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It was another lovely London day as we piled all our belongings into Vladimir, and headed off to Scotland, unfortunately we only got to the end of the street before being stopped by the Police. The London marathon was being run that morning and our area around Tower Bridge was completely cordoned off.
But with a bit of Kiwi charm we managed to get the police to pull down the barriers and let us out.
Without a map of London, we drove over London bridge and followed signs North until we landed on the M1, without a hitch (lucky it was a Sunday and the traffic was light)
We made quick time up the M1, as all the other cars in the outside lanes seemed to be travelling at 140kph, so I joined them. It was only when I we got to my Uncles place , that I found out that the speed limit is 120kph.
We started our Scotland experience in a small village called Lenzie on the outskirts of Glasgow, and spent our time visiting the beautiful Glasgow Museum and University.
Glasgow has reinvented itself as the educational capital of Scotland with three Universities, and a redeveloped central city. Most of the old ship building yards and Tenement buildings have been closed and demolished to make way for new apartments.
Another major project in Scotland is the rejuvenation of the old Canal systems, mainly for tourist purposes, and a major part of this is the “Falkirk Wheel”. A unique new structure at the junction of the Clyde and Forth canal and the Union Canal.
This amazing wheel lifts or lowers boats 25m in 15 minutes, replacing 9 sets of locks which would take 12 hours to navigate.
From Glasgow it was up the A9 to Inverness, after a brief stop for lunch at Kingussie (place of my birth).
We continued through Inverness to a small town 15 miles north called Evanston, where we stayed at my Aunties and took in the local sights, as well as some local dishes such as “Cullen Skink” a local seafood soup, “Butterys”, an Aberdonian pastry, and Mince Tatties, Neeps and white pudding.
Unbelievably Inverness is one of the fastest growing cities in Europe, and the building since our last visit 20 years ago was amazing. I don't know what everybody does as there is no big employers in the town, but seemingly a lot of English come up to live and commute south.
We spent 3 hours at the Culloden Battlefield, learning all about the Jacobite uprising of 1745, and the subsequent disastrous battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746 ., The kids loved learning all about the Macdonald Clan History, and Liam had me trailing around in the rain until we found the Clan Ranald stone in the far corner of the battlefield.
We spent two nights in Inverness with another Aunty, and took in a game of Shinty at Brugh park.
The season was much later up in Scotland, and a lot of Cereal crops and Potatoes were just going in to the ground.
The cropping farmers are having a very hard time over here, as the returns from cropping aren't covering their costs, despite the fact that a lot of the grain is grown for the many Whisky Distillery's.
After meeting another Uncle and Aunty for lunch at a small village called Tomatin, and a further night in Glasgow we are now on our way South to Paris, and hopefully some warmer weather, because although the hospitality was extremely warm, the weather was not.
Rarely was the temperature above 10 degrees and it rained at some time every day.
We are staying in a small town called Nantwich in Cheshire at a Premier Inn. These are a network of 500 hotels that offer cheap family rooms for around 50 pounds. We have just dined in the adjoining country Pub which is very good value. 4 adult meals and drinks for 24 pounds or around $60 NZD, that is much cheaper than NZ prices.
The other noticeable difference is the volume of traffic on the roads, 4 full lanes each way on the M6 today, luckily so far we have dodged any major traffic hold ups.
Tomorrow it is off to stay with another cousin in Amersham, just north of London, before heading over on the ferry on Sunday. Paris here we come!!
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