Cragside and last UK stopover

Cragside and last UK stopover

After our monster breakfast at the cafe we were under way before 11am. The highlight of today is a visit to Cragside a huge National Trust property near Rothbury in the Northumbria. This was the home of William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong, founder of the Armstrong Whitworth armaments firm and was built by in several stages starting in 1869 and incorporates all the technical advances of the day. It was the first house in the world to be lit by hydro-electric power. We

Bannockburn disappoints and a rough drive through the Southern Uplands

Bannockburn disappoints and a rough drive through the Southern Uplands

Tuesday morning was bright and sunny giving glorious views as we drove east to Stirling along the base of the Ochils. We had discussed today’s activities at length and in the end chose to visit Bannockburn Battlefield Centre over Stirling Castle as time is short and we have quite a few miles to do today. We had enjoyed Culloden visitor centre which is also NTS run. Sadly Bannockburn was nothing like that. A serious amount of money had been spent

Over the Ochils to Castle Campbell

Over the Ochils to Castle Campbell

 It rained last night. It is October in Scotland. It is going to rain. Rain on Bertie’s roof is noisy. Bertie’s roof is only just above our heads in bed and thus the noise is easy to hear. We cheer ourselves up by remarking that lots of rain fills the burns and rivers and makes for very impressive scenery and especially the waterfalls. We also decide that on balance we prefer wet noisy nights and dry sunny days! we We

South to Killiecrankie and the Lin of Tummel

South to Killiecrankie and the Lin of Tummel

Bertie is off on his wanderings again. He has been parked up for too long. The plan is to spend all of October on the road including 11 days on the Isle of Man and then returning via Cumbria and South West Scotland. We cross on the ferry from Heysham on Thursday so we have four days to cover the 372miles from Forres to Heysham. We left Forres at about noon after a short visit to Lidl for iced buns

Tamworth and Stoneywell

Tamworth and Stoneywell

This short trip was not really planned as a Bertie run but as Eileen needed to take eye drops frequently through the day and those needed to be kept in the fridge it was essential to take Bertie with his fridge! We had already booked two nights at the Holiday Inn Express in Tamworth so in this case Bertie was just transport! We wanted to attend the Annual Meeting of the Debdale Owners which was held at Great Haywood Sports

Chasleston House and Ayno Wharf

Chasleston House and Ayno Wharf

The sun shone as we pulled away from Willow Farm and headed north around Bath and Bristol heading for the main road across the Cotswolds. The plan was to cover ground today so we have a good drive to our lunch stop at Chastleton House near Chipping Norton. This route takes us along the top of the Cotswolds through some lovely little towns such as Tetbury, Stow on The Wold and Chipping Norton. Chastleton House was a revelation. I must

Tyntesfield House and Cider with Sausages

Tyntesfield House and Cider with Sausages

Much less driving today! The plan is to spend most of the day at Tyntesfield House. We had booked our house tickets online last night to save time on arrival and give us a better choice of time. Several of the more popular houses operate a system like this to manage the volume of people in the house at any one time. It was quite an easy drive to to Tyntesfield with just a short stretch of M5 and then

Exmoor and the Atlantic Highway

Exmoor and the Atlantic Highway

We got away from Tintagel in good time. The car park at the Ship Inn was good value and close to all the attractions of Tintagel and I would happily use it again. We left Tintagel heading north to join up with the excitingly named  “Atlantic Highway”, actually the A39 between Barnstaple and the junction with the A30 near Launceston and Newquay and not  to be confused with the “Atlantic Road” in Norway! Highway is a bit of an exaggeration