Our Roadtrip in a Nutshell

Click on picture for a larger view.

Flags denote some of our overnight stays (we ran out of stickers).

South Wales and London #2

Our arrival in Fishguard Port was unspectacular. The ferry experience was the same as the trip over to Ireland, so nothing new...(how fickle we are). We searched a while for a Hertz counter, which proved fruitless as there was none. A local told us that a representative would be waiting for us, and he was right. So after eventually finding our hire car we began the last leg of our road trip.

Carew Castle was our first stop which also had a Mill nearby on the lake. Immediately, I noticed that Wales has what I expected castles to be, as opposed to Ireland where the ones we saw were really only tall stone towers. We spent quite a lot of time exploring the grounds and imagining what life would have been like.

Carew

We then went in search of the Coast and found it near Tenby and started along the coast drive... which was a single country lane edged by high hedges. So, we decided to forgo the "coast" and head straight to Cardiff.

We investigated Cardiff Castle and then drove to the border with a brief stop at Tintern Abbey (also near the first place brass was made). We just had time for one more castle (Chepstow) before heading to London.

Chepstow

In London, we met up with Hannah, who we had met in Africa, and had a dim sum (yum cha) lunch. There, she suggested a couple of places we hadn't been to and we spent the afternoon visiting Covent Garden markets and Harrods.

l
R
x
and Judy

Minor Mishap #6

Frolicking in an adjoining sheep paddock to the ruins of a Roman fort in Hadrian's Wall. Later, I was moving the car into the shade for a litte afternoon kip... when I could smell something rather un-car-like. I thought I had driven through something.

But no. Somehow, I had been so engrossed in the ruins that I had not noticed myself sinking up to my armpits in the sheep paddock. Half an hour and several baby-wipes later, my shoes and jean bottoms were semi-decent, to the point where there was no longer an overpowering stench (as long as the windows remained open).

I had to throw out my jeans and socks. I mean, how does a sheep smell that bad? They only eat grass!!!

l
R
x
and Judy

Lake District and Holyhead

Exiting Scotland we headed into the Lake District of England. We had enjoyed beautiful weather all through Scotland. About 1 hour after crossing the border, it started to rain.

We stopped at Hadrian's Wall - a Roman wall that was built across the country to keep the "barbarians" out. We drove for some time in the countryside before realising we were actually driving on the wall. So much for our "Where is it? We must be close" comments.

We saw more peaks in the Lake District than the Peak District... I think there is some sort of conspiracy there. We stopped at a lovely town called Keswick and stayed at a Youth Hostel on the banks of a river. In the evening we had a walk around the town and through the flower gardens in the local park on our way to the lake. It is great how the sun doesn't set until 9pm - lots of time to explore. The next morning we strolled some more around the town and down to the lake, then visited the nearby stone circle.

We drove all the way to Holyhead, only stopping at Windemere to have lunch on the banks of another lake. The local airforce decided to entertain us with F1-11 fly bys. Very exciting.

Holyhead was a small town out on the edge of an island peninsula. We found the remote Youth Hostel after asking directions. This was close to a bay overlooking the Irish Sea, which we walked down to - complete with real sand!

Bay in Holyhead

l
R
x
and Judy

Minor Mishap #5

My friend Kelly lives with 3 other people and most of the furniture belongs to Andrew - a lovely guy from Aberdeen. The first morning we were at Kelly's, Mum was using the computer and I wanted to sit next to her to view what she was doing. I spied a lovely 3-legged chair made of wood where the three legs had been carved out of one piece of wood, but made to lock together in a plaited/celtic type fashion. I began to sit down.

Before I could sit down completely I heard a loud craaaaack!... and I fell to the floor in total shock.

Mum proceeded to point and laugh and ask why I had sat on a table.

I was so terrified that I had just destroyed a family heirloom, and didn't have a chance to tell Andrew until the evening, so was boiling in my guilt and fear all day. I was quite vividly envisioning the wrath of a Scottish temper.

However, Andrew showed no sign of concern, and pointed out that the table should be able to be fixed with glue quite easily, and apparently it was a cheap table and fell apart all the time.

Sorry Andrew!

l
R
x
(and Judy)

Bonnie Scotland

We drove up to Melrose with Kelly and stayed for 3 days. Kelly skived off work one afternoon (with permission from her boss) and we all visited Traquair house - the oldest inhabited house in Scotland - complete with peafowl. The weather was perfect and Kelly and I went for a walk up two of the hills near her house - of which there are four - called the Eildons. We started with the hardest one first so the second one seemed like nothing in comparison.

We spent a day in Edinburgh visiting the castle before travelling to Pitlochry, a suprisingly beautiful little town where we spent the night. We then drove all the way up to Culloden Moor, the site of the 1746 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' final battle. They had just opened a new visitor centre on April 16th, 2008.

