Our ferry sailed into the English port of
Ramsgate in the middle of the night. After
disembarking, there was this highly suspicious
English immigration officer waiting for us.
The man wanted to know everything. Our professions,
intention of stay, the length of stay, do
we have enough money? Our answers seemed
to be fine, so the man cooled down a bit.
Maybe the fact that we arrived in a Duck
has raised some doubts in his mind (the ordinary
people's way of thinking: the level of respect
given to a person equals the value of this
person's car). Or maybe this is the usual
procedure for all foreigners that dare to
enter the fortress on the British Isles.
Or maybe just for residents of a small insignificant
country that no one knows about. Anyhow,
we left in a friendly mood, the man even
gave us some advices for the trip.
Our first serious stop was the Lake District
National Park. England is packed with rivers
and lakes
of all sizes, but the Lake District seems
to be the jewel in the crown. For quite a
while, we were
driving from lake to lake, around the lakes,
around the mountains and across the mountain
passes.
The mountains here are not very high, but
they offer some very good hiking opportunities.
Some shores
were packed with tourists, but we were able
to find a few more solitary spots, like the
Vastwater.
Of course, we didn't forget to visit the
Ashness bridge under the
Ashness Fell. We were admiring the pictures
of this bridge back home and they were wonderful.
Just
imagine - the bridge, shining in a sunlight,
with a crystal blue lake and a snow covered
mountain in
the background. But when we actually got
there, it was raining, so our picture of
the Ashness bridge
was not that perfect at all. 
We have decided to boldly attack the Honister
Pass with our fully packed Duck. Well, it
was a piece of
cake. Dyane did a climb all the way to the
top easily. Once on top, Brigita decided
to take a
short break. After sitting in a car for the
whole morning, it was a time for a big change:
she sat down next to a car for a while. 
The Scottish capital is one of the most pleasant
cities we've been to. Even though we rate
the
mother nature's creations high above the
works of man, we felt great in Edinburgh.
The air was
filled with the sounds of the pipe players,
standing on every street corner. A stroll
along the
magnificent mile was very enjoyable experience,
and so was a climb up to the Citadel. But
after
a while here, we began to feel the usual
urge to go and visit some less crowded spots.
A good chance was at the Falls of Shin. We
have read and heard many stories about the
salmons
returning to their birthplaces, but here,
we have witnessed their efforts. The Atlantic
salmons
begin their lives upstream the rivers, then
swim all the way to the sea and to the west
across
the Atlantic ocean but return to the rivers
to breed. On their way upstream, they jump
across the
waterfalls and rapids. As we were watching
them at the falls, just a few made it up
in the first
attempt. Many had to try it several times.
Some of the jumps were really spectacular,
spanning for
several meters. 
The price of the trip was not cheap at all,
probably because of the fact that P&O Ferries
is
one of the few companies operating here.
There seems to be no real competition that
would
lower the prices. Shortly after departure,
we reached the Island of Hoy. In fact, we
only sailed by
a very dominating sight - the Old Man of
Hoy, a rocky tower rising out of the sea
more than 130
meters high. 
We didn't stop on Hoy though, we sailed on
towards Stromness. In Stromness, I remember
seeing a
local 2CV, painted blue and a bit rusty because
of too much rain on Orkneys. Stromness was
pretty
with its narrow streets but we soon departed
towards Kirkwall, the largest town on the
island. About
one third of the islands' population lives
in Kirkwall. The St. Magnus Cathedral was
certainly worth
seeing. Built in 1137, it is quite a landmark.
But Orkneys are full of even older buildings.
Settlements
like Broch of Gurness and Skara Brae were
built back in the iron age. Not to forget
the rings of stones
like The Ring of Brogar. We entered an ancient
grave close to Kirkwall, well it was a bit
scary feeling
because it was complete darkness in there.
But the place was surprisingly big. It didn't
look that big
from the outside. 
Scapa Flow is known from less distant history.
It is a perfect natural harbour so it was
used
by the Royal Navy in both world wars. In
the second war, a disaster happened here.
Scapa
Flow was well protected and guarded but a
German submarine managed to sneak into the
bay.
The submarine's torpedos hit a large ship
Royal Oak and the ship sank almost immediatelly,
taking
nearly all the seamen down to the sea bottom.
Several hundred lives were lost. 
After this event, the Navy
closed the bay almost completely by sinking
a lot of old ships in all the entrances.
The shipwrecks are still
there, rising out of the sea like rusty monuments
from those strange days. Also, rocky barriers
have been
made and nowadays the road to the south runs
over them. We had a small
celebration at Scapa Flow. First 200.000
kilometers have turned on the counter of
our Dyane.
To the south, a magnificent Sumburgh Head
awaited. From the Head we had a great view
towards the
Fair Isle and down to the sea where seals
were bathing. Since there are a lot of steep
cliffs on Orkneys
and on Shetlands, there are also a lot of
birds nesting under the top of the cliffs.
And a lot of bird
watchers, willing to spend days at the cliffs
just to spot a particular kind of a bird.
We are not exactly
bird experts to tell you the names of all
the birds seen there, but we liked the lovely
puffins a lot. They
seemed like litlle flying clowns. But they
were very capable at fishing. As we understood,
they were
soon to depart to the open ocean where they
were spending most of their lives. They just
came to
the shore for a short period to breed. 
After returning back to Scottish mainland,
we entered lonely and wild Northwest of Scotland.
From Cape
Wrath down to the Isle of Skye, it was a
wonderful trip. So was the Skye, particularly
the Cuillins, which
looked very alpine to me, and so was the
magnificent Eilean Donan Castle. 
Of course, we did not forget to watch closely
the calm waters of Loch Ness for
a while, to maybe spot that monster that
locals don't doubt a bit about. Sorry, no
monster today. Only the
hairy Scottish cows on the grassy shores.
Let me include a quote from a local tourist
company offering submarine trips in the Loch:
"Come experience the wonderful underwater
world... and
there is always an exciting opportunity of
actually spotting the famous Loch Ness monster!"
England is far more settled than Scotland
and the nature is less spectacular. But also
here some very
nice spots can be found. We talked a bit
about the Lake District: another pretty place
is the Peak
District National Park and the entire Penine
Hills. However, after two weeks of Scotland,
the time was
running out. We will have to return here
some other time.