MAYBE A MAY TRIP?? 3 WEEKS SAPPHIRE FALLS 2021

[keishashadow]

Looking forward to seeing some great pics

 

[schumigirl]

View attachment 522708


Looking forward to seeing some great pics

lol......love it!!!!!

He didn`t get cake till today.....so nope, you`re not too late........

Planned to get some Scotland pictures up today, but with friends popping in to wish Tom a belated birthday I got delayed......

Will get them up soon.......

 

[schumigirl]

Well, a good afternoon to everyone reading along ​

Cannot believe it`s actually the last day of August today.....considering the limits we`ve had this year and lack of travelling around, it has gone incredibly fast! It`ll be Christmas before we know it.

Today is a Bank Holiday in the UK......so we tend not to go far as most places are busy, so we are in for the day......we had a walk along the beach this morning before it got busy as it will do this afternoon. Yesterday was much cooler than of late, but even with cloud and being cool, the beaches had lots of folks on them. Not for me. We`ll mooch around the garden, mooch back inside then grill out for dinner, but we`ll eat inside tonight.

We can feel the change in the weather already here. It`s a little chillier in the mornings and by early evening you can feel autumn creeping in slowly. And much darker earlier now. Kyle loves it as it means they can go back out stargazing and imaging far away galaxies of which he is very good.

With regards to travel later in the year for us, we still have no news whether the ban will be lifted. We are expecting not to travel, but still keeping hope that we may just have a small chance of the Christmas trip going ahead.....time will tell.

We`ve had a surprisingly nice and sunny summer here in the UK, which was lovely, as our weather can sometimes be very mixed.....as last week in Scotland showed us!!

So, some of you asked for a mini trip report from our travels last week. We really didn`t do an awful lot, and didn`t visit a lot of the places we usually go to, but we did see a lot of family and some friends, and made massive apologies to the friends we just didn`t have time to see. It`s always the same when we go up, everyone wants to see us, and we do have to make a choice which isn`t always nice.

But, I`ll have a pop and it will be short......I seem to have a lot of similar pictures, and on the day the weather was bad, I`ll pop in some alternative pictures from last visit to show it can be so beautiful up there.





We left quite early on Monday morning and it was a beautiful day, and we had been warned it was to be the best day of the week.....not what we wanted to hear really, but it`s the chance you take when you travel in and around the UK. The weather can be so variable, and you just have to take what you get.....one of the many reasons we head to Florida when we can......sunshine!!!!

The roads were fairly quiet initially. We have a lot of country lanes to deal with first, then our roads are a lot of dual carriageways before we hit the motorways, and some roads are two lanes which can slow your journey right down........and of course depending on what route you take too.

Still in England here and the scenery is very pretty in some places. We live in a relatively flat area, a few small hills, but nothing as dramatic as mountains.....there are no mountains in England at all, which some folks don`t like to be reminded of. We used to have a man who teased us often about being Scottish in a not very friendly way, we always used to tease him back as to why he had a mountain bike as there are no mountains around in England......that anoyed him no end......the more he picked at us, the more he got it back......It`s funny some folks can give it out, but can`t take it back!

But, there are some very pretty areas in England and the Lake district has some beautiful large hills to climb and beautiful scenery.

We had been travelling around 4 hours or so before we knew we were getting close to the border where we usually stop for food, and that was our plan today.

Although the roads were still fairly quiet, on dual carriageways the biggest pests on the roads atre truckers who pull out at the last minute and then take an age to pass another slow moving truck while a line grows behind them......some seem to make a hobby out of it.

Tom asked our friends drivers once, friend owned a large haulage firm till recently, he asked him why they do it, one said it was because they were bored and it passed time to pass another truck....another said it was show his truck was bigger and more powerful than the one he was attempting to pass.....I think a bit of compensating is going on there!!!!! But, it is a problem on our roads. Doesn`t happen on motorways as they aren`t allowed in the fast lane of three lanes.....well, sometimes doesn`t stop them........

