Touring England, Scotland and Northern Ireland

When we left the Cotswalds and drove to East Anglia we decided to take our time and enjoy Britain at a slower pace.  We visited the northeast coast, drove down the coast and back to our home base of RAF Lakenheath.  We thought England was a small island in the North Sea, across the channel from the continent of Europe...what we found was a charming friendly country full wonderful people who embraced us and welcomed us in their country with open arms.  As we continued to drive around the UK exploring new back yards, we discovered a country rich in history and proud of traditions.  We visited the ancestral home of Pat's family near Lancaster (see the special blog we posted on her family's history).  We drove across the country to the city of Edinburgh and its massive castle.  What we also found in Edinbrugh was a total stranger, Norry, who we stopped to ask directions to a good place to eat, changed his plans and took us to a pub about a quarter mile away.  Along the way filled us with the history of Edinburgh, the castle and pointed out other interesting facts on the city.  When he left us to go to work, we were amazed that a person would take a half hour out of his time and who was on the way to work to befriend four strangers from the USA.  Our next stop had to be St Andrews, the birthplace of golf.  While visiting the Old Course at St Andrews we tried to make arrangements for lodging on the west coast of Scotland.  The owner told us we had to be there no later than 8:00pm and we were 3 1/2 hours away and it was 4:30.  We raced across Scotland and was rewarded with the best bed and breakfast in Great Britain.  The Grove will stand out as not only a place to stay but as a place we met people who we want to remain friends with long after we leave Great Britain.  Karen, the owner and Billy our hostess went out of their way to make us feel like family.  They will be welcome in our homes anytime they choose to visit either Arizona or Colorado.  Our next stop was an unexpected crash while sightseeing on the back roads of Scotland...Ouch!  But we moved on with another car (ours was totaled) and drove to Loch Ness.  We made arrangements to stay in the Abbey at Lock Ness.  What a treat to stay 3 days in the Abbey and be treated like royalty.  No we did not see Nessie...the picture I posted on Facebook was two very little clumps of dirt rising out of the Loch that looked like Nessie and we couldn't  resist posting the unique picture.  We left Scotland and took the ferry to Belfast and Northern Ireland.  Did you know that the Titanic was built in Belfast, we visited the museum for the Titanic in Belfast?  If you get a chance to visit Belfast and go to the museum you will enjoy an interactive museum like we have never seen in all of our travels.  We also drove over to see the Giant Causeway and learned of the folk lore surrounding the Giant Causeway, another very interesting site.  For some reason, the pictures we downloaded from our travels around Northern Ireland have not posted to our IPAD and we will post them on our next blog posting.

Cromer...a secret RAF base during WWII!

We drove through A village called Hope....this was in the next village!  A little English humor!

A Roman aqueduct on the road to Lancaster

We found a pub in Lancaster that was established in the early 1700s...eating in wine cellars was a little different but then again so are we!

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Edinburgh Castle

This picture says it all....all you golfers out there....this is Mecca!

This is a picture of Tom and Maryann, Pat and George and Karen, the owner of the Grove....in our humble opinion the best bread and breakfast in the United Kingdom!

This was the result of a car passing us on the right as we were turning up right!  No one hurt badly but we were a little shaken up, but It did not deter us from continuing our adventure.

A perfect picture, taken from a bridge that was on our way to Loch Ness!  

The Abbey at Loch Ness!  Anyone for Chess?

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Our home while at Loch Ness!

The Scottish Highlands

We indulged  ourselves of a little beer at every stop...Coors owns Doombar so we had to support our son and his job at Coors!

Our last stop in Northern Island, the Marble Arch Caves...the longest caves Great Britain, very picturesque....we will try to download pictures of the caves on our next blog when we post of our adventures in Ireland.

We are now in Ireland and will stay here for about 10 days touring the countryside, trying to immerse ourselves in the culture, visiting the landmarks and enjoying the Irish pubs, music, and people we meet.  We hope your Spring is full of new adventures and will visit our blog to see what we are up to as we find new backyards to explore throughout Euope