Weiserman: Side Trips from Edinburgh to several places all with terrible food

For a time this blog might be a little confusing because I am trying to catch up on all the traveling we have done since October. Sorry.

Before we left Edinburgh we took a couple of day trips by train which were just greatQ Public transportation is wonderful! Our first outing was to Berwick on Tweed (even the name is perfect), an old, walled seaside town (with terrible food)

Our next trip into the Scottish countryside from Edinburgh was to Roslyn Chapel…you know, the one made famous in the Dan Brown book. Quite beautiful and the folks there, while dismissive of Brown's theories we quite happy that it tripled the number of visitors.

And then there was the lovely Melrose Abby. These old places seem so full of the ghosts of the folks lived and prayed there in the past.

Our next outing was to Stirling Castle where we were lucky enough to see some experts working on a re-creation of a 14th century tapestry. They were able to produce a piece 10 cm by 10 cm per day per person!

And then it was on to Duane Caste, the home of the Monte Phython movies!

And here is a view of the lovely countryside we drove through! Alas, no sun, but beautiful scenery.

And then it was on to the famous St. Andrews and yet another castle. It is quite amazing how they just dot the countryside!!!! And, let us not forget the old golf course! Even in the rain there were folks banging away at the little white ball!

And then on to the lovely Jedburgh Abbey.

Even though these are ruins, it is so easy to visualize the lives of the men who lived and prayed here hundreds of years ago. And the English and Scottish people are so proud of their heritage. So worry about knocking these guys down to put up malls and apartments!

One of the best parts of this section of countryside was Hadrian's Wall!!!!! Those Romans were everywhere!

And finally, Craigmillar Castle, one of our favorites. Again, notice the winter clothes and lovely countryside! I think that, after living for a year in South America, we forgot what "winter" is and are constantly surprised that it is cold (and perpetually gray here in the UK)!

One of our most interesting trips was taken on the spur of the moment, veering off the road to follow a sign to Historic New Lanark when we had actually intended to go someplace else. One of the great things about having so much time, a car and no real plan is the freedom to explore at our own whims. New Lanark was an amazing mill town create by a man who was way ahead of his time. He truly believed that happy workers were more productive and that by taking care of them he would come out ahead. So, he provided health care, fine education, an equitable store where the residents actually paid less than the surrounding village stores and good housing. Actually some of the houses are still lived in today and one of the docents was a woman whose husband had grown up in the town.

Someone in the town told us we should not miss the canal wheel that was right outside of town, so off we drove. Then it loomed in front of us, but we could not understand what we were seeing! It was the craziest thing!!!! This giant wheel brought boughs from one canal to a higher one and then down again!