Saturday 26 December

Our first bad weather of the trip, ☔️ It rained all day today. We left Edinburgh at 9am (yay! A sleep in!) and headed straight for Gretna Green, which opened at 11am. There was fresh snow on nearby mountains, but sadly we didn’t experience the White Christmas we were hoping for.

We were given an hour and a half there to explore the location of many elopements, shop and have an early lunch. We were glad it was mainly indoors! It was my only chance to shop in Scotland, and best of all…I found some Moffat tartan. Dad, I have found your souvenir! 

   
 The floods in the Cumbria area over the last month have altered the route of our tour, and recent rains have caused further flooding. We aren’t able to go to Grasmere as planned, so the driver took us to Windermere, home of Beatrix Potter, and a beautiful little town when it’s not looking so drowned! We were all happy to cut short the time available to explore there as there was not much under cover. We stopped for coffee and the kids shared chocolate brownie milkshakes – we watched as real chocolate brownies were poured into the mixing machine! 

Our next stop was Liverpool, where we arrived at 4.30pm as it was getting dark. A local guide then took us on a city tour, with time at Liverpool Cathedral and the Cavern Club where the Beatles played over 250 times in their early days, as well as other locations relevant to the Fab Four. The tour was very informative but quite long after a long day of travelling, so we alighted early as the guide took us through a restaurant precinct near the hotel. The only suitable (ie. Inexpensive and not a bar or club!) restaurant was a Pizza Express, right next door to our accommodation, which we can see as well as a Ferris wheel, from the window in our room.