We took the 917 to Atkinson Vos early in the morning and, after a quick review of the work list, they dropped us at the train station, where we shared the platform with a whole classroom of elementary children, off on a school trip. The parents all offered us condolences, but the children were, in fact, delightful.

While the 917 had its spa week, we went to stay in the little market town of Glossop, Derbyshire. One of our daughter’s favorite teachers from Botswana was foolish enough to invite us to stay and we jumped at the opportunity. From Bentham we took the train to Lancaster for our first change, only to learn at an “incident” had blocked all of the trains from the north. (The incident may have been a suicide.) After a moment’s confusion, we were all put on the next train south to Preston, and from there, we were able to get trains to Manchester and finally Glossop, still arriving almost on time. Simply amazing how well it all worked.

Our host volunteers at Lyme Park. Yes, THAT Lyme Park, the “Pemberley” that Jennifer Ehle (Elizabeth Darcy) sees in the Colin Firth “Pride and Prejudice.” To the annoyance of all at Lyme Park, only the exterior was used. Probably just as well, the interior ghosts might not have liked a film crew. Don’t know how the ghosts of the phantom funeral procession, that is said to haunt the grounds, took to the filming.

It all began with Sir Thomas d’Anyers, who fought with the Black Prince at the Battle of Crécy. Sir Thomas had recovered the Black Prince’s Standard and was rewarded with an annuity of 40 Marks a year drawn on the Black Prince’s Cheshire estates. This led to a coat of arms that featured the recovered standard.

The Legh family married into the d’Anyers family and thus acquired the land. The history of the Legh family is as complex as they come. Sir Piers Legh acquired the property by marrying into the d’Anyers family, was knighted by Richard II in 1397 and beheaded in 1899, after a failed coup. “When you strike at the king, don’t miss!” The family saga is even harder to follow as many shared the same name. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leghs_of_Lyme)

The architecture of the house itself is similarly muddled, with odd staircases and passages.

Where we live, in Virginia, people do a lot of remodeling so as not to move further from Washington. But our “remodeling” has nothing on the scale of what was done to Lyme Park over the centuries – simply vast. All in all, however, quite a house. And more than you could ever want to know can be found, here: https://www.thornber.net/cheshire/htmlfiles/houseoflyme.pdf

Two of the more interesting Leghs.

Fred’s book was old, but here, at Lyme Park, we were looking at an original edition. Took the better part of a lifetime, but we did make it to Jeddah, as close as non-Muslims can get to Mecca.

The Facade features a clock, and, on each side, a dressing room with a port hole.

Some slightly less formal art on the walls.

Whatever the ghosts may have thought, we really enjoyed our private tour. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyme_Park)

After a wonderful week, we hopped back on the train – no delays this time, and headed back to Bentham, arriving in the rain. We picked up the truck and headed back to Settle but oh, the changes! Now we had a speedometer that worked, clear glass in the passenger side mirror, a new radiator hose and, wonder of wonders, the steering was tighter. Soooo much easier to navigate the narrow lanes!

Settle was really beginning to feel like home.

It was time to head south but time was an issue as we were expected at Atkinson Vos on June 26.  So we headed to Thurso and then opted to return down the A9, which had less spectacular scenery but would be a faster drive in the 917.  There is no doubt that the rest of the NC 500 would have been amazing but also very narrow and slow for us.  We spent the night at Dingwall and then continued south to Glen Coe. 

The Glen Coe campsite, surrounded by mountains, was beautiful and walking distance from Glencoe village and Glen Coe Visitor Center.  Watching the clouds on the peaks around us was spectacular. 

We walked to the Glen Coe Visitor Center. Beyond films about the massacre, the highlight of the center is a meticulously reconstructed traditional Scottish house.

Called a creel house, these buildings, once common, are now a bit of a lost art.

It was clear that the weather was changing, so we set the following day as our Oban visit day. We drove through only one rainstorm.  Oban is noted as a ferry port and the jumping off point for tours of the Western Isles.

We liked Oban and enjoyed a seafood lunch on the quay, but did not have time to take a ferry to the Western Isles ourselves. We shall have to return! 

The balance of our time in Glen Coe was spent on maintenance and relaxation.  Our skylight had thrown the cords that controlled the shade and, in the land of near Midnight Sun, we needed the shade to work if we were to sleep past about three A.M. We pulled the skylight apart and got lucky as we were able to fix the misbehaving cords. On a maintenance roll, we even cleaned a fan or two.

We also walked to the village and, quite by accident, stumbled on one of the massacre sites, hidden in the trees just off the trail.

Glencoe village is tiny, but it was interesting to see ancient houses being expanded with modern cinderblock construction.

Upon leaving, we turned south through the Glen Coe Pass, a scenic drive through the mountains.

Descending the mountains we drove on to the Stirling area, stopping at a campsite below Witches Craig, with the Wallace (aka Braveheart) memorial in the background.

Basically, the wheel works on the Archimedes principle of displacement – each of the two gondolas, filled with water, always weighs the same amount as a boat displaces it own weight. Thus it takes very little energy to turn the wheel as it is always balanced. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkirk_Wheel

Readers of our blog will note our obsession with Hadrian’s Wall. But Fred had always wanted to see the much less known Antonine Wall. Built by the emperor Antonius Pius, it lies to the north of Hadrian’s Wall and was mostly earthworks. (History nuts are like that.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonine_Wall

There is very little left of the Antonine Wall and it is notoriously hard to find, so we were amazed to learn that we had actually stumbled on what was reported to be the best site to visit. We HAD to go! We set off to walk the couple of miles though the trees to see it. 

