Scotland, Lake District

It ended up being a brief visit to Scotland 

but when we were leaving the small town of Melrose, Scotland, we found out that it is the home of the rugby 7s!  

They regularly have rugby tournaments and the pub we stayed at also loves collecting rugby jerseys from all around the world.  Yes, the All Blacks' one was featuring in their display.

On the way we were able to stop to view three bridges that connect Edinburgh's M90 motorway across the Firth of Forth.

1.  The Forth Bridge - first mild steel, longest cantilever bridge when it opened in 1890.  A marvel of Victorian engineering in its day.

2.  Forth Road Bridge - opened in 1964.  At that time, longest bridge in the UK and 4th longest in the world.

3.  Queensferry Crossing - opened in 2017.  2.4km motorway structure is longest three-tower cable-stayed bridge in the world with the tallest bridge tower at 211m.

It was at an impromptu stop in Falkirk that we found a fascinating place called Callendar House.  They had a wonderful exhibition outlining the history of house, which has connections to Mary Queen of Scots (One of Henry VIII's wives) and what life was like back in the Tudor days.

Not far from there was Henrix Park, home of the Kelpies.  These magnificent sculptures refer to the Scottish folklore shape-shifting water spirits, that often take the form of a horse.  Rosie tried to feed me to one of them!!

Up close they were an awesome work of art!  You could have stared at them all day!

Further south we ventured off the motorway into the Lake District of England and what a beautiful part of the country.  

You can see the windy road that we travelled along, with the lake in the distance.  Absolutely stunning and that is where we stayed, up in the hills at an inn called the 'Mortal Man Inn' in a little village called Troutbeck.

Further south is Lake Windermere, England's largest lake and there are all sorts of nooks and crannies to explore around this area along with numerous amounts of water activities, hiking and other outdoor activities.  Unfortunately, for the first time in our trip we have struck rain so didn't get to have a great look around.  

Never mind, plenty of other exploring to do as we continued our trip further south to the medieval town of Shrewsbury.  Another castle to explore 

and they have this awesome street called Wyle (medieval English for hill) Cop (top of), full of 16th and 17th century architecture interspersed with cool little cafes, quirky shops and pubs.

One pub we went into called the Henry Tudor Inn, which dates back to 1429.  It was once Wyle Cop's Court House and held prisoners overnight.

Crime during the Tudor era was widespread and the punishment for committing a crime was often extremely severe.  The prison cells that housed those criminals back then now have a new use - you can have a meal in one!  

And so that ends another few days of my adventures around Scotland and England.  Where will I venture to next?

England - Black Ferns Game #1

Across the Irish Sea we flew into Heathrow Airport, picked up a car and started another phase of the adventure touring around the other part of the United Kingdom.

After navigating the roads out of London, we were soon cruising along the M1 North towards Northampton where we stayed the night and then onto York where we put on our black jerseys,

caught the bus to York Community Stadium to cheer on the Black Ferns in their first game of the 2025 Rugby World Cup against Spain.

Our seats happened to be in the middle of a lot of Spanish supporters who were a lot of fun.  They cheered whenever there was good play on both sides and gave a huge cheer when Portia Woodman-Wickliffe came on the field, obviously in awe of this wonderful NZ player.

The York community definitely supported the event with over 7000 spectators there and of course, the Black Ferns came away with a great win 54-8.

The next day was about exploring the fascinating city of York, which is was founded by the ancient Romans, but has a strong Viking past.  Again, the hop on, hop off bus gave us a good insight into the city including the York Racecourse, which is just recovering from a 4 day meet!  The main centre is surrounded by ancient walls and in the middle is a huge 13th century Gothic cathedral, York Minster.

It has so many tales about highway men, such as Dick Turpin

and is deemed to be the most haunted city in England.  We went on a Ghost Trail and heard a few scary stories about various characters and how they ended up haunting various parts of York.

We also visited The Shambles which is the alley that inspired Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter series.

 If you are into wizards and magical stories etc, then York is definitely a place to visit.

Back in the car again, with Rosie's superior driving skills, we headed to the coastal fishing village of Whitby, where Captain James Cook began his seaman's training, and it is also where the Endeavour was built. 

We didn't have time to visit his museum unfortunately.

Further north we came across Hadrian's Wall, originally built by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in AD 122 to secure the Roman Empires' northern frontier. 

It featured ditches, forts, and watchtowers of which some of them are still standing today.  We just had a brief look and walked along some of the wall.  You can actually walk along the whole length of the wall, on a hiking trail, which takes about 6-9 days for the 135km.  We walked about 20m of it due to time constraints! 

Not far way from the wall, we crossed the border into Scotland and stayed at a little village called Melrose.  It was there that Rosie had her first taste of haggis!