Scotland trip report May-June 06
Jun 12th, 2006, 12:02 PM
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Scotland trip report May-June 06
Hello,
Thanks again to everyone who helped with suggestions for our trip. We got back about 38 hours ago and I really need a nap, but I am going to give a quick "report" and add a few things later as I think of them.
We were incredibly lucky with weather. Only a couple of really "gray" days, and those were down in the Lake District when we first arrived. (We spent three days there in a B&B in Windermere.) In Scotland, some partly rainy days, but mostly sunny and warm.
We spent a week in a self-catering house in Argyll, in the little town of Strachur, on Loch Fyne. Just beautiful. We made day trips to Inverary and the Argyll National Forest, drove up to Fort William to take the steam train (we were with a 7- and 2-year old, although it would have been fun just for us as well), and drove down past Dunoon one day. We also spent a couple of days just exploring the hills behind Strachur.
Our second week was spent down in the Borders. On the way we visited Stirling Castle (we could easily have spent more time there) and stopped to see the Falkirk Wheel. We were again in a self-catering cottage, this time outside Jedburgh. Our cottage was about a ten minute drive from Jedburgh but situated on a farm road, so once we were there we heard no traffic, only sheep. We made day trips to Jedburgh and the other abbeys, drove down to Alnwick Castle and then along the coast, and spent a day in Edinburgh. We left a day early to get back to Manchester for our flight home, visiting Hermitage Castle and Hadrian's Wall along the way, and then spent the last night in a motel in Manchester before flying out Saturday morning.
All in all we saw much less than we would have if we were traveling on our own, but had a lovely time and felt that we did not overload the kids.
We spent more money than I thought we would. The self-catering helped quite a bit with food costs but we still had to eat some meals out. After a few blunders (like a pizza lunch in the Lake District that cost $40) we started looking for bakeries and simply picnicking for most of our lunches.
I have already started fantasizing about the return trip. : )
More soon!
Barbara
Thanks again to everyone who helped with suggestions for our trip. We got back about 38 hours ago and I really need a nap, but I am going to give a quick "report" and add a few things later as I think of them.
We were incredibly lucky with weather. Only a couple of really "gray" days, and those were down in the Lake District when we first arrived. (We spent three days there in a B&B in Windermere.) In Scotland, some partly rainy days, but mostly sunny and warm.
We spent a week in a self-catering house in Argyll, in the little town of Strachur, on Loch Fyne. Just beautiful. We made day trips to Inverary and the Argyll National Forest, drove up to Fort William to take the steam train (we were with a 7- and 2-year old, although it would have been fun just for us as well), and drove down past Dunoon one day. We also spent a couple of days just exploring the hills behind Strachur.
Our second week was spent down in the Borders. On the way we visited Stirling Castle (we could easily have spent more time there) and stopped to see the Falkirk Wheel. We were again in a self-catering cottage, this time outside Jedburgh. Our cottage was about a ten minute drive from Jedburgh but situated on a farm road, so once we were there we heard no traffic, only sheep. We made day trips to Jedburgh and the other abbeys, drove down to Alnwick Castle and then along the coast, and spent a day in Edinburgh. We left a day early to get back to Manchester for our flight home, visiting Hermitage Castle and Hadrian's Wall along the way, and then spent the last night in a motel in Manchester before flying out Saturday morning.
All in all we saw much less than we would have if we were traveling on our own, but had a lovely time and felt that we did not overload the kids.
We spent more money than I thought we would. The self-catering helped quite a bit with food costs but we still had to eat some meals out. After a few blunders (like a pizza lunch in the Lake District that cost $40) we started looking for bakeries and simply picnicking for most of our lunches.
I have already started fantasizing about the return trip. : )
More soon!
Barbara
Jun 12th, 2006, 01:55 PM
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The 2-year-old will not let me nap, so I'll add a bit more detail instead.
We traveled on Delta and flew into Manchester. I could write an essay on Delta alone. Suffice it to say that some of their employees spend way too much time fixing or smoothing over situations created by other employees. Fortunately most of the situations ended up working out for the best on this trip, which is not always the case!
