Nic & Jackie's Eurotour 2024

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Nic & Jackie's Eurotour 2024 We're hitting Europe for 14 weeks of mother-daughter fun!

20th & 21st July: Needingworth, St Ives, CambridgeshireStaying at the Pike & Eel Hotel & Marina. About 30 mins out of Ca...
05/08/2024

20th & 21st July: Needingworth, St Ives, Cambridgeshire

Staying at the Pike & Eel Hotel & Marina. About 30 mins out of Cambridge.

Treated ourselves a sleep in, then got up for our Sunday roast - om nom nom. Then headed into Cambridge and went punting 🚣‍♀️

19th July: York - day 2Wandered around "The Shambles" had a cream tea then headed to the Jorvik Centre where they uncove...
05/08/2024

19th July: York - day 2

Wandered around "The Shambles" had a cream tea then headed to the Jorvik Centre where they uncovered archaeological evidence of the Viking society that settled in York. It was set up like a slow train ride through the reconstructed city of Jorvik, as it was in 975 AD.

Dinner at Lucia's with Mum's cousin Richard & his lovely wife Jo

18th July: York, North Yorkshire.Staying in The Wednesday Family Rooms, such a cool place! And we get a bedroom each so ...
05/08/2024

18th July: York, North Yorkshire.

Staying in The Wednesday Family Rooms, such a cool place! And we get a bedroom each so that's always a perk.

17th July: Whitby, Yorkshire - day 3Drove up to Whitby Abbey.Walked through Saint Mary's Churchyard & found Humpty Dumpt...
05/08/2024

17th July: Whitby, Yorkshire - day 3

Drove up to Whitby Abbey.

Walked through Saint Mary's Churchyard & found Humpty Dumpty's grave LOL

Looked down the famous 199 steps... but didn't walk down them because lazy

16th July: Whitby, Yorkshire - day 2Biiiiig sleep in for me today (knackered from all the driving).Early dinner at Magpi...
29/07/2024

16th July: Whitby, Yorkshire - day 2

Biiiiig sleep in for me today (knackered from all the driving).

Early dinner at Magpie Cafe, yes, THE Magpie Cafe. I got the gluten-free battered cod & it was amazing.

Went on a Whitby Ghost Walk, was so much fun! The guide was a hoot

15th July: Whitby, Yorkshire - day 1Dropped by the Angel of the North on our way from Northumberland to Yorkshire.Stayin...
29/07/2024

15th July: Whitby, Yorkshire - day 1

Dropped by the Angel of the North on our way from Northumberland to Yorkshire.

Staying in The Dracula Rooms 🧛‍♂️ 🦇 cheesey as all heck but Mum's loving it.

14th July: Wooler, Northumberland, back in England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Best Sunday roast by far, also happened to be the cheapest.Wa...
29/07/2024

14th July: Wooler, Northumberland, back in England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Best Sunday roast by far, also happened to be the cheapest.

Watched Spain 🇪🇸 beat England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 in Euros Grand Final ⚽️

13th July: Crossford, West Fife, last day in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Went into Edinburgh to do some shopping on the Royal Mile (...
29/07/2024

13th July: Crossford, West Fife, last day in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Went into Edinburgh to do some shopping on the Royal Mile (lots of Harris Tweed was purchased).

Patted Greyfriars Bobby on his little nose!

12th July: Crossford, Dunfermline, West Fife - Scotland.Checked out & checked out the rest of the castle estate grounds....
17/07/2024

12th July: Crossford, Dunfermline, West Fife - Scotland.

Checked out & checked out the rest of the castle estate grounds.

Into Peebles village centre & found a cafe with the most amazing coffee (hard to find on this trip) and the most heavenly raspberry vanilla scones.

11th July: Peebles, Scottish Boarders - Neidpath Castle 🏰 Stopped at Roslyn Chapel ⛪️ on our way to Peebles. Mum was fro...
17/07/2024

11th July: Peebles, Scottish Boarders - Neidpath Castle 🏰

Stopped at Roslyn Chapel ⛪️ on our way to Peebles. Mum was frothing her Dan Brown fan-girl best!

Neidpath Castle was sooooo cool, we had the whole place to ourselves.

