UNITED KINGDOM - DAY 11

Still blowing a gale but we ventured forth and headed out of Edinburgh to make our way back into England. Travelled for a while through the Scottish mountains with the tour guide prattling on about English history. I've learnt to tune out. Hey I like history as much as the next man, but talk about overkill. Anyway back to our trip.

We travelled for about an hour and a half before stopping one last time at a small village of Jedburgh. We had half an hour to make any last minute purchases of fine quality scottish products. I managed to find a cashmere scarf and a brooch. The girls however were ecstatic as they found 'wild hairy haggis' soft toys. Of course we had to purchase them after all the stories we have heard about these haggis. You know the haggi that roam the highlands of Scotland with two long legs on the right side and two short legs on the left so that they can only travel in one direction around the mountain top. Every September they are captured for food. The haggi to escape capture tuck their legs into their body and roll down the hill. Anyway the girls were very happy to see them so we couldn't refuse purchasing the soft toys.

It was back on the bus and more traveling. We made a stop at the top of the mountain for a photo with the 50 ton rock with England on one side and Scotland on the other. We were told that they previously had just a sign post, however it kept getting stolen so they carved the names into the rock and there it has stayed. It was absolutely freezing. The wind was blowing a gale so we all madly jumped in front of the the rock had the photo then just as quickly boarded the bus.

We continued to travel through the English country side before coming to Heddon. Here we ate sandwiches before bracing the wind to see Hadrian's Wall. It was built during Roman times traveling across England from east coast to west coast. It was originally nine feet wide with each tower in sight of two other towers. Romans patrolled the wall. All that remains at Heddon is a demolished wall, which has been raided by locals for other things, 200 metres long. We walked through the arctic winds, took our pictures and then instead of waiting at Hadrian's Wall for the bus, we ran all the way back to the warmth of the bus. It was blowing so hard that Angelique was almost blown off her feet. By the time we got back to the bus our faces were frozen and stinging and our fingers were purple/blue.

Next we travelled to Yorke and after an orientation tour we had about an hour to see what Yorke had to offer. As we were arriving, we had seen a National Railway Museum so we scurried over to the museum and gazed at the hundreds of engines from the first train up to the Japanese bullet train. It was fascinating to wander around these huge machines where the wheels were larger than the girls. A lot of the engines were cut away so you could see the inner workings of the engines. Pasqual and Dad could have spent hours there, but time was up and we hurried back to the bus once more.

We arrived in Leeds where we were staying the night. After checking in we headed into the city to find somewhere nice for dinner. Talk about hard. Bars don't allow children in after 7pm so they were out. We next tried an Italian place. We were told there would be at least a half hour wait. We thought third time the charm. No! The next place it was worse, at least an hour wait. MacDonalds was looking mighty tempting by now, but we persevered and finally found Nandos. The food was beautiful. We chatter with our dinner companions before heading back into the wind, and now rain, for the hotel.