Today it was time to head north and begin our Scottish holiday. First thing though was change over our i30 for a newer one. This time we got a blue one that is marginally newer with only has 22,000 miles on the clock. Still, it hasn't gone past its 24,000 mile disposal point but we may just change that over the next 3 weeks...
We headed north out of York and into the North York Moors. We wound our way through a number of small villages as we climbed up onto the Moor. We stopped at the Chop Gate lookout and in the distance across the River Leven valley, we could see a monument to Captain Cook. If we could see at that distance, we decided that it must be big enough to pay it a visit. So off we set, between hedgerows, down single track country lanes. You have to keep a look out for oncoming traffic because you need to find passing bays or convenient farm gates to get past. After driving around for a while with only a general idea of where we were trying to go, we found a sign to the monument. Off we went up more country lanes until we where on top of the moor again where we parked and went for a walk up to the monument. Erected only 50 years after his death, the monument is a piece of history in itself.
Looking across the River Leven valley to the Captain Cook Monument
Having spent a bit more time than we probably should have, we set off again across country to Darlington where we picked up the A68 to Edinburgh. It is a wonderful road to drive along, passing through lots of small villages and the occasional larger town on the way. Of course, only being two lanes, it can be slow at time when you get caught up behind traffic. At one point, when the A68 briefly joined another A road, we missed the turn off and went some distance out of our way. So it was back to the country lanes to get back on track. In the process we came across Chesters Fort. This is the remains of a Roman Fort built on Hadrian's Wall. We stopped for a visit before continuing on, picking up the A68 again and crossing the border into Scotland.
As if to welcome us to Scotland, we were immediately sent off on a diversion (the local term for a detour). Several miles later we were still being diverted but we had no idea why or how far. Usually the diversions are well marked but this one wasn't. After a while, different people were starting to take different routes back to the A68. We didn't go off with the first bunch which, we were to find later, proved to be a good decision. We did, however, go off with the second bunch of a dozen or so cars. After quite a while we all came to a stop. The people coming back the over way had found they couldn't get through so we all turned around and headed off together. At one stage there was about 30 cars in a line going down a single track, country lane. Quite bizarre and a headache for the few people trying come the other way. Eventually we made back to the A68 and into Edinburgh by 7.30. Yes, we could have got there much quicker if we had used the A1 but we saw so much more of England and Scotland this way.
No 27 Morningside is our B&B. It is really nice, huge by the standards of the others we have stayed in so far - but more of that another day.
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