We arrived in Manchester on a Wednesday morning. I had read the thread about "driving after arriving" with great interest and had debated what we should do. We decided to drive to our first destination, Windermere, for several reasons: (1) we have driven on the left before, (2) we like driving manual transmission cars, and (3) we knew we would not have to drive too long. I would agree with other posters that driving right after the trans-Atlantic flight is not necessarily a great idea, and we certainly would not have embarked on a drive to Scotland the first day. But the short drive to the Lake District worked well. In retrospect I think I would have done just as well to stay that first day and night in Manchester and then drive to the Lake District, but that's mainly because of the children, who were mostly interested in playing after all that time in the plane; we could have saved some $$ by spending the first night at a motel with a play area and perhaps seeing a local sight or two in the afternoon, then driving to the Lake District on Thursday.
We stayed at the Rockside B&B in Windermere in a "family" room. It was comfortable. The proprietors were very helpful. It was quite expensive, though. I probably should have done some more research on traveling as a family. (It did not help that we were staying through a bank holiday weekend at the beginning of a school vacation; quite a few places I checked out were booked by the time I tried making reservations.)
We ate in Windermere all three nights that we were there, once at the Lighthouse (where the food was good and the service was, at best, indifferent) and twice at Miller's Restaurant, where they were very friendly and did not seem to mind one picky and one messy eater.
As mentioned, we didn't do any sight-seeing that first day; we just took the boys to a playground. On Thursday we took a boat trip on the lake that connected with a little steam engine ride. The kids had a great time and we enjoyed the scenery. Later on we went for a drive around the lake in search of some trout fishing that had been recommended (my 7-year-old really wanted to go fishing). On Friday we drove up through Keswick and visited the Honister Slate Mine, up at Honister Pass. It was interesting and again the scenery was lovely.
Saturday I took a walk to a hilltop overlooking the town while the boys went fishing again. We met down at the water for lunch, and then left for the drive up to Argyll. We arrived there in time for dinner at the Creggan's Inn in Strachur and collected the keys to our house. Dinner was absolutely delicious. We did not eat there again but my husband and sons returned several times to shoot pool before bedtime -- a huge hit.
Our house was one of several that are part of the Strachur Estate in Strachur (although most of them are not actualy on the estate grounds). Here's a description:
http://www.aboutscotland.com/strachurestate/index.html
It was a lovely house, with much more room than we needed -- if I had realized it was a school holiday week in the UK I would have booked sooner, but a lot of the smaller accommodations were taken for that week. (I had no trouble for the following week; it was just that holiday that I didn't know about.) The property manager was very helpful and answered a lot of questions by e-mail before we arrived.
One of the nice features of staying at the houses is that it gives access to most of the estate property for walking and hiking, and we spent a couple of mornings that way. The property overlooks Loch Fyne. (An aside -- I realized on this trip that a sea loch is truly the best of both worlds for those of us who can't decide whether we like the sea or the mountains!)
We also went for a really pretty walk in the Argyll National Forest one day, on a trail through Puck's Glen. There are so many walks there that we could easily have spent the week just doing that.
We spent a day in Inverary going to the castle, the church and the old jail. The jail was a huge hit with our 7-year-old, mostly for its description of torture methods. We also went down to the Auchindrain open air museum, which I thought was fascinating.
We tried having a late lunch at Loch Fyne Oysters one day. I have to say it was a disappointment, not because of the food, but because of the wait and the service. We should have had a reservation, but I saw people with reservations waiting as well. Perhaps they were just short-handed that day...but we were kept waiting almost an hour (after being told half an hour). It was not because the restaurant was crowded; about half the tables were empty. (They didn't even let us sit down!) And our original server was not having a good day. She seemed to be hoping we would give up and leave before she took our order. Others were more friendly. It's just disappointing when a meal is so highly recommended (and not inexpensive) and the experience is so different from what's expected. But, in fairness, the food itself was delicious.
One of the highlights of the week was driving up to Fort William to take the steam train to Mallaig. We drove up through Glencoe and then drove back down along the coast. The train excursion itself leaves at 10:20, and returns a little after 4. Here's a website about the train:
http://www.steamtrain.info/index.htm
The scenery was just fantastic, both along the way and during the train trip. If you are thinking of taking the train I would recommend reserving a ticket in advance; there were tickets still available that morning, but not through the ticket office -- you had to line up outside the train and the conductor assigned available seats.
I'll put some details about our week in the Borders in a separate message.
