We said good bye to Edinburgh and headed south to Harrogate. Probably not a town you’ve heard of before, most of the U.K. hosts in our B&Bs had never heard of it. Its not too far away from York and the home to Gillian and her family. Deanna first met Gillian over 30 years ago as a pen pal. Deanna’s grade four teacher was the daughter of Gillan’s teacher. They exchanged letters for many years. Recently its been of the electronic variety but they’ve still kept in touch. They did meet 20 years ago when Deanna was in the U.K. on a bus tour so last night was like a bit of a reunion.
We had a few hours to while away prior to meeting Gillian and her family. We walked through the town center for a bit, picked up a few sundries (Deanna is still battling a cold) and grabbed dinner at LAlbero Delle Noci, an Italian restaurant a short walk from our hotel. It opened at 5:30 and we were the first through the doors. It was a very nice meal. We started with some freshly made focaccia bread, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Deanna had some pasta with pesto and I had chicken with shrimp in a rose sauce. Both were very good.
Gillian and Ian along with their daughter Holly met us at our hotel (White Hart Hotel) and we headed into the pub for some drinks. We passed a couple of hours chatting with them. Lovely people, hopefully it wont be 20 years until the next visit.
The last driving leg of our trip was Wednesday. The goal today is to drive to Stansted Airport, drop the car off and catch an EasyJet flight to Amsterdam. I was a bit worried about the whole car drop off process given my little accident on day one, but it was fine. One of the advantages of buying all the insurance through the rental company I suppose. Just drop the car off, sign the damage form and thats that.
We have three nights in Amsterdam. Weve never been before, but have heard its a beautiful city full of canals. Were staying on a house boat that I found through AirBnB.
