leave part eight: Beeston Castle

It's been many many years since i visited Beeston castle, as a child i remember us taking walks up there when ever we up visiting my Grandparents. Well now my parents live up in Cheshire so on leaving Edinburgh we heading down to Chester & it gave me the opportunity to return there. Beeston castle was built in the 1220s & is a formal royal castle (i think it's the lack of roof, oh & walls that mean it's not in use today). & well over the years, through various wars & what not it fell into disrepair. It sits atop a hillside with views on a good day across the Pennines in the east to the Welsh mountains in the west. Unfortunately the day we were there was cloudy but i will return on a prettier day. So instead of views you will have to put up with a whole bunch of flowers & Kevin! 

On leaving the castle we headed to the Shady Oak down by the river for a drink & a packet of Walkers Salt N Vinegar crisps! 

leave part five: first night in edinburgh

So Tuesday lunch time we made the long (ish) drive from Cambridge up to Edinburgh. Now i have been to Edinburgh once before but being as i was knee high to a grass hopper at the time my memory of this is a little cloudy ... ok i have no memory of this. & Edinburgh has been on our list of things to do for a while, although this was Kevin's forth visit. & for a non city loving girl, i loved Edinburgh ... especially the old town where we spent most of our time.

This photo was taken on the "Royal Mile", looking down towards the sea. The Royal Mile is a series of streets that runs from Edinburgh castle down to Holyrood Abbey, it is one "Scot's mile" long which is actually 1.1 (regular) miles long (or 1.8km).

Who can resist such stunning architecture, you don't feel like you're in a city ... no sky scrapers, & whilst it was full of people (oh yeah tourist heaven) it didn't feel dirty & stuffy & leave me running away as cities generally do.

So whilst we were sitting down to dinner outside a restaurant along the Royal Mile (great for people watching) it started to get a little cooler. Now it's June, & admittedly we've had a long cold winter here in Germany but when you vacation in June you don't think you need a wooly hat to keep your ears warm ... well this evening we did. So one moment Kevin disappears off into a souvenir shop across the way & returns we two hats ...

this is his ...

& this is mine (photo courtesy of one Kevin Evans) ...

& whilst we cannot doubt my wonderful husband's photographic skills i couldn't resist taking a couple of myself!

leave part two: Duxford Imperial War Museum

So we headed up to Cambridge ... the M25 (otherwise known as the largest carpark in the world) was thankfully quiet, & then straight up the M11 to Cambridge. Well in the midst of our planning & good traffic we had reached Cambridge by 1000 & couldn't check into our hotel until 1200 so we decided to stop at Duxford Imperial War Museum.

Now i grew up a couple of villages over from Duxford, i have been there many a time & i can honestly say i love it. As far as museums go this one is full of all kinds of wonderful military related stuff, plus their exibits are incredible interesting & well thought out.

Duxford was one of the first Royal Air Force stations built during WWI, & after the war it became a training school. It was home to the elite fliers, the first Spitfires came here during the 30's & then when war broke out in 1939 pilots such as Douglas Bader. Missions were flown from Duxford all over continental Europe.

In 1943 it was handed over to the United States Air Force, becoming home to the Mustangs & Thunderbolts.

Duxford was decomissioned in 1965 & became home to the Imperial War Museum, including the East Anglian Regiment's museum, & the American Air Museum. There are exhibitions on airspace in general, the Battle of Britian, land warfare & even a 1940s operation room. You can even see original aircraft fly. Scenes from the movie "Memphis Belle" were shot here back in 1990.

Well as you can imagine i went a little nuts here ... so much to see, & of course so much history in everything. Whilst there are some replicas for illustration purpose the majority of the items on displace are original, down to the small stuff. Items going back all most a 100 years, survived a war zone & now of displace for us to see.

& midway round i found this gorgeous Jaguar, you know i couldn't resist!

The front ...

& the back ...!

Anyways back to the museum ...

Whilst obviously there are a lot of aircraft on displace, personally i found the various vehicles they had way more interesting. I think it's because it was easier to pick out the details, the small things that call out to me "take my picture ... take my picture" (ask any photographer ... you know what am talking about). The van above & below was used during the Battle of Britain, all the unique vintage details of it meant i could have been stood there all day taking photos.

But after 12 hours of travelling we were both in great need of some lunch & a shower so i will leave you with this photograph of my wonderful husband looking just all kinds of chipper, taken through a part of an Iraqi Supergun (& yes i had to ask said husband what this sub was).