What a day of contrasts. This morning we started out from our hotel on the outskirts of Chester, next to a wheat field. Tonight we are sitting in the bar of the Ramada Jarvis in Edinburgh and from our room we can look out towards the castle which is subtly flooded in washes of colour. But more about that in a minute. First off... the day that was.
It was a very long drive today... parts of it beautiful and interesting but nonetheless very long and one of the reasons why we really didn't want to do four weeks on a coach trip. Our first stop was the city of Chester and we got the chance to mooch around the town, walking the city walls, viewing the excavation of the Roman amphitheatre and the Roman gardens. On one of the city gates we saw a clock installed to mark the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria. The church in Chester is now the seat of the diocese.. apparently it made the transition from abbey to Anglican very easily during the English reformation. It dates back to the 10th century in part and they are doing an archeological dig in the grounds and have found Roman artifacts as well as medieval ones.. Just so old!!!! This was our only morning stop. it would be two and a half hours to our next stop so Chris satisfied his desire for a Cornish pastie from the west Cornwall pasty shop. After all we were only about 300 miles as the crow flies from Cornwall! It was yum:)
The dulcet tones of Johnathon's voice lulled most of the bus off to sleep as he recounted the history of the area in minute detail and we snoozed on the motorway. But then it was wakey time as we entered the Lakes district. Unfortunately it was misty and raining, but it didn't spoil the view. Lake Windemere, the largest of the lakes is really a glacier cirque and the scenery is breathtaking... verdant green hills, miles of dry wall fencing, sheep, small farmhouses built in slate style material. Lunch stop was at Grasmere, home and burial place of William Wordsworth and his family.
He is said to have been a parishioner at the church of St Oswald in Grasmere and is buried in the church cemetery. It is also Coleridge country, but those of you who know Liz well would know that that is not a particularly strong selling point!!!!! Grasmere is a tiny little place and there were at least 3 tourist buses all trying to get fed so we found a little place on the far end of town and settled for a hearty chicken soup. On such a cold wet day it was good... and we reminded ourselves that this is indeed summer.Back on the coach and our next stop was a very kitsch shopping complex at Gretna Green - tartan and cashmere laid on!!!! A bit over the top for our liking, but it was good to stretch the legs before the final two hour haul into Edinburgh.
The traffic and the people in the heart of Edinburgh was just overwhelming!!! We couldn't even stop outside our hotel, they had to unload us around the corner. But position, position, position!!! Some of the tour went to a Scottish night tonight but we decided to just take in life in Edinburgh. We had tea in a pub and then headed off towards the castle to walk the royal mile. It was too late for us to see Adam Hills at the Ed Fringe so we just wandered and enjoyed the street performers and mooched in the shops. Chris decided that he wanted to wait at the top of the Royal Mile to watch the massed bands come down from the castle at the end of the tattoo tonight and so we did. Watched the fireworks and then down came the performers.. great atmosphere and it made us so excited that we are actually going to the tattoo tomorrow night.. Yeah!!!!!!! So now at nearly midnight it is off to bed again... gosh. If only we didn't have to sleep:)
Awesome!
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