The final story from our Grand Adventure before starting the long journey home is from County Antrim, the area to the north of Belfast. Our last stay was in the coastal town of Cushendall, in the Antrim Coast and Glens Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Two of Northern Ireland’s most popular tourist attractions were close by, and we did day […]
Category: UK
The Confronting Political Face of Belfast
By the time we’ve posted the story of this part of our adventure we are already back home in Cairns, with the whole island of Ireland to tell you about. We spent three weeks there, in both Northern Ireland and The Republic in the south. The first instalment is from Belfast, the scene of so much political upheaval in the […]
Lake of Menteith, a Karma Resort
We spent the final week of our time in Scotland back in the south, at one of our Karma resorts. The Lake of Menteith is about an hour’s drive from Glasgow, near the Trossachs National Park. It is close to some of the larger cities in the south of Scotland, like Stirling and Edinburgh, so it was a good base […]
A Few Rainy Days On The Isle of Skye
It took a full day of driving to get from The Orkneys to The Isle of Skye, the biggest island in the Inner Hebrides group off the west coast of Scotland. The mid-morning ferry took us back to the mainland, then we drove back through some of the country we had seen around Inverness before arriving at our cottage in […]
A Lesson in Ancient History in The Orkneys
We left The Highlands behind to take a short trip across the water to the islands off the northern Scottish mainland, The Orkneys. These low windswept isles have a lot to offer, from some great walks, military history, and layer upon layer of archaeological sites. We explored ancient Pictish settlements that were older than The Pyramids of Giza, Viking towns […]
A Week in the Northern Highlands of Scotland
Our adventure continues along the North Coast 500 route, northwards and westwards from Mellon Charles. This part of the journey brings more of the spectacular coastal scenery around the northwest corner of Scotland, and then leaving the mountains for the low, windswept hills and headlands of the northeast. There are castles, and walks to windy headlands, historic fishing ports, and […]
Where on Earth is Mellon Charles?
Heading westwards from Invergordon, the next part of our journey took us back into the towering hills and deep valleys of The Highlands. This time, the scenery was even better because we hugged the magnificent coastline of the northwest of Scotland. To say that the scenery in this part of Scotland is breathtaking would be a serious understatement. The narrow […]
A Monster in The Highlands
Loch Ness, home to the famous monster Nessie, lies next to Inverness, the capital of The Highlands. We spent a few days in the district, exploring what sights it has to offer. The surrounding area is incredibly rich with attractions for tourists. From the rugged wilderness of the loch itself, to ancient sites, grand castles, spectacular beaches, a famous battlefield, […]
Speyside, The Centre of the Whisky Universe
As we continue our journey northwards through Scotland, we head back towards The Highlands. But before we get there, we pass through Speyside, where more than half of Scotland’s whisky is made. Although it was only a short visit, we were able to combine another house sit, a second walk in the Cairngorms, and a visit to one of Speyside’s […]
Grey Granite and a Tortoise in Aberdeen
After leaving the Highlands after our Ben Nevis climb, we had broken our journey through Perthshire to Aberdeen with a stopover in Blairgowrie. Aberdeen was always on our visit plan, and we were lucky enough to arrange to house sit there. It would be our first time looking after a tortoise. Tort the tortoise was good fun, and we were […]
A Couple of Days in Perthshire
We needed to get across the country to reach Aberdeen for a house sit we had organised, and decided to break the trip with a couple of days in central Scotland. There is a lot more to see and do in Perthshire than we had time for, but our short stopover still gave us time to see a bit. We […]
A Great Day Walk up Ben Nevis, The UK’s Highest Peak
Ben Nevis, in the Scottish Highlands, is the highest peak in the UK. The walk is quite tough, taking all day to do the 1,345-metre ascent and back down again. But it was one of the day walks we really wanted to do. More often than not, the weather is what defeats walkers on this climb. We were rewarded with […]
Meeting Old Friends in Glasgow
Our journey takes us further to the north, leaving England and beginning our travels through Scotland. First stop Glasgow. Two of Chris’s old colleagues, Colin and Liz, live there now. He saw them last more than a decade ago when they were living in Sydney. It was good to catch up, and for Jan to meet them. Even better, they […]
In the Footsteps of Romans along Hadrian’s Wall
We have done some great walks in some wonderful places during our adventure, and one of our bucket-list destinations was the walk along Hadrian’s Wall, near the border between Scotland and England. This is the story of the four days we did on the walk, and the days either side. We also wanted to visit here because Chris has family […]
A Weekend in West Yorkshire
We had an opportunity to pick up another house sitting gig on our way north, this time looking after a pair of house-rabbits. They were pretty easy to look after, and it gave us a chance to look at a couple of cities that were at the centre of England’s industrial revolution. As with our visit to Liverpool a few […]
Beatlemania in Liverpool
Neither of us had been to Liverpool, and we had earmarked it a somewhere to see while travelling to some walking spots in the north of England. Really all we knew of it was that The Beatles had begun their musical journey there in the late 1950s. What a pleasant surprise we had. We loved this city, and really didn’t […]
A Day out in the Country, to Historic Cambridge
We began the next stage of our journey with a flight from Budapest to London, where we had a couple of days with Natalie and Dom. We fitted in a couple of activities while there, notably a day trip to the university city of Cambridge. The story in this post tells of our day trip there, and also about a […]
Our first UK visit is almost over
After leaving Wales a week ago, we have just spent a week at Salford Hall, one of our Karma Resorts. After a whirlwind start to the trip, this was a good opportunity to have a couple of rest days, and a couple more driving to some beautiful little towns in the Costwolds and West Midlands. We now head back to […]
Wales
Wales was on our destination list for one main reason; the walking. After leaving Nat and Dom in Penzance we headed north to Wales, first staying in the south to do a walk in Brecon Beacons National Park. Brecon Beacons is where the British SAS Commandos are based, although our adventure was more scenic and less Bear Grylls. After a […]
Sussex, Devon and Cornwall
It is hard to believe that it is less than two weeks since we left London, and since we did our first post for the great journey we have undertaken. We have covered a lot of ground and seen and done a lot in a short space of time. Because of this, our second post is quite a big one, […]