This Little Piggy Went to Market...

Scotland has been truly wonderful to us.  There are stunning castles everywhere, hidden among rolling verdant hills, or surrounded by the sweeping moors.  We've been fortunate that the wild heather is out and bestows stunning violet colours to highlight the beauty of the Scottish moors.

The Scottish border is clearly marked and we couldn't help but take a moment to have a picture.

Edinburgh is truly a pretty place.  The town is of course very old, and was I believe the first city in the world to be granted world heritage status. This of course creates lots of problems for various locals however - including being unable to restore windows that were boarded up in Georgian times to avoid the 'window tax' of that era.

Our accomodation is in a lovely bed and breakfast near the beach.  Whilst it's certainly cool in the evenings, we've been really lucky with the weather and the sun is out more often than not.  Our first night, we walked along the beach to find some dinner and observed some people around a bonfire on the beach. They appeared to be burning old pallets, however Todd thought this was a sign of what was to come if the Scots won their independance from the UK.

Eating experiences here have been hit and miss.  Absolute hit was a three hour walking tour that I did one evening.  The idea is to see the city, but also understand more about the food culture.  I joined a group that visited five or six venues to taste typical Scottish fare.  It was fantastic! The stops were varied; a pub, hotel, a restaurant, french wine bar and also a private whiskey club (where I had haggis, neeps (turnips) and tatties (potatoes) for the first time).

Pork belly from a Californian inspired Scottish restaurant. 

Some sort of dessert with clotted cream, raspberries and short bread.

Unfortuantely, Todd was feeling unwell so couldn't attend, but I would absolutely recommend it to anyone visiting as a great way to see Edinburgh.

One of my less impressive dining experiences was when I popped out to get some lunch from a local fish and chip shop.  I asked for a "hamburger and chips".  The guy behind the counter took pains to explain that he had some items already cooked and ready to go - he showed me variously fish and sausages, all battered and deep fried sitting under the warmer.

There I am, thinking how do any of these things bear a resemblance to a 'hamburger' and so I declined these and said, "no, I really feel like a hamburger."  Well... unfortuantely I don't have a picture of what I got, but suffice to say it was not what I was expecting. Upon opening the box he gave me, I found a bed of chips and two hamburger patties that had been battered and deep fried!

At this stage, it felt too awkward to do anything but walk out of the store and just eat what I had been given.  I've since been advised that I need to ask for a 'cheeseburger' and preferably go to a 'kebab shop' for real hamburgers!

Another of the better meals we had was on board the H.M. Royal Yacht Britannia.  The food was simple, but really tasty and excellently prepared.  We did a tour of the ship and had lunch on the deck which was pleasant, even if it left our wallets significantly lighter for the experience. We stole two of the napkins as recompense (and later saw them for sale in the gift shop!)

Another lovely eating experience was a place called Oink.  They have a whole roast pig on display that they pull the meat off and put it into fresh buns with a choice of only two or three condiments.  The meat is succulent and super tasty. Each roll is about $10AUD, so whilst it's not the cheapest sandwich around, it was definately great value.

This little piggy went to... the abbattoir?

We left Edinburgh for our Inverness self catered accomodation.  This was almost a relief as we finally had room to unpack our suitcases properly and to do some laundry!  We could also stock our own fridge and I'd forgotten that feeling of having a full fridge... It felt a little more like home after that.

Unfortunately the Rekorderlig Peach and Apricot cider you see there was left un-drunk and now I can't find it anywhere... opportunity missed, however I shall not stop looking!

Inverness was also lovely and seemed to be also a little wealthier than other parts of Scotland.  Certainly house blocks were bigger and the ratio of luxury cars on the road was similar to that of England (which was typically higher than Scotland more generally).  We had a wonderful time exploring Loch Ness - including Todd trying to find a path right down to the edge of the water through dense blackberry bushes and trees.  Once down, he had a lot of trouble getting back up.  There is a short video of him attempting to climb up, however I've been forbidden from posting it here.

The Tide is High...

Our accomodation in Berwick was easily the most luxurious so far.  Our host has built a seven bedroom Georgian reproduction manor home and lets out some of the rooms.  The whole place is such perfection that we are scared to slip/drop/mark/stain anything. He also runs a side business as a cake maker/decorator and had some of his creations on display in the guest lounge.  Needless to say, they were also exquisite.

Upon arrival, we were welcomed with refreshments and asked to mind the phone, as our host was just "popping down to Mummy's for ten minutes."

The next day we visited Lindisfarne on the Holy Isle off the coast of Berwick.  There is a causeway that you drive across in order to access the island, however you must take note of the tide times lest you get stranded either on the isle, or on the causeway when the tides catch you. There are warnings everywhere on the island.

