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Great Britain

April - May 2022
I’ve joined 2 Rick Steves tours and will be traveling throughout England, Wales and Scotland. Join me on my new adventures! Read more
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  • TravelerGreat Britain
    Day 1

    On my way…

    April 29, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 52 °F

    Rebecca and I are ready to go! The map is of Great Britain. However, we are not visiting Norther Ireland, just England, Wales, and Scotland. Taking off for a very long day. It’s a 7 1/2 hour flight from Philly to London, we’ll arrive tomorrow morning at 8:00 am.Read more

  • TravelerGreat Britain
    1
    Day 2

    Bath England

    April 30, 2022 in England ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F

    Rebecca and I arrived in London this morning and took a bus to Bath where we’ll be until Wednesday. Tomorrow evening we’ll meet up with the Rick Steves’ tour. We are dragging today since we’ve gone over 30 hours without sleep! We took a short walk to the city center which is a large area of restaurants, shops, and historic landmarks, including the Roman Baths and the Bath Abbey. Note Jacob’s ladder on each side of the Bath Abbey. Angels are climbing up and down the ladder from heaven. We’ll explore more of the area tomorrow. Most of the architecture is Georgian and most of the city is built from a creamy limestone called Bath Stone. No fish and chips for me yet! We ate at Bosco Pizzeria for Naples inspired wood oven pizza and a gelato treat at Swoon.Read more

  • TravelerGreat Britain
    1
    Day 3

    Bath

    May 1, 2022 in England ⋅ ☁️ 50 °F

    Typical English weather…misty and drizzles all day. Regardless, we walked to the Royal Crescent which is a semicircular row of 30 townhouses built in 1774 as a country home for aristocrats…impressive. We took a tour of the No. 1 Royal Crescent residence which is now a museum to get a glimpse into everyday life of that period. It was an immersive experience with film and sound about the fictitious Nott family…really enjoyed it. We also walked by The Circus, three segments of townhouses forming an open circle built during the same time. Circus is Latin for circle.

    We headed down to the city center again to wander, walked to the Pulteney Bridge over the Avon River and stopped the the Bath Bun Tearoom and tried the popular Bath bun (recipe dating to 1769). It’s a sweet bread with nib sugar, dried currants and a chunk of hard sugar tucked inside, served with clotted cream and preserves…yummy!

    We met Jamie, our tour guide, and the other 23 in our group, took a walking tour and dined the The Salamander where we sampled 3 different ales, had a nice dinner (tried lamb) and had a famous British dessert called Sticky Toffee Pudding.    Read more

  • TravelerGreat Britain
    Day 4

    Bath

    May 2, 2022 in England ⋅ ☁️ 55 °F

    Jamie, our guide, took us on a walking tour of the old part of Bath this morning. I am amazed that pretty much the entire city is built with the honey-colored Bath stone back in the Georgian period from early 1700’s to mid 1800’s. And there really are lots of buildings made in shape of circles and semicircles. But over time all the beautiful Bath stone turns darker brown and black.

    We visited the Roman Baths which dates back to Roman times….43 A.D. They took baths in the hot bubbly mineral springs and believed in its healing powers. Thus, the name of the city! You can’t swim in it anymore, but you can drink the water with about 43 minerals in it, so I did have a glass and am waiting to heal and feel rejuvenated!

    I walked through the Abbey Church which was built about 500 years ago. With all the stained glass it has a nickname of “Lantern of the West”.

    We ate a light lunch at the world famous tea and eating house which is supposedly the oldest house in Bath. It’s the rival of the Bath Bun from yesterday. It was very different, but also delicious. It’s hard to describe…part bun, part bread, part cake and you order it toasted with sweet or savory toppings. We shared and had honey cinnamon with clotted cream and also melted brie with cranberry sauce…wow! Tea is the drink of Great Britain. Funny, but I asked if they had ice tea. She volunteered and said she had never made it but would try!

    Rebecca and another person went to the thermal spa, so I just wandered around town. I walked way too much…my phone recorded 7 miles, which I believe. I wanted to roll down the sidewalk the last 1/2 mile! I refuse to go far for dinner, so we’re heading to the Hop Pole, a popular pub, where I’m getting a much deserved cheeseburger tonight!    Read more

  • TravelerGreat Britain
    11
    Day 5

    Glastonbury and Wells

    May 3, 2022 in England ⋅ ⛅ 59 °F

    Road trip today. We had a quick stop at Cheddar Gorge. We then visited the mystical town of Glastonbury to see the ruins of the Glastonbury Abbey, one of the earliest Christian sites in England. The Reformation period evidently left lots of vestiges across the land. This abbey is also the legendary resting place of King Arthur and Genevieve. I guess monks in the 12th century claimed to have discovered the grave…LOL! Jamie, our guide, furnished a picnic on the abbey grounds where we sampled English hard cider, Scotch eggs, sausage pies, a selection of cheddar and French cheeses and an English dessert called Victoria sponge cake which was truly fabulous. The Scotch egg and sausage pie were on my list to try. Basically it’s a boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat, covered in bread crumbs and deep fried. It’s like a national dish of Great Britain. Glad I didn’t order either of them in a restaurant!

