Old and New England with Scotland.The cripples on tour.

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Just to add to the dining experience this is the view we had whilst eating-
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Saturday.Rained most of the day until about 1730 so a change of plans.First stop was Grasmere and Dove house-the first house of William Wordsworth.
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Personally I would have felt even better next door-
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So now some of the country as we drove north-
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So more of our drive north-
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We got to Keswick and went to this place-
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So now no worries missing Stonehenge and this one was free.Even had a circle within a circle.
 
The rain was getting very heavy.We went to the pencil museum in Keswick.If you are my age you would certainly remember Derwent or Lakeland pencils.Nearly everyone had some.Now more artists supplies than the pencils I grew up with.They also had the story of Charles Fraser-Smith-the real Q.We were going to travel back by the west of Lake Windamere and see Beatrix Potters house and a few country houses but it would not have been pleasant.So now a few pictures on the way back-
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And this is what it was like when we got back to the hotel-
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But a few hours later after dinner the weather gods were laughing at us-
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They do indeed supply many ingredients for the kitchen from their grounds-
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Now the hotel and grounds-
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*snip*
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You can also look down on the workshop and the main museum-
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*snip*
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Sorry I'm late to the party for this drron (was offline yesterday), but not sure if you realise, but I suspect you did see Flying Scotsman; that looks like parts of her in the workshop...

(rather controversial stuff in preservation circles - bought at auction by the NRM for a truck load of money, only to discover another three truckloads needed to bring her back to working order after 20 years of private preservation neglect and penny pinching... )
 
Fantastic review, and lets face it, trip so far. Very jealous. I stayed at the other end of Lake Windermere the last time I was over that way. It really is a magical place. We had dinner in Cartmel, not L'enclume unfortunatley but it was still lovely, also the birth place of Sticky toffee pudding, so we had quite abit of that, even managed to bring some of the sauce home with us. My waistline did not thank me after that trip. Safe travels drron
 
I do hope you bought some of Sarah Nelson's famous Grasmere Gingerbread ... if not, my wife would be most upset! She almost bought the place out when we were up there at Easter :shock: :lol:
 
Seeing Henry Wordsworth reminded me of my mothers favourite poem "Daffodils" - then there was a photo of only 1 :o
 
Sorry flash we heard that they had run out of stock so didn't bother stopping.:p
We once again had room service for brekkie.This is my coughbrian breakfast-
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We set out north via A592.Out of Windamere it is a narrow winding road and goes up over a mountain path.Also looked like a little industry in the National Park-
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Great views-
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But it's not just the worry of meeting a truck around the corner-
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Now the locals are here to exercise but at 12C with a real biting wind it is not the day I would pick even if mobile-
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But I bet they didn't dip a toe in this stream-
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Sorry the daffodils had finished almost everywhere.At the top of the hill not much in the way of flowers just a long winding road down-
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But at the bottom the road widened and the countryside distinctly different-
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The little island in the last pic is Norfolk Island.There were people swimming in the lake.I dipped my toe and although it has little feeling I knew it was too cold for me!
 
So some more of our journey up A592-
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We then met the M6 north but detoured onto A69 east towards Hexham and Newcastle.Almost thought I was going back in time.But the object first was to see this quarry-
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It was only closed in the 1970s because it was taking too much of this-
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Yes Hadrian's Wall.In the car park I saw this-
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Surprised we didn't see more of that with the narrow roads.Then I went and walked in a sheep paddock-
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Of course the reason was to see more of the wall.Now you can go to more preserved parts of Hadrian's Wall but here there was another couple descending as I went up the hill and the next I saw were a couple getting out of their car as I got back to the car park.And of course it didn't cost a P.My Scots heritage coming out.But a wonderful feeling to be able to go up and touch something built by the Romans nearly 2000 years ago.
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And that is the remains of one of the small forts along it's length.
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As we were driving away there was this rather desirable property-
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I should post some of our photos from our hiking trip in April - not just locals doing it :mrgreen: Glad to see you're enjoying yourself, a beautiful part of England.
 
