We left Chester in search of lunch… oh yes, that had only been the morning, but what a morning! A wonderful start to our holiday research trip and in perfect weather too, which was a bit of a relief. I should probably clarify a bit. I had gone north originally on School business, of course, though the trip itself counts as a holiday for me. We were planning to get up to Scotland to research some sites for our books… it doesn’t matter if either of us visit them alone, we need to do it together in order for a place to make the books, even if one of us already knows a site well.

We were, weather permitting, heading, via one friend close to Edinburgh, for a little place north of Aberdeen to see another. His home is on the north east coast of Scotland… and we, having left the east behind, were now on the western seaboard of England, right next to the Welsh border. Makes perfect sense.

Research trip or not, playing out in the landscape always counts as a holiday, even when it is only for a few hours, so the prospect of whole days of it ahead was just wonderful. It was, I realised, over thirty years since I had been able to take this length of time out, with no-one who needed me to do anything except look, learn and enjoy the landscape and the adventure. And drive, of course… though that, in itself, is a pleasure for me.

Other than Chester as a starting point and our friends as a goal we had made few plans. There were a few places we thought we might like to visit, but there was no set route or itinerary to follow and we had booked no rooms… we were taking the time on trust and seeing where it… and the weather…led us. Research for previous books had already taught us a lot and snippets of reference and information lurk in the dark corners of the mind, waiting for their chance to peek out and wave. We would simply see what happened and where the adventure unfolded.

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