    Next we drove to the smallest city in England with a population of 12,000. It has always been considered a city because it has a cathedral. The Wells Cathedral, built 850 years ago, is quite impressive and Prince Charles’ favorite. I really liked it, too. The nave is very different and actually has a modern look with its scissored arches and open circles that look like owl eyes.

    Rebecca and I went to the Royal Theater this evening to see Crazy for You, a musical with Gershwin music…very enjoyable. We’re leaving Bath tomorrow morning and heading to the Cotswolds.    Read more

  • TravelerGreat Britain
    Day 6

    Avebury, Bleinheim, Stow-on-the-Wold

    May 4, 2022 in England ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F

    On the way to the Cotswolds we made several side trips. The first was a look at the tiny village of Lacock. Next, we visited the village of Avebury and took a walking tour of three mysterious prehistoric stone circles.

    On our drive we spotted two white horses in the hillsides that were made from cutting deep into a hillside, creating large trenches up to 3 feet deep of chalk, a soft and white form of limestone. These date back as far as the early 1700s and one dates from 1380 BC to 550 BC. There are others in England including ones of human figures. I thought it was cool. They show up from great distances.

    Spring is alive here, and I’ve seen lots of very deep purple lilacs, wisteria all over houses and buildings, bluebells everywhere, peonies and ornamental trees in profuse blooms. We have seen many bright yellow fields of rapeseed. It’s what we call canola. They have strange names for things…rocket is arugula, crisps are what we call chips, chips are French fries, a pavement is a sidewalk, a flannel is a washcloth, a public school is a private school and a state school is a public school! I could go on and on and let me tell you, it gets confusing!

    Then we drove to Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill. Queen Anne made John Churchill the first Duke of Marlborough, gave him the land, and helped him finance the palace back in the early 1700s because he won some big battle for England. It’s been in the Churchill/Spenser (as in Princess Diana Spencer) family for over 300 years. It’s still the home of the dukes of Marlborough. We toured the gardens in the rain!

    We are staying at the Sheep on Sheep Street in the charming town of Stow-on-the-Wold in the Cotswolds. It dates to pre-Roman times and the location was a place for medieval sheep markets where sheep and wool trade was a thriving business.    Read more

  • TravelerGreat Britain
    13
    Day 7

    Stow-on-the-Wold Cotswolds

    May 5, 2022 in England ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    It’s perfect weather today and will be clear skies and in the mid 60’s. We’ve been quite lucky so far in England with only a few intermittent rains.

     We learned that the environment changes so does the stone used for building. You can easily tell the change from the colors of the stones. Even the Cotswold walls and roofs are made of the local limestone and the roofs tiles hang by pegs! The area we’ve been traveling through is beautiful and green with lots of hills and valleys dotted with sheep. Another observation is just how friendly and “ever-so-polite” everyone has been in England.

    Today we started with a very scenic Cotswold drive and visited an English village where we toured the Stanway Manor and Mill. It has only changed owners once. It was owned by an abbey for 800 years and for the last 500 years and still today it is owned by the Tracy family and their descendants. The Earl of Wemyss lives there now. Not much has changed, and the interior could be described as very shabby and messy. Some furniture, tapestries, and portraits have been there for centuries, but the couches were literally falling apart! Strange story…his wife believes in drilling a hole in the head to give it more space. Still happening now! Oh, an ancestor was accused of heresy. But he had been dead for 2 years, so they dug him up and burned him. So many stories could be shared! We had a spectacular fountain show when they turned on a gravity- set fountain that is the tallest in Britain. We also toured the watermill and saw wheat turned to flour.

    We actually had a lesson in cricket at Stanway House. I can’t say that I understood the game, but it was a jolly good time!

    Legend says that Tolkien visited St Edward’s Church in this village, and the mystical doorway there looks like a portal that could transport you to another realm.

    Rebecca, Wendy and I had lunch at Huffkin’s Tearoom and then we joined our guide for a country walk to the Upper and Lower Slaughter. To quote him, we walked past thatched cottages, sheep, a mill creek and through fields and kissing gates.

    We gathered for dinner at The Kings Arms (dating from1600s) where we also listened to local folk musicians…very enjoyable evening.    Read more

  • TravelerGreat Britain
    Day 8

    North to Wales and Conwy

    May 6, 2022 in Wales ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    Today was a travel day to Conwy in Wales. We stopped a few places along the way. We had nice weather until late afternoon when we entered Wales. Oh, we were slowed down by gypsies traveling on the road with horse driven trailers!

