scotland trip - day 3

08-apr-2007

We knew this was going to be a long day since we wanted to reach London this day itself and we were close to 500 miles away from London. So we started early, went north towards Stirling to see the castle. This was some sort of an excavation from which they got the castle out, so many of the things in the castle are still unpolished and some of the things are unexplained. There were dungeons showing the brutality which could have taken place there, not without a proof, like the bones which were found during the excavation.
Not too impressed, we exercised the cameras a bit and headed towards the main attraction of the day, the Edinburgh castle. Another beautiful drive, and we were there.

This was worth the price with the nice museums about the kings, queens and soldiers. The cathedral and the canons were there as usual and the museum had the jewel-studded crown and the swords which was used by the king of Scotland.


Narrow streets of Edinburgh..

It was close to 3:30 and we were all hungry. Luckily we found an Indian restaurant there, which was opened there in 1947. After hogging for a good couple of hours, we started driving towards London. I tend to compare US and UK and for once, I had to raise UK's hand when it came to motorways. They were better than GSP or 270 in NJ, more smoother and well maintained. For the first time in my life, I hit 120mph.

Thought Picasso would fail me, but it didn't. It was a pleasure, very similar to the roller-coaster rides that we were used to in childhood. The best part and the one good thing we did was to enter into London in the middle of the night. The roads were empty and we could reach the destination without having to go through the traffic.

End of another memorable trip..

scotland trip - day 2

Day 2, 07-apr-2007

After having a continental breakfast in a mini castle- mini museum like house, we went to Historic Quay (read the second word like key). It was supposed to have been used in one of the wars Brits fought. I forgot the war though. I'm bad in memory as well as history.. :P..

There was one more beach we found, a dirty one this time. There were a few fishermen taking a break on their weekend, lazing in the sun with thier dog singing and playing guitar. It was a view worth watching. These westerners enjoy their life to full. It would look good as a sepia. :)



We were to head towards Edinborough, which was again quite a drive away. So there was no stopping for lunch. But JRA had sandwich plans and Subway was inside the car. Yummmyyyyyyyyy... What more could one ask for? Burp Burp.. This drive did not have any motorways and it was all either a short term dual carriage one or a two way lanes, which meant we couldn't hit the best of speeds. But we did enjoy the drive with beautiful country sides with small yellow flowers at places in the field.


Forgot to mention the RJing which KLP and JKM did. JKM bought a FM transmitter and that served as a good entertainment tool. We could enjoy over 12GB of MP3 in his iPod without having a MP3 player in the car. It was a mix of classics, Tamil/kannada dummutaKa and some English Dhinchak Dhikchik. Boleto fultu timepass kya?

On the way to Edinburgh, we saw Bamburgh castle. It was a nice one just next to the sea. View was good, breeze was cool and beach was clean. I did like this castle since they had preserved most of the artifacts which the king used to use. The road which lead to this place was also very country like and it was just like going to one of your relative's place who stay in a village. Tried to stitch the view from this castle. Try clicking and you may find a bigger than usual photo.



Before that, these castles are nothing but huge houses the kings built for themselves. Sometimes palatial and sometimes ordinary. If we preserve some of the old homes in our villages, with a huge hebbagilu, chaavaDi, aDuge mane and bachhalu outside the house with a baavi, even we can start a castle business in India. Since they are deep in the jungles or villages, we can make a good road leading there and charge 50-60Rs. What say?

Some photos again and we were on our way to Holy Island. This is supposed to be the place where Christianity came to UK from eastern Europe. The speciality of this place is that this becomes an island only after 4-4:40pm everyday. This is a naturally created island and the road was just built so people could get there. We stayed there from about 3:45pm to 5pm and we could see the entire road get submerged under water. It was a sight to watch, something which I would have missed, had I taken an organised tour or a standard Scotland package.



Next was Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. First thing that struck me was 'This is better than London'.. :D.. My personal opinion. No offence meant. But the city layout and architecture resembles in many ways NYC, which still remains a hot favorite of mine.

