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We stopped at Castlerigg Standing Stones outside of Keswick as we left the Lake District today. The directions looked pretty good but we did manage to drive by it 3 times before asking some walkers for help. Guess what, we were almost right beside the stones! Tourist signs are not big in the country. The stones were right in the middle of that sheep pasture!! We parked, opened the swing gate and walked "carefully" (it was a sheep pasture after all!!) about 200 feet to a ring of 38 upright stones about 90 feet across. It certainly wasn't Stonehedge but probably for the same purpose. And rather eerie to be standing inside something about 5,000 years old. I heard there is a fence around Stonehedge now because of all the tourist damage. (We saw grafitti at the top of St. Paul's Cathedral in Rome so no place is safe.)
Now we are on our way to Scotland! I am curious to see what Scotland looks like.Since we are already on the west side of England, just driving about 3 hours north takes us to Glasgow.
I just read that Scotland has its own paper money. I shouldn't have been surprised as there is still plenty of animosity between the English and the Scots. And it isn't just about the sports teams; just ask any one in Scotland! Scotland has its own parliment now and maybe will decide they don't really need England anymore!
From my reading about Glasgow this city should be a little different -- not known for all the history -- just a busy, working class city. There were a couple of sights that sounded interesting so Glasgow is a good next stop. The B&B is on SAUCHICHALL Street (that must be Scottish spelling) and looks pretty good. And the street is pronounced "Socky-hall"; what are all those extra letters about??
We set off for a walk around to get the feel of Glasgow by going to the huge Glasgow Cathedral across town. We walked through the big "city center" with all the shopping and restaurants with no touristy places but lots of career types and young people all around. No traffic in this area which was really pleasant!
We walked uphill another 30 minutes to the Cathedral which was started about 1230. This is a huge Gothic cathedral still blackened from the soot furnaces of the past. Many of the buildings around Glasgow have been cleaned within the last few years and really look good.
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Dinner was a great Italian restaurant where the pizza was fabulous and Don practiced his Italian with the owner. I wonder how an Italian ended up in Glasgow, Scotland with 3 very sucessful Italian restaurants? Maybe less competition in this town? We did talk with a family who drove south 3 hours from Aberdeen to Glasgow for an anniversity dinner at this restaurant so the food really must be excellent.
We walked 5.5 miles today and shouldn't even be tired!
