Fireworks!

We had learned from a street vendor that today was the last day of the Edinburgh International Festival (another reason to love this city) which meant that there would be fireworks launching from the castle tonight. (Fireworks!!) So of course after we made our way back to the apartment, had dinner, and started settling in for the night, we forgot all about them. That is, until Candy heard them start. I was already in my PJ's, but I grabbed a sweater and we followed her out the door. We had to trek down a few blocks before we caught a glimpse of them. We watched for a few minutes and then they suddenly stopped. Candy wasn't convinced they were over, so we continued on, just to see if there was a better view beyond the next building. Then we heard them start again...and we did get that (slightly) better view. It was so odd to us that there would be 5 or 10 minute breaks between clusters of fireworks. When we thought that we must have seen the finale, we started back to the apartment (me in my PJ's), but as we were walking we heard even more fireworks...and then a few more.  I think I was almost asleep back at the apartment when we heard the last of them.  It was a great nighttime stroll!

Prepping for fireworks at the castle

(The next morning we saw in the paper that there was a concert that went along with the fireworks, which explained the odd timing)

~Sara

I love this city

We have enjoyed the cozy little apartment we are staying in. It is just outside of old town, where Edinburgh Castle is located. And that is where we were heading today. I immediately liked the vibe in this city, or at least this neighborhood. There is a huge variety of restaurants, coffee shops and newsstands all interspersed with historic looking churches and tattoo parlors. We found some amazing coffee, and then took the bus to old town. We ended up on royal mile where you can find all things Scottish (for us tourists) and a few diamonds in the rough in the form of local artisans. We took our time strolled around the shops, had lunch in a pub and then made our way to the castle (yes a castle!).

Browsing the Royal Mile

The Edinburgh Castle is perched impressively at the top of Castle Rock overlooking the city. In fact it looks as if the massive stone walls grew or erupted out of the rock rather than being built. Spiraling out of the mountain like Minas Tirith.  The Scottish Crown Jewels (The Honours) are on display there, as well as various military museums and memorials. The oldest building on site was a small chapel built around 1130.

Edinburgh Castle

rock or walls?

time to pull out the big guns

Candy is thinking of enlisting

Candy and Shawn make pretty good sentries

While the castle was interesting, the most impressive thing to me was the 360 degree views of the city.

Views of a beautiful city

Also....look at that sky!

On the way back to catch our bus we came across a street performer from Australia that might have stuck around after this ...or maybe not, but there were tricks and jokes and we were entertained.  On the way back I also fell in love with these, apparently I have expensive taste...even for wellies.  :)

~Sara

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Edinburgh

Unintentional Geocaching at Hadrian's Wall

After an excellent stay at the String of Horses Inn in Faugh, we set out eastward along Hadrian's Wall (yet another World Heritage Site).  The wall was built by the Romans in the second century A.D. to keep the unconquerable Picts in Scotland and marked the Northwestern extreme of the Roman Empire.  It was quite a feat spanning the entire width of the island from coast to coast over 80 miles.  It was also built along some of the most forbidding ridge lines in the region adding both to its security and difficulty to build.

Mom at Hadiran's Wall

After exploring a couple sections of the wall we came to an area called Cawburn Pass.  The Romans built milecastles every mile along the length of the wall, Cawburn has the ruins of one such outpost (Milecastle 42).  We hiked about half a kilometer to the wall.  There are gaps in the wall which we learned were due to quarrying of rock throughout the centuries, often removing the entire ridge that the wall was set upon.  But in areas where the wall still exists it is an impressively strong structure considering it has been exposed to the soggy, windy climate of the borderland moors for almost two millenia without maintenance.

Geocache at milecastle 42.

While at Cawburn, Mom noticed something lodged up under the wall.  I investigated and discovered that the English Heritage Trust had planted a geocache in the milecastle.  We opened it and found a booty of pirate related trinkets.  We left a note in the log and carefully placed it back under the wall (probably a tad more camouflaged than before).

Twice Brewed Inn and Pub

After Cawfield, we made a brief stop at the Housesteads Fort near a town called Twice Brewed (we couldn't resist stopping for lunch at the Twice Brewed Pub), before heading north for Scotland.  We arrived at the border by mid afternoon, just in time to see some strange guy back his car through traffic, so he could park it on the sidewalk next to the "Welcome to Scotland" marker and get a picture of it (it wasn't even that nice of a car) with the sign.  After waiting for him to clear out, we took a few pictures ourselves and headed for Edinburgh, where we arrived at our rented flat just in time to grab some fish and chips takeout and watch the season premier of Doctor Who on BBC-1!

