Yelpir

Hi, Folks! Just to let you know that I am back from the trip and busily sorting through my pictures and writing my trip report which will be published in due course.

We had a wonderful time, even though the weather could have been better and I did not enjoy good health. My dear granddaughter made me a present of a lovely cold that persisted throughout the trip (I am still battling to shake off the remnants). My digestive system also decided to go AWOL early on, probably due to the change of diet. Oh well, you can't have everything. Anyway, we saw some spectacular scenery and didn't have any serious mishaps, so I have no complaints.

All the planning and organising paid off. For the most part, things went smoothly and according to plan. Now if only I could have planned the weather a little better

My full trip report is currently being written and I will start publishing it here soon. I have been unable to get the Kodak website to work for me so don't know where I will be able to publish my pictures when they are ready.

Watch this space for further news.

irishface

Can't wait for more stories! Sorry about the stomach and the cold.

I have never been happy with Kodak--often hard to open for others--several of my family use it.

Could I suggest picassa (it's part of google and has a simple to use system for making corrections (straightening, lightening, darkening, cropping, etc.)

I have looked at flickr pictures posted by some fodorites and found it easy to access to look.

pbase pictures are easy to access from fodorites. However, one of my friends who uses pbase says that it is a bit tricky to put your pictures up.

Good luck and can't wait to view them!

Yelpir

Just to wet your appetites, here is a short summary of the trip report, giving salient facts and figures:

SUMMARY REPORT

3 nights in the Lake District and 13 nights touring in Scotland.

Car:

Volkswagen Passat Bluemotion Stationwagon (manual transmission) from Hertz
I never did discover the engine capacity
11,800 miles on the clock at pick-up
Distance Covered: 1828 miles
Ran perfectly with no problems.
Rental: 14 days for GBP331 (pick-up at Guildford in Surrey. Drop-off at Edinburgh Airport)
Fuel (diesel): 163.27 litres at a total cost of GBP207.85

Accommodation:

Buckle Yeat Guest House, Near Sawrey, Lake District *****
- twin room, en suite - 3 nights at GBP37.50pppn
Arden House, Callander, Scotland *****
- twin room, en suite – 3 nights at GBP35pppn
Seaview, Fionnphort, Mull ****
- twin room, en suite - 1 night at GBP31pppn
Linnhe View, Craignure, Mull ****
- twin room, en suite - 1 night at GBP31pppn
Strathgorm, Broadford, Skye *****
- twin room, en suite – 1 night at BGP28pppn
Kerrysdale House, Gairloch, Wester Ross ****
- twin room, en suite – 1 night at GBP31pppn
Wild Orchid Guest House, Durness, Sutherland ***
- twin room, en suite – 1 night at GBP27pppn
Dionard Guest House, Inverness ****
- twin room, en suite – 1 night at GBP30pppn
The Beverley, Edinburgh ****
- twin room, en suite – 2 nights at GBP35pppn

Food:

We came out well within our budget of GBP10 per person per day. Most days we made our own sandwiches for lunch and most evenings we made cuppa soup which we ate with bread in our room. A couple of nights we did take away fish and chips. This was despite the fact that we never had enormous breakfasts.

Planning and Organising:

All the planning and organizing definitely paid off. Most of the places we stayed were either full each night or did not take casual guests. Booking in advanced was a good idea. Firstly, knowing that you have somewhere to stay each night is a lot less stressful than knowing that you have to find a bed when you arrive and, secondly, we would not have been able to stay in such nice places each night as they would all have been full.

Having the itinerary for each day mapped out in a fair amount of detail also helped a lot. It meant that I had a pretty good idea of more or less how much time we had for each activity each day. We did not stick religiously to the schedules. Sometimes we spent more time in one place and less in another, but each day we arrived at our destination more or less on time and we did not miss any ferries or flights.

Driving:

I did not find the driving too demanding, despite the fact that we spent a lot of time on narrow, winding, single track roads. We found more traffic than I expected which meant a lot of pulling into passing places and some backing up. Mostly the other drivers were courteous, with a few exceptions who seemed always to expect the other driver to give way.

