WARKWORTH, Northumberland

When Fran saw this place on the map not far off the A1 (the road to Edinburgh), she was determined to stop in on the way back. Warkworth in NZ, where Fran grew up, was named after Warkworth in Northumberland by Warkworth's (NZ) founder John Anderson brown. He was born there and thought the place looked pretty similar.

This is true, both towns are situated on the meander loop of a tidal river, near the sea, both feature a bridge and bridge house. Warkworth in NZ is, however, missing a castle and an impressive one at that.

You can read more about the history of either town here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warkworth,_New_Zealand

http://www.coquetcottages.co.uk/history-warkworth.htm

The main street

St. Lawrence Church

Village store

The castle

Graham's UK cricketing career flourishes...

Check out the following link to the club Graham practices with on Wednesday nights:

http://www.rosanericricket.co.uk/newsdetail.aspx?newsid=68

E D I N B U R G H

5am start for the six hour drive to Edinburgh...the sun started coming up as we passed Nottingham.

The Royal Mile looking south

Dinner on the Royal Mile

Fran and her cousin Mike, who lives in Edinburgh

At the Liquid Rooms waiting for the bands to start playing...

Getting into the spirit of things

Elemeno P in action, these guys did not disapoint

The lead singer mixes with the crowd

A cliche scottish picture if ever you saw one ha?

Fran gets excited about the Lang stairs

View to the castle

A wedding at the castle

Window in the tiny castle chapel, reputedly the oldest building in Edinburgh ( the stained class was a later Victorian addition)

View from the castle out over the city and the Firth of Forth

People waiting for the firing of the One O'Clock Gun.

Inside the castle gate

Crossing the bridge over the Firth of Forth

St Andrew's old golf club - a beautiful old building with the orginal green in front. The club is on the seaside with a very picturesque setting. The course is pretty plain - the challenge lies in negotiating the many deep bunkers, and avoiding the gorse and the on-shore winds. The town of St. Andrews itself was very pretty and wes spent some time wandering along the high street.

The new golf club at St Andrew's

The view from St Andrew's beach looking back towards the old Golf Club building and green

It's a bit hard to see (photo is fuzzy) but the lamps on this building are two halves of a cow (or 'coo') sculpted out of wire and what looked like paper mache.

Shot of an artwork in the National Gallery of Modern Art. The entire work consists of cardboard models of all of Edinburghs places of worship - churches, mosques, synagoges etc - which the artist found in the local Yellow Pages. All the models are to scale and there are about 500 of them all up, filling up two rooms. It is quite astonishing that there are so many places of worship given that the population of Edinburgh is only about 600,000.

The grave stone of Greyfriar's Bobby, a loyal dog (a terrier I think) who kept watch over his master's grave for 14 years before passing away himself. There is a small statue of Bobby on Candlemaker's Row as a tribute from the people of Edinburgh. The graveyard - Greyfriar's Kirk - is very spooky even during the day with many old tombs and grave stones crumbling away.

The Tower of London

Maria and Fran scoffng very yummy tarts from Paul's

Beefeaters everywhere

The very humorous Yeoman who guided us around the tower

He had a few stories to tell....

Layout of the tower in medieval times

The ceremonial armour of Henry VIII

View from the White Tower towards the Queen's House (a building of Tudor origin and residence of Anne Boleyn while she was awaiting her fate)

Poem from the Gunpowder Plot display

Window of the chapel St Peter in Chains. Many famous/infamous people are buried in this chapel including Anne Boleyn and Catherine fo Aragon, wives of Henry VIII before he had them beheaded for alleged adultery and/or treason. What a lovely chap!???

View of the Tower Bridge from one of the south walls

Weather vane with royal standard atop the White Tower

View across the Thames towards the South Bank

The White Tower, which is the oldest building on the site dating from Norman times

Walking along one of the south walls towards the Salt Tower

View across the courtyard towards the building that now houses the Crown Jewels

View toward the Tower Bridge gate

One of the many amazing inscriptions on the interior walls of the Beauchamp Tower. This tower accommodated many political and religious prisoners. The carvings are testimony to the long priods of time they were incarcerated. This is a carving by a Sir Peverel.

The King's entrance gate

Looking across 'the ditch' to the King's entrance