Day 8 - ​​​​Perth, poppies and back across the border

​We set off from Pitlochry to Perth as we had discovered the Poppies tour was currently at the Black Watch museum in Perth. That was another good decision as the installation was wonderful and a perfect photo opportunity. We visited early in the morning and virtually had the place to ourselves. Once again we encountered lovely staff at the museum and our visit was enhanced by the personal stories they were able to tell us - even learning how the IEDs had killed so many of our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.  

We stopped to photograph the new and old Forth bridge – seeing a suspension bridge in construction makes me wonder how on earth they stay up, but it did give us some more fantastic photo opps. 

From Edinburgh onwards the weather took a turn for the worse - rain and thick fog. We had planned to stay at Berwick but when we drove in it was full of sad people in raincoats wandering about and gazing longingly at steamed up café windows. We ended up on Morrison’s car park eating another picnic. We're very classy! We had booked a hotel in Bamburgh for the next few nights and as we arrived in Bamburgh in atrocious weather I questioned whether we had done the right thing. Everywhere looked grey and dismal, I was very tired and felt liked I wish we had just gone home. I wasn’t impressed with the hotel and felt we had made a big mistake. It was time for a 10 min nap to refresh ourselves. 2 and a half hours later we woke up and I realised I had a four poster bed! The room which I had not been impressed with was pretty and quirky and we had a lovely window which presumably had a good view when it wasn’t shrouded in fog. We had booked a meal in the hotel, the Victoria, which turned out to be another wonderful place. The food was delicious and we had a beautiful bottle of Jack and Gina White Zinfandel. I had begun to feel better before bed time but after the best sleep of the holiday I awoke the next morning to glorious sunshine and as predicted a lovely view. Breakfast was delicious and the staff were so friendly and fun. ​​