10th July: Pitlochry, Scottish Highlands - day 2High tea at our hotel this afternoon - delicious!Spent the rest of the ...
17/07/2024

10th July: Pitlochry, Scottish Highlands - day 2

High tea at our hotel this afternoon - delicious!

Spent the rest of the afternoon shopping

9th July: Pitlochry, Scottish HighlandsDrove from Loch Ness to PitlochryStopped in to Gin shop next to our hotel to buy ...
14/07/2024

9th July: Pitlochry, Scottish Highlands

Drove from Loch Ness to Pitlochry

Stopped in to Gin shop next to our hotel to buy a tartan Nessie toy Mum saw yesterday (would've been rude not to). Noticed that the Gin Still was named after Mum.

Stopped at a farm shop just outside Drumnadrochit to see if they had some local cheeses 🧀 they did, and Highland Coo feeding!!!! 🐄

Pulled over faster than Mum could scream I WANNA PAT THE COOS!!!+ Good time had by all, except maybe the coos, they looked rather uninterested.

Went into Inverness & found a nail salon 💅 We weren't even sitting together so didn't even realise we'd picked almost the same colour = twinning 👬

Arrived at our next stop in Pitlochry. Mum planning to watch Netherlands 🇳🇱 vs England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 in the Euros ⚽️ semi-finals tonight.

Hotel manager asks about our evening plans.
Me: getting pizza 🍕 from the bar to takeaway so we can watch the Euros in our room.
Manager: you're welcome to eat pizza & watch the match in the bar...
Mum: yeah but we can't lay on our beds in our un**es 👙 in the bar can we?
Manager: ... as long as you're supporting Holland & NOT England you can do whatever you like in our bar.
Me: *engages intense eye contact* challenge accepted

*update*
We did NOT go to the bar in our un**es. We're respectfully eating pizza in our room, whilst lying on our beds in our un**es, watching the Euros.

7th July: Drumnadrochit, Inverness, Scotland - day 2Went into Inverness, the long way so we could drive around Loch Ness...
14/07/2024

7th July: Drumnadrochit, Inverness, Scotland - day 2

Went into Inverness, the long way so we could drive around Loch Ness. Pulled over randomly & found some stone steps leading to the shore - bingo!

8th July: Drumnadrochit, Inverness, Scotland - day 3

Mum went on a Nessie hunting boat trip LOL
*spolier alert* they didn't actually find her, but the tour guide told a great story of how they thought they had a few years ago. It turned out to be a giant prop model of Nessie from a 70's movie that had been discarded in the Loch - so close!

5th July: Sterling, Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Today we got the ferry from Larne, Northern Ireland 🍀 to Cairnyan, Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿S...
09/07/2024

5th July: Sterling, Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Today we got the ferry from Larne, Northern Ireland 🍀 to Cairnyan, Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Stayed the night in Sterling, halfway point to Loch Ness. Long day driving so dinner in hotel restaurant then bed 🛌

6th July: Drumnadrochit, Inverness, Scotland. On the shore of Loch Ness 🦕

Staying at the Loch Ness Lodge for the next 3 nights. Same story as yesterday, long day driving so dinner at hotel restaurant, then bed time.

4th July: Belfast, Northern Ireland 🍀 day 2Mini road trip 🚗 to Giant's Causeway today.Coffee & buttered soda bread with ...
08/07/2024

4th July: Belfast, Northern Ireland 🍀 day 2

Mini road trip 🚗 to Giant's Causeway today.

Coffee & buttered soda bread with jam for brekkie 🤤

Stopped for lunch along the way.

Introducing Herbie Hedgehog 🦔 the new mascot for Nic & Jackie's Euro Tour 2024 LOL

Giant's Causeway on the northern coast of NI is made up of over 40,000 hexagonal black basalt stone columns coming up out of the sea.

Weather was great, got a bit blustery down near the water, but the sun was out. It started drizzling just as the £1 lazy person bus back up the hill arrived, & the sun came back out for a little trek back to the carpark.

3rd July: Belfast, Northern Ireland 🍀Sorry, looooong post.Black Taxi Tour of Belfast murals & history of the troubles. ...
08/07/2024

3rd July: Belfast, Northern Ireland 🍀

Sorry, looooong post.

