Scotland

12th May - Sunday

The cow byre 

Hadrian's Wall running alongside the farm drive 

The Dancing Hands - hmmm 

Self explanatory 

The blacksmith's anvil 

A carriage fit for a wedding (photo)

Dumfries across the river 

Beside the river 

Not impressed! 

Granite terrace 

Doesn't really look Scottish

Solway Firth somewhere in the murky distance

Especially for the squirrel lovers 

Sweetheart Abbey 

Another Scottish village in the rain 

The lanes just seem to be getting narrower each day

Mothers’ Day!


Dinner was at the farm last night and it was rather nice to have a normal home cooked meal – soup, beef stew and vegetables followed by something for dessert (don’t ask what it was because I couldn’t even describe it). We were joined by the other overnight guests, who were all “walking the Wall.” It was all frightfully civilised and well organised – people walk along public footpaths through fields and their luggage is transported from B & B to B & B for them, so that when they arrive, it is a jolly nice shower and meal before setting out again the next day. We had a mixed group – two from Wales, two from the US and a group of four from Wiltshire, who were rather posh but very pleasant. When I said that we had booked a B & B at Marlborough for three nights before we flew home, one of the chaps informed me that he had been to school at Marlborough.

Breakfast this morning was rather rustic – one jar or bottle of each jam or sauce to be shared between all the tables – but the food was excellent. The young couple who own this farm are doing a wonderful job and are trying to make the business as ecologically friendly as possible. Whilst it was very cold, it wasn’t raining when we left the farm and headed towards Carlisle.

At this stage, we suddenly realised we were only 20 minutes from Scotland – and an hour and half from our destination in the Lakes District! So we hung a right and quickly found ourselves over the border and in Gretna Green. Of course, we had to stop and do the tourist thing, visit the blacksmith – and all the gift shops associated with the site. We spent a very pleasant hour or so before deciding to continue further into Scotland towards Dumfries.

The countryside seemed to change again, with the grass a very intense green and the farm houses and cottages mainly painted white. By this time, it was raining quite heavily and was rather misty and murky. Not knowing much about Dumfries (nothing at all, actually), we were surprised to discover Robert Burns must have been associated with the town as there was a Robert Burns House to visit. Doris has been taking us through some pretty leafy streets and the houses all built of a lovely browny pink stone when we decided to visit the Robert Burns House and followed the signs instead. I think we drove through nearly every street of Dumfries before ending up directly across the river from our starting point! Out of the car, on with the coats, a quick photo in the rain of the river, and then discovered the place didn’t open until 2.00 pm!!!

Robbie Burns was given a big miss as we continued driving through the rain and mist around the Solway coast. We stopped for a pit stop at a service station and the lady there said the weather was “normal.” We were so disappointed that we couldn’t see very far, as the countryside must have been stunning – we even saw the Solway Firth at one stage. The little villages were passed through were all different, some had stone cottages, others were painted. One pretty little village even had an abbey – Sweetheart Abbey, which is the resting place of Lady Balliol and her husband, the founders of Balliol College at Oxford in the 13th Century.

We gave Doris her head with instructions to take us to our accommodation in Windermere and she kept us on the motorways for most of the journey. Given the conditions (did I mention the rain?), this was probably a good thing. However, with about 20 kms to go and in thick fog, she decided on the country lanes feature again! The lanes seemed to become narrower and narrower – thank goodness the hedges had been trimmed during winter and haven’t started to grow yet.

Finally arrived at Windermere and have settled into a rather pleasant room, with the heating already working! We have found that many of the locals don’t really consider 7 degrees to be cold and don’t turn the heating on until 6.00 pm.

It’s still raining.