Lochness to Ayr

We have done quite a bit since the last post. We went to the Lochness Exhibition Centre and guess what - scientists have proven that Nessie doesn't exist!!! What!!! We were lucky enough to stay at a caravan park right on the waters edge of Loch Ness itself - it would have to be one of the best places we have stayed - the sound of the water, the height of the mountains that surround her and the feeling of being somewhere a bit magical - it was more than fabulous! You'll notice above a picture of the Sochness Monster.....

From here we found the little village of Crieff - not much bigger than Gatton - but not far from here we found Drummond Castle - although we weren't able to go into the castle, we were able to walk around the grounds - the gardens are absolutely unique .. Sue picked up many souvenirs. We ended up staying a couple of days in Crieff then we moved on to Dunning again to dig up a few more members of my family- and i had some success in the grave yard at St Serfs church finding David Lawson and Mary Deuchars. We spent quite a bit of time walking around the village - which is very small - and on both occasions that we have been in Dunning it has been freezing cold!

We then moved onto St Finnans and not only did we find the Drummond Arms Hotel, but we stayed there - we had a meal of haggis which to my surprise is quite delicious! It was a fun night, there was an Aussie guy who worked behind the bar so it was nice to hear a familiar accent. We woke the next morning and zipped to a neighbouring village as there were Highland Games happening - they were great - the pipers and drummers marching in was fantastic and the sound of bagpipes and drums always makes me feel quite emotional! We had a great time watching the highland fling, the hammer throw, the throwing of the shieff but unfortunately we had to leave to get to our next destination and missed the caber toss!

We have been busy - yesterday we had a fly by visit to Glasgow - might i say the weather has been horrible for the last couple of days so walking around in the pouring rain sight seeing isn't my idea of fun.... so we've been shopping! We met a Irish girl in an art gallery that we visited - their main exhibition was the most recent of Bob Dylan prints - Sue was after buying the collection but it was a bit out of our price range at £9800!!! Anyway, Lisa the art gallery curator has given us some greats tips for our visit to Ireland..... back to the shopping.... Sue and I are not the proud owners of ridgy-didge scottish kilts - with socks, sock flags, belts and buckles - sue has also got a sporen!

As i sit here typing away, oh, we are in the township of Ayr on the west coast - Sue is off at Monster Ink getting herself a celtic knot tattoo...

Okay, we only have 3 more nights in the campervan - it really has been fabulous - so on Thursday morning we drop it back in York -where we will spend the night and then on Friday we Bus/train it back to St Pancras Station in London and then hop on another train to Brighton! Where we play at the Brighton Festival on Saturday - yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

You take the Highroad.....

We've hit the Scottish Highlands - it is stunning countryside - we have just had two days in a small village called Nairn- believe me when I say there not much there... but we thought we needed a break from the driving.. we did come across a gigantic pig farm, they all have their own little houses in the paddocks! and we did visit the local museum which , according to local guides was a must see - hmmmmm.... The caravan park itself was in the middle of the woods - we were expecting to see some elves and fairies as it is quite mystical... we did see lots of rabbits and a couple of squirrels. We had a trip to St Andrews previous to this and stayed also at a small village called Montrose which was on the East Coast. We had a great trip through the mountains to Nairn where we saw some hairy highland cattle! The roads were also a bit hairy - narrow and steep but the views were nothing short of amazing!

Today, we are in Inverness - and heading down to Invermoriston, which is at the southern tip of Loch Ness - so, we'll be back on the tourist path in search of Nessie herself! The weather has improved - nothing but blue skies here today - so it should be glorious weather to be on the water!

We are both very well... and are over half way with our trip- the campervan is great fun it makes it very easy to see all the things you need to- all those little out of the way places! So after Loch Ness we plan tohead inland again and do a bit of Drummond research around Perthshire - have i mentioned how incredibly easy it is to get to places - it is so small - so driving is a breeze- made even easier as Sam and Myke loaned us their GPS so we don't even have to think about where we are going!!! We will also drop back into Dunning to find out some more things about my Grandfathers family!

Bonnie Scotland

Okay, I have been able to edit the previous post and put some photos up!!

The shot of Sue in the camper is at a little place on England's coast called Scarborough - when we told the guy in York we were heading here it was as though we told him we were driving to the moon - lets just say, that he and his wife have never been to London!!! so our hour and a half drive to Scarborough was nothing for us Eskites!

Well, we are now in Scotland! Edinburgh in fact, this is our second day here - the weather when we arrived was great but today it is raining.... we took one of the bus tours around town , which really is the best way of seeing a city as historic as this - it really is magical - the sound of bagpipes coming from all corniers of the city is just spooky! Oh... we also picked up the camper van from York - it has been great fun making our way up here - mainly on the east coastline - so we have seen the beach - which is quite similar to our Victorian beaches .. we noticed too, that the English countryside is quite like Gippsland - rolling green hills, masses of trees separating properties ... the Scottish landscape is very hilly, with great historic castles way on top of hills..the paddocks are filled with sheep!

