The "Bubble" of Perfect Weather (?)

 

When we were full-time cruising I joked that we lived in a bubble of 25 degrees C, moving north in the summer and south in the winter. It was actually somewhat disorienting; the back of my mind lost track of what month it was because we were always warm. It was always June in my world. We'd say we timed our travel to never be north of where/when the azaleas were in bloom. After our long-distance cruising days, I was somewhat looking forward to staying in one place and getting reacquainted with the rhythm of the seasons. (Well, Covid lockdowns somewhat changed that calculus, but still.)  But, ah, the irony: Here we are in northern Europe, in JULY, dressed for the chill. And the back of my mind still doesn’t know what month it is, maybe March?  

Notice the warm hats -- admittedly the locals tell us this is an unusually chilly summer.

The "Situation" with the Ramp and the Tide, Managed

 

Remember that crazy steep impassible gangplank due to the tides I posted about earlier? And said it wasn't a "problem," just a "situation" to be managed? Here's the solution: the biggest fender I’ve ever seen, being towed to the ship by dinghy; and then FOUR of those fenders in place, keeping us off the concrete dock to allow the ramp to have a gentler slope.

The fender is as big as the 2-person rubber dinghy that's towing it!

The new giant fender in place, really dwarfing our normal fenders (the row of round black balls above it are each about a meter in diameter!) They're "defensas" in Spanish, and I think "defenses" are a great name for fenders.

A person of normal agility would easily be able to come aboard now.

Newcastle Castle and Cathedral (photo dump 2 of 2)

 

Newcastle Castle! When we were in Colorado I remember anything more than 100 years old being considered “historic.” Here in England they don’t blink until it’s a THOUSAND years old! And that's the "new" castle; I'm not sure where/what the "old" castle was... This castle is considered one of the best examples of Norman stone carving. It was pretty much the northern extent of England in its time (Scotland just across the border.) The view from the top was fantastic. (For some reason Blogger insisted on posting these photos in reverse order except for the first one, sorry.)

The castle does lose some context surrounded by modern roads and pavement. In my childhood mind's eye castles were huge and imposing.

Chain mail display in the Great Hall.

The decorative stone carving in the chapel is remarkable, but again we don't know what is original and what was later embellishment.

Spiral stairs! Memories of the St Augustine light house. But these stone stairs are far more irregular. Can you imagine a medieval knight running up these in full armour? We were hanging on firmly to the rail even in our jeans and modern shoes. Very irregular spacing and uneven surfaces, yikes.

I’m not sure what the story is behind these stones. The pattern of dots looks too intentional to be a side product of the quarrying process.(Which one park staffer suggested; another thought it was an embellishment added during Victorian times.)

Rooftop view in the other direction, toward the cathedral we visited after the castle

View from the rooftop. The low bridge toward the right side is a swing bridge on the site of a long-ago Roman bridge, that would have been made of wood atop stone pillars.

The Grand Hall

First view of the castle, walking up the steps from the Tyne River

Th doors to enter into the Great Hall. There’s a simpler smaller door for everyday, this is for those who need to make a grander entrance. We learned how very big a deal hierarchies were in the Middle Ages

After the castle, we made our way across to the cathedral. I suspect between the two they pretty much defined the center of life in the middle ages.

Informative panel about the 900-year-old church.

The intricacy of the carving and artwork was remarkable. How many years of effort must this have taken? Admittedly I compared it to the humbleness of the ordinary person's dwelling of the day, and even of the castle, and wondered about priorities and misplaced effort.

More intricate carving, this time of marble.

The organ; somehow the vertical pipes brought to mind ... 

... the vertical lines of this structure on the Galeon for hoisting the mainsail. (Maybe my own kind of religion?)

I'm admittedly non-religious and skeptical of organized religion and churches in general but was impressed by the welcoming nature of this grand cathedral; in the corner you can see the sleeping bag of a homeless person who has taken shelter here.

We visited at the end of June so this Pride conversation was displayed in one area. The sign referred to "all our identities" and (ouch!) the "regressive" policies in the US. I was pleasantly surprised to find the church more inclusive than I would have expected from this institution.

My favourite plaque of all! A feminist in the 1600s. "If all men are born free," she asks, "how is it that all women are born slaves?" That she was educated in this church at a time when most women, in fact many people, were not, counts for a lot, and that she expressed this sentiment was remarkable to me. All in all I had a much more favourable view of this church after our visit. 

