Edinburgh

So Edinburgh is my new favourite city. I flew up there for the weekend, and met Luke who has been working in Glasgow for the last few weeks.
Edinburgh castle we didnt actually go into. It's a stunning castle to look at, which you can see from almost anywhere in town, but the weather being lovely while we were there, we decided our time was better spent outdoors.
The Royal Mile is the road the runs down the middle of the medieval part of Edinburgh - from Edinbugh Castle down to Holyrood Palace (which is the Queen's residence when in Edinbugh). It's a lovely cobbled street with little alley ways and closes, most of which lead through to various accommodative buildings. I believe a lot of it is university housing, or just amazing properties that the families arent letting go of any time soon. The Royal Mile also has its fair share of tourist shops, of course. At the far end of the road, which slopes gently downhill all the way, is the new Parliament building, which is very very contemporary in design. Apparently when it was built there was a bit of an uproar about the fact that 1. It had been so bloody expensive, and 2. It looked terribly out of place on the Royal Mile amongst gloriously old and aesthetically pleasing buildings. But you can't please everyone can you.
Just further on from Holyrood Palace is Holyrood Park, a beautiful city park (also, massive!) which has an extinct volcano in the centre of it - Arthur's seat. So Luke and I, ambitiously, decided to climb to the top since the weather was good, and get a few photos overlooking the city. My goodness it was tiring... it looked deceptively easy from the ground. And once we were at the top, the wind threatened to knock you over every time you tentatively creep out from behind whichever rock you chose to cower behind. But we did get some nice photos. And some nice leg cramps.
On the way back down the mountain, the sun came out, and there was a very picturesque rainbow to enjoy. (Again, for photos of all this, I'm afraid you're jsut going to have to join facebook.)
After we crawled back into town, and had a lovely scottish lunch at a pub, we decided it would be best to check in, and finally get rid of our luggage (yes, I know. Stupid to carry it up the mountain). And have a rest. We had tickets to a comedy club for the nighttime, so we went out, had a nice dinner, laughed till we wet ourselves just a little, then walked back to the hotel. Lovely and tiring day.
The following morning, as I whimpered out of bed (both because of the temperature and my aching legs) we decided that something a little less strenuous was in order. Our hotel was right next to the royal botanic gardens, and we have fairly recently bought a digital SLR camera, so we decided to stroll around there, generally just mucking about with the camera. And it was brilliant. Another beautiful day too. After we'd finished with the gardens, we headed back into the old part of town to do a walking tour that was in my guidebook on Edinburgh. It had explanations on a few different medieval landmarks - the corn exchange, where corn used to be exchanged. The grass market, which was a market. There was 'cannonball house', which actually had a cannonball lodged in its outside wall (not due to conflict, it was a marker for something when they were first installing plumbing), and the witches well, where they used to burn witches. Heartwarming stuff. The tour ended in "Greyfriar's Kirkyard", which is a graveyard. Very atmospheric. There's a statue and a grave there for "Greyfriars bobby", which was a dog (named bobby) who was so loyal to his master, that once his master had died, the dog basically guarded the burial site, until his own death. And that statue is the most photographed statue in Edinburgh. I've now added to that statistic.
And so a brilliant time in Edinburgh was cut short by the need to go back to work.

Marseille!

