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Our route through the UK
My husband and I went on a trip to England, Scotland and Wales in August
2000, and had a wonderful time. Here are some pictures and my travelogue...
I decided to go on my trip to Scotland in January, 2000, when I heard,
via the McKenzie genealogy circles, that there was going to be a Clan
McKenzie world gathering at our ancestral home in Scotland in August 2000.
I am very passionate about my family heritage and genealogy, since I've
started doing research (about 20 years ago!) Well, I decided that this
would be a wonderful opportunity to meet 400 of my relatives, so I started
saving and planning for my boyfriend and I to go.
We managed to secure plane tickets through Northwest Airlines for $550
each, round trip, from West Palm Beach to Gatwick in London, via Detroit.
We paid for a bed and breakfast package for two weeks, reserve as you go,
plus a rental car for $1300. This was a fly-and-drive package through
Brendan Tours, and it looked perfect. All we had to do now is wait... and
wait...;
As the day of our departure, August 8th, approached, I got more and more
nervous especially as Jason did not yet have his passport. He had
procrastinated the application until the end of June, (partly due to lack
of funds), and found out a week before we left that they had lost his
application. He sent in for an emergency application, and got it in the
mail the day before we left... Whew! Here we go!!
Tuesday the 8th:
We arrive at the airport at noon, as our flight leaves at 1:45pm. Our
friend Todd drops us off in our car, as he will be house-sitting and
feeding the cats while we are gone. Our flight up to Detroit was
uneventful, but very crowded. Advice to travelers who are larger than
normal: if you cannot afford first class, ask for the exit rows or bulkhead
seats, otherwise there is very little leg room! However, there is a caveat
here -- sometimes the bulkhead or exit rows have the tray tables in the arm
rests, so leave LESS room in the seat, even if there is more leg room. Plan
accordingly! If you go to Seat Guru,
you can see which seats have which features for most planes in service. Our
flight dinner (lasagna) was nothing special, but decent. We arrived on time
in Detroit, crossed the whole concourse to the other side for our second
leg, and boarded without fuss.
Neither of us were able to sleep on the trip over, although I had been
able to do so on my last trip overseas, four years ago. Jason had a
'friend' in the seat in front of us, who delighted in pushing his seat back
until his bald head was practically in Jason's lap...again, go for the
bulkhead seats!
We arrived 45 minutes early at Gatwick, 7:30am the next morning. We
found our baggage, and I started to breathe easier, the last of our hurdles
over impending disaster had been crossed without a hit. I shouldn't have
jumped to conclusions, though, for we then went to pick up our rental car.
After walking through, around, and under all sorts of pathways to find
the car rental place, we waited a relatively short time for our turn, and
then discovered that, although the car rental was prepaid, there was a £500
deposit required, that our agent (AAA) had never mentioned! Since our total
trip budget was only about $1100, a cut of $750 put a serious dent on our
available funds! Sure, we would get this deposit back when we returned our
car for our last three days, which would be spent in London, but that still
made our trip MUCH more of a budget trip than we had expected!
Since we had no choice, we bit the bullet and got the car. As I started
the car (which was a manual transmission), I almost lurched into the car
parked in front of us; whoever had parked it neglected to put on the
parking brake, and I neglected to check that it was on. Great way to start
the day, eh? Oh, wait -- this is 24 hours since I've been away, hasn't
it??? Great way to continue a loooong day, then! Now, I hadn't driven stick
shift in about 3 years, and Jason couldn't drive it at all, but it was
cheaper, and we were sort of stuck for cash, so off we went!!
A couple words of advice for those renting cars in the British Isles.
Automatic transmissions are MUCH more expensive, sometimes more than twice
as much, as manual transmissions. If you can drive stick, rent one. The gas
mileage is much better than we are used to as well. It's not the left side
of the road driving that gets you -- it's the other drivers! There is very
little sense of personal space over there, when it comes to driving. Other
drivers will come right up to your bumper, and very close next to you. We
are spoiled in the US with our spacious highways and amber waves of grain.
Being on the left side of the road didn't bother me much, when there WAS
a left side of the road. However, turning this way and that in the city was
a bit rough. Add to that, we hadn't yet looked at the road map as we pulled
out of the car rental lot. Therefore, we decided to stop at the first place
--McDonald's -- and park to look at our route, figure it out while we are
NOT moving in a strange place. Of course, that's when we discovered we had
no idea how to get the stick shift into reverse -- after about 10 minutes
of fiddling with it, we figured out you have to pull UP on the stick to get
it into reverse. This was not nice to the sleep-deprived traveler!
We figured out our route; luckily mostly motorway driving, as I was
beginning to fade away due to lack of sleep since we started out. It
drizzled a bit on and off, but as I was on a 6 lane divided motorway, we
did fine. Driving in the fast lane, all the way to the right, was almost
like driving on the right side of the road, as long as I didn't look at the
traffic on the other side of the divider!
We found Nottingham, and drove through looking for a spot for lunch --
was about 11:30, and we were getting quite hungry. We stopped at the first
quaint pub we found, the Rose and Crown, and pulled in for lunch. We both
had chicken with mushrooms and gravy, with cokes, (had to ask for ice). It
was very tasty, although some of it may have been our extreme hunger. We
came across a tendency we noted many times on our trip almost every meal
was served with mushy peas. They tasted like a very thick split pea soup;
not bad once in a while, but a little much at every meal. We learned to
like it, though.
After lunch, we figured out the route to our B&B, which was in a
town called Ragnall, just outside Nottingham. We arrived at 2:00pm, which
was very early for check-in (normal check-in is between 4 and 6pm).
Ragnall House B&B
Our hosts were very understanding, though, and showed us to our room. It
was on the second floor of the add-on section to what used to be a
farmhouse. It had two single beds, a TV, a heater, and a shower/bathroom downstairs.
We brought up a change of clothes, our toiletries, and went straight to
sleep.
Around 8pm I woke up, completely rested, and ready to go out -- as well
as a bit hungry. Jason woke up while I was dressing, and so we started out.
What we didn't realize, as we left, was that in towns (and many cities),
most eating establishments are closed by 9pm. So off we went on our first
quest!
We went first to the town we had passed by, East Drayton. We got out our
video camera, took some footage of the picturesque church in the town, and
went on to the little pub next store.
Pub in East Drayton without food!
I knew from previous experience that not all pubs served food, but this
one had a little chalkboard sitting outside, with daily specials on it. In
we went, only to discover that the owner had just bought the place the day
before, and had no food yet! We got directions to the closest pub -- the
next one was back in Ragnall, all of 5 minutes away. So, into our car we
went to find the next one, which we arrived at around 9:05. It had stopped
serving food at 9, ARGH!
We were now ravenous, and went on to the next place, courtesy of our
friends at the Ragnall pub. This one was in the next town, 5 minutes away
Gainsboro. It was called the White Hart, and was still serving food!
