Edinburgh! Somerville Foundation and Mustard & Senning get together!

Just gonna put it out there. Scotland is AMAZING! Even if you can't understand what anybody is saying, and you know they are speaking English.

I absolutely think there should be a pub right
beside these fella's "The Nags Head"

To start my last full day in Scotland, Vicki and Mike took to me the Mythical sea horse's The Kelpies.
Incredible is an understatement. made of Stainless steel, these statues/monuments are outstanding, and very mesmerising. Just walking around and around them looking at the different angles was really neat.

Best Friends. I'm so lucky to have these two
in my life. Mike and Vicki

You could take so many pictures of these horses, from so many different view points. I loved being so close

Looking out towards the end lock, from the top. she's a 25Mtr drop over the end if you stuff it up...

From the Kelpies, we travelled to the Falkirk wheel. The wheel was one of my must do activities, and it did not let me down. In fact it surpassed all expectations. It is the such an incredible engineering feet, that anyone travelling to Scotland just must visit it. Essentially it's a travel lift, moving canal boats boats from one canal to another, with a massive 25 metre lift, pretty much all operated with the power of the a little electricity, and some perfectly balanced tubs of water. (big tubs) 

From the bottom looking up, to the canal boat ready to come down. The journey is so quiet and civilised, and that is perfect for the canal experience. A  restful and peaceful place.

Edinburgh

The view over the city from Carlton Hill

Earlier this year, my work calendar had this picture on it, and Vicki was really keen to take me to the spot, which was fantastic, because the view all around Edinburgh from here was phenomenal. There's so much to soak in in Edinburgh, it really is a remarkable city. However we were there for a sommerville - Mustard & Senning get together, and it was simply fantastic

The skyline is full of views like this. 

A stunning roof top Garden. 

Scotland Coliseum. We reckon the bloke that was building it, just got bored, and left it. I suggested maybe the Vikings arrived and knocked him off...

Edinburgh Castle

This bloke had a massive queue of Women wanting their photo's with him.

Middle of the streets, you come across buildings like this with wonderful greens. 

Edinburgh Castle. Amazing all light up! Photo is a little grainy,

All about the people

Living with Congenital Heart Disease is life long, having people like this being able to meet and talk about our conditions, the ins and outs, the good and the bad, but most of all, the connection of friendship through adversity. It was truly inspiring to here, and to be involved with these incredbile people. This statement is relevant for every single get together I've done. Edinburgh was extra special, because no-one can understand each other, and Prince William (Aka - Paul Chamberlain) came along too!

So ends my journey in Scotland, and it was simply amazing, the people, the places, simply magic.

Next installment coming soon! Manchester, Dublin and my Brummy family.

Scotland, Castles and Palaces, Glasgow city and great friends

Leaving Hartlepool, I decided to get off the main highways, and go up the coast, as far as I could. what an interesting and fun drive. I could have stopped at so many places and taken so many photo's. Oh wait, I did... It truly is a magical coastline to drive up, and I often thought of how similar it is to NZ, with the road next to the coast, then darting inland through farmland, then back to the coast.

Souter lighthouse, Britains first purpose built

lighthouse for an Electric light!

The Whitburn coast is full of jagged rocky points like this
really reminded me of home.

After travelling along the coast for quite some time, and going through the tunnel under the river Tyne, I came across the township of Warkworth. Driving into the town, you are meet with the Warkworth Castle. A really stunning centre piece of the town, atop the highest point around. I walked right around the castle, just touching it, took you back in time. The moat system around the castle is still intact and the remnants of what would have been a series of locks that filled it are still there (had a local chap point them out to me) 

I'm actually standing in the moat! 

The Warkworth Bridge, over the river Coquet. It's a 14th Century bridge, listed as a national ancient monument.
It carried all traffic across the river for 600 years before the new bridge was built in the 60's. And yes, I walked over it.

Ah gart it tae scootlund, fin times aheid

At the Scottish Border

Wiremu, just before he had a catastrophic accident

The Scottish coastline! My First look

I'm here!! With my great friends Mike and Vicki. Linlithgow!!

 Linlithgow is a town of around 20,000 people (According Vickipedia) and is just steeped in history. the is the royal palace of Queen Mary of Scots. up close you can see many battle scars of the Palace with lots and lots of cannon damage. Vicki and Mike took me right around it, and once again, touching it just takes you back to place I could not have imagined before.

Right up next to the Palace, such history,
and a boot camp going on

Linlithgow, and so many of these
 incredible streets with views you dream of

GLASGOW

 Arriving in Glasgow, in the rain, and walking around, it's so obvious rain is the norm here, lots of people just walking around no hats and coats, was kinda cool to watch people. The important event in Glasgow, was the Somerville Foundation get together. Aptly named "Meet the Kiwi" was just awesome meeting Gill whom I've been friends with online for years, and we always have a great laugh, and our meeting face to face meeting was no different. Special times.

