Perched on a Post

It was a lovely and perfect day to run a marathon. Also a great day for spectators and of course we fall into the latter category. We took up our post near the tower around 10:30 and watched for almost four hours. It was fun to be in the middle of all of the excitement. They had a good live band playing music the whole time and it was pretty cute to watch everyone, of all ages, swinging their hips and tapping their feet to the music, even though they weren't necessarily aware they were so engaged in the background sounds. 

As promised, the crowds were very large. We got to see the first place runners at about the 20 mile point and the crowd was pretty boisterous cheering on the runners. The motorcycles down the track give you the first heads-up that a runner is coming by and then for the first and second place runners, a media truck precedes them with all of the photojournalists hanging out the back to get the perfect image and the big time clock. 

It wasn't until about 12:30 that the masses of athletes really started running past. The crowds from our vantage point also got very busy as more of the masses of athletes got to the four hour mark. The spectators were so excited when they got to cheer on their family member or friend as they ran by. The race appears to be very well organized with almost 50,000 runners apparently competing today. Aside from the elite athletes, you get into the race by a lottery method. Typically while they issue 50,000 entries for approval, only about 38,000 usually show up to compete. This year they think they far exceeded the 38,000 actual competitors. 

The masses of runners

While it's a race for elite athletes, the London marathon also features wheelchair athletes and other para-athletes and the club, charity and ballot runners as well. There were a significant number of guide runners, usually for those visually impaired, with a large team fielded from Japan.  

Reporting from our spot Perched on a Post 

Gridlock at the Palace

It was a cool morning here in London -- likely one of the coldest yet that we have had on this vacation. We put on a few more layers than normal and are thankful at least we don't have snow, unlike photos from home that were sent to us today. 

This morning we fulfilled Sir IF's desire to head to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard. We had been warned that there are usually swarms of people at this event and yes, there were big crowds. We were fortunate to get a spot along one of the railings, not at the palace, but on one of the parade routes, so we had a chance to take better photos than a lot of other people who were there. The horses were beautiful and we got to hear the military band and also see the guards. 

Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace

We left the palace via a walk through St. James Park and the Princess Diana Memorial Playground which was quite lovely. When we got out of the park we needed to cross one of the roads by the palace and got into what can only be called 'pedestrian gridlock'. A lot of the roads around the palace were closed off for the changing of the guards, but also in anticipation of the marathon events as well, so people had nowhere to move to when a "buggy" or vehicle got into the roadway somehow. But we forged on; one of the event organizers finally took charge and told people to divide into two lines, and the gridlock became manageable and passable. 

We were trying to make our way into the Knightsbridge area and head towards Harrods to check out the iconic London retailer. Took a bit of a windy route but we did get there and had fun checking out the interesting floors and shops and departments inside Harrods. The Egyptian Escalator area was particularly memorable. We also took a stroll through their toy department which was done so much more tastefully than our experience with Hamleys. 

Being the brave and learned souls that we have become we now managed to transfer trains and divide up our subway trip home so we felt like we had achieved a milestone. 

In the early evening we made our way over to St. Paul's Cathedral to take in the Evensong service. The cathedral truly is an incredible feat of architecture to marvel over. The ceilings and the immense size of the building and the artistry are all so impressive. There was a choir visiting from Essex and it was lovely to have this chance to participate in an Anglican service in such a revered setting. 

St. Paul's Cathedral

The weather took a dramatic turn for the better late this afternoon so we took advantage of our balcony for some photos of the Thames and pre-dinner drinks. 

The tour boats were very busy today.

Tonight we ventured out as far as downstairs for some dinner in that restaurant. We had breakfast here once before but this was our first chance to have a dinner meal there. It's a very happening place on the weekends. Beside us there was a group of five lovely young women celebrating a birthday. They were earnestly in conversation with the managers discussing their identification in hopes of some celebratory alcohol but we don't think they were very successful. They had brought a birthday cake and some flares and sparklers on it so the serving staff brought it out to the table. It gave off quite the show of light and we were quite convinced the smoke detectors were going to go off but they didn't much to their server's relief. 

