Vacations, Moving, & Retiring! England and Scotland

For me:  Another memorable vacation with Kirin and Matt and the "Larry" group!  - except for that weather!  Rain, rain, and torrential rain made it challenging sometimes but the places and experiences and people were awesome.  This one was organized by Dennis.
Note:  In England, the very narrow roads and the never-ending roundabouts did make me crazy sometimes. Otherwise, England was amazing.

I only wish Scott had been there - but he thought he had to work so he didn't book it. 

For Scott:  He moved to Longmont (with me) and then retired earlier than expected from his chef job and then had 3 weeks in his new home and neighborhood without me while I vacationed.  When I came back he had things pretty organized and I couldn't find anything.  But it's all good.  :-)








First stop after airport:  The Cotswolds.  We walked a lot!  Stayed in Stow-on-the-Wold and walked to Upper Swell, Upper and Lower Slaughter, and Bourton-on-the-Water.  The footpaths are wonderful.

I flew to London and met Kirin and Matt (who flew from Seattle).  We rented a car and had Airbnbs chosen for our week of driving around England.

Whitby Abbey - destroyed and left to decay (and robbed of stone) after Henry 8th became Protestant and made Catholicism illegal.  We saw many many abbeys like this but this was my fave - with views of the North Sea.

Still in the Cotswolds, we drove to Bibury and did more footpath walking to Moreton-in-Marsh then drove to Stratford-on-Avon and to Tewkesbury.

Next stop: One night in York and then to The Lake District

Kirin and Matt enjoying a beautiful garden in one of many historic places we visited - churches, cathedrals, castles, forts, Roman towns, and more.  

Hadrian's Wall - Roman built wall between then conquered English and warlike Scottish clans.  It really was impressive.

In the Lake District we stayed in Keswick but visited many neighboring towns and walked on more footpaths.  Lake District is very mountainous and beautiful with big beautiful lakes.

View from Whitby Abbey on the east coast.  My favorite place.  I also got GF fish and chips here that was delish!

We saw many re-purposed phone booths, including some with defibrillators and this one - a tiny library.

From Lakes District we went north to The Borders and got a dose of Roman history at Vindolanda (very cool), Jedburgh, Lauder, and Hadrian's Wall.  We drove over the Moors to get there and saw millions of sheep and a bit of color in the heather.

We stopped at Thirslestane Castle which is completely restored and amazing, and Rosslyn chapel for a quick dose of history on our way to meet our friends in Edinburgh.

The Quirang

Our group met in Edinburgh and stayed in luxury at the Scotsman Hotel just off the Royal Mile. The took a train to Portree on the Isle of Skye - our home for 6 days of rainy hiking.  One day the torrential rain and wind from Tropical Storm Ali prevented us from hiking! but the other days we were wet and chilly troopers.

Some Isle of Skye popular attractions we wanted to hike were not available due to flooding and that was sad.  We missed the Fairy Pools and kind of saw the Old Man of Storr.  My rain gear got a workout and performed well. Yay!

Me and Kirin trying to stay dry under an overhang.  Didn't work.

On the last day we got some sunshine and views!  Finally.  We agree with what we heard - Skye is fabulous.

Isle of Skye

Begin and end in Edinburgh: We walked and saw so much of the city - which I would spend 4 days in at the end of the trip.  Walked to Dean Village on path, Holyrood Palace, Calton Hill, Royal Botanical Gardens, Underground Vaults, Arthur's Seat, Parliament, Royal Museum....

This rebuilt castle in called Eileen Donan Castle and the setting and refurbished castle are amazing.  We also saw Dunvegan Castle on our non-hiking day.