How we schedule "landing day"

Our 2023 sojourn began routinely.  We left Seattle Thursday (March 30th) and landed at Glasgow on Friday (March 31st) afternoon.  Catching the airport "purple bus" (500 Express) to Queen Street station, we boarded Scotrail/LNER bound for Berwick-upon-Tweed, our first 2023 destination.  Before posting about Berwick, a few words on how we normally schedule travel to Scotland.

April 1, 2023--the medieval bridge Berwick upon Tweed

Typically we fly out on Thursday late afternoon/early evening and land internationally on Friday late morning/mid-afternoon depending on the flight.   We like to think this "saves" expending vacation weekdays.  Getting from Seattle to most destinations in Scotland that lie beyond the international airport will consume the best part of two days.  That's just the way it works.

April 1, 2023--Royal Border Bridge (rail) designed by Robert Stephenson

Unless one plans to stay in or near Glasgow, landing day Friday will normally be consumed to get to where you are going in Scotland.  This is especially true if one books rail or bus out of Glasgow.  Some routes may take 3 or 4 hours aboard train or bus, and perhaps longer.  Incidentally, we've taken both (depending on where we were headed).  Cost and travel time are comparable.  Both (Buchanan Bus Station and Queen Street Station) are located near each other and both are on the 500 Express bus route from the airport.  The main difference is that it is easier to walkabout on the train (to the 'loo for example), a benefit after being cooped in a transatlantic seat for 9 or 10 hours.  That said, buses are usually not crowded, whereas trains can be.

April 1, 2023--medieval ramparts demolished by Victorians for bridge

It is also true that Fridays consumed in travel connections even if one books a commuter flight, given layovers and so on.  Oddly enough, sometimes one may find the train or bus arrives faster than a commuter flight given layovers and taxis or buses from the destination airport.  

Anyhow, scheduling landing day travel connections with a mind toward recovering at least some of the jet-lag while in motion is smart.  

No longer youthful, it does take us time to recover an 8 hour time difference.  Lastly, landing day Friday with the in-country travel connections means waking Saturday morning with a less harried local weekend schedule before you.  It works best for us.  Marking a sharp line to the start of a vacation...Saturday morning usually.

April 1, Berwick guard house

As for Berwick, it is today "temporarily" located in Northumberland...formally, it is "of" England since 1482 when Edward IV captured it.  From about 1018 (Battle of Carham) on River Tweed, Berwick changed hands about every 15 years...up to Edward IV's refusal to return it.  In its day, Berwick was a principle port for Scotland and the Tweed valley, with a considerable trade in smoked salmon to Europe for example.  Today, with a population of about 12,000, Berwick is the main North Sea coastal town between metropolitan Newcastle-on-Tyne (England) and Edinburgh (Scotland).  It has long been considered part of The Borders.

April 1, 2023--Berwick castle tower

We started our sojourn in The Borders at Berwick, arriving in a light drizzle Friday early evening after we transferred from Scotrail to LNER (London North East Rail) at Edinburgh Waverley, the main train station for most of Scotland's connections southward into England.  Government owned Scotrail does not operate from Glasgow to Berwick, as  the route crosses current national borders.  The same situation is true on the western side of Scotland.  TransPennine Rail operates out of Glasgow Central for connections to Carlisle and points south into England.

From Berwick Train Station we had a small walk in town (according to google map ~8/10ths of a mile, and allegedly a 12-minute walk) to Premier Inn at Sandgate.  Under our travel bags configured as backpacks and an on again off again mist/drizzle, the walk seemed longer.  

April 1, 2023--Elizabeth I built Berwick's defenses well...and deep

Incidentally, Premier Inn (the UK's largest hotel firm with 800 properties) is far and away our preferred hotel chain for our stays in the large towns or cities while in Scotland.  We book Premier Inn George Street in Glasgow each year, for example, the final night before departing Glasgow International bound for home.  First of all, it is clean, well-operated, quiet and economically priced.  Second, its hotel restaurants and pubs have a very good menu that is also reasonably priced.

April 1, 2023--Berwick walls; housing developed just in front of them

For full disclosure, we do hold a small investment in Whitbread PLC, the company that owns Premier Inn.  Even though a stockholder, I still cannot recommend Premier Inn highly enough.  Literally, we save money by staying there comparing dollar-for-dollar (or pound sterling) at most other competitors.  When Premier Inns are in places we are visiting, we use them as our base.

April 1, 2023--Garden allotments for Berwick residents

Incidentally, the company was founded by Samuel Whitbread (an English brewer and Member of Parliament) in 1742.  Whitbread amassed a fortune by the time of his death (over £104 million pounds).  His brewing success led to him being elected a member of Parliament...during the Revolutionary War.  After the death of his first wife, Whitbread married Lady Mary Cornwallis, sister of General Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquesses Cornwallis, the same who surrendered to Washington and Lafayette at Yorktown in 1781 ending the war with America's independence.    

April 1, 2023--Russian cannon taken in Crimean War 1854

 Samuel Whitbread's commercial success was built upon demand for his strong black porter beer...and by his innovative understanding of economies to scale and industrial development.  Whitbread was first to use a rotative steam engine for his breweries (the Whitbread Engine which transferred beam movement into rotary movement.)  It  replaced a horse wheel.  

By 1796, Whitbread became London's largest brewery, selling over 200,000 barrels annually in part due to employing his industrial production equipment.  King George III and Queen Charlotte visited the brewery in 1787.  For perspective, that was at the time our successful American Confederation was winding down, having passed the landmark Northwest Ordnance of 1787 before the new US federal government formed around the ratification of the Constitution.  

April 1, 2023--Berwick's Elizabethan defensive walls

In any case, the walk from Berwick station gave us the opportunity to orient ourselves for the next day's explorations and to enjoy, if that is the word, a bracing North Sea onshore mist.  

Arriving somewhat worn at our hotel about 7:30 p.m., we opted for dinner and a pint at the hotel restaurant and then, lights out.

The conclusion of our landing day.

       

    

April 1, 2023--Berwick light, North Sea and Tweedmouth, in swells and light rain