There are a gazillion tourists here and a megazillion tourist shops - so we have managed to buy anything and everything "Drummond" .. along with tartan stubbie coolers, t-shirts... underwear - everything! We have been walking around in the rain, but it just adds to the mystique of Edinburgh - and it won't surprise anyone to hear that we have managed to visit just about every second hand clothes store in the city, there are alot! They don't, however, have fill a bag for $5 like our shop in Esk - which is probably a good thing as our bags are bulging as it is and Sue is thinking of buying a second bag to get our gear home!

Tomorrow we will continue our journey up to Perth and then to St Andrews... we are looking forward to getting also to Inverness and to see Loch Ness , then coming down again to get to Glasgow and everything in between.

Talk again soon

Melissa and Sue

the Ultimate Tourists

What a day - we were up pretty early to get the tour bus from Victoria Station - our destination was Stone Henge and Bath... first stop was the Stone Henge Inn - where we had a tradition English Roast - it was delicious - however, not as good as Mum's !! Onto Stone Henge and as you'll see from the photos it is absolutely HUGE! the day was a bit overcast so the feeling around the stones was quite mysterious - it truly is an amazing site - we joined around 1000 other tourist to stare at these boulders - some weigh up to 7 tonne, which makes it extrordinary to think that they were moved there by humans - without the aid of a crane! There are many theories to why these stones are here - but i'm sure they were place here by giants! hahahaha!

Back on the tour bus and on to Bath - another amazing place... first we went to the Roman Bath museum which is hot... and fabulous, but not as fabulous as the sites around Bath - really you could spend so much time just looking at all of the old buildings - every building is made from sandstone and the roads are all cobbled - its a heritage listed city so any new buildings have to be designed with the same historic style as the buildings from centuries ago! We had a good look around the city- and unlike Amsterdam,Berlin and London city there were hills... first the heart rate has been up for a while [although, those stairs in amsterdam were a bit rough!] Every little bit is spectacular - there are many tourists here at the moment - all of the accents are incredible and add to this the English have just started there 6 week school summer holidays - so we won't be alone on our jaunts.

We have a couple days left here in the centre of London - so hopefully, i'll have a chance to get some more photos up on the site tomorrow!

cheers

Melissa and Sue

We're in London Still.....

We left Amsterdam Wednesday - it was actually a bit of a rig-ma-roll - got to the airport and British Airways had made a mistake with our itinerary - we had to wait for 7 hours to catch our plane for the 45minute flight to London - ahhh well, we got to know Schiphol Airport like the back of our hand..... every square inch! Not to worry, we arrived in London safely, but a bit exhausted.

Sue and I ventured out on Thursday and have had the ultimate London experience - riding around town in a double decker bus taking in all the sights - Westminster Abbey, St Pauls Cathedral, the Palace - saw the changing of the guard - which was a real experience in itself, all the pomp and ceremony of the English wrapped up into one 40minute event! We've seen the Tower of London, Big Ben, the London Eye, Covent Garden - the lot! The tour was great - with a tour guide telling us all of the history of each place and also telling the usual jokes that go along with the job - we actually thought Trasey Chambers would be a great London Tour Guide, can you imagine!

As we always do, we found the Camden Markets this morning - i've got to say - not as good as I thought they would be BUT - we did find the Thrift Shops by accident in the same area so have had a ball getting our new look shabby sheik bristish wardrobe together!

and more..... Amsterdam

Okay... so we have had a bit of a thunderstorm here this morning... but now it seems the weather has cleared - did i mention that it stays light here until about 10.30pm - and sun up is around 4.30 am.... long days - but you can really fit a lot into one day - we are really getting our moneys worth with the sight seeing!

so, next stop... is London... over and out til we are in the mother country!

M & S xx

some more photos....Berlin

While i've got a moment... and am able to use a computer in the comfort of someone else's house... i thought it would be a good time to put some more photos up - instead of being so rushed at an internet café. This is our last full day in Amsterdam - there is so much more to see here '- we'll have to come back again - it was the same in Berlin....

From Berlin to Amsterdam

Okay! Its taken us a while, but we have moved on - and have now been in Amsterdam for two days!! Another fabulous European city!! We are having a ball.... we have been staying with a couple of fabulous girls here in Amsterdam - and for the past two days have been the best tour guides you could find - we have done two walking tours of the city - this city is amazing - so many people ride either bicycles or vespa scooters! and they have right of way so you have to be incredibley careful when on the street at any time - there are masses and masses of bikes parked all around the city... we went to the beach today - the weather has been devine - sunshine and we have managed to get a bit of european sunburn! We also went to a womens beach party last night, so were able to meet lots of local people. What else.... there are the usual fabulous monuments - all the buildings have such history, everything about the city has such history - also, there are the canals - many people live on house boats! We have not been to the red light district yet, but plan to do that tomorrow and also visit some local markets and spend some euro on local fare... i had no idea how beautiful Amsterdam would be - the place where we are staying is across the road from park and we are only minutes away from the middle of town - we sure do know the right places to stay. The Apartment here has 60 of the most steep stairs that we have to climb up - what Amsterdam makes up for in flatness of city streets they really make up for with the steepness of stairs... and this is not the only house with steep stairs! See photos!

We are here to Wednesday - so we have quite a few tourist destinations to cover - and then we move on to London... so we will keep you more up to date from there... it is quite hard to find places where you can actually upload photos...