Day 15 - Scotland South West Coast - Two must-do's on way to Wigtown

I hightailed it from Whitehaven to Wigtown (pronounced “Wigton”, and click on names to see on my Google Map), on the southern coast of Scotland on the Solway Firth, a huge sea inlet that cuts into the coast like a pick axe.

The reality of travelling around the coast of mainland Britain in 33 days is that I just can’t cover everything I want to. The bays, inlets, narrow roads, and numerous villages mean I can’t drive as far and as quickly as I’d like to. But no matter! What I see is more than good enough for me – when I am transixed by the scenery, or randomly encounter friendly locals, I am remined how special a trip like this is.

So I missed a couple of nice spots on my drive to Wigtown. Here are two that you shouldn't.

- Caerlaverock Castle, near Dumfries. Acknowledged as one of the finest in Britain, with a moat still in use.

Caerlaverock Castle, pic courtesy of Wikipedia.

- The town of Dumfries, home to Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland. He lived for most of his life in the town. Although he died when he was only 37, he was a symbol of Scotland’s cultural independence.

He is held in such esteem that Burns Night (25 January, his birthday) is more widely observed as the “Scottish” day, than the official National Day on 30 November. The Scottish get together for a long dinner, and eat traditional food like haggis, which is a mixture of sheep heart, liver, lungs, oatmeal and spices, all boiled in the stomach intestines. (Burns wrote an ode to the dish, called Address to a Haggis.

Among many poems, he is famous for Auld Lang Syne (sung on New Year’s eve by the British), as well as My Luve Is Like A Red Red Rose. The National Burns Collection website has most of his poems, including audio readings.

Visit his home in Dumfries, where he spent the last years of his life.

Day 15 - Scotland South West Coast - Quick facts...

From Whitehaven (click on name to see on my Google Map), I left England and entered Scotland. The land of tartans, clans, haggis, surnames beginning with Mc and Mac, and whisky.

Here are some quick facts, a few of them taken from Wikipedia:

- Scotland was an independent country until 1707, when it entered into political union with England, to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. Most Scots were vehemently anti any association with the English – think of the movie Braveheart! (And some say that these sentiments are lingering...)

- The name Scotland is derived from the term Scoti, which was applied to raiders from Ireland who made sporadic attacks against Roman Britain. These people eventually established a kingdom called Del Riata in the Highlands in the 400s.

- Scotland makes up a third of the land mass of Great Britain, and its capital is Edinburgh, but the largest city is Glascow. About 5.5 million people live in the country.

- Scotland uses the British Pound, as well as its own bank notes...

- The national flag is called the Saltire, or St Andrew’s Cross, he being the patron saint of Scotland.

The national flag of Scotland...St Andrew's Cross.

Day 14 - North West England Coast - Cumbria - Things to do around Whitehaven

Trevor Lloyd of Lowther House in Whitehaven (click on name to see on my Google Map) recommends trying out some of the following...

For a good meal in Whitehaven (there aren't many of them, apparently), try Zest Harbourside for a light lunch or dinner, and for a more refined experience try the sister restaurant, called Zest Restaurant.

If you're an enthusiastic cyclist, then you either know of - or will eventually know of - the iconic Sea to Sea Bicycle Ride, a 212 km route that starts in Whitehaven and ends in Sunderland on the east coast. Riders start in the harbour at Whitehaven, after dipping their wheels in the sea water on the slipway.

Likewise, if you're an ardent walker, you'd like to know of the Coast to Coast Walk, which was dreamt up by one Alfred Wainwright in the 1970s. The 300km trek takes about 14 days to complete, and starts in nearby St Bees (just south of Whitehaven), and ends in Robin Hoods Bay on the east coast. There is a new BBC TV program about the route, and local presenter Julia Bradbury is featured walking in the footsteps of Wainwright.

Kids and adults alike will really enjoy the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway trip, a miniature steam train and carriages that travels 11km from the coastal village of Ravenglass and ends inland under the peaks of the Eskdale Valley at Dalegarth-for-Boot. It runs on a tiny gauge line (910mm), and was first used in 1875 to transport iron ore.