Welcome to Scotland!

~Shawn

Enter the Dales

Our journey continued north and we stayed in a little town called Ilkley last night so we would be set to see the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District today. We got lucky, in that we stayed in a great little inn called the Dalesway Hotel.  Ian, the keeper, was full of suggestions on sites to see and gave excellent directions.

At his suggestion we started out at the ruins of Bolton Priory built in the 12th century and home to an order of Augustinian Canons. That is until Henry VIII forcefully closed the monasteries when he broke with the Catholic church. Apparently, the Duchy of Devonshire acquired much of its property (including that of the Priory) and wealth by supporting Henry in this endeavor.

From there our route continued through the dells with some beautiful scenery and quaint villages and some very narrow roads.  In one of these villages we were told to go to the Wensleydale Creamery for a cheese tasting.  This turned out to be excellent advice as we were able to sampled at least 25 different cheeses, and all were good...some were amazing.  We continued heading north and next stopped at the Station Inn for lunch and a great view of the Ribblehead Viaduct which was built in the 1800s and has 24 arches.

Just as we were on our way again, the clouds began to come in, and while most of the rain held off, our afternoon in the Lake District was a little damp.  Still beautiful though!

~ Sara
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Ilkley, Yorkshire

Picture post

It seems that every day of our journey, just gets better. I don't think I will ever get tired of lush green hills crossed with hedge rows and spotted with sheep. The day started with rain, but sun soon followed and then...well then this...

~ Sara

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Peak District

Looking for Mr. Darcy

Being a fan of Jane Austen, when I learned that Chatsworth, the home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, was her inspiration for Pemberley the Darcy estate in Pride and Prejudice, and also when this same estate was used as the film location for Pemberley in the 2005 film version of the book.  I just had to go, and thankfully I was able to talk Shawn and Candy into it too.

Driving up to the hundred plus acres of farmland, we realized that the locals were preparing for a country fair.  I recognized the house immediately, and it was just as grand as I expected it to be. We had a picnic lunch (pb&j) and headed over to tour a few of the gardens. The gardens were lovely and I found it interesting that there were many modern sculptures alongside the traditional statues. This is a reflection of the contemporary tastes of the Duke and Duchess.

When we toured the house (which took some time because it is massive) there were also many contemporary pieces of art along side Victorian portraits. The most impressive part of the house to me, was that the ceilings were painted...almost all of them, with massive baroque style scenes. All in all, upon seeing Chatsworth, I felt like Elisabeth Bennett when she first saw Pemberley, without of course the regret of knowing it could have all been mine had I accepted Mr. Darcy's proposal.

~Sara

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Chatsworth (aka Pemberly)

The Oldest Hotel Room

We have a lot of Marriott rewards points, so in finding places to stay in Britain, I looked over the list of potential Marriott’s that might work.  One of the options was Breadsall Priory in Derbyshire.  This hotel was in a perfect location to launch our exploration of the Peak District and I was intrigued by its claim as Oldest Marriott Property in the World. 

Breadsall Priory.  That's our room right above the door.

15th century stonework in our room.

We arrived around 8 after our drive from Brecon Beacons.  After checking in Sara and Mom made friends with a very animated and knowledgeable porter who told them the history of the building (and even gave us a book about it).  While not the first Marriott, it occupies a building that dates back to about 1250 as a Priory of the Austin Canons (a monastic-like group).  The building has been added to numerous times through the years, such that the older parts are buried by the additions.  There are actually only two places where the oldest parts of the building can still be seen.  One is a doorway in the conference center that dates to the original 1250 structure.  The second are two exposed masonry pieces that date back to the 15^th century, and they just happen to be located in room 202 (our room)! Very cool!

Darwin Pet Cemetery.

We also learned that one of the past owners of the house was Dr. Erasmus Darwin, the grandfather of Charles Darwin.  One of the interesting features of the Darwin Family's ownership of the property was that they started a cemetery for their pets, which is still visible today.  Thursday morning we wandered the property and came across this cemetery and also took dozens of pictures of the Priory and grounds.  I which we had more time to explore this place, I would definitely stay here again!

~Shawn