Durham

Today is Thursday

We slept in til 10.00.
Made our way to the train station, we had checked two bags in to the left luggage office before our Orkney tour 5 days ago. There are no such things as luggage lockers anywhere in Britain anymore, thanks to terrorism. It cost us $140 to leave two bags for 5 days.

Jumped on the train and headed for Durham, tomorrow is the big wedding.

On the way we passed over the viaduct we had photographed on our last camper van day at Berwick upon Tweed.
This is the view as we passed over the Viaduct from the train window.


We set the Sat nav on the train to follow our course and were a bit surprised to see we were travelling at 191 klm per hour. The Sat Nav was set for roads and it's little bell started chiming telling us to slow down. It was a bit hair raising when another train going the opposite direction passed by about 300mm from ours, passing speed of 400 klm per hour.

We arrived in Durham and caught a taxi to the hotel, it is rather plush and we have a view of the river. This is the first hotel in Britain we have stayed at that has a fridge in the room, no more warm lager.

 



The views from our window.

 

Like Ma and Pa Kettle on holidays the first thing Tammy did was to start washing clothes in the bathtub and hanging them around the room to dry. Whilst Steven started pulling the mini bar apart to get his cans of lager to fit, including his latest beer discovery 'Skull Splitter' at 8.5 percent alcohol.



Whilst redistributing our luggage we understood the basic principles of travelling light, lot's of books and concrete garden ornaments are not a sensible choice of souvenir. 

A funny thing about Scotland, they have three banks and they all print their own money, so we have three different 10 pond notes. 

 













We went to a pub for tea, good food and even better pints. then back to the hotel were we caught up with Tammy's Mum, Geoff, Christina and Cameron, Auntie Julie and Uncle Byron.

More pints

Highlands

Today is Wednesday

Most of our coach left on another bus today as they are all going to the Isle of Skye, we wanted to, but time doesn't allow on this trip. So we have a 28 seat coach with 6 people on it, we got the much prized front seats.

 












 

Today we drove along the bit that looks like a split in Scotland, it is a series of Lochs and the scenery is breathtaking. Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain along the way had it's head in the clouds, but we didn't care it was fabulous anyway.

We passed Inverlochy Castle, a ruin that has free entry. It was very interesting. It is one of three along the Lochs and held a strategic position. It has seen three battles. It was built in 1280 and had a deep moat around it.


 

Then the Scenery, We were so lucky with the weather. If a picture says a thousand words then there's a few novels in this...
The pictures are fantastic, we had to reduce them down to 30% for the blog, but they are still great.

 

This is the area of Glencoe, famous for the 'Massacre of Glencoe' where the MacDonald Clan was murdered, some by their house guests, the Campbells, for tardy compliance to pledge allegiance to the King, another 40 women and children died from exposure when their homes were burnt. That was on 13th February 1692. Now over 300 years later there is only one hotel in the valley and there is a sign at the reception desk, it says "No Campbells are permitted to stay here". And they mean it.

 



We passed a railway viaduct as we were leaving the highlands, it has been abandoned by the railway as stones kept falling on to the track, now it is a cycle track

Tammy finds some hairy coooos 
We swapped buses at this point, we now had six people on a 45 seat coach.

We visited the Wallace Monument in Stirling although we were not allowed off of the bus until Greg, our driver, had told us all the errors made in the film 'Braveheart' although he did end by saying it was one of his favourite films.
The monument was built in 1850 to replace an earlier one that was falling apart, it is the largest stone monument in Scotland to someone with no religious significance.
It is located on the hill where William Wallace (who was not called Braveheart, that was Robert the Bruce) organised his troops to attack the English army as they crossed the river Forth.

A statue was added to the car parking area in 1996 depicting William Wallace with Mel Gibson's face carved into it. It was regularly vandalised by the affronted locals until it was put in a cage to protect it. After much public protest it was removed in 2008.

