Scotland & the Lakes

June 5 - 10, 2014

With less than a month left in England, Joe and I realized that we really haven't done much touristing in the UK this year. Perhaps this was due to the months of cold, wet, darkness between October and April or perhaps we thought we had more time to get around to it. Either way, it wasn't until this week that we finally made it out of southern England and ventured further afield.

A few things that were awesome about vacationing within the UK: we could travel exclusively by train (and it was quick!), we didn't have to change currency (or language!), our mobile phones still worked the entire time (without wifi!), and we recognized most of the stores and restaurants because we have them in London. Basically, for the first time during this year, we took a trip that felt a lot more like traveling from San Diego to San Francisco than San Diego to everywhere else we've gone so far.

We started in Edinburgh for two nights, then two nights in Glasgow, and just one night in Windermere in England's Lake District. Since Scotland doesn't vote on Independence for another three months, at least for now all three stops are UK.

Edinburgh
I visited Edinburgh when I came to Scotland for the Harry Potter conference two years ago but I had a feeling that Joe would really like it and set aside of few of the activities to do with him when we came here together. (If you remember from that post, my mom and I spent part of our visit fantasy grocery shopping at Marks & Spencer. Since I now shop there a few times per week, it seems like I've made good on that fantasy.)

May 2012

This is the UK/Scotland, so most of our plans were contingent on the weather cooperating with us. The forecast basically promised rain at some point on all 5 days, but we were lucky to get a gorgeous, hot day in Edinburgh to climb Arthur's Seat. This peak is in central Edinburgh and offers extensive views of the entire city all the way to the sea, an outstanding alternative to our traditional church spire climb and an excellent leg work-out as well.

There are several routes to the peak but we, not knowing any better, chose one called the "Radical Road" that was indeed at a radical grade without switchbacks. (We might recommend that others take the softer route, around the back of the mountain starting to the left of the entrance road.) Perhaps the work made the view that much sweeter, at the least it made us appreciate the wind coming in over the sea that much more.

After our hike, a reward was in order. Off to BrewDog Edinburgh we go!

BrewDog is a Scottish company, so we were eager to see how our "home bar" would compare to those in the earlier additions of Edinburgh and Glasgow. BrewDog menus are different at every location, which made trying the food more interesting. Plus each bar carries its own assortment of beers on draught and in bottles, so what's available at one may not be available at another. For example, the day we went there was a special release happening (about 10 minutes after we arrived) of Hello My Name is Paivi.

Even though we weren't in Camden and didn't know the staff here, BrewDog is a sort of Home Base for us in the UK. It feels welcoming and familiar, but still unique to the place we are visiting (so that it's not like going to another chain restaurant).

Cajun chips with sour cream and BBQ sauce - delish

After that we travelled up the street just a little ways to The Elephant House, another stop I'd missed on my previous tour. The Elephant House dubs itself the "Birthplace of Harry Potter" because of its legacy as Jo Rowling's favorite place to write, particularly when she was composing the first few installments of the series before she became too recognizable to write in public. It is also a coffee house and restaurant in addition to being a place of pilgrimage for Potter fans.

There are plaques on the wall and laminated articles about Rowling at the Elephant House, but it's the bathrooms that have become a tribute to her. There fans have left graffitied quotes, thanks, and messages that cover every surface. It is a true testament to the power of reading that so many people have been moved to express themselves here. Some are funny ("and Tim (Germany) goes to Hufflepuff!"), some are ominous ("The Chamber of Secrets has been opened…"), and some are poignant ("Harry Potter taught us that it's not okay to live in the closet."). Honestly, I teared up and had to catch my breath. Like at the conference two years ago, I felt like I was surrounded by like-minds, others who understood and loved this series as much as I do. It was a beautiful feeling (even if it happened in a bathroom). 

After that we wandered a bit before heading back for dinner. The far-north latitude of Edinburgh (it's about even with Anchorage) means that it was daylight until after 10 and there was ambient light until at least 11 pm. As if Joe and I don't live a late enough schedule already, this meant we had to actively remind ourselves to get to restaurants before their kitchens closed because it seemed so much earlier than it was. 

Sarah in 2012; Joe in 2014. 

the obligatory UK tourist shot

Our second day in Edinburgh it poured rain basically from the time we finished breakfast until we got on the train to Glasgow that night. Luckily, we had planned an indoor day. Our main stop was at the Scotch Whiskey Experience, a sort of adult theme park complete with a ride and lots of special treats. (If you're visiting Edinburgh it is just to the left of the entrance to Edinburgh Castle and across the street from the weaving mill tour where you can learn about tartans/kilts/Scottish weaving, which is also a good stop to make.)

The tour begins with a barrel ride through a distillery that feels a lot like the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland (complete with ghosts) and offers a brief history of whiskey making. 

After that you go to the classroom to learn about the different regional characteristics of Scottish single malt whiskeys. The colored card was a scratch-and-sniff interactive, which emitted aromas of a particular region, helping each visitor choose which type of single malt she may enjoy the most (I'm a Speyside, Joe's a Highland).

