In Search of Nessie

For our big summer holiday, we took a road trip to the highlands of Scotland and various stops along the way. 

This kind of a trip is not for the feeble hearted.  It involves intense pre-planning, great attention to detail, a better than average knowledge of geography, a sharp mind, a patient nature, a willingness to compromise, an ability to be flexible, an infallible GPS, deep, deep pockets, a bookworm of a teenager and a daring, adventurous driver.   Hang on...it was a fast and furious 2,000 miles in six days!!


Warning: This blog is long and has lots of photos...only proceed if you have some free time!
Reminder:  You can click on any photo to make it larger!


Day one:  England, Here We Come!


  Destination: Amesbury, England about an hour west of London.  Our route took us through Belgium and France to the port of Calais.  This is an important fact.  The port of Calais is in France.   Just as we were leaving, Mike discovered I had made my first tactical error.  I was in charge of pre-booking the ferry on the internet.  It saves you about half the cost if you do it in advance and the trick is timing your trip to arrive there within the 2 hour window.  The other trick is to schedule the ferry from the correct side of the English Channel.  This is where "a sharp mind and a knowledge of geography"  come into play.  Being the astute travel agent I am, I had scheduled us for Dover to Caliais and then coming home from Calais to Dover.  The problem being were were not in Dover, we were in CALAIS.  Mike was patient.  This is where "a patient nature" comes in to play.   

When we arrived at the port, he went in and worked his charms and managed to get us switched around and it only cost us bunch of money.  This is where "deep, deep pockets" comes in to play.

Travis passing time on the 90 minute crossing of the Channel

The English Channel

Once we arrived in England, Mike quickly adjusted to driving on the left.  I give him all the credit for being willing to drive backwards for five days.  "Adventurous" describes my husband to a "T".   He also tried very hard to continue being patient seeing as he had a very excitable back seat driver sitting next to him the whole way. 

Our room was the one with the arched window.  Very quaint!!

Amesbury, England

We drove around the south end of London and straight to our hotel for the night.  The George Hotel in Amesbury, England.

Our room

The view out the window.  Mary Poppins-ish!

Day Two:  English Countryside
Destination: Fearby..by way of Stonehenge and the Cotswolds


We got off to any early start after a nice full English Breakfast which included eggs, bacon (more like ham), sausage ( what they call bangers), pork and beans ( yes, for breakfast) and toast.  

We drove about ten minutes to Stonehenge and arrived twenty minutes before opening, so didn't have to pay for parking.  It was the perfect time to visit.  We were one of the first ones through the turnstiles and had some great opportunities to take photos without many tourists clogging up the shot. 

Stonehenge

This place is 5,000 years old. It's so old that it was here when the Druids found it and used it for there purposes and then they abandoned it.  We had an audio guide that told many interesting things about how it was built.  It is an awe inspiring sight to behold!!

Waiting for Stonehenge to open

Pinch us!   Are we really here!?

From Stonehenge, we drove northwest up into an area of England called the Cotswolds.  It's an area of many small, very picturesque villages.  The buildings are almost all made of a stone unique to the area. 

High Street, Chipping Campden

 This is and has been for hundreds of years...Sheep Country.  We drove through a few villages and then parked and wandered around one called Chipping Campden, bought some things at a little market and then had a picnic lunch on a bench next to the old market hall.  

The old Market Hall in the middle of town

From Chipping Campden, we drove northeast and across England to Fearby,  just north of Leeds.  Mike had stayed in a B&B there last summer while on a TDY and really wanted us to stay there.  It's right on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, a really pretty area of rolling hills and lots of farms.  

The front of the Black Swan B&B

Our room

They had a trailer park there, too!

Garden at the Black Swan

The back view of the B&B. Our room has the door open. On the right hand side is the pub and restaurant

Another view of the trailer park just below the buildings.

Day Three: A Walk with my Ancestors
Destination: Edinburgh, Scotland by way of So. Hiendley, Yorkshire, England

Felkirk Parish, So. Hiendley, Yorkshire

We got up and had another typical English Breakfast ( I actually opted for Eggs Benedict, that's sort of English in a traitor sort of way...isn't it??)  Then we hopped in the car again and headed south towards Leeds and then veered off into the countryside on a quest to find a very old church and graveyard near So. Hiendley.  My dad had sent me some names and dates of some Law ancestors that lived in this area in the late 1700's to the late 1800's. 

 The GPS took us straight there and we found the church and the graveyard.  We were the only ones there and so we just started looking for gravestones that had the Law name on them.  There were a lot of them and most of them were in various states of neglect ad disrepair.  Some were so faded you couldn't begin to read them.  

