Road Trip

For the beginning of the first week of Lynda and David’s stay, Matt was in Geneva so Lynda, David and I went on a road trip; north to Scotland via The Lake District. Following trusty Tom-Tom we made our way to our first stop – ‘Hill-Top’ in Ambleside, the home of Beatrix Potter, author of the Peter Rabbit Tales, (see photo opposite). Though, to get there Tom Tom lead us to a lake saying ‘Ahead…get on the ferry’! And before we knew it we on a ferry in our car crossing Lake Windermere! Hill Top was so beautifully romantic we felt like we were in the tale with Peter Rabbit, well, Lynda and I did. ☺

We headed north again following the sweeping green hills, lined with stone hedges, to Stirling. After a huge meal at The Portcullis pub, we slept soundly in our hostel right near the castle and next door to The Church of Holy Rude, where Queen Mary of Scots baptised her only son James V1 of Scotland, (who also became James I of England).
Our trip to Stirling Castle was brilliant.(see photos - part of the castle) The castle, the stone hedges, the history was magnificent. David, with his Engineering mind could not stop saying “I just don’t know how they built it!”
From Stirling we travelled due East to Dundee where we met up with Matthew and stayed with him in his hotel, which was a lovely treat. We shared a lovely meal with him and a colleague that night, which also happened to be David and Lynda’s 32nd Wedding Anniversary! While Matt worked the next day, we caught a train to Edinburgh and visited the castle, and walked around the beautiful gardens and shopped! The sun was gloriously shining, with warmth like I’ve never experienced in Scotland before! We saw a beautiful bride in an old car driving to the wedding we assume, and then when we arrived at the castle visiting St Mary’s Chapel, we saw the same bride getting married in that same chapel! Throughout our castle tour, David still commented, “I just don’t know how they built it!” The next day we all travelled back to Manchester from Dundee; about 6 hours drive in torrential rain!

These two photos are at Edinburgh Castle; Lynda and David are on the left. The canon is still shot every day at 1pm.