There were a couple of boat cruises on the Thames tonight and the people on one of them seemed to be having quite the early dance party. All of the guests were wearing headphones and dancing up a storm - guess that way the ship complies with noise bylaws and the partiers still get to have a good time. 

Tap Tap Tap!

Another busy day in a busy city, putting lots and lots of miles on our feet. We started this morning with a nice subway ride over to the Imperial War Museum which is on the other side of the Thames from where we are staying - an area we hadn't quite ventured over to before. It was nice to see another area of London. 

This was another very interesting museum, especially all of the exhibits relating to World War I. They have a floor devoted to the Secret Wars, spies and such as well which was interesting. These museums are all so intensive that you can really only do one museum in a day. We decided to walk back from the museum which took about two hours. Sir IF's feet gave out before Meg's today, not that we are keeping track (insert smiley face here)! 

We walked through the building for the Tate Modern hopeful for some lunch but that wasn't going to work out. We didn't have enough energy left to go through the gallery itself today so will save that for another day. 

It's really beautiful to stroll along the riverwalk all the way to the hotel on both sides of the river and you get to see so many interesting buildings along the way. We continue to marvel at the way they incorporate all of the new buildings with unique architectural designs into the old historical buildings. Everything is so incredibly clean everywhere you walk. It's all very impressive. Their city planning department must be huge. We lunched at the Horniman Bar (no that is not a typo) and Meg got her first Club sandwich of the trip. Happy faces all around! 

Tonight we had another theatre outing. This time we went to the tap-dancing musical 42nd Street and it was spectacular. We were dithering over which play or musical to select and the ticket advisor said this one was a really lavish original-style production and he was absolutely correct. It was just like all of the old musicals that we used to see on television. Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves to believe that we are really here in London getting to see these productions. There was such a buzz of excitement with all of the people and families excited about their big night out, taking photos outside the theatre, and then again once they get in the theatre. It was very heartwarming and another great day in a beautiful city! 

Beautiful!

We had a good train ride yesterday from Edinburgh to London; pretty uneventful which for us was a nice change. No falls outside the train station; yes, we'll take good omens everywhere we can. 

It was nice to check back into a familiar place and know we don't have to be on the move again. Kind of like coming home one could say. 

Today we reacquainted ourselves with the subway system which certainly is very efficient. And we put lots of miles on our shoes which was good for both of us - although we have been getting our share of exercise on this trip. London is very busy again and we think in part it is because the London Marathon is taking place on Sunday. Much of the central London roads will be closed down. It's a huge marathon attracting about 50,000 entrants so we will have to pick our vantage point somewhere close to our hotel. While we were walking around today we saw so many runners getting their pre-race training runs in, weaving in and out amongst all of the tourists. Words cannot describe the frenetic pace and hordes of people and traffic here. It's amazing to be amongst so many people from all over the world. 

All of the flowers seemed to be in bloom in St. James Park as we strolled by there today. 

Our morning was spent visiting the National Gallery where we saw beautiful paintings from most of the masters from various periods including Rembrandt, Monet, Manet, Cezanne, Seurat, Vermeer, and Klimt and a number of other famous Dutch artists. The building itself is so large and its old architecture so beautifully displays all of the extraordinarily-sized works of a number of the artists. We found it quite easy to get lost in the gallery and we were not alone. There were lots of school trips happening while we were there and it was interesting to do a little eavesdropping and glean hints of what to look for in the different pieces, thanks to the educational knowledge of the docents. 

And we had a Beautiful afternoon taking in the musical which tells the story of Carole King - a wonderful afternoon of all the hits we grew up with. We thoroughly enjoyed it and think there may be more shows in our future. It's also nice to get a chance to see the old theatres while taking in a little culture.  

Katie's Crowdie in The Trossachs

Missed a day again with the blog. We had a long travel day yesterday. We drove from Kilchoan on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula to Balquidder in The Trossachs. And it was another new kind of single track road experience, this time much narrower than the other roads we have seen so far. Far fewer passing places on this road as well but thankfully it was only six miles long. The start of yesterday's trip meant doing the return trip on that windy and twisty 26 mile road from the castle so we are happy to have all of that behind us now. 

