We are in the Highlands od Scotland and its “Whiskey Galore” – we are visiting the Dalwhinnie Distillery – I’m only pretending to drink that !! Ha !
Rob Little,
Cotswold Tours – Driver Guide
Lets Tour England
My Customers are looking around The House of Bruar – a Scottish “institution and high quality shopping experience…..while I have coffee and carrot cake!
Rob Little,
Cotswold Tours – Driver Guide
Lets Tour England
Edinburgh Castle and the Radisson Blu Hotel…..!
Rob Little,
Cotswold Tours – Driver Guide
Lets Tour England
I am in Edinburgh on a public bus for the first time in “n” years!! There is a sign telling you how long each bus will be and then you must tender the exact fare which goes into some kind of safe and is unrobbable!!
How strange – might have a pint or two of Scotch (that’s a Scottish beer actually!!)
Rob Little,
Cotswold Tours – Driver Guide
Lets Tour England
The Elephant House in Edinburgh – where the second Harry Potter book was apparently written!
The other shot is on Ramsey Lane.
Rob Little,
Cotswold Tours – Driver Guide
Lets Tour England
Just a couple of photos of the Kirkstone Pass and Lake Ullswater in the Lake District. For me Ullswater is by far the nicest spot in the Lakes – especially the view from the summit above Martindale. Sadly its been raining but these pics arnt bad albeit taken low res on the Blackberry.
So now on to Scotland with a happy Customer !
Rob Little,
Cotswold Tours – Driver Guide
Lets Tour England
Last night I stayed at the Royal Oak pub in Windermere while my Customers stayed nearby. I was asked what time I’d like breakfast and I say “7.30am”. They say “but we don’t serve breakfast till 9am”….yes NINE ! Well I guess the breakfast would not be good for me anyway !
Anyway I have a noisy nights sleep with the road outside and then imagine my shock when I go into the loo and find a swarm of 20 or so bees doing aerobatics around the bathroom. I have a phobia of them having had blood poisoning after. Sting when I was a kid so there was no way I was gonna deposit myself on the loo and fan away dive bombing bees nor share a shower with them.
Finally I go outside and find that someone has scraped my van.
Grrrrrrrrrr this job is not all fun !
Rob Little,
Cotswold Tours – Driver Guide
Lets Tour England
It was 22 years ago I last visited The Masons Arms at Strawberry Bank, when camping in the Lakes, near Windermere with my wife and children.
My son, Tom, was just 4 and while my wife was cooking the dinner, Tom and I went to the pub for a beer and an orange juice. It was a lovely summers evening and there is a wonderful view toward the Yorkshire Dales from the garden. While we were at the bar, a troop of Morris Dancers (google it under google videos!!) turned up for an evening of traditional dance, drinking and ribald humour! I told Tom we’d watch a couple of dances as he would find them funny.
Then, as if to gild the lily, a man with a pronounced American accent brashly requests to be allowed to dance and the group agreed to much sniggering behind the hands of the Customers who knew how complicated the dances were! So the American gets up to dance with a few misplaced footsteps and feigned derision from the eager audience – I said to Tom “this is gonna be hilarious”!!
But in the end the joke was entirely on the dancers and on us watching…after his fake faux pas, the American chappie clearly knew every step of the dance and received much applause from Customers and “Morris Men” alike !!!
So this was the first time I had returned in 20 years and the place is clearly popular but much as I’d remembered it. I enjoyed a pint of Black Sheep ale, the tenderest lamb falling off the bone you can imagine with green beans, hand cut chips and tasty gravy followed with a clotted cream cheesecake! Ouch !
You may have heard that English food can be “plain” – ummmmmm maybe 50yrs ago but does this look interesting enough?? Actually is pretty typical good pub fare! Get over here and try it !
Parking…especially in the dark can be tricky….I swear I saw a guy in a jag misjudge and drag the side of his Jag along a stone post !
But the Masons Arms at Strawberry Bank, near Lake Windermere, is definitely to be recommended !!
Rob Little,
Cotswold Tours – Driver Guide
Lets Tour England
We finally arrived here at Windermere in The Lake District, nearly two hours late after the forray with the ******g M6 just in time for the infamous lakeland rain to set in – hence the rather colourless photos !
Not a good start today especially as I fell A over T down the stairs at the hotel this morning !
And while we are on the subkect of Hotels….breakfast starts at lunchtime – 8am at the Wellington in Brecon, 8.15am at the Brigstock in Llandudno and 9am yes NINE at the Royal Oak in Windermere…..and NO REDUCTIONS if you don’t have it !!! The customer most certainly is NOT king in these establishments !
Rob Little,
Cotswold Tours – Driver Guide
Lets Tour England
What a ******g aweful highway the M6 is – 30 odd mile queue around Preston and whichever alternative route the GPS’s (I multi-gps) took me it was solid each way grrrrrr !
Rob Little,
Lets Tour England!
