Jul 2006

I'll post about the past few days tomorrow, namely because I can't remember the place names because of all the misplaced vowels!

This morning, my Auntie Evelyn, my cousin Fiona and I went to Edinburgh for the day on the train. The train itself takes about 45mins from Glasgow Queen St, and so I got to see much of the countryside between the two cities as well as take a ride on the designed-for-midgets Glasgow Subway. I am officially too tall for that particular form of public transport, as I kept on hitting my head on the roof of the door as I entered the carriages!

Anyway, we arrived in Edinburgh about 10:30 or so and headed for coffee at the coffee shop of the John Lewis for a quick mocha and a great view over the city. From there we hopped on one of those open-topped city sightseeing tours to get our bearings. I've never been on one before, and it was great. So touristy and so wholly tacky, but hey, I think my accent and camera give it away anyway, so there is no point in hiding it!

We went around towards the Castle, passing the Scott Monument, and driving all the way along Princes St in the process. The Castle itself is definitely the highligh for many visits to Edinburgh, and did not disappoint. There is loads to see and we were lucky enough to be there for the 1pm cannon shot, which was suitably impressive. I was also lucky to be there with my very knowledgable Auntie, although I must admit a lot of it passed straight through me as I suffered from sensory overload.

From the castle, we reboarded the bus and headed past Grassmarket, Greyfriars Bobby (the dog that kept a vigil on its masters grave for 14 years), and McEwan Hall towards the Museum of Scotland.

This Museum is IMPRESSIVE! I mean seriously impressive - and very new. You could quite easily spend a lot of time here, as there are 6 full levels of history, and it's particularly great as its Scottish history, not so much English history, which is unusual. A lot of it was completely new to me, given we don't really learn Scottish history in Australia, so again I suffered from sensory overload. The viking and Roman sections were to me the most fascinating.

From there it was back on the bus to the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the Scottish Parliament via Canongate and South Bridge. We stopped first at the Palace, which is one of the Queen's official residence in Scotland. It's quite small by Royal standards, but it gave an excellent audio tour of the history of the Royal Family in Scotland. It's quite a bloody history (Mary Queen of Scots for example, was executed), but definitely fascinating. There were so many dates and identical names (only with a I, II, III etc. afterwards) that I don't think I completely remember it.

Our final stop was the new Scottish Parliament building. It's particularly controversial, looking more like a fancy apartment building that will date quickly, than a Parliament. It was way over-budget and behind schedule, but it demonstrates the level of national self-determination that now exists in post-1997 Scotland. They have complete control over health, education, policing, among other things, but relinquish power to the British Parliament for other issues, such as immigration and trade. It seems they are more a 'services' government, which works quite nicely.

Finally we stopped at an Italian restaurant for an excellent tea and then headed back, arriving in Renfrew at 8:30pm. In hindsight, I think I'd swap the castle and the Palace (in terms of order of visiting) to avoid the queues and crowds, and because the Palace has a better history of (relatively) modern Scotland. Other than that, however, it was fantastic, and I really hope the weather stays this way!!

PS: For photos of Edinburgh, click here

After so many days of city sightseeing, it was fantastic to spend today out in the car exploring the Lochs and scenery to the North West of Renfrew.

We started out driving alongside the River Clyde, across Eskine Bridge (aka Iain's Bridge as it was worked on my Uncle Iain) to Balloch, which is the town at the start of Loch Lomond. We then drove up the western side of Loch Lomond to Crianlarich, then Tyndrum to Glencoe. We stopped at Glencoe for a great lunch and to stretch our legs.

From Glencoe we drove to Castle Stalker (partly submerged in water for part of the day) in Potmacroish by Loch Creran. We then continued onto Loch Awe, home to Ben Cruachen and one of the largest hydroelectric power stations in Scotland. The mountain of Ben Cruachen has loads of tunnels drilled through it allowing water to pass into the Reservoir before dropping 400m in four huge tunnels to provide power to the electric station at the base of the mountain. Quite a feat, and apparently a large minority of Scotland's power is provided this way.

Finally we stopped for tea at the Cruin - a FANTASTIC restaurant near the start of Loch Lomond with views of the Loch and Ben Lomond. I had my first haggis here (which was very tasty by the way - its essentially sausage meat done as a kind of pattie), along with wild salmon in chilli. Mmmmm!

Altogether we visited Loch Lomond, Tulla, Leven, Linnle, Creran, Etive, and Awe! Not too bad for one day!

Tomorrow it's off to Edinburgh, which is the capital of Scotland and home to the world-famous Castle, Royal residence at Holyroodhouse and the Parliament. It's a rugby and kilt-wearing town. On Friday we head into Glasgow, which has taken over from Edinburgh as the heart of modern Scotland, with its industrial and shipbuilding past taken over by finance and a great nightlife. It's definitely a football town, with two of the most popular teams in the world - the Protestant Rangers and Catholic Celtics. Those two teams have some of the most passionate and violent supporters around - and it all stems from Irish politics!

For photos of Loch Lomond, click here

Today I left Warrington early to be in Glasgow at 1:30pm. I got the train as per before, but it was an older train and less crowded - no delays though!

My Auntie Evelyn (who I haven't seen in about 8 years!) came to pick me up from the station and we went all around the local Renfrew area. I got to see where my Dad was born and went to school etc. It looks like they haven't really moved far at all - all within the same suburb really! Kinda like Mums side of the family in Warrington.

Even though I'd only been travelling a little (3 hrs) I was completely stuffed after dinner and spent the rest of the evening in my room tidying up all my bits and pieces. It's amazing how many things you pick up whilst travelling!

As briefly mentioned in yesterday's post I visit Wales today. It was beautiful and so close to Warrington!

We went to Betws-y-Coed, a little hamlet in the North of Wales. It's apparently much nicer than Llandudno, which is the other main tourst place in the north. The weather wasn't fantastic, so we didn't spend long there, but it was great to walk around and not be in a museum for once.

The last few days have been brilliant, but the outdoors here is so lush and green, it's totally different to what I'm used to in Sydney. I now see the benefit (!) of so much rain.

I had another grand pasty for lunch and some not-so-grand chips for a snack before heading back into England and the Roman town of Chester. As far as I know Chester used to be the capital of the North-west of the UK in Roman times and it now contains the most complete city wall, as well as some amazing Tudor shopfronts. Even the Maccas and M&S have been redesigned to fit in with the local decor, which I think is fantastic. What continues to amaze me is how old the buildings are. Many of the shophouses have been there since the 17th century, and there was one that dates back to 1272! That's just crazy!!

After Chester we headed back home to Warrington and tea at Andreas, followed by a visit to Helens to play football with the kids one last time and say bye to Mark and Karen. Got loads of photos which I shall post later, suffice to say they are the cutest children I've met in a long time. So polite - they'll really go places!

And now it's off to bed as I have a long day of travelling again tomorrow back up to Glasgow.

PS: For photos of Betws-y-Coed, click here.
PPS: For photos of Chester, click here.