As planned having packed the car and cleaned our accommodation, we left pretty much on schedule at 6.30 AM to leave plenty of time for unanticipated delays on our way to Newcastle, from where we were to continue our journey by boat to Amsterdam. The British roads are so much more crowded than Australian roads and the number of roundabouts is legendary...and then there's the roadworks...
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| Leaving Kennels Cottage, Kirkton of Rayne |
Our first break was south of Dundee at MacDonalds as it
was to be just a quick toilet and leg stretch break. If we drive into a
town for a break the issue is always parking which is really tricky
when the town is unfamiliar and can use up lots of precious time!
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| Our Kirkton of Rayne garden |
The
scenery en route as the Tom Tom took us off the main drag was typical
of Scotland with the rolling heathery hills and muddy cows and sheep
looking forlorn in the cold (9C) and rain. We finally stopped for lunch
at Coldstream, as in the Coldstream Guards you may have heard of.
Being a border town, the history of border protection and fighting
historically meant there was a large army based there. These days it is
a pretty historic town with a small town square, where we ate our
lunch, and also has a small museum.
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| Luke's Brae - Coldstream, Scotland |
The Coldstream Guards is the oldest regiment in the army in
continuous service and originated in this little village in 1650. The
little museum had costume displays up to fairly recent service in
Bosnia.
The Coldstream Guards started when Oliver
Cromwell gave George Monck the order to support to the Stuarts and then
they crossed the River Tweed and marched to London where they helped to
restore the monarchy. Monck was given the Order of the Garter and
assigned to keep order in London.
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| Town Square, Coldstream |
To this day,
the Coldstream Guards have ceremonial duties in London and at Windsor
Castle. We most likely saw them at the Changing of the Guards in
London! It is all a bit of a coincidence as we had no idea what we'd
learn from our brief lunch stop at Coldstream!
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| For Karl's sister, Jet (Janette) |
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| Our boat! |
We crossed the River Tweed and said farewell to Scotland
and made our way on to Newcastle. Boarding the boat was sort of fun and
we settled into Cabin 1051 - a five berth cabin with a seaview -
cramped and overheated, but no surprises there. We quickly swallowed a
Kwells each as we had been warned by a Dutch Couple we met at Coldstream
that the water was like a washing machine! I am a poor sea traveller
at any time. Karl, despite having a heavy cold, enjoys the wild sea
weather but my head started spinning just in the queue of cars before we
were even on the boat!
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| Cabin 1051 |
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| Off to the movies |
The on board movies were too tempting even though we had
to pay 8.50 Euros each. Karl was more than happy to have some peace
whilst Annika, Luke and I watched "Inside Out" and Tim watched "The Man
from UNCLE" starring none other than Annika's old ballet teacher, Miss
Amanda's daughter, Elizabeth Debecki! I really enjoyed the movie as
did the kids.
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| At the movies! |
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| Level 10 - very wet deck - our cabin is the first on the right at the bottom. |
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| Luke dressed as an orca! |
We discovered a fantastic Orca Watch room with two well informed young
women who enthusiastically told us about the whales, seals and dolphins
they often see on the passage over the North Sea. Luke was well engaged
there and shared his wildlife passion whilst inspecting dolphin skulls
and Orca's teeth. We didn't see any wildlife apart from some diving
gannets!
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| The North Sea! |
Sleep in our overheated cabin did not come easily!
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