Glasgow was good for a day

Tuesday was a beautiful day with the weather, and it's supposed to be even warmer today! Calling for sunshine and a high of 22C (72F) which is pretty decent for Scotland in June.

So, we set off into downtown Glasgow yesterday. We thought about taking the bus just to avoid dealing with any traffic, but I found a free parking lot about 3 kms from the center, and of course we don't mind the exercise.

We are going to stay in a castle!

I've always had a bit of a fascination with castles, and we have visited many over our years of travel. The best ones are the ones that are authentic and not necessarily restored to "modern" standards.

And I've always wanted to stay overnight in one! But first of all, it's usually prohibitively expensive, and secondly, most of the castles that have been turned into hotels are are more similar to a manor house rather than an actual authentic looking castle.

Last minute surprise visit!

Long time readers will remember that we have spent quite a lot of time over the years with Ruth's cousin Helen and her husband Tony. Even back in our working lives, we sometimes took vacations together, including one way back in 1987 when we went to Scotland!

Helen and Tony live in southwest England, but they recently bought Vinnie the motorhome and decided to do a trip up to Scotland with Vinnie. We had planned to meet up with them, but not this soon!

We picked up our brand new car, and saw some interesting sights on our way to Glasgow

I had to go back to downtown Edinburgh to pick up our rental car. Ruth stayed back at the house because it didn't make sense to pay another £2.20 bus fare just so that she could accompany me. 

Car rental in Scotland is much more expensive than Spain was. I started searching months ago, and the best price I could get for a one month rental was £578 ($1,071 CAD, $782 USD).

There is a lot to see in downtown Edinburgh!

As is evidenced by the 56 photos and one video below! 

In fact, we probably could have done with two full days in the central area. But we will have to return our car rental here, so maybe we will do another day towards the end of our time in Scotland.

Edinburgh day 1

Our accommodation is located about 8 kms (5 miles) SW of the center of the city. It's a newer three bedroom three bathroom townhouse. The owner is a single woman about 35, and there is a flatmate who is rarely seen, and when she is here she spends most of her time in her room. And they rent out the third bedroom on Airbnb, which is of course our room. The room itself is tiny, but we have full use of the kitchen and living room so it's totally fine. And the bed is comfy!

On Thursday, we went for a 10 km (6 mile) walk around the area.

Welcome to Scotland!

We had some time to spare before we had to drop off our car rental at Madrid airport, so we did a small detour to the 11th century town of Sepulveda.

Then we drove to the airport and waited for our flight to Scotland!

Today is a busy travel day!

On Tuesday, we drove from Palencia to the village of Fresno de Cantespino, with a stop in Peñafiel.

Overcast, with the threat of rain almost all day, but we never got more than a few drops.

Through Astorga to Palencia, Spain

On Monday, we headed further east from Molinaseca to Palencia, taking a route with a stop in the town of Astorga.

I've forgotten to include a map of our travels the last couple of weeks, so I'll include a map update below.

The gold mines at Las Medulas and the city of Ponferrada

Our next accommodation stop was just past the city of Ponferrada at the small town of Molinaseca.

It was only about an hour and a half drive, but we had a stop to make along the way.

More waterfalls and viewpoints!

I published our May expense report last night. You can check it out here.

We headed out fairly early yesterday because we wanted to beat the heat. We weren't going far... only about half an hour away to a parking spot in the forest near a trailhead that leads to a waterfall.

May Expenses... right on target!

Usually when I make up the budget for the next month, I do so with a best case scenario... to try to give us something to shoot for. That's why we generally go over budget. It's not that we absolutely need to stick to the budget... it's just a guide. And provided the annual expenses don't often go over $40,000 CAD ($30,000 USD) or so, then we're doing just fine. And even if they do go over that amount, we're still doing just fine!

Anyhow, it is odd when we do come in under budget... and even more odd when we pretty much meet the budget bang on!

Boat cruise on the Sil River

We stayed home and relaxed until about 3:00pm when it was time to get going for our 4:30pm boat tour departure on the Sil River.

Oh, but before we get to that, I have to show you a video of the drive we have to do to get to our accommodation here on the side of the hill...

Viewpoints over the Sil River Valley

We are in what is known as the Ribeira Sacra... a spectacularly beautiful wine region in the Sil, Miño, Cabe and Bibei river valleys in Galicia in the northwest corner of the Iberian peninsula in Spain. 

There are many miradors... viewpoints that are made overlooking the valleys. Yesterday, we decided to drive to some of the viewpoints.

Day trip to Pontevedra and Spain's west coast

We got a fairly early start, hitting the road at just after 9:00am for the two hour drive to Pontevedra. 

Pontevedra itself is only about 83,000 people, but the built up areas continue all along the coast and as you reach the beaches, it's quite busy.