A SUMMER BREAK IN THE UK

When we learnt that South Africa had made it to the finals of the world cup test cricket, there was no question that we would try and get tickets and plan a trip to the UK.  Initially I was going to send my husband on his own, but could not really pass up a chance to visit my son and his wife, and other family members, and so armed with a rather heavy camera backpack, my new purple hardshell case, matching hand luggage (containing a highly fragile ostrich egg for my ostrich obsessed English friend)  here I go!  

The natural history museum

Hubby attended two days of the cricket (which we won) and had the best time, while I explored London on my own.   Headed to the Natural History Museum, where I had prebooked my entry time, highly recommended as the queue is long! 

I took a look at the exhibition of photographs in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition and was severely intimidated by the quality of entries.  

It was only 12.15 by the time I had finished It was only 12.15 by the time I had finished so I carried on to St Dunstans in the Field, an old ruin of a church in the middle of the city.

A very photogenic building but as I had hit it at lunch time on a lovely sunny day, lots of office workers were sitting around so it was difficult to find a good vantage point..  A woman walking in front of me stopped people in their tracks to rescue a baby shrew and put it back into the undergrowth.  We all applauded her efforts.  

I then realised I was quite close to Tower Bridge and on my itinerary was a walk across the glass floor of the upper level.  The views were amazing.

Walked across the glass floor bridge twice, despite recently seeing Final Destination Bloodlines!!

 

The engine room

Next morning I walked to Gunnersbury Triangle, a small area between a busy railway line and several blocks of flats, which is tended by the local community and left in as natural a state as possible for the benefit of the wildlife that live in the area.  It was much cleaner than last time I was there a couple of years ago, and teaming with insects and birds.  

After a family weekend and Fathers Day Sunday Roast at The Rabbit British Bistro in Chelsea, we caught a very early morning flight to Inverness for our tour of the NC500.  Scotland was markedly colder than London, a bit of a shock to the system but we had come prepared with winter woolies so set off.  

In Inverness we stayed at Beinn Mhor Lodge. which I can highly recommend for it's position, comfort and wonderful hostess.  Bear in mind that with our South African Rands it was always important to get good value while being comfortable and this is one lodge that exceeded our expectations.  the boat trip on Loch Ness was rather underwhelming, and, again,  freezing cold but a walk around Ness Islands which is comprised of lots of bridges linking various islands across the end of the loch was very scenic a more sheltered from the wind.

Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness

Ness Islands

 We popped into the Inverness Botanic Gardens for a cup of coffee and a walk around.  Delightful place and lots of colour.

Next day we left in a light drizzle to drive the Black Isle Loop, which included Fortrose, Cromarty, Tain and arrived in plenty of time for our distillery tour of Glenmorangie Distillery.   It was amusing to see giraffes so generously represented and learnt that the stills at Glenmorangie are the height of an adult male giraffe, and not surprisingly their signature colour is orange. 

The stills

As there is zero tolerance in Scotland for drinking and driving we took our samples with us and had them later. Very nice indeed.

Next stop Doornoch, where we stayed aat Woodlands Bnb. Another spacious room in an old house. Walked around the quaint little town and found The Castle Beer Garden where we thought it might be nice to sit outside as the sun had decided to make an appearance even though it was still chilly. Went inside to order some food but were told outside we could only order pizza (they were actually quite delicious). I asked if we could order some wine, but for that we had to go through to the bar, and I carried two glasses, a bottle, and an ice bucket out to our table. So many rules about what you can have where. Day three we headed towards Wick, stopping at Golspie falls on the way. Very muddy and slippery around the falls, but very pretty.

 

  Then we realised we had to loop back a short way to climb Ben Braghie, the hill behind Golspie at the top of which is the rather controversial statue of George Leveson-Gower, Marquess of Stafford and first Duke of Sutherland. It was a very tough climb, and we managed to get a little lost. Google maps does not work too well in Scotland, and there is a notable lack of directional signs! We were almost blown off the top and the last flight of steps nearly killed me but I made it and the views were spectacular!

