Since Canal Boating we have:

Lake District – made a flying visit – Windermere cold, raining and really the first miserable weather we’ve encountered since April.  Both the Beatrix Potter and Wordsworth museums closed.  Well of course they would be – it was Friday and no one visits the Lake District on a Friday! So we headed north travelling through the pretty villages of Ambleside and Grasmere.  Fortunately Nick and I have seen the Lake District at its best – in fine weather.

Carlisle Castle – a frontier fortress with a colourful history including the imprisonment of Mary Queen of Scots and the Highland soldiers from the Battle of Culloden.   A brilliant military museum.

Scotland So Far:

Edinburgh

·         Edinburgh Castle.  Another mighty fortress and past residence of the Scottish kings and queens.  Today it is the home of the Scottish crown jewels and three military museums.  Introductory tour by our witty guide Frank then we spent all morning exploring.  A very impressive castle

·         Royal Yacht Britannia.  The royal families floating residence.  Something really different.  We had access to all areas of the ship, from the queen and prince Phillips simply decorated rooms, various crew quarters to the stunningly dressed dining area that had entertained politicians, other royalty and captains of industry.  I was amazed at the huge number of staff required when the queen was on a royal visit.  They even took a band.

·         The Real Mary Close – the hidden warren of streets buried beneath Endinbugh’s Royal Mile that have remained ‘frozen in time’ since the 17^th century.  Our guide did the best with the material she had to work with but the rooms would have benefited from being dressed and not leaving so much to the imagination.

·         Rosslyn Chapel – made even more famous by ‘The Da Vinci Code’. Very ornate stonework and like all these building has a fascinating history attached.