Huzzah! We ordered drinks -- Guinness for Jason, a Strongbow Cider for me,
and dinner. We both ordered meat pies, and they were wonderful! Thick gravy
and savory meats... perhaps it was the hunger, or the jet lag, but it
tasted like ambrosia! Another cider and 2 Guinness later, we basked for a
bit in relaxation, listening to the pub quiz going on in the next room.
From the few things we heard, it was way out of our league -- the non-UK
specific questions were very difficult. We couldn't even hazard guesses at
the local stuff, like sports or politics, so we just contented ourselves to
listen to the general hilarity.
We headed back to the B&B, thoroughly sated and ready for a full night's
sleep -- watched a bit of TV and drifted off around 11.
Wednesday the 9th:
We woke up around 7am, well-rested and ready to start on our adventure.
The breakfast was wonderful, and of course more than we were used to. There
was a choice of cereals (I chose the equivalent of raisin bran), apple
juice, coffee, tea, milk, eggs, ham (sort of like canadian bacon), sausage,
toast, fried tomato -- definitely plenty to fill us up. If you ever go away
hungry from a Full English Breakfast, then it's your own darn fault!
We decided to find the Games Workshop factory, so Jason can look around,
so we looked up the address of a shop in the business directory (which, by
the way, just happened to be yellow pages!). We found three addresses, so
we wrote them down and went on our way.
We tried to call them from the phone booth out across the street from
our B&B, but there was no answer. We also tried to call our next
B&B, but also no answer. So we drove back to Nottingham, explored a
little bit. It's nice town, busy enough for some entertainment, not so busy
that it was very dirty or run down. After about three circuits of the
downtown area, we found one of the Games Workshops stores, but it was
closed until 10am (it was about 9:30), so we walked around and
people-watched for a bit. We found a church nearby, and sat on the bench
under a tree to watch for a while.
Nottingham downtown
At 10, we went into the shop, looked around at the nifty displays (Jason
took some photos of the storefront display) and got directions to the
factory/museum, which was only about 15 minutes away. We drove to the
factory, and it had a huge Chaos Marine out front in stone. We went inside
and took the tour of all the gaming convention displays, and Jason took a
roll and a half of pictures. We had a drink at the Bugman Bar at the end of
the tour, and phoned our next two B&B's, to make reservations.
We drove on to York that afternoon, and found the parking lot near
Clifford Tower to be completely full -- in fact, it took us 10 minutes just
to drive past the entrance, as the traffic was stopped up -- each person on
that street was waiting for another to leave the lot, rather than driving
by! We parked in an alley close by, and proceeded to walk into the centre
of town. We saw a museum called the Jorvik Viking Center, which had some
wonderful displays, but it was £30 each to get in and looked like it could
be rather cheesy, so we decided to instead wander around the town. We did
meet a local Living History-type gentleman at the entrance, entertaining
those waiting in line to get in. He was dressed quite historically accurate
as a Viking, and had a large axe that he let kids hold. He talked up the
Viking Centre as he strode up and down the aisle.
Clifford Tower, York
 
We stopped at one shop that had all sorts of swords and historical-style
nicknacks, very tempting. However, since we had very little cash, we bought
nothing.
We went down into the center shopping district, where the street is
strictly for pedestrians, no cars allowed. The streets were cobblestone,
and there were two floors of shops facing the street.
We went on down the street to York Minster, and walked around the church
before entering (Jason has a tradition of this -- it keeps him from
bursting into flames as he enters, or something). The walls, ceilings and
windows were amazing. There was a line of sculptures representing each king
of England from William the Conqueror to about 1400 -- I don't remember who
the last king was, but I know Henry VIII wasn't there!
YorkMinster
 
We heard the choir practicing, and toured the rest of the Minster. There
were tombs and memorials to merchants, civil servants, military men, and
many church officials. They covered the walls, the halls, even the floors!
 
After our visit to York Minster, we headed back to the shopping district
for our supper -- found a small fish & chips place and had that and a
chicken & mushroom pie. It was ok, but not as good as last night's
supper. It was a fast food-style place out front, with a sit-down
restaurant in the back, and the restrooms off the back patio.
When we got back to the car, we found a 'parking ticket' on our car! We
had a bit of a time getting out of the walled town, as rush hour traffic
was starting (it was about 4:30), and there are only so many exits through
the walls!
We headed towards our next B&B, which was in a town called Ravenscar
on the northeast coast of England. We found it, across the street from an
old mill; it was called Smuggler's Rock, and was cute -- the room was small
but adequate.
Smuggler's Rock
We checked in and went exploring. We drove first down to the right and
towards the coast (you could see the North Sea on the horizon from the
B&B), and stopped to look over the incredibly beautiful inlet. A local
woman was walking her dogs, and told us that the town across the inlet was
called Robin Hood's Bay, and was built on the side of the incline, rather
on the bottom near the sea, for a reason. It was so they would be able to
see the Vikings coming in from the sea easier, and be able to more easily
defend their town.
We drove back past the B&B, and continued on North, along the shore
(up about 500 feet!). This was a small, windy, up and down road, the first
of such we had really dealt with, and we felt we were going to die at any
moment! We drove really slow, and explored where it went -- which was
nowhere. It led to a couple private, gated driveways, and it was a rock
road (like a dirt road, but with gravel, not sand). At one point, I swear
the angle was about 45 degrees!
We went back to the B&B and went the last direction we hadn't taken,
west, back towards the main road. Once there, we took that road to Whitby,
a harbor town of decent size.
Whitby
 
We explored the ruined Whitby Abbey and the church grounds (right next
to a youth hostel), which had a spectacular view of the sea, being on a
promontory over the harbor.
Jason started getting a little faint, we think the jet lag and lack of
blood sugar started getting to him, so we found a take-out fish & chips
place, and shared an order, while sitting on the docks, watching the sun
set. It started getting chilly at night, and I knew we were getting farther
north!
We drove back to the B&B and dropped off to sleep pretty early, about
10:30.
Thursday the 10th:
We woke up around 7:30, and had our breakfast. This was a much busier
B&B than the last one (we were the only guests at the last one, there
were 4 other couples at this one, and a few kids). The breakfast was not so
hot, but it did the job, and we were off to Scotland!
Well, first we went through Middleborough, a dreary industrial town on the
coast. We did follow the coast most of the way up to Edinburgh, and it was
fun trying to catch the glimpses of the North Sea as every hill peaked.
We went through Newcastle, and made our first major navigational error.
We decided (well, I decided) that we wanted to see Hadrian's Wall. As per
the maps, Newcastle was where the west end of the wall was, so when we saw
a sign pointing to a borough called Wall's End, logically we concluded that
we would find the end of Hadrian's Wall there. No such luck -- instead it
was an industrial port area, with lots and lots of Georgian houses around.