We traveled on Delta and flew into Manchester. I could write an essay on Delta alone. Suffice it to say that some of their employees spend way too much time fixing or smoothing over situations created by other employees. Fortunately most of the situations ended up working out for the best on this trip, which is not always the case!
We arrived in Manchester on a Wednesday morning. I had read the thread about "driving after arriving" with great interest and had debated what we should do. We decided to drive to our first destination, Windermere, for several reasons: (1) we have driven on the left before, (2) we like driving manual transmission cars, and (3) we knew we would not have to drive too long. I would agree with other posters that driving right after the trans-Atlantic flight is not necessarily a great idea, and we certainly would not have embarked on a drive to Scotland the first day. But the short drive to the Lake District worked well. In retrospect I think I would have done just as well to stay that first day and night in Manchester and then drive to the Lake District, but that's mainly because of the children, who were mostly interested in playing after all that time in the plane; we could have saved some $$ by spending the first night at a motel with a play area and perhaps seeing a local sight or two in the afternoon, then driving to the Lake District on Thursday.
We stayed at the Rockside B&B in Windermere in a "family" room. It was comfortable. The proprietors were very helpful. It was quite expensive, though. I probably should have done some more research on traveling as a family. (It did not help that we were staying through a bank holiday weekend at the beginning of a school vacation; quite a few places I checked out were booked by the time I tried making reservations.)
We ate in Windermere all three nights that we were there, once at the Lighthouse (where the food was good and the service was, at best, indifferent) and twice at Miller's Restaurant, where they were very friendly and did not seem to mind one picky and one messy eater.
As mentioned, we didn't do any sight-seeing that first day; we just took the boys to a playground. On Thursday we took a boat trip on the lake that connected with a little steam engine ride. The kids had a great time and we enjoyed the scenery. Later on we went for a drive around the lake in search of some trout fishing that had been recommended (my 7-year-old really wanted to go fishing). On Friday we drove up through Keswick and visited the Honister Slate Mine, up at Honister Pass. It was interesting and again the scenery was lovely.
Saturday I took a walk to a hilltop overlooking the town while the boys went fishing again. We met down at the water for lunch, and then left for the drive up to Argyll. We arrived there in time for dinner at the Creggan's Inn in Strachur and collected the keys to our house. Dinner was absolutely delicious. We did not eat there again but my husband and sons returned several times to shoot pool before bedtime -- a huge hit.
Our house was one of several that are part of the Strachur Estate in Strachur (although most of them are not actualy on the estate grounds). Here's a description:
http://www.aboutscotland.com/strachurestate/index.html
It was a lovely house, with much more room than we needed -- if I had realized it was a school holiday week in the UK I would have booked sooner, but a lot of the smaller accommodations were taken for that week. (I had no trouble for the following week; it was just that holiday that I didn't know about.) The property manager was very helpful and answered a lot of questions by e-mail before we arrived.
One of the nice features of staying at the houses is that it gives access to most of the estate property for walking and hiking, and we spent a couple of mornings that way. The property overlooks Loch Fyne. (An aside -- I realized on this trip that a sea loch is truly the best of both worlds for those of us who can't decide whether we like the sea or the mountains!)
We also went for a really pretty walk in the Argyll National Forest one day, on a trail through Puck's Glen. There are so many walks there that we could easily have spent the week just doing that.
We spent a day in Inverary going to the castle, the church and the old jail. The jail was a huge hit with our 7-year-old, mostly for its description of torture methods. We also went down to the Auchindrain open air museum, which I thought was fascinating.
We tried having a late lunch at Loch Fyne Oysters one day. I have to say it was a disappointment, not because of the food, but because of the wait and the service. We should have had a reservation, but I saw people with reservations waiting as well. Perhaps they were just short-handed that day...but we were kept waiting almost an hour (after being told half an hour). It was not because the restaurant was crowded; about half the tables were empty. (They didn't even let us sit down!) And our original server was not having a good day. She seemed to be hoping we would give up and leave before she took our order. Others were more friendly. It's just disappointing when a meal is so highly recommended (and not inexpensive) and the experience is so different from what's expected. But, in fairness, the food itself was delicious.
One of the highlights of the week was driving up to Fort William to take the steam train to Mallaig. We drove up through Glencoe and then drove back down along the coast. The train excursion itself leaves at 10:20, and returns a little after 4. Here's a website about the train:
http://www.steamtrain.info/index.htm
The scenery was just fantastic, both along the way and during the train trip. If you are thinking of taking the train I would recommend reserving a ticket in advance; there were tickets still available that morning, but not through the ticket office -- you had to line up outside the train and the conductor assigned available seats.
