Leaving Scotland: goin' to England!

At 8 am we rise to a breakfast of corn flakes, toast, and orange juice (or coffee & tea) in the amazing morning light that, we're told by Katie and Sergio, we're enjoying on the warmest March day they've ever experienced in the highlands. Our time in Scotland, brief though it was, was uncharacteristically sunny (usually it's gray and wet); maybe someone is smiling on us at last.

Frank, supervising super Sergio!

By 8:45 we depart and head for New Lanark, an 18 & 19^th century wool mill and residence that was a social experiment in giving the poor and destitute a useful and healthy life. It worked well for many years and is now preserved as a UNESCO world heritage site. Some money was spent here on Scottish memorabilia, etc.

As we departed at 10 am we practiced singing the Scottish national anthem, “Flower of Scotland” led by Katie. We headed for Gretna Green, the 2^nd or 3^rd most popular marriage destination in the world. This is where Katie says a lot of “runaway marriages” happen! Here the young'uns also dropped some coin in a particularly un-Scots-like way. Some of you can expect a sword in the luggage coming home.

We depart Gretna Green and Scotland at 12 pm and sing the anthem again. We're now in Lancashire and travelling to the Lake District. At the town of Grasmere, near Grasmere Lake, where William Wordsworth (famous romantic poet of the 18^th c) lived, and is buried. Having paid a brief visit to his grave and recited (reading – some of us memorized it) his poem “Daffodils” (I wandered lonely as a cloud/ that floats on high o'er vales and hills …), we found lunch, and then left at 1:15 for Chester (Chesire).

Chester is a small city based on a Roman fortress that has become a city for rich and famous football fans. The Roman walls still stand and the ruins of an ampitheatre remain. Here we spent two hours exploring on foot.

Church in Grasmere

Lunch in Grasmere (Katie & Jonathan)

Crazy kids in Grasmere

Heading into Chester

The River Dee, as seen from the Roman wall in Chester.

Finally we headed off to Manchester for our hotel and supper (a great buffet!) just outside Manchester. All in all a good and full day of seeing things!

Tomorrow we're off to Stratford, and then London!