So we turned around and went through Newcastle, looking for the road north
out of the town, so we can make it to Edinburgh in decent time.
Well, we LOOKED for the road going north, but every sign we saw said
south! We did the downtown circuit three times, looking for a north-bound
road -- even a west-bound road, since Edinburgh was northwest of us; no
such luck. Finally, we took a south-bound road that mentioned the road we
had come in on (hoping that road continued on north), and glory be, it did!
Thrilled to be free of the trap that was Newcastle, we had a beautifully
scenic drive through rolling hills covered in heather and sheep to Berwick.
In Berwick, we stopped at the Safeway (the national grocery chain) for some
lunch and petrol (gas). We perused the wonderfully strange and unusual
items offered at the British grocery stores, and ended up with a big loaf
of focaccio bread, some sliced deli chicken, and apple strudel cookies for
dessert. We filled up our tank (it took £), made sandwiches on the side of the
road, at a carpark looking over the coastline.
We went onward, and crossed over into Scotland (as I started singing
Scotland the Brave), and headed towards Edinburgh. Once in the city, we got
a bit lost looking for the bridge across the Firth of Forth, to continue
north to Perth.
After several trips around downtown (aggravated by the fact that the
International Festival was due in town later that week, and setup made for
lots of traffic and rerouting), we finally found the Forth bridge and
headed up to Perth.
The drive into Perth was wonderful, as we started seeing the mountains
rise around us, covered in patterns of heather and sphagnum moss, and
making incredible designs. We stopped of for a rest at a carpark, and
looked at all the wonderful flowers and trees.
Once in Perth, it wasn't difficult to find the B&B (they all seemed
to congregate in one area), and check in. This was a town home, our room
was in the back, and had bay windows and was quite large compared to our
last couple rooms. It had sitting chairs, and an en suite bathroom, and was
very nice.
We went off to explore Perth downtown, and started looking for a dinner
establishment. We parked at a church to call Jason's Mom at a phone booth
(we had purchased phone cards at the Safeway) and check our bank accounts
for available funds. I decided to postpone my car payment, and thus we had
an extra $480 in the account to spend. We sighed in relief a bit!
We parked in the real carpark (it was free after 6pm, and it was just
7pm now), and walked around the twelve block area that was downtown. We
passed all sorts of restaurants; steak, seafood, Indian, pizza, tandoori.
We finally stopped at a pub (Bebar Pub) for a Guinness and a Cider, and
took stock of what we wanted. We ended up at a Cantonese Chinese restaurant
down that street, and it was absolutely delicious. We got an appetizer of
mussels in garlic butter sauce, and I had lamb with spicy sauce, while
Jason had chicken & mushrooms. It was all wonderful.
We went for another set of pints at another Pub, Dickens, and then got
our car and went across the river back to our B&B. We watched TV for a
bit, and caught a show that had us howling in laughter. I don't remember
the gent's name, but he reminded me of a british Dennis Miller with more
personality. He evidently had his own stand-up show as well as a game show,
and both were great.
We went to sleep shortly afterwards, and slept very well
Friday the 11th:
We woke up around 6:30, tried to sleep some more, but it didn't work --,
up at 7, shower and breakfast. There were several couples at breakfast,
which was served in a glassed-in patio similar to a Florida room, and off
to Dundee.
Today's agenda started with a search for castles -- Glamis, to begin
with. We got lost in Dundee, and got directions from two ladies walking
along the docks. We had to go further, to a town called Forfar, and then
follow the signs. Up and down the hills we went, winding in and out, and
found it -- a half hour too soon; it didn't open until 10:30, and it was
not yet 10am. So we went around and found a spot we could see the castle
from afar, and then went exploring down a small side road. We found a
broken down farm house, and LOTS of wildflowers. Back towards the castle,
we went in and found the admission to be a bit much, and we decided it was
a bit too dear for us, so we went on to the next , Scone Palace.
Scone was back in Perth, so we headed back (it sounds out of our way,
but the Glamis trip was a side trip -- had to get back to Perth to continue
on our way to Inverness that evening). Scone Palace was cheaper, so we
decided to do this one. The grounds had peacocks, white and colored,
everywhere, and we got quite close to some of them.
The palace had a replica of a cake made in the shape of the castle, as
well as a room where Queen Victoria stayed when she was there, a couple
stuffed bears, and the scottish regalia. I bought a toffee crisp bar at the
gift shop, and we checked out the replica of the Stone of Scone, out on
Moot Hill, where Scottish coronations had been held for hundreds of years.
We drove on out of there, got more petrol, and headed on to Inverness.
Inverness is a much larger city than Perth, much busier. The civic offices
(court house, city hall, etc.) is in Inverness Castle, in the center of the
city, and one can climb the walls and see the city spread over the valley
around you. We passed by a petrol station with a huge plaster Loch Ness
monster in front of it. We parked, walked the castle walls, got our
bearings, and tried to figure out a place to eat. We did find a little
celtic new age shop, and had fun window shopping, but of course bought
nothing.
We walked a couple blocks randomly, and found a pub called the Phoenix
that looked promising, so we went in. I ordered a Mixed Grill (ham, steak,
sausage, and chips) and Jason had a Ribeye, and we shared potato skins with
chili. The skins were wonderful, everything else was barely acceptable.
Dessert made up for it, though, I had a toffee ice cream sundae -- sinful!
As I went up to the bar to order it, one of the locals tried to chat me up,
even after I indicated that my boyfriend was the 6' guy over there!
We found the Youth Hostel we were staying at that night, just past the
Safeway we stopped at to call them from. We found out that we could have
booked a room for two, but they were all full up now, and we had to take
what I had reserved -- bu nk space in girls and boys rooms, respectively. I
was in a room with 5 other girls, Jason shared his room with 3 other guys.
We dropped off our luggage in lockers, and went down to hang out a bit in
the lounge. We both read for a while, and agreed to meet down in the lobby
the next morning around 8:30am.
I went into my room, and found it dark. I turned on the light, and
realized that noone else was in the room, so I changed into my sleeping
togs and climbed up onto the only bunk without someone's gear on it -- th e
top bunk near the door. I was just drifting off a half hour later, when
someone came in, and turned on the lights for about 10 minutes, while
rustling about in her gear. Then she left (with the lights still on) and
came back 10 minutes later, and rustled some more, and then turned them
off. I was just drifting off again, 20 minutes later, when another girl
came in and did much the same thing. A half hour later, I finally drifted
off to a fitful sleep.
