We were lucky with the weather at first. Lovely day to explore a castle, I say.
Pretending to model for the new LL Bean catalogue in my new sweater.
100% lambswool XS-XL just $39.95. Get yours today!
Next stop was Bamburgh, where we climbed through sand dunes to make our way along the beach to another castle.
I love the photos I got there - it was amazing looking and very much worth the gale force winds we endured to check it out.
Freezing cold beach - we're not in Thailand anymore!
By the castle.
Flowers & Castle
Jayne and Cassie in the dunes.
Me too!
Now onto SCOTLAND!
Just a little excited :)
First stop across the border: St. Abb's, a small fishing village that was super cute, quaint, and good for even more photo ops.
You know it's all about the photos.
After a couple more hours of driving, we made it to our digs for the night: Linwood Campgrounds near Edinburgh. Little did I know this would be absolute luxury compared with the next night.
The A-Frame timber tent, all for us! It was better than sleeping outside, but not exactly comfortable... I basically punched a wall every time I moved.
Cassie expertly prepared a dinner of barbecued sausages, potatoes and carrots. It's good to have a girl scout around.
We hit the sack early that night and set out to explore Edinburgh the next day. The Fringe Festival was going on at the time (a huge arts festival) so there was plenty to see and do. We only had a few hours in the city, but it was enough to get a good feeling of the place and take some photos.
In the spirit!
Edinburgh Assembly Rooms
The Elephant House, the cafe where JK Rowling started writing Harry Potter. Can you tell that this trip has only been slightly influenced by the truest love of them all, Harry Potter?!
Now that's a Scottish piper.
William Wallace sighting!
Professor Quirrell look-a-like with Edinburgh Castle in the background.
We moved westward that afternoon past Glasgow to our next destination: Loch Lomond, a very huge, very lovely lake.
Birdies in the Loch
It was so beautiful there. Shame the weather didn't allow us to visit the most famous Loch of all - Loch Ness (and Nessie!)
That night, we set up camp in a little clearing off the side of the road. I'm not really sure how it works in the States, but in Scotland you can camp anywhere, as long as it's not private land. We found a nice little area, near a bubbling brook even, and settled down with some takeaway fish and chips and a few pitchers of cider. Camping wasn't bad at all at this point. We went to bed wrapped up in sleeping bags and extra duvets (the UK is cold!) and I got to sleep without a problem. Then it started raining in the night. Getting up to pee really sucks in the pouring rain. Waking up in a rain puddle is even worse. It kept raining so much throughout the night that the tent soaked through. Lovely. Not to mention the pitter patter all night kept me awake thinking of all kinds of horror movie scenarios. In the morning, I lied awake for a while hoping in vain the rain would suddenly stop and I wouldn't have to deal with packing everything up. No such luck. We all just had to man up, throw everything in the car soaking wet, and get the hell out of dodge.
To add to the experience, Cassie even had 2 tick visitors, one of whom was very reluctant to leave her calf. Yummy. One public restroom "shower" later and my uneasiness at the thought of camping had been solidified into outright dislike. No more camping for me.
Due to general misery, we decided to call the rest of the road trip off. Unfortunate yes, but I think we all enjoyed an extra couple of days relaxing and hanging at Jayne's house rather than suffering through 2 more nights of sogginess.
Jayne & Cassie walking towards Hadrian's Wall, ruins of a great wall built by the Romans. We stopped here on the way back to Jayne's place.
sheep chaser!
All in all, it was definitely an experience. I would have liked to seen a bit more, but I'm glad we cut the trip short due to nasty conditions. I got a nice little taste of Scotland and a reason to come back again! I'm coming for you, Nessie...
Check out the rest of the photos here.
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