There is a lot less there than at the various Hadrian’s Wall sites, but we could see a plan of the fort with various remnants and the ditch surrounding the fort. 

Also visible were the pits for protective pointed stakes, an early form of barbed wire.  The wall was apparently attacked several times and destroyed before being finally abandoned.  There were excellent explanatory boards in various spots. It is amazing what can be determined with careful study – most of us would simply see some rocks in a field.

We stopped next at the Battle of Bannockburn site.  Far from being the tourist trap we feared, we thoroughly enjoyed an excellent historical presentation of the causes of the battle and its political results.  The guide was superb and was able to answer many off topic questions.  We walked as much of the battlefield as we could (a lot took place in the back gardens of the local houses) but we could walk where Robert the Bruce stood to see the progress of the battle.

We continued south to Settle, back to our former campsite, and then delivered the truck to Atkinson Vos as pre-arranged. (https://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/campsites/uk/north-yorkshire/settle/lodgebarn/)

Scholars debate. Is John o’Groats the end of the road north, or the beginning of the road south? Worth noting that if you were coming from Norway to pillage or settle, you would have sailed south to get here and John o’Groats would have been the beginning of the main land.

So, with no more road ahead of us, we set out to explore the rather small center of John o’Groats. 

We walked along the cliff for a ways and then returned for an ice-cream and a photo session in front of the well known signpost. 

Those achieved, it was time for whisky.  And we headed for the 8 Doors Distillery, so named because of the legendary 8 door house of Jan de Groot.  (https://www.8doorsdistillery.com/ ) 

Unfortunately the distillery was only founded 2022 so has yet to produce a whisky that has fully matured for sale.  But they are working on it!  In the interim they had some blends from other distilleries for us to try.  We decided that we disliked the heavy peat flavor that is a characteristic of many Scotch whiskeys. And so, it appears, do the owners of 8 Doors. Kind of exciting to be present at the creation. They invited us to come back in a decade or so … It was sunny, gloriously sunny, but windy, as cliff locations often are, so it was soon time to return to the camper.

Rather than ship the truck to the Orkneys, we had decided to simply take a day tour. So, the next day, we walked to the pier for the 40 minute ferry crossing to Burwick in the Orkneys. 

Once we landed, buses were waiting to take us over the Churchill barriers to Kirkwall, the capital city. (https://www.orkney.com/ ) The drive is a treat for Royal Navy history fans as it circles Scapa Flow, the site of the fabled Royal Navy base.

Hard to imagine today, but at the beginning of the twentieth century one could see a hundred ships of the Grand Fleet filling the bay.

During the first World War, the Royal Navy sank block ships in some of the channels to prevent a surprise attack. During the second World War an intrepid U-Boat commander slipped past the block ships and sank the battleship Royal Oak which was at anchor. After this appalling loss of life, Churchill ordered a cement and earthen fill be added over the block ships to completely block the channels. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scapa_Flow ) Today’s road runs over three of them. During winter storms, these barriers are quite dangerous and they can be closed to traffic.

Our first stop in Kirkwall was a much needed cup of coffee in the local town hall coffee shop. Thus refreshed, we enjoyed a lengthy visit to St. Magnus Cathedral, which was quite fascinating in its Norse characteristics rather than the Norman/Medieval styling one sees all over the UK. Subtly different, everywhere we looked.

The cathedral dates from 1137 and is named for Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney, who was murdered by his cousin. Stories grew up of miracles at the grave of Magnus and he was considered to be a saint. A casket of bones found during a 1919 restoration is believed to be his. The cathedral was part of the Archdiocese of Nidaros, part of Trondheim in Norway until after 1468. St. Magnus is the only cathedral, that we know of, with a dungeon. Lots of great reading here: https://sites.scran.ac.uk/stmagnus//index.htm

We also wandered the grounds of the Bishop’s Palace and the Earl’s Palace.  Both are currently very much in ruins but the grounds were interesting with information panels at various spots.  Finally, we went to the art/craft show in the same town hall.  Denise regretted that she had no space to carry back more wool as there were some wonderful offerings!  Back on the bus we headed for lunch in Stromness.  We went low brow and bought lunch goodies at a bakery, recommended by our driver, and ate them on the waterfront, by the docks.  We finished with an ice-cream!  Yes, there is a pattern here.

The bus then took us to see the stone age village of Skara Brae.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skara_Brae )

Uncovered during a major winter storm, the ten stone dwellings were absolutely fascinating.  They were occupied over 5,000 years ago.  The stone built furniture is preserved and clearly visible.  Cupboards, beds and boxes are all intact.  We were told that the sea was originally quite distant from the dwellings although now they are on the edge of a cliff.  There are probably more dwellings that have not yet been excavated.

We then headed to the standing stones henge forming the Ring of Brodgar.  

This is a vast circle of 36 standing stones, built 4,000 years ago.  There may have been as many as 60 stones originally.  No one knows why this was erected or what role it played.

Our final stop was the Italian Chapel.  Our guide explained the history of this and especially how it was constructed.  It was built in 1943 and it is really quite amazing that Italian prisoners of war could construct something so beautiful out of bits and pieces lying around.  It is maintained following an agreement with the prisoners when they were returned to Italy and one of the main creators returned later to see it again.

After this excellent tour full of local tidbits and charm, we returned to the ferry and John o’Groats.