Edinburgh

After our stop in the Lake District, we headed for Edinburgh where we had booked an Airbnb apartment for three nights. Again, we were fortunate in that we had fine weather during the drive through beautiful countryside of Northern England and Southern Scotland. Traffic in Edinburgh was typical of a busy city, so navigating to our apartment was a bit challenging. The location of the flat was excellent, in the middle of the "old town" and in the shadow of the castle.

This is the view out of our apartment windows!
The apartment was quite large with the only drawback being the 65 stair steps to reach our floor. Daily walking was OK, but carrying our "small but heavy" bags up those stairs was a bit of a workout!

The other benefit of our location, was stepping out of the front door onto Grassmarket, with its shops and restaurants and only a short walk to Princess Street.

We thought we would visit the castle, but found long queues and tourist groups, so decided not to wait, but to explore other parts of the city instead.

The approach to the castle entrance is dominated by this large arena where the Edinburgh Military Tattoo is held throughout August every year. The Tattoo is the performance of military bands and display teams, and is part of the wider Edinburgh Festival held in at the same time. The grandstand setup is temporary, which I appreciate, as it does nothing for the grandeur of the castle setting.

Nearby was a building dedicated to the sale of all things Tartan. One floor was home to several large looms, demonstrating the production of several tartan patterns.

St Giles Cathedral, or High Kirk of Edinburgh, on the Royal Mile, is an imposing building and a bit difficult to photograph.

The interior was even more difficult!

The obligatory photo of a piper.

The gardens on Princess Street next to the memorial to Sir Walter Scott.

We learned that the Royal Yacht Brittania was berthed at the Ocean Terminal nearby, and since the day was wet and cold we decided to pay a visit.
This yacht was used by HM the Queen and members of the Royal Family for over 40 years before it was decommissioned in 1997.

The chart room reflecting the 1950's style!

The Queen's bedroom and working desk, which looks more spartan than I was expecting.

Crew's quarters were pretty tight, but at least an upgrade from the hammocks that were previously installed.

The on-board banqueting room.

The sitting room for the Royal Family.

We accepted the invitation for tea, we understand the Queen was unfortunately delayed and could not join us.

The engine room, just spectacular, every pipe and fitting was either polished or painted white. These are the original engines with over one million miles covered before the yacht was decommissioned.

In the early days, the Rolls Royce accompanied the Royal party. They later abandoned this practice with suitable cars being available at all destinations.

We drove on to Perth where the weather was better and visited this old cotton mill located on the River Tay in Stanley, near Perth. The mill was built in the 18th century to produce cotton and went on to produce machinery belting. The site was closed in 1989 and became derelict, but subsequently it was renovated to provide luxury apartments as well as a museum depicting the life in the mill in the 19th century. It was sobering to learn of the working conditions in a mill such as this, what a hard life.

The outlook from some of the luxury apartments

We had a tentative plan to visit the Isle of Arran, but strike action threatened by the ferry workers meant that we could not book tickets in advance, so that plan was abandoned.

Next stop, the Welsh borders and the town where Len was born.

Windemere

After leaving Chester we headed north towards the Lake District and stayed in the town of Windemere. The town is situated close to Lake Windemere, which we learned, is the largest natural lake in England. It is just over 11 miles in length and was, in 1930, the lake where the world record for speedboats was set, which was just under 100 mph.  The record holder, Henry Segrave, later died from a crash in the boat. Segrave also held the world land speed record at the same time, one of the few people to do so.

We found the town quite pleasant and stayed in a B&B within walking distance to the lake. The weather was a bit wet when we first arrived, so we decided a boat trip along the lake would be fun.

As you can see from the photo, it was a typical English summer's day as we set out, but the weather improved as the day wore on.

Our captain and commentator.

Some really splendid houses could be seen dotted along the lakeside, several of which are now hotels.

Lake cruises are very popular, including several steam powered boats.

Many of the fine houses along the lakefront had quite ornate boat houses.

After this storm passed, the weather did improve.

A much nicer day!

Our boat ride took us to Ambleside, where we disembarked and walked into town.  The Lake District is very popular with hikers and we saw many headed for the rolling hills.

Hopefully, these photos will give some idea of the hiking possibilities. We also learned that a "Freedom to Roam" act was passed by the British Parliament that allows public access, even on private land, providing the landowner's crops and animals are respected and gates are kept closed. We also heard that, in practice, most hiker's stick to the established paths.

William Wordsworth lived and worked in the area and is buried in Grasmere, yet another charming lakeside village.  Wordsworth is quoted as saying, "The loveliest spot that man hath ever found".

Most of the houses are built using the local slate-like stone. This makes them a bit severe-looking for our taste, but we did enjoy our stay at this guest house.

The locals do make very tasty scones, always served with jam and cream. I had a latte instead of tea!

There were lots of sheep everywhere and some just took over wherever they wanted!

We saw these kind of notices every now and again, some just handwritten. We were thankful to see them, but even so, we spent a LOT of time on one lane roads hoping not to meet any giant tractors or lorries.
It was a pleasant stop in the Lake District, but again, our stay was too short.
Next stop, Edinburgh.

Chester

Moving on from N Wales, we made a short stop in Chester, again a walled town, founded as a fort in AD 79 by the Romans. The weather turned wet, so our wander around the town was fairly limited. Chester has a large number of black and white buildings, mostly restored in Victorian times.

Chester was quite busy, the day we were there, but much of the center of town was pedestrian friendly.

Some images of the Victorian black and white buildings.
Chester is unique in that it has many covered shopping walkways called "Rows" which were incorporated in the design of the buildings. You can get an idea of these from the top two photos above, a pretty nice feature in a part of the world that sees quite a lot of wet weather.

The Town Crier came through, and this is the only photo that was not blurred, as he was walking quite quickly down the streets.

Chester has a magnificent cathedral, founded, I think in the early 10th century. As always it is nearly impossible to capture the scale of these churches, but some of the details are amazing, always with exquisite workmanship.

Some of the stained glass windows.

The carved wood was particularly inspiring to me.

Beautiful tile work.

A magnificent organ. We overheard a guide saying there were over 4,800 pipes in total and that the organ is in need of restoration.

We are always impressed with the details in old doors. It is hard to imagine such elaborate hinges being employed or designed today!

As part of the general fund raising campaign, we thought this idea was pretty interesting. A design exists to build a Lego model of the cathedral using some 350,000 Lego pieces. You can buy individual Lego bricks which are then are immediately added to the structural element currently being assembled.
We were told that a British Company created the design beginning with a Google Earth map of the cathedral, and then created the all of the detail, using Lego bricks. The model will be built in two halves, which will swing apart to allow views of the interior, quite amazing.

There is a lovely cloister garden with this fountain as center piece.

Chester deserves a longer visit, as we missed many of it's attractions and historical sights.
Next stop, the Lake District.