Sunday morning was an early start as we had to be on the ferry before the 8 o'clock sailing, so we boarded the bus at 7. The good thing was I slept most of the way across. We got to see some lighthouses both as we departed and then arrived in Wales.
Ireland
Wales
Once we landed we headed towards our first stop of the day at the town with the longest name in the world. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogeryrndrobwllllantysiliogogogch. The name means 'the church of Mary in the hollow of the white hazel near the fierce whirlpool and the church of Tysilio by the red cave'.
From there we continued on to Caernarfon to view the castle where Charles was crowned Prince of Wales on July 1st 1969.
We spent a couple of hours there touring the castle eating our lunch and enjoying the town.
It was also the home of David Lloyd George the British Prime Minister during World War I.
We finished the day by traveling to our hotel for the night which was near Chester. It was an old manor house Grovsnor Pluford Hotel and Spa. It was nice but a very confusing walk to our rooms as they were in the midst of doing renovation. We had a very nice group dinner and then retired for the evening.
Monday the 30th we left the hotel at 8 and headed from Wales back into England and then on to Scotland.
We stopped in the town of Grasmere and visited St. Oswald's Church. This is the place where William Wordsworth is buried. We explored the town and enjoyed the quiet countryside.
We even got some gingerbread at a little bake shop.
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Our next stop was the village of Gretna Green in Scotland. This town is just over the boarder and was the destination of eloping couples from England after the laws changed in the 1700's. It was still legal to marry at 16 without parental permission in Scotland. The town makes a big deal of this and there are shops and souvenirs to be had. They even still do a lot of weddings and one was taking place while we were there. This was also a lunch stop and we ate a snack on the bus.
We continued on to Edinburgh and our hotel for the next two nights. We had some free time before having our group dinner on the top floor of the hotel. It was a nice location as the wall of windows gave us a grand view of Edinburgh Castle on the hill over looking the city.