We split up and after about twenty minutes of searching, I brushed away a lot of dirt and leaves and sticks from a gravestone to find the name LAW staring me in the face.  I was so thrilled!  After looking closer I could see it was Sarah Law the wife of John Law.  It was one of the names my dad had sent me!   We looked and looked for the two Isaacs that were buried here, but never could find them or Sarah's husband, John.  

Walking where my ancestors walked and looking out over the countryside they lived and worked in was so emotional.  I'm so glad I got this chance to do this.  It's really peaked my interest in knowing more about their lives.  I wish my dad could've been there with me!


Then we got in the car again (do you see a theme here?)  and drove several hours northward across the border and into Scotland.  The scenery is so beautiful and although we'd heard horror stories of driving from London to Edinburgh, we didn't encounter any delays or difficult roads.  We enjoyed the drive!  Travis enjoyed reading and his ipod.


Day four: Rain, Rain, Rain......
Destination:  Inverness and Loch Ness


We had intended to spend this day touring all over Edinburgh and the Royal Mile and we had tickets for the Royal Military Tattoo at the castle that night. BUT it was pouring down rain when we woke up and after counseling with the very nice ladies at the hotel check in desk, we decided to jump in the car *ahem* and drive the three and a half hours up into the Highlands and see Inverness and Loch Ness.  Nessie doesn't care if it's raining or not.  Our only issue was we had to then hurry and drive back three and half hours to get back in time to take the city bus to the Tattoo in downtown Edinburgh.  By the way this is where "the ability to be flexible" comes in to play!   

Ah...lovely Scottish weather!

At the Loch Ness Visitor Centre

There she is..Nessie!!!

Sometimes the roads are so narrow you just can't pass...Hey buddy,  we're trying to get to the Tattoo!

The Royal Mile

Shoppers trying to stay dry

Poncho Men

We did manage to make it back in time to get to the park n ride and catch a city bus to downtown.  It never stopped raining for the entire day and it didn't stop for the Tattoo.  We bought a couple of ponchos, umbrellas are not allowed and sat through an amazing 90 minute show of military bands from the UK, Germany and Africa.  The highlight was the pipe and drum bands.  There's something quite magical about watching fifty or more bagpipers in full dress march out of the ancient castle playing the pipes in the mist and rain.  The show finale was fireworks and then a lone bagpiper in the spotlight up on the castle wall.  Incredible...even in pouring down rain!  


Day Five: Braveheart!!
Destination: Carlisle, England by way of Sterling, Scotland


We were hoping to go back into Edinburgh on this last day in Scotland but you guessed it...it was still pouring rain, so we decided it would take too long to take the bus in and we would just be as miserable shopping and NOT taking photos as we were the day before, so we reconnoitered a different plan of attack (again using our amazing flexibility) and went to Stirling Castle for a tour instead, thinking it would be mostly indoors ( we thought wrong).

 This is the inner gate. You can see through to the gold colored Great Hall.  This is a huge castle complex with several buildings to tour.  We really enjoyed exploring it!

 Stirling Castle dominated Scottish history for centuries.  Legend says King Arthur wrested the original castle from the Saxons, but of course there's no evidence of that.  Mary Queen of Scots lived here as well as King James V who then became King James I of England.

In the Lion's Den

 Through the window you can see the top of the Wallace Memorial.  It is where Wallace (Braveheart) defeated the British at Stirling Bridge in1297.

The King and the Prince!

After touring the castle we then drove to Carlisle, a city just across the border in England.


Day Seven:  Homeward Bound
Destination: Brussels, Belgium by way of Dover, England.

This was a driving day.  Nothing but driving and riding on the ferry and then driving some more.  It was a long day.  

White Cliffs of Dover

Dover Castle..we want to tour this one!

Brussels Tunnel

Windmill by our Brussels hotel.

 Somehow our GPS took us right into downtown Brussels...Yikes!  Big roundabouts and lots of traffic, and tons of long tunnels,but our intrepid driver handled it all with his usual expertise!


The next day we got up and on the road one last time.  Three and a half hours later we were back home in Spesbach.




And so the quest for Nessie came to a close.  We had a most wonderful adventure and would love to go back to Edinburgh again and explore the castle and the Royal Mile in fairer weather.


Thanks for reading all about our journey.  We highly recommend getting out and exploring the sites around wherever you may live.  There's amazing history everywhere!  Just remember the those very important things that make every trip a pleasant one!


love and miss you all,
-corri