Bad Road Trip
After the Amanada Tapping event in London, Jen and I picked up our hire car and started and started our journey to Scotland, after a quick stop at the airport to say goodbye to our friends Ashley and Sophie. This was not a great day for us, we seemed to have many issues, first off our car wasn’t ready so took ages to get the car. Which was why we ended up running through the airport to say goodbye to the girls instead of giving them a lift as planned.
After driving over two hours outside of London heading towards Scotland we started to hear noises in the engine, rang the hire company and ended up going to a local Nissan service centre to get the issue fixed… this was the beginning of our hire car troubles which only got worse over the course of the holiday and for months afterwards, but let’s not go in to that. Our road trip which was suppose to take around 7 hours took us over 13 hours due to all the issues.
Anyway, as we headed to our hotel in Glasgow we stopped at the Whitelee Windfarm, I love wind turbines and especially enjoy photographing them. Whitelee is the largest UK onshore windfarm and is located on Eaglesham Moor. It consists of 2015 turbines which generate up to 539 megawatts of renewable energy.
Ayr Adventures
After a night in our Glasgow hotel, which had the tallest showers and shortest towels, but a nice continental breakfast. We then headed off to Ayr to meet up with a good friend Georgie, it was an awesome day spent together exploring and we had some great adventures. Firstly we went to the Robert Burns Cottage, Robert Burns is a famous Scottish national poet. We followed that with a walk in the Burns memorial gardens. We also wandered into the Alloway Auld Kirk, checking out some of the old graves there.
Georgie then took us to the Electric Brae, which is a gravity hill in South Ayrshire, it is a road that appears to be running downhill but is actually running uphill and vice versa. This phenomenon is an optical illusion but was called the electric brae when it was incorrectly thought to be a phenomenon caused by electric or magnetic attraction.
Our next stop was at Culzean Castle and Country Park, and on our drive there we got to see a lot of deer in the parkland. Culzean Castle is perched on the Ayrshire cliffs and it was designed in the 18th century. The park is sculpted around miles of sandy coastline dotted with caves, and it includes swan ponds, an ice house, flamboyant formal gardens and fruit-filled glasshouses. This was a gorgeous place to wander around and explore, we did not get to enter the buildings but were free to wander the beautiful grounds.
Scottish Castle Hunt
A day of exploring some Scottish Castles, starting with Edinburgh Castle, a mighty fortress that has dominated the skyline of Scotland’s capital for centuries. Unfortunately, we had not planned ahead to well and having had to park so far away from the castle and walk all the way there up the hill we were buggered. Since we had plans for more castles today, we decided to just take some photos of the outside. We also paid the gift shop a visit to buy a copy of the souvenir guide. I’d have loved to have toured this castle, but I think if I ever get back there it will be a full day adventure.
Edinburgh Castle is located on Castle Rock and has occupied humans since the Iron Age or the late Bronze Age. Three thousand years of history are hidden away in the mighty castle of Edinburgh, the castle has been used as a royal residence, military garrison, prison and a fortress.
Castle Campbell
Second Castle of the day was home to Jen’s heritage, Castle Campbell located high above Dollar Glen, one of the most dramatically positions castles in Scotland. We had an amazing experience exploring this beautiful castle site, we were the only visitors at the time and after walking around by ourselves we ended up going on a fully guided tour. During this tour we learnt many amazing facts about the castle and the Campbell Clan history, we also learnt that the feuds there were feuds between the Campbell clan and MacLeod clan.
The Campbell castle was built in the 1400s, to serve the purpose of accommodation, adequate defence and to look impressive. The castle was originally called Castle Gloom, named as such due to the narrow gorges to either side of the site. In 1654 the castle was attacked and burned by Royalist rebels, it was restored in 1660 but by 1715 it was abandoned.
Stirling Castle
Third castle of the day was Stirling Castle, one of Scotland’s largest and most historically and architecturally important castles. Surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs, giving a strong defensive position dominating the plains below and occupying the most important strategic location in the country.
Stirling Castle provided security, comfort and pleasure to kings and queens of the twelfth century, unrivalled by any other residence. Equalled only by Edinburgh Castle in its age and prestige, Stirling was in royal hands from at least 1110, played key roles in wars and suffered 15 sieges over the centuries. Most of the building still standing were created around the 1500s.
I absolutely loved touring this castle, the views were incredible and being inside the buildings and seeing some of the amazing architecture including the ceilings. I especially liked the ceiling of the King’s lodging which includes replicas of the Stirling Heads, and the hammerbeam roof and parapet in the Great Hall. The gardens around the castle are stunning as well, in particular King’s Knot a beautiful geometrically designed garden from the 1620s.
