Heading to New Territory

I'd visited Edinburgh a few times before but on the 14th of May we were heading into pastures new, for both of us. The next part of our journey was to take us further north, up the Eastern coast of Scotland, so the first part of our journey took us over the Forth Road Bridge, so Mike took some photos as we crossed, his main interest was the Rail Bridge.

Our next stop was to be in the grounds of The Palace of Scone, next to the Perth Racecourse.

Close up of The Mother Trucker, concentrating!

Edinburgh

We had 3 nights booked at the Edinburgh site, which was busy but with a minibus to get in and out of the City at £8 return, it was a quick and easy ride to the centre, so understandably popular.

We went in on both days. The first day to have a good walk about and see the sights.

We had a look around the Royal Church Canongate Kirk, on the Royal Mile and I hadn't realised it was where Zara Philips got married.

Above is The Royal Pew

Our second day was mainly to go to The Real Mary King Close, which are the tiny streets, alleyways really, are which the bottom two or three storeys remain, the high floors removed when the City Chambers were built above. I couldn't take any photos though, not allowed. I did take some more around the City though and in the Royal Mile.

There was a lovely riverside walk just across the road from the Site. Pity the wind was still so chilly.

Flodden Field

While planning our route from our site near Lindisfarne, to Edinburgh, we noticed Flodden Field marked on the map, just a short distance from the main road we would be taking.

I remembered from my schoolgirl history, already history itself as that was nearly half a century ago, that Flodden Field was the site of a notoriously bloody battle between the English and the Scots. I couldn't drive by without going to see and refresh my memory on the details.

Apparently it was a diversionary tactic by James IV of Scotland, to take the heat off France, as part of the 'Auld Alliance' as they were in conflict with Henry VIII. Probably a lot more too it than that but it was an unwise gesture of loyalty by James, to their old ally as he ended up being killed in battle, the last British Monarch to do so. Not only did James lose his life, in the region of 14,000 others did too.

The site today looks so peaceful, it's hard to imagine the carnage that took place there.

The slight dip in the middle of this Rapeseed field was a boggy area that proved the undoing of the Scots.

As always, I'm fascinated by ruins and would love to know the story behind this one.

 

Lindisfarne

I'd wanted to visit this island for years. Pictures I'd seen looked rather romantic and I have always been fascinated by the thought of islands that are connected to the Mainland by a Causeway, which twice a day becomes an island in the true sense.

We only had one stab at this, as we'd booked into the nearby farm for 2 nights only and would be moving on to Edinburgh the following day, which is 70 miles away and too far to fit in a visit to the Holy Island, with the tides and then get on site in the capital city at a reasonable time all in one day, so 10th May, it had to be.

Well, of course the morning dawned, grey, misty and drizzling! This is the beauty of going somewhere in a Motorhome. Yes, they can be too big to get into some places but if we'd been going in a car that day, I don't think we would have bothered. A Motorhome, however, has the beauty of being somewhere to sit, rid listen to the radio, have your lunch, make a cuppa and whatever the weather throws at you, you can just get changed, shoes, boots, coat, or no coat, jumper, tee shirt. In the changeable British weather, there is no better way to travel.

So off we set, we needed to be across the causeway by 10.30 and would be able to return after 2.30. So if the weather was going to be miserable, we would sit it out, just the same as we would if we'd remained at the farm.

I had a strong feeling the weather was going to pick. I wasn't wrong. Now the absolute beauty of the miserable morning was, virtually no individual travellers came over before the causeway became impassable and the coach parties, as it turned out, were all coming over in the afternoon. So we were there with hardly more than the locals on the island which gaves us a true feeling of the lonely beauty of the place.

Having parked up, we decided to wait a little while, have a cuppa and a read and by midday the weather was definitely taking a turn for the better. We decided to walk to the castle, which is a National Trust property, always a bonus, as we get free membership, due to Mike's work for the National Garden Scheme, so free admission for us!

On the way over to the castle, there was the strangest noise, if you have a fanciful imagination, it sounded like lost souls in torment. It was spooky without a doubt.

We loved the castle and these strange upturned boat sheds.

While we were exploring the castle, I asked a guide about the noise. I did have an idea what it might be but I was surprised at her answer. It was Seals calling, as I'd thought but I hadn't imagined the quantity, there was a colony of around 2,000 on a sandbank, over on the Mainland. If you have good speakers, you may just hear them in this short film clip. you can certainly see them. The film is a little shaky due to using the maximum zoom on my camera, they were quite a distance away.

After the castle, we took a walk to the beach and looked at the old Lime Kilns. I love old industrial ruins.

We left the island at 2.30, just as the causeway had become passable, although still swimming with water. What a brilliant decision we'd made to go in the morning, they were pouring in by their hordes, cars and coaches, the island would have been swarming.