Tuesday 12th September – Llwyncelyn to Alstonefield (Peak District National Park)

Our accommodation at Llwyncelyn

 After breakfast at our Airbnb at Llwyncelyn this morning (eggs on toast with eggs from our hosts chooks) we headed north along the Welsh western coast. We called into Aberaeron where we had had dinner last night to have a bit of a wander. Many of the houses in the township are painted quite bright colours – added to the flowerpots which seem to be everywhere, the town is quite bright. Chatted with a lady whose house was bright yellow with a red door. She told us that when she first painted it the type of comments she got were “Your game”.

Aberaeron

 Next stop was Aberystwyth where we found a cute little coffee shop for our morning coffee. It was a dog-friendly café which made Cate happy (as she loves dogs or any animal in fact). The coffee was pretty good as well.

Aberystwyth

 After heading a bit further north to Furnace we then turned east and headed to Shrewsbury where we stopped for lunch. Had a bit of a wander around the cute streets before heading further east towards Peak National Park.

Shrewsbury

 Along the way, we called into Market Drayton just so we could show Cate the Shropshire Union Canal and the Narrow Boats. Brought back memories of our 2011 trip and our week on the Narrow Boat out of Stoke-On-Trent.

Shropshire Union Canal near Market Drayton

 We skirted around Stoke-On-Trent on our way to Ashbourne. The traffic was very busy on this stretch of road. Hopefully not a sign of things to come. Once we left the A520 things quietened down considerably and once inside the Peak National Park it was back to a trickle. Accommodation tonight is “The Mews” in Alstonefield. Its a cute stone cottage (another Airbnb) which we have to ourselves. What an amazing village. Every building is built of stone. Many were built in the 1800s with some older (a 12th Century church) and some newer.

Alstonefield

 We went for a walk around the village and couldn't keep the camera still. Just one amazing photo after another. Back to “The Muse” for dinner – salad, baked vegetables and a nut-loaf 'thing' that we picked up in the supermarket yesterday.

Wednesday 13th September – Alstonefield to Howgill (at the foot of the Yorkshire Dales)

Another leisurely breakfast with gorgeous views out the window this morning before setting off to explore the Peak National Park. Quite a bit of rain overnight and very windy. We drove back along the road to Ilam and then to Dovedale where we contemplated going for a walk. As the weather was fairly inclement and the walk was 3¾ miles we decided “not today” and drove on to Arbor Low Archaeological site. Despite the fact that it was very windy we spent some time exploring.  Arbor Low consists of about 50 large limestone blocks, quarried from a local site, which form an egg-shaped circle, with monoliths at the entrances, and possibly a portal stone at the south entrance. There is also a large pit at the north entrance, which possibly contained a stone. Some of the stones are broken; some of these fragments may originally have been joined together, such that there were originally between 41 and 43 stones. 

Arbor Low

  Next stop was Bakewell for coffee at the Upstairs Café and Gift Shop. Very enjoyable. Bakewell is such a lovely town with its stone buildings and pedestrian-only streets.

Bakewell

 We spent a couple of hours with coffee and wandering the streets (even got some gluten free pies for dinner) before heading off to Monsel Head (lovely views over the valley) and on to Ladybower Reservoir. Just before the reservoir, we stopped at the Yorkshire Bridge Inn for lunch. Another cute English pub. Lunch was pretty good too.

After having a look at the reservoir we drove through Snake Pass on to Glossop - lovely countryside with some interesting patterns on the hillside - some of the effect was made by alternating areas of heather and bracken but there was more to it then that.

At Glossop we called into a Tesco's for a few supplies before tackling the motorway drive around the outskirts of Manchester and north to our accommodation for the night. It was very busy at that time of day and down to a crawl at times but everything is well signposted and with a GPS was all straightforward.

Accommodation for the night is at Howgill just east of M6 and about the same latitude as Windemere. Our host Siobhan had mentioned in one of her emails that if we relied on our GPS it would take us over a very narrow bridge. Well we did and it did. The bridge was so narrow we had to fold in the side mirrors to get across.

Our 'pod' at Howgill

Tonight we are in a pod, a cute little house thing on a farm. There are three of them and have obviously been chosen to supplement the farming income. There's not a lot of room inside but quite adequate for one night and well appointed with a mini kitchen, hotplate, fridge etc. The only thing missing is an on suite but the toilets and shower block are not far away. Glamping I think you would call it. Everything is quite new and Siobhan has obviously gone to a lot of trouble to set things up nicely.

Thursday 14th September – Howgill to Edinburgh

Before breakfast this morning we went for a walk along the road from the farm. Lots of sheep of all sorts of breeds and colours. Info in our pod mentioned that the most popular breed was the Swaledale, a hardy sheep, well fitted to endure the hardship of exposure in the Fells. This is lovely country with the green pastures, stone fences and a backdrop of the Howgills Fells.

