We decided to take it easy today. We set out at about 9.30am and went first to Barcaldine (10 miles north of Oban) where we went through a Sea-Life Centre - saw seals being fed, looked at sting-rays, anenomes and all sorts of fish close up. It was quite impressive. there was a class there on a school excursion - they were quite well behaved. We then partially back-tracked. We had stopped at Connel to watch the water under the bridge - it was creating white-water...

This morning we got up and were ready by the time the Little Chef opened at 7am. After we left our motel we drove into Penrith to buy petrol and postcards. I bought Shannon and Jess an Advent Calendar each. We didn't take long to get to Glasgow. We found the 2 street numbers where the Bapties used to live, but both of the original houses are gone!! We were really disappointed. the area where Charles Baptie lived (Buccleuch St) still had some beautiful old house...

We rang the little girls before breakfast this morning - it was lovely to talk to them - Shannon and Jess spoke to them too. The dishwasher I won has been delivered! We weren't on the road for long this morning (still in Manchester) when our lovely little Ford Mondeo broke down. We called the RAC and they couldn't fix it so he towed us to the Eurodollar depot and we swapped for a Vauxhall Cavalier. It's not as nice, but we were so lucky there was a Eurodollar d...

Wow! What a day!! We packed most of our gear last night - finished off this morning and took just over 2 hours to drive up to Stratford-upon-Avon. We saw through an exhibition on Shakespeare's life, and the house where he was born. After that we went to Warwick Castle (21 pound) and spent hours exploring. They've certainly increased the exhibits there - it was very good. The medieval castle display downstairs was really good, We got back on the motorways and s...

We all slept in today - had a late brekkie, sat around writing postcards. Went off to Borough Green to pick up some provisions, then down to Tonbridge to see their castle. Also walked through their markets. After that we drove to some National Trust sites that were closed, and up and down country lanes, just admiring the countryside and spotting the pheasants in the meadows. We've only seen one squirrel. Tonight we had dinner at the George and Dragon (pub) in W...