Check out the official Cumbrian Tourism website for more things to do...there is plenty.


The miniature Ravenglass steam railway travels through spectacular Lake District scenery from the coast 11km inland to the Eskdale Valley...

Day 14 - North West England Coast - Cumbria - Whitehaven - Slaves, poetry, the best view in Britain...and the last invasion of the UK

At first sight, Whitehaven (click to see on my Google Map) seems like any other mid-size town along the west coast of England. But it's rich in history. For a seemingly pretty, innocuous place, Whitehaven punched far above its weight in the global stakes.


Whitehaven panorama...click on the image to enlarge.

I was lucky enough to stay with Trevor Lloyd in his 1860 Victorian B&B called Lowther House. It looks out over the town, towards the harbour. Trevor was born in Whitehaven, and after living abroad, has returned.

Some locals are so passionate about their home towns, that they go way out of their path to show you the nooks and crannies...Trevor is like this. He could be the mayor, champion and protector - all in one - of Whitehaven.

As he talks, the intonations in his voice rise quickly when he points out the three-storey Georgian architecture (considered by many to be the best example in Britain), or the grid system used to plan the town's layout (one of the few in the UK), or the lock system in the harbour, which keeps the water in when the tide goes out. Or how the water for his house still comes from the brightwaters of Ennerdale Lake, and how the famous English poet William Wordsworth (1770 - 1850) came to spend the summers in Whitehaven, from his childhood home in nearby Cockermouth. Wordsworth remembered the town well...

" With this coast I have been familiar from my earliest childhood, and remember being struck for the first time by the town and port of Whitehaven, and the white waves breaking against its quays and piers, as the whole came into view from the top of the high ground down which the road (it has since been altered) then descended abruptly.

My sister, when she first heard the voice of the sea from this point, and beheld the scene spread before her, burst into tears. Our family then lived at Cockermouth, and this fact was often mentioned among us as indicating the sensibility for which she was so remarkable."

Trevor kept me entertained and informed.

If you stay at Lowther House, you'll enjoy things like the first-rate Victorian bedrooms and bathrooms, and the antique Whitehaven grandfather clock (world-renowned, and one of which is also owned by Bill Clinton), or the original townplanning map of Whitehaven, which hangs on the passage wall.

Trevor will also point out softly how his great grandfather, a Captain Robert Wilson, was honoured by the Norwegian King in 1902, for rescuing the passengers of the Bengal, a Norwegian ship that had come aground near Whitehaven. The captain was awarded a gold medal and £25 as a reward (£10 000 today). Trevor's quiet pride for his town, and for his family is clear (including his son who has just become a barrister, at the exceptional age of 21).


Trevor Lloyd of Lowther House... Whitehaven's "unofficial mayor", and its biggest fan.

Trevor does everything himself in Lowther House, eventhough he owns a successful and sizeable business in China. He restored the house, he decorated it, he welcomes the guests, he cooks for them, he drives them around town on a quick tour...he even cleans everything himself - and then walks through the house afterwards, and pretends to be a new guest to see if he's missed anything!


The rooms at Lowther House are original Victoriana, and Trevor Lloyd the owner is justifiably proud...it's a stately place, and you feel like you are back in the days of the town's glory as Britain's second largest port after London. And Trevor could well have been the mayor...

But it's his knowledge and entertaining stories of Whitehaven which make a stay at Lowther House special. Here are a couple of snippets from my time with Trevor...they are a poor rendition of his, so make sure you get Trevor to tell you himself.


- The Last Invasion of England...

Back in 1778, the town was the scene of the last invasion of the British mainland. During the American War of Independence, a Scotsman called John Paul Jones (who had started his naval career in Whitehaven), had defected to the American side. On April 17 of 1778, he and his crew of his ship The Ranger, sneaked ashore and attempted to set fire to the English merchant ships. They failed, but he and The Ranger went on to cause the Brits all sorts of trouble. For his efforts, Americans took him in as one of their own, and Paul Jones is still an American naval hero to this day, his remains interred in a bronze sarcophagus in Annapolis.


