Day 12, August 23, 2007
Funny, today we were in absolutely no hurry and took our time with everything. After breakfast, our host Gordon sat on the terrace while we wanted to take some more pictures of the house. He's a talkative, sports-savvy man and kept us entertained for quite a while. We don't want to publish his CV now, but we'd gladly trade places with him. Among other things, he has a large meadow in front of the house where he organizes a cricket tournament for friends every year, just like that
He has all the peace and quiet in the world; the house is detached and it will stay that way if he wants. So far, that's how he wants it. Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye and leave at some point, since we had booked the ferry and the holiday, sadly, doesn't last forever.
So we started the last 170 km in Scotland and England to reach Newcastle upon Tyne. This route led from Kirkton via Dumfries (A75) – Gretna Green – Longtown – Smithfield – Brampton – Hexham and Newcastle.
We made a brief stop in the famous "wedding spot" Gretna Green. While there, we noticed that a bike's headlight was on, so we quickly replaced the bulb.
After that we left Scotland :-(( towards Brampton and drove along Hadrian’s Wall on the busy A69 towards Newcastle.
Shortly before Newcastle, we followed the signs to the ferry and noticed that they seem to be trying to keep ferry traffic out of the city. We ended up driving about 17 km around the city on the motorway. The directions are excellent, though; they guide you directly to the terminals. If you get lost here… well, you're out of luck.😉
We arrived quite early and were prepared for a bit of a wait. As time went on, more and more German motorcyclists joined us, and we had a great time exchanging experiences with them – which made the wait go by faster. Eventually, the distribution of boarding tickets began, and the man who passed the data on to a woman at the terminal was in good spirits and seemed to be really enjoying his job. It was very pleasant.
Then it was back to waiting, because customs took their sweet time; we could have gone shopping without a second thought. They were really thorough, checking everything with mirrors under the vehicle floors, trunk inspections, and so on. We bikers got to watch it all, since we weren't allowed on the ferry until quite late. Luckily, they only checked our ID cards and license plates. The result of the customs sluggishness: the ferry departed half an hour late.
It was an absolutely fantastic holiday that gave us many ideas for our next trip to this beautiful country with its kind and friendly people. We've already decided that we'll tour Scotland again in 2008; the ferry is already booked.🙂
