25 August – Spent the morning doing a huge wash before cycling along the Firth of Forth on a cycleway to Musselburgh for bread. A good ride past many bird watchers.
At 3:00pm we caught the bus to Edinburgh for the Military Tattoo. It was pleasantly warm so we wandered around the town up to the Royal Mile and the castle. The Fringe Festival was in full swing and we watched a few of buskers who were very entertaining before have a meal and joining the queues to enter the castle forecourt where the Tattoo is held. The area in front of the castle has scaffolding grandstands erected (they look as if they stay there permanently). Our seats were to one side and near where the bands enter over the draw bridge. It was a great atmosphere. The Tattoo started at 9:00pm when it was just dark. There were many army bands from lots of countries. The NZ Army Band featured prominently. It was all very stirring with great lighting and visual effects projected onto the castle. It finished at 10:45 so we hightailed it back to the bus. (actually caught the second last bus) and arrived back at “Lefty” at 12:15am.

26 August – We drove over the Firth of Forth beside the spectacular rail bridge. It is like a Meccano model. We stopped at St Andrews Golf Courses and were surprised that we could just wander around the place. We walked down the 1st hole on the Old Course, across to the 17th “Road Hole” and back up the 18th. It all seemed much smaller than on TV! We drove around the ring road at Aberdeen and camped in a field on the way to Inverness.

27 August – On the way to Inverness we visited Cawdor Castle. It was very beautiful and is still the Dowager Countess of Cawdor’s home. There was to be an outdoor concert there tonight (unknown band) and tomorrow night (Westlife). It is August Bank Holiday this weekend. We drove thru Inverness and started south to Loch Ness. The road follows the lake and has great views. We camped in yet another field about half way down the lake. We cycled to Urquhart Castle. This is a ruin but enough of it still remains to give a sense of what it must have been like. Unfortunately the skies opened and we got soaked. Everything you visit seems to have an entry fee. If you went to all the attractions you would be broke!! Lots of tents arrived in the field with people setting up in a thick drizzle. It reminded us of Labour weekend in NZ.

28 August – We celebrated our wedding anniversary with a drive down the A82 from Loch Ness to Loch Lomond. What a glorious trip, passed several Lochs, thru high mountain passes (for GB), mountain streams and water falls. We passed Ben Nevis (obscured by mist) and stopped at Ballachulish, a small village where Val’s rallies came from (McColl). We went to the church yard and found plenty of dead rallies. There is even a terrace named after them. The camp at Loch Lomond was right on the lake shore. It certainly is a bonny Loch! We walked to the local pub along the shoreline for dinner. I had Haggis and Cloutie pudding. My granny used the word clout. (cloth). Val had Scottish Salmon.

29 August – Drove thru the outskirts of Glasgow and down the M74 to Carlisle where we left the motorway and wound our way thru the hills and dales of Cumbria and the Lakes District. We are camped at Ravenglass where we will spend 3 nights. We had a quick look at the village and have booked a trip on the small steam train (15” gauge) which runs up the Esk Valley for Tuesday.

30 August – A gloriously sunny lazy day at Ravenglass. After lunch we walked around the village and estuary. The village fronts onto a tidal estuary where three rivers flow out to the Irish Sea.

31 August – Another fine day for our rail trip. We cycled down to the station for the miniature train. The steam engines are ¼ size of the real thing but make all the correct noises and smells. They pull a huge load of carriages on a 15” gauge track. The line was established the end of the 19th century to bring granite down from a quarry up the Esk Valley. It was nearly abandoned until it became a tourist train running about 16 return trips a day. There are 7 steam locos. We bought a 1 way ticket for ourselves and our bikes. The trip up the valley takes about 40 minutes. We had a map which guided us back the 14kms thru lanes and farm tracks. Half way along the cycle route we had lunch and a pint at a lovely country pub. Beautiful, but not spectacular scenery all the way. A great trip!