Three Day catch up

Saturday 9th Sept

• Drive through some lovely country to Honister Pass - sunny weather, some short walks, got caught in the middle of a triathlon event - hundreds of bikes on a narrow road, difficult to pass climbing the mountain and hard not to  get in their way coming down
•  Spectacular waterfalls plunging down the mountains, lakes filled to over flowing, tracks (and shoes) very muddy. Very pleased to see some of the magnificent Lakes District in sunshine.
  
  
  
  

Sunday 10th September

• Goodbye to England (for a while), hello Scotland. Merilyn keen to get to Gretna Green before 'her father could stop us' - the things I have to cope with!
• Arrived at the World Heritage Site, New Lanark.  An amazing place, terrific buildings, wonderful engineering - a purpose built channel to provide water to turn massive wheels to power 5 mills and a wonderful story of community socialism because of the manager's, Robert Owen, determination that every family working in the Mills should have comfortable housing, good wages, work an 8 hour day, have access to health care and children under 10 should go to school. He went on in later life to be a founder of the Trade Union movement.
• Stayed on the site in the Wee Row Youth Hostel - our room was like a cave, one recessed window, 12cm by 12cm, at floor level! Fortunately the community areas were very good.
• Rained on and off all day
  
  
  
  

Monday 11th September

• Time for early morning walk around New Lanark with no one around
• nice drive through agricultural land and many small villages to Saltcoats on the coast
• found two very short streets where Merilyn's 'Hunter' ancestors lived in the 1840,s and 50's. Both streets were an easy walk from the Quay from where boats went across to the Isle of Arran - the father was a ferry captain
• arrived 90 mins early at Ardrosson to catch our ferry to Arran but stopped with only 3 cars in front of us because ferry was full. Had to wait another 3 hours - they had had trouble with schedules all day because of 50km winds - a smaller ferry was not running.
• Finished day with a lovely meal listening to a female jazz singer backed by a very talented guitarist - she also played the trumpet
• Britain very concerned about the weather in oncoming weeks because of three approaching hurricane remnants - expecting flooding and damaging gales - could be interesting!