This is a blog by a couple from Perth in Western Australia on their first trip to the UK in May of 2009.
We are travelling to london, arriving on May 4th 2009 . We are staying a week then picking up a hire car and travelling first through Kent before heading North to Scotland.We will spend the next three weeks travelling through Scotland to Wales and, if time permits to Devon and Cornwall.
Distances in the UK are small compared to those in Australia but we have absolutely no idea of how long it will take, as there are so many places and things that we want to see.
Given that there is nothing man made in Australia more that 200 years old, it will be a huge eye opener.
We have booked our flights, London pass and British heritage pass that allows us to see most of the historic sites in the UK.
These are strange times in the world. Recession is spreading and the Aussie $ is rising as we are fortunate to have one of the few economies that MAY ride out the recession without too much pain. Probably not a good time to be travelling but we have been planning this for a number of years and this is the first time that its actually become practical to do so.
Since I originally wrote this, wine flu has become the new catch phase and gives us another possible challenge.
So, sit back, grab a beer and follow our travels as they unfold.
April 10th 2009.
6th May 2009
Hi all, the first chance we've had to write something.
The flight from Perth to Kuala Lumpur went faster than expected.
We stayed the night at KL in a hotel at the airport. Very nice but really a waste of money as we didn't sleep much.
Flew on to London, 13 hours in a seat with a space you wouldn't keep a dog in.
Arrived and checked into the hotel.
Imagine the smallest room in an average Australian house. Our hotel room is the size of its cupboard!
We complained about that and got moved to a new room which is much larger and has a bed that we can both sleep in at the same time. A vast improvement to say the least.
We complained about that and got moved to a new room which is much larger and has a bed that we can both sleep in at the same time. A vast improvement to say the least.
Believe it or not but this is the LARGER room!
Spent several hours on a tour bus around London and saw more history in a couple of hours than we have seen in a lifetime.
Did what you have to do and went to Buck House for the changing of the guards. Halfway through had the police coming by on horse back telling people to watch out as there was a pick pocket in the crowd.
Found it pretty sureal that there was a military band at the changing of the guard playing Abba songs, particularly when they payed dancing Queen!!
As we left there was a group of police searching a guy so I assume they got their pickpocket.
Note. This blog will be very short until we leave London as I think we will be looking at stuff rather than writing about it.
Its now 7am and we are about to be on the move again so I will add more as time permits.
Cheers
7th May 2009
OK
For the first time tonight we have got back to hotel before 11 pm so I can write a few things down.
Wednesday we went to the tower of London.
Getting there meant learning how to use the tube system.
This is really great as there is a train about every minute and with a little patience to learn the system, you can get anywhere in a reasonable time. We got a travel card which means we can take any train or bus for 7 days any number of times. A really cheap way to get around.
Meanwhile back at the Tower of London we looked at 900 years of mind blowing history. We looked at the spot where Anne Bolyn was beheaded and where she is buried and followed the trail the headless corpses took from the execution field back to the tower. Within the walls itself is the medieval castle and the throne room and bed chambers of King William the 1st.
All this we saw while trying to avoid the hordes of French school children swarming like flies all over the grounds.
Within the white tower (around 1266 the tallest building in Europe) was an exhibition of armour and other things belonging to Henry the eighth. Amazingly enough he was 6'1"tall, a giant by the standards of the time.
We spent hours there and despite the French rugrats every 6 inches we had a great time.
Note. Common pastime in London, play spot the pom. Every single shop or person in the service industry speaks very little English. The hotel we are staying in is run and staffed by eastern Europeans. We went into several chemists and it was like being in another country (not England, Clarification because we are in another country).
English people don't actually appear to be in London, you even have to walk on the right side of the footpath not the left!!!
Continuing on, we had lunch, bizarrely enough in a crypt beneath the church of St Martins in the Fields. Ironically this is where the bells for the Bell tower in Perth came from as the tower here can no longer support the weight and they could no longer be used in what is now such a built up area.
Went to the war rooms under Whitehall where Churchill ran the war and roamed the Churchill museum.
We got tickets to the Lion King!!!!
Rocked up there and this time were surrounded by six million German school kids.
Very disappointed with this show, having seen a short version of this at Hong Kong Disneyland that was nothing short of amazing.
Thursday 7th May
Slept in a little this morning, another late night last night. Didn't get out and about until about 8:30 and found the local tube station surrounded by police and fire engines and had to walk to the next one.
Went to Tower Bridge, well worth a visit. We were walking over the high walkway when the bridge actually raised. This only takes about a minute each way, very impressive.
We had decided to have a quiet day so after that we went on a Thames river cruise, very relaxing and as it went to Greenwich we decided to have a look at the observatory where the meridian line lives. Took the obligatory photo of straddling the international dateline and moved back to the ferry. As usual with us we had done far more than we intended and were rapidly running out of time as we had tickets to the recording of a TV show at the BBC TV centre which, fortunately, is not far from the hotel so we just made it in time. Not a great show and one that will never be seen in Australia but interesting to go to the BBC and see it happen.
Just a note on the river cruise.
We had a recorded commentary going up to Westminster but on the way back had a cockney with a great sense of humour that made the rest of the cruise very enjoyable and bloody funny.
At Greenwich ,which is where the admiralty training school is, there was a lot of activity. It turns out that today is the 100 th anniversary of the marine air wing and coming up the Thames we were overtaken by a line of about 30 helicopters doing a flyover. Pretty cool.
