Safely home! Thanks to all who followed us on our trip.Hope you enjoyed seeing new placea as much as we did. A big thanks for the likes and comments. It is nice to know the blog is beinf read and enjoyed.
Here is my own welcoming garden Note the new roof! I now have to pay for it!
And the back
Waiting at Keflavik for our flight back to Toronto with WOW airlines.
In a B & B in this quiet little place near the Airport. But still $20.00 for the taxi drive from the airport. Not much to do here except watch the grass turn green and wait for the lupins to open out. This place we are staying gives a bed but the other B is not up to much! Stale bread an assortment of cereals in jars that look as if they have been there a while! No fruit. The owner nowhere to be seen, but young woman from Portugal doing all the work. Don’t know how she got a 9.3 rating with Trip Pic! Apparently it was Meditation retreat but that didn’t pay so now a B & B. But at $95.00 Canadian a night, it is cheap in Iceland.
Our room is called the Music room and has lots of musical instruments on a shelf above the beds. Also a couple of spinning wheels.
Also nice to meet other travelers.
These framed newspaper cuttings on bedroom wall. Took this for Edwin as I seem to remember he liked Brubeck!
Went for a walk before coming to airport. Not a lot to see but the sea!
Auntie Betty’s Ice Cream shop was closed so went into Stonehaven main street for a brunch. We then drove into Arbroath to see the signal museum,but it was closed on Mondays.
Arbroath is famous for being the place where the Scots resolved to get rid of the English in Scotland. ‘The Declaration of Arbroath’ was made April 6th 1362. Some are still trying!
Arbroath also has some ancient Pictish stones, but one needs to make arrangements in advance with the Abbey to view them. So all we saw were pictures of them.
Another place of interest in Arbroath is the harbour with people fishing . On our way out of town we stopped at a church. A service was starting and the the people coming to church were all friendly. I was intrigued by this inscription on the back of a tombstone. I think it was unusual to consider God female. Unless ‘her’ refers to the child’? Probably as the other side of the tombstone reveals a lot of untimely deaths of children, but also some who lived long lives.
After leaving Arbroath we followed to coastal route into Angus and Aberdeenshire. We followed the Eskdale into the Highlands and went to Edzell Castle and gardens. This was an amazing castle with the tower almost complete so we could climb up and see the rooms. A plaque informed us that inside the castle life was safe and that football was played in the large courtyard.
The walled garden was set in formal style with box hedges around healing herbs. The walls had old stone carved sculptures on the 3 sides. One side had the 7 Cardinal virtues, another the Liberal Arts as known at the time ( Grammar, Rhetoric, Dialectic, Arithmetic, Music and Geometry) the third side had Roman gods. Set in the walls were cavities with containers of soil were I imagine plants will be set later in the season.
Just outside the castle were two fields of daffodils and narcissi.
I recommend a visit to this castle
After the castle we continued along winding country roads with views of Highlands and ocean. We foind a place called The Retreat which was a restaurant and museum of the lives of ordinary folks. We were ready for the tea and homemade cake!
Back to Carnoustie Hotel to pack. Ate at Indian Restaurant in town. Excellent!
Monday May 9th: Stonehaven
Weather reports show the north of Scotland the hottest spot in Europe at 25 Celsius. Madrid and most of Europe still at 12 to15!I am sitting on a seat gratefully placed for cliff top walkers to enjoy the view. And what a beautiful view.
We returned to Stonehaven early this morning for Mike to take some rock samples. This is an interesting place for geologists where several systems join. Time and tide wait for no one, so we had to be here for low tide.
He is out there on the rocks and has to get his sample before the tide comes in. I took this cliff top walk. I am enjoying seeing the wild flowers that were familiar to me when I lived in the UK,but do not see so much in Canada.
Stonehaven’s claim to fame
Other claims
The designer of the Cutty Sark, Hercules Hinton was born here.
Robert William Thomson, known as the ‘father of modern transport’ was born here. He is also credited for inventing the first self filling fountain pen.
The most astounding claim is the first place where the earliest air breathing animal was found. See yesterday’s post.
We learned this fact in the free museum in the Tollbooth. This museum is now run by volunteers as the city stopped support. It houses lots of memorabilia donated or lent by locals. The upper part of the toll both was where people went to pay taxes and below was the prison. The museum is in the prison part.
