September 2025
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We’re Home From Scotland.
Read More: We’re Home From Scotland.Well we made it. Â 19 days of intense history and sight seeing. Â All together as a family where jet lag plays in. Â We not only survived but enjoyed. Â Time to get back to reality. I’d love a bit of feedback on what you liked or didn’t like about this daily blog. Â It was fun…
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Day 18 – Legoland? Really?
Read More: Day 18 – Legoland? Really?Today doesn’t really fit our trip. Here we are seeing some spectacular history and such. And then we go to a them park. Well if you have kids you’d understand. Ryan wanted this trip way back when. Eric had no idea what it meant. However Legoland is translatable to 8 year old (as he was…
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Day 17, Fly Back to Heathrow and Off to Stonehenge
Read More: Day 17, Fly Back to Heathrow and Off to StonehengeToday was an early start. We had a 9am flight to Heathrow. Getting out of Edinburgh was it’s usual challenge. I must say though that Virgin Atlantic is a well run show. Brand new plane and free everything. Picking up the car at Heathrow made all your horror stories of LHR true. 15 minute walk…
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Day 16, Edinburgh Castle, Scottish Honours
Read More: Day 16, Edinburgh Castle, Scottish HonoursI have decided I don’t really like driving in Edinburgh. Road closures, detours and construction really mess up the plans. The GPS doesn’t know this of course and the city is not laid out in a grid so “going around the block” doesn’t always work. Eventually we did find the castle and parking. A wetter…
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Day 15, St. Andrews. Golf Anyone?
Read More: Day 15, St. Andrews. Golf Anyone?Today was the day to go see the Castle and in city stuff. So we could have a break from driving. But since the weather may not be as nice tomorrow as today we elected to switch the agenda around a bit. Nobody should say we aren’t flexible. Just well planned 😉 I’ve decided I…
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Day 14, Back down south. Or otherwise known as Yucky Drive Day.
Read More: Day 14, Back down south. Or otherwise known as Yucky Drive Day.Today there isn’t much to say. An 11am ferry back the way we came. Nice but not as clear as they way up. They are pretty much the same as the BC Ferries in loading. We did get to see the Old Man of Hoy again. Very cool sea stack. Once we landed it was…
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Day 13, Neolithic, Beaches and Beer.
Read More: Day 13, Neolithic, Beaches and Beer.First off our weather has been about perfect for an area where it rains and is stormy a good part of the year. 17C and mostly clear skies. However, the winds are constant. And strong. So even on a “hot and sunny” day we wore long pants and GoreTex jackets. We are all wind burnt.…
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Day 12, North bound. Time to drive north to Orkney.
Read More: Day 12, North bound. Time to drive north to Orkney.This morning was an early start. OK 730, but Ryan whined about it 😉 A quick breakfast then a mad dash up the A9 from Inverness all the way into Thurso. Where is Thurso you may ask. Funny story that. Last night in the hotel hot tub we chatted with a lady from South Carolina.…
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Day 11, Highland Games. Poles, Rocks and Other Big Stuff
Read More: Day 11, Highland Games. Poles, Rocks and Other Big StuffToday was the Highland Games in Inverness. Nicely situated a block away we got our tickets and went in to scope things out. After the opening there was a bunch of local stuff that wasn’t so interesting for us. So back to the hotel for an hour or so to relax. Honestly at this part…
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Day 10, Dunrobin, Raptors and Another Distillery
Read More: Day 10, Dunrobin, Raptors and Another DistilleryToday we headed north to Dunrobin Castle to see the raptor show. The drive was an hour or so and we got to see some coastline. Beautiful in the sun. I can imagine the winters are a bit dark. It’s light out till 10pm and the sun is up around 5am. Thank goodness for dark…
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Chinon
Today we visited the town of Chinon on the River Vienne. Chinon was the favourite dwelling place of Henri II Plantagenet and his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Joan of Arc arrived in Chinon in 1429 claiming to hear heavenly voices telling her that Charles VII, the French dauphin, would give her an army to neutralize…
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Tours to Loire Valley
We bid a last adieu to Eric (again!) this morning. We left him at his orientation picnic in Tours and headed deeper into the Loire Valley to continue our oenotourism! We stopped for lunch and a wine tasting at Chateau de Miniere, a women-run winery in the country where we had a lesson on the…
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Amboise
The second week of our trip will be just the two of us, exploring the Loire Valley, touring several 17th C chateaux and tasting lots of wine. The Loire is the longest river in France. It officially separates France into north and south regions. The river was the farthest point the Moors conquered as they…
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