- The Dark Spirit of Whitehaven

The town was for many years the second busiest port after London. The reason? In the 1700s, Whitehaven ship merchants were importing vast amounts of tobacco from Virginia in the US. When the American War of Independence was lost by the English, the traders had to find new markets to exploit. So they turned to the Caribbean, and started importing sugar and rum. However, slaves were needed to work the fields in Jamaica and Trinidad, and so the ship merchants supplied their vessels for the transportation of slaves from West Africa.

There is an excellent visitor attraction in Whitehaven, called The Rum Story, which takes one through this period of history...the tour itself is called The Dark Spirit of Whitehaven...in reference to the rum that was imported, as well as the pernicious implications of the slave trade.


- The Best View in Britain...Wastwater Lake

Trevor took me inland to Wastwater Lake, which was voted by the British public as the prettiest view in all of the UK, on an ITV TV program in 2007. It is also the deepest lake in England, at 260 feet.


Wastwater Lake...it was pouring with rain when I went there.

When Trevor took me, it was pouring with rain, and a strong wind was blowing. We rounded a corner, and were confronted quickly with a huge mountain plunging near-vertical into the inky-black lake. On our side, the landscape is more friendly, and we could drive along the edge, and look across at the huge granite screes, which were created by massive glaciers in the last ice age. It is worthy of an accolade such as the one it received from the nation.

For more ideas on what to do in the area, Trevor's website is full of suggestions...or go to the official Cumbrian Tourism website.

Day 13 - North West England Coast - Cumbria - Silecroft - Some stunning photos from John Parminter at www.viewlakeland.com

John Parminter is a Silecroft (click to see on my Google Map) local who spends a lot of time running on the hills in Cumbria, as well as taking some stunning photographs. Here are a few of them...for more, check out his superb website http://www.viewlakeland.com/.


Wastwater Lake


Wastwater Lake


Finsthwaite beech trees in autumn


Beach sunset at Bootle...



Neglected boat at Ravenglass beach


Below are some photos I snapped of the beautiful pebbles and stones on Silecroft beach..(the low tide area is soft sand).

Day 13 - North West England Coast - Cumbria - Silecroft - Big & Beautiful

Cumbria is home to the Lake District National Park, the largest in Britain, containing 16 lakes and four peaks higher than 3000 feet (including the highest mountain in England - Scafell Peak at 978 metres), as well as the deepest lake - Wastwater, where I am going tomorrow.

Although Ravenglass, between Silecroft and Whitehaven (click to see on my Google Map), is the only coastal town in the park, the national park's beauty flows over into the rest of the coast.

I came across John Parminter's photographs in a local Cumbrian magazine, and you should check them out - they are exquisite snapshots of a much larger masterpiece.

Go to http://www.viewlakeland.com/

Day 13 - North West England Coast - Cumbria - Silecroft - Aaargh, I'm home

Silecroft (click to see on my Google Map) could be a place I've been expecting. Before I started this trip, except for one trip to Lymington on the south coast, I had never visited the coast of this island. I imagined the edge of Britain to be windswept and wild, mountains and hills falling to the sea, the area sparsely inhabited by friendly, charismatic locals who speak the local dialect, and full of cows, horses, sheep and border collies.


Panorama of Silecroft Beach...click for full screen image. (That shadow is me taking the pic! Still need to Photoshop it out).

Since I started my trip, I've been exposed to some of the above. But never all of them at once. Driving into Cumbria I knew that I could be onto something. The Lake District is world-renowned, and justifiably so. As soon as I drove into the town of Windermere (on the lake of the same name) the steep hills enveloped silvery lakes, and quite country roads wound their way along dry stone walls. But Windermere is inland, as well as touristy, and I was looking for the coast, which in Cumbria is not as well-known as the interior.

Silecroft is on the southern end of Cumbria's coast. And I liked it - a lot. This is just my opinion, so you must please visit the area for yourself to make up your own mind, but I think Silecroft is a spot that Britain should be proud of - even though, at first, it seems slightly unremarkable.