Stopping:

Our biggest problem in both the Lake District and Scotland was the shortage of places to stop and either enjoy the view or take photographs. Many were the times when we were dying to stop and take a breathtaking photograph but there was just no place to pull off the road. Most roads do not have verges and parking places are either few and far between, or in the wrong place, meaning a 2 mile walk back to get that award winning photograph. If you stop illegally to get a grab shot, you can be sure another car will be along and force you to move. I can understand why so many people walk in the UK.

The weather:

Unfortunately, the weather was not generally favourable. A few days started out sunny and with blue skies but, within a couple of hours, the clouds came in from the west and the skies became a uniform dull grey, hanging low over the mountains. On many occasions we could see that, on a good day, a place must be very beautiful but, with the rain or low-lying mist, we could see very little. Most afternoons the light after 3:00pm was too bad for photography. I can’t recall a single full day of sunshine.

Highlights:

For me, the highlights would have to be
- Staffa and Fingal’s Cave
- The far north coast and Smoo Cave
- Bealach na Ba
- Glen Coe
- Highland cattle (we saw all too few)

------------------------------
I hope this will keep you going while I work on the detailed report

czk

So glad to hear you had a good time, despite your health and the weather. Looking forward to the trip report!

Yelpir

Monday Sep 8, 2008

I awoke at 5:45am, got dressed and did my final packing. No time for breakfast. I left for the station with my son-in-law at 6:25am. We caught the 6:45am train. I said goodbye to my son-in-law and left the train at Guildford at 7:00am. I found the Hertz office just outside the station and settled in to wait for it to open. At about 7:15am a man unlocked the office, went inside and locked the door behind him. He fiddled around in there for about 10 minutes and then came out again. I confirmed with him that the office would open at 8:30am. He asked if I had a booking and then went back inside. When he came out again he said that the car was ready and that the manager usually opened up at about 8:00am. He then locked up and left. At 8:45am another man arrived, entered the office and locked the door behind him. At about 7:55am the first man re-entered the office and chatted to the manager. At 8:00am sharp the manager opened up and invited me in with a smile. We went through the formalities of signing the contract. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had actually been charged GBP15 less than I had been originally quoted.

When all the formalities were completed, the first man led me to the station parking lot and pointed to a car. This was my first big surprise. I had reserved an ‘Intermediate’ car, which I took to be slightly bigger than a ‘compact’ car and slightly smaller than a ‘standard’ car. The car he was pointing at was a GIANT. It was a Volkswagen Passat Bluemotion stationwagon. It was certainly the biggest car I had ever driven. I could just picture myself trying to maneuver it around narrow single lane Scottish roads. Anyway, I did the required full body examination, looking for scratches and dings. It was pristine. I loaded my luggage into the rear. I had bought a smaller suitcase because I was concerned about hire car luggage space. I needn’t have worried. My suitcase disappeared into the maw of the wagon, leaving enough room for a herd of highland cattle and a flock of highland sheep. The man held the driver’s door open for me and I climbed in. Second big surprise. The driving area was HUGE. I could stretch out comfortably in all directions. There was enough legroom to accommodate a giraffe. I was sold. The man climbed into the passenger seat and began going through the controls for me. Surprise number three. There was no handbrake lever!! The handbrake was a button on the dashboard. He explained that I had to push the button to engage the handbrake but that it would disengage automatically when I pulled away. I tried to remember all the things he was pointing out, but it was very different to my own car and pretty confusing.

Anyway, the time came when he waved goodbye and I was on my own. I started up the car by pushing the big remote control into the big hole in the dashboard. It started up fine. I put the car in gear and looked around for the handbrake lever. Oops. There wasn’t one. I gingerly released the clutch and the car moved forward smoothly. The light on the handbrake button went out which meant that the handbrake had disengaged itself. So far so good. I headed for the exit from the parking lot. As I approached the exit I engaged the footbrake in order to slow down. The car jerked to a dead stop and, if I had not been wearing a seatbelt, I have gone through the windscreen. Mental note: fierce brakes. Easy does it.