The route we opted for today took us over the Penines, or the spine of the country as it`s known....a whole lot of nothing up there and very bleek and miserable in the winter months. Lots of sheep and the odd farm dotted around. I like living away from most people, but this is far too remote even for me!!

This picture below is the highest point in the Penines and even in summer the temperature drops a lot when you`re up there, and very breezy.....

The poles below at the sides of the roads are snow poles. Not unusual in other countries, but we don`t get too many places with them by the roads in England. This road is infamous for being closed due to weather, whether it be snow or excessively high winds, they do have gates either side of the snow pole part so you can`t access the road at all.

Other times it`s closed to high sided vehicles and things like caravans.....the second worst thing on the roads to be stuck behind!!!

The hill in the distance is in an area known as the Lowlands......and you know you are heading towards Scotland when you see that one.....

It soon winds to a two lane road.

Years ago the whole journey was like this, but over the years the Government has been slowly upgrading areas to dual carriageways and certainly makes the journey a little easier. If you were stuck behind slow moving traffic or tractors, you could lose the will to live!!

Technically, we were in no rush to get anywhere as we always expect it take us more or less all day to travel up. So, we just took our time.....we had 1980`s chip in the car, so we were sorted for music all the way!

Usually we pass the big blue Welcome to Scotland sign on the motorway, but as we were turning off to Gretna Green for lunch, we got the smaller sign......but still a welcome sight to see......

Gretna Green is famous for young couples eloping to here from England to get married as the law in Scotland was different regarding age. In Scotland to get married you only had to be 16, England was 18. So it became infamous for runaway couples registering and marrying there.

Over the years it became a popular venue for regular weddings and one popular option was over the anvil in the Blacksmiths place.......

It`s a fairly small town, and it has some lovely little food options from hotels, to coffee shops and cafe`s to popular pubs.

This is the one we like to stop off at.

It`s off a roundabout near a small outlet centre and usually it`s very quiet on a Monday lunchtime. Today the car park was full and someone had parked in the grass outside.....so we had to do the same for the first time.

We completely forgot about the offer the Government had started to encourage regeneration of pubs, cafe`s and restaurants all over the uk. You got up to £10 per person off your meal on Monday, tuesday`s and Wednesday`s in August......that`s why it was mobbed! It had gone out of our head as we hadn`t gone out of our way to take advantage of it

It`s not fancy, but a very traditional old style pub that serves good food and has lovely staff that have all seemingly been there for years.

We hadn`t booked as we had no idea what time we`d arrive, but they had one table left which we took after we had filled in our details for Track and Trace. It`s actually one of the tables we like in there as it`s right beside one of the windows and we do opt for it when we can. And Tom can see the car parked really where it shouldn`t be! But the owner said it was fine where it was when we mentioned it.

It`s light and airy and the food always smells amazing as you walk in. And with it being a gorgeous day there were loads of people sitting outside too. On a roundabout is not the prettiest of places, but it works......

Their cooked meals are always so nice, freshly cooked and all home made, but today as we had booked dinner in the hotel restaurant later we only wanted sandwiches, a full meal would have been too much for us.

When we ordered our waitress was surprised as most were ordering full meals because of the discount, she asked if we were sure, lol....we said yes, sandwiches were fine today.

I did order a glass of white wine as it was the start of a trip......... Tom had pepsi as he was driving.

Tom ordered a baked ham salad sandwich which comes with coleslaw and salad with some potato chips...or crisps to us.......

I opted for a prawn sandwich with no salad or coleslaw....I love coleslaw but in the UK it`s main ingredient is onions.......and much as though I love onions, can`t eat them anymore.

We also shared a basket of chips (fries) as they are really nice here.......

Tom said the coleslaw was beautiful and very creamy!!! I`m sure I would have loved it.......

We paid the bill which came to a paltry amount for such a nice lunch.....equivalent of around $14 for both of us, a complete bargain. But, we did tip on the whole amount which we thought only fair.