Next stop was the harbour town of Wick.  Nothing to say here except we should have avoided it and carried on North.  Most of the town is closed and shops are boarded up.  Dreary place.  Luckily the weather was kind.

Wick  Harbour   Harbour Bridge The next morning we left very early and made a short detour to the ruins of Castle Sinclair Girnigoe.  Now occupied by hundreds of birds, the castle is closed off to visitors as it is very unstable.  The castle has been taken over by hundreds of nesting birds and there were barriers preventing us from going into the actual building.   We reached John O'Groates by 9am so there were very few people around.   The coloured buildings and the coastal path lined with wild flowers were radiant in the sunshine.  At Duncansby Lighthouse, we walked along to the famous Duncansby Stacks the tallest of which is a towering 60m.  A nice walk, but difficult to avoid the sheep poop.  Duncansby Lighthouse  Duncansby Stacks  The guilty party Stopped to check out the beautiful beach at Dunnet Head, which interestingly is the most northern point of the UK mainland being 12 metres further north than John O'Groates.  There was some crazy guy walking into the water, which must have been icy. Dunnet Head Beach The lighthouse at Dunnet Head was where I ticked off a bucket list item to see a puffin in the wild, but I had not taken my heavy zoom lens so it was too far away to photograph unfortunately.  Dunnet Head We had to stop in Thurso to buy supplies as our next two days were going to be self catering in glamping pods just outside Talmine.  The pods were small but neat comfortable and had the most spectacular views over the bay.   On the longest day of the year, the sun rose at 4.08 and I was already there with my camera at the ready.  I am so pleased I made the effort to get up early as the next morning was cloudy.  It was worth braving the chilly morning.  However, the UK was experiencing a heat wave that weekend and some of that warm air reached us and we actually walked on the beach in shorts and t-shirts at 7am.     Leaving Talmine we came across this interesting graveyard.   The scenery changed quite a bit on the west coast, lots of narrow roads with passing places (we barely needed them, the roads were very quiet).  Lots of mountains and loch after loch.  We said "wow" a lot! Popped in to Smoo Cave.  We could not go far into the cave or see the waterfall as it was too dark.  The echo of the pigeons cooing in the cave was eerie.     At Dornoch we were excited to explore the Balnakeil Craft Village.  Unfortunately everything was closed (even on a Saturday morning).  I was planning to stay overnight in Dornoch but could not get accommodation.  Quite pleased that we didn't spend more time here.      Balnakeil Craft Village, Dornoch  On through some spectacular countryside towards Kylesku and over the Kylesku bridge.  It was very windy, and we had arrived too early to check into our accommodation so went for lunch at the Kylesku Hotel and then took a short walk through the forest back to the bridge. Kylesku Brige     Lovely view over Loch Gleann Dubh from our hotel, but unfortunately it was too windy and cold to go outside, so we sat in the lounge with a bottle of French red wine and met some delightful octogenarians from Lancashire who have travelled together since high school.  Dinner was lovely, and even though the rooms were rather small we got a good nights sleep, Next day on to Rogie falls, and for some reason Google maps again let us down and took us rather a long way round.  The falls however were amazing and we saw salmon jumping up one of the waterfalls so that was a new experience. A friend from home had asked us to see if we could find a certain chopping board painted by a Scottish artist and I found out they were available in a little gift shop in Plockton so on the way to Isle of Skye we took a detour to Meghan's which did indeed have the chopping boards, plus their now famous ice cream.  Plenty of people were sitting around outside the shop partaking of various flavours but it was a little too cold for us.  We had coffee instead!  Very picturesque village labelled "the jewel of the highlands" and it is a title well deserved. The weather had really turned against us and Skye was very blustery and cold.  However, we walked the 3km to the nearest village of Breakish and found a lovely warm pub to eat.  We had meant to explore more of the Island but we had already covered a lot of ground and decided to just enjoy the spot we were in, which was very picturesque.     The Isle of Skye   I had booked a trip on the "Harry Potter" Jacobite Steam Train to end off our trip.  About a week before the booking I received a mail saying they are not using the steam engine on the afternoon trips, only in the morning and I had the option to cancel.  It was quite an expensive journey so I cancelled and received a prompt refund.  On reflection this was probably a mistake and an opportunity missed given my love of trains, but there we are.  We decided to leave Skye a little earlier so that I could get a photo of the morning train going over the famous viaduct but Google maps once again took us the long way round and we soon realised we were not going to make it.  We had scheduled our overnight stay in Fort William because of the train, and drove out of town to find the Braveheart Village, and some Highland Coos.  The village was nowhere to be found but we did find some coos, and walked through some very boggy ground to get a photo.  My feet were soaked and freezing but the coos were unsympathetic and just stared at us with contempt! We found a lovely pub in the old part of town and had a reasonably priced meal which tasted good, and then realised that the manager is South African.  We were very close to the railway station where the morning train was due to arrive imminently so we went to try get a photo of the steam engine coming in.  Got there to find out it was delayed by an hour, and it was just too cold to hang around (of course we would have made it to the viaduct after all) but obviously it was not in my destiny to even see the train, never mind ride on it! Once back in London it was time to say goodbye to hubby who was returning to SA and I packed for my weekend away. First stop Bromsgrove to stay with my high school buddy (the recipient of the well travelled ostrich egg).  We visited Avoncroft Museum where many historical buildings from the area which would otherwise have been demolished to make way for new developments, have been painstakingly taken apart and reassembled in one place.   Threshing Barn (I think) Windmill still in operation Medieval Townhouse, arguably the oldest house in Bromsgrove The kitchen of a post WWII prefab house, the solution to the housing shortage after the war Then on to the Cotswolds for a couple of days with my favourite great niece who nearly killed me on a walk up Cleeve Hill and a rather boozy night in the local pubs.  Lovely time with her and her beautiful family.     It was a long walk, and very VERY hot   My wonderful daughter in law took a day from her busy work schedule to take me to the city of Cambridge.  When we got there we realised it was graduation day, and the spectacle of the young, gowned graduands parading towards Kings College, and surrounded by their proud parents, was a spectacle indeed. Cambridge is a picturesque city and we were guided on our walking tour by a rather eccentric philosophy student, with his torn clothes and his odd socks, which may have been a ploy to encourage tips, but it worked! Mike   The preferred mode of transport for students     The Corpus Clock      ' St Johns College