Saturday the 12th:
The next morning, not very rested, I woke and chatted with two of my
roommates, Anika and Erika. They were Dutch students, hiking around the
country with 16 kilo packs on their backs. They were little girls, maybe
110 pounds soaking wet, and they said they had already hiked about 80
kilometers so far! I showered, changed, and went down to breakfast. I
waited for Jason in the lounge, and waited, and waited; fi nally, about 9am
he showed up, and we went in to have our rolls, cereal, juice and
coffee/tea. (I preferred tea on this whole trip, he usually had coffee). He
had been talking to his roommate, the overeager Japanese tourist who loved
everything western, such as Duran Duran and M*A*S*H. We went and
straightened our bunks (I put my gear on the lower bunk this time, as I was
the only guest in the room staying on another night, and didn't relish
being on the top again).
We drove up to Strathpeffer, where the McKenzie Highland Games were to
be held on the grounds of Castle Leod. This castle is the home of our clan
chief, the Earl of Seaforth.
McKenzie Highland Clan
Gathering 2000
It was a wonderful drive up into the highlands, and the weather was
misty as we parked. The sun came out around 10 and made everything bright
and fairly warm. I wandered around the McKenzie tent, looking at the
genealogy setups and gifts, while chatting with some of my distant cousins.
There were about 450 McKenzies and McKenzie descendants there. I was
wearing my beaded tartan sash, and that afforded many good comments. We had
ostrich burgers with onions for lunch, and some chips with curry on them.
The burgers were delicious, the curry was passable.
I participated in the March of the McKenzies, organized by country of
origin, as we were presented to the Earl en masse. I then spoke to Graeme
McKenzie in detail regarding my current brick wall in my McKenzie research.
He runs the official McKenzie genealogy website, and gave me some
suggestions. I left him a synopsis of my research, and he said he would
look into the database he had to see if there is any connection.
As the games wound down, around 4pm, we discovered that there would be a
ceilidh later that evening at the Ben Wyvis Hotel in Strathpeffer, where
most of the traveling McKenzies were staying. I wanted to attend, so we
drove around exploring for a while, killing time until dinner. About 20
minutes down the road, we came across a sign and carpark for Rogie Falls,
so we stopped and started down the indicated path.
Rogie Falls, north of
Strathpeffer
 
About a half mile down craggy pine forest, we came upon the falls -- th
ey were spectacular! Rushing water over diagonally jutting rocks, a long
rope bridge across the falls, and lots of little side paths to explore.
Jason went climbing a bit on the rocks, while I sat on the bridge and just
soaked in the power of mother nature beneath me.
We headed back on a different trail, which was a bit longer (and
rougher) than the previous one. A couple times we came near sliding down
the path (such as it was), it was so steep. Breathless and feeling
wonderful, we returned to the car and headed back into Strathpeffer.
We stopped at the ONE pub in town that served food, MacKay's. I had an
unexciting Yorkshire Pudding, and we discovered that they didn't carry
Guinness ; Ja son was mortified. He had a Harps and dealt with the
deprivation. After supper, we went down to the town square (across the
street, there is only one street through town) to watch the pipers give a march
through, and some demonstrations by the dance winners of the day. There
were highland flings, sword dances, etc. An d the temperature started
getting down into the 40's as the sun went down!
We went to the ceilidh at the hotel around 10 (the sun was just now
setting) and discovered it was mostly the older people, playing scottish
polkas, so we went back to the youth hostel for some sleep.
I went into my room, and found it dark, so I turned on the light , only
to be yelled at by one woman that lights were out, keep them out! Well,
considering my experience last night, I found this unusual, but I turned
them out and fumbled around with my stuff to change. In doing so, I
discovered that someone had moved my stuff up to the top bunk , like same
woman who had just yelled at me about the light! I told her my stuff had
been on the bunk, and she claimed she didn't move it -- whatever!
Grumbling, I made my way up to the top bunk, making as much noise as
possible for my sweet bunkmate. Again, it was an unrestful night.
Sunday the 13th:
Jason and I reluctantly woke up around 7:30, and went down for breakfast
-- we'd both decided we could do better at the Safeway than here. Jason had
a less than manly experience in his room -- he had been reading in his room
when his roommates came in -- three italian men who proceeded to undress
down to their pink silk underwear (not boxers!) before getting into bed.
Jason felt his testosterone was in danger.
We checked out and were shortly on our way. Of course, we didn't count
on it being Sunday, and most things were closed this early in the morning!
Regardless, we started our fairly straight drive down Loch Ness towards the
Isle of Skye, our destination for the evening.
We drove by a couple castles, including one that looked wonderful, but
was closed to tourists for renovation. We kept looking for Nessie, and made
lots of jokes about Monster bait (sheep). We were both fairly giddy from
lack of good sleep.
We passed a site of the Battle of Shileil, and then came across Eileen
Donan Castle. This is the most photographed castle in Scotland, and I
definitely wanted to see it, so we parked and went up to the ticket window
-- we were again about 15 minutes early. We went in for breakfast at the
snack shop, and I had a prawn sandwich and a can of Irn Bru, the local
popular soda. We took our time, as bus after bus of tourists started
showing up, and we wanted to let them go through before we did.
Eileen Donan Castle
We finally got off our butts and went across the stone bridge to the small
isle the castle was on. The water around the castle was salt water, from
the Irish Sea, for it is near the coast on the Loch. There was seaweed
everywhere, showing that the tide was quite low. The castle was built
around 1200, on an old Viking fort that predated the castle.
There was a Living History member there, named Gordon, who chatted for
us for quite a bit about his organization. He and his group tried to make
things historically accurate ; his clothes were sheep-sheared wool, and
dyed with local flora and materials. The swords and axes he had were
hand-forged, and the blankets hand-woven. He gave us his website
(Regio.org) and we took some pictures of him, and went on to Skye.
At the ONE bridge over the inlet to the Isle of Skye, the toll was £10!
Ironically, the bridge was owned by the Bank of America (Jason's bank
account is there). We discovered that pretty much everything was expensive
on the Isle, and this was the cheapest way to get over (the ferry was over
£20 for a car). We went to locate our B&B for the evening, Tir Alainn
(means Beautiful Country in Gaelic) and drove down to an old graveyard we
passed. The little road down there was all gravel, and we bottomed out the
car as we stopped , realized that we shouldn't drive any further, and
backed out of there CAREFULLY. The B&B, by the way, is a delightful
spot, with spacious room (we stayed in the Hamish room) and a wonderful
view!
We drove into the nearest town, and found a place that supplied all our
immediate needs; a laundromat, a grocery store, a petrol station, and a
phone booth, all on the shore with a wonderful view of the islands off the
mainland. We stopped, put in our laundry, bought some lunch, and relaxed
for a while. I had a spicy chicken pie and a prawn sandwich, with a
Schweppes sparkling lemonade (suprisingly delicious). We sat by the seashore,
and read books on the rocks. We explored the rocks for a bit, saw all sorts
of crabs and mussels living there. Jason found a huge piece of hollowed
whale bone, and I found lots of beautiful purple bivalve shells.