I eased out into the morning traffic of Guildford. Fortunately, I had memorized a map of Guildford and knew exactly where to go. I soon found my way to the A3 and from there to the M25 (clockwise). Here I pushed the car up to 70mph. There was a lot of traffic but it was moving pretty smoothly. I was emboldened to try the cruise control that the Hertz man had pointed out to me. Simple: Pull up this lever, get up to the desired speed and push this button. It worked! With the car doing a steady 70mph I was able to take my foot off the accelerator and relax it on the floor. What a pleasure. Another nice thing about the car was that, although it was a manual transmission, there was an indicator on the dash telling you what gear you were in and when you should change up or down. I made a lot of use of these features throughout the trip.

From the M25 I joined the M4 east and then came off onto the M4 spur into Heathrow via the tunnel. Once again, I had memorized all the maps and so found my way to the Terminal 3 parking with no problem. Now I hit the first real challenge: parking. I looked around for an area where there were 4 empty parking spaces next to each other and began maneuvering the car into one of the middle ones. I had to do quite a bit of jiggling before I was more or less correctly parked. The car had a rather large turning circle, which made parking quite an exercise.

Anyway, having parked more or less successfully, I headed into Terminal 3 Arrivals to find my friend, Patricia. She was sitting and waiting patiently. After a warm greeting, I left her and went off to hunt down a loo. Long experience has taught me never to miss an opportunity as you don’t know when the next one will come along. I then collected Patricia and we headed for the car park. I loaded her luggage into the car. Ok, so we lost the space for the flock of sheep, but we could still accommodate the highland cows comfortably.

Unfortunately, while I was collecting Patricia, all the parking spaces had filled up. The only way I could get out was with Patricia guiding me and inching backwards and forwards. I have a new respect for people who drive campervans. Eventually I was out of the space and we were on our way. I handed Patricia the AA route guide for Heathrow to Hawkshead so that she could navigate by reading off the instructions (she does not read maps and we did not have satellite navigation).

Back to the M4 spur, the M4 (west), the M25 (north) and then onto the M40 (west). While we drove we caught up on each other’s adventures. Patricia related how, after she disembarked from her flight to Heathrow and before she went through customs, the sole of her shoe decided to completely part company from it’s upper. She scratched about in her handbag and found a large elastic band that she then used to fix it back on. She received some strange looks as she flop-flopped through immigration, baggage retrieval and customs. Once through into the arrivals area she opened her suitcase and swapped the broken shoes for her spares.

Off the M40 onto the M42 north and then onto the M6 Toll road and then on up the M6 to exit 36. From there to Windermere, Ambleside, Hawkshead and Near Sawrey. We quickly found ‘Buckle Yeat’, our home for the next three nights. We arrived at about 3:00pm. We were warmly welcomed by Robert Kirby and entered the house through a lovely guest lounge with a blazing fire in the grate. Robert showed us to our twin room on the ground floor. The dining room is in use as a tea room during the day.

Since it was still relatively early and the weather wasn’t too bad, we didn’t waste much time in the room. We gathered up our camera gear and headed out on foot to explore the local area. Near Sawrey is a tiny village consisting of only a handful of houses but has strong Beatrix Potter associations. She lived at Hilltop Farm in the village and many of her children’s stories were written there. Many of the stories are based on characters and scenes in the village. Some even feature Buckle Yeat. We spent some time taking pictures of the fields opposite Buckle Yeat and then headed out on foot along the Hawkshead road. Just outside the village, the road overlooks the Esthwaite Water, one of the smaller lakes in the Lake District. We spent a happy couple of hours wandering down the road and back, taking many photographs.

While there was still some light, we took the car and drove into Hawkshead. First carp about the UK: There is almost no such thing as free parking in the UK. Even in the smallest villages, virtually all parking areas are Pay and Display. Most of them have a minimum fee of GBP2.50 which, while it allows you 2 hours of parking, is very expensive for a short stop (like to visit a loo). Anyway, on this occasion we were in luck as the Pay and Display only applied up to 6:00pm and we arrived a few minutes after 6:00pm, so we didn’t have to pay. We wandered around the village taking pictures until we found a small supermarket (or grocery store) where we were able to pick up supplies such as bananas, bread, margarine, peanut butter and some packet soups.

