Just across the border, England’s northernmost town is Berwick upon Tweed. Walking around its town walls emphasises how impressive and charming is this town’s heritage, with medieval and Elizabethan properties everywhere. A member of the previous Walled Towns Friendship Circle, of course. Discovered a micropub, The Curfew, up a little alley with an eclectic range of real ales. Due to its seated outside area, it is now favourite micropub – you’re not forced into having conversations with everyone else.

The twin has three bridges, this one being a viaduct for trains.

A boat sculpture on the river path was too welcoming for one of our party.

On the way down to our next stayover – Durham – we drove over to The Holy Island, aka Lindisfarne. After the tide had receded, since the causeway is under water for half of the day. Learnt all about Cuthbert, what started the Christian bit over here and continued it for over 200 years until Durham was founded as a place to build a cathedral to house his body. He did die, but 11 years buried, his followers decided to take his body from Lindisfarne to somewhere secure: the Vikings had arrived! When they dug him up, his body had not decayed. That’s a defo route to becoming a saint.

On the very busy route around Newcastle some local – we’ll out him, Ray Dickson – decided to do a chariot thing and ram Delila (remember, the car YY). We exchanged info and will have to sort when we get home. Not too serious to change our plans.

Durham

Nearest accommodation we could find was “The Famous Bein Inn Hotel”. Under new management, it had just had its head chef walk out when we arrived. For the next two nights’ stay, we were both reminded of the joy of not being in the hotel business anymore: staff not turning up, staff not knowing what they should be doing, taps and showers not working, even a bedroom door having to be broken into as we left. Exhileration. Then we started feeling sorry for the new incumbents. Without exception on our travels around Scotland, without staff from Eastern Europe the burgeoning Scottish tourism industry would be withering. It is already creaking …

We visited Scone Palace, traditional kingmaking location for all Scottish kings. Scone is pronounced “skoon”, so I had delight in ordering a scone with jam and clotted cream from the cafe, asking why it was pronounced so. The young lady serving didn’t know. And she was a local.

Ventured thence to the street where Ingrid used to live and informed her the shop around the corner, which her uncle used to own, is now a Londis. She thought that was v funny.

Quite liked Perth, preferred the bigger, older Stirling, some 20 miles away.

Just before we left Scotland, we visited the Heritage Lottery Funded canals refurbishments at Falkirk. The Kelpies are two Celtic sea horses in steel, about 35 feet high and straddling the canal, immediately next to the M90 motorway.

Better still, The Falkirk Big Wheel, some five miles up canal, is an ingenious solution to connecting two canals 75ft apart. That’s vertical separation. If you’d seen the graphic story behind it, you wouldn’t believe it, except we did on the hoarding around Dundee’s coming V&A (opens this September). Luckily, Indoors did anyway.

    

Back in England

Our second Aberdonian day was walking from one park to another to another, compensated by one of the very best curries, from The Light of Bengal, ever.

And our third day had us swimming in the northernmost, only sea watered, heated and one of only two lidos in Scotland, at Stonehaven.It was fab, albeit very salty, of course it was. Afterwards, we strolled across the front of the bay, where we found some interesting artwork. Many of the locals are Viking descendants, as you can see from thisOn then to meet up with friends Prof Brian & Liz Williams at their house in Kinneff, finally for a meal at Catterline, overlooking crumbling cliffs. Transpires Brian has exactly the same car, a Qashqai, even the same colour. And Liz’s birthday is one day after mine. Spooky?

Perth

From the sun drenched shores of Loch Lomond, we drove for five hours through spectacular scenery that included Glen Coe, a valley sided by huge, snow capped mountains, lochs, more mountains, more lochs – you get the theme – so much and so many, a little Welshman started to understand mountains bigger time.

At the top of Loch Lomond, a retailing phenomenon: The Green Welly Stop. A huge help yourself restaurant leads into a massive temptation of shopping, with special Scottish mementos leading into a hugely ranged sports shop – everything you’d want for hiking up and down mountains (they’re here in their thousands). Indoors bought a wet weather hat. No surprise there then. And to think she’s survived some 60+ years without one.

Having peeled off the road to Inverness, we came across this statue to commandos, some of who use this area for training. Well hard.What you can’t see is what they’re looking over, namely the UK’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis.So many sets of road works, some with the latest fashion of convoy led passing through, when you wait for ages because a lead vehicle drives at 10mph ahead of the cars so everything takes longer, then you wait for a 12 point turn from the stupidly big lead vehicle which then does the return journey, including your car, at …. 10mph. Three of these so far. No hurrying in The Highlands, then. But the roads are in dire need of repair. One’s other car’s low profile tyres would have been shredded by now.

And eventually, after a very steep modern bridge, we’re on the island of Skye. We stopped for a rest, only to discover a locally brewed beer: from the Skye Island Brewery. And it’s mighty fine, thank you. Called into the Co-op to find a moustache’d lady selling wellies, but she wasn’t there. Neither is that story, so move on.

Skye seems very big – it is, being 8% the size of Wales – and really quite desolate, with lots of little single storey houses plonked in fields, away from neighbours, and very few trees. When we have 90mph winds in West Wales, Skye has 120mph winds. Hence, few trees, which makes the desolation seem, well, just more. A bit like Hinterland making Mid Wales appear rural and rurally poor, so Skye is poorer again. Despite a number of houses, in various states of repair, being available, we agree we wouldn’t like to live here. Or have a holiday home.

At this time of year, it gets dark here at about 10.30pm and, I’ve just found out, light at 4.00am. There’s another five weeks to the longest day! And we’ve further north to visit on our travels.

Skye 2

After the snow blizzards, 

amidst the big freeze (-16 to -25 degrees),we finally took off on board the 11.55pm United Airlines plane for Panama City, albeit leaving at 1am because of the (ground) stacking of all the other planes.

Due to arrive at Panama at 5am, we had to then make an unscheduled stop at Charlotte-Douglas airport in North Carolina because one of the stewardesses had a stroke. Yeah, we know it was the right thing to do. Now having to wait for a replacement steward, we all had to leave the plane to sit around in the airport’s departure lounge. Mysteriously, a replacement turned up within 30 minutes, so back on board we all filed. It felt a bit like being on the Noah’s Ark guest list.

At 5am, we left Charlotte – who knew it even existed? – and actually arrived at Panama airport at 10am this morning. That’s 53 hours late. Lucky we’re chilled. Well remarkably, actually.

Indoors & I have already finished a book each, played series of Scrabble, Banana, Wordwrap, (I think she’s winning), completed two crosswords ……   and only today has the eagle landed.

First off, we did what we said we wouldn’t do and walked around a not so savoury part of the city. But it was daylight. Deluged by one of them Central American showers, we took a bus to sort the beautiful, colonial-style architectured old town, had some great ceviche, then delish octopus and then, before it got dark, hailed a taxi for the return-to-hotel journey.

Should have been simple, the taxi driver said he knew where the hotel was. He then asked if we could find it on Google Maps for him – poor connection, so as we possibly neared the location he rang up the hotel, who talked him in. Using Indoors’ phone. Day one in Panama & we’ve already breeched her monthly calls allowance.

Last day in Panama City for a while

Made it to Newark, NJ, but stuck now in snow blizzards. All flights to / from Liberty airport cancelled. Hoping to fly out (to Panama) Friday night …..

So, we’re holed up in the Newark Airport Crowne Plaza Hotel, about to take a swim in their pool. Different way to start a holiday. But hell, there’s no hurry & this has never happened to us before.

So a new experience, anyway.

Somebody telling us something?