Cool Britannia

8 days in our Hertz rent-a-car took us from London to Grantham (birthplace of Maggie Thatcher) to Stirling (amazing old city) to Stonehaven (on the beach) to Inverness (near Loch Ness) to Fort William to Dumfries to Manchester (dinner and drinks with Sara and Maggie) back to London. And all the towns and cities in between.

England is racing along the motorways in our sporty Volvo free upgrade, 'rally' driving on the windy English country roads in our sporty Volvo free upgrade, bikes with real wicker baskets in Cambridge, quaint little hamlets, stone towns with cobblestone streets, a walled city named York, the fort of Housesteads on Hadrian's wall, more of those sheep with black faces, patchwork rolling hills subdivided by stone walls, the moors (without Heathcliff), Cambridge and Oxford Universities, Stoke-on-Trent (birthplace of one Robbie Williams), B&B after B&B, and constantly wondering 'How far is a mile?'.

Scotland is a beautiful old castle in Stirling, a constant search for the infamous highland cattle, boredom in the car broken up with interpretative dance, Autumn weather triggering the leaves to turn, field upon field of round hay bales, towns with market squares, the 'Beast' aka Nessie aka The Loch Ness Monster and the bitter disappointment when we didn't spot her (and why do they assume it's a female?), oilriggs scattered in a firth, the barren brown but magnificent Scottish Highlands, sheep lying down to eat, unperturbed highland cattle refusing to pose for photos no matter how much I insulted them, B&B after B&B, imitating our hostess, 'Yer canny git lowst' (you cannot get lost - but we did!)

Now it's back to reality and work... but not 'til Wednesday.