fabulous finland
A budget airline(Ry*na1r) have started flights from Edinburgh (capital of Scotland) to Tampere (which is about 165km away from here). That was great news for me as I have been wanting to visit my Godson and family up in Scotland for ages, and this made it possible.
I took an advance train up from London last Thursday (approximately £30) and caught a cheap flight home yesterday. The train trip up was fabulous as it was the east coast line and I went past many of my old haunts from when I was a school girl up in Berwick upon Tweed. I was blessed to sit with great people on the journey up. A dad and two young sons, a theology student from St Andreaws University, and a mum and her two daughters. We all got on fabulously well and shared snacks and stories. The time sped by. I still think Northumbria is fabulous .. it’s where the hills meet the shore and it’s a lot less busy than other coastal parts of the UK. I just love it.
The train I took (12 noon from Kings Cross – platform 3 NOT platform 9 3/4) was called the Highland Chieftain as it goes all the way to Inverness (via Edinburgh) but I only stayed on until Stirling (about 5 hour trip) from where I caught the little train over to Alloa. My Dad lived in Alloa for years after retirement and always said it would be so much better if connected to Stirling by train – and now it finally is, with direct trains to Glasgow every hour, and a couple of direct trains each day to Edinburgh too with more frequent connections at Stirling. Wonderful!
For those of you who don’t know Central Scotland, Stirling is an old city and is often refered to as the gateway to the Highlands. It’s historic for all kinds of reasons, and the monument to William Wallace (patriot of Braveheart fame) is well worth a visit (though we didn’t go this time)
I had a really fab time up in Scotland – made so much more enjoyable by the GREAT weather. It was like summer. The temperature got up to about 17 or 18 C every afternoon and I did a lot of walking out and about.
On Friday I went up Dollar Glen with my Godson’s younger brother
On Saturday I visited with another friend and we had lunch in a lovely pub in Sherrifmuir (wonderful salmon) and then hit Tillicoultry Glen
On Sunday we climbed Alloa tower (which was under emergency restoration and not open to the public when my dad lived there) and on Monday afternoon I finally got to spend time with my 16 year old Godson and he and his dad and little brother accompanied me to walk round Gartmorn Dam (at the back of Sauchie)
My plane back to Finland left at the ungodly hour of 6.15am from Edinburgh so rather than trying to get there at 4am (shudder) I found out that there was a 24 h coffee bar and arranged to get there late on Monday evening armed with a good book to while away the hours. It worked out great (though I did need an early night last night!) My Godson’s mum ended up driving me to Edinburgh airport which was lovely … we went across the new Clackmannanbridge (near Kincardine) which was exciting to see and got there at just about midnight. Time for a cuppa and a chat (with no kids around) and then I took a short nap before getting stuck into my book.
When getting to the gate at around 5am (security was easy at that time of the morning!) I was happily (and unexpectedly) approached by TS’s friend EL who is studying Law in Scotland. She’d been at the airport all night too – blethering away to a group of Finns in another corner of the cafe so we hadn’t spotted each other. We chose to sit together on the plane too (though we both slept 90% of the flight!) and then made our way to Tampere station together as well. The plane was 35 minutes early (yay) so we knew we had time to make the earlier public bus which was good news. .. but ten minutes before it was due to arrive a very enterprising taxidriver in a small minibus stopped and said he’d take eight of us for the regular bus fare so we jumped in. Better still he took us all to the train station so that also saved time so both of us were able to make it ‘home ‘on an earlier train. I say ‘home’ cos EL was actually going to Helsinki to see her grandparents and so didn’t come to Turku.
What I loved about EL seeing me and choosing to come over to talk and wait with me was the reminder that while in the UK (for whatever reason) there seem to be quite strong barriers between teenagers / young adults and the old’uns – that’s not the case here in Turku (at least in my experience). And it was so interesting to hear about her first year at uni in the UK (She’s attending Dundee Uni and likes it a lot – invited me to visit next year when she’ll have a flat rather than a bedsit!) .. I’ve invited her round for a cuppa when she’s next over in Finland (summer I guess) as her parents only live around the corner and already looking forward to it!
Today’s been spent cleaning the house, doing laundry and looking after my fish in Fishville. Tomorrow I’m getting my hair cut and swimming. Yay.