Marseille is beautiful. The old part of town is centered around the central "Vieux Port", which is about as meditteranean as you can imagine. All terracotta and beige buildings, and crystal blue water. And lots and lots of sunshine! The hostel we were staying in was very cute too - several stories of spartan but quaint (and big!) rooms, with little shuttered windows overlooking a central courtyard. Complete with terracotta roofs.
The first day there we started by walking down to the port and strolling around the banks. There was the equivalent of a car boot sale going on at the time, and there was all kinds of bizarre stuff for sale. The best thing I saw was an old diving suit from the 50's or something, one of those big cage helmet things. So we wandered around, looking at seafood markets, flower stalls, and all that water! At the end of the western side of the port is an old fort tower, which is a pretty impressive backdrop when you look at the town from the water. We then just strolled through old streets, all very crowded (with close built buildings and parked cars - never with people), with cute painted wooden shutters, and charismatic cobbled walkways. The ambiance of the place was just so lovely, warm and relaxed, with an idea of unpretentious artiness. A full day of wandering wore us out though - I wasnt used to the heat! The second day there was set off to the port again, but this time to the eastern side. Walking up through an old part of town that had antique markets on (selling everything from silverware, old paintings, 70's lime green furniture, food, books, and even an orange rhino), and here though the buildings were different - more structured and organised - they were equally charming as the haphazard western side. From here we started a slow weave-and-climb up streets and staircases up to the "Notredame de la guard", basically a catholic church at the top of a hill overlooking the city. Beautiful views from up there, out to the Chateau D'if, which is an island prison which Alexander Dumas used as his setting for " The Count of Monte Christo".
Once we had rested and satisfied our need for panoramic shots, we started wandering down the opposite side of the hill, and rather than winding roads and staircases, there was a small footpath that weaved down through a landscaped garden, eventually joining narrow streets at the bottom of the hill that we followed through very quiet parts of town, all the way down to the beach. Along the coast line there's a promenade walkway, which we followed back along to the port. The photographs below are a few snapshots of what we saw along the way.
That afternoon, we headed up to the north part of town where the Botanic Gardens are. The north part of town is not nearly as attractive as the Southern old section that centers around the port. The north is very commercial and residential, in an apartment block kind of way. So we walked for about a half hour through unattractive suburbia, to find smack bang in the middle the most amazing front entrance to the gardens. An enormous semicircle of stone, filled with carvings, grand staircases, fountains and lush grass. I really must recommend you look at my photos on facebook - they're just too annoying and time consuming to upload onto the blog. But the front there really was spectacular. In the gardens we sat and watched french people - roller blading, riding bikes, or just sitting and chatting with icecreams. It was a lovely and relaxing way to spend the afternoon. And eventually we wandered back down to our hostel.
The following day our flight was quite early, so no time for sightseeing. Basically the weekend, although it involved a lot of walking, was really relaxing - all just wandering, taking photos, and enjoying the sunshine.

I got all excited, and now i'm procrastinating...

My my my, I have been neglecting my blog.
Lets' see, what have I been doing in the last 4 months since the roadtrip? There was Marseille, Paul and Ky's visit, us going back to Aus, Edinburgh, and the tour of the Jurassic coast. I'd best get cracking. Lucky I have a day off tomorrow. Tune in tomorrow!

Here is the blog for our lovely lovely 2 week camping trip to pretty much everywhere!!! And of course we start with a 'us in the car' photo. We are pretty much unchanged.
First stop on the trip was Wales. We checked out swansea for a bit (mainly to stock up on supplies) we stayed the night at a place that had been recommended to us called 'three cliffs'. This was the view from where we had our tent (i'm standing just infront of it) Really gorgeous views, but sadly we didnt make it down to the beach because of the Welsh weather. We did, however, make it to Oxwich beach that night, where many of you already know, Luke popped the question. I said yes, then the skies opened with blessings in the form of rain. And oh, were the blessings abundant. For the next several days. But yay for getting married! Who cares about rain!
Of course, because of the abundant rain, we decided it would be wise the next day to go back to swansea and upgrade from a two man tent (just!) to a 4 man tent. Much more comfortable.

The second night we moved onto a place called St David. It's the smallest city in the UK - thanks to its' lovely cathedral. Apparently it's a very holy city too - two pilgrimmages to St Davids (back in the day of pilgrimmages), were worth one pilgrimmage to Rome. So its a local way for catholics to get brownie points up. And it's picturesque into the bargain.
We went on a coastal walk one of th mornings there, the next couple of photos are from that, all along the Pembrokeshire coastal path.