Isle of Skye: the view of the
store, the view from the store
Once the laundry was done, we decided to check out Portree, the largest
town on the island, which was just up the coast about 10 miles. However,
that was 10 miles as the crow flies , driving along the one road, which
hugged a ragged shoreline that would make a Norwegian proud (fjords) took a
lot longer than we thought it would! The fact that the roads were very
narrow, and lorries barreled down them frequently also kept us pretty slow.
About an hour later, we still hadn't reached Portree, we realized we
wouldn't have time before we needed to check into our B&B, so turned
about and headed back.
We saw some hairy cows on our little trip, reddish-brown hair about two
feet long on them , very ice age looking! We made it to Tir Alainn without
mishap, and met Tom, our host. This was the first B&B host that sat and
chatted with us, and he was very talkative. It took a bit to get used to his
heavy brogue, but I didn't have too much problem with it. Maybe I was just
getting used to it! We went to our room, which had plaid on everything ,
curtains, bed, lamp covers, towels, etc. It was a very comfortable room,
and the bathroom had a towel-heater, cool!
Asking Tom's advice on where to find a good dinner, he gave us three
possibilities. The seafood restaurant at the end of the lane was
over-priced, he said, as was the restaurant in Portree, but a place back a
bit called Crofter's house was a good deal, with good food. We took his
advice, and went there -- it was a combination restaurant and gift shop,
and looked very homey. They had an appetizer portion of haggis, so I
decided now was the time to try this infamous dish. It was served out of
it's traditional casing, in a dish instead, with oatcake crackers to eat it
on. It was spicy and tasty, and I would order it again, even without a
dare! J For dinner I ordered grilled salmon, which was pretty good, and a
black forest cake for desert, which was delicious.
We went back to the B&B, watched the sunset out our window over the
islands. About 10pm it finally started to color the sky on the horizon. We
watched TV (Fawlty Towers and As Time Goes By) and fell into a deep,
restful sleep.
Monday the 14th:
We woke up rested and ready for anything , well, almost anything.
Breakfast was wonderful, in a small dining room with one other couple, our
host singing Scottish songs and prancing in with our food. However, I
discovered that we had not prepaid this B&B like I had thought. This
was separate from our B&B deal, and I thought I had paid through credit
card before; not so. There went another chunk of our precious budget!
However, it was the nicest and friendliest stay we had yet had, so we
considered it worth it and moved on.
Today we went down the east coast of the island to Sabhail ag Mor, the
college that teaches only in Gaelic. I took a brief tour, got some
pamphlets, and talked to the tour guide (Fiona) about financial aid, and
such. It was a surprisingly modern structure, with adequate dorm rooms on
campus.
Sabhail ag Mor College
The road to get there, however, was an hour's worth of winding little
sheep trails not big enough to be designated roads. On our way back, we
half-heartedly looked for Arnadale Castle, but gave up quickly, as we were
utterly tired of this little, winding, road (which other cars didn't seem
to notice and raced down).
We went back to Broadford, the town our B&B was in, as it was near
the bridge to cross back over to the mainland. We got some money at the
ATM, some chocolate swirled with praline (Cadbury, delicious!) and headed
over the bridge on the A82. Our goal today was a town called Oban, where La
Lunga (tonight's B&B) was located. We filled up our tank, picked up a
lunch to go (Smith's pastries with chicken, pretty good) for £5 and drove
on.
More and more of these windy little roads! They wouldn't be so
nerve-wracking if it weren't for the lorries coming the other way at 60
mph, from around a blind corner! We took drove about 90 miles, and got to
our B&B around 4pm. It was in a town south of Oban called Craobh Haven,
which was a port town on the Irish Sea.
La Lunga
 
La Lunga was a 15th Century mansion still owned by an Earl's family, and
our host was this Earl. There were 14 rooms to let, and a recreation room
bigger than half my house. There were stables, servant's housing, archery
ranges, all sorts of add-ons for the idle rich. Our room was fine, the beds
very soft, but the shower was a closet in a recent lifetime , with no light
in it. The road in and out of this estate was VERY rocky, muddy, and very
unlevel . We were very worried that this little rental car would not make
it, but it did.
We checked in, and drove off in search of dinner -- those pastries were
a long way away! Down in Craobh Haven, there was one restaurant, the Lord
of the Isles, but it was only 5pm, and they didn't serve dinner until 6:30.
We tried to call tomorrow's B&B at the phone booth, but it was busy, so
we drove around a bit to look at the last town back, hoping to find a
dinner place.
The next town back (about 5 minutes away) was Arduaine, and there we
found a nice hotel with a restaurant attached called 'The Skerries.'
The Skerries
They didn't yet serve dinner (we were about a half hour early), so we
had a couple of drinks , a pint of Guinness and a cider, of course! For an
appetizer of smoked salmon, which was delicious, served with whole wheat
bread and butter. For dinner we shared a deep fried cod with chips, served
with tartar/horseradish sauce that was excellent. We watched a wonderfully
powerful storm blow in, rain and blow out, all while we watched out the
picture window next to our table. It afforded a wonderful view of the inlet
we were on, with islands in the distance.
After another round of pints, we went driving south of our B&B,
exploring a bit.
Just driving by, we saw a standing stone and a ring of cairn stones off
to the side of the road, and got out to see it closer . Unfortunately, some
barbed wire fencing kept us from being too adventurous and we just took
some photos and film. We drove back to La Lunga for some TV and reading,
and slept a good sleep.
Tuesday the 15th:
After a refreshing night's sleep (the pints probably had a lot to do
with that), we showered and went down to breakfast. The dining hall (much
bigger than just a room) had a banquet style table in one corner. It could
have seated 12 people and 8 more tables that size could have fitted in that
room! All throughout the manor house, paintings of the Earl's ancestors
were hung, as well as suits of armor, weapons, and various decorations of
that sort.
The breakfast table was set with about 20 different types of bread
spread -- apple jelly, lemon curd, black cherry jam, Nutella, Rose's lime
jelly, apple pear spread, etc., just to name the more unusual. Our host
asked us what we wanted for breakfast, and we got eggs, saute'ed mushrooms
(he grew them fresh on the grounds), sausage, thick cut bacon, and cereals.
After one of the best breakfasts yet, we headed out back to Oban, to get
on the main road south. There was a structure like a small coliseum, but we
couldn't get close enough to find out what it was. Oban was a small town,
built on the side of a mountain cliff near the sea-side; very picturesque,
but quite cramped. We drove through Connel and towards Glasgow. We stopped
to see Inverary Castle, but was unimpressed with the 18th century modern
structure, and went on.
Above the castle, though, on a tall cliff, we saw this tiny little tower
-- it conjectured it was some medieval sniper tower.
