The final road trip stop

Cambridge was the last stop on our UK road trip and we were met by bro’s gf for this final leg. Again we had the help of a local and managed a sneak into one of the college grounds before the obligatory gondola ride down the canal. It was then back to London, Heathrow’s car hire drop off to be specific, which meant over an hour on the M25 semi-circling London while everyone was returning from their weekends away, fun is all I can say.

Cold, eerie and full of history

Edinburgh was indeed an interesting place, cold, eerie and full of history. With so many things to see and do, we decided to pick just a few this time including a night walking tour, a visit to the famous Edinburgh Castle and a morning trek up to the top of Arthur’s Seat in Holyrood Park. Next was a long day’s drive (by English standard’s) from Edinburgh to Cambridge, via Birmingham for a two hour lunch stop with bro’s old friend.

Meeting the relatives

Sunday morning encompassed a wander around the streets of Newcastle, a visit to see their many bridges and trip to the Angel of the North. At lunchtime it was off to the West coast of the country to spend a few slower days visiting the relatives in Aspatria. While there we managed a quick visit to Cockermouth, Keswick, Ambleside and Kendal in the lake district, a trip to Carlisle and we spent a day wandering Hadrian’s Wall. All cup of tea and ginger snapped out we headed for Edinburgh on Thursday for a couple of nights.

Ticket shambles

After spending the night in quite Harrogate it was off to England’s second most visited city, York, home of one of the most famous gothic buildings in Europe, the York Minster. The rest of the day involved wandering the city wall, touring the Minster, fighting the crowd’s in the Shambles, traversing the museum gardens and visiting the National Railway Museum. After a near ticket disaster in the car park, which involved not only a mad search to find the ticket, accidently left in the car, but also a mad search to find the pay machine before our fee ticked over to the 24 hour rate (we made it with under a minute to spare on a 6 hour carpark), it was off to Newcastle-upon-Tyne for the night.

Bows and arrows

We spent Friday in Nottingham, exploring the underground labyrinth of caves, undertaking a tour of the Justice museum which included an exhibit called ‘Convict ship, a journey into the unknown’ (aka Australia), posing with the Robin Hood statue and having a pint in England’s oldest known pub, Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem. On the way to the next stop, we took some time out to run amok in Sherwood Forest bow and arrow in hand.

Scenic fog

Thursday we set off early through the picturesque foggy cotswolds, stopping at Burford and Burton-on-the-Water on the way to Stratford-upon-Avon. Visited Shakespeare’s Birthplace and Anne Hathaway’s Cottage which we discovered was really famous for its summer garden. Well, zero degree temperatures, an eerie fog and frost a foot, ensured that the garden more resembled something of a scary children’s story. Next was Warwick Castle, an impressively well-kept fairytale castle, complete with a tacky, expensive theme park inside. I didn’t we were near Blackpool!