A glimpse of Scotland, Ireland and Wales to 1 oct - Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
After the wonderful experience of the Edinburgh Tattoo we headed inland after a drive around the Fife peninsula to stop at the historic fishing village of Crail, what a treasure . then through St Andrews and Dundee and inland in view of the Grampians via the beautiful Braemar village and past Balmoral, (we weren't invited in as she had the family visiting,) and onto Aberdeen for a few days. We loved the variety of countryside that we passed through from heather covered moors to beautiful highland streams bordered by forested and bush clad hills, lovely grazing land with plenty of black-faced sheep and cattle but very few highland cattle. After our first wet day in the whole trip in Aberdeen, though we had 2 half days by the time we left Scotland , we continued north along the coast exploring the coastal towns of firstly Cruden bay, a delightful picturesque fishing village and surfers beach, then Peterhead which was full of surprises then to Fraserburgh where we visited a lighthouse museum which was more interesting than it sounds! We stayed that night at Nairn which was a wonderful surprise with its warm climate and magnificent beach and coastal scenery reminiscent of Nelson. A visit to The military base at Fort George was amazing and took us hours to explore the history. It is an operational army base so it was unusual to have tourists and army personnel all around the same areas. This is worth googling. Unfortunately a drive only through Inverness, down the side of Loch Ness, a stop at the fascinating Urquhart Castle before at stop at Fort William for the night. It was something I really wanted to spend the time doing, driving down the side of the 3 Lochs that with the locks at each end form the Caledonian canal. It lived up to my expectations. The scenery and Loch views and the operations of the Canal Locks were wonderful. We had dinner by the Canal lock at Fort Augustus but there were no boats going through at the time until just as we were leaving Fort William the next morning, there was a big boat going through which was great to see. We stayed 2 nights at Oban which was a very interesting place to explore, and went over to Mull and Iona for the day. We thoroughly enjoyed the bus trip and the 2 ferry rides each way and wished we had another day to go to the other end of Mull. The scenery was wild and wonderful and a lot of it coastal. We stayed in the best Scottish Youth hostel there, we were in a big ensuite room in the lodge and there were only 2 other people using the kitchen which was almost next door to our room. Great laundry and the best bit was it was right on the waterfront with all the best hotels within a brief walk along the waterfront to town. Couldn't be better! On to stay just out go Glasgow for a few days. We took the train into the city and did river trip and a city bus trip and a city wander. Saw the biggest Apple store ever and was able to sort a problem with my iPad . They were very helpful and efficient and we did enjoy what we saw and experienced of Glasgow very much, lovely helpful people. We left Scotland reluctantly and took the Ferry to Ireland. Great trip even if it was a bit up and down, it was better than expected. It was a long day but when we reached Larne we headed north to the beautiful town of Ballycastle on the north coast. This coast is stunning and we should have planned more time, White Bay,as good as any NZ beaches and Giants Causeway were highlights but there was so much more but as I have said before, it is the story of our trip, Another day, Another week here or there! We drove on to Donegal for a few days where apart from having a rest we explored the lovely and wild scenery of parts of Co.Donegal including the Slieve League Cliffs which were stunning and Donegal town itself. It is a lovely, pretty coastal town and a pleasure to wander around with its lovely typically Irish bakeries and pubs and a very interesting castle right in the middle of town. On to a night in Sligo, (should have had a few days around there) and then inland to the Athlone. On the way we visited the Famine museum at Strokestown. It was quite a revelation explaining the history prior to the famine and we learnt the political and agricultural conditions which preceded the famine and why the blight was so devastating when it came in the mid 1800s. On through the beautiful countryside to spend a few days in Galway in an apartment in the seafront at Salthill. We had a bit of time to explore an area of Connemara which was beautiful, as well as stark, pretty, majestic, barren,stunning and filled with wonderful history. A visit to an old lead and silver mine which was unexpected was most interesting. The beaches and coastal scenery are beautiful and reminiscent of New Zealand. So much of the inland scenery is also familiar. We travelled south to Farranfore for a few nights so we could explore the Ring of Kerry which beautiful as it is we found it very much like we are used to in New Zealand. We visited a few Irish pubs on our travels, not that we usually do but that is where we were able to enjoy the Irish music and we were able to find that 3 times which we really enjoyed. We then spent a few wonderful days in Cork, a city that we loved. We walked everywhere there and explored the city as best we could, wonderful friendly helpful people, wonderful history, excellent city to walk around, fantastic 100yr old English Food market , Cork has left its mark on us.. We visited the historic seaside town of Cobh pronounced Cove, and formerly Queenstown, on our way to a cottage in Duncannon in County Wexford. Cobh is famous as the last stop for the Titanic before its fateful journey and also where a lot of the famine ships left for The US, Canada and other places after the potato famine in the mid 1800s. They had a great food market on the foreshore and a wonderful museum and great pub food. We are becoming experts in 'pub grub'. We stayed for 4 nights in a Lovely cottage which enabled us to rest, catch up with family of friends and a little local exploring. A night north in Carlow before attending The Feast of Tabernacles for 9 nights with Rodgers church in Enfield, 45 min from Dublin. For me This was a time for catching up with paperwork and preparation for the last stages of our trip as well as some fellowship with Rodgers church family. There was some nice social time in which I was involved. We ate out at the local pubs most of the nights as the resort where we stayed the food was too expensive and not very good. I even got in the pool a few times. We spent 2 afternoons in Dublin which we really enjoyed, they have such a fascinating social history and great museums and beautiful buildings. could spend longer there.Rodger really enjoyed his time at the Feast and met some really nice people, one of them even buying our car before we leave in a weeks time. So we will be delivering it to him in Salisbury on Wednesday before we have one last stint in London before we go to the Netherlands for 5 nights then Frankfurt for 3 nights before we fly to Montreal. Our lasting impressions are of great roads, shocking secondary roads, terrible signage, very helpful, friendly people who when asked directions give you the most convoluted ones ever. The idea is to listen to the first 2 then ask someone else when you get there and so on but it all adds to the experience and we wouldn't have missed it for anything. The tractors with loaded trailers on the motorways was a new experience too. But for now we are back in Wales which we are loving, again and having explored a little of the north coast of Wales where my great grandfather retired to, and we stayed with relatives and met others at a family gathering, we feel well settled in Wales, if only! It is a place we could easily live, but don't worry we won't be! Today as I write ,29th sept,we have just been to Powys castle and gardens, another highlight and staying close by in Welshpool for the night before heading to Cardiff for a few nights.