Well it's been days since I wrote my last post and it's certainly not because I haven't had anything to write about, its been a case of no spare time! Too much to see and experience and when we finally returned to our room each night I quite literally had no energy to set up the laptop.

So lets head back, my last post was on the ferry crossing from Dublin heading towards Chester. Our visit to Chester confirmed that doing a Trafalgar tour was a good decision. I don't believe that you would ever call into Chester if you were driving the countryside on your own. (well we wouldn't have). What a vibrant interesting little town. Some of the shop fronts dated back to 1652. The architecture was a mix of gothic, Victorian, Roman with Viking Influences. Chester is in England and is just 10 minutes from Wales. The city was once in Wales but they were driven out - there was an order that any Welsh person on the streets after sunset could be beheaded. J Bit harsh. The city still has the large wall running thru the middle of it. Its busy town, with lots of street musicians, cafes, bars, and heaps of shops. We spent ages wandering around in the large Gothic cathedral. It had originally been a monastery until Henry the 8th ordered it closed and it was then added to and became a cathedral. It was huge and ornately adorned. Breathtaking I guess is a word that comes to mind.

On the bus we then continued onto Liverpool, home of the beatles. We did a city tour with a tour guide who was personally familiar with Paul McCartney… so I got a photo of me shaking the hand of a man that had shaken the hand of a beatle. (don't knock it) We visited Penny Lane, and saw St Barnabos Church where Paul McCartney had been a choir boy. It was the church where his brother Michael married Rowena and he was bestman. The wedding guests included, along with all the beatles, Brian Ferry, Elton John, Mick Jaggar and Spike Milligan. The after function turned into a bit of a jam session and it was where the Paul McCartney was playing the piano. Spike Milligan commented that it was one place where "ebony and Ivory got on so well" thus inspiring the hit song. We learnt about Strawberry Fields and how John Lennon lived with his Aunt Meanie next to the Salvation Army Childrens home, called Strawberry Fields. His aunt didn't like him going there to play, and we used to tell her, that no one would hang him for going there… thus inspiring the words, "nothing to get Hung about,….strawberry fields forever.

Cavern Club of course was a highlight. The entire bus group were disappointed that we didn't have enough time here. The Cavern had a great band playing, it was busy and pumping, and we barely had time for a souvenir frenzy buy, a look around and a photo shop. We later learnt that Cavern Club was only 10 minutes walk from our hotel, but this so far remains the only disappointment that I have heard from anyone in our group.

That night for dinner, we were on our own to do what we liked. And it's interesting really how Trafalgar have timed everything. I would say that this was the first night that everyone just disappeared and we all did our own thing. David and I found a little bar (yes I know…. Another bar, but all the cafes were shut J) it was on the waterfront and with the sun finally shining, we had a nice quiet peaceful drink overlooking the boats. We then wandered to a Steakhouse and had our first steak since leaving home.

We had a bit of a laugh about our room here. Liverpool also have an "eye" like London. The big round slow moving enclosed ferris wheel. Well it lined up directly with our hotel room and was honestly 15 - 20 meters away from the hotel. With it being so sunny, I decided to do some hand washing and I hung my knickers across the window. Bill, Di and their daughter Lucy decided they were going to do the "eye" (kiwi's also). I told them to look our for my washing. They got some awesome shots from the top of my knickers J|

In summary, we loved Liverpool and would love to come back and spend some more time there. Both David and I had always imagined that it would be a dirty industrial type city, but it was far from that. It was vibrant and fresh, with lots of parks, and with the Mercy River running thru it, it just felt great.

We left Liverpool and our first stop for the day was an old Mill. Quarry Bank Mill. We had something like 2 hours there and I was like… ho hum… this is will be dull. But we in fact ran out of time and didn't even get to look at the gardens. David was in his element, with engines, and machinery galore. The history and story behind the place was very interesting, and infact there is a TV series/movie based and filmed in the place called ironically "THE mill". The factory was established by the Greg family and the bulk of the staff were young mostly homeless children, aged around 14. There was a building where they were housed and cared for, but most inspiring was Mrs Greg. She taught them all to read and write, and ensured they were being cared for properly. The writings about her, demonstrated that she was well educated, very strong and stood up for what she believed. There were many accidents at the mill, mostly amputations, with all the looms working. The Mill had a lot of the machinery restored so we saw them making threads right thru to cloth. We saw the water turbines that still make the power for the factory along with the back up steam engines. I did have to pull David out of there, he would have been happy for a full day there for sure. There was a large original portrait of the family painted by Strickland Lowry an Irish painter (probably one of my rallies) in the early 1700's, which is very lucky to have survived as it was noted that it had been thrown out the window in 1797 by soldiers in the Irish Rebellion.