We passed some stunning scenery along the Glen Coe. We stopped at a nature preserve and got out for a nice walk and tour through their visitor centre and museum. All along the Glen Coe are these incredible mountain ranges and vistas that change from looking like our Rockies to the buttes of Arizona. It is very noted for being a popular mountain climbing location and there is lots of information on the famous climbers who have been to the region in the museum. As Sir IF noted, there were all kinds of blues to be seen. Blues from the lochs and the oceans, blues from the sky and a hazy grey green blue hue to the mountain tops. The vegetation changes along that whole route were quite remarkable as the Glen Coe had lots more greenery and trees in the valleys than the Ardnamurchan Peninsula and even more so as we got closer to The Trossachs. At one point on our drive we must have passed about six para-sailers gliding through the mountain tops. 

We arrived at our spot for the night which was a working farm on a remote road that doubles as a small hotel.  They have a particular reputation for serving quite the gastronomic feasts using almost everything from their own farm. Everyone here definitely had a much more casual approach to hospitality. We tucked into the tiny little bar where a family appeared to be having a hearty family reunion of sorts. Everyone is quite loud and jovial in the small towns of Scotland it seems. It was fun to be in that kind of an environment - very relaxing indeed. The servers seemed to be a collection of young people from all over - ours for the evening was a delightful young woman from Australia working her way to get to Europe and Asia before she heads home. The chef went out of his way to speak to Meg about her allergies and they did an excellent job with the meals. Meg had hake (which is a kind of fish similar to cod), Sir IF had the beef. They seem to be quite big on serving onions as one of your main vegetable in Scotland and they do them up so yummy.  For starters Sir If had Katie's Crowdie (no that's not a typo) (it is a local  cheese and onion appetizer) and Meg had Tamworth pork. Melt in your mouth delicious. They also delighted us with an amuse bouche, and appetizers in the lounge with our drinks. Dessert was mostly gobbled up by Sir If, a candied walnut tart with butterscotch and coffee ice cream. 

Almost everyone brought a dog with them to the farm it seems and there was lots of room on the grounds for people to give their dogs a good run and play. 

Even though we were seated by ourselves for dinner there was another couple at the table beside us who were delightful company. He lives in Edinburgh and she lived in Manchester and they have had a commuting relationship but are now looking at moving in to the same city. They met at a music festival on one of the Scottish Islands so we were enlightening them about some East Coast Canadian musicians. He was already familiar with the Rankin Family and when Meg asked if he knew about Great Big Sea he said he had one of their albums. We shared a little of our ukulele experiences and Jake Shimabukuru and the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain as a recommendation so they said they'd have a number of things to check out when they get home. 

Chronicles from the Castle

Today was a glorious sun-filled day here on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula. We took advantage of the great weather and boarded the ferry as pedestrians across the Sound of Mull, to the Isle of Mull and Tobermory. This is a beautiful little fishing village with all of the storefronts painted in bright colours much like a lot of Newfoundland. There are a lot of different shops and restaurants and a couple of bars in Tobermory that cater pretty much exclusively to the tourist trade. Very few vehicles take advantage of the ferry but instead it is primarily used by pedestrians and cyclists, and of course, the dogs. 

The fishing village of Tobermory, on the Isle of Mull 

A fishing trawler 

The Brits and their beloved dogs. They are everywhere! We hadn't realized how beloved the dogs were here. They are allowed in many of the restaurants, bowls of water can be found outside shops, and they are all different sizes. On this particular peninsula there seem to be quite a few more like the Irish Wolf Hound but there were lots of different kinds and sizes of dogs on the ferry. 

View from the ferry on the way back to the Ardnamurchan Peninsula

View of the Castle from the Sound of Mull

Relaxing with a drink in the lounge/drawing room so we can take advantage of the wifi hook-up here at the castle. Not sure what will be on the menu for dinner tonight. Last night the chef cooked up a white asparagus concoction on the grill that was quite delicious as an appetizer, the main course was chicken with roasted new potatoes and broccoli (with the leaves of course) all served on a plain looking sauce of peas meal which was really delicious. Dessert was quite heavenly healthy - an apple crumble made with hazelnuts and compressed apples made with pine oil and Douglas fir oil. We are certainly getting our share of  new food experiences this vacation. For breakfast today, Sir IF had Eggs and Weeds, which was fried eggs cooked in rapeseed oil with an assortment of seaweed and all of the herb greens they had in their kitchen. Meg opted for the boring eggs. Last night's homemade sourdough bread leftovers were sliced ultra-thin and toasted in the oven and were quite yummy. 

