Getting there...

Well it's nearing the end of our trip (we fly out tomorrow...) and we're back in London staying the night at Steve and Kat's joint so we can get out to Heathrow early.
It's strange to think that I'll be back at work in 1 week from now... but I digress! There are tales to be told..

Lucy's rellies who kindly put us up in Seascale, offered to drive us up to Glasgow on the Sunday, with the dual purpose of meeting up with some more of Lucy's relatives who live just outside Glasgow. We took the backroads through Cumbria so as to see all the countryside which was stunning. We also stopped off at a few different remaining parts of Hadrian's Wall which has (over the past 2000 odd years) lost it's ability to keep the Scots on one side and the rest of the world on the other, but you can imagine what it once was like from the massive ruins, and it was well worth the visit.


Glasgow

Glasgow was our first stop in Scotland. It's a really cool city, full of life and craziness, and is a little more 'real' or 'grungy' than most other places we've been to... however the fact that it's "not as pretty as Edinburgh" (quoted from a local Glaswegian) is what makes it a cool place. There is a bit of a rivalry between the two cities, and I've heard from multiple sources that "the best thing to ever come out of Edinburgh is the train back to Glasgow". I choose not to take sides on the matter.

Glasgow definitely lived up to it's reputation as Britain's second best shopping destination (after London) and there were literally miles and miles (Sauchiehall st & Buchanan st for those who might find themselves wandering around Glasgow with too much cash one day) of shops and malls (including the oldest shopping arcade in Britain...maybe Europe) and it was hard not to go a little overboard with the spending. I swear I needed all of it!

We checked out the cemetery on the hill, which I reckon is the most awesome cemetery ever. The place was mostly used back in the day when Glasgow had a huge ship building industry and the cities merchants were just too rich for their own good. This accounts for a hill covered in massive headstones and enormous family mausoleums, all with a magnificent view over the city. There were the token drunk teens hanging out there too, but that's to be expected in any cemetery really.


We decided to take a day out of Glasgow, and took a one day bus tour out to the Lower Highlands (what the?) to see some of the countryside, which is like Cumbria's, but about 100 times better. The tour first took us to Stirling Castle, which is an ancient strategic fortification perched up on top of a rocky hill (is there any other way?) which overlooks the sight of many historic battles, some of which Mel Gibson was present.
The bus then took us to picturesque Loch Katerine for lunch, where I had to fight off the urge to order the Haggis...
The last stop on the tour was a Whisky distillery nestled at the base of some rolling hills, as all good distilleries should be. There were free samples involved...

Edinburgh

Edinburgh was the next, and last stop of our great adventure, and out of pure coincidence (not really) we had arrived at the beginning of the Edinburgh (Fringe) Festival!
The festival is a month of comedy, theatre, music, dance, and general craziness, and our hostel was right in the middle of it!
We spent a fair amount of time just walking around watching street performers perform and drama students make idiots of themselves, but also booked ourselves in for a few shows.
We ended up seeing two comedians (Reginald D Hunter, and Rich Hall) and the Soweto Gospel Choir, which were all great.


In between the festival craziness, we managed a day trip back down into England (just) to visit Alnwick Castle, which is one of the places where some Harry Potter scenes were filmed. This was definitely my favourite castle, and was pretty much everything you'd expect an English Castle to be. Also, it's one of the few castles that is still lived in (by the Duke of Northumberland & family), and some of the private residence was open to the public. No free samples here though... as if anyone needs so many antiques anyway!


We did lots of other stuff too but as you can imagine, I'm growing weary and I'll see most of you pretty soon anyway!

We have taken all up about 4 or 5 Cd's worth of photos, and I'll endeavour to put some more up here ASAP.

word out.

J