We spent all of our nights in places provided by or recommended by our tour company - Back Roads Touring. None were disasters and in fact with one notable exception to be described later, we always felt welcomed and well cared for. However, the different accommodations were somewhat uneven in several aspects and not every tour member had equal quarters even in the same location. Susan and I were in a basement room at the rear of the Churchill Inn in York, but enjoyed a harbor view from an upper floor at the Waterhead Hotel in Ambleside. While literally below ground level, the basement room had a couple of windows that opened onto, or more specifically into, a walled, sunken structure excavated along the rear of the hotel. So we could by craning a bit see a patch of sky and some treetops from our windows. Other than the security aspect of not being elevated above ground level, being up high with a view was not something we had much time to enjoy. Our schedule of travel and activities kept us on the move and out of our rooms from early morning until sometimes after dark. This often meant little time between checking in and the call to dinner which meant our blogger had to have her thoughts in order and do some fast keying. Adding to the stress of time constraints was the uneven WiFi service. Some of our rooms had very strong signals, but even then the bandwidth might be so narrow as to make timing transactions via an hourglass a viable option. What a trivial issue to focus on, internet access that is, but most of us have come to take it for granted wherever we may wander and it is essential for maintaining a blog and uploading photos. It is actually remarkable that such an amenity is feasible in some of the old structures with their thick masonry walls and convoluted floor plans. In both London and Edinburgh, our hotels were formerly several townhouses that had been extensively remodeled and connected internally. What makes WiFi difficult was likely also muting noise as we were rarely bothered by sounds even from any nearby streets.
When inquiring about the "facilities" in a restaurant or other public place, do not ask for the "bathroom." I overheard an incredulous exchange between two employees at one establishment who had just fielded such an inquiry. It is simply a toilet although I suppose WC would have been accepted without comment. Some years ago our budget hotel in London had only a couple of "facilities" down the hall. I would not like to experience such an arrangement again. All our hotel accommodations on this trip included en-suite facilities that could properly be termed "bathrooms". However, the configurations for bathing were never repeated in any of our hotels. This results in a great deal of fiddling about with knobs and levers and dodging errant sprays of too hot or too cold or misdirected water. We never encountered a simple one or two knob arrangement. Instead, there might be as many as 4 sparkling, shiny levers lined up vertically on one wall with little or no indication as to how to proceed. Just to mix things up, one place had an unenclosed tub with a hand-held spray and it took serious concentration to minimize any over-spray. I really think that some sort of commission needs to set a few standards here.
Now, on to the exception mentioned above. "The castle" to be specific was
Comlongon Castle in what is termed the Scottish Borders, a region actually entirely within Scotland and just south of Edinburgh. Scotland and the Scots have a long history of being more than a little difficult as neighbors. The Romans built a wall 77 miles long with towers, forts and many soldiers just to exercise some control over the movements of the unruly hordes to their north. The castle was and is just an impressively large stone "tower" although its appearance is more block or cube-like. It was built at a time when the best defense was a really good defense, hence the 12-foot thick stone walls and iron portico gate. This relatively lawless area between Scotland proper and England was reportedly populated at the time by mostly free spirits who did a lot of kidnapping and cattle rustling when they weren't selling protection to merchant caravans. Around 1900, with extortion and rustling going out of vogue, a baronial mansion was built next to the actual castle and is now operated as a hotel and wedding venue. We were shown around and given a short talk on and actually inside the main room of the real castle by a rather disinterested appearing manager or owner. The information was interesting, but the delivery and apparent attitude of the presenter bordered on contemptuous. Maybe he was having a bad day, or year, or life. I heard someone say recently that whenever encountering a person who was less than pleasant, he tried to consider that the person might be having the worst day of their life. Not a bad way to look at such encounters. The hotel seemed somewhat short-staffed and those who were there did not appear to be the first string. The breakfast buffet was quite sparse and we were informed that the cook would not be arriving before we left. A couple of members of the staff attempted to warm up some requested items, but were obviously in unfamiliar territory. Susan and I are not that hard to please, but some of our fellow travelers were rather vocal about not having their expectations met. All said, the castle and mansion cum hotel were worth seeing and our bathroom alone was larger than some hotel rooms we have experienced in the U.S.
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| Waterhead Hotel in Ambleside |
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| Mulberry Inn in Llwynmawr, Glyn Ceiriog, Llangollen |
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| Well stocked mini bar in Mulberry Inn. Milk, wine and beer. |
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| Baronial Mansion at Castle, our room was third floor triple windows. |
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| Original castle is large cube on left. |
