We experienced probably the shortest flight ever yesterday morning when we flew from Glasgow to Belfast. By the time we finished the ascent, it was only 5-10 minutes before we were descending. The flight was only 25 minutes and I think we spent more time waiting in the plane on the runway before and after than in the air! It was a beautiful hot day so we spent the afternoon in the Botanical Gardens just a few minutes walk from where we were staying near the pres...

We're in Glasgow tonight before flying to Belfast tomorrow. We have been quite surprised by Glasgow, we had ideas of quite an industrial place but in fact it's got some lovely old buildings. The streets are large (quite a rarity we've found so far) and are nice and open plan, which is probably because it is a much newer city. We are very sad to be leaving Scotland. We love Scotland, it's places and people. We have had such a lovely time, especially with Geoff an...

Yesterday we jumped on a train first thing to Inverness. We very much enjoyed the beautiful scenery, we could just imagine the Hogwarts Express speeding through this very countryside. The countryside was so diverse, from forests and valleys, to the Cairngorms - strange succession of hills sticking out of vast miles of flat land with flat creeks snaking throughout. Arriving in Inverness just after lunch, we managed to catch the last Loch Ness/Urquhart Castle Tour...

Just a quick note: there are 3 blogs under Newport not just 1 for the 3 different days we spent there and in the surrounding areas. Yesterday we left a sunny morning in Newport for a stormy Edinburgh. We braved the heavy rain and slippery alleyways to eventually find our hostel with magnificent views of Edinburgh Castle above us. Our first taste of Edinburgh was a "Ghost and Torture Tour". We began with a walk around the Royal Mile, Cowgate and the small alleys ...

Today we finally visited St Andrews! I just loved the town, with it's beautiful old buildings, fresh sea air and green everywhere. It's my kind of place and we had a great time exploring the town, the University and the old ruins of the castle and cathedral. We walked through the main part of St Andrews University and spotted Prince William's university residence/halls that he stayed in during his first year. Like the rest of the town, the buildings are beautiful...