Due North - Part 2

Tuesday morning the Bear and I had grand plans of getting up early so that we could get to Edinburgh at a reasonable hour (instead of 10:30pm which was the reality).  As you may have guessed, that did not happen.

Breakfast

I woke up some time around 5 in the morning to sunshine and bird song - quite a pleasant way to wake up, I must say. However, I did not get out of bed until 7, then spent the next hour or so chatting with one of the lovely hosts of the campsite about all the archaeological wonders of the area.  After, upon discovering that Charissa was also up, we started to make breakfast on my little camping stove (a Biolite for those who are interested). Within an hour we had made tea, fried bread and cooked up eggs for a delicious ham, cheese and egg breakfast sandwich, which brought us to 10:30am.

Our camp site - what a view!

It took us another hour and a bit to pack up camp, so we didn't manage to set off until noon.  No worries! It's only a 6 hour drive.

Croxden Abbey

But, being the explorers that we are, we made some stops en route.  First we checked out Croxden Abbey, not typo far from our campsite.  It was HUGE! Well, as  ruins go! Croxden Abbey was a Cistercian Abbey hundreds of years ago.  I really enjoyed wandering around the ruins - it was fascinating to see.

Next we stopped at Sudbury Hall for lunch.  You may not recognise the name now, but what if I were to refer to it as Pemberley Hall? 

Sudbury (Pemberley) Hall

Sudbury Hall was the stately home used as the home of Mr. William Darcy in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.  It was a breathtaking structure and we both wish we had more time to explore.

However, the afternoon was running on and we still had to get to Edinburgh!  As we set off, Charissa was on the phone booking us accommodation for the night and I was grumbling about the rain - which, typically, had decided to start up again.

Angel of the North

We also took a slight detour in order to see the Angel of the North, as it was on the way.  We'be both decided that it resembles a bird more than an angel.

A number of hours, a few Service Station stops and many construction zones later (including the offering if cookies out the window to a lorry driver stuck behind us in a queue) we finally reached the Scotland/England border.

The border!

We finished or epic 6ish-someodd hour drive with the setting of the sun; and a beautiful sunset it was, too.

Finally, we had made it to Edinburgh!

More to come.

~Crown

Lunch at Sudbury Hall - cream teas and scones!