I'll put some details about our week in the Borders in a separate message.
Jun 12th, 2006, 02:27 PM
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As much as I loved the scenery in Argyll and would love to return there, I was even more constantly amazed by the beauty of the Borders and the wealth of historical sites there. I have read elsewhere on the forum that other areas of the country get more tourism; I really will have to go back and see why! Right now I feel as though I could happily spend a month there. We didn't even begin to take advantage of the hiking and cycling you can do there -- we just didn't have time.
As I mentioned earlier, we stayed near Jedburgh in a little cottage on a farm called Edgerston Rig. We were surrounded by sheep. My husband, who loves quiet, was thrilled, as were our sons, who love animals. I rather missed being within walking distance of a pub! But it was an easy drive into town. I was a little bit surprised that the cottage was surrounded by an electric fence on three sides with no "buffer" or wooden fence in between. But the kids seemed to catch on quickly that they were never, never to touch it. There was plenty of room to walk and explore; the property was bordered by a small river, so, of course, more fishing (which meant more reading time for me!). The cottage was much smaller than our first house. It was the perfect size for us -- we were just spoiled because the first house was so much more than we needed.
We tried to alternate "local" days with more heavy sight-seeing. So, we spent a day just in Jedburgh at the Abbey and "Mary Queen of Scots" house (not really her house, but a house where she stayed once); then we spent a longer day going to Floors Castle, Melrose and Dryburgh Abbeys, and Smailholm Tower. We spent another "local" day fishing, walking, and going to a small farm with a petting zoo and playground, and then spent a day in Edinburgh. (Following suggestions received here we drove to a Park and Ride near the airport and took a bus into town -- one of the best things we did all week! The parking was free and the bus was one pound each way. It was the absolute highlight of the trip for our youngest -- the bus, not Edinburgh).
Because my older son is a Harry Potter fan we also drove down to England to visit Alnwick Castle one day, driving back up along the east coast to Berwick-on-Tweed. It was a very pretty drive and an interesting castle to visit. We ate dinner in Berwick.
We left Jedburgh on Friday to drive back to Manchester so we would be there for our Saturday flight. On the way we visited Hermitage Castle -- I really enjoyed it and recommend it, but there is no quick way to get there! After that we drove further south and visited Hadrian's Wall, stopping for a while at the Housesteads Roman fort. If I could backtrack I think I might have tried going to Hermitage during the week and saving more time for exploring along the Wall on that last day.
We had a reservation at the Novotel outside of Manchester (Worsley) because it had a pool and a playground, and we thought it would be a good idea for the boys to have the opportunty to burn off some energy before our long travel day. Unfortunately my husband got some very bad maps from hotels.com and we wasted an hour and a half trying to find the hotel in a place where it was not. So, by the time we got to the motel, it was too late to swim. But it would have been a good idea.
The Novotel was reasonably comfortable. The air conditioning in our room did not work well and the staff insisted it was because we were a "large group." I think if they have a "family room" (one double bed and a sofa that folded out into two twin beds) then the system should be able to handle a family...but they nicely provided an extra fan and offered to switch rooms (we declined because the boys were so tired already).
Our flight home left three hours late because there had been a fire in the crew's hotel the night before, and they had not had enough sleep to fly again. Fortunately we had a huge layover back here, so none of our later flights were affected. And when we arrived in our gate area at JFK, we were welcomed by a satellite view of the tropical depression that has now become Alberto and is headed for us tomorrow! Welcome home!
All in all it was a lovely trip. Our 2-year-old will not remember it, but the 7-year-old will.
Driving was not a problem. I gripped the wheel pretty tightly in a few places and was never completely comfortable with "single track" roads, but we avoided any major mishaps. Apart from the city of Manchester itself, we didn't have any trouble finding our way. Wait, I take that back. We got lost in Falkirk looking for the Wheel and would never have found it without using the Navipoint system in the car. But other than that we did well. (We didn't ask for the Navipoint, by the way; the car just came with it. It did come in handy at times.) As has often been noted here, we had to really adjust our "norms" regarding how far we could travel in a day on small roads.