At last, tired but happy, we returned to Buckle Yeat and retired to our room. Here we boiled some water and made some soup which we had with bread. We had not stopped for lunch so we were both relatively hungry. We watched some TV, showered and hit the sack about 9:00pm.

Yelpir

irishface: Thanks for your suggestions re posting photographs. I will look into those options

hopingtotravel

Yelpir, I have to admire you for making this trip work, sticking to your plan. I remember how much commentary (including mine) you had during the planning.

I know that if the only way I could take this trip was by making my own sandwiches, etc, I would do it. My spoiled DH would not. Maybe if I'd stuck him to that routine 10 years ago on the first trip..... His food and the Scottish single malts are too important to him.

Re: photo ops. We came around a narrow turn in Scotland and I tried to take a picture of one of those Highland bulls who nearly had his head in the car window. My husband jerked the car( something about being afraid someone would come around the turn and smack us). It scared me. I hit some button and all my film whirled through the camera (empty). Never did get the picture.

ElendilPickle

I also like Picasa -
picasaweb.google.com

Lee Ann, looking forward to reading the rest of your report

LCBoniti

Great start! Looking forward to more . . .

Yelpir

Tuesday Sep 9, 2008

Tuesday morning we arose at 7:00am and quickly checked the weather. It was overcast and raining. Plan B. We had decided that, if Tuesday was wet, we would do all the indoor things that day and leave the outdoor stuff for Wednesday.

We went for breakfast at 8:00am. Buckle Yeat was full and the dining room soon filled up. There was a printed menu on the table and we could choose from various options. Robert was our genial host and took our orders. We both had cereal to start and scrambled eggs to follow. The food was first rate and plentiful.

After breakfast we gathered up our gear and headed out to the car, which was parked in the Buckle Yeat parking area. With such a huge car, I always tried to secure a space from which it would be relatively easy to extricate ourselves.

First planned stop was the World of Beatrix Potter in Bowness-on-Windermere. Since that was on the opposite side of Windermere Lake from Near Sawrey, we had a choice of three routes. We could go around the north through Ambleside, we could go across Windermere on the ferry or we could take the single lane roads around the southern end of Windermere. Feeling adventurous, we opted for the southern route.

This was my first taste of maneuvering the car on narrow, twisting, single lane roads. It was good practice for Scotland. The roads led us through beautiful forests with a few rather nice houses scattered about. It was a pleasant run with occasional glimpses of the lake, despite the gloomy weather. We did not encounter many cars, which was fortunate as there weren’t many passing places. At the southern tip of Windermere we joined a double lane road and found our way to Bowness. After driving around for awhile without finding the World of Beatrix Potter, we stopped and got directions. Having found a park in a Pay and Display, we made our way under our umbrellas to the World of Beatrix Potter where we purchased our tickets and joined the group waiting outside the exhibition. Within minutes the door opened and we went into a small theatre where they showed us a short film on the life of Beatrix Potter. Then we left the theatre and entered the exhibition proper. The exhibition was a pleasant surprise. It comprised many scenes from her stories with models of the characters. All the characters were there, including Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddleduck. The exhibits were very artistically put together and well presented. The whole visit took about an hour and then we shopped in the souvenir shop. If you are at all into Beatrix Potter, this exhibition can be recommended.

After that we did a bit of shopping in Windermere and then headed via Ambleside to Hawkshead for the Beatrix Potter Gallery. Along the road we stopped and made sandwiches for lunch. Leaving the car in the Pay and Display area in Hawkshead, we wandered through the village until we found the ticket office for the gallery. We bought timed tickets for 1:50pm and stood outside the gallery, waiting for our time to be called. In due course we entered the gallery for the tour. The gallery occupies the offices of Beatrix Potter’s lawyer husband and exhibits some of her original watercolour illustrations. It is a very old building with low ceilings and creaky floors. The tour does not take very long. This tour is recommended for serious Beatrix Potter Afficionados only.