 Howgill

After breakfast, we headed west to Windemere and the Lake District for coffee. The coffee was nice but the town itself was very much another tourist town (like Byron Bay). We headed north over Kirkstone Pass to Glenridding and Lake Ullswater before joining the M6 once again at Penrith. It's easy to see why the Lake District is so popular with tourists as it is gorgeous country.

 The Lakes District

We stuck with the M6 until we reached Carlisle where we headed east to have a look at Hadrian's Wall. After lunch, at a pub in Greenhead, we backtracked to Birdoswald Fort and had a bit of a wander around the ruins. Built in AD138 it is one of the best preserved of the 16 forts along Hadrian's Wall (not that there is a lot of it left). The fort is situated in a commanding position on a triangular spur of land bounded by cliffs to the south and east overlooking the River Irthing.  In Roman times, the fort was known as Banna (Latin for "spur" or "tongue"), reflecting the geography of the site.

Birdoswald Fort

As the day was now getting on it was back to the car and off to Scotland and our final leg to Edinburgh where we have a 2 bedroom house to ourselves in Leith (a suburb of Edinburgh). Soup for tea and an opportunity for Cate to get organised. We put her on a plane to London tomorrow afternoon ready for her flight back to Australia.

Friday 15th September – Edinburgh to Kelty

Breakfast in Edinburgh today so after a hot lemon drink, we headed into town. Couldn't find the parking station we had in mind but found some street parking where we could stay for up to 6 hours £12 mind you for the 5 hours we decided to stay, near the meadows (a park area next to the old town and Edinburgh University.

From here it was a pleasant walk through the park and university to the Elephant House (made famous by JK Rowlings as the spot where she wrote the first Harry Potter book) where we planned breakfast. As it turned out they did not have anything gluten free on the menu despite having quite a few GF cakes so we ended up just having coffee and moved on to a café in Grassmarket for breakfast.

A wander around the streets followed and then up the hill to the castle where they were still dismantling the seating from the Edinburgh Tattoo. What an exercise. It takes 40 days to construct and 37 days to dismantle, seats 8,825 people at a time and costs 16 million pounds. We had visited the castle when we were here in 2011 so didn't need to repeat it today. A bit more time wandering the streets before heading back to the car around 1:30.

It was then off to Holyrood Park and a drive around Queen's Drive. It's just lovely to have a huge green area like this in the middle of a city. We stopped at Dunsapie Loch and climbed up Arthur's Seat for commanding views over the city (well Alex climbed to the top while Jill and Cate did go most of the way).

 Holyrood Park

We then dropped Cate off at the airport for her flight back to London and the rest of us headed north across the brand new bridge over the Firth of Forth to Kelty where we have an AirBnB for the night.

We looked around for somewhere to have dinner but there was nothing in Kelty. The local pub sent us to a restaurant up the road which was closed. They sent us five miles up the road where we found a restaurant that wasn't open until 6:45. The girl there sent us into Kinross where we found a nice pub. Lamb curry for dinner and a nice bear from the Loch Leven brewery just up the road.

Back to Kelty for an evening of catching up.

Saturday 16th September – Kelty to Banchory

A pleasant nights sleep. Good bed, ensuite and all clean and modern – just what one needs when you’re on the road. After breakfast, we headed to Dundee. Had heard that at Dundee they had the ship that Scott had used for his trip to the Antarctic. Should have read my history in detail. As it so happened Scott made two trips to the Antarctic, the first on the Discovery and the second (and fatal) trip on the Terra Nova. It so happens that the Discovery was on display at Dundee.

Was all interesting all the same. How they survived the first trip was a marvel. Was quite enlightening the hardships they all went through in the name of discovery (no pun intended).

We stopped along the way for coffee and lunch at a garden centre before arriving at Kath and Gregor's around 2pm. Emily and James are also at home but Callum is out on a Duke of Edinburgh Award exercise.

We went for a walk (Kath, Gregor Jill and I along with Bruno the dog to Tom's Cairn – A 3-mile walk through woods and heathland to the cairn where we could have been on top of the world – 360 degree views.

Played rummy after dinner (barbecued chicken and lamb, potatoes and salad).

Sunday 17th September – Banchory

A nice lie in this morning with no-one getting up too early. Mid morning Cath, Jill and I went for a drive and walk, initially to the Bridge of Feugh, where the salmon jump up the waterfalls – too late in the season to see any today.

 We then headed off to where they spawn in the woodlands near Crathes Castle – a lovely walk along the waterway and back via sheep and highland cattle. The trees are just beginning to turn and with all the rain they have had recently had there are fungi of different colour, shape and size everywhere.

After lunch, we headed for Balmoral Estate to pick up Callum and his companions. While waiting for them to arrive we went for a walk to Loch Muick and back. It's quite open moor country and easy walking – past a boat shed built in Queen Victoria's time and some stone cottages which you can hire out apparently. No sign of the queen though even though she is in residence at Balmoral as we speak.

After picking up Callum it was back home for a lovely venison stew for dinner before heading off to repack for the flight to Copenhagen tomorrow.