Away in Scotland

It was my husbands birthday last week which meant the traditional getaway to Scotland - we did go to Switzerland one year which was amazing, but Scotland in May is lush and a tradition that we're both happy with. There were challenges this time - 2 punctured back tires discovered Saturday night on a bank holiday weekend before a projected early morning departure on the Sunday. Fortunatley we got the tires changed on Monday so only lost a day and a half, still made it to Corbridge in time for an early dinner at The Angel, then on to the Borders in time for a sunset. 

We've had a good run at the Scottish borders so far this year, and both love it a little bit more every time we visit. We went to Abbotsford to enthuse about architecture and Sir Walter Scott, Edinburgh for a lecture and a couple of exhibitions, Hawick for gin and Hawick Balls, Melrose for an exceptionally good hot chocolate, the garden of the flat we were staying in for relaxing and an exceptional view of the Northern lights, and generally had a pretty good time of it with plenty of tea, cake, reading, and art. 

One of the things I love so much about the area is how rich in wildlife it is - I didn't see the stat which is meant to have taken up residence in the garden, but I saw a lot of hares, a dipper, tree creepers, bullfinches, goldfinches, wrens, swallows, swifts and martins, heard owls, woodpeckers, and cuckoos, for to appreciate the cherry blossom all over again (it's a week or so behind Leicester) along with all the apple blossom in the hedges. It's a really beautiful part of Britain. 

The aurora was one of the best I've ever seen - taking shaky photos of it on my phone is a mixed blessing. the camera picks up more colours than the eye does - the pinks and purples especially were not as pronounced, but then all the outlines were crisp, and you could see the whole thing so if the pictures aren't an entirely accurate record of what I saw, they do overall catch the spirit of the experience.