The way restaurants are set up now, I`m not sure how much good it really does against anyone who has the virus, but we have always felt comfortable since we have started going back out to eat......unless you want to hibernate completely, everything has a risk.

A quick bathroom visit and we were ready to set off on the second half of the journey. And the weather was changing a little in the Border and Central Scotland areas......

Although we had been travelling all morning and into the afternoon, we had passed through several areas and accents had changed rapidly.......always makes me laugh when people speak of a British accent, when there really isn`t a single accent to fit that........although our country is small as this meme always reminds me........












You can have different accents in separate parts of areas too.....there are some accents much nicer than others all over the UK. I hate the Liverpool accent....it just grates for some reason, but I`m sure there are many that don`t like the Scottish one either......but there is a real variety of sounds across the UK

We soon head further into Scotland and the scenery does change too, even as the day is getting duller I still love to see how green Scotland is.....of course due to all the rain we get up there.....

I love this road......three lanes for many miles and never that busy, so you can really enjoy the drive for a while.......of course keeping to the speed limit

And an all too familiar sign that surely reminds us we are back home in Scotland now.....🌧

At this point we have a few hours left to travel, we didn`t see any rain today, but the rest of the week more than made up for that!


Hotel and our evening coming up next..........and we still have sunshine...

 

[J'aime Paris]

The flowers outside the Pub, so gorgeous!!!
Welcome back Carole

 

[schumigirl]

The flowers outside the Pub, so gorgeous!!!
Welcome back Carole

Thanks Lori......it is a fabulous little pub.

I owe you an email.....I`m catching up...... But, good to see you......

 

[I-4Bound]

What a beautiful pub! I like the look of your sandwich. Around here, we call that shrimp salad☺

 

[schumigirl]

What a beautiful pub! I like the look of your sandwich. Around here, we call that shrimp salad☺

It is a lovely little place.

Yes, I prefer shrimp......the prawns you get in sandwiches and "prawn cocktails" over here are fairly small. But, nice all the same......

I much prefer the large shrimp we get in America.

We do have beautiful large seafood over here and langoustines are one we love from Scotland.....they are a decent size and so tasty.......

Good to see you, hope you`re doing ok

 

[Elsaspiritanimal]

What beautiful pictures and that pub looks adorable! I just loved the flowers outside. And you look as gorgeous as usual too Carole! Sounds like a pleasant drive other than the trucks - that is one of my biggest pet peeves as well!

 

[Carol unsworth]

What lovely blue skies! For some reason I thought you were closer to the Scottish Borders than 4 hrs away, we are only about an hour away .

 

[schumigirl]

What beautiful pictures and that pub looks adorable! I just loved the flowers outside. And you look as gorgeous as usual too Carole! Sounds like a pleasant drive other than the trucks - that is one of my biggest pet peeves as well!

It is a lovely little place, I’m sure the folks that have it, have been there for years. They’ve made it so pretty.

Oh thank you......I’ll take all compliments......

Gosh yes, trucks are just crazy! One of our days we headed up to Loch Lomond and the rain was crazy at some points, but they still kept rumbling on without slowing down and one was sliding all over the road.......madness.

 

[schumigirl]

What lovely blue skies! For some reason I thought you were closer to the Scottish Borders than 4 hrs away, we are only about an hour away .

Nope, we are further away than that.

Yes, the skies were lovely travelling up.

 

[keishashadow]

That is the cutest pub ever. So light filled and cheery.

Rolling green fields, everywhere, looks so peaceful

 

[schumigirl]

That is the cutest pub ever. So light filled and cheery.

Rolling green fields, everywhere, looks so peaceful

It is pretty. It was a little different many years ago, food was still decent, but definitely needed upgrading!

There are some lovely areas of the UK. I love the Borders but very rarely spend any time up there. It`s just a stop off on the way home......