    Near the Wales border in Shropshire we visited Stokesay Castle. It’s a fortified manor house that was built in the late 17th century for a rich wool merchant, Lawrence of Ludlow, and it has changed very little since the 13th century. It’s unusual because it has an almost complete set of medieval buildings. The audio presentation and tour was very well done, and I even climbed the fairy tale tower! Before leaving we enjoyed a cream tea for a mid morning treat. Cream tea is a pot of tea with a scone, clotted cream and jam.

    Our scenic drive took us from the southern border of Wales all the way to the northern border with our destination being Conwy. The landscape was breathtaking. We couldn’t stop to take pictures because of the winding roads, but I don’t see how photos could capture the beauty of the bright green hills, forests, mountains, valleys, rock walls and many sheep. I wonder if there are more sheep than people in Wales! It’s a perfect time because of the number of lambs with their mamas…adorable. They say that the rain is liquid sunshine here. Conwy is a walled harbor town attached to a castle overlooking the Irish Sea.

    We’ve had great hotels, but this one has a lot of amenities which makes it a little more special in our rooms…chocolate bars, cookies, variety of hot drinks, warm towel racks, deluxe toiletries, robes, and a cute dragon on the bed! If you put him outside your door, he will protect your room! The dragon is on the Welsh flag.

    We ended the night with a group dinner in the hotel restaurant…classy place. I tried something new…lamb shank. I was hesitant, but it was actually quite good!    Read more

  • TravelerGreat Britain
    Day 9

    Area around Conwy

    May 7, 2022 in Wales ⋅ ☀️ 55 °F

    It’s a gorgeous day here in Conwy. We headed up in the Carneddau Mountains to a working farm and met Gareth Wyn Jones and his wife, Rhian. We watched his dog, Max, demonstrate sheep herding. His family has been there for over 300 years. He has had tv appearances and was a YouTube star with Jack Whitehall’s show. He has the gift of gab and entertained us. He showed us the new litter of puppies…so cute!

    Then, we took off to Caernafon to tour the Caernarfon Castle which was part of the system of English garrison castles that Edward I built to enforce English rule over North Wales 700 years ago. The Welsh on the whole do not like the English, and our Welsh guide was pretty obvious on her wish to be free from England.

    In the afternoon we took a drive to the spectacular Snowdonia National Park and drove through some of beautiful scenery. Riding on the bus made it impossible to take pictures, so I just enjoyed it. We stopped for an strenuous uphill hike to see 2 lakes. I made it for about 20 minutes or so and returned with others to wait it out!

    We were a little tired after this fun-filled day, so Rebecca, Wendy, and I had a no fuss dinner at Parisella’s who are famous for their ice cream. We had a savory ham and cheese crepe and of course some ice cream! My new favorite is a white chocolate caramel crunch!

    Had a little scare today. Our tour guide got pinged last night on the phone and was asked to take a Covid test. Somehow someone he was in contact with tested positive. He tested negative and so did our driver. It’s always a little bit of a worry. If we would test positive we would be off the tour immediately. We’re trying to be as careful as possible.    Read more

  • TravelerGreat Britain
    224
    Day 10

    Lake District and Keswick

    May 8, 2022 in England ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    We left Wales today and stopped outside of Conwy to visit the Bodnant Garden which was founded in 1874 and developed by 5 generations of one family. They still live there today, but it is a National Trust property now. We lucked out with fantastic weather and gardens filled with spring blooms in the many terraces, woodlands, and meadows. It is truly one of my all time favorite botanical gardens. It was hard to capture the expanse of the gardens and colors.

    After our visit we returned to England and headed to the Lake District in the north part of England…4 hour bus ride.We’re staying in the small town of Keswick with a population of 5,000. The Lake District is filled with valleys, hills, and mountains. The environment changes again and the houses are built out of slate in this region. It has a greenish cast to it. We stopped at a truck stop where there was KFC, Starbucks, Burger King, Krispy Kreme, and Subway…LOL!
    I think I’m going to love this area. This is the area of poets and writers. Among them were Beatrix Potter and William Wordsworth. The view from my window is magnificent! The hotels in Europe don’t usually have elevators. I’ve been lucky with only having to drag myself and my luggage up to the 2nd floor…today it was the 3rd floor!

    We ended the day at a traditional English chippy and had fish and chips…a first for me. The most important thing for all of us at this point is to get up and walk to the laundry to drop off our clothes by 8:00 tomorrow morning!

    It is truly taking hours to download photos and I’m still waiting for about 20 more to download. Internet service has been really poor. I may add some more as more download, so check this footprint again tomorrow. All photos are from Bodnant Gardens.    Read more

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