Tae the bonnie highlands!

Days Ten and Eleven: Europe or Bust

These past two days have been filled with hiking and driving mostly, so I'll fill in briefly and get to the photographs.

Thursday morning we woke up early and left our flat. We drove to Tarn Hows, a beautiful lake surrounded by waterfalls and a scenic walking trail. It was so lovely to stretch our legs before the long drive we had ahead of us and say one last goodbye to the Lake District. We visited the Yew Tree Farm which was special because it was formerly owned by Beatrix Potter and it played the role of "Hill Top" in the movie Miss Potter (another movie that you must watch or you're living your life wrong). As beautiful as the lake country and the farm were in the movie, they were even more lovely in person and I thought it might break my heart when we had to leave.

Miss Potter's "Hill Top"

But leave we did, and after saying farewell to this magnificent part of England we booked it to Lumley Castle where we would be staying the night. That's right, your eyes did not deceive you. We spent the night in an actual castle! It was just as magical as you might expect, complete with turrets and towers and butlers and velvet and seriously awesome beds and bathrooms.

Mom and Dad were in a special room called the "Earl of Sommerset" suite, while Arwen and I were staying up in the tower. It was quite a journey between the two rooms, but that made things much more exciting. The rooms were very different from each other, but both were practically perfect in every way.

This morning we woke up early for the last grand English breakfast we would have before heading to Scotland (a place where the delicacy of choice is pig guts). Of course we ate Eggs Benedict, croissants, fresh fruit, brie and camembert cheese, sausage, bacon, hash browns, black pudding, tea and strong, strong coffee. What a delightful start to a long day.

After leaving Lumley we drove and drove and drove. We made a quick stop at a castle by the sea called Bamburgh. There was something undeniably Narnian about walking along the shore line, a misty ocean to my right and a castle looming on my left. Morgen had a wonderful time splashing in the waves and chasing the tide while the rest of us simply relaxed and took in the view.

It would have been perfect had we not attempted to bushwhack up to the castle instead of taking the longer but safer pathway like civilized human beings. We really paid for our laziness. Arwen and I ran into a nasty patch of stinging nettle and by the time we reached the castle walls our legs were covered in itchy bumps. It wasn't enough to dampen our spirits, though, and after applying some handy-dandy itch cream we were on our way once more.

It wasn't long before we crossed the border into Scotland and made for Edinburgh. At the center of Edinburgh sits one of the most epic city parks in the world. Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Craig rise up in the midst of the city - a breath of mountain air amidst the chaos of town life. At the start of the hike we stopped to film Dad playing the flowers of Edinburgh on his fiddle, and then we began our complete and thorough exploration of the park.

Several hours and many "I'm hungry" complaints later we had hiked over the top of Arthur's Seat and down into the town where a parade of bagpipes, trumpets and Shetland ponies were marching by. When they had passed we grabbed some fish and chips from a local restaurant which we ate while watching a veiled bride and kilted groom wed by a sparkling lake. It was so romantic and I'm pretty sure we unintentionally photobombed a ton of wedding pictures, but oh well. I'm sure we just made them better :)

We were pretty tired after all of this, but still had a drive ahead of us. Fortunately, it doesn't get dark up here until around well after 10 pm in the summer. We had a beautiful twilight drive through snow-covered mountains before reaching our little cabin in the highlands where we will spend the next two nights.