I think we must have signs on our backs that attract people to talk wherever we go. For example at the lion king the Germans kids were quiet but there was dutch family behind us that didn't shut up once for the entire show. In the BBC recording we had a family of east enders that did the same thing even thought the warm up guy went to great lengths to explain that there are mikes everywhere and not to talk.
END OF RANT but, after all , this is MY blog so suck it up!!!!
Friday 8th May 2009
Today we decided to have a quieter day and actually succeeded.
We slept in this morning before going to Madame Tussuad's.
This is the first time since we got here that we felt uncomfortable with the crowds. Masses of German and french rugrats as well as masses of poles and Russians.
As I motioned before, when you walk down the street in London you rarely hear an English accent. Having seen the Madame Tussuad's in Hong Kong it really was just more of the same apart from the history of London exhibition where you get into a cut down Black cab and go through the history of England. Very good but is over before you know it and you can't do it again. We were actually out there after in just over half an hour, which actually was a relief from the crowd.
From there we found our way to Knightsbridge and visited Harrods. How could you visit London without visiting Harrods?
What an amazing place. Sue was looking at scarves until I pointed out that the cheapest was 200 pounds.
We found our way to the toy section and found a mass of things that even I wanted. If we ever have grandkids (PLACE HINT HERE) we will have to take them to England just to visit Harrods toy section. This is a place where you could spend a great deal of money in a very short time so we left.
From there we went to "Little Venice" to take a canal boat ride to Camden lock but we found that it had been moved. (The boat mooring not Camden lock). By the time we got to the right place the last canal boat had left for the day so we went back to the hotel.
Later we went out to "our local " The Black Dog, for a meal and had roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding (just to keep a work colleague happy) and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Note on a sign of the times.
Going down an escalator to a tube station and had one of my usual sneezing attacks. The looks I got made me feel like a leper and if the people around had there way I would have been sent to live with them.
Londoners are taking the swine flu very seriously which is a bit of a problem as I have a mild sore throat and Sue has a cough. If this develops we could have an issue trying to book accommodation.
Last note for tonight.
Bought a couple of beers but don't have a fridge in the room. Stuck them out on the balcony for a while and just cracked one. Reasonably cold, one advantage of the climate.
Saturday 9th May 2009
Fast approaching the end of our time in London, consequently more things to fit into the time left.
Today I reached a point over awesome. really, I AM OVER AWESOME. We went to the British Museum and saw everything that ever existed in any other country. The British have taken it back to the Museum in London. End of story, no other museum is worth looking at coz its all in London.
Next we went to St Paul's cathedral. Awesome doesn't even come close. This in itself has to be the most incredible place I have ever seen. To cap it off, later in the afternoon there was a choir of around 100 people practising. We sat there looking at this magnificent place with the voices of angels soaring through the huge space and you could feel it all seeping into your soul. I am not religious but this would be the closest I have ever been to heaven.
We went on a tour and saw the tombs of some of the greatest names in British history. Nelsons coffin is in pride of place roughly in the centre of the crypt and above it are the actual flags that flew at the battle of Waterloo. Tradition says that they will stay there until they rot and fall.
Guess what else was there in abundance, yep. French school kids.
Unfortunately I now have a cold. Every time I blow my nose I get looks from passers by. I hope it passes soon or we may have a problem getting bed and breakfast.
Getting around today was a bit of a problem as they have closed several tube lines for maintenance, putting more pressure on the other lines that work around the closed ones. Like travelling in peak hour really.
Sunday 10th May 2009
We we were going to have a quiet day today. This actually never happens with us as there is so much we want to see and do.
We went to Westminster and were walking between Westminster Abbey and the tower of Big Ben when 2 bobbies went past on bicycles and a group of kids came past. I couldn't help but burst into song "England swings like a pendulum do, Bobbies on bicycles two by two, Westminster Abbey, the tower of big Ben the rosy red cheeks of the little children". For those of you of a more tender age this is a Roger Whitaker song from the sixties and now I know where he got it from. True story.
In a similar vein we were sitting in a waffle house for tea this evening and there were 2 bobbies sitting at the next table. A third walked in and walked up to them and said "Evenin' all" to which one of the others replied 'ello, 'ello.
I couldn't make these up.
Anyway, we went to Kensington Palace, relatively interesting but not brilliant. Sue thought it was pretty good to stand in the room that Queen Victoria was born in.
From there we went to Covent gardens and watched a couple of really funny street acts, There was also one that was doing an act and wearing a body stocking that was more than revealing.
Honestly, if I had the tackle that he had I wouldn't be flashing it in public. To be generous I'll just put it down to cold weather.
From there we went back across London to The science museum. This I found to be pretty cool as they had Stevensons' rocket and puffing Billy on display.
Quite a few other things of interest as well including several Babbage machines (original mechanical computers). Very nice.
From there we went to find Albert Hall and instead found what we thought was a cathedral. This turned out to be a magnificent purpose built building for the natural history museum. Again we were awestruck (yet again) and spent an hour wondering around, annoyed that the exhibits were covering the amazing building.
We then found the Albert Hall, also an impressive building then walked back to the hotel from there.
Tomorrow we pick up the car and head to Kent.