We then walked to a place called hollyrood, which is a hill and more of a trekking place. It was quite dark and the hike was not lit as well. So we planned to get back after covering half way. We did get some nice pics of Edinburgh.


And this is Edinburgh castle at night. More about it a bit later.


Our destination was a BnB in Falkirk, the historic place where the Brits were beaten by the Scots (or the other way round.. ;D..). This was JKM's contribution.

scotland trip - day 1

4 days of easter weekend combined with Bank holidays gave us enough reasons to plan for a longer trip. JS was flying down from US and LP, JKM also joined. Scotland it was to be.. We got a red Citroen Picasso this time. Not too impressed with it. Though the power was good at times, I felt it was too light for its size. Here's the crew and the ship.

06-apr-2007, Friday

We started by 10am and headed towards Cambridge. It was a nice drive,, though a bit crowded on M25. Reached there by around 11am and started walking around the city. We found King's college very attractive with its Victorian architecture and majestic stature. The lawns and park gave some nice photographs too.

We did cross the river which has given the city its name.. the Cam river. The entire university is interspersed with the city such that you never know whether you are in the city or in the university.


Some narrow gullies reminded me of Udupi and India in general. Since it was a holiday we were not allowed into any of these buildings. But the city itself was beautiful enough for a good timepass.


We headed out and had a nice lunch by the roadside. Thanks to JRA for the delicious Puliyogare and Chitranna.

Our next destination was Redcar, which was quite a drive away and we planned to see the North easter coast of England, which was supposedly one of the most beautiful drives one could have.


This was proved right by Scarborough and its neighbours, all the way till Redcar. The roads were very close to the coast and the curvy roads made for a fun drive. We shouted like kids in a roller coaster ride when we hit a downhill.


On the way to Scarborough we had to go through Tyne Tunnel, which was an underwater tunnel under the river Tyne. This was one of the longest tunnels I've seen. Couldn't enjoy a high speed in the tunnel due to traffic.


We reached Scarborough at around 7 in the evening and hit directly to the beach.


Roamed around on the beach for sometime and headed towards Redcar where our acco had been arranged. We crashed after a long tiring day of fun. Here's a pic of our Redcar. ;).. hahaha..


Picasso was giving some problems. It would automatically slide to the left of the lane. Not a good sign if we are to hit 120mph on the motorways. Anyways. There was no looking back now.

Bristol Bath and Cardiff trip..

After a 5 month long work-work-work schedule, I set out for a trip, thanks to JA and AP. We were to drive since taking a train was a less exciting. It was the first time in UK for me. Though driving in India and US is not different, first time is always first time and my fears were reinstated by 3-4 honks I got as soon as I decorated the UK roads. I recovered soon. :).

Since its a travelogue and I love the cars, here's a mention of our other companion. Peugeot 307. A small car by size but no small from the response it gave. It was spacious and is kinda similar to apna Santro and Getz. I could reach 90 without any rumblings of the engine. But could not go beyond that.


Getting out of London was the toughest part and I couldn't read maps while driving. AP guided us, but after some discovery (read roaming around), we found ourselves out of London and on M25. M stands for motorway which is supposed to be the 3 lane expressway. This was at places reminding of namm Hosur Roadu. Got stuck at a point for 15-30 mins. Lets get to the interesting part now.

Day 1: Stonehenge, Bath

Our first destination was stonehenge, the world famous Windows wall paper, which shows some 4-5 stones standing in a circle and couple of them lying on top of the others. Here it is.


Nothing great about these stones. They are neither natural nor a miracle of nature. They are just famous because hype and Windows has made them so. It was cold and windy there. But bright. We finished the rituals of photos and food there and started towards Bath. The drive was amazing with beautiful country side on a bright day with speedometer reading close to 90mph.


Bath has a bit of history and was supposed to be the fashion capital of UK at some point of time. It has a lot of Roman baths and quite a bit of history.


