Monday 20th April 2009

This morning we were off again at 8.00am, leaving the Novotel Hotel in Glasgow to travel through the lowland hills. The weather was fine again, so we are lucky again with the sunshine. We first had a short tour of the outskirts, then onto the Motorway to travel to our next overnight stop in Wales.
As Ian said “We have breakfast in Scotland, lunch in England and dinner in Wales”.
Our first stop is just before the border at Gretna Green – which was the usual toilet break and a look around the tourist centre. It was interesting because a tourist coach full of Japanese tourists pulled in a few minutes after us, and there was a Scottish Piper waiting for them – he played “Scotland the Brave”, then they all posed with him for the obligatory photos, and then off they went – I must admit I also joined the mob and had my photo taken with him. We had morning tea there and then it was back on the bus as we headed for the Lake District.
The Lakes District is quite beautiful but not as beautiful as the highlands of Scotland. There are beautiful dry stone walls around all of the fields, and many sheep and new lambs to be seen in the area. We stopped for lunch at a place called Grasmere, and had time to visit the grave site of William Wordsworth.
Then it was back on the bus as we headed towards Chester. We continued to pass many fields with dry stone walls, lots of sheep, and quaint little villages.
When we reached Chester, Ian took us on a rapid walk through the town, pointing out places of interest for us to photograph, then we were left to our own devices for an hour or so to explore the town. Deb and I went to the post office to post home another parcel of souvenirs – this is to keep the suitcases at a reasonable weight. Then we went to explore the Roman Wall and other parts of the town.
We then returned to the bus to cross the border into Wales and on to our hotel to the night. We stayed at a very lovely hotel – St David’s in the Park which had a great indoor swimming pool with steam room and sauna and Jacuzzi – which we had pleasure in using before dinner.