Lakes District

19/8/2008
We drove to the Lakes District and made good time arriving at 11.30 am. TI were most helpful again in finding us a B&B 10 mins walk from the villages. Bowness one way and Windemere the other. Settled in and then walked to town and of course it rained!! Very busy and buzzing with tourists. Lots of hiking and trekking shops - quite cheap compared to prices back home.




We walked to the lake where there are lot of swans and ducks which are very tame and looking for food from the visitors. We sat down for a rest and a swan waddled up and sat down quite close in front of me. I was getting my camera out of my bag when it poked me on the knee with his beak and peered at me. I didn't have anything to feed him but he let me take his photo anyway.


We had a little book in our room with suggested walks so we decided to do one to a lookout not far from where we were staying. We followed a narrow track along the back of properties, through paddocks, over fences and through 'kissing' gates. Bob was reading the directions aloud all the way. It was very rocky and muddy and quite a climb and I didn't successfully avoid the stinging nettles either. It took about an hour but the view was well worth it, high above the town and overlooking the lakes - very spectacular! We made our way back to the village and discovered another part of the town we had missed earlier then had a very well earned drink at a pub.

14/8/08 Tenby

Arrived in Tenby today which is a very pretty town set in old castle walls. This was recommended by Nick and Janet who we met at the B & B at Mevagissey. They were absolutely right.... it is beautiful and has nice sandy beaches, so very popular with families. Quite a holiday spot which relies on the tourists during the summer months.

We found our accomodation through the TI and are staying at the St Oswald Guest House. Interesting comparing how different accommodation is run. The owner here gave us the run down on the 'breakfast rules' and wanted our order on arrival, and our time was 8.30. He insisted we had to try his specialty, fried bread - which we weren't to keen to try. We weren't disappointed and didn't order it the following morning!!

15/8/08
We were the only 2 customers for the guided tour of the town this morning. Interesting history dating back to 500 BC. Tenby was originally a fortress town built within castle walls on 3 sides to keep out invading forces.

We caught the boat to Caldey Island this afternoon. The island was founded by monks who make perfume and chocolate. Frankly, I would not recommend either.... There were lots of people visiting the many old chuches and buildings. We had to avoid the nesting swallows poohing on us in some of the churches.

13/8/08 Mevagissey, Tintagel and Newport

Left Mevagissey this morning. A bit of a to do as the 'hole in the wall' would not accept our cards, so Bob had to drive to St Austell and return to pay our bill.

Other than that little hiccup we had a very enjoyable stay at St Meva B &B run by our excellent hosts Jane and Keith. They were very good to us - even offering to do our washing!! We had a great meal at the Crown Inn at St Ewes which they recommended, which was very reasonably priced.

We drove to Tintagel along some pretty narrow roads and had to pull over to let oncoming cars through. There were some very encouraging signs which said 'oncoming cars in the middle of the road'. The locals would give us a friendly wave while we breathed in as they slid past.

When we arrived at Tintagel it was pouring rain and blowing a gale. We decided to have a coffee and hoped it would ease off... which it didn't. We rugged ourselves up and donned our raincoated and headed off to the castel. We were concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other and missed the turn off to the castle. We ended up at the castle hotel at the headlands where there is a viewing area, we could just make out the castle through the blinding rain and managed a very quick photo before beating a hasty retreat before being blown off the cliff. On the way back to the correct pathway where there was a sign to say it was closed due to the 50mph gale force winds!!

We headed for south Wales and got as far as Newport. A very industrial town. We drove past a Holiday Inn while looking for the Tourist Information (TI)... which we didn't find and it was getting quite late, so returned to the Holiday Inn. Luckily, there was one room left which we very gratefully accepted.

Mevagissey

It is blowing a gale in Cornwall this morning. We are leaving for southern Wales and hope to stop in at Tintagel on the way.... that's if we don't get blown away.

Yesterday we went to Polparo, a lovely little fishing village - not quite as hilly as Mevagissey. We then drove on to Looe and in particular St. Martin, where some of my ancestors (Hendy's) came from. Bob went into a shop and asked which way to St. Martin and the lady looked at him very strangely, then said "Oh, you mean St. Marrr..tin!" and then directed him down the road and we nearly drove past it. We had a look at the church and grave yard but could not find any Hendy's but it was interesting anyway.

We then went to a castle under the National Trust - Lanhydrock. An enormous place.... the history was quite fascinating and had been in the one family over 3 centuries and only within the last 50 years have there been no heirs to pass it on. The silver had been stolen from the dining room the day before so that room was closed.

Bath and Mevagissey

Well here we are in Mevagissey, Cornwall. What a wonderful place! We are very much at home here and staying in a B & B with some very welcoming hosts. Although this is a very touristy area it is not as over whelming as Bath... our last port of call.

Mevagissey is set around a small bay and is very hilly with narrow winding streets and very pretty. It would have been relient on the fishing industry originally but now is a haven for the holiday makers although seafood is still the main item on the menu. It is a fairly small town and there is hardly any room for cars so you have to be pretty game to even try driving down any of the streets.