Monday/Tuesday 11/12 May 2009
Slept in a little this morning then packed up and used the tube for the last time to get to Marble Arch where we were to pick up the car. We left the bags at the hotel , deciding to get the car first then go back and get the bags as the hotel was on the `Western side of the city and the thought was we could go south then circle London and avoid the worst of the congestion. This however was before we found that tom tom had FALLEN IN LOVE with London.
We set it to take us back to the hotel then followed as it told us. Right from the start it seemed wrong but having no idea of the road system we thought it new better. By the time we got to Oxford Street I had a pretty fair idea that we were going the wrong way. I finally worked through back streets and with some difficulty managed to find our way back to the hotel and picked up the bags.
Note, London hotels are expensive and small but I think you could do better than the Hyde park Tower hotel.
Continuing on we tried tom tom again and directed him to lead us to Kent, specifically Dover.
This is where his love of London reared its head again.
Next note. Driving through the centre of London, negotiating Trafalgar square is not for the feint hearted. Piccadilly circus severely tested the marital bonds as I was trying to get around next to a bendy bus, 4 vehicles wide with no lane markings, a car I wasn't used to and with my beloved telling me that tom tom was saying do a u turn as soon as possible. Shortly later it changed its mind and agreed we were heading in the right direction.
We finally got out of London after about an hour and a half with no dents or scratches, which is a minor miracle given the narrowness of the streets.
We spent the afternoon trailing through cemeteries in the depths of Kent. Sue is following up her family history and I, being a dutiful SNAG, follow.
In the late afternoon we arrived in Dover and went on a tour of the wartime tunnels beneath Dover Castle. This was used during the war as the main operations station for the battle of Britain and planning of the Normandy landings. Very interesting. The castle (god, there's a lot of castles) is magnificent and was a major part of the defense of England until overrun by the Romans then later the Normans.
Well worth a look but it would need quite a bit of time to see it all properly.
We then headed to Canterbury for the night. Found a nice hotel and wondered down the town and had a really nice meal in a 14 th century pub called the Weavers.
We seem to have lost all track of time as we didn't get to Canterbury until after 8pm. As is doesn't get dark until after 9pm it's easy to do.
Had a good night there then walked around the medieval village and the roman walls. Went into an underground museum and saw Roman ruins. These were found after a German bomb took out one side of the street and the clearing up exposed Roman mosaics and other ruins. Canterbury had been a large Roman town, one of the first in Britain and covered and area roughly the size of the current town.
We also did a row boat tour up and down the river and saw some interesting stuff, including the bottom of a number of bridges. :-)
From there we headed north.
Tom tom saw the opportunity and seized it with both virtual hands and immediately directed us north through the centre of London. No matter what we did and what options we took it refused to go around. We turned him off and went and bought a map book. We looked up and found a ring road that circles the east and north of London . At this point we thought we would give tom tom another chance but he still insisted the only way was through the centre of London. In desperation I programmed in a route to a town just of the ring road and tom tom still wanted to go via central London.
We ignored him.
I swear the voice got more complaining as we got further north.
Eventually he gave in , think we may have him tamed now...
We were heading to Nottingham but diverted to a small town called Tutbury where a number of Sues relatives lived until forcibly removed to serve at his majesties pleasure in the Colony of Van Diemens land.
Again we lost track of time and were looking for the cemetery to find other dead rellies when we found ourselves back in open country. I looked for a place to turn around and saw a B&B sign on a farm. Instant decision and I am now typing this looking out the window at a horse trotting around a paddock overlooking rolling green hills. We are now staying at her majesty's pleasure, thankfully not in the same manner as Sue's predecessors but because the Queen actually owns this property and leases it out. The farm house is 400 years old and ìn tradition style has wi fi...
We booked in then drove back to town and had tea at a pub called the Dog and Partridge, recommended by our landlady. She also warned us if we went to the other pub not to tell them where we were staying as she is president of the parish council and has had a falling out with the landlord. Cowardice being the better part of valour we went to the "friendly " pub and had a great meal.
Admiring the view, typing on the computer and enjoying life from a great room with a king size bed. About to make a cuppa so....
To be continued.
Wednesday 13th May 2009
Sue dragged me around a couple more cemeteries today but didn't find any rellies.
Moved on too Nottingham.
This town had very little appeal so we bought a thermos and left.
Next we headed toward Durham but decided to check out York. A great little town worth a look as its very old and very nice. Checked out the "Shambles", this is supposedly the best preserved Medieval street in Europe. A very narrow street that was originally a street of butchers and rated a mention in the doomsday book.
Moved on to Durham and got there late in the afternoon and checked into an old pub. Nothing flash but the food was good. Had an early night.
Thursday 14th May
Explored Durham .
This is an interesting town. It has a cathedral and a castle. The castle is the Durham university and is in continuous use. The Cathedral is impressive and huge and also dates from around late 11th century.
The cathedral and Castle are on a loop back of the river that supplied a natural moat on three sides and has two medieval bridges. A very interesting place.
Next we decided to go to a small place called Alnwick. The best move we ever made . This is the greatest town. It is like something straight out of a picture book, absolutely amazing. Next we found it had a castle. Not just any castle but next to Windsor castle, the oldest continuously inhabited castle in the UK.
We did the tour and it was amazing. Lots of Harry potter was filmed there as it was the set for much of Hogwarts.
We also saw much of the living areas and it was truly amazing.
