Princes Street Suites Edinburgh

We are visiting the UK and Norway at the end of May and first part of June in 2010. I have never been to Europe and am very excited about it.

Our daughter has been attending Kingston University this past year so we are going to see her, travel and pack her up to come home. We have family in Stavanger so we don't need hotels and ...

312 miles - set off at some un-Godly hour to drive from Chesterfield to Fife, Scotland to watch football! Trish likes the journeys but thinks the idea is crazy. Anyway, we are here now! Prior to the match we walked around the town - NOT Scotland's biggest attraction. Anyway, 2:30pm and I arrive at the ground ready for the match. One stand is fairly ...

... the cold again, wondering where the hell this next bus is cos it wasn't on the schedule, and some random bus pulls up. Lovely old Stagecoach, joy. Getting on, the driver's moaning about how **** it was, and we're just like oh well it'll get us there right?

"We'll see.." .. highly reassuring, mate.

No issues though, and then around 11am we pull into Edinburgh! Finally got to see the Forth Bridge, and then seeing ...

... phones through to the AA and books a transporter to take me back to take me back to Nottingham (East Leake).

Tow truck 1, turns up at 11:50 to take me on the first leg of the journey home from Fort William to Stirling. This takes approx 3 hours and I get dropped at Stirling service station where I am supposed to be met by the next tow truck. It takes about an hour for the next truck to turn up. Which was arranged for 14:30

... wild west boots tapping on a little wooden square with a dude playing the fiddle... we sat out front of our next destination - St Giles cathedral.

Wow what a place! they charged GBP2 for being able to take photos inside but we thought given it was a cathedral it probably wasn't the decent thing to do. By wow what a place! the glasswork windows were just beautiful, telling the story of Christ, plus monuments for those who had lost their lives in war ...

... to get in on mill tours, we did go through 3 shops. All had wool, lambs wool and cashmere articles. Bought some things, most were too expensive. Then we traveled through the Tweed (the Tweed river that is...) valley. Pictures will never do it justice, it was beautiful. Every time we arrives somewhere we'd like to ...

... blackened skyline, against more modern sensibilities (think chic cafes, cosmopolitan cuisine.) The city centre can be easily walked from one end to the other, but keep in mind this is another city of seven hills, so all fitness levels will be challenged. Edinburgh is the second most visited city in the UK, and ...

... It is now I should confess... I got Aberdeen and Inverness confused, when I was doing my internet bookings on lastminute... I wanted the ideal midway point between Edinburgh and Glasgow (ahem, the long way midway point J ) and, looking at the map, Inverness was the obvious choice. Then I got all the Scottishness of the names Aberdeen and Inverness confused, and promptly booked Aberdeen...*blush*. But I figured that perhaps Aberdeen ...

... mall because I would have bought everything she was selling! Though I don't really need a hair straightener ... well, perhaps I do need one for my nose and armpit hairs! Sadly, she was already running late for work so the conversation was cut short. But ... hmmm ... if there are more cute, petite brunettes with beautiful eyes there, perhaps a trip to Israel is in order in the near future ... Unfortunately, breakfast wasn't as beautiful ...

Well, with planning now firmly underway, I decided to take the first major step and choose a vehicle capable of doing the journey. All my research pointed to the Land Rover Defender. I found and bought a really nicely modified specimen of the 110 model on e-bay last week. I've affectionately named her "Lara" and am very comfortable with the thought that ...