Our day starts at 8 am, after a hearty hot breakfast, so different from croissants, sliced meat and cheese.
Our tour guide is in fine English form in his suit, tie, trench coat,hat and neat little white moustache.- do you get the picture?
We pass pastures of dairy farms and cereal crops, rich fertile land. This area was also known for exporting coal for two centuries, but the coal mines are now closed down. Britain now import coal!
Our first stop is Hadrians wall, a roman defense wall separating the north from the south. Only small remnants of the wall remains. The wall was originally 15ft wide and 76 miles long. The stones on the wall were recycled into houses, this is why only remnants remain. We stopped for coffee at a quaint pub, " the swan" in the district of Heddon, Northumberland. It was having a leek show, yes a leek show.
The size of the leeks was amazing. Rhyce,you should have been there you would have been impressed.
The local school, church and homes were constructed form the stones of the hadrians wall. We checked out the St Andrews Church, circa 650AD. The Rev Audrey McCartan was very excited to see us and showed us around her church, and proudly explained the history of the church and stained glass windows.
From Heddon we pass pretty green country side, dotted with sheep and cattle towards the Scottish border. On the border of England and Scotland the mist appears amongst the now rugged terrain...it looks spectacular. We see heather for the first time along the side of the road.........the plant not the person.
Jedburgh is our next stop to view the remains of the Abbey that was built in the 1120's and destroyed in 1150.
Our lunch stop is at the gorgeous village of Melrose, where once again a large Abbey has been partially destroyed. The village is full of flower boxes, quaint streets, and classy shops. We have lunch there at a pub, called the George and Abbottsford. We are the only diners. I try their coronation chicken ciabatta, which is curried chicken and sultanas in a ciabatta roll - yum. Greg has a salmon sandwich with chips.
We have two hours free time so we amble around the village in the misty rain.
We leave Melrose for Edinburgh, only 45 mins away, passing the river Tweed famous for salmon and trout fishing and the aquaducts .
This area of course is also known for it's tweeds,kilts, cashmere, and wool products
On arrival in Edinburgh we walk to Tesco, like Kmart and Coles combined, for a clothes line- sorry Marilyn we left the clothes line at a hotel. An attendant asks Greg something, in a language we have never heard of before, with no idea what he said to us, Greg replies We are ok thanks. It was a very funny moment, another " you had to be there".
Tonight we join the "team", that's what Greg calls the tour group, for a Scottish evening with Highland dancers, bagpipers and the ceremony of the Haggis( commonly known as sheeps offal), at Jamies at the Thistle.
We are greeted at The Thistle, by an elderly man playing the bag pipes, and ushered into an upstairs room for our evening meal and entertainment.
The evening was a mixture of singing, Scottish dancing, jokes and music. The meal was a good opportunity to meet the "team".
The finale of the evening was the presentation of the haggis, which we were all able to sample. It was like a spicy sausage with a thick sticky texture.
The evening ended at 10pm and we spent time enjoying the night views of
Edinburgh from the bus.
Love Leanne and Greg XXXXXXX
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Location:Journey to Edinburgh
The Haggis sounds disgusting, I can't believe you ate it.
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