Winter had by now taken hold but our luck held and the beauty continued as we drove west to north Wales for a few days at our base at the Black Boy Inn, Wales’ oldest pub and inn situated right up against the ancient city walls of Caernarfon. It is the perfect place to explore the northern part of Wales and the inn was one of our favourite stops on our travels. As Welsh is the predominate language of the area all signs also carry Welsh. Just about all the locals spoke Welsh which was quite foreign to our ears. We heard very little English during our stay, a stark contrast to Scotland.

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On day one we took an easy drive into the beautiful landscape of Snowdonia, which reaches right up to the outskirts of Caernarfon. We just drove until we stumbled upon a gorgeous village called Beddgelert (which means “grave of Gelert”) on the banks of the River Afon Colwyn.

As with the Peak District you didn’t have to go far to find a story………..

It is reputed the village gets its name from the hound Gelert. In the legend, Prince Llywelyn the Great returns from hunting to find his baby missing, the cradle overturned and Gelert with a blood-smeared mouth. Believing the dog had savaged the child, Llywelyn draws his sword and kills Gelert. After the dog’s dying yelp Llywelyn hears the cries of the baby, unharmed under the cradle, along with a dead wolf which had attacked the child and been killed by Gelert. Llywelyn is overcome with remorse and buries the dog with great ceremony, but can still hear its dying yelp. After that day Llywelyn never smiles again.

Gelert’s “grave” is marked by a stone under a tree in the village. and attracts thousands of visitors annually. The village however is stunning, settled in a valley with the beautiful river Afon Colwyn running through it.

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Here are some images of Snowdonia as we drove in bright, crisp weather and were rewarded with stunning scenery.

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This area above is known as the ‘Machloop’ or LFA7 (Low Flying Area 7) which is often used for low level flying exercises by the Royal Air Force and others. It is situated near the village of Machynlleth on the southern part of Snowdonia. Unfortunately no aircraft were seen at ‘The Loop’ that day but Simon did manage a trip up to RAF Valley on the island of Anglesey where the RAF has a fast jet training facility. Luckily it was a busy day and we were treated to a couple of hours of circuits and bumps, fortunately managing to get a few nice images of Hawks and the new Texan trainers. The snow capped mountains of Snowdonia are clearly visible in the background.

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As the sun set over north Wales it was time to start heading back to London to spend more time with friends and family in the area. We are starting to realise our time in the UK is regrettably fast coming to its end. But we will be cramming a lot in the short days over the last few weeks so there is still more to come…………..

As one travels through these islands you will always find a story. They are crammed with history, drama and intrigue and this region of England was no different.

We were invited to stay with Simon’s school friend James and his wife Denise in the pretty area of upland known as the Peak District situated south of the Pennines. Despite its name, it has no sharp peaks but rather rolling hills of limestone and gritstone providing beautiful hiking and dotted with historical villages and pubs. Chapel en le Frith, where we stayed, is not far from the town of Bakewell renowned for its sweet almond tarts. But perhaps the place which caught our attention with a most bizarre and tragic story was found in the village of Eyam, pronounced ‘Eeem’.

In 1665 the Great Plague decimated London’s population but was largely confined to the city. However, a bale of cloth sent from London to a tailor in Eyam changed everything. The damp cloth was opened by the tailor’s assistant in Eyam and put in front of a fire to dry, unwittingly stirring the disease ridden fleas back to life. He became the first victim of the plague in Eyam. 260 people from the village died, their fate having been sealed by the remarkable decision of the villagers to quarantine their village in a heroic attempt to prevent the spread of the plague.

The houses where many families perished are still standing and the churchyard is full of gravestones barely legible but one can make out the year 1665.

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The Peak District consists of several ecologically and geologically significant areas. Partly owned by the National Trust, the Peak District National Park was the first national park in Britain.

The Ladybower, Derwent and Howden reservoirs provide water for the surrounding industrial towns, the Derwent having been used for trials of the Upkeep bouncing bomb used on the Dambusters raid. The similarity in landscape to the Ruhr dams region made it ideal for testing the crews. The dams were at capacity during our visit and the rush of water over the dam wall was dramatic to say the least.

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This short stop in the Peak District was full and interesting despite it being pretty cold and gloomy. Afterwards we headed westwards, via the Jodrell Bank centre, to north Wales and more delightful scenery and another sad story……….

From Oban we headed south through towns and villages with names such as Taynuilt, Crianlarich, Inverarnan, Stuckgowan and Aldochlay, past the outskirts of Glasgow, through Gretna Green and across the Scottish border into England. All road signs in Scotland are now in Gaelic as well as English which makes for interesting reading when driving although we did not hear Gaelic spoken once during our stay.