I hope some of this will be helpful to others planning trips in these two regions. I can't recommend them enough!
Barbara
As I mentioned earlier, we stayed near Jedburgh in a little cottage on a farm called Edgerston Rig. We were surrounded by sheep. My husband, who loves quiet, was thrilled, as were our sons, who love animals. I rather missed being within walking distance of a pub! But it was an easy drive into town. I was a little bit surprised that the cottage was surrounded by an electric fence on three sides with no "buffer" or wooden fence in between. But the kids seemed to catch on quickly that they were never, never to touch it. There was plenty of room to walk and explore; the property was bordered by a small river, so, of course, more fishing (which meant more reading time for me!). The cottage was much smaller than our first house. It was the perfect size for us -- we were just spoiled because the first house was so much more than we needed.
We tried to alternate "local" days with more heavy sight-seeing. So, we spent a day just in Jedburgh at the Abbey and "Mary Queen of Scots" house (not really her house, but a house where she stayed once); then we spent a longer day going to Floors Castle, Melrose and Dryburgh Abbeys, and Smailholm Tower. We spent another "local" day fishing, walking, and going to a small farm with a petting zoo and playground, and then spent a day in Edinburgh. (Following suggestions received here we drove to a Park and Ride near the airport and took a bus into town -- one of the best things we did all week! The parking was free and the bus was one pound each way. It was the absolute highlight of the trip for our youngest -- the bus, not Edinburgh).
Because my older son is a Harry Potter fan we also drove down to England to visit Alnwick Castle one day, driving back up along the east coast to Berwick-on-Tweed. It was a very pretty drive and an interesting castle to visit. We ate dinner in Berwick.
We left Jedburgh on Friday to drive back to Manchester so we would be there for our Saturday flight. On the way we visited Hermitage Castle -- I really enjoyed it and recommend it, but there is no quick way to get there! After that we drove further south and visited Hadrian's Wall, stopping for a while at the Housesteads Roman fort. If I could backtrack I think I might have tried going to Hermitage during the week and saving more time for exploring along the Wall on that last day.
We had a reservation at the Novotel outside of Manchester (Worsley) because it had a pool and a playground, and we thought it would be a good idea for the boys to have the opportunty to burn off some energy before our long travel day. Unfortunately my husband got some very bad maps from hotels.com and we wasted an hour and a half trying to find the hotel in a place where it was not. So, by the time we got to the motel, it was too late to swim. But it would have been a good idea.
The Novotel was reasonably comfortable. The air conditioning in our room did not work well and the staff insisted it was because we were a "large group." I think if they have a "family room" (one double bed and a sofa that folded out into two twin beds) then the system should be able to handle a family...but they nicely provided an extra fan and offered to switch rooms (we declined because the boys were so tired already).
Our flight home left three hours late because there had been a fire in the crew's hotel the night before, and they had not had enough sleep to fly again. Fortunately we had a huge layover back here, so none of our later flights were affected. And when we arrived in our gate area at JFK, we were welcomed by a satellite view of the tropical depression that has now become Alberto and is headed for us tomorrow! Welcome home!
All in all it was a lovely trip. Our 2-year-old will not remember it, but the 7-year-old will.
Driving was not a problem. I gripped the wheel pretty tightly in a few places and was never completely comfortable with "single track" roads, but we avoided any major mishaps. Apart from the city of Manchester itself, we didn't have any trouble finding our way. Wait, I take that back. We got lost in Falkirk looking for the Wheel and would never have found it without using the Navipoint system in the car. But other than that we did well. (We didn't ask for the Navipoint, by the way; the car just came with it. It did come in handy at times.) As has often been noted here, we had to really adjust our "norms" regarding how far we could travel in a day on small roads.
I hope some of this will be helpful to others planning trips in these two regions. I can't recommend them enough!
Barbara
Jun 12th, 2006, 04:30 PM
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Barbara -
I enjoyed reading your report. I was surprised to see that you had driven past Dunoon. We lived there for 3 years and enjoyed the area very much.
We have been discussing a return trip next summer. We last visited ten years ago (time sure flies).
I'm glad you and your family had a good time.
Best regards from Wesley Chapel, FL
I enjoyed reading your report. I was surprised to see that you had driven past Dunoon. We lived there for 3 years and enjoyed the area very much.
We have been discussing a return trip next summer. We last visited ten years ago (time sure flies).
