Road Trip Begins

Saturday 28th August

This morning we went to collect the car from Hertz at 9.00 and were told that we could not get it until mid-day as that is when it was booked for. Well! We had all our gear and so we asked to upgrade if we could get one now. We ended up with a Ford Focus 4 door. Then the interesting part started!!!! Finding our way out of Edinburgh. The cabbie told us the way and we took one wrong turn but retraced our steps and found the road out. We were heading for Roslyn Chapel and were not sure if we were on the right road but we were.

It is a really interesting chapel. It is no wonder Dan Browne chose to put it in the Di Vinci Code. The carvings are amazing and they all tell a story or are in code. There are huge restoration works occurring to ensure that the carvings etc survive the ravages of water and wear. They have put a huge canopy over the whole chapel to stop water seeping in through the roof. Once it has dried out they will restore the roof and then they can begin working on the inside.

From Roslyn Chapel we were trying to find our way to the coastal road along the Firth of Forth to the North Sea at New Berwick. After a few false starts we found the coastal road and saw the pretty little fishing villages along the way. The stone houses are so interesting as they are so old compared with our houses. Love the chimneys. There were numbers of kite surfers and sail boarders out as the breeze was really blowing. There were also golf courses everywhere along the road.

Once we left New Berwick, the rain pelted down but by the time we arrived at Kelso about 5PM it was fine. We tried a few places but they were booked out. We found a really nice room in the Black Swan (On the fifth floor!!! Narrow stairs!)

Kelso is a really pretty village at the congruence of the Tweed and Teviot Rivers. It has Floors Castle (still inhabited) and a ruined abbey. Walter Scott said “Kelso, the most beautiful, if not the most romantic village in Scotland”.



Sunday 29th August 30, 2010

Today our journey began in Kelso. We journeyed north to the town of Melrose. It is a beautiful little town with a town square and the stone houses. The Abbey was built in 1100’s and like many of the Abbeys in Scotland was destroyed. It must have been the most magnificent structure when it was intact. The artisan’s work is still to be wondered at and how they could build such magnificent structures without the cranes etc that we use is amazing. At this Abbey, there is a gargoyle pig playing the bagpipes!!! The other thing that was surprising was the urine pots that the monks used so that they did not have to disturb their prayers.

Had not initially planned to visit Hadrian’s Wall but I have always wanted to see it. I remember leaning about it as a child at school so we had an adventure and a half trying to find it. However!!! We are resourceful and eventually found it with the help of a guy whom we met at breakfast. We had to journey into England to do it through. Thought we would have to produce our passports!!!! We climbed onto the wall but one day perhaps I will walk the wall.

We then drove back into Scotland to Gretna Green. Brett & I visited it in 1990 on my first trip to England and all I could recall was an anvil but today it is a major tourist centre and it had a really lovely shop.

From there we drove along the Solway Firth to Caerlaverock Castle. It is in a beautiful setting and the moat of the castle is still intact. Unfortunately, we were a bit late and so could not go inside but even walking around the outside was most enjoyable.
We stopped the night at Nith Hotel which is on the banks of the Nith River at the top of the Solway Firth. The sign says, beware of the fast tides & quicksand. The Hotel is very pleasant. We sat a table, had dinner as we watched the sun go down over the Nith river.