It was the first day of summer (according to the pagan tradition) and we were fresh from the Beltane Festival experience that remarkably had left none of us worse for wear. The night before we had stood in the bone chilling cold with wind whipping at our backs and mist coming over the top of Calton Hill but NOT ONE OF US HAD A RUNNY NOSE!!! We had met Jay and his sister Claire at the Beltane Bonfire and they had recommended we visit the National Museum of Scotland. It was a perfect place to spend the morning and it was free Ffff-ruh-eeee! We enjoyed seeing “Dolly” the first cloned sheep as well as many other interesting exhibits in that fantastic museum. We stopped at a bakery for fresh bread and sandwiches then headed for Scarborough on the east coast of England.
Along the Northumberland Coast Road we had our very last glimpses of snow capped mountains. We passed by Lindisfarne (a band Charles liked) castle in the distance and stopped at Bamburgh castle. As we were leaving Robbie Burns land we pulled out the old guitar to sing "Auld Lang Syne" one last time. There was a vintage car club that passed us going in the other direction and Nicole got some good shots of Jaguars, Porsches and Minis. We drove through North Yorkshire and HAD to stop in Whitby. The hotel with Dracula on the front lawn caught our eyes so we asked the owner if we could take our picture with him - the vampire. The hotel owner was very nice as was his friend from whom we learned the Goth Festival had just happened and we missed it. Dang!
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Many young English couples used to nip up to Scotland to
get married at an earlier age than was allowed back home. |
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| We saw over 50 of these babies |
We drove down to the slightly eerie seaport and old whaling village of Whitby where Bram Stoker had drawn inspiration for “Dracula.” The hearse parked near the harbor and the black roses on the park bench plus the jaw bones of a blue whale framing the castle ruins on the hill added to the weird feeling.
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| Whitby local |
The next town was Scarborough and Dian explained to the camping and caravan managers that she had learned the song “Are You Going To Scarborough Fair” as a child with her mom playing the piano then later with the Simon and Garfunkel version. When she and Charles left with another spot to look at for camping, the manager said Dian reminded him of Joni Mitchell (second time someone had said that).
As we pulled into the free camping place right across from the beach we met Steve and Sylvia who were also camping and they assured us the bathrooms were clean and we shouldn’t have any trouble parking there overnight.
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| Whitby |
Along the Northumberland Coast Road we had our very last glimpses of snow capped mountains. We passed by Lindisfarne (a band Charles liked) castle in the distance and stopped at Bamburgh castle. As we were leaving Robbie Burns land we pulled out the old guitar to sing "Auld Lang Syne" one last time. There was a vintage car club that passed us going in the other direction and Nicole got some good shots of Jaguars, Porsches and Minis. We drove through North Yorkshire and HAD to stop in Whitby. The hotel with Dracula on the front lawn caught our eyes so we asked the owner if we could take our picture with him - the vampire. The hotel owner was very nice as was his friend from whom we learned the Goth Festival had just happened and we missed it. Dang!
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