We also saw, as we drove by, a castle that in all regards resembles the
one used at the end of the film, Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy
Grail. The Castle Aaaarrrrggghhh, out on a giant mudflat on a coastline,
looked just like this one we went by. We tried to find a sign showing the
name, and get a closer look, but it was evidently private property and wasn
tourist item.
Random Castles
We did go to one little castle we saw a sign for, just before Glasgow. I
believe the name was Bunratty Castle, or something -- a very small square
keep. Almost not worth mentioning , except that we almost died trying to
get to it! We were driving up the narrow mud road to it, when someone
coming the other way almost hit us ! We couldn't see eachother through the
brush that grew up to each side of the road, and came VERY close to one
another! I think it was a tourist family, looking for a glimpse of the
castle, like us.
Loch Lomond
We passed by the legendary Loch Lomond, and watched the fog and mists on
the mountains next to it -- very romantic!
In Glasgow, we got some cash, gassed up the car, and had lunch at a
traditional Scottish eating establishment, McDonald's! Let me tell you,
McDonald's in Glasgow is much different from the States. The manager not
only smiled and chatted with the customers, but was refilling napkins and
straws that didn't yet require it, the food was less greasy, chips were
available (in addition to the normal fries), and the McFlurry had Cadbury
Chocolate flavor available. It's the little things that make the
difference!
We drove on through Glasgow after lunch. We were warned that it was a
very dreary and industrial city, but it was cleaner and nicer than
Middlesborough was! We drove down the motorway, and made much better time
than we had on the little, windy roads. Just before we got to Carlisle,
which was on the English side of the border, we took a side trip to
Hadrian's Wall, as per the signs we followed. We saw a couple of forts, and
saw the three feet of wall that was left. It wasn't too impressive to look
at. However, just touching it and knowing this was built 1700 years ago was
humbling enough. The panoramic view from the wall over the Scottish side
and English side of the country was incredible.
 
As we left, I got the bright idea of continuing down that road in the
same direction, as the signs did mention the A7. Little did I know that it
would be a long, long time until we could hook up to the A7 again! Through
an eternity of back roads, sheep trails, and 7 foot grasses on either side
of the road, we finally made it back to the motorway, and headed into
Carlisle.
Looking down the main street
in Carlisle
We made our way into downtown Carlisle (with another navigational error ),
and followed the sign to downtown, and discovered it was only a bike path
to it!), and found a walled downtown area. We parked near Crescent Drive,
just inside the wall, and walked a couple blocks to a phone booth, making
our B&B reservations for the next two evenings.
Jason went on to the Games Workshop store while I made the calls. We
wandered about the town for a bit and then got our car to find the
evening's B&B. We were fairly exhausted from our earlier sojourn into
sheep paths, and were quite frankly tired of driving!
Our B&B for the evening was a working farm, and it was quite quaint.
The entrance road was between two fields with lots of cows and sheep, and
we parked in front of one of the three barn structures. Our room was pretty
spacious, and certainly adequate to our needs, the decor very
country-style.
We checked in with our hostess and headed out for dinner at a pub down
near town (the B&B was about 5 minutes out of town) called the Coach
& Horses. We each had our usual pints, and we started with an appetizer
of fried mushrooms with garlic sauce (passable). I had a steak and ale pie
that was delicious, with wonderful gravy to dip my chips in. For dessert we
shared a slice of strawberry cheesecake in heavy cream-- heavenly!
We headed back to our B&B for a little reading before bed, and went
to sleep.
Wednesday the 16th:
Despite our fears, we were not woken by roosters -- evidently noone in
the immediate vicinity farmed chickens! We woke up around 8 and went down
to breakfast, with about 3 other couples. A very country-style dining room,
with doilies and trivets with pictures of vegetables on them, etc.
We were headed to Wales today, so we started off on the M6. After our
crossover into this country, we saw Rhuddlan Castle on the side of the
road. It is such an incongruous sight to see a 1000-year-old castle next to
a modern motorway! We kept near the northern coast of Wales as we made our
way down to Conway, our first stop for the day.
Dalek Sign
We drove into Conway, which has the most complete wall of the walled
cities in Europe. The entire downtown area is still within the walls, and
the castle is fairly complete. This was one of the first castles built by
Edward I in the 1300's. We parked next to the city walls, and noticed that the
signs were in Welsh and English. Someone had evidently had the bright idea
of removing certain vowels from the English half of some of the signs,
rendering them Welsh-looking!
Conwy Castle
 
We parked and started up the city walls, and towards the castle. It
started raining a bit, and it was a VERY cold rain. I huddled under my
shawl, and we ran to the city walls, the towers of which offered some shelter.
Shortly, the rain let up some and we headed towards the castle itself, on
the northern corner of the city. The city was on the shore, as well, which
meant the entrance to the city was a bridge that looked like it went into
the castle (it actually went next to it, and under the city walls).
We spent quite a time exploring the castle itself. It had towers about 5
stories high, stairs going round and round inside. It had several
courtyard-style areas inside, and a grand hall that at one time had a wooden
floor. We saw massive hearths here and there, and a couple oubliettes.
After exploring the castle, we picked up several castle guidebooks in
the gift shop (each included floorplans of the castles) and went down to a
shop we noticed from the ramparts , called the Knight in Arms. It had a
suit of armour out in front of it, so of course we took interest. It was a
combination armory and coats-of-arms shop. We drooled at some of the armour
and swords on the walls, and went into town.
We passed the Merchant's Guild building (still being used as such) and
went down to the docks. We saw the World's smallest Livable House, and went
into a fish & chips place called Schooner's for lunch. It was a three
story establishment, and the only empty table was on the top story, with a
family of children. It was not a wide or long place , only about three or
four tables per floor , and the service left much to be desired. We both
ordered Cokes, and she brought up Diet Cokes, as they were out of regular.
Instead we asked for Sprites, and two orders of fish and chips. We ate
quickly and left quickly.
Off to Caernarvon, the castle of the Prince of Wales! We took the A55
and parked near the docks (in sight of the Isle of Anglesey) and walked the
three blocks to the castle.
It was almost 4pm, so things were beginning to slow down. On the way to
the entrance, we quickly stopped at a bookstore out front, and I picked up
a copy of the Mabigoneon, a book of Welsh legends and traditional tales.
The castle was in better shape than Conway was, but then it was still
being used for crowning the Prince of Wales. There was a museum for the
Royal Fusiliers that Jason went through, while I walked through a diorama
of the history of Wales. In the center of the castle was a great dias where
the ceremony of crowning the Prince of Wales is held.