Loving your trip report drron.

We were in Scotland in April for 10 days. Visited our son who is living in Glasgow and working fro the Commonwealth Games.
We spent time driving around the beautiful Scottish countryside and the boys did a 3 day whisky trail in Speyside (me the driver). The daffodils were everywhere and so beautiful.

In May we also spent 10 days driving in Northern England, visiting Chatsworth house, the Lakes District, Yorkshire (followed the Toure route). Spent time in Whitby and York. We mainly stayed at B&Bs, loved them!. I am loving your report and pictures, reliving our experiences too.

Thanks for sharing.
So loving your reports and photos
 
After we left the Wall it started to rain.We were going to stop at the Gretna Green outlets but it was raining,the outlets were not covered and the car park was absolutely full so we continued north.We noticed at every overpass there were people looking at the south bound traffic.Turns out there were 2 events on-the Gumball 3000 rally,Miami to Malaga,as well as a local Targa event.Some interesting vintage vehicles were headed south.
Stopped at a Starbucks.The young laddie was a wee bit difficult to understand.We then continued to Glasgow.Followed the signs as per the HGI website ready to exit on exit 19 only to find if you are on the main lanes of M8 you cant exit at 19.So headed off to the CBD and fortunately knowing roughly where the HGI was found it quickly.On a part of redeveloped dockside next to the conference and entertainment centres-
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There was an old building which housed an Asian and an Italian restaurant rated 960 and 676 on Trip Advisor so didn't bother trying them.
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A memory of the old docks was left-
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And the new bridge already being repaired-
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Now all HGIs we have been in have been virtually identical including Luton.This one was different.The room was a shoebox even though we were supposedly upgraded.Obviously the top floor is regarded as an upgrade.
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The bathroom was incredibly small.After a shower it was basically impossible to dry yourself unless the door was open.We were tired so had dinner at their restaurant and it wasn't too bad.Mrsdrron had the salmon with potato roesti-it wasn't overcooked.My steak looked like it was overdone but cutting into it it was cooked as ordered.Came with a side so I had cauliflower and cheese-done beautifully-
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On our last night it stopped raining and the wind dropped.When it got dark~2330-the bridge was a sight-
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So not the best HGI,nothing around it but easier to get around Glasgow from there.Not sure I would unreservedly recommend it.
 
We had Glasgow in our itinerary for 2 reasons.First we have friends there.However they were away cruising.The second reason was to see Dawn French in her new show.Booked and paid for.Whilst in the USA we got a message that it had been cancelled.So now we were here for 3 nights with our plans in disarray.However mrsdrron needed a follow up Xray of her ankle.So we decided on the Monday morning we would get that done.Now you just cant get that at an NHS hospital without a local referral.There are no Private radiology practices so it came down to using a private hospital.However that was not so easy and we had knockbacks before one accepted us.However from arrival to walking out the door it took over 3 hours to get it done at a cost of 113.50GBP.Dont complain about Australia's system.
After that we kept going west on the road past the hospital and ended up at the seaside at Irvine.Obviously they are trying to revitalise it but results so far are not great.
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There were at least a couple of serviceable trawlers-
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However we had some toast from breakfast and fed a swan.Soon there were lots-
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There was a large modern building on the other shore-
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However the bridge to it just didn't look serviceable-
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The sign in the large empty carpark said it was an Inventor's museum.
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Guess they just didn't invent enough public interest.
We were going to have lunch there but the pubs only served food Friday to Sunday.So just shared a sanger and fruit from an M&S food.
 
We kept driving down the coast and came to this sign-
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The starter left his box-
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and told me there was no problem if I walked the whole course but the club assumes no liability if you are hit.Amazing.So the first hole and then a par 5 on the back 9-
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To the left of the roof you can see the fellows hitting off on this hole-they look a long way away-
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And the clubhouse-
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Several impressive mansions close by.
 
So just a few more shots.Firstly at Irvine-
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Then just north of Troon-
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And then on the way back to Glasgow the terrible visual pollution that are wind farms-
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