Scotland (a Quick Weekend Getaway)

 

Objectively, there was no particular reason we should be intrigued by Scotland. None of our ancestors came from there, it wasn't the setting for any book or series we were obsessed by, nor the music or art or food or anything else. And yet ... when we had 2 days off together and learned that Edinburgh was just a 2-hour train ride from where the Galeon was docked, we immediately booked the train, packed our backpacks and walking shoes and off we went! No reason to pass up an adventure if one was available.

Edinburgh was amazing. The server at the coffee shop where we had brunch asked us if we were enjoying Scotland and we told her we’ve been here about two hours now and so far so good. 😉 Pix include some random street scenes, a busker on every corner (playing bagpipes obvs), and the castle built on a volcanic core, making a dramatically steep and easily defensible location. A wee sip of single-malt was in our future that evening. (The accents here are so incredibly musical)

Random street scene; love the architecture!

This monument and public garden/park greeted us almost as soon as we got off the train.

Behind the fountain is the castle, high and defensible on the core of an old volcano

Buskers playing bagpipes on every corner. Also, Edinburgh is steep and hilly. Either a very long walk around a road with hairpins, or get used to stairs!

I have a jigsaw puzzle of Victoria Street; at the time I got it I had no idea that I'd walk the real thing, near our hotel.

The "back" side of the castle

There really were buskers playing bagpipes everywhere! (We loved it!)

  

I had taken to keeping all the small coins (equivalent of dimes and quarters) from our tips in one pocket and just casually grabbing a small fistful and tossing it into the instrument cases of the street performers. This guy invited me to take a selfie after I did. 

Every food we wanted to taste in Edinburgh started with the letter “S” — scones, smoked salmon, and single-malt scotch. 3 for 3. (Haggis wasn’t on the list after I googled the ingredients.) The 4th pic is the pub we ate at, with live Celtic music.

There was a bakery across the street from the train station where we could taste the first "S" food on our list. They offered a variety of scones both sweet and savory

Real smoked salmon

... and the third "S" -- single-malt Scotch. I could definitely get used to this.

The live music where we had dinner. That the musicians weren't on a stage but just gathered around a table may or may not have made for the best acoustics, but certainly helped the convivial atmosphere of the place.

We took a page from our fabulous travel planner Sydney at The Boho Traveller and booked ourselves into a nicer hotel at a great location and paid upgrade for a view of the castle. After two months of the rather Spartan living conditions on the ship, we figured we needed a bit of luxury.

The room included a full, but compact, kitchen ...

... and a bed with very lush bedding

Best of all, here's the view out the window, of Edinburgh Castle!

Walking distance to all the coolest sites.

The "Grassmarket" is where all the coolest eating and drinking spots are. It's also the site where historically they held hangings.

The site's unpleasant history is referenced in the name of this pub (complete with nooses!). I preferred to think of it as getting every single sip (errr... "drop") of my scotch.

I snapped the name of this pub for our good friends Barb and Stew Hart.

One of the visitors to the ship warned us about overtourism in Edinburgh; he said we’d meet lots of tourists from the US and Asia but few locals. (Sadly true.) We took a day trip to Stirling, the historic capital. Like a mini-Edinburgh, the desk agent at our hotel told us, but uncrowded. Pix include some street scenes; the beautiful vistas (so many visitors to the ship ask me where my accent is from, and the resulting conversations brought Colorado to mind and make us miss the mountains); statue of Robert the Bruce in front of the castle  (1274-1329, king who led Scotland in fighting for independence from England and is regarded as a national hero). BTW the inept fitness tracker on our phones claimed we climbed a total of 7 flights of stairs this day. I’m looking at the vista, knowing we started at the bottom, and feeling definitely cheated. 😆

We went back to the bakery for another breakfast of scones; the umbrellas hanging on their ceiling were among the brightest colours we'd see all day. 

Scotland’s national flower is the thistle. Multiple varieties of this sturdy scrubby plant are everywhere. There’s a legend that a group of defending Scottish soldiers were sleeping and invaders were trying to sneak up on them. The assault was foiled when one of the ambushers stepped on a spiky thistle and let out a yelp of surprise and pain. Thus the lowly plant became a symbol of a grateful nation. (No real historical data to back it up but it’s a cute story, yes?) This sculpture is just outside the train station.

(Dan for scale; I like the way his rainjacket matches the door behind the thistle)

Finally, exhausted but happy, we caught the train back to Newcastle ... and got lost walking back to the ship from the train station! Good thing the next couple of days were work days, we needed the relative rest of routine after all that exploring.

Street view in Newcastle under the overpass for one of the many bridges

A street we got lost on trying to get back to the ship. With a steep hill at one end and a large river running down the middle of the town you'd think it would be impossible to get lost, but we managed. Chalk it up to exhaustion.