We walked all over for about three hours - the countryside there is absolutely stunning.  It is sometimes referred to as the "Cradle of Christianity" in Britain. An abbey, built during the 5th or 6th centuries by St. Aiden and St. Cuthbert and since ruined during the confiscation of the monasteries by Henry VIII in the 16th century, partly remains and attracts pilgrims from all over the country.

Seperately, I was having conniptions about the possibility of being stranded, so had already "accidentally" put insufficient coinage in the parking machine (meaning we'd have to depart earlier than planned). Luckily we left with plenty of time to spare and there were no news stories about two fat Australians being rescued from the roof of their car. As we were walking to the car, I picked up a huge punnet of fresh raspberries for $4AUD.  They were succulent and juicy!

The next day we went for a boat tour of some of the other islands of the eastern coast, a little further south of Berwick.  This was lovely, and we saw seals and various birdlife (including one puffin bird!) Thankfully, I'd taken a Travelcalm pill and so didn't vomit in anyone's face (as was the case with my trip to Kangaroo Island some years ago).

Upon our return home, we walked in the front door to hear music absolutely blasting from deep within the house.  As we went upstairs, it was clear it was coming from near our room. It turns out our host does the cleaning whilst listening to all male, light operatic versions of various songs as diverse as Somewhere Over the Rainbow and All of Me by John Legend.  All played to a volume that would drown out ten lawnmowers! Unfortuantely I made the mistake of politely commenting that "we were enjoying the music" so it basically continued at this volume for another 90 minutes.

The breakfasts here have been some of the best so far and we're yet to find a good rhythm for meals... it seems that to some extent we are basically; eating, sightseeing, eating, resting, eating, sleeping - repeat.

At the End of One's Wits

Greetings, loyal readers.

I write to you from the plush surrounds of my Georgian-era reproduction B and B bedroom, not far from a town called Berwick-upon-Tweed near the Scottish border. Thankfully they've included things like modern plumbing, and high thread count sheets to make it a little more comfortable than true Georgian times might've been.

This chapter begins with us leaving York and hitting the road to Durham. We took a slight detour to visit a Victorian science museum.  It was very highly rated on Trip Advisor so thought we'd give it a go.  We arrived at the "museum" (and I do use the word very loosley!) which turned out to be some guy's shed (let's call him 'Ernest') built up with shelves covered in what appeared at first glance to be total junk.  Having paid the $AUD equivalent of $30 per person to see this, needless to say, I was somewhat un-impressed.

However as the presentation started, it turned out to be really interesting. Ernest was clearly well researched and had accumulated a significant collection of items related to and based on Victorian-era science.  He demonstrated a number of things, including the first x-ray, the discovery of static electricity, the first ever communication device as well early discoveries around radiation.  The only challenge was Ernest's very specific instructions around lighting.  I was initially given the task of controlling three light switches.  Ernest had been very careful with his instructions, even to the point of saying "do not leave your hand on the lightswitch after you've switched it".  This was actually tempting to do as variously we would be in utter darkness whilst observing different parts of the presentation.

Unfortunately, when Todd took over, he was less adept at managing the lighting so received several admonitions from Ernest both for leaving his hand on the switch and for turning on additional lights that were unrequested. If you haven't already realised that Ernest is a curmudgeonly old man.... this should do it.  The best part of it was at the end when he put on a little "Frankenstein Show" where there were lights flashing and gadgets giving off massive electrical sparks all to a soundtrack of Frankenstein's monster being awakened, interspersed with women screaming.  It even included a cardboard cutout of a castle - I am not even kidding.

Following this, we'd planned to visit Whitby (seaside town on the north-east coast).  Whitby has both a museum dedicated to Captain Cook and the ruins of a particular abbey that we'd wanted to see.  In Bram Stoker's Dracula, Whitby is the site where he first lands when arriving in England.  Indeed, the abbey itself was used in the filming of the movie.  Unfortunately, we didn't account for the hordes (yes, absolute HORDES) of English tourists that were taking advantage of the Bank Holiday long weekend to visit.

Traffic was horrendous and we just: Could. Not. Get. A. Park. ANYWHERE!  Cue absolute meltdown from Todd.

In the end, we reached a cafe called Wit's End, which was entirely appropriate and ironically served the best coffee!  It was in a little town called Sandsend, very pretty and on the beach making for a nice stop on an otherwise stressful afternoon.

We stayed at a farm not far from Durham itself.  This particular place served breakfast at a communal dining table.  Until now, other guests at our various places of accomodation have been mysterious visitors we otherwise whispered about. Now we had to actually talk to them. Thankfully they were nice and polite, though unable to pick our accent. The low point was probably when one of the guests saw fit to correct Todd on a point about Australian Aboriginal history.  You can imagine how that went down.

