Heading South

A big travelling day today – Edinburgh to York, around 250 miles (400km). There were a few places we wanted to visit along the way, so we headed off early (and were caught up in the early morning school run!), and were soon on the motorway.

First stop was Berwick-upon-Tweed. Unusually, it was not raining, but given it is on the coast, it was VERY windy! And cold. So we didn’t stay long.

Next up was Alnwick Castle, which was Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies (although a lot of editing has been done). It was a lovely place (and still not raining), so we spent a bit of time wandering around the castle grounds, and went on a guided tour which pointed out the locations for Harry Potter, as well as Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (with Kevin Costner), and Black Adder (the opening scene of Rowan Atkinson chasing the horse is down by the river next to the castle). The castle gateway is used in all of these movies!

Not long after we left Alnwick castle, it started raining (it couldn’t last all day!), but we thought Fountains abbey and Water Garden was going to be worth getting wet for, so we headed there anyway. Unfortunately, when we arrived, the power had been cut due to flooding, and most of the water garden paths were, in fact, under water (they had flooded the week before, water had gone down, everything cleaned up, and now its all flooded again). So they had closed until further notice. It was very disappointing.

Given the impending flooding, and road closures that had already started, we thought it might be best to get to York. We were only an hour or so away anyway, so we headed off. The river in York is almost breaking the banks, but we are told the rain should pass overnight and tomorrow will be much finer – the barometer in the B&B seems to confirm this. Keeping our fingers crossed!

(Alison)