Where we pose as bell-ringers!

Wilf and Wendy went all out to show us a good time. We took the Wee Mad Road up to Lochinver (if you go to our website and wait for the video to load, you can drive it too!). We went down the coast to Inverewe Gardens, one of the most beautiful gardens in the UK. It was built by Osgood Mackensie in the 1800's and contains trees, plants and flowers from all over the world.

Again, I hated to leave, but it was good to know I'd be back to stay for a long while. Nancy and I then took the train to Edinburgh and stayed at the Halcyon Hotel at the foot of Observatory Hill. During our 3 days there we toured the castle, ate lunch at the Deacon Brodie Tavern, went through Lady Stair's house, had tea at Clarinda's, went down the Royal Mile to Holyrood, toured the Georgian House on Charlotte Square and walked to Leith Water (charming and picturesque neat old house by the bridge). Every night we ate at the Doric Tavern which had great food for very reasonable prices.

We had tea in the formal rooms at the Roxburgh Hotel, visited Greyfriars Bobby, wandered around St. Mary's Cathedral and shopped in old book stores. While walking down Princes' Street to the gardens, we heard bells ringing changes, and since we had both just read "The Twelve Tailors" we decided to investigate. We found St. Cuthberts Church and noticed a button on the bell tower wall with a notice that said "If you are interested in ringing, press button". So we did. A window opened in the tower above us and someone leaned out and threw us a key. Interesting. We found that the key opened the door to the bell chamber so we climbed up into the tower where a group of ringers were practising changes for the Sunday service. We realized after we got up there that the sign was for trained ringers - which we were definitely not. But the people were lovely and let us sit and watch while they finished their practise and we had a wonderful time. The moral is - grab the chance when you can - it may never come again!