The next day, after arriving in Durham, I went to the National Glass Centre in Sunderland where I took a brief class in glass blowing.  It was amazing!  I fear I've been bitten by whatever bug is applicable.  Interestingly, when I said I was from Adelaide, everybody at the Glass Centre knew of our fair city, immediately citing the Jam Factory - which is clearly more famous than I'd realised!

Todd was less interested in this, so had agreed to go and do some laundry. Unfortunately for him (and also for me as it turned out!) due to Bank Holiday, nothing was open.  We ended up doing it the next day and by this time, Northern England more generally, was fast approaching the status of "dump" previously assigned only to York.

The one standout from Durham was the Cathedral and the adjoining castle, which is now a residential college for the University... a beautifully spritual place.  Our guides were lovely, very knowledgable and gave great tours.  We were very fortunate that the British National Youth Choir came in to give an impromptu performance in the Cathedral. It was perfect - stunningly beautiful music in the most wondrous setting.

Todd had decided to climb to to top of the Cathedral tower, whilst I stayed to listen to the Choir.  The staircase was so narrow, and used for both ascending and descending that Todd had what can only be described as 'intimate encounters' with various other climbers.  By the look of the people who came down after Todd, some of these wouldn't have been pleasant!

Next post will be from Edinburgh!

Delightfully Turkish

Welcome to the wonderfully old and charming city of York.  Charming that is, but for the myriad groups of women tottering around drukenly in their high heels after a day at the York races.  Additionally, York is now 'dead' to Todd, however more on this later.

Upon arrival we were shown to our room, which is perfectly lovely and particularly spacious.  Breakfasts here follow the same pattern of bacon and eggs.  I've yet to be offered anything really different, so the risk of me having to purchase a muu-muu is ever increasing.

We spent our first full day in York wandering the city and exploring the National Rail Museum.  It was particularly interesting to see the sorts of royal carriages that have been in use... they are soo luxurious!

We had been aware that one of the theatres was putting on a production of Wind in the Willows.  Todd said he wanted to go, however I'd envisaged a children's event so wasn't really keen.  In the end we decided to give it a try.  All seemed perfectly normal until the production began.  It was actually the WORST play I've ever seen... I was periodically closing my eyes and dozing off.  It turned out to be some sort of adaptation for kids that didn't even follow the story properly. This continued for about 60 minutes until intermission where Todd and I decided we'd give the rest a miss.  Of course, you can imagine Todd's view on the matter - classical theatre should not be tampered with etc (especially not by amateur playwrights and local guild players, rah rah).

We then proceeded to walk in the direction of our accomodation.  As we were trundling along, commiserating over the $80 wasted on theatre tickets, we were just about to pass two others on the street.  Totally unexpectedly, it was Cimon's parents!  We exclaimed over the coincidence! Truly, even now, the total oddity of encountering the parents of my good friend from Adelaide, in York of all places is a little mind blowing.

As wonderful a coincidence as it was, it did give me a moment of pause.  It was pure chance that we left the performance at the time we did, and even more so that we were walking down that particular street (as it turned out we were going in TOTALLY the wrong direction).  How many other opportunities, moments, 'conincidences' are we missing? How many other chances for something unexpected or wonderful are passing us by as we look in the other direction? I bet some of this happens in moments where we're preoccupied.  Worrying about something we can't change, or focusing so strongly internally, leaving ourselves blind to what's really truly around us.  We later saw them both individually on another couple of occasions and again I was struck by the randomness of it all.  Being a tourist in a foreign country, you're often drinking in the view.  Is this an attitude / behaviour / mindset that is actually more important to have at home, but we just 'dont' have time for it?'  Not sure...

On to sweeter things, York is home to many chocolatiers and also to a Nestle factory.  The history of the sweet brown stuff in this town is long and very interesting.  In scholarly pursuit of this historical information we decided to undertake a chocolate making course!  We were told a little about the history of chocolate in York (it turns out that Fry's Turkish Delight as well as Nestle Kit Kats are made here!) and given some lessons in experiencing chocolate. It's about more than the taste, you see.  The look, the feel and even the sound! (Dark chocolate has a lower cocoa butter content so snaps sharply when you break it.  Milk chocolate is more muted when you break it due to it's heavier cocoa butter mass - think about snapping a block of butter).

Once we'd selected the type of chocolate we were using, we then tempered it, flavoured it and poured it into a mould.  I had intended to decorate mine with flowers made out of smarties and white chocolate bits, however it basically ended up looking like a two year old had dumped a whole lot of coloured crap in my chocolate bar.

