3 September 2015

Scotland the Brave - Report 5

Heading south.

We didn't exactly hurry. We didn't have far to go as we were going to overnight in Selkirk, still in the border region of Scotland. Packing the car and cleaning up a little took a while.  We had opted for small bags rather than cases and had loads to cram into the car.

Reggie went in early and was asleep when we eventually returned the key and set off. Once again we had to navigate through Inverness, but the traffic wasn't too bad this time.  The A9 was also relatively heavy and we headed southwards past Aviemore stopping at the Ralia Cafe for a break.  It was here that Reggie to exception to some cyclists. They weren't that close but he barked at them and was really angry.

Then again southwards towards Edinburgh. Another stop for Reggie to have his breakfast, anther day it had gone uneaten, and us to have lunch at a Subway near Perth.

Another surprise was that the Forth Road Bridge was free.....

Forth Road Bridge

Forth Road Bridge - the rail bridge in the background

From Edinburgh we stuck on the A7 all the way arriving in Selkirk just as the weather looked up.... yes it had been raining again.

The County Hotel is dog friendly in the rooms but not in the public area. Luckily the room they gave us was huge with massive bed and a sitting area.  By some fluke it was stuck out on a limb and three sides had no adjoining rooms so if Reggie got a bit barky no one would be disturbed.

Big Bed

Sekirk is where Sir Walter Scott, author of such epics as "Rob Roy" and "Heart of Midlothian" and where he was the Sheriff,  The courtroom was closed when we arrived and so we had a walk around the local (and very hilly) park.

Walter Scott's Courtroom

We had dinner in the restaurant, and it was good. In fact the whole experience was lovely.

Back to England

We were up early enough and breakfasted and packed to leave about 9.30am and headed off on a TomTom magical mystery tour through the borders and on the A7 south and then into the wilderness of the Kielder Forest and eventually arriving at the Roman Fort at Housesteads.

It was raining. 

Once again we had a coffee and then took the wet half mile walk up to the fort, cleverly built on a hilltop by the Romans. This time we had waterproof trousers as well. 

The fort is the best preserved site in the country.












It continued to rain as we packed Reggie into the car and headed off for the road south and that's where the wheels came off. The traffic once on the A1 was terrible, too much traffic and associated roadworks.  
Using the map and TomTom we tried to avoid as much as we could but it was gone 8.45pm before we arrived at the hotel in the midlands.

We had planned to visit Claire's cousin locally for dinner but as time went on we got later and later we almost aborted. Instead we checked in and then went over to them later. They have a new puppy, a black Labrador, and Reggie and her got on well until he stole a toy and she tried to get it back.

Another day over.

2 comments:

Trobairitz said...

Some lovely views through those areas.

Such a long history compared to this country. I know not all of it is a pleasant history, but what country has one?

InvictaMoto said...

Our civil war was about 200 years before the one in the US, plus we had the different kingdoms brought together in The Act of Settlement in 1701 that led to the Jacobite rebellions of 1715 and 1745.

Incredible to think that the last massed battle on UK soil was over 30 years before the British colonists in America wanted Independence from Britain....