Spring Road Trip! (1,450 miles of family togetherness)

World map from the Victorian school in New Lanark

Our Easter break here in Scotland is two weeks long, and we decided we would take a road trip around the UK. Pushing family togetherness to new limits, we climbed in our little Nissan ("Nessie" as she is called) and hit the open road. Our itinerary was quite full, and we didn't have a lot of flexibility if something were to go wrong (like a storm cancelling ferry service from Scotland to Ireland), but with bags full of snacks, the I-pod, and our navigational tools, we set out for our whirlwind tour.

The first step of our journey was a relatively short one to the west coast of Scotland. Our destination was New Lanark, a small village south of Glasgow. New Lanark is a World Heritage Site which dates back the late 1700's. Powered by the River Clyde, watermills were used for cotton textile production as the Industrial Revolution began in England during the 1800's. However, what made New Lanark unique were the social and economic reforms made there under the leadership of Robert Owen. Owen was a social reformer who brought his workers together to live in his planned community, encouraged education amongst the children, provided meals, charged low rent, and provided affordable goods and medical care for his employees. He would later sell the mill and form a utopian community in New Harmony, Illinois. (I know, can't you hear Will now- "Dad, can't we just go to Legoland?")

View as you walk down towards New Lanark

There is a short "ride" that talked about life during this time, narrated by the ghost of Annie McLeod. Will and Ainsley discovered that being a kid was a bit tougher back then. A world without Wii, imagine.

They wouldn't dress up in the Victorian clothes, so this had to do.

Yarn spinning in the factory

The remaining waterwheel for Mill number 4

The River Clyde, which powered the mill at New Lanark

One of the interesting features of the mill was the school. As I mentioned earlier, Robert Owens felt strongly about a well-rounded education for all children of the community. In addition to the "three R's" students would study geography, biology, music, sewing, and engage in daily physical education.   Nothing quite like taking your kids to a school during their vacation.

New Lanark School

Hmmm, time to move on maybe?

River Clyde

After our afternoon at New Lanark it was time to move on down the coast to Ballantrae. After some slight navigational issues (I wrote down the wrong town name on our itinerary- we'll laugh about that later I'm sure), we made our way to the Kings Arms Hotel. The owner of the hotel told us some spooky stories after our stay (thankfully not before) and we had a nice morning at the beach before catching our ferry to Ireland.

Would those be dark clouds on the horizon?

An amazing collection of skipping rocks at the Ballentrae Beach