During our scholarly pursuit of information about chocolate (whilst shoving our gobs full of the stuff) I also found out that Kraft (who now owns Cadbury) are variously pairing some of their key product lines to include chocolate.  This includes crackers, Pringles and if you can believe it; Marmite.  Todd is now very worried that this is the beginning of Choco-mite or Vege-late or some other ridiculous combination of milk chocolate and Vegemite coming soon to a shelf near you.

Following this, I treated myself to my first ever cut-throat razor barber shave.  The Turkish guy who performed the service for me was delightful (see what I did there?) and afterwards there were about five different lotions, sprays or aftershaves applied to my face! Very luxurious.

We then walked through the markets of Newgate in York city centre and wandered along one of York's famous town walls.  These walls are ancient and have survivied largely intact for centuries, dating back to when York was a Roman stronghold. Whilst they don't encircle the whole town any more, they do for most of it and it's an imposing sight as you leave or enter the city proper.

We headed home for a quick nap, having spent most of the day on our feet, before indulging in a lovely Indian dinner.  We had bought tickets to see an organ recital in the York Cathedral, however this was not to be.  Whilst we left 30 mins for a journey our sat nav said would take 6 mins, parking in this is city is crazy (as is navigating the narrow cobblestoned streets).  As such we were only 5 (NO exaggeration!) minutes late and by then the doors were tightly shut and our opportunity was missed.

Given this now totals around $120 of money wasted on useless theatre / recital tickets, York has lost some of it's initial charm.  Todd was furious about the whole thing and hence why York is now dead to him.  Lucky we are leaving tomorrow.  He is now insisting that I tell you all, "this town is a dump."

Tomorrow we have an early start (breakfast at 8.30!) to then head to the Victorian Science Museum in Whitby - also home to some sort of Captain Cook museum.  We then head over to Chester-Le-Street to take in Durham and possibly Newcastle.

Baby, Give Your Heart a Break....

Hello again, dear readers.

Well, the Wedding has been and gone and it's now time for us to leave sunny Lincoln and move onto York.

The Wedding celebration was just wonderful.  The ceremony took place in a small church in the village of Stoke Rochford (Todd is insisting that I tell readers that this village is otherwise famously home to Lady McCorquodale - Princess Diana's eldest sister who was in fact dating Prince Charles prior to Diana........ whatever - I think he just likes saying the name 'McCorquodale'). It was a beautifully simple ceremony that was truly moving.  Kathryn looked stunning and the weather held up nicely so all was well.

Following the ceremony, we all returned to Stoke Rochford Hall for dinner, drinks and dancing. As the evening progressed, there were snacks brought out as refreshments for the guests staying late.  I had my first taste of Pork Pie and I must say that whilst it did seem to be a heart attack in every bite... it was quite delicious.  Todd and I retired 'early' at around 11pm however I understand that the festivities went well into the early morning.

We checked into our B&B in Lincoln the day after the wedding and were delighted.  We had variously discussed that our B&B experiences across the UK would likely resemble Little Britain sketches and indeed there were elements of that here.  Our hosts were genuinely wonderful and on the first morning, shared various stories with us including some current challenges around a recently checked out bed wetter.  This then extended to various other stories including one about about a woman who had trouble with her period, another about a man with dementia who pulled a shower rail off the wall and a couple of regulars who are intellectually disabled who come for a bit of nooky... you get the idea.  The recent bed wetter was now demanding possession of the soiled mattress as proof that the proprietors were indeed purchasing a new one and not just going to turn it over.

Our room is decorated in a Victorian fashion with lots of knick knacks about the place.  The only down side is that the shower has been built to a size fit only for a starved indentured child from the Victorian era.  There is simply no room for a portly gentlemen such as myself to even turn around, let along retrieve a dropped bar of soap.

Continuing the heart attack theme, we've so far been breakfasting with abandon.  Each day has been a freshly cooked hot English breakfast and whilst I know that's the purpose of staying in a B&B, I'm feeling the need to moderate my food lest I actually end up needing to travel home in the cargo hold of the plane as I simply may not fit through the door.

(A note here from Todd - I am struck by Danny's engagement with 'old school' English eating patterns - he has taken to pork pie, HP Sauce with every breakfast and even vinegar on chips.  Odd that he would never have eaten any of this at home.  By the time we leave I'll have him eating kippers with horseradish...)

We also spent a day in the town of Boston, not far from Lincoln.  It turns out, this is from whence the Mayflower sailed to America.  We climbed up a tiny spiral stair in the main church called St. Botolph's and had a wonderful view of the surrounding countryside.

 

A disconcerting thing is that variously, people seem to think that we're from America.  This tends to be even after we've started speaking.  Both times this has happened we were wearing shorts and sneakers, so it could be this or just that we're both fat - not sure.