
The next thing we found was the York Museum. What a find it was. This museum was used to house prisoners many years ago.
Part of the museum upstairs had little rooms depicting a certain time period.
When we went downstairs it was a replica of a village.
There was of course old cars and don't ask me what kind or date.
If we'd have seen this in the states we would have remarked about the cobblestone streets, but after walking on them everywhere, it was something if you had a smooth sidewalk.
There was a section on the war that was very well done.
When you were finished in that section you walked through the gift shop and into another wing. It's a good thing I remembered that as the second section was even better than the first.
It was all about the prisoners that were there. Each cell had a video playing telling the story.
There was another section depicting the 60's that we liked.
Now we've been gone from the hotel since 8:30 am. Walking everywhere in the town since our guided tour of the Minster. I never expected the York Castle to have so many exhibits and we spent much more time than expected. We walked back in the direction of the railway museum and we both stopped in front of a very nice looking Italian restaurant that Anita had recommended earlier in one of her walks.
As much as we both wanted to see the Railway Museum, dinner and a glass of wine sounded better. It was nice to have a nice dinner with just the two of us. I don't think I could have walked any further than across the bridge to our hotel. So much for our afternoon at leisure.
Turtle Safely......
A panoramic tour of Scotland's capital is how we began our adventure in Edinburgh. We traveled along the Royal Mile and I must say the government building was a huge disappointment with its modern architecture. 
My only disappointment of the entire trip was Edinburgh Castle. It wasn't the castle it was all the pushy shovey tourists. There were two cruise ships in town and of course they were limited on time so naturally the Edinburgh Castle was the main attraction in town. 
By the time we returned to the hotel it was almost time to leave for the Prestonfield House. The house was built in 1688 and Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Johnson were guests. 