There are only a few houses alongside a main road that leads down to a beach that extends for miles in either direction. There are two pubs, and only a couple of B&Bs. Behind Silecroft is a series of mountainous hills (if you know what I mean), full of sheep and cows, and Cumberland heavy horses.

There isn't much else. The wind blows (there is a windmill power farm just offshore). The tide comes in and out. The sheep and cows eat and sleep. Fishermen amble onto the beach and catch sea bass. Locals walk their dogs on the beach. Seagulls glide on the breeze. And there are no boutique stores, no supermarkets, no fancy restaurants (only one pub), and no "return-on-investment" Londoners looking for their next property deal.


This photo is called "Cumbrian Cow in Corner Composition"


Cumbrian sheep have it pretty good...

Cumbrian grass field...

Silecroft is exactly how I imagined the British coast to be. Of course I knew that it wouldn't be all like this, but if I had to pick a place that I had preconceived the coastline to be, it would be Silecroft.

Of course, place is only half of it. The people are the other half. You could travel to Papua New Guinea and be entranced by the rainforest, only to be eaten by cannibals. In Silecroft I was lucky enough to stay with a very welcoming family - the Rhinds. (And, of course, now I believe that ALL people in Silecroft are like the Rhinds). My mom would have liked them a lot, and that's a measurement in which I can place a lot of trust.

Newstead House is a B&B about 100 metres from the beach, on the tiny main road leading from the village to the coast. It stands alone in a field of long grass, which itself is surrounded by cows and sheep. You can look out your room onto the fields, see the ocean in the distance, smell it on the breeze all night, and wake up feeling like you've been injected with pure oxygen.

Paul and Alyson Rhind and their two sons (Adam and Fraser) and daughter (Eilidh) kindly invited me to eat with them for dinner, and Paul cooked me fresh sea bass, and Alyson servied me toffee pudding for desert (forget about any toffee pudding you've ever had - Alyson's is incomparable). I could have been at home, especially when Alyson said, "I hope you don't mind our crazy family". For breakfast Paul cooked me some fried eggs with cumberland sausage (98% pork meat, 2% seasoning - ie. NO FAT).


Newstead House, Silecroft...

Someone once said that landscapes determine the people, and Silecroft, with its slow-time feel, and people who smile and greet you along the way, is proof of that. It's a wholesome scene with people who are the same.

Paul and Alyson got me started on Cumberland sausages, and suggested I go to Bewley's Butcher Shop in nearby Bootle, where Willy Bewley makes and sells his locally famous kind of Cumberland sausage. It's a small shop, easily missed, so look out for the blue and white building on the main road of the village. Further north in Wabberthwaite, there is Richard Woodall's, who is the Royal Family's official Cumberland Sausage and Ham supplier. I bet the Queen sneaks into her kitchen late at night to fry up a few sausages...they are that good.

Further proof of the genuinely friendly locals, I went for a horseride with Murthwaite Green Trekking Centre, just down the road from Newstead House. Cath Wrigley runs her horse riding centre along with local girls who you can see wouldn't swap their jobs for anything in the world. Not hard to see why. They get to guide visitors onto the beautiful beach every day, riding horses that are as friendly as the locals. I dunno, maybe I was in an especially good mood (thanks to Paul's cumberland sausages), but everyone I met in Silecroft was someone I'd like to get to know better.


Go horseriding on endless Silecroft Beach with Murthwaite Trekking Centre in Silecroft. You can be a beginner horse rider, and not worry, because the guides are friendly and fun, yet always looking after your safety, and the long beach makes the horses happy.


...and ride some more...

Some other things to do in the area:

- Check out Swinside Stones, a mini Stonehenge type circle of 55 stones.
- Visit the RAF Museum in Millom.
- If you want to ride (or even just look at) the huge and heavy Clydesdale and Shire horses - the ones that are famous for doing the really heavy labour - go to Cumbrian Heavy Horses, just up the road from Silecroft. They are spectacular animals.

And for more, go to the official Cumbrian Tourism website.