Next stop was a cruise on Lake Windermere. Funny that Leighton lives near Windermere in Canada. It was nice and sunny, so we all sat up stairs and enjoyed a scenic boat trip down to the other end of the lake where we met up with our coach. A great variety of lake houses, castles and old estates lined the shores. Checked out the graveyard where William Wordsworth was buried…ho and some Kendal Mint Cake. Sir Edmond Hillary took Kendal Mint Cake when he conquered Everest… im disappointed that he never brought it home to NZ> it is realllllly nice!!!! Kind of thin and almost see thru… and a consistency like coconut ice, but nice smooth and minty. We arrived at our very BLUE hotel in Penrith and the weather was now closing in on us and the rain was starting.

The next morning, the rain had definitely set in as we headed towards Glasgow. We crossed into Scotland and our first stop was Gretna Green and saw the small town where couples eloped from England to make their vows in front of the local blacksmith on the anvil. We arrived in Glasgow and had some spare time to go exploring the river front and township. Again very busy place. We dined at the Corinthian which used to be some big merchant banker building. Very ornate building with a strong roman influence, and gold painted ceilings. On returning to the hotel everyone was feeling very relaxed and not ready to go to bed, so we all stopped in at the local bar for a night cap.

Waking the next day the weather was pretty bad. An understatement actually. The weather forecast was warning of high winds and showers, and they weren't wrong. The coach was battered as we headed into the highlands. Whilst the rain brought fog which may have prohibited 0uor long distance view, on the upside it swelled the streams and enhanced all the waterfalls which made for spectacular viewing. By some miracle the rain eased enough to let us board a board on Loch Lomond where we cruised to the end of the lake and again meet up with our coach. The wind was bitterly cold and as we looked towards the highlands I made comment to Lucy that it looked like it was snowing…. I mean it did LOOK like snow clouds and it felt like a snow breeze but I honestly didn't envisage that within 30 minutes we would soon be driving thru a mountain range with snow on both sides…. Welcome to the Scottish Highlands. The winds and rain got stronger and the driver suggested we needed to get on to the island of Skye before the bridge was closed to traffic. We tried to go for a walk when we arrived at the hotel but the wind and rain made it a short outing. It was bitterly cold. I really needed to go out as I really wanted to buy SKYE (my niece) something with her name on it and it was a bit of a joke really, every stop we have made[DB1] on this trip has had heaps of gift shops but not in Skye, so we battered the elements to no avail.

After dinner the wind dropped and the rain stopped and we managed to walk out on the jetty. The amazing thing here was how clear the water was. Looking off the jetty you would swear you were in one of the pacific islands… I was quite sure the water temperature would have been very different.

The Isle of Skye has fresh mountain air, lots of high mountains, and the heather was just starting to flower and a light purple hew was forming over the land. It is in full bloom in August, so it's a shame we are just a bit early. The population on the Isle is 9000, but It was hard to see where they were. It is 52 miles long and between 5 and 15 miles wide depending on where you are. The island is mainly peat and is very acidic no nothing really grows. Even with the sheep they send them to the mainland to fatten them as there is simply not enough feed. The most valuable thing is the sea, where they do a lot of Salmon farming. There is a very strong Nordic influence here as a carry over from the Viking days. There were two main clans that owned most of the land on the Isle of Skye, the Clan of McLeod and McDonalds. Today ,the Mcleods own the majority of the land, as the McDonalds ran into hardship and sold out to the McLeods. The Dunvegan Castle is still owned by them.

We went on a SKYE DRIVE after breakfast and saw the beautiful landscape with waterfalls and mountain faces, we had the perfect tour guide in a tartan coat and handbag, looked like she had stepped out of Coronation street about 20 years ago, but she knew her stuff and entertained us well. The clouds lifted as the morning progressed and whilst it was still a little overcast and cold enough that we needed our jackets and scarves for the whole day, it wasn't raining and we were able to get out and walk around.

We lunched at Eilean Donan Castle. The most photographed castle, then travelled around the shores of Lochness. It was quite exciting as I have always dreamed that I would find the monster. I think I did see something come up but I just couldn't get the camera out fast enough… but I know what I saw and it wasn't a fish. We took our shoes off and stood in the lake, I have to say, it wasn't as cold as I thought.

The moving stop was at Culledon Battlefield, where Bonnie Prince Charlies army were defeated in 1746. The battlefield is a wide open field with flags showing the frontlines for each side. At one site, a sign signifies that an area where a full face to face battle took place and where over 700 people were literally butchered in minutes. In total there were over 2000 killed on that field. It was said to be like a frenzied killing and was described as a butchery. Brutal times, this was a very sombre site.

We are now 1328 feet above sea level and heading further into the Scottish Highlands to a small town called Aviemore

[DB1]