The most impressive room is the whisky collection room where you actually taste your scotch for the first time. Diageo Claive Vidiz's 3500 bottle collection is the largest in the world and every single bottle is unique and unopened. It began with just six bottles, a gift from a Scottish friend visiting Diageo in Brazil, and upon his death was brought back to Scotland to be displayed. (The Scotch Whiskey Experience has a restaurant, Amber, that looks delicious and we would've tried if we'd been there at a meal time. If you go to Edinburgh, eat there and tell me all about it please.)

Joe wanted to go to Glasgow but didn't have any specific activities or sites in mind when we booked, so I jumped on a tour to Ayrshire and Culzean Castle. (Afterwards I realized that the more traditional thing to do would've been a trip to the Highlands, but that will have to be next time.)

first stop at Whitelee Wind Farm

Whitelee Wind Farm is used to harvest Scotland's most abundant resource into clean energy. They have an interactive exhibition where you can play games to try to harvest the most energy. Mostly this was a "comfort stop" on our way out of Glasgow, but watching the windmills was relaxing and the landscape was lovely. Also, they sold pinwheels in the gift shop, which I thought was awesome.

Next stop was the abandoned Dunure Castle on the coast, which you can actually climb on.

The tour included several stops dedicated to Scotland's favorite poet, Robert Burns. I had just included a Burns poem in a paper for my poetry class, but didn't know much about him besides.

The main attraction for our tour was Culzean Castle (pronounced "coo-lane") on the Ayrshire coast of Scotland. Unusually, the castle was not built for a royal but a lower nobleman from the clan Kennedy. It is so popular that it is featured on the £5 note in Scotland. (Scotland has its own version of the pound even though its currency is worth exactly the same as the GBP and it is totally acceptable to use GBP in Scotland. Depending on where you are, however, it is not okay to use Scottish pounds in England. Check out this bit by Michael McIntyre on the subject.) It also includes a penthouse apartment that was gifted to General Eisenhower for his personal use as a thank you after the war.

When we arrived our guide recommended that we entire the castle grounds from the beach if we were up for a "wee hike."

that's Joe at the bottom of a staircase to the beach

The whole staircase from the turn. It looks basically flat here but I can assure you it was not.

The beach!

Sarah: I want to go there!
Joe: I'll watch.

Culzean Castle

The interior of the castle was nice but not spectacular. Culzean is mostly about the grounds - there are extensive parks, woodlands, and of course the beautiful coastline. As usual, we were happy to spend some time in a natural environment away from the city.

The next day it poured again. Everyone we'd asked for recommendations gave us the names of two museums to visit in Glasgow: the Riverside Museum and Kelvingrove Art Gallery. Luckily, Kelvingrove was across the street from BrewDog Glasgow, which we'd planned to visit anyway. 

The Riverside Museum is dedicated to transportation and (oddly) was awarded the European Museum of the Year award. Perhaps Joe and I have become museum snobs over the last year, perhaps we just didn't appreciate the charm of Glasgow's museums. We spent less than an hour at the Riverside museum, looking at cars and bicycles and wandering down the old-fashioned recreated street (that felt like Disneyland or a movie set); we're happy that most museums in the UK are free.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery did not fair much better I'm afraid. Besides the fact that this museum is the most bizarre mishmash of items I've seen under one roof, we spent most of our visit trying to make sense of the organizational scheme. There was art, yes, but there were also taxidermy animals, geodes, and dinosaur bones, sometimes all in one exhibit. When we noticed that some of the rooms were named for patrons, Joe suggested that the confusing conglomeration of items must have been bequeathed to the museum by a single person from his personal collection. But I ask you, who collects a Persian rug, a plastic-wrapped haggis and a taxidermy porcupine and then donates them to a museum?

One exhibit with a giraffe, a moose, an antelope, a dinosaur bone and a koala. Oh, and an airplane.

Afterwards, we needed comfort in the form of BrewDog Glasgow. 

they had hot dogs!

The last day of our UK tour was spent in Cumbria at the Lake District, England's largest national park. We visited ten lakes over the course of our tour, and for some we even got sun!

One of our first stops was at Castlerigg Stone Circle, a site that pre-dates Stonehenge. 

I was more interested in the sheep nearby

Later we took a boat ride on the Derwentwater near the town of Keswick. 

not our boats

also not our boat

Other sites included Grassmere Gingerbread, William Wordsworth's grave, a drive by William Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter's houses, Keswick for lunch, Kirkstone Pass, Honister Slate Mine, and several other lookout points. The lakes mostly reflected the grey sky and it was windy, rainy, and cold off and on all day, so the pictures aren't great even though the drive was lovely and relaxing. 

the Ullswater, known for steamship trips

The Lake District felt like a good place to return for an outdoorsy vacation of hiking, boating, swimming, and possibly even camping… in the warmer months. Afterwards we got back on the train and returned home to London. 

Our visit to the North was short but lovely and we're very glad we used some of our last month in the UK to get out of London. Now we have just a few weeks left and will be London touristing like crazy! Lots of posts to come!