Kilmarnock time!

So, from leaving Worcester, we made our way eventually to Kilmarnock. This is where No.1 son and his partner and our grandson live.

But before we tell you about that visit, we almost forgot to mention another little adventure. We managed to hire a car for a few days and got across the country to Boston to see Annette’s Sister for a day before heading up the country to visit Wayne’s sister and niece. That was a lovely couple of days with nice weather and got to take Wayne’s Great Nephew to visit a medieval day with jousting and jesters at Scarborough Castle and a lovely walk around Pickering whilst viewing a property Wayne’s niece is renovating. All great fun! So even though we were based in Worcester for a few weeks we managed to pack a lot in!

So, back to our trip to the wilderness that is Scotland…

It was a fairly long day as it always seems a long journey to get to Scotland.

The train journey up however was fairly smooth. The weather was nice for the most part, until the sun went down at least. But then we were treated to a lovely nearly-full moon as we made our way through the borders and Scottish lowlands.

We only had a few minutes to make our connection to Kilmarnock from Glasgow Central as our train was running late. However as we ran to get onto the train puffing and panting we found out that it was also delayed. In fact it was a platform and carriage alteration due to the fact that some vandals had thrown a shopping trolley from a bridge damaging the train we were originally supposed to be boarding! A sad state of affairs really, when todays youth get there kick by vandalism.

But luckily we got underway a few minutes later, with the train conductor telling us about the reason for the alteration and also the fact that this replacement service that was actually scheduled to travel to Dumfries wasn’t going to make it all the way either. Whom ever made the switch did not take into account the fuel! It didn’t have enough to make it the full way there. Customers who were going to Dumfries were going to have to change later at some stage, but luckily Kilmarnock was well in range. We did have to wait a while at the station for our son to pick us up though, as messaging the train times on WhatsApp is not enough info to work out when we would be arriving, and it was our fault for not contacting him before we got in. But, eventually, after a very long day, we arrived in one piece if not a little tired.

It was great to be able to spend a little longer with a more valuable extended time for our grandson to bond with us. That extra time worked well and he became very comfortable with us being there and doing what grand parents do best.

He loved to come swimming with us and he got lots of outdoors time at the park and walking to and from the local supermarket. He is big for his age so has lots of energy to burn and so with us not having the car the exercise is just what he needed. We got to pick him up from his nursery three times a week too, which is not far from the supermarket and so even more walking. It was also a great excuse for us both to get some extra steps in too to be honest!

The weather hadn’t been too bad as the UK was still in the grip of a heatwave etc, but it is Kilmarnock in Scotland we are talking about! We had to both get our raincoats on during the stay, so at least it justified packing them. It was the first time we have had to wear them… well, since the last time we were there! 😂😂😂.

It was not all grey and rainy though, and we had some nice days out to the coast at Irvine and even called in to Vanilla Joes once again. Well worth the visit if ice cream is your thing and you are in the area.

It was also fortunate that our stay coincided with our grandsons birthday, and ended up having two birthdays! (Some guests couldn’t get to his real one). He seems to have more presents than a toy shop, and we seem to be constantly organising and tidying them away. It brings back memories of when we had our three boys at home with all their toys too, but he enjoys them so much. Plus, they do get handed on or donated when he grows out of them, so that’s good.

We had one day where we jumped on a train to Edinburgh for the day. Basically just to have a good look around and see the sights. Annette has never been to Edinburgh, so it was just another adventure to tick off.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t have picked a worse day! The weather wasn’t very pleasant, and the art exhibition we wanted to see was going to cost a fair bit. Added to the fact that the train cost was extortionate too, we decided to just have a look around the Scottish National Museum. The very worse thing however, was that the waste collection workers were striking and the entire city was just one giant rubbish heap. It was quite disgusting and extremely disappointing that the city couldn’t manage it sensibly. The only plus side really was that we had a really nice lunch together and the museum visit was actually very enjoyable. In fact we would even like to return there to see the parts we couldn’t, as it closed before we could see more, and we had the return train journey to catch.