Being Tourists for a change

 Friends from near Dundee were heading for Stranraer, so we suggested meeting for lunch near us..as they would be passing...

Just off the A75... the Burns Experience..they had never been and we hadn't for a few years. A good lunch outside, then a wander around the museum.

Our friend's mother's family is Burns from Ayrshire...who knows if there is a connection..but his father was Polish, and brought him up as a good Caithness lad! (Having met his Ayrshire wife in Glasgow)

We picked up on something we had missed previously...Burn's father spelled his surname Burness..and that is a name from Eastern Scotland. Something for further research!

A wander then over to the cottage where Robert Burns and three of his siblings were born, before they moved to Mauchline.

A willow sculpture of Tam o'Shanter

A long cottage with the byre on the left, then two living rooms with the sleeping platform above where the children would have slept..and the garden as it would have been.

A willow sculpture in the orchard, where many fruit trees, mainly Scottish varieties, have been planted

And a woodland walk

Next to the Brig o Doon (bridge over the River Doon) which features in the poem about Tam o'Shanter

We missed the mausoleum...but that was ok...it meant that I got a picture of the gates!!

So we had a really relaxing four hours in the sunshine....and added to that, they are taking a pair of wheels back to a purchaser in Inverness!! The best...cash sale, no fees and no postage!!

Manchester walking

 We had a train journey! Not long but most enjoyable..must do this more often. We went from where middle son lives...three minutes walk...then by train to Salford Central.

Surrounded by tall buildings

Another three minute walk...to the river Irwell, along Bridge Street. 

This is the border between Salford and Manchester.

To the People's History Museum , previously a power station and pump house, plus a modern extension.

Not the tall building behind it!

It is a place that all should go to and learn.

I think that I will do another post about the things we saw there....there is so much!

Then a walk around Manchester with daughter and family....looking at a couple of shops, and trying to find somewhere that my grandsons would eat.....

Daughter is having foot problems...so long walks are out of the question!! But she does wheel herself, as it is good exercise!

We had a good wander around, eventually had a rather late lunch, and back on the train at teatime, as we had off peak tickets.

The buildings and graffiti deserve separate posts too...watch this space!

Meanwhile...

More travelling today, this time Northward.

Going Industrial

 

We looked up as advised...

A day out with my brother as he had never been round this fascinating museum.

Every sort of craft is here.... you could spend hours here and want more!

Lunch in the museum cafe...which has improved greatly!! Then a walk by the old harbour followed by a gelato...proper Italian ice-cream from Vanilla Joe's!!