On our way out, I bought some more film at a store, just as they were
closing down. Evidently, as the castle closes to the public at 5:30, so
does everything else around here! We went to find our hotel, the Prince of
Wales Hotel (imagine that), and we passed it before we could find any
parking. We turned around and found a space, and checked in. The room was
quite large, with a spacious bathroom with a tub, rather than a shower. For
dinner we went down to the restaurant in the hotel. We had appetizers;
garlic mushrooms with prawns, which were wonderful, and calamari, which was
woefully lacking (only 4 rings of calamari!) For dinner I had Welsh Steak,
which was really beef stew, and Jason had Country Chicken, which is similar
to Chicken Kiev.
After dinner we walked down to the Safeway for some snacks for today and
tomorrow, and we realized that it was quite chilly and windy! Jason was
just wearing shorts, and was turning a bit blue. We got some strange looks
from the locals ; wearing shorts in 50 degree weather is a bit looney, I
suppose. Outside the Safeway were lots of slate pieces, so we picked a few
up , real Welsh-mined slate, oooh. We picked up some really strange snacks;
some kiwi fruit, some dried apricots, some treacle toffee, some chocolate
bars. We saw something that had us laughing and giggling -- a box of
something called Greene's spotted Dick. It looks like a bundt cake mix of
some sort, but the name had us rolling in the aisles!
Back to the hotel, and we went to sleep after some telly and reading.
Thursday the 17th:
I woke up pretty early, as the lorries and other traffic out the front
window was a bit loud. It's a dockside town, so I am sure they have to get
up with the sun, but do they have to be so loud about it? We each took a
bath, and Jason wasn't feeling well, so I went down for breakfast on my
own. He joined me shortly, though, saying he was a bit better. Dinner was
good (the mushrooms were excellent!), and we started our daily drive.
Today's goal: Bath, by way of Shrewsbury and Hay-on-Wye.
We drove through the Snowdonia mountains, and the park, and were
rewarded with some beautiful, lush forests around us through most of the
drive. The mountains had trails and the towns were very old-fashioned
looking. At one town (Llangollen) we saw signs indicating a Dr. Who
exhibit. We found that the BBC Radio plays a CYMRU station, all in Welsh.
We heard a song that was modern rock style, (well, 1980s style), which was
all in Welsh except the chorus -- which they shouted "Sausage, beans
and toast!" -- with lots of laughing and cheering after each chorus.
Very strange!
We drove through Shrewsbury, which was a cozy little town, and on to the
Abbey, which had a Brother Cadfael museum/experience, which I wanted to do.
Shrewsbury Abbey
 
They set up what is left of the Abbey in a replica of what it had been
like in the 1100's, when the Cadfael mysteries are set. People would go
through each area, learning clues, seeing how life was like, the workshop,
the herb garden, the refectory, the library. There were calligraphy lessons
in the library, and ancient games in the garden.
There were monks walking around giving tidbits of information, it was
very cool!
At about 2pm, I was done, and waited for Jason, who had gone in search
of the local Games Workshop store. When he returned, we drove on to
Hereford, and turned down the road that would lead us to Hay-on-Wye --
eventually!
Hay-on-Wye is supposedly Europe's largest repository of used book
stores. Unless you are a complete fanatic, I would not recommend trying to
get there -- the way there is through many small, windy roads, and it took
a LONG time to get there off the beaten path. Once there, it started
raining, so we hopped from store to store. I didn't really find anything I
liked, except a little pocket guide to British Royalty, from the Saxons to
the present.
Getting back to Hereford took even longer, as it was raining harder, and
by 5pm, we were thoroughly tired of driving about. We got a grocery store
dinner (chicken slices, cheese and bread) and listened to a hilarious radio
show while we munched our supper. We called our B&B for the evening to
get better directions, and to let them know we were running late, as well
as the car rental place to extend our rental a day.
We found Bath, and couldn't find our B&B !! Then we called again for
directions. It was in a tiny town called Wellow above the hill from Bath. I
think the road into Wellow is as yet the smallest and steepest we had
found!
Our pub in Bath
We checked in with our hosts, and our room was a small attic room, very
quaint and cozy. Our B&B was across from the one pub in town, the Fox
and Badger, so we went in for a relaxing round of pints. It was quite
crowded with locals, and we eavesdropped on a group of young adults at the
next table. They spun a tale of a local girl, 17 years old, who was riding
horses while pregnant.
We went back up to the B&B, read for awhile, and went into a
blissfully quite sleep.
Friday the 18th:
We woke up rested and ready to wrassle. During breakfast, we talked to
our hosts (an older married couple) about all sorts of subjects. We talked
about politics in America as compared to the UK, education systems,
history, genealogy, etc. They were very nice folk, and we had a great time.
Today was our day for Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain. When we got there
it was cold, fairly heavy rain, as well as some lightning and thunder.
Stonehenge
This was the first time we saw actual storm conditions over here ,
actually it was just a drizzle of rain and lots of overcast. Nevertheless,
we packed up the camera under the raincoats and made our way across (under
the tunnel that went under the motorway) to Stonehenge.
It was very crowded, but we were able to get closer to the stones then I
had expected. We were about 20 feet away from the outer edge of the stones,
and had a really good view. There was a worn path where people walked, separated
from the stones by a thin rope. We took several photographs, and as I
walked across one point, I felt a tingling. Jason said we had just passed
the eastern sentinel point, and we felt energized afterwards.
Heading into London, we went to Chiswick, where our B&B for our last
three nights in England was. This is a borough outside of London, right
near a tube station. It was a semi-detached house on a quiet street of
other houses just like it. Before we checked in (we were very early), we
did laundry at the laundromat down the street, and had lunch at the pub on
the corner, the Rat & Parrot. I had a prawn sub, Jason had a chicken
& bacon sub, and we had our usual pints. Afterwards, we cleaned up the
car, checked into the B&B, stowed all our stuff there, and started our
drive to Gatwick to drop off the car.
Our mistake here was doing this on a Friday afternoon at 4:30pm -- the
M25 circles around London, but it doesn't do it very fast! It took us over
an hour to get to Gatwick! We topped off the tank and dropped the car off.
We hopped on a train to Victoria Station Tube, and took the Underground
back to our B&B. On the tube trip, I saw a gentleman who looked exactly
like my friend Brogan Sullivan, but about 60 pounds lighter, reading a
computing magazine. It felt very strange not to have the car, but once we
were at our station, Turnham Green, we were good to go. We got sandwich
fixings at the local grocery, and I tried to use the facilities. I would
not care to repeat the experience! The bathroom was a three sided fenced in
area out in back of the store, in the alley. There were bugs everywhere,
and it was NOT clean! At any rate, we went back to the B&B and settled
into our room for the evening.
We caught the same comedian we had seen last week, in the game show
called ?Never Mind the Buzzcocks', his name was Mark LaMarr, and he was
terrific. Then we saw some Irish sitcom about a family of redheads, 6 sons
and 2 daughters, all reprobates of some sort. Their house was on the border
between Northern and Southern Ireland, and one was escaping the Northern
Irish Gardai by hopping over an imaginary line in the middle of the house.
