From Lakes to Edinburgh

Last day of the tour. It has been fantastic as far as places visited were concerned, Andy our guide and brilliant driver, and of course meeting up with Zoe. The group was pleasant enough and we got on fine, but no deep and meaningful friendships!

As we drove away fromKeswick, a last glimpse of the pretty yellow poppies which seem to grow so well in walls and crevasses!

Our drive today was quite long, with two main stops. We drove towards the Pennines and over a pass through a national park, with the claim that it was amongst the ten most beautiful drives in the world! It was nice, but probably amongst the top ten in Cumbria. Perhaps I have been spoilt?

The stop at the Roman Army Museum was very informative and interesting, focussing particularly on Life on Hadrian's Wall, with a great 3D film.

It meant that when we arrived at Steelrigg Hadrian's Wall, it was of much more interest. Of the 80-mile wall which stretched from east to west and was for protection as well as to control trade, only 15 miles of wall remains in reasonable condition, though only about half the original height. It was an incredible feeling to be standing next to something built 2000 years ago! We didn't have long enough here to climb to the top, but I was pretty happy to see this much. I asked myself if they had needed a wall at this point, considering the sheer rock faces below?

Our late lunch stop was at the small market town of Jedburgh back in Scotland. The huge cooked breakfast keeps you full most of the day, which saves time and money at lunchstops. We had only an hour and three-quarters in town, so I wanted to make the most of it. It was a warm, brisk walk up hill to the castle and jail, but boy, I am thrilled I did it. I was the only one of our group and alone in the jail!. Most of my group  spent most of the time in cafes.

En route I passed the very ornate, though derelict abbey, built by King David in the 1200s. I didn't know there had been a King David! No need to go in to see it and no time.

The view down the deserted street of the town from the castle was lovely. The jail was used in the 19 th century for criminals with generally not such severe crimes, and was a sort of experimental prison hoping to 'cure' prisoners of their wish to commit crimes rather than punish them. 

It did not work very well and after 66 years the jail was closed.

It is the first time I have been to the toilet  in a prison cell!

I rushed down the hill knowing I only had about 20 minutes before we were due to leave. What a pity, but I am pleased I went to the jail!

The home of Mary Queen of Scots, actually only for 5 weeks, was also fascinating. Suddenly all those hours of ghastly history classes had come alive and I really wanted to know more about this somewhat tragic queen. I had to rush through the incredibly interesting exhibits in this 500 year- old home. I am so pleased I learned to speed read and to skim articles! It was very useful here.

Mary only lived 44 years, 18 of which were in prison in England! She had last seen her child, James 6 of Scotland and James 1 of England when she abdicated as Queen of Scotland and he was 10 months old. How sad for a mum!

After so many years a prisoner, she only learned of her execution the night before. Her final letters made compelling reading. I felt sorry for her, and yet at school she had seemed the bad one!

Anyway, it seemed she conducted herself very well at her beheading and we were lucky enough to get to see the maskthey made of her face after the execution - so calm and graceful!

 
It was good to leave such sadness. What a period of treachery and betrayal. Who could you trust? Aren't we lucky in this day and age?

Now, we headed back to Edinburgh with a last, beautiful stop at Scott's view, the place William Scott loved the most. It was truly magnificent today with such wonderful weather, the scent of the vividly yellow gorse and the clear view of the mountains in the distance.

Time to say 'goodbye'. Andy was really a great driver. Despite being in the entertainment and tourist industry, he was still someone who obviously enjoyed his time alone. Understandably so! I would very happily do another tour with him. I never worried about the roads, however narrow and winding they were, and I loved his dry sense of humour. As 'spending a penny' became 'spending 40 pence', he commented that it was Britain's third industry after gas and oil! 

I hope his coming play, Shackleton, is a huge success during the Fringe Festival.

My last night in Edinburgh. No, I am not behind bars. I have a cheap hotel, more like a hostel, near Murrayfield. It was hard to find,  and the lady in reception could not speak a word of English. thanks to other guests I found Aldi and got dinner, discovered the kitchen here, and best of all discovered the terrace overlooking the beautiful skyline of Edinburgh. It is here I had dinner, wrote my blog and got to know some crazy Ameticans 'doing' Britain in 3 weeks!

 
It was a great final evening of this segment of my journey.

Lucky me!