Disembarkation Day and Back to Moffat

It's a 6:00am wake up call and we stir, dress and head down to the Terrace Cafe for our final delicious breakfast. Along the way we say goodbye to so many wonderful servers and people we've met on board Oceania.  It's been a fabulous cruise but we need to get back to reality right?  And we are each dragging around the extra little person we ate and drank while touring 10 different countries over the last 2 weeks!  I've named mine Shelley and I mostly wear her on my backside!!!!

We had the easiest disembarkation ever and went to a waiting bus which took us to Stonehenge near Salisbury in Wiltshire, England, where, of course, we took many pictures.

Gordon pretending that he's always working!

Stonehenge is pretty amazing.  The stone circle was erected in the Neolithic period in around 2,500 BC!  Incredible that after all this time Stonehenge still stands and it is still anybodies guess as to what it was used for.  There were only the remains of one body found in the circle which is being called "the Archer".  Don't know why though because the remains indicate that the human died of 3 arrow punctures....that hardly makes him the archer! 

After our hour long visit to Stonehenge we headed through the countryside and then on the motorway toward Heathrow.  The bus driver dropped Jillian at a Tube station to go in to London to meet up with Beckio, a character from Jillian's film Trichster and YouTube sensation.  They will complete Becky's interview for the film and hang out in London Town until Jillian returns to Moffat on Sunday evening.  Gordon and I bid Jillie farewell and went on to Heathrow unfortunately 3 hours early for our flight.  But we were hungry so we checked in, dropped our luggage, ate and headed over to our gate where Shelley and I stretched out on several chairs to nap and read.  Our flight back up to Edinburgh was uneventful, except for the guy sitting next to me snoring (I can't get away from it!).  Upon our arrival into Edinburgh, slightly early, we pulled off the landing strip and sat.  And waited and waited.  Apparently being early we caught the gate-keepers unaware, perhaps on their tea break and we ended up sitting about 15 minutes before we could get off the airplane.  Bummer.  Luggage came pretty quick and we nipped off outside to catch the Park-n-Fly bus over to where our little car was waiting for us with the keys in it.

We hit some traffic on the "ring road" so our journey back to Moffat ended up being a little longer but once on the A701 heading south we began to relax and enjoy the countryside.  It's a beautifully scenic drive and the sun was setting on still blooming heather and lovely hills.

Once home and unpacked we went down the hill for dinner at the Star hoping to have their GREAT Friday night only battered fish and chips- the best in town but alas, they were sold out.  So we went to the Indian for a curry and brought it home so we could get in our pj's and relax.  The Tesco guy arrived about 9:00pm with our groceries for the week and just before bed Gordon went into the kitchen for a glass of water and almost stepped on this guy!

DAMN the spiders in Scotland are big.  That's a standard water glass and the sucker fills the rim!!!!

The next day dawns sunny and GLORIOUS!  So we did our favorite walk, Jenny's View, in reverse, which is harder in that it's more uphill, and added an extra hill climb going up to a cairn we've threatened to walk up to for years.

Man and his country!

The Cairn

Cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones. It comes from the Scottish Gaelic: càrn (plural càirn). Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas. They vary in size from small stone markers to entire artificial hills, and in complexity from loose, conical rock piles to delicately balanced sculptures and elaborate feats of megalithic engineering. Cairns may be painted or otherwise decorated, e.g. for increased visibility or for religious reasons.
In modern times, cairns are often erected as landmarks, a use they have had since ancient times. Since prehistory, they have also been built as sepulchral monuments, or used for defensive, hunting, ceremonial, astronomical and other purposes.

View south from the Cairn

View north

After we got home I did laundry, worked in the yard and made a dinner of roast chicken and potatoes and broccoli (already missing the ship's restaurants, servers and dishwashers!).  When Gordon went down the hill for a few more supplies he saw these colorful mushrooms which sprung up overnight from a slight rain.

Hmmmmm, which sheep would I be?

So glad to be back in our comfortable home and planning on the big hike up Gray Mare's Tail tomorrow, Sunday.