Before long we drove due west towards one of England’s best loved national parks, the Lakes District in Cumbria. A UNESCO world heritage site, it is well known for its glacial ribbon lakes, forests and mountains known in Cumbria as fells, as well as its numerous literary associations. Amongst others, perhaps the most famous of English romantic poets, William Wordsworth and the author Beatrix Potter who wrote The Tale of Peter Rabbit, lived and worked in this area.

England’s highest peak at just under 1000m and the deepest and largest natural lakes in the country, are found in this region. While not high in world or even European scales the fels appear quite foreboding and provide challenging as well as easy hiking. Many are bleak and windswept. Rainfall is frequent in this area and hikers have to be wary of the changing weather conditions in all seasons.

We arrived in mid November and autumn had already taken hold. The colours were rich red, gold, grey and green and the pure mountain water crisp and clear. We found a small hotel close to lake Windermere and given limited time we immediately sought out the tourist info for the local advice on day hikes. We settled on a hike from Grasmere to Easdale Tarn. A ‘tarn’ is a mountain lake formed in a cirque excavated by a glacier and we found this particular tarn one of the prettiest lakes we have ever seen. This blog is mainly about the 10km hike from Grasmere to Easdale Tarn.

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The hike starts off in the village of Grasmere and the track winds its way through woodland and over streams and rivers, along centuries old dry stone walls, steadily making its way up towards Easdale. The views en route are just gorgeous and you need frequent stops to take it all in and occasionally catch your breath.

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After about two hours climb, you get to what you think is the top of the mountain and look over the peak and there before you lies this exquisite tarn, partially shrouded in mist, perfectly honed by millions of years of glacial movement, on the top of the mountain. It was so still, the lake was like a mirror with only the faintest hint of a mountain breeze interrupting its immaculate glass effect.

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The return walk down to Grasmere was a little easier as it took us through farms of stone houses and outbuildings where plump and woolly sheep graze. There was water everywhere, appearing randomly from every little source in the mountain sides, running down the walking tracks and eventually into the main river.

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And so the beauty continues as we made our way further south again, staying in England for a short stop in the Peak District near Manchester before a short drive west to north Wales…………..next blog.

The National Trust of Scotland made reference to Glen Coe’s “soaring dramatic splendour” in a review of the country’s natural scenic heritage in 2010. Better late than never to officially recognise this magical part of the highlands.

Glencoe, or Gleann Comhann, pronounced [klan̪ˠˈkʰo.ən̪ˠ])  in Scottish Gaelic is a glen of volcanic origins according to Wikipedia and was formed by an ice age glacier around the same time as the Isle of Skye (previous blog) 450 million years ago. It is about 13km long and roughly 700m wide and has this beautiful, gently moulded U-shape narrowing sharply at the Pass of Glencoe.

The glen holds a place of significance in Scottish history. In 1692 following the Jacobite Uprising, the Massacre of Glencoe took place where an estimated thirty eight members of Clan Macdonald were killed by government forces for allegedly not being prompt in swearing allegiance to the new monarchs.

But we focused on the scenic beauty of the place by walking through parts of the glen along the river Coe, taking tracks wherever they lead us. The day was spectacular weather wise with hardly a cloud in the sky and the autumn sun casting long shadows across the peaks, showering us with amazing light.

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When visiting Glencoe we were based in the small town of Oban, an important gateway to the islands. It was the 11th November, Armistice Day and as with just about every town in Great Britain, a remembrance service was held and two minutes silence observed in Oban at 11 o’clock on the 11th day of the 11th month.

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After Oban and the magnificent Highlands, of which we saw such a little, we headed south again, back to England through the Trossachs via Loch Lomond where we experienced our first snow fall.

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All this beauty – would it continue? Let’s see. Next stop – the English Lakes District………….

The western isles and coast of Scotland – windswept, romantic and remote were created as a result of the Caledonian Orogeny 450 million years ago which would take me even longer to explain in this blog so just Google it. For European standards this is considered a fairly remote place and the further north you go the remoter it becomes. Populations are small, villages are strategically hidden in sheltered terrain and as you travel around these parts you get this feeling of ‘apartness’ from the rest of the mainland Great Britain.

Time however is what you need. Few places in this part of Scotland have a direct route. The coastline of the mainland is a mass of sea lochs, peninsulas and inlets forcing you to travel well inland on winding roads before you can head back out again to the isles. The British Isles, while relatively small in area, has a coastline (acc to Ordnance Survey) of 17,800km! In Scotland in particular you soon see why getting places takes time. And there are plenty of islands too.