Black Taxi Tour of Belfast murals & history of the troubles. This was one of my few "not negotiables" of this trip (the others were going to Isle of Man ✅️ & staying in a castle). Was sooooo fascinating. The tour company was founded 15 years ago by 4 blokes who grew up in Belfast during The Troubles, it's the only tour company in Belfast that's jointly owned & run by Catholics & Protestants. They wanted to share their lived experience of The Troubles & the modern aftermath, without the lens of politics or religion. At that time, no one in Belfast gave unbiased tours, some even using tours as an opportunity to share their own political ageda. That's why they started this company.

Our tour guide was incredible. When he picked us up from the hotel, he sat in the back with us & asked us what we knew, our impressions & what we were hoping to get out of the tour - poor bastard didn't realise what he was in for LOL, nah I wasn't too annoying, promise! He was truly impartial & unbiased.

I became absolutely fascinated by The Troubles a few years ago, there are no "goodies & baddies". It's not just about religion or politics. There are STILL people living behind huge concrete walls called Peace Lines in what seems like segregation. The walls separate predominantly Irish republican or nationalist Catholic neighbourhoods from predominantly British loyalist or unionist Protestant neighbourhoods. There are 5 Interface Gates in NI that are closed between 7:30 pm to 0630 am & some remain closed on Sunday.

Each time we drove by or through the Interface Gates our guide said "the walls are NOT to keep people in, they are to keep them OUT". I asked why people chose to live behind these gates, our guide explained that it's a combination of factors: for those that are so traumatised by bombings, raids & gunfire, it's for security. And for others it's to a statement, that it did happen & if they don't remain vigilant it could happen again.

The murals were amazing, our guide gave us permanent markers to write our names on a newly painted section. They are constantly painted over & anyone is welcome to paint another one whenever they want, in fact, it's encouraged.

Towards the end of the tour we were stuck in traffic near a gift shop... "do I have time to run in & buy a postcard?" Our guide pulled over, took us in & found examples of flags & emblems he'd talked about & explained what they mean. He was flipping through the photo books documenting the murals for me & giving me a historical perspective, (there are 5 books so far) I was waiting for the shop lady to tell us off - she was so lovely & told us to keep going. So, of course, I ended up buying all 5 books! He spent another 30 mins in there when us saying "I'm done for the day now, I've nothing to rush to" = precious 😊

2nd July: Ferry from Isle of Man 🇮🇲 to Belfast, Northern Ireland 🍀Up at sparrow's fart this morning! Last check in for f...
07/07/2024

2nd July: Ferry from Isle of Man 🇮🇲 to Belfast, Northern Ireland 🍀

Up at sparrow's fart this morning! Last check in for ferry as at 6:15am so we were up at 5am.

Belfast hotel was only a quick drive from ferry port, Benedicts is gorgeous! Nice big room & beautiful restaurant with really good food (we ended up eating there for the whole 3 nights).

1st July: Isle of Man 🇮🇲 - day 2First full day on IOM 🇮🇲Snaefell Mountain Summit 🏔 is the highest point on IOM at 2,036 ...
05/07/2024

1st July: Isle of Man 🇮🇲 - day 2

First full day on IOM 🇮🇲

Snaefell Mountain Summit 🏔 is the highest point on IOM at 2,036 feet above sea level.

We got the Electric Tram 🚊 to Laxey, then changed onto the Snaefell Mountain Railway Tram to head to the summit!

We had some incredible views despite some drizzle 🌧

Drove to the mountain to the other side of the Island to visit Tracey's Dad. Was lovely to meet him & have a chat, just spewing I forgot to get a pic of us together for Tracey 🤦‍♀️

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23rd June: Cotswolds with Diane & Pete Peter Marshall - part 4 of 4 Filmed our river (ford) crossings for insurance purposes LOL

23rd June: Cotswolds with Diane & Pete Peter Marshall - part 3 of 4 Filmed our river (ford) crossings for insurance purposes LOL

18th June: London 🇬🇧 day 6 - Part 2 of 2 After dinner got a black cab to the crossing at Abbey Road Studios so Mum could have a Beatles moment 🚶‍♀️🚸

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