Scotland Road Trip Day 1 no 40 Scone Palace

Now for the pictures from our trip to Scotland ( the 'our' being my friend Sue and me).

We left in the early hours of Wednesday morning - very early... and headed North as fast as we were legally allowed, and Sue could drive. We really wanted to be in Scotland as dawn broke... 

We crossed the borders just before dawn, and  as the sun rose we were  on our way bypassing Edinburgh and on our way to the Highlands!

We were heading for the wonderful and historic Scone Palace just outside of Perth

 We were greeted as we walked up to the house by a beautiful white peacock....and we were lucky enough to find some large white peacock feathers around the grounds, which we dutifully picked up and brought home...

 Scone Palace was once the place where the Kings of Scotland were crowned -and the rightful home of the celebrated Stone of Scone - also known as the Stone of Destiny.

The last King to be crowned there was John Balliol,  But in 1296 Edward I stripped Scotland of all it's emblems of nationhood and the Stone of Destiny was taken to Westminster Abbey. Where for the next 700 years it was housed in a specially-built coronation chair, on which Kings and Queens of England, then of Great Britain (UK), were crowned.

Then on Christmas Day 1950,  four students from Glasgow University broke into the Abbey and stole it.  However, they broke it into two pieces when they removed it, they took it back to Scotland where it was  repaired by a Glasgow stonemason, and hidden in a tractor repair shed in Scotland. 

Scottish Nationalism was not as fervent as it is now, and  so on 11th August 1951 the stone was left in the ruins of Arbroath Abbey, covered in the Salitre ( the Scottish flag ), and was  returned to Westminster Abbey for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1952.

The one above is sadly not the orignal, which is still down in Westminster Abbey, but a copy

Sadly we were not actually allowed to take photographs of the inside of the house, so please check  out the web site (the link is just above), but enough to say it was absolutely fantastic, historical and magical ... and a great start to the trip.

However we did manage to sneak a pic of the cafe... were we stopped off for morning tea and of course a cake (they were Gluten Free - it would have been rude not too!!) 

And very nice it was too....

We finished off by taking a further walk around the grounds accompanied by more peacocks - though this time they were the blue ones!!

The graveyard was fascinating ....

 and full of very old graves as you can imagine....

 We finally took our leave and headed off to Pitlochry, to find our first B&B and to drop off our bags!

41 - Sentry Circle / 40 Yarm - 28-31 August 2009

Sentry Circle is a a stone circle built  by a North Yorkshire  Farmer, Derek  Plewss and friends just north of Northallerton, in Goddes own county!.  

It's a stunningly beautiful place; we camped there for a few days at the end of last Summer, and loved it so much we even went back for Samhain festivities at the end of October!   

Looking down  from the circle to the camp site

You can see from the above photo how far they had to drag the stones up from the road.  If you want to know more you can see a couple of videos on YouTube to show how they did it....

While we were in the area we had a little drive round and ended up stopping off for a walk round a 'gander' in Yarm on Tees.  

Yarm is a small town on the South bank of the River Tees, though offically it's still in North Yorkshire.

It was mention in the Doomsday book, in 1086, so has a long and varied history.

 

 

...and of course we found a delightful

café- and had a coffee!

42 - Samlesbury Hall - 21.08.10

After a wonderful day in the Lakes, the next day we decided to head to Samlesbury Hall .

 A stunning 14th Century Manor House

 

 

 

 

 

 

I loved the fireplaces....

A close up of the wording over the fireplace

  Henry VIII is said to have stayed there - hence the freeze above one of the doors

I even had a go at lacemaking- 

  ...and apparently I was quite good at it.. *laughs* the ladies suggested I took it up! 

Then we took a walk round the gardens and the small farm... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some close ups of the flowers

  

We saw a very large lounging Rabbits surrounded by Ducks, Chickens and Guinea Pigs! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jo loved the chickens!

Ambleside- (part deux) The Food!

As I mentioned previously in order to catch up with posts, the next few post will be mainly photos with a little text

 As always when I go out one of the most important things we look for are lovely cafés and delicious food...

Antonia didn't disappoint us when she took us to this delightful café up a side street in Ambleside.

I will let the photo's tell their own story - enjoy!

And of course there were cakes!

Re evaluating and the art of jumping of a cliff

Well I got to 50 years old but didn't manage the to get 50 new places on here.. though I came pretty close..

I did a fantastic trip with my good friend Sue around the Highlands of Scotland... a sort of Thelma and Louise  experience without the drive of the cliff.    Though, some may say we did 'drive off' - or indeed 'jump' - and perhaps we did- as we both changed our lives considerable after that trip...

However, that means I have some fantastic pictures and memories of our road trip to share.  The Highlands of Scotland are breath takingly beautiful , and I was lucky enough to share the journey with such a good friend.  What an adventure we had - as Sue said "Who needs Sat Nav when you have a 'Shullie'" .

First I need to get up to date with the photographs and the places I visited last year, especially up to my 50th Birthday which I spent in Glastonbury, meeting and catching up with friends old and new

Secondly as this is my 50th year - photo's of new places we have visited and perhaps a return to some I visited last year ( I really want to visit Lincoln again and this time go inside the cathedral and the Castle), so lots more too come I hope.

And last but not least - I think this will mainly become just a picture blog... with the odd anecdote, but that means I get to post more and you , dear reader, get to see more of this wonderful country I live in.

So what to do and do you still want to 'come with me' as I travel around the UK ?  As I continue on my 50/50 quest... maybe even surpassing the 50... lets hope so