So we headed from Heathrow straight up to Mentmore to visit Mark Webber's pub, The Stag Inn. Low & behold, who should we run into there? The man himself!! After a quick chat, an invite to catch up at the Hungarian GP in August & some parting advice "Promise me you'll go to the Cotswalds??" & he was gone. Pretty cool to see him again after more than 10 years! Nice pub too, the beer wasn't even warm! Next was a quick stop at the Red Bull Racing headquarters in Milton Keynes. Massive facility & even more massive team trucks parked in the driveway. We did get a few funny looks from the executives in the offices overlooking the driveway so we finished being paparazzi & scampered off!
From here we thought it would be bad karma not to visit the Cotswalds so we headed in that direction -Bourton-on-the-Water to be exact. We grabbed the first B&B we found with a vacancy sign & headed out for some dinner. This is where Andrew was reunited with his first love - well that's what he tells me! - fried scampi & chips. They didn't disappoint & he was briefly transported back to being ten years old again.
Next morning we headed off to get in touch my roots so to speak. We stopped in Coventry to visit an old family church & some other sites of significance to my family. It was a spot down the road that I most exctied to be going too. Outside Coventry is a little spot called Hassall Green. Yes, Hassall as in my maiden name. So it was a bit of a pilgrimage of sorts. I had all the obligatory photos...Hassall, Hassall Green, Hassall Road, Hassall Moss...the list goes on! It was quite exciting seeing my name in print (spelt the right way) & to know that my ancestors had walked the same path as I did, only hundreds of years earlier. It was also really nice to tie in some my history, having heard & read so much about it from Dad when he was researching & writing our family history book all those years ago. It made we feel a little bit closer to home even though really I was so far.....maybe just a little bit home sick too!
So we continued further north, arriving in Kendal on the edge of the Lake District. Now being backpackers we wanted somewhere cheap to stay so we pulled into the dodgiest looking motel we could find with a massive sign out the front that read "Rooms from 19 pounds". We were mortified when the girl said "One room will be 76 pounds please!"....hmmmmm, not going to plan so far. Luckily she was really lovely & said "I know someone who has a B&B out of town, let me call her for you". So we found ourselves driving to a small village called Kirby Lonsdale, where we were confronted with the stunning, 400 year old Foulston Farm. It wasn't much cheaper than the hose out motel room but the character & charm of the place was priceless.....as was the full, cooked English breakfast the next morning! Complete with homemade preserves & farm fresh eggs....heaven after a month of Chinese breakfasts - noodles, pork buns, hot milk, soup...you get the picture!
As lovely as the English countryside was, our aim was Scotland & so today we drove to Fort William, a lovely town complete with a fort...go figure! The weather was beautiful...more of those Tibetan style open skys I had grown so fond of (seems that from now on all blue skys will be compared to the Tibetan benchmark). The driving was easy...well easy for me as I left my drivers license at home...oops!! I must say though that it was Andrew's strong desire to drive again after almost 3 months that saw us travelling around with Cheryl in the first place, so it wasn't really an issue! One thing was a bit perplexing.....we had no idea what the speed limit was. The sight of a speed sign was rare at best so we spent the best part of 4 days driving around with no idea how fast (or slow) to drive. With the thought of a speeding ticket in the back of his mind, Andrew became the new Captain Slow...even Volvos were passing us!
The drive from Fort William to Inverness took in some of the most spectacular countryside we've ever seen. Driving alongside Loch Lomond was hazardous though, as every 3 minutes or so I would shout "Stop the car, I need to get a photo of that!"....with Andrew's (& Cheryl's) nerves beginning to fray, I decided to practise a new skill - out the car window photography. Some of the most beautiful photo's we have were taken through the car window while driving at 80kms.
We stopped off to visit Nessie & then continued on to Inverness. Now having arrived at Inverness, we thought "Where to now?".....Edinburgh of course.....on the same day!! We booked a B&B in Edinburgh from the information counter in Inverness.....they made no secret of the fact that they thought we were totally bonkers for driving from Fort William, up to Inverness & then down to Edinburgh all in one day! We simply said "But we're from Australia, we're used to driving!".
Just out of Edinburgh is the town of Perth. As we approached Perth, we saw big signs up advertising the "Fowl & Game Fair". I got all excited & had visions of the Village Fair I loved going to in Upper Beaconsfield when I was a kid. Mmmmm.....toffees, cakes, pony rides......sorry, got side tracked! So I badgered Andrew until he relented & we detoured into Perth. Cheryl was not happy! Now, when we got there it was 4pm. It also dawned on me that the event was less about the fair & more about the "game & fowl"....I hate birds!! We pulled into the carpark but everyone else seemed to be leaving. The information on the signs indicated that this was the 2nd of 3 days of celebrations. We flagged down a guy on a 4 wheeler who looked kind of official & were proudly delivered a 45 minute spiel on the history of "the most prestigious Highland gathering in Scotland". Sadly it finished at 6pm & as it was almost 5 by this time we decided to continue on to Edinburgh. Did I mention that entry was 25 pounds per person? We are backpackers you know!!
Edinburgh did not disappoint. So much so that we stayed 2 nights. We walked around town & took in all the tourist sites - Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace & the most amazing graveyard at Grey Friars cemetary at the Church of Scotland. I kinda made that up cos I don't really know what it was called - something like that I think!! Apparantly the locals don't really have the same regard for cemetaries that we do & it is not uncommon to see them gathered around on a warm summers day, enjoying a picnic & other frivolities whilst reclining against the grave stones....very weird!
I also managed to drag Andrew along to the movies to see Sex & The City 2...not quite the same as seeing it with the girls but good fun anyway. Plus we had the cinema to ourselves so I could laugh out loud histerically without Andrew shrinking down in his seat in embarrassment! It was with some sadness that we said goodbye to Edinburgh as it signalled the that our "blink & you'll miss it" driving tour of the UK was almost up. We left Edinburgh with a little over 12 hours to get the car back to Heathrow. We drove as far as Leicester when we pulled over to get a few hours sleep. Andrew found what seemed like a quiet, country lane & he pulled infront of a farm gate where we went to sleep for a few hours. Now, unbeknownst to us there was a crazed, murderer on the loose in the same county. He had just been released from jail for a suitably violent crime & what was the first thing he did? Went to the home of his ex-girfriend, shot & killed her current boyfriend then shot her, leaving her in a critical condition. He then took off on the run. Did I mention that the new boyfriend was an off duty police officer? So here we were, minding our own business, having a little snooze & all night the police drove up & down the road, stopping next to our car & shining their torches in to check for psycho gunmen. Fun hey?!
By daybreak we were off again....not quite as rested as we had hoped....turned out sleeping in a Golf, not so comfortable!! Still, the car was delivered safely back to Heathrow & after an emotional goodbye to Cheryl we were on the train heading onto Hammersmith....our new home for the next 3 nights. Wonder if the Queen is as excited about seeing me as I am about seeing her?................
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