Our time here was spent in the area around the Kyle of Lochalsh and the Isle of Sky. The scenery here is quite breathtaking and the soft autumn light and vibrant colours embellished that beauty. Fortunately for us the November weather delivered a few days of sunshine for most of the short daylight hours available at this time of year. Our B&B was in the hamlet of Inverinate, just down the road from Scotland’s most photographed castle, Eileen Donan near Dornie.

Taking full advantage of the absence of busloads of tourists, we explored the southern part of Skye and the road to Fort Augustus, Mallaig and part of Loch Ness. For someone who enjoys landscape photography we were stopping every few minutes………

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From here we headed south to Oban, a small town on the west coast and one of the main hubs to the islands and the gorgeous Glencoe.

Simon’s passion for military aviation is still strong despite no blogs to this effect for at least two months. But never fear it is not far way!! From Edinburgh we made our way up the east coast of Scotland to St Andrews, the ‘home of golf’ which incidentally has an airbase across the bay – RAF Leuchars, a front line air defence station during the Cold War and afterwards. It was transferred to the army in 2015 after an 85 year history with the RAF so no more fast jets.

But the underlying reasons for a trip up this way were two fold – firstly to visit the aerodrome where Simon’s uncle spent six months stationed with RAF Coastal Command from October 1944 to April 1945 as part of 235 Squadron, Banff Strike Wing and secondly to visit the filming locations of Simon’s all time favourite feel good movie, Local Hero.

The trip north took us across the Firth of Forth. The huge estuary now has three bridges; the Forth Rail Bridge, the Forth Road Bridge and the recently opened Queensferry Crossing, the world’s longest 3-tower cable span bridge stretching 2.7km. But the most impressive and a world UNESCO heritage site is the Forth Rail Bridge, voted Scotland’s greatest man-made wonder in 2016. Designed by two English engineers, Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker, the bridge was completed in 1890 and had the longest single cantilever span in the world until 1919. It is still the second longest. It is truly an engineering masterpiece.

RAF Banff is situated a few miles west of the town of Banff in north east Scotland. Its primary purpose was for RAF Coastal Command (including Canadian and New Zealand squadrons) along with Norwegian squadrons from August 1944 to fly sorties to Norway against Axis shipping.

Using Bristol Beaufighter and later de Havilland Mosquito fighter bomber aircraft, these pilots flew from Banff to Norway and back, a round trip of nearly 2000km, flying a few hundred feet above the waves, without any auto pilot, sometimes in atrocious weather conditions, with a tank full of fuel and fully armed with eight rockets and/or bombs. Their tasks were to seek out and destroy ships carrying vital raw materials and supplies from Norway to Germany. The ships would hide from air attack in the fjiords using the steep cliff faces as protection. The Beaus and Mossies would dive at the ships in these steep valleys and release their rockets at close range. There was no escape from the mountain sides if the aircraft was mortally hit by flak.

Simon’s uncle, Ray Harington was one of these pilots. After spending a large part of 1943-44 in Libya with 603 City of Edinburgh squadron, he and his navigator Bert Winwood were seconded to RAF Coastal Command (235 Sqn) towards the end of that year. He was 21.

Very little of RAF Banff remains but the Boyndie Trust has a project to raise funds to restore some parts of it, starting with the control tower. We were very kindly given a tour of the aerodrome in awful weather by Nigel, our Nether Dallachy B&B host who is also the pilot of the local Air Ambulance. He too has a real passion for this place. You get a real feeling and impression of what went on here 75 years ago.

These images we felt were a rather sad reflection on what was for a short time a front line airfield in one of the most dangerous operations of WWII. The book, A Separate Little War by Andrew Bird is essential reading if you are interested in this aspect of aviation history.

And now to our other reason for coming up this way………

The 80’s movie “Local Hero” was the story about a US oil company that wanted to purchase real estate to build a refinery in a remote part of Scotland . The movie, a quirky comedy centres around the negotiations between the oil company rep and the villagers. It has the most superb soundtrack by the great Mark Knopfler. It was shot in a few locations and we visited two; the fictional village of ‘Furness’ (in Pennan) – yes the phone box is still there, and the beach (Camusdarach near Arisaig) on the west coast. The scenery in these places was beautifully filmed and a tour of the locations, whether you are nuts about the movie or not, is well worth it. It is really as lovely as the movie portrays. The pub scene at the end when Macintyre, in a rather drunken state said “I’ll make a good Gordon Gordon” was shot at the Ship Inn in Banff. Only those who have watched the movie might understand the attraction, Simon’s favourite.