This is Luke on the very top of St Davids head (and it's not often I get to say that sort of thing). Very pretty, and very windy.
There was an iron age hill fort exhibition. It's there mainly for kids. But we went anyway. There were lots of kids around. They got to make damper. We didnt.
The drive through Snowdonia national park was really really cool - lots of massive mountains covered with sheep, and impossibly placed stone walls (seriously, on slopes you wouldnt consider trying to scramble up, and someone's gone and built a stone wall there to keep their sheep in.) Really beautiful.
This was the view from our tent at the 'silver birches' caravan site. Really cool site, I would definitely recommend it - the owners had free maps and things of nearby walks. We thought we'd check one out, at about 830. We got home at 11. Lucky it was summer cos we didnt take a torch either. Stupid.
Caenarfon Castle! I may have spelt that wrong, but in Welsh, it doesnt matter. Very big, very nice. Wasnt sick of castles yet at this point.

We went for lunch at a chinese restaurant while we were there... it was a 3 course banquet thing, the waiter was basically chasing us down to finish quickly, he woudl serve us the main and at the same time ask what we wanted for dessert. Luke wanted a banana fritter, i wanted icecream. The waiter paused a minute after the order, but then said that was fine. My icecream came out, delivered by the kitchen boy on his way out of the restraurant. A few minutes later, he came back carrying bananas. And then another few minutes later, Luke's banana fritter came out. Looks like it was worth the effort.
These are some pics from walks we did around Wales, in the Snowdonia area. Didnt have high hopes, but really really loved it. Also went cycling in Bedgellert national forest, really pretty there too.


These few photos are from our brief stay in the Lakes district. We stayed at a place called Low Wray, near Ambleside, which was owned by the national trust. It was overpriced and overcrowded, but i guess you get that there. Pretty enough though, made me wish i had a canoe - there were lots of little islands scattered around the lakes. Would have been fun to go explore. Instead, we went for a mountain bike ride in the Grizedale Forest national park, which was OK. There are about 70 wooden sculptures scattered around in the forest, accumulated since the 80's. Some are cool, some are a bit 'what the...?', but at least it gave us something to look at. Overall, too many hills for too little views in my opinion. And Luke even agreed with me. That's how rubbish the ride was.



And here's Mr Domestic cooking me dinner after putting me through that gruelling bike ride.
We were pretty happy to leave the Lakes district after that, and crossed the border to scotland. On one of the roads going up the west coast there's a section called the "Electric Brae" that's apparently a bit of an illusion - for some reason the road looks like it's sloping slightly uphill, but in reality you're going downhill just slightly, so it feels like you're rolling uphill. It must be pretty bloody subtle cos we couldnt really tell where it was, but there was some loser who kept stoppin his car every 100m or so on a fairly main road (stopping all the traffic behind him!!) to get out of his car, and put a water bottle on the road to see which way it would roll. Luke nearly ran him over. Out of frustration.
This is the Ruthwell stone - a 7th century relic depicting biblical scenes. It's one of the first pieces of evidence of christianity in britain.

This was the first castle in Scotland we went to - Caerlaverock castle. We even got our own parking lot because the bikes made the car too tall :-)
Really big ruin, with an older ruin (where the castle was first built, before the first version started sinking into the marsh, so they built a better, less sinky one) that is a bit further back through some woodland. Very pretty, gorgeous day, as you can see. That night though we ran out of time to get to a campsite, so we ended up splurging on a B&B, complete with full scottish breakfast. We were offered black pudding, pork sausages, bacon, potato pancakes, fried bread, deep fried corned beef, and beans.
On a side note, I was surprised to discover in my lonely planet guide that the Scots have the highest cholesterol level in the world. Amazing.
Old staircase inside the ruin.
Sweethearts Abbey. A beautiful pink sandstone ruin that got its name from the caretaker buried there - she loved her husband so much that when he died she had his heart embalmed and carried it with her everywhere. Gross.