We visited various shops in Hawkshead, took some photographs in the general area, picked up some take-away fish and chips at the Red Lion Inn and then headed back to Near Sawrey. We arrived back at nearly 4:00pm and it was touch and go as to whether or not we would be in time to visit Hilltop Farm. We decided to leave that for the following morning and spent some time wandering around the village and eating our fish and chips.

Watched a bit of TV and retired. Another early night.

Yelpir

Wednesday Sep 10, 2008

We awoke on Wednesday to blue skies and sunshine! After breakfast we hurried out into the village to take some more pictures. We met a kindly fellow who took a picture of the two of us together. We checked the opening time for Hilltop Farm and made sure that we were at the ticket office in plenty of time. When we got there a line was already beginning to form, even though we got there half an hour before it opened. During that half hour the queue lengthened considerably. We were among the first group to enter the ticket office and got timed tickets for the first tour at Hilltop. From there we walked through the village and entered Hilltop Farm. We walked up the path to the house and Patricia disappeared off into the gardens to see if she could get a good picture of the house. By the time she returned our group had all gone in and the lady at the door almost didn’t let us in.

We enjoyed a short but interesting walk through the house and then exited through the front door again. We spent rather a long time trying to get pictures of the house and gardens without large numbers of people in the foreground. It was a vain attempt, I’m afraid. Hilltop is a very popular attraction and timed groups arrive at 5 minute intervals so there are always plenty of people around. By this time the sky had already clouded over and we had lost the sunshine.

We returned to Buckle Yeat, took the car and set off to find Wray Castle. It was well signposted but we had to negotiate some narrow roads to get there. The castle serves as the home for a college so one cannot get into the castle itself but access to the grounds is free. The Castle is in wonderful condition (being still in use) and is situated on a hill overlooking Windermere Lake. The grounds are beautiful and we spent some quality time wandering around. We found a comfortable wall to sit on and made ourselves some sandwiches for lunch. The castle is on a walking trail and there were people coming and going along the trail.

After leaving Castle Wray we wove our way north to the B5286 and then south towards Coniston. By the time we reached Coniston the weather had taken a turn for the worse and it was drizzling intermittently. We were fortunate in finding a street parking place that someone was just pulling out of. We wandered around the town taking photos and doing a bit of shopping. We asked a local gentleman how far it was to the Coniston Water and he told us that it was a good walk. We decided to take the car and see if we could find it on the road to the south. After driving a few miles in that direction we did come across the lake and parked on the bank for awhile.

The weather was by now not looking good so we retraced our path via Coniston, Hawkshead Hill and Hawkshead to Near Sawrey. We had learned by now that, though it stays light until about 7:00pm, the light after about 3:00pm is rarely conducive to good photography.

That evening we prepared for our departure for Scotland the following morning.

Buckle Yeat Guest House, Near Sawrey, Lake District

Pros:

Lovely, historical old building
Very friendly and helpful host
Lovely big bathroom (en suite) with bath and shower
Warm, inviting guest lounge
Excellent breakfast with wide choice
No need to order breakfast the night before
Clean and well decorated
Very convenient for Hilltop Farm
Beautiful surroundings
Good off-street parking
Computer and internet available for guest use
TV in the room

Cons:

Rather small room

Cost: GBP37.50pppn

Overall Rating: Five stars. Thoroughly recommended

tod

Keep up the good work Yelpir - I am particularly looking forward to your experiences on Mull. Having been there in May with perfect - actually more than perfect, weather we stayed 2 nights as well.

SandyBrit

Yelpir:

Excellent - enjoying your detailed report. Agree completely that there really is very little free parking in the UK and you always need to keep small lose change in your vehicle.