Getting into the St Andrews clubhouse was more difficult than the air base, so we had a good walk around part of the Old Course, soaking in the atmosphere of this magical place again and strolled through the exquisite university town of St Andrews. The wide beach at St Andrews is the canvas for the elegant granite skyline of the town. This was the setting for the famous beach race scene in the movie Chariots of Fire.

Other images of the trip up to Banff and the Aberdeenshire coast:

Next stop, the west coast and the Isle of Sky……..

Our first stop in Edinburgh was the port of Leith, home to the Royal Yacht Britannia, the Queens floating ‘country house’. Built in Scotland at the same dockyard which launched the Queens Mary and Elizabeth, the keel was laid down in 1952 and she was decommissioned in 1997 and returned to the place of her birth. She is now one of Scotland’s biggest tourist attractions. Nicky’s fascination with and love of the monarchy made this a must visit for us and we were not disappointed. After our tour we had delicious tea and scones with jam and clotted cream on board, in style, complete with monogrammed napkins. Due to its position at the dockside it was difficult to take good outside pictures but the inside was the most interesting bit. Quite untypical of royal palaces, it is understated in its style and design. A beautiful ship in every respect.

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Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital is situated below its imposing castle and has a medieval Old Town and neoclassical Georgian New Town with gardens and elegant architecture. Edinburgh Castle is the home to Scotland’s crown jewels and the Stone of Destiny, used in the coronation of Scottish rulers. Holyrood Park and Calton Hill form part of the impressive city backdrop and Holyrood Palace, the Queen’s official Edinburgh residence is definitely worth a visit. A walk around the city and up to Holyrood is fascinating. If your thing is tartan and you have Scottish heritage, there is no shortage of vendors who may be able to help – try The Royal Mile or Princes St.

Here is a pick ‘n mix of Edinburgh, the Castle and Holyrood Palace……….

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Autumn has set in but the weather has been fairly kind to us. We now head up the east coast of Scotland stopping at the home of golf, St Andrews and then to Banff……for a special reason. Next blog.

We had not planned another trip to Paris having been there in June and a year ago, but for an extraordinarily generous gift to Nicky and me by friends and colleagues at Siemens Healthcare. A seven course degustation dinner menu at the renowned Jules Verne restaurant on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower gave us every reason to return to Paris! But it was not easy to get a reservation. While in France for the month of June, no reservation was possible. I resorted to a pleading email to ask then to do something which was ignored.

Nicky’s Schengen visa was fast running out so we made one final attempt in October and our request this time was answered albeit for lunch instead of dinner. No problem! So en-route back to London from Malta, we stopped off in Paris for three nights.

We found accommodation, which is hard in Paris unless you pay crazy prices, in a small hotel close to the prohibitively expensive Moulin Rouge and not far from Sacre Coeur, Monmartre and the Gare de Nord. Having never stayed in this area before, we had no idea it was in the “classy” part of Paris. I say this with just a little hint of sarcasm as the area is wall to wall sex shops and strip clubs etc. It gives Toys R Us a totally new meaning, if you get my drift.

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We looked forward to our special lunch with great anticipation and we both agree, it was quite an exceptional dining experience. Thank you all those who made this happen!. Food photography is not my forte so we made do with iPhone shots.

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And ample opportunity to take pictures from our exclusive vantage point from the restaurant.

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After our superb lunch we managed to do a little sight seeing……..

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Our impressions of Paris after at least two visits to this city have not really changed. Without doubt it is optically one of the most elegant cities we have visited and to walk around admiring the architecture is a real treat, but……

We asked each other, “would you ever want to return?” and we both answered “no”. There is something about Paris that just does not sit right with us. And if we were to sum it up in one word it would be “overrated”. Its food (except for its bread, pastries and cheese) and wine is both expensive and not what it is made out to be. Its restaurants, bistros and cafes, while plentiful, appear out to get the tourist. In our experience, despite our best efforts in high school french, the service is very average and generally unfriendly. And to pay 9 Euro for a 125ml glass of average red wine is, well just off-putting.

My view is if you tell yourself how good you are often enough you eventually start believing your own BS. I think Paris is in this category. Despite this, and with apologies to those Parisians who do not fit into this category, it is a feast for the eye.