Note. While all this travelling I have found that TOM TOM is a piece of shit.
It frequently decides when you are going where it told you to, to reverse direction, then for no apparent reason reverses itself.
Several times it tried to get us to turn the wrong way down one way streets and on several occasions told us to proceed for several thousand miles.
From there we headed to Edinburgh... and there had massive trouble trying to get somewhere to stay. Eventually we found a place that was fully booked but had an apartment that was sitting empty so they gave it to us for the same price of a B & B.
So now I am sitting here typing this, beer in hand, looking out of the first floor window at Edinburgh Castle lit up like a Christmas tree, at a table in the lounge room, next to the kitchen and with 2 bedrooms to choose from. We will be here for 2 night but are considering making it three.
Welcome to Scotland....
To be continued.
Friday 15 th May 09
Took a bus into the city centre.
Went on a bus tour of the city. Not overly exciting. The city itself is incredible. Very little of the city is less than 500 years old and it just goes on and on.
We went through Edinburgh Castle. Very interesting and is still in use as it has a permanent army garrison station there as it has for over nine hundred years.
In the centre is the St Mary Chapel which is the oldest part of the castle. It was the private chapel of Queen Mary.
From there we walked down the Royal Mile, a street of medieval buildings with cobbled streets that goes all the way down to Hollyrood House Palace. In this palace was born Charles VII who was later crowned Kind of Great Britain as Charles the first. He was the only royal to be executed, and was beheaded in London.
Another interesting palace but we are close to palaced out.
From there we walked through the centre of the town and bought fish and chips, the first time in the UK.
Interesting sight, a street busker in Edinburgh is a guy in full regalia playing bagpipes.
Took a bus back to the apartment and had a quiet night.
Saturday 16th May
We decided to stay another night and had a relatively quiet day today. Drove out to Hopetoun House which is another Country estate and had a look through. This is a special place for Sue as she has traced her family history and found that one of her ancestors was a coachman at Hopetoun house. She has contacted a chap that works there and has received some documentation with her ancestors signature from around 1760.
In gratitude we gave him a boomerang we bought with us.
From there we drove to the nearby village of Abercorn where he lived and had a look at the house that still exists.
We then drove back to Edinburgh via some back roads, taking photos of the magnificent Forth bridges on the way.
We climbed most of the way up Aurthur's seat which is a Bluff that towers over the city. We then drove to the other side to Calton Hill and looked out over the old town.
Masses of photos but I can't get them into the blog.
Tomorrow (early) we will be hading to Inverness and Loch Ness.
To be continued
Sunday 17th May 2009
Today we drove to Inverness via Perth. For obvious reasons we we waned to see Perth, nice little town.
We are now deep in darkest Scotland. Bad turn of phrase actually because the days here are so long that night only lasts for a few hours. We are walking around at 10 o'clock and it's just thinking about getting dark. The sun is up long before we are.
I heard that WA has rejected daylight saving, bit of a moot point up here really.
Tonight we went to a local pub just for a change, we were the only English speakers there. It was crowded with Dutch.
Honestly there are more English people in Australia than there are here.
This nation is one of tourists. For example in Inverness, Kenneth street, which is the main drag into town is a long stretch of bed and breakfasts. Most of the side streets are the same.
There are tourists everywhere.
Note Edinburgh on the last day was absolutely freezing. For the first time we felt really cold. The weather has actually been very kind to us. In Edinburgh the temperature wasn't that low but the wind was freezing. We had a day here that was freezing and didn't stop raining. The next day was beautiful, just like being back in Tasmania really.
Monday the 18th May 2008
We left early and drove to the Isle of Skye. Tonight we are in a B&B in Portree which is the capitol.
On the way here we went via Loch Ness and took a cruise on the loch down to Urquart Castle.
Interesting. On the trip were 4 very gay indian guys. I have no problem with that but these guys did nothing but take photos of each other. Every time we would go to take a photo one of them would step in front and strike a Zulander pose Blue thunder look and all and then they would swap around, primp, strike another pose and take more photos. Between them they would have taken hundred of photos of each other, none of the scenery.
tomorrow we will explore this island.
Note. England is the land of roundabouts. If you don't like roundabouts don't ever come to the UK. There are very few T junctions or intersections. Everywhere they have been replaced by roundabouts. That's ok if you know what lane to be in. On big roundabouts you have to be in the right lane or you go where you don't want to. Having said that the drivers here are very good. If you get in the wrong lane put on your indicator and someone will give way to you. It works very well.
There is also another roundabout called a magic roundabout. This is where they have a circle of about 7 roundabouts and you have to fight your way through I haven't struck one yet and hope not to.
Note. Hairy cows. Everywhere in the highlands, very hairy cows, look absolutely amazing.
To be continued.
Tuesday 19th May 2009
Today we explored the island of Skye. This is part of the Hebrides.
We drove to the far north and climbed a mountain, at least part of it. A 1 in 5 slope for about 2 kms gave us fantastic panoramic views. From there we looked over the islands to the east and it was amazing, like we had left all civilization and the modern world behind, at least until my mobile rang. There I was, sitting on a mountain talking to my son on the other side of the world describing what we were seeing. Took a photo with the phone and sent it to him.
Ah, the modern world. You can run but you can't hide.
Drove to the western side of the island and saw another castle, getting sick of castles, like French school kids they are everywhere.
