Dumfries

We had a lovely stay in this small town in Scotland. We were located near the station in a B&B run by a    friendly couple who gave us heaps of information on what to see and even did our washing twice for free. We had a cooked breakfast every morning which I will now have to walk a la Forest Gump style to get rid of the excess weight. 

The town is famous for the writer Robert Burns and there is heaps of museums to visit as well as see his original grave and the new one they moved him too when people complained that he deserved better. Burns was the one who wrote Auld Lang Syne and many more poems, books and songs.  Also Robert the Bruce murdered someone in a church which gave him the Scottish crown. Lots of history.

Set in Dumfries museum they also have the oldest camera obscura in the world which uses lenses to give a panoramic view of the whole town. It works like a camera and projects onto a large plate, it was fantastic and better than google earth as you get to see the view as it happens. Apparently the people before us watched us coming up the hill and into the  grounds. We could see birds flying across the town and views for miles. The museum has items on display showing the history, the stories of the land and its people with just about everything covered. 

We travelled by bus to Kirkcudbright (pronounced Kir-Coo-Bree) which has attracted artists since 1880. We visited the museums and art galleries and enjoyed lunch in a pretty cafe. 

I caught a cold so spent a day in bed and after two months without seeing rain it stated to shower at least once in the day. The day we left it was fine so we walked to the train station once again dragging our suit cases to catch the train to Carlisle where we were picking up our car which would take us to a small hamlet near Penrith.