Kings, Queens, Pubs n Castles

August - October 2017
A 59-day adventure by Karen
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  • Day 1

    Leaving Home

    August 17, 2017 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Today is the day, we're off for eight weeks. Seven weeks in the Uk and then one week in Denmark on the way home. Goodness that seems like a long time at the moment. Got to the airport early all ready for breakfast and coffee. No power!! Never mind after we'd run the gauntlet of security and immigration we had a great breakfast and coffee at the international.Read more

  • Day 3

    2 Days in Singapore

    August 19, 2017 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Had a pretty good flight to Singapore. Makes all the difference when you fly during the day and have the exit seats. Found our hotel and took ourselves around to Chinatown for some dinner. It wasn't far and the taxi driver had pointed out where food street was on the way. Roast duck and port belly, don't think you can go wrong with either of them.

    Coffee and breakfast the next morning in this little street shop, very strong and sweet coffee, wasn't too bad after the initial shock. After a walk around the local neighbourhood we thought we may as well just kept walking and ended up down at the bay. Went to look at Garden on the bay, absolutely amazing and a real credit to Singapore. The flower dome was having a orchid spectacular, so of course we had to go to that. Gorgeous displays and so many different species of plants and flowers, big plus the domes all all airconditioned. Not too many people early on but as the day went on they were finding us and it was getting pretty hot by now too, so we headed home for a afternoon siesta.

    We came back down late afternoon to see the cloud forest. A huge rock under a class dome filled with plants and walkways and waterfalls. Incredible and all those people who slept in this morning were there. Few too many for us a d we heading up to Satay On the Bay for some food. It's a hawker centre not far from the domes. On the way a group of otters came out of the water and across the walkway in front of us. They were so cute and funny chasing each other across the walkway.

    Had some delicious satay sticks with this delicious peanut sauce, I feel really sorry for people with a peanut allergy they are really missing out. They want to sell you ten or more of everything but Graham had a lovely time convincing this lady to just give him five so we could try a few different ones.

    The domes have a night display as well and we called back in there to see them all lit up. It's a different perspective but not a patch on daylight. A walk along the harbour and we were in time for the nightly light show, big crowd and it was pretty spectacular too. By this time we'd walked about 16 kms so time for a taxi back to the Hotel!

    Back to our favourite neighbourhood shop for coffee and fruit again the next day. I love how when you go back a second time they greet you like a long lost friend. The old gentlemen at the fruit bar told us we should visit little India, so thats the plan this morning. He told us how to get there on the subway so we tried our luck buying tickets. It was pretty simple really, bit like Hong Kong they have a great subway system. We got there no problem and had a look around the market. Hundreds of flower garlands hanging in all the stalls. They must have some huge greenhouses somewhere to grow so many. And sari shops, Indian women must have hundreds of saris. I was so tempted to buy some material, they were such beautiful vibrant colours. One of the tailors we were talking to told us to try out the vegetarian restaurant a few doors down. And you know how we love to eat so we didn't take much presuading! Delicious Samos and some sort of bread filled with veges and dipping sauces for everything, Yummo!

    Got the subway back downtown then and found Raffles Hotel. Wow pretty popular place, but holy moly they must be making a fortune. We had a Singapore Sling and it was delicious but it cost more than all the food and drinks we'd had for the last 48 hours. We did do our best to get get our money's worth out of the free peanuts and Wifi though.

    To top off the day we headed back to Chinatown for one last meal and couldn't go past the Chilli Crab. Omg it was the messiest thing I have ever eaten, and we both just about needed a bath afterwards, not to mention a change of clothes. Since we had already checked out of our hotel that wasn't an option, poor other passengers on the plane that night, they're going to be smelling chilli sauce the whole flight!
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  • Day 4

    London

    August 20, 2017 in England ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    2 seven hours flights later and we arrived in London on Sunday morning. The second one was streets ahead of the first, makes a difference having the exit seats. I'm a Qantas fan after this trip, we sat opposite a lovely air hostess who gave us some tips on where to get a good lunch, the easiest way to pay for the underground, and some sights to go see. Unfortunately she couldn't get us through immigration any quicker and we had to take our turn with a thousand of our fellow travellers. I'm so glad we don't have to see another airport now for seven weeks.

    We found the underground and our hotel without much trouble and got rid of the luggage. We don't really have too much when you see what some other people drag around, must make it hard for them, but I was glad to dump it.

    We took the underground back to Paddington where our friendly hostie had told us about a lovely local pub to have Sunday lunch at. The Duke of Kendal, It wasn't far from the station and the Sunday roast was just as good as she promised. Had a chat to the publicans Grandad who was a shoemaker and made all the ballet shoes for the Royal ballet. Plus a couple of pairs for Princess Diana.