View to Edinburgh Castle

We then drove through Inverness and along Loch Ness. We stayed at a Youth Hostel right on the banks of the Loch. On our way to dinner (in the only restaurant for miles) we saw our first Heilan' Coo. The next morning we explored the ruins of Urquhart castle and then drove via Glen Coe (gorgeous scenery) to Ben Nevis (the highest mountain in the UK). We climbed the mountain... well a little of it. We rode the gondola chair lift to 2150ft and walked around the area for 90 minutes. We spent our last night in Scotland at a converted castle overlooking the bonnie banks of Loch Lommond.

On the banks of Loch Lommond

l
R
x
and Judy

P.S. This is as close as I could get to the Loch Ness Monster???

Brilliant England

On our fourth day in Britain we hired a car and began our tour of Britain... ROAD TRIP!
The beginning of our trip was fairly uneventful, following a few detours (figuring out which road to leave London) and not having any indication of what speed we should go. Apparently the sign of a circle with a line through it means "Go at the pre-designated speed for this type of road"... you just have to know what that is...

We drove south to our first stop - Brighton. The weather was fine and after having arranged our accommodation we took a "turn" along the pebbled beach to the pier which had a mini-Funpark located on the very end...we didn't waste our precious pounds. We bought some doughnuts and continued along the waterfront to a cafe where we had our first British "Fish and Chips". As we retired for the day we were very contented to have had our "water view" fix.

Our next journey took us firstly to the Winchester Cathedral where Jane Austen was laid to rest. We continued on to Salisbury and strolled around the township and grounds of the Cathedral there before having dinner in a lovely old inn. Dessert was blackberry and apple crumble with custard... yum

The English drizzle returned for Stonehenge, which added an eerie flavour. Pity about all the tourists ruining the mood. The Avebury stone circle was a bit more authentic, as we witnessed a druid ceremony within the inner circle of stones. We continued to Bath - so lovely. Having booked a B&B for two nights, we walked into the township where we had dinner in the oldest house and had one of the famous Sally Lunn Buns. The following day was spent visiting the Roman Baths (so much more information and insight than we had imagined) and the Jane Austen centre (cream tea).

Our next destination was Oxford via the White Horse of Uffington. It was really difficult to find accommodation at Oxford due to the high amount of student housing as well as us arriving in time for May Day celebrations. I was surprised at the non-campus quality of the University. We caught up with Mum's PhD supervisor to celebrate the acceptance of Mum's thesis (no changes woohoo!).

On our way to Cambridge we stopped at Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace, for lunch and a wander. Cambridge was similar to Oxford in the non-campus-ness. From here on-in we found it increasingly difficult to find a coffee that wasn't from an automatic machine.

Stopped at Belton house in the Peak Distric which was used for Rosings Park in the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice. Stayed at the quaint town of Buxton overnight. Lyme Park (or Pemberley) was next on the agenda as we made our way through the Peak District. Didn't find Mr. Darcy. Very Dissapointed.

"Pemberley"

Our last town in England before heading to Scotland was the viking village of York (Jorvik). Here, we met my friend Kelly and walked around the remaining Roman wall that was built around the city. We had Italian dinner down a street called the Shambles. The following day we went to Jorvik archaeological site and saw a fantastic display of Viking history and ruins.

Overall, we have found the weather to be quite Schizophrenic, having several bouts of rain-sun-wind-sun etc all in the one hour.

l
R
x
and Judy (Dr)

Leisure time in London

We stayed with my friend Nathan while in London for 3 nights. It meant we could make our own dinners and pack our lunch - a nice change from buying things all the time. Our first taste of London was a beautiful sunny spring day walking through Hyde Park. There were little daisies through all the grass and squirrels bouncing around. It made me feel like skipping (but I didn't). We decided to forgo the hiring of a deckchair at £4 and snoozed under an oak tree on the grass instead.

On a bridge in Hyde Park

We had our first coffee since Madrid Airport at the coffee shop just by the Serpentine, then took the Underground (so easy and fast) to Leyton where my friend lives.

The next day started off in a wonderful London drizzle. We made it to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard at 11.30 - gorgeous, gorgeous horses. We then walked to Westminster Abbey (via a stop at a quaint little coffee shop). After some happy snaps we walked down to West End and saw a matinee of Wicked (loved it!) a musical about the misunderstood Wicked Witch of the West. We stopped at Trafalgar Square on the way home, where people were celebrating the St George festival.

With Big Ben near Westminster Abbey

Our third day in London (beginning with drizzle again) sent us first to the British Museum for about 2 hours (absolutely not enough time) and then on to St Paul's Cathedral where I took the 343 steps to the top. We then went down to the Tower of London, which I had envisaged to be a bit more tower-like, but oh well.

View of the Tower bridge (with actual towers)

I went on the travellator past the jewels several times, and was particularly fond of Queen Mary's Crown as well as the star of Africa (which came from Great Zimbabwe).

530 carats. That's all I need to say.

l

R

x

and Judy