Cumbrian Heavy Horses offer horse rides on these magnificently strong animals...

Day 12 - North West England Coast - Blackpool - Get ready to ride..

Blackpool is a city that is regenerating itself after a long period of degeneration -millions of pounds are being spent to improve it, especially the seafront area. But the much-needed investment won't be able to improve the scenery; it is not a naturally pretty place. There are more beautiful places nearby to visit, and I don't think even the mayor of Blackpool would argue with that.

If you want a naturally beautiful experience, the splendour of the Lake District is an hour to the north, and glorious Wales (which is perhaps my favourite region so far) is two hours to the south. If Wales is the buxom farmgirl who feeds you up and keeps you warm at night, then Blackpool is the shortskirted minx making eyes at you across the dance floor.

So although Blackpool is definitely not a place to go for a restorative beach holiday, it doesn't pretend to be a genteel, scenic spot, and it's entirely comfortable in its own loud and brash skin. There are certainly lots of fun things to do, especially for young kids and parents who want to be kids again.

In the centre of Blackpool's tourism is the Blackpool Tower, which is a must. It looks quite like the Eiffel Tower (although all comparisons end there), it stands 150metres high, and a lift takes you to the top for great views in all directions.

Within the Tower's building complex, there is a pretty average aquarium, and an old-style circus with daily shows. Kids will love it...there's a live swingband playing, and it's colourful and vibrant.
Further south, the biggest drawcard is the huge Pleasure Beach, a massive playpark of 150 odd different rides. It attracts millions of visitors ever year, and is the main reason why Blackpool - most folk may be surprised to hear this - is considered one of England's most visited cities.

The park hosts what must be the most thrilling rollercoaster in the UK, getting up to speeds of 120km/h, and dropping you 75m in a near-vertical descent. Nearby is the waterpark, an indoor complex withan array of rides, including one the kids will spend a whole day on: the brilliantly named Master Blaster, the world's biggest water slide.

And there are three long piers - north, central and south - which are worth a walk along. There are the usual curio stalls to have a look at. For more things to do in Blackpool, check out the city's tourism website.

The accommodation options in Blackpool consist of a lot of mediocre-looking 3-star B&Bs, a few chain hotels and not much else. But in amongst all the frogs is a prince. Langtry's B&B is a symbol of the way forward for Blackpool. If the town council did for Blackpool what David Webb and Julie Sayers did for Langtry's, then Blackpool will shed it's tawdry look, and become a very slick seaside city.

David and Julia moved to Blackpool a few years ago, bought a shabby-looking 3-star B&B in a road with lots of other similar B&Bs. They ran it as a 3-star for a few years, but soon realised how much Blackpool needed a world-class offering that would appeal to sophisticated business travellers as well as weekenders.

They've spent plenty of money and time converting to 5-star, and it is obvious. It is practically perfect. Decor is modern and minimalistic, and there are great touches like inspirational books by Edward Monkton next to your bed. Best of all though is the flatscreen TV above the bath in Room 3.

If you find yourself in Blackpool, check Langtry's out. It's setting the standard.

A restaurant that would sit well next to Langtry's is Kwizeen, a gourmet restaurant in a part of town that is certainly not suited to gourmet restaurants. But that's Blackpool..there are some diamonds in the rough for sure.

The night I was at Kwizeen, there were only two other tables, and I felt kinda sorry for the owners. Because the food was so good that the restaurant should have been jam-packed. It was an awkward experience sitting in Kwizeen, eating a starter of salmon, bearnaise sauce with a poached egg on top, and a mains of superbly cooked lamb, and wondering why no one else in the whole of Blackpool wasn't doing the same.


View south from top of Blackpool Tower


View north from top of Blackpool Tower


Blackpool Tower...


The girls in Blackpool...


A theme park in Blackpool...one of many that kids will love!


Best thing in Blackpool...Pleasure Beach rollercoaster...dont eat noodles for lunch!!!

Day 11 - Wales Coast - Llandudno - Bronze age records to Victorian splendours

Well-known travel writer Bill Bryson knows the UK well...he wrote a comprehensive travel book called Notes From A Small Island, about his journeys all over the island. And so when he said in 2003 that Llandudno was his favourite town, his opinion must carry a lot of weight.