Threave castle. We had to take a boat ride with a chatty Scot to get there. Twas fun.

This was in Glengarry national park. Nice little walk by a river with some rapids. We just really needed to get out of the car by this point, driving for aaaaaages.
This day was mainly a lot of driving all the way up the West Coast. Really beautiful - big misty mountain, winding roads through heath strewn fields. Really really nice driving.

Here's some sheep hiding from the weather. Cute. I must say, one of the best things about the Highlands of Scotland was the abundance of wildlife...sheep (including lots of waggy tailed lambs!! Its been a long while since i saw a sheep with a tail), deer, rabbits... everywhere! It was like being in Bambi. Well, all the good bits of Bambi.
Sango Sands caravan park. We stayed here right on the North coast of Scotland. It was light till midnight, sun back up at 3am. Awesome.
Smoo Cave. I like it just because of the name.
Dunnet head - the most northerly point of Scotland. It has lovely views, and a lighthouse built by Robert Louis Stevenson's grandfather. Also has ruined buildings from when it used to be a military outpost. It would be a pretty lonely place to be too.
The official John O'Groats thing. Stupid. And you have to pay if you want to stand next to it. As if.
Luke swimming in Scotland. Idiot. Apparently it was 'refreshing'.
This was a statue just outside of Helmsdale commemorating all the Scots that had to emigrate as part of the clearances in the 18th century. It's a very anatomically correct statue, as you'll see in the next pic. (Just for the record, I dont randomly go looking up mens kilts, the lonely planet guidebook had said to check it out. Obviously written by pervs. And read by pervs. )

This is Urquart Castle, on the banks of Loch Ness. It's as pretty as any castle, but with more tourists.
Luke before he fell down off this bridge on a small hike we did up to some waterfalls in Blair.
And these are the falls we hiked to.
This is Blair castle - dwelling place for the Murray clan, from which the Smeals are descended. Luke reckons there's portraits in here that look like his dad. I reckon he's dreaming. Although the rooms inside are all decorated in random pastel colours, and apparently that is a Smeal thing.
This is us mucking about in the tent, with my cool new woolen hat, bought at John O'Groats.
This is the view from Stirling Castle. This castle had a lot to do with the Jacobite rebellion in Scotland, and also with the life of Mary Queen of Scots. In the distance on top of the hill to the right you can see a monument to William Wallace. Way impressive he was apparently. We didnt get around to that though. In Stirling we stayed at a camping ground called 'Witches Craig' - apparently called so due to the location - the rocky outcrop we were camping under was once used to burn witches at the stake. Sweet dreams.
This is the 'wark' outside the castle. A long and elaborate history, from use by the Jacobites up to being used as a military hospital. Now it's apparently used as a windblock for the street below.
Random statue of a unicorn in Stirling. Didnt have any kind of plaque so I don't know what it's about. But I like it because it's a unicorn. Ha.


Melrose Abbey above.

This is the view from the top of Melrose Abbey. Lovely. There's a gargoyle up there of a pig playing the bagpipes. Tricky to get a photo of, but fun to giggle at.
Statue of William Wallace, randomly located in the woods somewhere in Southern Scotland. Nice spot for a picnic.
Smailholm Tower in the pic below. Nothing to do with the Smeal family (which was the reason we went there originally) but was apparently a favourite haunt for Sir Walter Scott when he stayed with family nearby when he had Polio as a child. The tower is now kitted out with little dioramas of scenes from Sir Walter Scotts life and from his poetry, and accompanied by an audioguide with readings of the stories. Really entertaining.


This was an excuse to stop on the long drive back down the country - the 'iron man' on the M1. He's big. And a tad rusty.

Last stop on our trip was Nuneaton, where, some of you may remember, we used to live when I was a kid. This is a picture of the white stone at the local shops in whitestone. Ah the memories.
And that was it!!
PS. In case you're a 'skimmer' of blogs, i'll just recap that we got ENGAGED on this trip. Let the congrats ensue :-)