South Wales - 29th to 31st of May 2010

Someone should really tell the guys in power that two bank holidays in May is a little bit silly. But nevermind, despite all the packing and cleaning still to do in Putney, we were going to make the most of it - and so were up early on Saturday to hire a car and off we went to Wales.

Because it was on the way, and so why not, we stopped in at Bristol. Small fact for you, there are 34 other places on earth named Bristol. Isn't Wikipedia amazing?

But on to Cardiff, where our luxury accommodation awaited us, just in time to see the two attractions. First up Cardiff Castle, on a spot where there has been a castle or fort since 55AD.

Rounding off our sightseeing before a much needed beer, we hit Millennium Stadium for the last tour of the day, built to hold the 1999 rugby world cup. I forget who won that year...

Having had a few beers and a couple of wines experiencing the wildness that is Cardiff on a Saturday night, we were feeling surprisingly chipper on Sunday and so headed further west along the Southern coast of Wales. Stopped in Swansea for a look at their harbour...

...stopped in Kidwelly for a snap of their pretty castle, followed by a stop in Carmarthen for a great Sunday roast. It just happened that they were showing the F1...
But unquestionably the highlight of the day was the half hour spent sunning ourselves on Tenby's excellent (for the UK) beach, overlooked by a very pretty and colourful old harbour. By mid-afternoon the sun was out, and we made the most of it.
But we had more driving to do before we could call it a day, and so we went west until you could go west no more, ending up in a little B&B just outside Fishguard. There were more castles on the way, this one Carew Castle.
Bank holiday Monday and with a long drive back to London in front of us we hit the road back along the coast, stopping for some decent pics of south Wales.

On the way home we stopped in at St David's, with a population of 1797 the smallest "city" in the UK, awarded such lofty title due to its Cathedral. And a pretty decent cathedral it is too..

Trying to find some scenery to match the stunning views were had seen in Scotland earlier in the month, we made our way back to London via the Brecon Beacons, a national park just north of Cardiff. Very nice, but Scotland is going to take some beating.

Southwest Ireland - 6th to 9th of May 2010

Only a one hour delay on route from Edinburgh to Galway on the west coast of Ireland, lucky in that the previous day all flights had been cancelled due to ash. So we had time for a pint and a yummy dinner in Galway town.

Friday morning walking through Galway, a nice enough town, nothing too spectacular.
Back on the road again and into castle spotting Irish style...
Around the coast to the cliffs of Moher, one of Ireland's key tourist attractions. Quote of the day from Ange - "So what is so special about these cliffs?". Exactly.
We spent an hour or so walking through Limerick before holing up in a little B&B for the night.
Saturday was driving the Ring of Kerry, one of Ireland's great coastal roads. Certainly a nice road although far from the spectacular sights in Scotland.
Ange with our sexy Scoda - our free "upgrade".
Things picked up though as we got close to Killarney and entered the national park.
Muckross House in the middle of the national park - donated to the people of Ireland in the '20s.
Keen for some more fresh-air time after nearly a week in the car, we wandered along the banks of the Lough to the Muckross Abbey.
Our final night on tour was in Killarney, easily the best town we'd come across on our little visit to Ireland. Even managed to find a good pub to have a Guinness or two. But back into castle spotting Sunday morning, this one in an awesome location, Ross Castle
Ticking off another of Ireland's key tourist destinations, Blarney Castle. Aside from kissing a scungy looking stone which we politely declined, Blarney is actually a great castle set in some beautiful grounds.Blarney is just outside the city of Cork, another town that didn't warrant a heap of photos. We did stop in at the old City Gaol for a quick insight into prison life in the 19th century.
We were flying out of Cork Airport, but we had a few hours to kill beforehand, so we drove down to Kinsale on the south coast of Ireland for a few hours in the sun at the nearby fort and some awesome fish and chips on the beach.

Scotland - 30th April to 6th May 2010

Making the most of a bank holiday Monday, we took the entire week off for a trip to Scotland and Ireland. So we flew up to Edinburgh on Friday after work and got stuck into the touristing first thing Saturday morning. First up Edinburgh Castle, the very reason for Edinburgh's existence, perched on a rocky outcrop overlooking town.

Having ticked off the main sight, we wandered the streets, past Holyrood Palace, up and over Carlton Hill, through the main shopping streets, making sure we left plenty of time for a few beers at the end of a great day.

Awoke to a beautiful Sunday morning in Edinburgh, time for a quick snap of Edinburgh Castle in the Sunlight before picking up our rental car and leaving Edinburgh behind us.

So north we went in our little Ford Focus, to the surprisingly impressive St Andrews, home to a ruined abbey and castle, and a million golf shops, being home of one the most famous courses in the world.

Still we continued north around the coast to Aberdeen, a nice enough city, but nothing really to trouble the old memory card.

Another early start for a trip inland through the valley of the River Dee, serious castle country. Our two favourites being Crathes Castle and the very pink fairytale castle, Craigievar Castle.

By now we were hitting some serious highlands, still with the odd sprinkling of snow

We hit the coast again at the lovely little fishing village of Portsoy, before heading round to Inverness. Inverness is a stark contrast to Aberdeen, i.e. small, nestled along a little river and overlooked by a pretty castle. We had a great few hours walking alongside the river and having a great curry overlooking town.

Tuesday was a big driving day so we took off early and headed east, out to picturesque Plockton and then Portree on the Isle of Skye, all the while driving along some of the most spectacular roads invented.

We ended up in Fort Augustus, on the southern tip of Loch Ness, for a wander around the very little town and a quick Nessie hunt.

More Nessie hunting the following morning as we took the road north along the edge of the Loch to Drimnadrochit, home of the The Loch Ness Centre, passing the beautiful Urquhart Castle on the way.

But the main event on Wednesday was a bit of time out of the car, up to a spectacular meadow and 90m waterfall just out of Fort William, well worth the hour and half trek.

After a quick walk through Fort William we hit the hay for an early night as we had an very early start to see a couple of things before our flight to Ireland. We had a quick a wander through Stirling, home of a Edinburgh-like castle, and out to the harbour north of Edinburgh for a walk through the Royal Yacht Brittania.

Dropping our car off back in Edinburgh we made it back out to Edinburgh airport for our flight to Galway...