Michael wanted to take some rock samples for date analysis from the rocks at Stonehaven only exposed at low tide. We took the coastal route but it is not possible to see the sea from the road. Apart from stopping at a Macdonald’s for coffee and breakfast, we drove straight to Stonehaven but were too late as tide was too far in.
The server at Macdonald’s recommended the ice cream at Auntie Betty’s when we told her where we were going to Stonehaven. ( I have noticed how the Scots in general are friendly and interested in knowing about your destination and where you are from.) So we found the ice cream shop and it was very good. As soon as we came out of the shop it started to rain so had to run for shelter in the car.
Walked around Stonehaven and visited a local museum in the Tollbooth.
We discovered that the first air breathing animal was discovered here.
We then drove to Dunnottar Castle further down the coast. By this time the sun was out again and there were many people enjoying the beauty spot.
We did not pay the £9.00 to see the inside, just walked around and enjoyed tqhe seascape views and the nice sunny day. Admission to Heritage sites are ridiculously high and Unlike Europe, the UK only knock a pound off for Seniors!
After visiting the gardens at Dawyck, we continued our drive through Scotland, mainly along coastal roads, where possible. It is still eatly spring with trees coming into new leaf. I have never seen so many brilliant shows of massed daffodils and narcissi. We crossed the bridges at the Firth of Forth and the Tay.
Our destination is the Carnoustie Golf Hotel, our last place of stay in the U. K.
We leave here on Tuesday May 10 for a flight to Iceland. A one night stay in Keflavik which is just outside Rekajvik.
Friday May 6 After leaving New Lanark we drove along side roads in Scotland enjoying the scenery. We stopped at Dawyck Botanic Garden. The daffodils were still in prime display. Rhododendrons and azaleas and flowering shrubs added to the stupendous colour. The gardens are under the care of the Royal Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh. The species were well labelled. Some of the trees were magnificent for their size and age.

Thursday, May 5th to Tuesday May 10th: Scotland
We left my friend’s house in Weatheral early. It was election day in the UK and she had a full day planned for her. She told us how supportive friends have been so she not left alone too much. Her 2 daughters both live in Scotland but thanks to Skype she sees and chats with them every day. I was pleased to see them as the last time I saw them they were about 8 and 10 and bathed our two kids aged 3 and 5! They remembered! I doubt my kids do! They each have 3 kids of their own and interest in the grandchildren is an added incentive for my friend to cope with grief and her own health issues.
Our drive to the next destination at New Lanark took us into Scotland at Gretna Green and through the towns of Annan and Dumfries. This was familiar territory for us as Michael’s parents lived in this area. Also, I had my broken ankle fixed in Dumfries Hospital in 1999 and we spent a year in this part of Scotland.
In New Lanark we stayed at the Old Mill. This is a World Heritage site. The mill was built in 1816 by a visionary, Robert Owens, who believed in giving mill workers decent living conditions and treating the workers with dignity. The workers had fresh air, good food and decent living conditions. There is a choice of accommodation to suit all types of tourist from the more luxuriant hotel to a hostel with single rooms or dormitory for back packers, and others on travel budgets. We stayed in the hostel and had a private room.
The area surrounding the mill is a nature reserve with walks to observe such rare sights as badgers and peregrine falcons. The walk to the Falls of Clyde has identification cards for the wild flowers growing beside the track.
The local people won a petition to stop a large quarry being built in the locality
The website is New lanark mill
On our last day in the north east we drove north along the coast road enjoying the sight of the sea and , for me memories of many bike rides to small places along the coast. This part of Britain was once a major coal mining area with colliery towns dotted along the coast between Blackhall and Sunderland. Now the collieries are all closed and what was once the heavy industrialized north is now returning to pleasant coastal towns with pride in their past. We walked along the seafront for quite a way watching men sea fishing and just enjoying the sight of the sea breaking against the snow.
The town of Seaham, like Hartlepool, has been made attractive as a tourist resort with a Marina and promenade. Lord Byron was married to his first wife in a house in Seaham. We have seen the house before, but this time didn’t see it, so it could have been demolished. It was not a happy marriage for Byron or his wife and I don’t believe it lasted long. However a new shopping centre is named Byron Place. I suspect it is on the site of the house where his marriage took place.
Another famous person from Seaham with his statue in front of city hall is the Earl of Londonderry who was responsible for enlarging the harbour.
And so I said good bye to my home town. The next day we headed to the west.
Canada to Spain 2016 
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