At the foot of the hill there is a school called the William Wallace High School, our driver assures us that at 3.30pm every school day the children can be seen running out of the school shouting 'FREEDOM'.

And so our coach tour has come to an end, we are back at our hotel in Edinburgh. We would recommend 'Haggis Tours' to anyone who is going to Scotland and wants a "Young at heart, off the beaten track, coach tour.

Off to the Pub for tea and a pint.

Nessy

Today is Tuesday

We had a nasty early start at 6.45 am. Every time during the night before we were reminded as we walked past the coach. 
Unfortunately I set the alarm for 5.00am, got up, had a shower, became absorbed in something and forgot to wake Tammy up until 6.30am. I was OK, Tammy was in a bit of rush.

 

 

We drove through the Orkneys on the way back to the ferry. It is such a wonderful place. At this time of year it gets dark at about 10.30pm and it is daylight again by 4.30am. On June 21st  there is only about 2 hours of night time. In December it gets dark at about 4.00pm and doesn't get light again until about 10.00am.
We drove past one of the houses that has a green roof. There are a few of them here.

 



Our first stop was Dunbeath. A small fishing village where we stopped for a walk along the beach. This was a thriving fishing village in the 1800's and the town built an 'Icehouse' into the side of the hill. This was filled with blocks of ice cut from the sea in winter and was used to keep the fish cold in the summertime.




 




Next was a stop to look at the monument celebrating the people who immigrated to other places when the 'clearances' happened in the highlands.
The Highlands never recovered and is, to this day mostly uninhabited as a result. The statue has the words

'Their voices will echo forever thro the empty straths and glens of their homeland'

It is a moving memorial.


 



The town itself is very pretty, Helmsdale, it's a relatively modern town built in 1813 to take advantage of the herring fishing boom.








Dunrobin Castle is an interesting visit, although the building dates back to the middle ages most of the present work dates from the mid 1800's. We looked around the inside. It is all set out as it would have been 150 years ago. No photographs are allowed inside, they would prefer you to buy the guide book.






The gardens are terrific. There is a museum of artifacts collected by and often shot by, the various people that have lived in the castle. We found it a bit confronting. As soon as you walk in the door you are eye to eye with a stuffed giraffe, it gets worse from there. Elephants foot umbrella stands and every wild animal and bird you can imagine. All with the proud plaque stating 'shot by Lord Eddie Noo in 1865'
There was an eagle demonstration in the garden that was brilliant. The Falcon swept over peoples heads by a couple of inches. The big Eagle Owl actually landed on a small child's head. He screamed a lot but seemed uninjured. The little boy was OK too.

Then it was time to head for Loch Ness for a spot of monster catching. We were pretty excited because our tour guaranteed a glimpse of Nessie.

First we had a sit down and made sure we didn't look like tourists.


We checked into our accommodation for the night and headed into town at Fort Augustus. We had a look at the locks, unfortunately no boats were passing through them, they are fascinating all the same. Then we found a pub for tea. We ordered Haggis, it wasn't too bad as long as you didn't think about what you were eating. We had a pint.
The long awaited boat trip was at 8.00pm, the best time to spot Nessie. We were lucky there she was right outside the window of the boat.










 


Back at the Youth Hostel there was a bar and live music. So we had to try another local beer or two, the blog will have to wait until tomorrow.

Skara Brae

Today is Monday

A later start to the day, as we had been promised a ‘cruisy’ day exploring the Orkney’s, and the sun was shining again, but still very cool.

Our first stop was Tesco’s supermarket to stock up for our lunch time picnic. After purchases we headed off for our first destination- Yesnaby

 

The Yesnaby coastline is spectacular, and the cliffs have been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.  We walked along the cliff tops for a mile or so.  Yesnaby is also the site of a Gun Battery used in WW11.

 

 

We then headed off to Skara Brae, with great anticipation.  This is apparently on an international bucket list of the top 100.    

