A Scotish Interlude

We left our mooring in front of the marina around 9am and 200m along the canal entered Tattenhall Marina. I had already called ahead to make sure there would be a mooring in the marina available for us. I had also picked up a hire car and left it in the marina (with their permission) the evening before. Once we had tied up and paid the mooring fee we were off to the Chester Station to drop off our friends who were heading to London then on to Scotland for five days.

Tattenhall Marina

Scotland

Heading along the M6 Motorway we have passed the exit to Lockerbie many times and said we must go there one day, well we finally took a look. Our second day in Scotland we buzzed down the M6, about a one hour drive, we went along the main street looking for the memorial to the people that lost their lives in the terrorist bombing. The memorial sits in a large area set aside in the beautifully kept  town cemetery.

Particularly interesting is a small museum in the front corner of the cemetery, run by locals and free entry. The museum gives a good insight into the bombing and the aftermath. Afterwards it was lunch and a stroll on the high street before heading home.

We filled another day with a visit to Linlithgow Palace, principle residence of the monarchs of Scotland in the 15th and 16th centuries and of note because it is the birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots on 8 December 1542, to King James V and his French second wife, Mary of Guise. A building here dates back to the 12th century.

The Front Door

The Court Yard

Fountain close-up

Part of the Royal Apartments now

Artist's impression of the Royal Apartments

View across the palace to St Michaels Church

The Great Hall now

Artist's impression of the Great Hall

The kitchen fireplace

View of the inland loch surrounding the palace

St Michael's Church in the forecourt of the palace

We had booked Serafina into the marina for a week and had left her connected to shore power to charge the batteries and keep the refrigerator running. We don't do a lot of long cruising days these days so it was good to get back and see the batteries finally get to float level. The batteries normally get to around 90 - 95% because it would take several more hours of cruising to get to 100% (float). We returned mid-afternoon on the sixth day and straight away made the most of the marina facilities by doing a couple of loads of washing and then filling the water tank afterwards. It was good not having to run the engine for a couple of days to heat water, charge batteries or run large appliances, just for a change.