Chained books and bicycles

Posted by Wendy Davis on November 5, 2013 and filed under Uncategorized

For the last full day in the UK we caught the train into Oxford. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Perhaps I wasn’t ready to return to visit a university particularly one at the opposite end of the spectrum to my former place of employment. There were fresh faced students at every […]

A walk in the park

Posted by Wendy Davis on November 4, 2013 and filed under Uncategorized

We had a genteel Cotswolds kind of day today. After a slow start we finally all roused ourselves to get out of the house and drive 10 minutes down the round toChipping Norton. We were in search of a bank and a Sainsbury’s and found both. Unfortunately we did not sight either Jeremy Clarkson or […]

The motorway

Posted by Wendy Davis on and filed under Uncategorized

After a night in a lovely B and B in Ambleside we headed over to near sawrey on the other side of the lake to see Hilltop Farm, the national trust home of Beatrix potter. We were just in time as it was the house’s last opening day before closing for the winter. The national […]

Scenery

Posted by Wendy Davis on November 2, 2013 and filed under Uncategorized

It was a long day of driving today from fort William to Ambleside where we are tucked into a B and B for the night. The weather is less than lovely and apparently we have just missed a big storm through the lakes. There is water everywhere on the roads. Still it’s not raining now […]

The west highland way

Posted by Wendy Davis on October 31, 2013 and filed under Uncategorized

Our first day in fort William was a rainy one so after a slow morning we decided to catch the train from here to Mallaigh. This is the west highland way and it is beautifully scenic. We had hoped to get on the Jacobite express (the steam train from Harry potter) but it has finished […]

From Ullapool to Fort William

Posted by Wendy Davis on October 30, 2013 and filed under Uncategorized

Sunday we left the remote north and drove to Ullapool. It only took half a day so we had the afternoon to explore Ullapool which is beautifully situated on a working harbour. The Main street, Shore Street runs along the water with a few pubs and woollen/ tourist shops. We found lunch in a very […]

Two days in the north

Posted by Wendy Davis on October 28, 2013 and filed under Uncategorized

We have spent the last two nights in a stone croft cottage at Kirtomy, 3 miles west of Bettyhill. Tomorrow we travel to Ullapool as we begin our journey down the West Coast. After arriving on a fairly bleak evening, to a cold cottage after a long drive on single lane roads we were perhaps […]

To the highlands

Posted by Wendy Davis on October 26, 2013 and filed under Uncategorized

We started off at dawn (8am) from Edinburgh to make our way to Bettyhill on the north coast of Scotland. After making it to Culloden just near Inverness we stopped to explore the visitor centre and museum, and to walk around the battlefield. Aside from the constant drizzle outside this was a great historical site […]

Ancestry and Shopping!

Posted by Wendy Davis on October 24, 2013 and filed under Uncategorized

We had a beautiful last day in Edinburgh today. The weather was sunny and almost warm (by Scotland’s standards…we were still wearing our parkas). We caught the bus into town and went to Scotland’s records office where you can search for Scottish ancestry through their records. The staff were lovely and extremely helpful. Only one […]

Walking in the Old Town

Posted by Wendy Davis on October 23, 2013 and filed under Uncategorized

We were up bright and early by Edinburgh standards and on the bus into town by just after 9am. We had organised to meet my aunt and uncle to go on the real Mary King’s Close tour which takes you into an underground warren of old streets and houses that had been built over in […]