Sandy

Yelpir

Thursday Oct 11, 2008

We awoke bright and early. The sky was initially blue, but clouds soon rolled in from the west. After an early breakfast, we settled our bill and loaded up the car. We were on the road by 9:00am. We traveled north via Hawkshead and Ambleside and joined the M6 at Penrith. We followed the M6 as far as Carlisle and then changed to the A74 north, crossing into Scotland at Gretna where we joined the A74(M). We stayed on the A74(M) until the outskirts of Glasgow, where we took the M73, A80 and then A803 for Falkirk.

At Falkirk we found our way to the parking lot for the Falkirk Wheel. Then we followed the footpath to the wheel itself. By this time the weather had turned cold and very windy. The footpath led us to the canal below the wheel and here we saw a canal boat parked at the side of the canal. As we watched, the boat filled up with people and pulled away from the bank of the canal. It turned into a lock, the gates close behind it, and the lock began filling up with water. We crossed the bridge over the canal and found our way into the complex below the wheel and back to the lock where we were able to watch the boat rising to the level of the water in the small lake below the wheel. We then turned our attention to the wheel itself, which was just beginning to turn.

The Falkirk wheel is a remarkable feat of engineering. It raises and lowers canal boats 115 feet between the upper and lower canal systems. This it achieves by loading a boat into the upper arm and another boat into the lower arm and then rotating so that the upper boat is lowered and the lower boat is raised. Apparently it is very energy efficient. The wheel turns very slowly so it worth going into the Visitor Centre and watching the process through the huge observation window while enjoying a cup of coffee or tea.

We enjoyed a muffin and coffee for lunch in the cafeteria and did some souvenir shopping in the shop.

When we had seen enough, we returned to the car and continued our journey to Callander. We bypassed Stirling, proceeded via Doune and arrived in Callander at about 3:00pm. After a bit of searching, we located Arden House, which would be our home for three nights. Here we were warmly greeted by William, who invited us to have tea in the guest lounge. He showed us to our room on the ground floor and explained the house rules. He then served us tea and cake in the guest lounge and left us to enjoy it. We really appreciated this nice touch. We only experienced it in one other B&B in our travels.

Arden House featured in the television series "Dr Finlay's Casebook" and each of the rooms is named after a character from the series. Our room, the Janet room, was a lovely big room, though the bathroom was a tad small. In most of the guesthouses in Scotland, I found the showers very small and had difficulty maneuvering in them.

We settled into our room and then explored the garden. The house was very grand and nestled in large, well kept gardens. We spent a quiet evening in our room and went to sleep early.

caroline_edinburgh

Very pleased to see your report, Yelpir, and glad it all seemed to work out for you. I am astonished at your being able to keep to a £19 a day food budget and must admit that personally I'd rather satay at home, but good for you - if food is not that important to you, fair enough. (I'm afraid food is probably rather *too* important to me !)

Enjoying your excellent descriptive writing and looking forward to more.

Just one question - had you been advised that the Guildford car hire office opened at 7 ?

caroline_edinburgh

Sorry for the typos - £10 and "stay" of course.

GreenDragon

Excellent report so far, Yelpir, I'm looking forward to more!

twk

Good start, look forward to reading the rest.

historytraveler

Yelpir,

I'm also enjoying hearing about your trip. I was amused to hear that I'm apparently not the only one who tries to take pictures without other tourists in them. Unfortunately it seldom works.

Like Caroline, I'm afraid I wouldn't manage well with a cup of soup in my room for evening meal. However, if that's the only way I could travel, I'm sure I'd make it work for me.

I was in Scotland shortly after you were there and hope to get my first trip report ready in the next couple of weeks. Looking forward to hearing more.

RosemaryM

Hi Yelpir,
I am enjoying your report, you have been to a lot of my favourites.
The Falkirk Wheel is fantastic isn't it? We took a narrowboat from there, up and over the wheel and on to the Union Canal almost to Edinburgh a couple of years ago. It was an interesting experience. I generally don't like heights much and because of having to hold ropes in the locks etc I was sitting on the bow of the boat, outside. But it really was no worse than the London Eye. And the view was spectacular.
Looking forward to the rest of your report, especially my favourite part of the world, northwest Scotland.
Rosemary