Only saw a few hairy cows today, can't get a decent photo as they tend to spend most of their time lying down. Must get a photo as the are the weirdest creatures.
Late in the afternoon now and for something different we may go to the pub for a meal....
Have to plan where we are off to tomorrow, probably Carlisle via Glasgow.
To be continued.
Wednesday 20th May 2009
Got it wrong, Today we headed south but not Carlisle. We are currently in a picturesque little town on the southern banks of Loch Lomond by the name of Luss. That's double s by the way.
Still in Scotland.
We came via lots of narrow winding roads and stopped at a number of places along the way included a really neat town called OBAN which has a structure on the overlooking hill that looks remarkably like the Colosseum.
On the way we climbed up over a mountain and pulled over when we saw an amazing sight. There, high on a windswept ridge overlooking the most amazing view of Lock Lochie, was a lone piper in full regalia playing. It was surreal, that is until we realised he was a busker and his wife was flogging his CD's. This didn't really detract though and it was an amazing moment.
Went to a local restaurant tonight and am pleased to report we have finally escaped the crowds of French kids. Unfortunately every where we go now is crowded with Australians.
This morning we stopped at a bakery and the women asked if we were Australians. She then told us that the last ten people in the shop this morning had mostly been Australians.
Back to the restaurant. I had chicken stuffed with Haggis, served on a bed of creamed mashed potatoes and it was brilliant. Haggis is actually a finely minced lamb mixed with seasoning and onion and was, as I said, Brilliant. So if you find yourself in Luss, visit "The Rest " for a great meal.
Walked around the town and saw everything of note in about 10 minutes. returned to the B & B with a couple of cans of coke as there is a complimentary decanter of the "Wee Creature" .
I think I'll go and investigate this further now.
To be continued.
Thursday 21 May 2009
Note, the place we stayed at in Loch Lomond was just south of the town of Firkin. Just thought you would want to know that.
Breakfast this morning was our first taste of "A full Scottish breakfast".
Warning! avoid this... Eggs bacon and tomato are fine but the haggis and black pudding are very hard to take first thing in the morning.
From there we drove to Carlisle. Another Roman town. Checked into the B & B then drove out to a little settlement called Birdowald. Here is one of the best preserved sections of Hadrians wall. I got to walk on top of Hadrians wall.......
Driving back from there was a real experience, drove through some scary roads, very narrow, not much wider than a car and there are occasional areas where you can pull over. I was driving slowly about 30 MPH and a huge tractor towing a huger trailer came around the bend doing about 50 mph. Brake hard and swing as far left as possible and he passes with about 3 inches between the vehicles. As I said, very scary stuff.
Went back to Carlisle and found a theatre so we went to see Start Trek. Cool movie.
Friday 22 May 2009
Went to Carlilse Castle, yes another castle. Had a wander and drove down to Chester. We went via the northern part of the lake district. Absolutely beautiful country. Took backroads, very narrow and scary but incredibly beautiful. All the roads are lined both sides with rock walls so when vehicles come the other way your wing mirror is only inches from the wall.
Went through Windamere which is Beatrix Potter country and is absolutely indescribable, I could spend days in that place as long as all I wanted was peace and quiet.
Came across a number off accidents, one was a caravan overturned on the motorway, luckily in the opposite direction and in other incident we saw a semi trailer that went under a bridge and hadn't checked his clearance. He will be there for a while.
On the narrow road I had a car came around the bend on the wrong side of the road and I gave him an annoyed flash of the rear windscreen wiper. Should have been high beam but the controls are on the opposite side to those at home and I hit the wipers instead of the lights, but I bet he was suitable chastened.
We spent that afternoon in a laundromat in Chester, one of the prices you pay for travelling so long but at least we have clean undies for the next week or so. We were going to stay in Chester for two days but can't get a B & B so tomorrow after we have had a look around we will head into Wales. We will probably stay a couple of days in one place there for a break.
To be continued
Sat 23rdMay 2009
Spent the morning walking around The Wall in Chester.This is a medieval wall that contains 58 hectares and is the old part of the city. It was built on the original roman wall and one part of that still exists. It's 2.2 miles around. One end of the city is the best preserved medieval city centre in Europe and is really great. Tudor style buildings containing shopping centres and other stores and they are 900 years old. Very interesting. Well worth a look if you are considering visiting.
From there we drove to Wales and visited Portmeirion. One the way there we took backroads rather than motorways and saw some incredible countryside.
Some of the roads have been pretty hairy but today we had a wooley experience.
We were driving down a narrow road, walled on both sides and there was a lamb on the road. It was obviously lost and couldn't get back up over the wall and through the fences. There was another car stopped facing the other way and the sheep was scarred to come near either of us. I edged the car slowly forward until he was more afraid of me than the other car and started to run downhill. This went on for some time and he wouldn't go into any of the laneways that ran off the road so all I could do was follow and hope cars coming the other way would see it in time. One car did come at high speed and managed to brake in time. By now I had a row of cars behind me and we proceeded downhill at about 3 mph with warning lights flashing until the wall got low enough for the lamb to jump and he ran off into open land. With a sigh of relief we got going.
Arrived in Portmeirion and absolutely loved it. This was the site used as the setting for a 1967 TV show called the prisoner. See http://www.virtualportmeirion.com/
for pictures.