And one can see why he thinks this way. The town of Llandudno is on a peninsula between two huge outcrops, called Great Orme and Little Orme. The bay curves round between the two, and a long beach lies in front of a succession of Victorian-age hotels and apartment blocks. Lording over the whole scene is the Grand Hotel, which sits at the base of the Great Orme.

Walk to the top of Great Orme, for great views over the sea, Llandudno, and onto the mountains of Snowdon. It really is a pretty sight - even when it rains, as it was when I was there.

But the town is not only superficially pretty and neat. Dig a little deeper under the surface of Great Orme, so to speak, and you'll find the biggest bronze age copper mine in the world. In fact, you could dig 70 metres below ground to get to the bottom of a mine that was first dug 4 000 years ago by neolithic people.

Yes, I know, if you're not a geologist or archeaologist, it may not sound that interesting at first, but trust me, once you get there, and get talking to Nick Jowett, you'll find it fascinating. When they're not operating the visitor centre during summer, Nick and his team are working right through winter to keep digging out more and more rubble. They keep discovering more and more tunnels, in a labyrinth that extends to 6 kilometres! You'll get to walk down deep into the earth, through the original tiny tunnels, which, in neolithic times, were literally hacked out bit by bit with animal bone. You don't want to get lost, because you won't get out - but there is a guided pathway, so don't worry.


The Great Orme Copper Mine in Llandudno.

Almost 1800 tons of copper was mined, enough to make 10 million axes, which was what everyone wanted in those times. It was the most valuable mine in the world during the bronze age. And then the Victorians came thousands of years later, and mined it even more. Since excavations started in 1986, a human jaw bone has been found, as well as one black cat (dead) surrounded by a circle of berries...all from Victorian times. Sinister stuff.

The Great Orme is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, one of 4 000 in the UK. It not only hosts the copper mine, but also an iron age fort ruin, with a rock that was used to determine whether someone was guilty of a crime. The accused would stand on the rock (which is there to this day), and if it didn't rock, you were guilty. Try it out. I was guilty of my crime - didn't move one millimetre!

A great way to get to the top of Great Orme is the cable car, which starts in town and takes you to the summit, with more superb views of the area. And while you're up there, there is a tabogan run, which is great fun even for old folk who feel the need for speed.

I stayed with Annie Cooper of Boscombe House, a grand Victorian three-storey home a few blocks back from the promenade. "Stayed with" doesn't really describe adequately how things are at Boscombe House. It would be more accurate to say that Annie looks after you like you were one of her own grand children.

She does things in style, and with a serious amount of care and love. Her rooms are HUGE, the ceilings are HIGH, and the decor is way more comfortable than it should be for £30 a night, which is what Annie charges for Bed & Breakfast.

The first thing Annie did when I arrived was give me scones, jam and big pot of tea, and we sat in her homely lounge talking about the horrible weather. When she heard I hadn't eaten lunch, she jumped up and immediately made me a sandwhich. When I went to bed, she had turned down my bed, and left two teddy bears to keep me company for the night, as well as a glass of sherry and two biscuits to help me start dreaming deeply. And in the morning, breakfast kept coming and coming...if you didn't ask Annie to STOP bring more home-baked bread and scones, then you'd be eating all day. And when I left, Annie had made me a packed lunch for the road...

For more things in the area check out Llandudno's tourism website.


My room at Boscombe House, with two teddy bears to keep me warm.


Old and new...


Imposing Conwy Castle near Llandudno is part of a World Heritage Site that includes several other castles in the area.

Day 10 - Wales Coast - Abersoch - Some scenic pics from www.totallyabersoch.co.uk

While I was in Abersoch, I bumped into John Wormald, who's a photographer based in the town, with his own studio and shop that sells photographic prints. He's got lots of outstanding photos of the area. Check them out at http://www.totallyabersoch.co.uk/.

Here are a just a few of them. All were taken in the Abersoch area.