We reached Bath at around 4:30pm. We were late to do any sightseeing that day. Trying to find a good accommodation (we hadn't booked for any accommodation anywhere), we roamed around the city a bit. Bath is very similar to namma Madikeri when it comes to narrow winding roads and tiled roofs and cold weather and rich people. We lost our way and to take a U turn, we jumped into a golf course. A good samaritan there, guided us back into the city and showed us where to find a good BnB. If you happen to go there like us, make sure you find your way to Charlotte Street. You'll find many of them on that road and people are courteous enough to welcome you even without any reservations.

Day 2: Bath, Bristol

Next morning, we set out to discover Bath. Since everything is in a walking distance, we just roamed around and hit Roman Bath first. It was a historic one and had lots of types of baths to cater to all seasons of the year and all age groups. There was a bit of engineering involved with different baths for various seasons and age groups. There were rooms built to get the body close to the hot water temperature. I hope the fumes are visible in the picture shown belolw.


Here's one more showing the place from where the hot water enters the bath.


Then we visited the Bath Abbey, a cathedral and a majestic architectural beauty.The very symmetry was baffling. The glass paintings, though didn't make much sense to me, gave a classy look to the interiors.



As I mentioned earlier, Bath was once a fashion capital of England and it would be incomplete without a costume museum. It had the costumes of all periods from 1900's to 2000's. The portion under repairs also had some Roman and greek costumes. But it remained Greek and Roman to our eyes since we could not see it.. :P..

Bath is also the place where the famous author Jane Austen worked. There was a Jane Austen Museum which showcased her life and works.


'Circus' sounded like a circus, but is actually a roundabout with a buildings built around it. It had a huge tree in the middle.



Post lunch we drove towards Bristol. Our destination there was Zoo and the clifton bridge. It was a short drive and we reached quickly and got into the zoo. Zoo was well maintained with glass enclosures for the inmates. It keeps it clean and prevented visitors from disturbing the inmates. The variety of animals was not too great. There was a lion, gorilla, lots of insects, lizards, penguins and birds and lots more.


Clifton bridge is a suspension bridge at a very high altitude, could be around 200m above ground. The cliff gave a nice view of the city.


We spent sometime at the top of the hill and took a short walk there. We wanted to see the city centre in Bristol so went to the millenium centre.



Took a walk about the city and then started towards Cardiff, which is in Wales. This was about 45 mins drive. Reached Cardiff by around 8pm and after some roaming around, found a street which had lots of hotels. We got into a hotel whose owner was just about to turn off the calling bell when we went and was planning not to take any guests for the weekend, since he had a busy week and was expecting a busy week ahead. Phew… Can we find this mentality in India?


Day 3: Cardiff

Cardiff is famous for its castle. There is a guided tour of the castle and a small protected piece of fort in front of it. Guided tour was nice and it gave a clear picture of the lavishness with which the Bute family built the castle. They went to a trip to gulf (read it the arabian countries. It’s the Mangalore slang to call it gulf. No. Its not Mallu. Mallu is ghelffu.. ;).. No offence meant.) and designed a room with architecture of gulf, with walls and ceiling with gold. Guide was good with usual sense of humor.


The protected fort I was talking about is just in the front yard of this castle. Apparently, it was built by some Romans. It was the usual architecure where this fort is surrounded by water body and I expect there would have been some crocodiles in them in those days. It had about 50 steps to climb and there was a quadrangle and a room on it. There was also a well, small one very similar to the ones we would find in India.




Our next destination was Mermaid Quay (pronounced as Mermaid key) which is nothing but the Bay area. It has been developed into an area with art and science museums, some old building, some new buildings and a few art centres. We spent some time in the Bay area, went into the art centre. A band was playing nice foot tapping music with lots of saxophones and similar instruments. To end it, we just grabbed a cup of large Starbucks coffee and started driving back to London.

One contrast I find between India and here is that people or the govt. here creates something with nothing (by nothing I mean no substance or a USP behind it) in it and hypes it (with all the free audio tour) and people like us visit it paying anywhere between 5-10£. India has many such places like Hampi, Badami which has a lot of history, are arhitectural and scientific wonders. But they are left there to rot like a drunkards hangout or a haunted place. And the worst part is though we know they are wonders, we don’t visit them.