It is actually a hotel and I would love to stay there one day.
Well worth a look.
We are now working out where to go tomorrow as there is the Gloucester cheese rolling on Monday and we are rehashing our schedule to be there.
This is a long weekend here and it is very difficult to get accommodation. We are in a bit of dive to night in a town with a name that I can't pronounce (Machynelleth) in the middle of Wales. We have single beds, a TV on the wall with a blurry picture and no remote and just had the greasiest fish and chips ever. Can't wait to get out.
Navigating is very tricky as we see a town name then go to look it up and have no idea of what it was. For example the street we are in is new town road but the welsh street name is ffordd-y-drenewydd and this is the name on the signs. Very confusing. For once the Tom Tom got us here even though it twice told us to take a road then told us to turn around several times before taking us the way we originally were going.
Travel tip. If you buy a satnav device ALWAYS buy a road map as well.
To be continued.
Sunday 24th May 2009
Today we went to Cardiff the capitol of Wales.
Particularly wanted to see the place where Captain Jack takes the lift down to the secret Torchwood headquarters. Got photos of me standing there but no sign of Captain Jack or the crew. It is a bank holiday so I guess they took the day off too. The huge crowds would have slowed them up even if they didn't and would have made it hard for them to get to work but that's life I guess.
Wandered around for a while and visited Cardiff Castle. At one point we were walking around under the ramparts and I saw a doorway. I walked in and looked through another doorway and thought I was seeing and optical illusion. It looked like a mirror hall disappearing off into the distance and I realised that there was a tunnel running under the ramparts. This ran around the entire castle and in itself was amazing. Part of the castle is the manner house which was lived in until 1947 when it was handed to the Cardiff Council who now maintains it. Most of the decoration is Victorian and very interesting.
We then headed to a little town called Caerlion where we had booked a B & B. Very nice. There is a Roman Museum here and a Roman amphitheatre. This is one of the few sites like this in Europe. We walked around and over this in awe. The Roman barracks ruins are there as well and again these are the only ruins of Roman barracks in the world. This was the home of one of the three permanent legions in Roman Britain along with York and Chester, a legion consisting of around 5,500 men.
We went out to eat tonight and the town was full of young people dressed to the nines out for a night at the pub. There are 4 pubs in this village and they all have bouncers. Very weird.
To be continued
Monday 25th May 2009
Today we went to England (we are staying in Wales at the moment) to Gloucestershire for the annual cheese rolling.
for an example from last year.
Worth a look but I most certainly would not do it again. Too many people in too small an area and standing shoulder to shoulder with half of them smoking. Incredible how many people smoke here.
The guy at the top launches a round cheese and everyone launches themselves after it and quickly lose their footing and tumble head over heels for the rest of the way down, and it is a long way down...
The first over the line is the winner and wins the cheese.
The ones that take the most tumbles win a ride in the ambulance.
Couple of people carted off in ambulances, at one stage the whole thing stopped as they took a guy to hospital with possible spinal/neck injuries and had to wait to get the ambulance back before proceeding.
Sidenote, everything in Wales is dual language, which makes an ambulance an Ambiwlans, Elmer Fudd would be at home here. I love the welsh accent, particularly when you hear the little kids talking.
Heard this today about a new directive from the EU
EU Directive No. 456179
In order to meet the conditions for joining the Single European currency, all citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland must be made aware that the phrase 'Spending a Penny' is not to be used after 31st December 2009.
From this date, the correct terminology will be: 'Euronating'.
In order to meet the conditions for joining the Single European currency, all citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland must be made aware that the phrase 'Spending a Penny' is not to be used after 31st December 2009.
From this date, the correct terminology will be: 'Euronating'.
OK seemed funny at the time.
One the way back we stopped at a town just over the Welsh border called Cheapstow. They have a huge castle perched on the side of a cliff. It is a ruin but is incredibly huge and dominating. Very impressive. Built in 1067 it is the oldest castle in the UK. We are over castles but everytime we see another one (and there are lots of them) we have to have a look.
Went into a pub for a meal and they had cheap meals if you ate early, so we did and it gives another meaning to cheap. Worst meal in the UK so far.
Just a note on B & Bs. We have had a pretty good run so far apart from the one a few nights ago, but the one we are in at the moment is brilliant. Very large room, 17th century house very tastefully done up and the bathroom is larger than the hotel room we had in London and finished in marble complete with a spar bath and art deco pictures .
The whole room is art deco and very very well done. If you ever find yourself in Wales in a little town called Caerleon, stay at a place called Radford House just opposite the Roman museum, you won't regret it.
Tomorrow we will be moving on to Portsmouth and Torquay.
To be continued.
Tuesday 26th May 2009
Portsmouth is a very pleasant town. Almost by accident we immediately found the green above the harbour where Francis Drake allegedly finished his game of bowls before sailing to confront the approaching Spanish Armada.
From here there are sweeping views across the harbour and out to the see beyond. The park is about 200 ft above the sea so the view is spectacular. As most paces in the UK there are statues of Drake, The usual war memorial and a particularly striking statue of a fighter pilot in full gear.
Plymouth, being a very large naval base during the war was a prime target for German bombers and was attacked many times. There is a large pool at the base of the cliff and the sign says that during the war there were up to 3000 people swimming there at night after spending hours clearing rubble from the air raids.