Punting on the River Cam. 

A fabulous day out.  We both fell asleep on the train on the way back to London!

New day, new adventure.  I had read about the London Wetlands in Barnes, and took myself off there for the day.  London was very hot and had not had proper rain for a while so the vegetation was parched and the flowers had lost their summer vibrancy, but the whole place was enormously impressive.  Lots of hides, lots of bird life, and even some Asian Clawless Otters.  I went to see these first and was so pleased I did as by the time I got back there at the end of my walk they had retreated into their shelter.  Some of the channels reminded me of the Okavango Delta in Botswana.  I spent the whole day here and it was well worth the GBP30 entrance fee.

The next morning we were up at 4am to go and join the queue for Wimbledon.   Even though we arrived well before 5.30 our ticket numbers were well into the 4 000s.  The mood in the queue is very festive, with various activities going on to pass the time.  Board and card games, champagne breakfast picnics, and some even catching up on some sleep.  Once the sun came up the heat was pretty intense once again.  We went to get coffee in Wimbledon town itself, mainly so that we could use the bathroom there as the portaloos for those in the queue were a bit smelly after sitting there for five days in the heat.   We eventually got in and could soak up the atmosphere and pop in and out of matches where we could find space.  It was a fantastic day and one more bucket list item ticked off.

Numbers looked daunting but in fact we were certainly not at the back of the queue	Sometimes we just had to settle for whatever seats we could get
	A refreshing Pimms on Henman Hill

I slept very well that night!!

We even managed to fit in a family get together on the Saturday before I left on Sunday afternoon a rather tearful goodbye I winged my way back home.