Left to right, Gill, Michelle (her first Somerville meeting), Vicki, Me and Mike.

 Despite the rain, Glasgow is a fabulous city to walk around and the views from the  Lighthouse towers (Not an actual lighthouse) were quite stunning, and you can see how industrial the city is.

The tiny spiral staircase to the top of old tower

A really nice Japanese lunch just hit the spot today.

Ashton Lane! Aka Beer Alley. A stunning little lane, right in the heart of the city full of great little pubs and eateries

To finish the day, Vicki and Mike took me to Queensferry for dinner and dinner was just great, the company absolutely outstanding, and the view outstanding. Great hosts, and the absolute best of friends

Hartlepool, Whitby and Gambling...

Arriving on Tuesday evening to a big bear hug from my good friend David was awesome, a fine and fitting welcome for another Mustarder on this great journey.

Describing the first place
 an English soldier was
killed on UK Soil in
World War 1

Think this guy might still be
looking for warships

 Hartlepool is in an interesting town, with a giant Transporter Bridge (basically a cable driven bridge) to a Nuclear power station (New Zealand is nuclear free so a new thing for me to see!) to the only town I have ever heard of, where many years ago, the towns folk hung a monkey after they decided the Monkey was a french spy!

The Transporter!

On the way to Whitby we stopped off in Goathland, aka Aidensfield, where the TV series Heartbeat was filmed. a neat little village, which is definitely taking advantage of the tourist dollar, many many years after the show finished. I bought a hat.  

Whitby Beach, looking out to the North Sea

Driving south from Hartlepool takes you down to Whitby, a wonderful seaside town, where David took me a place where I ate some of the best fish n chips I've ever had, plus a great history lesson from James Cook to The Abbey, and some very amazing views to boot. 

James Cook, Captain of the Endeavour,
Explorer who discovered NZ in 1769

I was utterly stunned by the depth of History
just standing here.

The Abbey, Founded in 657 AD . The Vikings took it over a
few hundred years later, then some bloke called  King Henry smashed
it up in the 16th Century

Abbey House, Just took me in the beauty
and the gorgeous gardens

Looking over from the Abbey to Whitby Township

I really was astounded at Whitby, the real sense of connection to New Zealand, through Captain James Cook, who lived here for many many years, as did his Wife, while he was exploring the seas.
Whitby is also a fishing town, and therefore a direct connection with Whitianga. Having David as my guide made the day great, and we joked and laughed along the way.

Whitby (actually almost every town I've been to so far)
 has the narrow alley ways all over the place. You'd expect to see
graffiti but it's not really there

After Whitby, David took me on a journey where we stopped in a little seaside pub called The Ship, in the village, Saltburn by the sea. Once again the history swallowed me up! built over 600 years ago, it was once a very long series of connected buildings, but a significant portion of it, has been washed out to see!

The Ship! a really neat place to stop, sit outside
and enjoy the view to the North Sea

A pretty old anchor, Cable tied to the wall...

Myself, David, Random Barman and Wiremu,
enjoying the hospitality of The Ship

We headed back to Hartlepool, where Davids Wife Debbie, had prepared a little surprise 50th
Birthday celebration for myself and David. They presented me with a neat shirt from the Hartlepool United FC. Worn with pride! Much to Davids surprise, I also had a gift for him. Kia Kaha David.

 My final full day in Hartlepool involved a tour of the local Brewery. Camerons Lion Brewery. Was so interesting hearing about how the water for the beer comes from Artesian bore, which is very unusual for breweries in the UK, and is a massive cost saving for filtering the water. The brewery itself is over 160 years old. I loved this tour, and learning of the history of Hartlepool's oldest running business!.

This was a street, and it took the Brewery more than 60 years to purchase all the houses. Once they had, they closed the street, and put a roof over it, enclosing the two sides of the brewery.

A small selection of the timeline the modern bottles used in the brewery

Pulling another pint! not quite perfect, but pretty good!

Now my trip to Hartlepool is all but done.Gambling!! David is a Deputy Manager in a betting shop, so I went along and lost 5 pounds!...  Tonight we went out for a curry, and it was delicious. It's always hard to say goodbye, especially as David and Debbie have been outstanding hosts, and are such amazing friends. I'm looking forward to hosting them in New Zealand in four years time.
Tomorrow I'm off to Scotland, where I am sure I'm going to be both saying and hearing "Can ye speik mair slowly?"