I'm glad you and your family had a good time.
Best regards from Wesley Chapel, FL
Jun 12th, 2006, 07:09 PM
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I enjoyed the trip report, Barbara. I've traveled in Scotland but not to the Borders. It will be high on my list for a future trip.
Your 7 year old will remember the trip especially if he views the pictures often. Has he done any kind of journal? If you have a chance (I know you have some heavy weather down there) he could talk into a tape recorder while he still remembers details of the trip. My daughter did this when she was younger and I transcribed it for her. They really enjoy reading their own observations later.
Your 7 year old will remember the trip especially if he views the pictures often. Has he done any kind of journal? If you have a chance (I know you have some heavy weather down there) he could talk into a tape recorder while he still remembers details of the trip. My daughter did this when she was younger and I transcribed it for her. They really enjoy reading their own observations later.
Jun 12th, 2006, 07:39 PM
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Great report!
Too bad about Loch Fyne - I've had wonderful meals there.
Glad the cottages worked out so well. I'm always trying to convince folks a self-catering base for a week at a time still lets you see/do a lot. Saves all the time wasted packing and moving.
Too bad about Loch Fyne - I've had wonderful meals there.
Glad the cottages worked out so well. I'm always trying to convince folks a self-catering base for a week at a time still lets you see/do a lot. Saves all the time wasted packing and moving.
Jun 13th, 2006, 04:40 AM
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How nice to see someone discover the "real" Scotland that is the borders - nae tartan 'n' shortbreid there!
Seriously, though, as a Borderer I do get just a tad miffed when people ignore the Borders, or dismiss it as somewhere to drive through on the way to Tartanland. So come on you lot, stop of in the borders for a bit - you may actually like it!
Seriously, though, as a Borderer I do get just a tad miffed when people ignore the Borders, or dismiss it as somewhere to drive through on the way to Tartanland. So come on you lot, stop of in the borders for a bit - you may actually like it!
Jun 13th, 2006, 06:08 AM
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Barbara, you give a super accounting of your travels in England and Scotland.
How did your two year old handle nap times with your travels? I admire you for taking a European trip with your two year old. I have two year old twin grandsons and I can't imagine taking such a trip with them. WDW works best for us right now
Thanks for taking the time to post your report. Deborah
How did your two year old handle nap times with your travels? I admire you for taking a European trip with your two year old. I have two year old twin grandsons and I can't imagine taking such a trip with them. WDW works best for us right now
Thanks for taking the time to post your report. Deborah
Jun 13th, 2006, 07:46 AM
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Thanks Deborah! I will confess that naptime became very flexible while we were away and seemed to happen earlier than it does when we're home -- usually in the car on the way to the day's excursion. The other time naps happened was in the backpack (I forgot to mention that we brought a backpack for carrying our toddler on hikes, and it was a great thing). So he got in a good snooze almost every day, but not at the same time.
The time change on the return seems to be the hardest for him -- last night he fell asleep, hard, at about 6, and I could not wake him for dinner. Then he woke up at 2:30 and 4:30 a.m. wanting a snack and some conversation! It did not help that he fell asleep at about 9 in the morning and had a two-plus hour nap. Today I'm doing my best to keep him awake until after noon, at least.
Noe47, I just printed off some of our pictures this morning -- about half of them. We tried encouraging our older son to keep a journal, but he kept getting distracted. The recording is a great idea! I think I will try that -- maybe I can type up his recollections and intersperse some pictures to make a personalized little album.
Doonhamer, I will certainly keep encouraging people to visit the Borders, but with mixed feelings -- let the crowds go north!
Barbara
The time change on the return seems to be the hardest for him -- last night he fell asleep, hard, at about 6, and I could not wake him for dinner. Then he woke up at 2:30 and 4:30 a.m. wanting a snack and some conversation! It did not help that he fell asleep at about 9 in the morning and had a two-plus hour nap. Today I'm doing my best to keep him awake until after noon, at least.
Noe47, I just printed off some of our pictures this morning -- about half of them. We tried encouraging our older son to keep a journal, but he kept getting distracted. The recording is a great idea! I think I will try that -- maybe I can type up his recollections and intersperse some pictures to make a personalized little album.
Doonhamer, I will certainly keep encouraging people to visit the Borders, but with mixed feelings -- let the crowds go north!
Barbara
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