We tried to get to sleep, but it was too quiet for me , and then Jason
started snoring, and that was worse. I turned on the TV for static, white
noise, but ghostly voices came through. The radio had a beacon from the
airport give a beep periodically. Eventually exhaustion took over.
Saturday the 19th:
We woke up and took a bath/shower (the tub had a shower attachment
inside it). Breakfast was very well done, and our Cockney host (his wife
was visiting in-laws) served us and an Australian couple on holiday. They
were off to Edinburgh and Inverness, then Eileen Donan and Isle of Skye,
the same route we had just taken. We exchanged some stories, and off we
went on the tube to London for the day.
We checked our cash (the refund from the car rental deposit), and found
it available -- Good! We took the District line to Victoria, and the
Victoria line to Oxford Circus. Inside a mall we found a local Games
Workshop store, and I waited for Jason to get his fill of the place in the
food court, sipping a Pepsi. As I was waiting an interesting sight walked
by -- three teenagers in Goth outfits, complete with platform knee-high
leather boots and red fur around the tops. Obviously just coming in from a
night of heavy clubbing, 10am being their normal bedtime.
We decided to go back to the B&B for our forgotten camera, ate some
lunch (bread, sliced ham, cheese), and headed back to Westminster for some sight-seeing.
Parlaiment, Westminster Abbey
 
Unfortunately, we found that the main building needs a three day notice
to get tickets! Oh, well. We went to the Abbey instead; admission was only
£3 each.
Jason wanted to go check on some other stuff, so I went in alone. It was
very crowded, but I managed to see the memorials to Queen Elizabeth I, Mary
Queen of Scots, Edward I, Shakespeare, and many others.
I saw the throne which Edward I (Longshanks) used. As I wandered
through, I noticed them roping off areas we had just gone through, for the
3pm singing.
After my sojourn in the Abbey, we went off towards Buckingham Palace.
There was an incredibly long queue at the front gates, and we decided that
it was too much trouble for the wait. Instead, we went around and looked at
the statues and gates.
Gaudy is the only word that comes to mind, but then again, the rules are
different for royalty. If they want gold gilt on all their gates, then they
can!
We checked the schedule for the changing of the guards, and the next one
was tomorrow at 11:30. Both of us were quite tired already, as we were used
to driving most of the day, rather than walking, so we headed back to the
B&B via the St. James station.
We had dinner at our local pub, the Rat & Parrot. I had prawn
marsala, which was absolutely yummy and the rice was the very fragrant,
almost sweet Thai type. We shared an order of cheese & bacon fries. Our
waiter, Anthony Hill (Hilly), was on a four year work visa from Newcastle,
Australia, and his fiance was the chef.
We went to our B&B for rest, as my legs were killing me and Jason
had a headache. We watched television for a while, and read, but by 8pm
Jason's headache was heading towards a migraine. We walked to the gas
station down the street for some Advil, and we went back to a deep sleep.
Sunday the 20th:
We were up and eating breakfast by 8:30 this morning. Our Aussie couple
from Lisfarne joined us, as well as an Irish couple from the midlands.
Jason wasn't feeling well, a little nauseous, but we went on out anyhow. On
the tube, we were surrounded by little French teenage girls, all gossiping
in French.
Today we headed towards the British Museum, on Russell Square Street.
It wasn't open until noon, and it was only 11:00am, so we went to a cafe
across the street called, appropriately enough, the Forum. I had a prawn
club sandwich, and a Stoffee (banana and toffee cream, very sinful!).
At the museum, there was a very long line, but it moved quickly, and we
were in fairly quickly. We visited the Japanese Time exhibit, which had all
sorts of ancient and modern Japanese time devices and calendars, the
Oriental exhibit, the Egyptian Room, the Celt, Saxon, Viking, and Pre-Roman
Britain area, the Roman section, and the Medieval section.
The British Museum
 
We spent about 3 hours in there, and it was very crowded (especially the
Egyptian Room). We went to a pub on the corner to get our bearings, have a
couple pints, and decide where to go next. Our choice was Shakespear's
Globe Theatre, and we planned our route.
Shakespeare's Globe
We went by the site of the Old Globe Theatre, and then on to the New
Globe Theatre. The Old Globe was now only excavation under protective
tiles, not open for public viewing. The New Globe was taken over by a gift
shop in the entrance, with a cafe/ I bought a feather quill, an old map of
London, and an old map of Britain.
On our way back, we stopped by a ship harbored off the Thames, a replica
of Sir Francis Drake's "Golden Hinde", the tiny ship in which he
circumnavigated the world. We walked along the Thames for awhile, back
towards the BlackFriar's.
We took the tube home, once again fairly tired from our exertions. This
time the tube was filled with Italians. We saw one young man carrying a
baby in a sling on his chest, and another young man gave up his seat for
him. Chivalry may have changed faces a bit, but it's not quite dead!
A ship on the Thames, and
Green Dragon Court!
We got off the tube and went towards our B&B; we double-checked
tomorrow's flight times and gate, and called Todd to make sure he knew when
to pick us up. Then off to dinner at our Rat & Parrot. I had the best
meal of our trip there, I think. I had a lamb Persian casserole, which was
spicy and sweet, all at the same time. It was tomato-based but had cinnamon
in it. We chatted with Hilly about a trip around the world he wants to
take.
For dessert I had a hot rum and raisin pudding with rum sauce, and Jason
had a chocolate mousse cake with clotted cream ice cream. I had a glass of
port wine with dinner, and we were quite mellow and full afterwards. This
was our big hurrah in terms of spending for the trip!
We wanted to get some packing tape, to seal up Jason's suitcase for the
trip back, and we walked around several blocks without luck. We decided to
try to find some in the morning, and went to the B&B. We watched a
program on Roman Arches in Britain, and then the Sunday evening Britcoms of
Fawlty Towers and As Time Goes By, and went to sleep.
Monday the 21st:
We were up early this morning, at 7am, and said goodbye to our host
after breakfast. He was definitely the salt of the earth type, almost a
John Dolittle type of cheerful cockney. As we were heading towards the tube
station, we went by the liquor store, and saw in the window some beer.
Monty Python's Holy (Gr)Ale
Now, we normally don't care for regular beer, but this was Monty
Python's Burning Witch Ale! We took a photo, and laughed for a bit, and
headed towards the tube. It was a little awkward with all the luggage, but
we made it to Victoria station, and took the Connex train to Gatwick. There
was very little fuss, and our trip back was very anticlimatic.
We had no problems with the changeover in Detroit, but our customs agent
was incredibly rude and dismissive. But, on we went, back to the sauna that
we call home!
Ah, the bittersweet memories! I adore the land of Britain even more now
that I've tasted of it's shores... but I will go back someday!
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