A bit more

These are going to be a bit out of order but you will know some of things we have been doing.

Wednesday, 6th April we drove to York and stayed the night with Rohan, Sasha, Sully and Otis. It was lovely to see them, especially the boys. Very cute little fellows. Rohan was suffering from the flu so it was a valiant effort to entertain us. I hope he is feeling better. The next day we drove to Scotland via the scenic route to visit the Roman fort along Hadrian's Wall. They are ruins but still pretty impressive considering it they are 1800 years old - and their plumbing was quite amazing - the Romans were very good at building latrines!

The next day, we (being Andy's dad, Drew, Andy, Claire, Solomon, Abigail, dad and I) took the car ferry over to the isle of Bute to visit the town of Rothesay and you wouldn't believe this, but 'the plumbing' was a feature there too! There are some amazing Victorian men's toilets on the pier with a lady in a booth collecting 40p for each visit. There are women's toilets too but not as fancy. The toilets are listed in Lonely Planet as a tourist attraction.

After that, we visited a magnificent house owned by the Stuart Earls of Bute - it was only a bit more than 100 years old for a change. As usual, it was quite amazing in its decoration and size. The special thing about it was that they had just announced the day before we visited that they had discovered a 400 year old copy of a first edition of Shakespeare's plays last September and it had been confirmed as a First Folio. They were on display in glass cases - quite wonderful to see - and very special as it is Shakespeare's 400th birthday this year.

Saturday, Drew took dad and me for a great walk around his town. Great views across the Clyde. Later on, we took a drive to visit to the Glasgow Botanical gardens and the Kelvingrove Art Gallery - both pretty impressive. Andy's sister, Susan, and his brother, Norman came for a visit that night.

Next morning, Dad and I left for our next stopover, Haworth. On the way, we travelled through the Yorkshire Dales - spectacular views again. We were headed for Malham Tarn to do a walk. We turned off the main road into this little road which was quite scary as it was so steep! My heart was in my throat at times. The views were worth it. I am not sure how many of you saw 'The Trip' with Rob Bryden and Alan Partridge - I know that is not his name but I can't remember his real name - well, one of the scenes was on the top of Malham Tarn, a rocky outcrop above a 70 metre cove. We did a 7km walk around the area passing a waterfall and a 100m gorge. We were not alone though as it was a beautiful day and Everyman and his dog was out walking. It was like walking along Swanston Street!

We continued on after that to Haworth in Bronte country, staying in a b&b for 2 nights. Haworth is where the Bronte sisters lived and wrote their fabulous books. A pretty village with steep, cobblestone streets surrounded by moors where the sisters walked. They lived in a parsonage - their father was the vicar. Such a sad life for all the family. The mother died early and over time, the 6 children died, mostly from TB. The father outlived them all. I loved the visit to the Parsonage where you saw some of their clothing, letters, furniture and books they had written as children - it was very poignant. Earlier in the day, I went for a walk on the moors whilst Dad played golf in preparation for his day at Royal Birkdale. Another busy walk as it is such a popular spot with all these lovers of the Bronte Books coming in the bus load.

Our next stop was Chester and I will continue this later....

Love mum xxxx

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