Scotland and England - Part 6 - Alnwick and Skipton (5 Apr)

(Just to note, this is my 200th blog post! - Wow I write too much)

Today marked our last day in Scotland.  We cleaned out the van and then headed to the camper place to return it.  We then got them to drop us off at Edinburgh airport where we picked up a Nissan Xtrail for the next part of our trip.  The poor car was brand new, just off the truck and would never know what hit it:

Odometer reads 11miles travelled when we picked it up

Leaving the airport, we headed to our first stop for the day - Alnwick castle.  We arrived fairly late so a lot of the attractions were closed - like the Garden of Death (a garden of deadly plants), but we managed to tour the castle.  We picked Alnwick as it was used for a few scenes in Harry Potter - in particular, the broomstick training scene.

First view of the castle

Castle

The entry passage

Alnwick castle is the home of the Duke of Northumberland and the Percy line.  It was first built in Norman times and the keep was built in the 12th century.  It was acquired by the first Percy lord of Alnwick in 1309.

It served more of an administrative role rather than defensive.

The first courtyard

Courtyard and archery

Inner Buildings

Central Keep

Inner courtyard

The Keep

Keep and gates

This is the wall where the broomstick training was filmed for Harry Potter

Harry Potter at Alnwick Castle

Alana lifting a broomstick (they had actual broomstick training but we were too late)

Alnwick Castle was the birthplace of Harry Hotspur in 1364, son of the 1st Earl of Northumberland.

Statue of Harry Hotspur

Cameron managed to find a non-dairy version of our favourite ice-cream but it was a little flavourless.

Yum

The castle also hosted the Fusiliers Museum of Northumberland

Alana channeling Cher

Corner tower

After leaving the castle we walked through the yards, coming across the very ornate gate to the gardens:

The gate

Flowers

Birds on the gate

Finishing up at Alnwick, we headed towards Skipton and our final destination for the day.  It was already starting to get dark, but we got a few sights in.

This is quite possibly the coolest name for a lawyer firm ever - "Unleash the Savage Crangle!"

Holy Trinity Church outside Skipton Castle

Entrance to Skipton Castle

That night we stayed at the Moorlodge Country Retreat.  It was nice and comfortable, but a little hard to get to - a rural property with lots of thin winding streets leading to it - at least we werent in the motorhome.

Driving today: 276 miles (444km).


Total travel so far: 1670km