Heading South...

After an early departure, with much sadness

 we bid Alex, Kelly and Freya goodbye

 and headed to Armadale to catch the ferry to Mallaig.

Hmm this doesn't bode well !

There's the trusty Passat waiting to depart at the front of the queue.

Quite amusing was the fact that as we travelled the 

rocking of the ferry made all the car alarms go off!!!

And the snow from last night didn't look too flash either...

However we battled on to Glenfinnan.

We believe this is the bridge from 

The Harry Potter movies....

from a different angle of course!

It is also the site of the monument, where Bonnie Prince Charlie

raised his standard in 1745, marking the start of his campaign

to restore The Stuarts to the throne of Scotland.

Along the road was this nice reflection in 

Loch Eil.

We stopped at Fort William and the moss on this Church

gate took my eye.

The rain had started but we wanted to see what 

remained of Fort William,

not a lot!!

Some nice Daffodils though!

Looking down the High Street.

We stopped at Onich for lunch,

Alison's was lovely and I sent mine back twice !!!

And then asked for my money back.

That's a first!!!

Onwards through the snow, 1.5 degrees coming 

through the pass at Glen Coe Gorge and beyond.

We stopped at The Inn on Loch Lomond for the night.

This was a lovely property over the road.

This caught my eye on our walk before dinner.

As did this beautiful Cherry Blossom.

In the morning we headed south and went over the

Erskine Bridge to bypass Glasgow. 

We headed into Carlisle for coffee then lunch

and to get info on Hadrian's Wall

This is the Town Centre,

I liked the strong shadow .

Looking down one of the side streets...

kinda nice.

Out past the old castle.

And on to the spectacular Augustinian Lanercost Priory.  

On the way to...

This had always been on our "bucket list"

I don't think I would have made a very good Centurion....

as I'm apparently looking the wrong way !!!

This below is the Birdoswald Roman Fort 

where you can see the longest continuous 

stretch of Hadrian's Wall.

The outlined ruins of the fort are clearly visible.

From there south to Ullswater in the Lake District.

Then  up 1500 ft. to Kirkstone Pass.

One of our neighbours at home, had told us

 about this place and it was a must do.

The above was looking down the other side.

Assume the pose Alison !!

Inside for a cuppa..

As we came out a Jet fighter screamed overhead 

maybe 200 to 300 ft above us on his side...

Smart arse !!!!

But boy would it have been fun !

That's 3 times now. 

Down the hill, but at least you can pass.

Then onwards through Ambleside on our way to 

Windermere.