Celebrating At The Beach

 Look who turned FOUR!

And what better way to celebrate than with cousins in house?

AT THE BEACH!

It's the first time that this entire gang has been together having fun in the sun and the sand.

And you can bet that they are enjoying every minute that they can.

Even the Yinzer Fisherman is enjoying a bit of sport.

Pretty sure you aren't too surprised by that one!

So, here's to celebrating the beauty of the ocean, the sound of the crashing waves, family memories in the making and turning FOUR!  It doesn't get much better than this, does it? 

Final Day in Scotland

It was tough to say good-bye to that lovely view this morning, but we knew the stay was only for one night.  We just didn't know how awesome the Dryburgh Abbey Hotel would be.

Marty was able to get out in the morning to try his hand at more fly fishing, but luck was not with him.  He still had fun, though, and is already planning a future trip.  I'm not quite sure who is going with him, though.

Since it was nearing the end of our trip, I really didn't have any plans, but mentioned a botanical garden that was on our way, and Marty thought that was a great idea. 

I'll be honest.  I expected to see azaleas and rhododendrons in their full glory.  But such was not the case. 

In a week or two, they will certainly be amazing visitors, but not today.

However, a real gem greeted us from the gardens:  Blue Poppies!

How amazing is that?  My friend, Kathy, had recently made a trip to Longwood Gardens and had posted that she had seen these unusual poppies, but they were at their peak and would no longer be in bloom for us to see them in the US.  

That made this find even more exciting! One of the locals mentioned that he felt that they must have been subject to frost, as they were all holding their petals downward instead of upward.  What did I know?  I figured they were supposed to be that way!

After all, it was my very first time seeing them. 

The location of these blue beauties in in Dawyck Garden, which is now a regional garden of the Royal Botanical Garden of Edinburgh.  The history goes back to the 17th century when a family by the name of Veitch began planting various species to enhance their family home.  They created a woodland oases on the hillside and one can see the house through the trees that have grown all these years since.  

The house changed owners several times, with each devoted to enhancing the gardens.  In 1897, the Balfour family introduced North American trees, compliments of David Douglas, for whom the Douglas Fir is named. Rhododendrons from China were also brought to the estate to be planted, and most of them still stand all these years later. 

Here you can see a giant Redwood, compliments of David Douglas. 

A row of trees standing along the Beech walk

a wild apple tree in bloom

and several interesting ground cover florals. 

Here you se a money tree standing just in front of a rhododendron on the verge of blooming.

There was a lovely stream that stretched for quite some distance, offering some lovely, tranquil views of small waterfalls along the way.

Near a bank of trees introduced to Dawyck by Douglas stands what appears to be a statue of a First Nations Figure.  It is actually a carving made from a beech tree that had fallen near this spot.  In 2013, a local chainsaw carver from the village of Moffit, performed his handiwork that resulted in this spectacular figure that is 8 foot high. 

Before leaving, I took one last photo of a grouping of blue poppies standing in front of a rhododendron waiting to bloom.  

After all, who knows when I'll have the opportunity to see another?

We headed into Peebles, just for a short walk, 

and our last cream tea of the visit.

Let me just mention that is REAL clotted cream and REAL homemade strawberry jam.  It was the perfect ending to the trip!  Marty mentioned to Julie, the owner, how much he enjoyed the scone, and she started rambling off the recipe to him.  She then asked me for my email, and told me that she'd be happy to send it to me!  Now, how lucky is that? 

I just checked, and sure enough, she has done just that!  

We've been through Peebles several times over the years.  It has to be one of the most picturesque villages sitting along the river Tweed, don't you think?

We headed to South Queensferry where we are tucked into a ground floor room on the back of Hawes Inn.  No bridge view this time, but that's OK.  We head out early in the morning for our flight, and watching the trains go past might be a bit distracting.

We'll just have to be satisfied with hearing them instead.

Our fabulous trip is coming to an end.  I do hope that you enjoyed following along.  

Until next time.....

 

 

Yorkshire Sunshine & Waterfalls

 We checked out of our B&B this morning, and headed out through the gorgeous Yorkshire Dales on our way north to Scotland.  Traveling along the rolling hills, lined with stone fences and sheep grazing in the fields, felt like we were driving through a picture post card.  

Just one glorious scene after another.

We made our way to the Aysgarth Falls visitor center as part of our adventure today.  It is a hidden retreat accessible by narrow winding roads, making it even more delightful.  Once we made the turn at the sign, we came across a large parking lot, visitor center with a tea room, and public bathrooms (always an advantage, particularly when gallivanting through unpopulated territory!) 

We headed to the lower falls first, which was a very short distance from the parking lot.

I find the roar of the falls to be quite tranquil.  The power of the water rushing through is actually quite amazing as the water upstream wasn't really moving fast.   We were actually able to get relatively close to admire the beauty.

Moving on, we walked back to the parking lot, then in the opposite direction, across the road, to another path that led to the middle falls.  Once again, the image before us could easily have been printed up on a post card. 

Note the church steeple in the upper middle part of the photo. It really doesn't get much better than that!

But we continued along the trail to see what the Upper Falls might have to offer.  This was a bit further, about half a mile further down the path,  and was a tad more challenging regarding the terrain. 

Along the way, this carved bench intrigued me.

And I was completely surprised to see a Haiku carved upon its back.

Ancient Pasture

filled with flowers, sheep & cattle

enrich the soil

Quite nice, although one might note that we saw few flowers and absolutely no sheep and cattle on this walk.  But the sentiment would certainly apply to much of what we drove through so far today.

A little ways further, down some steps, around the corner, more steps, and there we were....at the Upper Falls.

Did I mention that it was amazing?

We've hiked to a few waterfalls in some of our gallivanting escapades, and I must admit that these were the easiest to access.  The National Park has really gone out of their way to design the paths to make viewing these wonders less challenging than most.  And I certainly did appreciate that!

We had quite a bit of distance to cover, so we headed north, and finally made it to the hotel around 4:15 pm.  

We were greeted at the desk by Martin, who had a very thick Scottish brogue that brought back so many happy memories of our times here in this beautiful country.  And he was so welcoming, which actually is pretty standard here in Scotland. 

It didn't take long for Marty to learn that he can fish on the River Tweed that runs along the hotel property.  When he mentioned to Martin that he didn't have any waders, Martin responded, "No worries....I'm sure we have a pair here that you can borrow that will fit you."  Honestly!  How awesome is that?  And, you can be certain that Marty jumped on that offer!

But first, we decided to head up to the room with our bags.  The staircase was definitely unique.

As was the plaque on the door. 

This might just be nirvana for Marty.

The room was huge and had a lovely view of the river.

 Which meant that I could sit by the window and relax, while keeping an eye on Mr. Yinzer Fisherman.

He was living his dream.

I decided to venture out for a bit to see if I could get a glimpse of Dryburgh Abbey, which is located right next door to the hotel.  I couldn't get close to it, as there is a high stone wall separating the properties, but I did manage to capture a photo. 

Beautiful!

We enjoyed a lovely dinner in the hotel restaurant, overlooking the Tweed.  Marty did not catch any trout, but he did see plenty teasing him.  So, he plans to get up early and try again in the morning.  We only have one night here, so he might as well make the best of it, right?  

Here's hoping I have some exciting developments to share tomorrow!

I'll keep you posted!