Sunday, July 23, 2006

Hadrian's Wall

Good Morning, Northumberland!

The view from our B&B room on Sunday morning.

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Later, at Hadrian's Wall, Brett and Jim stare into the Roman Empire from the Barbarian Wasteland.

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I, on the other hand, just sat on the fence.

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And here is how the wall looked 1,900 years ago, although I gather the iron railing is a modern addition...

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Friday, July 21, 2006

First Day in Edinburgh

Our hotel, the Davenport House Hotel on Great King Street, has a very plush feel to it; bronze sculptures and ornately-framed oil paintings are everywhere and the whole hotel has a very 'period' style to it. This is the bed in our room.

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After getting settled in the hotel, we hopped on one of the different Edinburgh Bus Tours and spent an hour or so being guided around the city's highlights.

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You can't really go to Edinburgh as a tourist and not take a photograph of the castle, so here is one of the less familar views, taken from the Grassmarket.

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And another of the familiar sights of Edinburgh's skyline; St. Giles Cathedral.

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Thursday, July 20, 2006

The Cairngorms and Glamis

We started the day at the picturesque Edradour distillery near Pitlochry.

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After lunch we spent a while a the Falls of Feugh, outside Banchory, watching the salmon leap.

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Although we didn't get rained on, the view from Cairn O'Mount was mostly obscured by low cloud.

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Inevitable picture of Highland Cattle.

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We finished the day off at Glamis Castle, ancestral home of the Bowes-Lyon family and not at all where King Duncan was murdered by Macbeth.

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Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Lochearnhead

The view looking down onto Briar Cottage and the loch.

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Looking down onto the back of Briar Cottage. You can see one of the original cottages (the thatched building) and the enclosure for the hot tub in the centre.

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Here is the barbeque, summer house and pavillion on the lochside. All very picturesque!

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This however was less reassuring...

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We barbequed steaks for dinner and washed them down with a light Ruby Cabernet.

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The bedrooms look out straight onto Loch Earn.

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Glencoe

No opportunity to sell tourists something covered in tartan is ever missed! (Here at a viewpoint climbing up to Rannoch Moor.)

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And the picturesque Moor itself.

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Unfortunately because it was evening the sun was in the wrong place to get good pictures down Glencoe (in the mornings it is truly a spectacular view) but this view seemed fairly impressive.

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Carlisle Castle

Jim and Brett on the green outside Carlisle Castle, the border fortress

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and here on one of the staircases inside the walls.

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The castle has been rebuilt many times over the year. Here, looking at the inside of inner bailey gatehouse, you can see original gothic tracery over the gateway dating to about 1390. The walkway above the gate was added in 1545 and the windows beneath it later in the sixteenth century. The outside of this same structure though is late twelth century! Quite an accumulation of construction. The castle was in use as a regimental headquarters until 1959.

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When my sister and I were younger we used to like sitting on the cannons on the walls of the castle, so I just had to have this picture taken. Not sure why Jim was asking how to fire it though...

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Two Visitors

We had two sets of visitors before leaving my parents. The first was a duck and her ducklings who came up to eat some of the hen's corn in the back garden.

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The second visitor was Chris C on his way to work.

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Sunday, July 16, 2006

Windsor Castle

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Caerleon

The town of Caerleon near Newport is home to an archaeologically significant Roman Legionary Barracks and also an excavated Roman amphitheatre seen here.

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Jim sets out to do battle with his video camera

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And here is Brett waiting for them to send in the clowns lions.

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The site seems to be a popular relaxation spot with the locals; there were a number of couples and families enjoying the sunshine or picnicing around the site and here a group of kids are playing at being gladiators.

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Cardiff Bay

Before leaving Cardiff we spent some time down at Cardiff Bay.

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Lots of redevelopment has been going on here.

This giant pillar is a fountain; it has water cascading down it on every side.

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This structure is actually the visitor's centre, although it looks fairly temporary and is alongside all the Assembly buildings, rather than at the more touristy end of the bay.

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Here, some innovative roofing on a residential block,

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and here the old and the new assembly buildings sit side-by-side.

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Saturday, July 15, 2006

Cardiff Castle

Brett and Jim in front of the Keep of Cardiff Castle

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and the view from the Keep over to the nineteenth-century gothic-revival additions to the complex.

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This is Brett in the well-house at the entrance to the Keep.

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From the top of the Keep you get a magnificent panoramic view over Cardiff,

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Here you see both the old and new aspects of the city; the Earl of Bute's new castle in the foreground and the Millennium Stadium beyond.

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We even spotted another stone circle to add to Jim's collection.

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