The countryside is extremely beautiful, flat, and covered with green grass, the majority of the houses in the villages have manicured lawns.  Three  very distinct eras of architecture are present; 1800’s (Stone walls & roofs – some with grass on the top) 1920’s pebble dash with tiled roofs, and 1990’s rendered & tiled.

 

We arrived at Skara Brae – a short audio show about the Stone Age Village, and we were off to explore.  We first entered a replica of the most complete Stone Age hut, it was amazing and seemed to be very comfortable living for our ancestors, this whetted our appetite for the real thing.  

 A brisk stroll and we were amongst the real thing, and we were not disappointed.  A Complete Stone Age village dating back to around 5,000 years ago. Situated on the edge of a beautiful little sandy beach – Prime real estate in today’s standard.

This preserved Village was uncovered in 1850 when a severe storm washed away the layers of sand and earth that had covered the entire site.

 

We marvelled at the similarities between the living standards of today, in comparison to that of 5000 years ago: kitchen dressers, beds, recycling (re-using plant waste to insulate the external walls, open planned living, a central gathering area with heating, storage, and at least one separate room without any beds possibly used as a storage area, I think the very first "Man Cave"

 

Back on the bus for our lunch destination, through more of the pretty Orkney countryside.  Some of the small villages are very remote, and usually have a Primary School, often with only 3 or 4 students. Once the kids reach 12 or 13 y.o they usually move to mainland Scotland to attend boarding school.  Some mobile services still travel to the villages, these include a mobile library, mobile bank, and a mobile cinema called "The Screen Machine" this is a  truck containing a large cinema screen, seating, and a pop corn machine that shows the latest movies.

We arrived at our next destination, Marwick Head a huge birdwatching area,  With our walking shoes on, and our pack full of Orkney seafood, and local berries we headed onward and upwards along a stunning shear cliff, also a bird nesting area.  Along the way a memorial to Lord Kitchener, was surrounded by scaffolding, as it was under going some repairs, and cleaning. Lord Kitchener was best known as the man in the war posters with the accusing pointing finger stating 'Your Country Needs You'.

His ship sank just off the coast with some 450 sailors lost, only 12 survived. He was on his way to Russia to convince the Tsar to stay in the war. The ship probably hit a German mine but there were many conspiracy theories at the time.

The scenery was breathtaking.

 

After our relaxing lunch we dropped into visit Earl Robert's Palace in Birsay.

 

 

Now a ruin, it was built by Lord Robert  Stewart around 1600.  The building was seized in 1614, and defended against the sheriff of Kirkwell's men during Robert's armed rebellion against James V1 For this both Patrick and his Son were executed the following year for treason. By 1700 it had fell into decay.  

The Standing Stones Of Brodgar

        Another one on the "To do List" was the standing stones at Brodgar. One of the largest Neolithic henge's in Britain.Dated at around 4500-5000 years old it makes this site older than Stonehenge.

 

Steven was keen to dance among the stones, in attire suggested by Billy Connelly, but he decided it was a "Peedie Chilly" 

The Standing Stones Of Stenness

 

BUT WAIT THERE WAS MORE !! - Just down the road a small distance was more standing stones, "The Standing Stones of Stenness, believed to have been erected around the same time as Brodgar.  On our way we saw a working archaeological excavation at the Ness of Brodgar.  Students and enthusiasts spend time meticulously brushing away the earth uncovering more hidden treasurers from our past

.  

 

 

Back on the bus, and into Kirkwall town, a quick scamper around, and Yes! another cathedral - St Magnus.  This cathedral was built around 1140 in honour of Earl Magnus by his nephew Kali Kolson. After Magnas was killed he was later declared a saint by The Bishop of Orkney. It had some amazing headstones in it dating back to the 1500's.

St. Magnus Cathedral

 

On our way back from town we also came across this well kept ruin, believed to have originally been the brewery.  In helping the local economy, we of course had to purchase a local beer called Skull Splitter at 8.5 percent.....we zig zagged our way home.