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Next stop – London and then a resumption of our tour to Scotland………

This tiny archipelago which sits strategically bang in the middle of the Mediterranean has been contested over and ruled successively by just about every empire which played in this region. The Phoenicians and Carthaginians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese, Knights of St John, the French and finally the British have all left their mark on Malta in various ways and Malta is definitely richer for this.

Malta is also the only nation to have been awarded the George Cross. Normally reserved for individuals, it was awarded to the island by George VI after its people bravely resisted a siege. In a letter to its people the King wrote the words ….. “bear witness to the heroism and devotion of its people” during the great siege they underwent in the early part of World War II. The Axis powers besieged Malta, then a British colony, from 1940 to 1942. The George Cross was incorporated into the Maltese flag in 1943 and remains on the current design of the flag. The numerous museums on the island of Malta have graphic stories and records of what happened to its inhabitants during that time – it is quite humbling.

But Malta has so much more and I could just go on and on. There is evidence of human habitation going back to 5900BC. According to Acts of the Apostles chapter 28, Paul the Apostle was shipwrecked on these islands in 60AD and afterwards remained to continued preaching the Christian faith. Malta has three UNESCO World Heritage sites, one being its capital Valletta, the smallest national capital in Europe.

We were told by a few people – ” you only need a day or two to see Malta”. How wrong they were! We did three days and only managed the islands of Malta and Comino. We had no time to see the third island, Gozo. Malta is only 316 sq km but is full of fascinating historical sites, wonderful colours and textures, friendly people, coastal activities, the beautiful Mediterranean, good and cheap public transport, great food and what must be the most beautiful harbour in the world, Valletta’s Grand Harbour.

Here is our take on this wonderful place……..

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The award of the George Cross to Malta, the original of which is in the Malta at War museum. Churchill had a special relationship with Malta having visited the country six times.

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The tiny island of Comino is home to the Blue Lagoon, a bit of a tourist trap but nevertheless a stunning swimming and snorkelling location. We took a public bus trip from Valletta to St Pauls Bay on the north west of Malta and then a ferry across to Comino.

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And so our short stay in Malta came to an end. This is one destination we’d love to return to, particularly to see the island of Gozo and perhaps some sailing around these lovely islands.

From Valletta we took Air Malta via Lyon to Paris for a special occasion………next blog

The problem with driving all the way from London to Edinburgh on the motorway in one go, which is quite a hike for UK standards, is you miss so much. It’s only a 7 hour drive but the country is packed full of interesting detours along the way.

We decided to stop twice along the route. First was the town of Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire and the second, Lindisfarne Castle in Northumberland.

Woodhall Spa is an elegant Victorian spa town noted for its mineral springs and its cinema which boasts the last remaining rear screen projector in the country. But Woodhall Spa is probably best know for its WWII association with the Royal Air Force’s famous 617 Squadron, The Dambusters.

The grand Petwood Hotel on Woodhall’s main street was requisitioned in WWII by the RAF along with other establishments . The nearby airfield at Scampton was used by 617 Squadron to launch Operation Chastise, the famous ‘Dams Raid’ to breach the Moehne, Eder and Sorpe dams in 1943. The hotel became home to 617 Squadron and the officers’ mess is still there today containing priceless squadron and Dams Raid memorabilia as well as artworks placed throughout the hotel . A memorial to those 617 squadron crews who lost their lives in this most daring of raids can be found in the town centre next to a modern memorial for 617 squadron members who have lost their lives from WWII to the present day.

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Our next stop just 4 hours north took us to the wild and beautiful Northumberland coast and Holy Island, a magical tidal island with its mystical castle – Lindisfarne.

Lindisfarne Castle sits at the end of a rocky promontory which is only accessible for a few hours each day due to the tides. You need to time your visit as you have to cross a causeway at low tide. After checking the tide tables and chatting to the locals we crossed the causeway. There is plenty to do on the island which, although quite small, has its fair share of pubs and excellent eateries and cafes as well as walking trails.

Although recorded history of Holy Island dates back to the 6th century AS, it is the 16th century castle that is the main attraction. The castle is located on the highest point of the island in what was once a very volatile border area between England and Scotland. It was often the sight of clashes between the Scots and the English but was often attacked by Vikings. Henry VIII ordered the castle to be fortified against Scottish invasion but when James I came to power and unified the English and Scottish thrones, the use of the castle declined.

When we started the weather was quite misty and grey but after a few hours the sun broke through. Seeing this dramatic scene in two different lights made it all the more rewarding. Here is a collection of images of Holy Island and Lindisfarne Castle during the four hours or so we spent walking around the island.

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