From there we travelled to Torquay, home of Fawlty Towers. Having seen the massive number of hotels in the town centre is is easy to see that this is set up primarily as a tourist destination.
Basil wasn't about so we went back to our hotel which bears a striking resemblance and give up for the night.
Tomorrow we will be travelling to Bath and will be spending 2 nights there, looking forward to this as I think this will be one of the high lights of the trip.
To be continued
Wednesday 27th May 2009
Still in Torquay. We went to a place called Kent's Cavern.
This is the oldest discovered domestic sites in the UK and they have found skulls there of homo erectus and neaderthal man. Also cave bears of 420,000 years. Quite a complex cave system and very interesting. Well worth a look. We also took a funicular railway down to a beach. Interestingly the sand is fine shell, not sand.
From there we went to Bath. We have checked into the hotel and have checked out the town. Tomorrow we will go exploring for the day.
All the time we have been in the UK we have had great weather except for one wet and windy day in Edinburgh. Unfortunately today was another one. However tomorrow is going to be 22 so it should be a nice day.
Note on Roads.
The main roads here are fantastic but some of the rules are a little different.
The outside town speed limit is 70 MPH (120 KPH) but if you sit on that speed cars fly past like you are standing still. Its amazing to be sitting on 70 mph and have all these little Fiestas and Citroen 1.3 litres fly past. Cars that we wouldn't consider for anything outside a city scream around constantly.
The roads, even in the cities are so narrow, you spend a lot of time driving on the wrong side of the road. Lots of fun when a bus or truck comes the other way. Whoever can fits into the nearest gap to let the other pass. Driving here is actually so much easier that at home in a lot of ways just because there is a different attitude on the road. People give way all the time. When you come on to a motor way you indicate to pull in and traffic will either slow down or change lanes, usually flash their lights at you to say its ok to proceed. The opposite to here.
Not much else to report today so ....
to be continued.
Thursday 28th May 2009
Today we explored Bath. This has to be one of the highlights of the entire trip.
To walk around where Romans had walked 2000 years ago was amazing. The baths themselves are part of a much larger complex, only about 20% of the total complex has been excavated as the rest of it is under the city. As it was, the council bought up a number of shops to excavate the current site, The baths themselves are around 18 feet below street level. There is not just the bath that you see but three others as well and there is also a large temple complex associated with it. You walk through the museum which has many artifacts including a number of headstones with translation from Latin that allow you feel the humanity of the place. To saw that it has an atmosphere is understating it, you can FEEL the history..
The whole town is old. We walked up to the Royal Crescent which is a huge complex of houses joined together as the name implies in a crescent shape and is fronted by a park. Not far from there is a similar street that has four segments with streets between shaped in a circle and is called the circus. If your into old buildings then this is your town.
We had dinner in a restaurant called Sally Lunds and is famous for the Sally Lund bun. The food isn't cheap but it was excellent. The place has been operating continuously in the same premises since 1462. We climbed underground through steep winding stairs to the museum beneath the restaurant and saw the original kitchen and work area, now 20 odd feet beneath the current street level. There is also further excavations on one side that show original roman stone and three layers of medieval flooring.
We walked all over, through and around and saw virtually all there was to see in the city and enjoyed it immensely.
Weather Update.
Our roll continues, we have had 2 days in row of 24 degrees, no wind and it's fantastic. The forecast for where we are for the rest of our time here is around 24. Who said the UK has bad weather?
This afternoon, on the way back to the hotel we saw a row of hot air balloons sail overhead. At the hotel we sat at the widow and watched them sail into away in the clear blue skies, a moment of magic.
Friday 29th May 2009
Time is accelerating, we now have only a few days left and intend to make the best of them.
We drove to Stonehenge.
I have heard a lot of people say that its small and not much to see.
We found it fascinating.
To think that people had the level of expertise and skill to carve and move that many tons of stone all the way from Wales and lug them uphill from the river before lifting the many tons to sit on top of the others. Simply staggering.
Surrounding stonehenge are a number of barrows which are raised mounds that are prehistoric burial mounds and we walked up and around them.
From there we drove to Stratford on Avon.
Just a few miles out of bath we struck a small town called Bradford on Avon. This has a Saxon church that dates from 700 AD so we had to have a look. While taking photos I couldn't get back far enough and a lady in the house behind invited us onto their property to get a better shot. We did so and got talking to them and they invited us in for coffee. They had a house next door to the church that they were doing up to let for tourists and insisted we had a look around. It was a drying shed for a dye works dating from the 14th century and has been done up into a three bedroom three story holiday apartment. Absolutely beautiful. Only when we left did we realise that what we thought was their house was actually only the cottage attached to the main house and they had a huge mansion that took up a whole block. Very nice people.
They then directed us to a tithe barn used for storage during harvest. To get there was a walk through the most beautiful village up and over a hill, down a walled laneway to the river Avon. Big parkland around the river with many families and dogs running around enjoying the sunshine. The barn itself is huge, about 12 metres wide and 75 metres long with huge vaulted beams is very empty but fascinating.
Note on dogs.
Brits love dogs and take them everywhere. The hotel last night had people in the next room with a dog in the room with them. Dogs are on trains and buses, even in peak hour. They are everywhere..
This is the first time we have struck a British institution, Roadworks... It took us an hour to get through about 2 miles of motorway. Normally everything flows very well but when it doesn't it stops, solidly.