Sarah the castle manager has been filling us in on the history of this castle and some of its former occupants. She has been in the hospitality industry for quite a few years and lived all over the world, including some time in Vancouver and British Columbia so she is quite aware of the differences between here and our home. She keeps setting the background music for whichever room we're in so we're getting a nice eclectic batch of music and radio stations including the British Gaelic channel, some Selkirk, Scotland music for last night much like our east coast musicians, and this afternoon she seems to have selected western music, a tribute to her time in BC.  

Blind Summit(s) Ahead

Today was an adventure. We left the lovely Isle of Skye for the Ardnamurchuran Peninsula (the most westerly point of mainland Britain) and it turned out to be quite the drive. We had to ferry over at one point which was expected and quite lovely and really allowed us to get some good photos of the Isle of Skye and other adjacent land masses.  It seemed like much of today's four hour drive was on single track roads which means there is only room for one vehicle. It's all well structured with lots of passing points to pull into and the drivers are all very courteous at giving way whenever it is their turn. We've had lots of practice now at single track roads but these ones even had Sir IF raising his little ol' eyebrows a wee bit. 

As it is Easter Sunday the first part of our drive was in an area more known for its beaches so it was fairly busy. The middle part of the drive was in a much more forested and mossy-type of environment and wasn't quite as pretty as things we have seen so far. The latter half of the drive was quite remote though we still encountered quite a few vehicles. But oh was it windy and twisty! We think we had almost 25 miles of up, down, windy and twisty roads that had Meg pretty nauseated by the time we reached our final destination. There are sheep everywhere we drive and the whole last portion had them by the side of the road, and even on the road which was kind of fun to see. It is quite amazing that the sheep move away from the road as soon as they see you approaching. We also saw a herd of four deer, two of them stags, huge, leaping across the farmland as we got close to the castle. Beautiful although we understand there are so many on the peninsula that they have a regular culling season. We haven't really seen any of the highland bulls yet which are the very large, shaggy animals. 

The deer are in this photo if you can zoom in. 

Blind Summit(s) Ahead, this post's title, relates to the fact that when we started out the day, the road sign said, Blind Summit Ahead, so we anticipated that we would have to get to the top of one hill before we could tell if there was another vehicle coming. But to our surprise we encountered a Blind Summit Ahead sign almost every time we turned a corner, or well at least twenty times on today's single track road to the point that Sir IF felt we should change the sign on our way back to add an 's' so it reads Blind Summits Ahead. 

The Ardnamurchuran Peninsula

Pleased to report that we arrived at the castle safe and sound and in one piece. A warm welcome and of course a nice cup of tea and we were shown to our room in which we shall be very comfortable for the next few days. Sir IF was thrilled to walk up to the parapet outside with the great view. 

Sometimes they offer substantial courses for the meals here but as we are the only guests for dinner tonight they've honoured our wishes for just a three course meal which thus far smells absolutely delicious, the smell of the bread baking in the oven as we write. We're sitting in the drawing room having drinks before dinner with a stuffed eagle and pheasant keeping us company. Evidently they have far too many eagles in this area right now, a real danger during lambing season. A taxidermied bear is in the next room though they have conceded that probably came from our parts. And there are a number of portraits equivalent to the Great Grandmother here so she would be in good company in this locale. 

The castle is owned by the laird of the estate in these parts and we got to meet him tonight because he was the "first call handyman" come to fix a problem with the plumbing in our suite. He was apparently so concerned to see the castle fall into ruins on his estate that he arranged for twenty Yorkshire carpentry experts to come and renovate the castle over a two year period using oak and stone from the estate. It's quite impressive to see how beautifully they have made the castle look. Should be an interesting couple of days for Sir IF and Meg!