Riverside with Friends
Catching up with our friend Georgie again we decided to check out the Riverside Museum in Glasgow, it is a transport and travel museum opened in 2011. The museum is located at the junction of the Rivers Kelvin and Clyde, houses a collection gathered over centuries that reflect on Glasgow’s contributions to the world. The museum has over 3000 objects on display from skateboards to locomotives, the collection spans several eras showcasing the evolution of transportation.
There are different vehicles including cars, bicycles, motorcycles, trams, buses and even steam trains. I loved the section of the museum that is a recreated 1890s to 1930s street scene. You can stroll along the cobbled street lined with shops, houses and even a subway station which have all been recreated to transport you back in time. There’s a wall of cars which includes 31 cars, a motorbike wall displaying 21 bikes representing over 100 years of design. There is also a gravity-defying Velodrome which includes a display of unique racing bikes.
London and St Pauls
After saying goodbye to Glasgow and Scotland we headed back into London for our last few days of our trip, our first day back in London we had a wander around the city. We visited St Paul’s Cathedral and decided to go on tour of the London icon. It was another incredible tour walking in the footsteps of royalty and political leaders. The cathedral is one of the most famous and recognisable sights of London, its dome has dominated the skyline for over 300 years.
The history of the cathedral dates back to the seventh century when it was originally build are a small wooden church. The current structure was completed in 1710 and was the tallest building in London until 1963, it is still one of the tallest and the second tallest church in the UK. Being inside such an iconic structure was an amazing experience, we got to tour the cathedral floor, the crypt and the dome.
The crypt is the largest in Europe covering over 30,000 square feet, it is located below the cathedral floor and is home to many notable tombs and memorials. Some of the tombs in the crypt are those of Duke of Wellington, Lord Nelson, Florence Nightingale as well as Sir Christopher Wren the architect who designed St Paul’s Cathedral. Throughout history the cathedral has played a key role in significant events, including the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana and the funerals of Winston Churchill and Margret Thatcher.
We were also able to climb the 528 steps to the Golden Gallery, a small gallery located at the highest point of the outer dome at 85 metres, where we were able to view panoramic views of London. As you make your way up the dome your first stop is the Whispering Gallery, the circular walkway surrounds the interior of the cathedral’s dome and gets its name from its unique acoustic properties. The Stone Gallery is located between the Whispering and Golden galleries, and encircles the outside of the dome. We were not allowed to take photos inside the cathedral but were able to get amazing photos of the London skyline from the outside galleries.
Last Days in London
The next day we road tripped to Leicester to the National Space Centre, for the Brit Sci-Fi event that included the Red Dwarf cast, see UK Dwarfers. It was a three hour drive out to Leicester, but we got to have a wander around the National Space Centre which was pretty amazing. On our drive home from the Space Centre we detoured via Milton Keyes so Jen could see the Red Bull Racing Headquarters. Since we didn’t have to return the hire car until the morning, we decided to have a drive around the city since there were no tolls at that time. It was an interesting experience driving in the city with lots of traffic and lots of people, we did get to drive over the Tower Bridge though.
We had been staying at a friend in London’s place since our return, unfortunately they had been stuck working so we hadn’t been able to spend time exploring with them. It was nice spending these last few days just chilling and being spontaneous and touristy in London but being able to spend evenings chilling in a safe and comfortable space which was much appreciated. When it came time to leave we packed our suitcases, packed them in the car and headed to the Holiday Inn in Heathrow to return the hire car.
Having dropped off the hire car we were waiting for the bus to get to the airport when we realised that we had confused our times and our flight wasn’t until the next morning. So we turned around went to the reception of the hotel and asked for a room, it was the best option we could come up with at the time. The lady was so lovely and organised a room for us straight away, even though it was only 10am, which meant we could dump our luggage and enjoy our bonus day.
Bonus Day
With extra time on our hands to explore London, we decided to just to go with the flow and enjoy our extra time. This meant some random adventuring was upon us, first up we headed to Heathrow and jumped on the Tube, decided to follow the line all the way to the end, Cockfosters… where we jumped off the train, took a photo with the subway sign and got back on. The rest of the day we just wandered around the city, we went to Trafalgar Square and the blue cock, M&M world again, we went shopping at Harrods, and finished off with another TGIFriday dinner, our server for this meal was amazing and we had such a great night, we told her about our bonus day and joked around with her.
Our bonus day was actually really good because it gave us a change to just chill out before our flights, to just be unpredictable and enjoy ourselves. It was great to have a nice hotel room close to the airport for the night and especially good to have a nice big continental breakfast before our flights. This trip was amazing, and we did so many things that I will remember forever… Thanks to my amazing travel buddy Jen, none of this would have happened without you.
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