One thing I have noticed is that town that you think will be small are actually quite large. Stratford on Avon for example is more of a city, not a small hamlet as you would imagine.
We are in a very nice 18th century Hotel tonight and will be staying in a different room tomorrow night as this one is booked.
So tomorrow we will be going to Warwick castle for the day, looking forward to it.
To be continued.
Saturday 30th May 2009
Today we intended to get up and going early as Warwick Castle is not far from here but fate intervened in the form of not having any clean undies or shirts so we had to search and find a laundromat. It took far longer than it should have and ended up taking 2 hours.
After that we hit the road then promptly stopped again, as once more, we hadn't anticipated road works. The trip should have taken 15 minutes but took an hour.
The car park was a twenty minute walk to the castle but it was worth it.
There are little shows going on at regular intervals including archery, Birds of prey and most impressively a jousting contest and hand to hand combat with 4 nights jousting for the hand of the princess.
Without doubt the highlight of the day was the 26 ton trebouche, particularly when they launched a burning 50 kg ball of fire over 200 metres. Awe inspiring to watch and the sound of the burning ball flying through the air was great, you could easily visualise the fear you would have felt if you were on the receiving end of it. All in all a very satisfying day.
We have returned to the hotel and while we were out they have moved us to another room as the other one was already booked for tonight.
I then found out this room is referred to as the Princess Victoria room as she stayed a night here and a week later was crowned queen. Cool huh?
While writing this we are sitting here watching the final of "Britain's Got Talent". Some brilliant acts although quite a few who were in the finals shouldn't have been I thought but what do I know, but it's my blog so I can say what I like.
To be continued.
31st May 2009
Well, its finally drawing to a close but we seem to be doing more than ever.
This morning we had a look at Stratford upon Avon and visited Anne Hathaways Cottage. This actually was where she spent some of her life and married Shakespeare at the age of 26 and he was 18. She was very pregnant at the time, some things never change do they?
Her family was wealthy as the cottage shows, very big for its time. Later generations became poorer and decided to link it to Shakespeare and renamed it Anne Hathaways cottage and the rest is (literally) history. the cottage is thatched and looks very impressive. Not a lot of thatched cottages left these days as it lasts about 30 years and can now cost around $70,000 to replace.
We were there fairly early and beat the tourist coaches and had the site to ourselves so the guides gave us a guided tour and told us some fascinating things including a number of well used expressions that came from that time such as a wind hole. This is a hole in the wall which let air through and, if you were rich could be covered in Glass. Obviously this became a window.
The oven in the house has a hole in the front which was referred to as a gap. To keep the heat in a heavy timber board with handles was soaked in the well overnight and and used to keep the heat in while the bread was cooking. This was referred to as a stop. Hence stopgap, something temporarily uses to do a job.
Another one that we heard in London referred to a windows tax bought in by government that raised taxes based on the number of windows in a property. To avoid the tax many people sealed up a lot of their windows and this can still be seen on many of the old buildings today. This gave rise to the expression "Daylight Robbery".
We then had a look at the cottage in the city centre that he owned for many years and rented out and later lived in and died there.
Interesting stuff.
General wander around the town then headed for Oxford for our second last night.
On the way decided to take some back roads and go via the Cotswold's so we went to a place called Stow on the Wold which is the highest peak in the area and had a look at some scenery. On the way saw a sign for a Roman villa and took off down this tiny track yet again, as normal, distracted by something shiny.
Found the villa in the middle of nowhere and were well rewarded. This had been a huge place and had the best roman mosaic floor I have seen. Absolutely amazing. The entire site of the building would have ended up in the 4th century occupying the better party of an acre or more.
As I said, the mosaics are brilliant, the colours are such that they look like they are 2 years old rather than 2,000. I am fascinated by this stuff as you may have gathered.
We finally dragged ourselves away from there and are now at Oxford. Probably a bad move as we won't have a lot of time here as we want to stay near the airport for the final night. We'll see how we go....
To be continued.
1st June 2007
Today is our last full day in the UK. Tomorrow after breakfast we take the car back and head for the airport and home.
this morning we took a bus into Oxford to have a look. We came in over the Magdalena bridge and past Magdalene college and the students were everywhere. The males wear full robes, a white shirt and a white bow tie. The girls wear a white shirt, open necked with a string tie and black short, trousers or skirts. Very smart.
We wandered around and had a look at the city, bikes everywhere as students use them as the primary mode of transport. A very old city, steeped in tradition. Unfortunately we didn't have time to explore it in depth.
From there we drove to Windsor and have checked into a hotel. From there we walked to Windsor palace and went in to have a look. This is the oldest continuously occupied palace in the UK and is HUGE. All of the others we have seen pale into insignificance. It took us a couple of hours to to see and unfortunately the queen left just as we arrived so we couldn't even get to say G'day.
Anyway, as we moved on and on we reached saturation, the huge opulent buildings, paintings by Rubens, Cattagliano, Gainsborough etc all started to blur into each other and we realised that its time to go home.
If you come to London, have a look at Windsor castle, its well worth the look.
But for now its time to say goodbye.
to be discontinued.
I hope you enjoyed this blog and if I have the time and energy I will set this up on another site, expand it out and add photos. I will advise on this site if it happens.
We hope you enjoyed this as much as we did doing it.
Clive and Sue Myers.