We really love it here and were only on planning for 2 nights but we are considering staying an at least another night... if our hosts will have us!

We spent 2 days in Bath. Visited the abbey, the bath house and did a couple of bus tours of the city and area which were very well presented. Our accomodation was a little out of town and as parking was a problem in Bath city we had a fairly long up hill and down dale walk. The weather wasn't the best so we probably did not see it in its best light. Also we were accosted by a few derros looking for a hand out. It amazed me that they were not asking for money for food or drink but to get into a night club...! We had nice B &B although a bit pricey but as there was not much available and Bath is very expensive overall it was okay.

We drove to Mevagissey from Bath today and stopped off at Wells on the way through. To me... Wells was more impressive than Bath as it does not have so much tourist hype and was more laid back and enjoyable. Wells is a very interesting town and is built around a cathedral which is very impressive. The town is similar to Bath in that it has underground springs but are cold where as Bath's are hot.

We visited the oldest street in Britain in Wells and the cathedral, gardens etc. which are quite magnificent. We were at the tourist info discussing our plans with the elderly tourist info ladies who insisted we had to visit where the cathedral choralists had lived in times gone by. They had their own street where the ladies of the night frequently visited them. The old dears were most insistent we checked out this naughty piece of information.

We had not any definite plans to come to Cornwall but thought as we had the time we would take the opportunity. We called into the tourist info at St Austell and asked where would be a nice place to stay - and Mevagissey was recommended. Bob had been here when he was a tour driver and only spent a couple of hours but remembered it well.

We checked out a couple of the pubs on the waterfront tonight and Bob recommends the local beer ... St Austell, Tribute... (Chris, where are you!!) I stuck to the wine. We had a good pub dinner .... me, local mussels - a salad bowl full all to myself....yum!! Bob, cod, chips and salad. All very nice!! Then we had to stagger back up the hill and take in some more of the lovely views on the way....!

Our accomodating hosts have let me use their computer.

London with Super Sue and Lil in Bridport, Dorset

Yesterday we caught the train from Waterloo to Poole. We had stayed with Sue Inge, (who we had worked with at Loch Melfort, Scotland) at Holland Park. Great to catch up with her in her cosey garden flat. She plied us with plenty of wine and a lovely meal. So it was a very slurred session by the time we finished and hit the hay. Sue very kindly drove us to the station the next morning which was just as well as we might have not been in the best of health to have got there on time

We are staying with Lil at Bridport Dorset. Really great to see her and we began where we had left off about 13 years ago. She hasn't changed at all! Plenty more wine and good food.

It is very pretty countryside in Dorset with some gorgeous villages and thatched cottages. A pity the weather has not been too kind as it has been raining but at least it isn't too cold. Even so it is still very enjoyable driving around. Our hire car is very nice a diesel Kia, manual and most important the colour - black. Bob had a fun time discovering where all the controls are so we had the windscreen wipers going instead of the indicators. It took awhile to work out how to get the key out of the ignition and finally found, by accident, you had to have it neutral, hand brake on and foot on the brake.

Lil drove us around Bridport and the harbour yesterday and it is typical English seaside, with lots of fish and chip stalls in red blue and white striped huts along side each other which are very quaint and a photographers paradise.

Today Bob drove with Lil navigating. We went to Portland and Weymouth and we had lunch at the "Wishing Well" teahouse which is at Upwey. Bob was very interested as he grew up in Upwey Victoria. Had a great day and we are now sipping on one of Lil's very strong G&T's..... hic!

31/07/2008
We went to the British Museum today. Anna got us tickets through work for the Hadrian Empire and Conflict exhibition. It was quite interesting to learn about his history other than just building Hadrian's wall. He built a magnificent palace at Tivoli near Rome so we are hoping we have the opportunity to have a look at the ruins when we are in Italy.

After we had finished with Hadrian we went and checked out the Elgin Marbles and the Egyptian displays which we had seen 30 odd year ago. These exhibits were more popular than Hadrian going by the hordes of people that were there. It was all quite fascinating, even a second time around.

We left the museum and made our way to the Millenium Bridge which spans the Thames. Looking back you get a fantastic view of St Paul's Cathedral. The William Shakespeare's Globe Theatre was closed to the public so we walked on the the replica of Sir Francis Drake's the Golden Hinde sailing ship. We wandered on to Southwark Cathedral, where I got told off for taking photos and was asked to pay a licence of 2 pounds. I didn't pay... just put the camera away. Bob had walked on and was happily snapping away and wasn't pulled up.

It was a hot day and we called in for and iced coffee at Starbucks.... we got black coffee with ice in it! Quite a surprise and completely revolting! We will have to learn the local "lingo".

We bought our rail tickets to Poole from Waterloo train station for Monday. They were so slow!!!.... it was like queuing at the post office but 3 times as slow. there were a heap of desks but not enough staff. A lot of customers walked off in disgust.

Anna and Jeff were at a work event so we were on our own for dinner. We went for a walk and found a nice little pizzeria where they served the traditional italian pizza.... certainly not your Pizza Hut. We walked that off by discovering a bit more of the neighbourhood.

Certainly getting plenty of exercise!