 

[Tgrgrl]

Ooooh, I can’t wait for more trip report & pics!!! The pub & flowers, just heavenly. I almost cried at the “Scotland Welcomes You” one. Someday......someday.......

 

[KathyM2]

With regards to travel later in the year for us, we still have no news whether the ban will be lifted. We are expecting not to travel, but still keeping hope that we may just have a small chance of the Christmas trip going ahead.....time will tell.

Yeah it's tough to say. We are pondering the same thing here as to whether borders will open or not.

Your trip to Scotland looks lovely so far!! Especially that prawn sandwich, they looked like little tea sandwiches...the best!!

 

[schumigirl]

Ooooh, I can’t wait for more trip report & pics!!! The pub & flowers, just heavenly. I almost cried at the “Scotland Welcomes You” one. Someday......someday.......

I feel your pain......I was thinking of you when we were up as mum was showing us some pictures when her and my dad went to the Falkirk Wheel......

Yes, you will get there.....Scotland isn`t going anywhere! It`s just been a dreadful year for cancelled or postponed trips for so many of us.....and Scotland had some beautiful weather this year, you`d probably have been lucky. Although not the week we were there.......lol......

I will have some pictures up soon....I think this is the least amount of pictures I`ve ever taken anywhere!!

Hope you all are doing well and the kids soon settling back into school I guess......

 

[schumigirl]

Yeah it's tough to say. We are pondering the same thing here as to whether borders will open or not.

Your trip to Scotland looks lovely so far!! Especially that prawn sandwich, they looked like little tea sandwiches...the best!!

That`s exactly what they`re like Kathy

It was just enough for a light lunch whilst travelling, and so good!!

Oh it`s a quandry for everyone. So many affected by the borders. At the minute we just wait to hear form the airline, they have been quite quick in alerting us to cancellations, so by the end of September we should have an email saying the flights aren`t going. Not what we want to hear, but what we`re expecting.

I have no clue about Canada, as to whether you`ll get better news than us in Europe will.

 

[Tgrgrl]

I feel your pain......I was thinking of you when we were up as mum was showing us some pictures when her and my dad went to the Falkirk Wheel......

Yes, you will get there.....Scotland isn`t going anywhere! It`s just been a dreadful year for cancelled or postponed trips for so many of us.....and Scotland had some beautiful weather this year, you`d probably have been lucky. Although not the week we were there.......lol......

I will have some pictures up soon....I think this is the least amount of pictures I`ve ever taken anywhere!!

Hope you all are doing well and the kids soon settling back into school I guess......

Can’t wait for more pictures! We are doing well, girls went back to school in person a couple of weeks ago. They are so happy to be back and see their friends again. My husband is still working from home but I am going back to my office next week. He is trying to not be too excited to have the house to himself for a few hours, LOL. Things are slowly getting back to normal, maybe Halloween will happen after all!

 

[Tink2Day]

Such beautiful pictures! I was a bit confused though, when you said ham salad....here where I live a ham salad is chopped up ham mixed with chopped celery, relish and mayo.... the State I live in I can drive across town and run into a different accent, different food. We actually have an international section, the barrio, an area where the people from back east (mostly NY) live and then the parts of town where the California transplants are. Actually we have a lot of transplants in our State from many surrounding states. We natives call them all foreigners. We're a melting pot,

 

[schumigirl]

Can’t wait for more pictures! We are doing well, girls went back to school in person a couple of weeks ago. They are so happy to be back and see their friends again. My husband is still working from home but I am going back to my office next week. He is trying to not be too excited to have the house to himself for a few hours, LOL. Things are slowly getting back to normal, maybe Halloween will happen after all!

Glad to hear you`re all doing well.

lol.....I`ll bet you he`ll miss you after 10 minutes.......yes, kids need to be back in among their friends. Our schools in this area start next week for the most part and I know most parents are happy for their kids.....some are happy for themselves though lol.....

Good to see you though......and yes, hopefully you`ll have Halloween