    We were trying to figure out how to get to Big Ben and in the end hopped on the tour bus for a while, nice way to get around and see most of the sites and have a bit of a sit down at the same time. Eventually we got off at the Tower of London. Amazing place was so much history, went on a tour with one of the beefeaters, well worth it. Then a river cruise back down to Westminster just in time to hear Big Ben ring for five o'clock. He's being turned off for four years for maintenance so we were lucky to hear him today.

    Graham really wanted to see St Pauls so back on the hop on hop off bus to get there. They were just about to have evening service when we arrived and we stayed for that. It was lovely, never thought I would go to a service in St Pauls let along take communion.
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  • Day 5

    London day 2

    August 21, 2017 in England ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Some days things work out, others not so much. This morning was not so much. We had it all planned to go to The Natural History Museum today. We found it no problem, but we were too early ( big surprise I know) and it wasn't open. So we thought we'd hop on the tour bus to fill in the hour, turned out we picked the extra long tour bus and it was Monday morning so lots of traffic, we did see quite a bit of area we missed yesterday though. Eventually we decided to get off and go back on the underground, except the line we needed was down. Grrr so off we went to find a bus, again with the traffic. By the time we got back to the museum it was about 11 and the line to get in was three blocks long. No way were we doing that, the museum will have to wait for another day.

    Plan B was to visit Kew Gardens. Turned out to be a great idea. The day was a bit overcast so it was nice and cool for wandering around the gardens which are just beautiful and absolutely massive. So much to see around every corner! We had a lovely four hours out there, and although there were lots of people in the gardens it's so massive they just disappear!

    It was late by the time we left and thanks to some advice from the ladies on the counter of the gardens and the train we found a great little pub in Richmond for dinner!
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  • Day 6

    London Day 3

    August 22, 2017 in England ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    So today we were going to make sure we didn't miss the Natural History Museum so we were off early and were there about 9. Not another soul in sight. Graham went off to get some coffee and cake and I stayed to guard first place in the queue. Plenty of friends came to join me soon enough and we had a lovely chat to an English couple who were there with their granddaughter. She was about 4 and had been to the museum heaps of time. Their daughter had told them they had to get to the Whales and the Dinosaurs first. So as soon as the door opened The little one was off and even though grandma and grandpa Werner too sure she knew where she was going, she got us to the whale in record time!

    Wow what an amazing place, the displays are pretty spectacular, but the building itself is absolutely stunning and was really the highlight for us! After a couple of hours we were museumed out and the crowds were getting thicker so we headed off to Leicester Square to get some show tickets. There are so many shows on in London, how on earth do they all manage to sell all the tickets? Anyway we found some pretty reasonable ones for the Book of Morman.

    Went for a walk around to Trafalgar Square and then Piccadilly circus! Lots of street performers, some pretty clever ones! Plenty of crowds too by this time. Time to go rest up for the show!

    Book of Norman was hilarious, we loved it! The Prince of Wales theatre was quite a bit smaller than I expected but we had good seats and a great view of the stage. Plus they sell you everything from wine to ice creams at interval and let you take them back in.

    All the theatres in the West End must finish at the same time so it was a bit of a battle to get back home on the tube but we made it!
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  • Day 7

    London Day 4

    August 23, 2017 in England ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    This is our last day in London and I realised last night we hadn't seen Buckingham palace. So the plan is to head in early before normal tourists get out of bed, but we're are a bit over the crowds so giving the changing of the guards a miss. It is a massive place, was all I could do to get it all in the camera lense. Wonder what the queen thinks every morning when she looks out the window at all the tourist down here. Anyway she's in Scotland at the moment and no doubt is coping with a different set of tourists. So while the queen is away you can tour a couple of rooms of the palace. I thought that might have been fun until I saw the line for it. There is a queue for everything here and as you probably all know I'm not the best at waiting in line, so we gave that a miss too.

    Headed over to have another look at Westminster Abbey and the Silent Big Ben. He looks the same except for a bit more scaffolding holding him up! We hadn't been for a ride in a London Black cab yet, so we jumped in one to take us up to Borough Markets. Graham loves to talk to taxi drivers but this one wasn't having any of it. Didn't even bother to answer after he knew where we were going! Except of course when he wanted some money!

    Borough Market OMG what a lot of lovely food they have at that market! Lots of taste testing going on. A friend of mine told me once when her daughter lived in London with a friend anytime they were strapped for cash they would come to Borough Market for a free feed! So we did a Dani and had a bit of everything until we got to a whole pig complete with cracking and that was it, I had to have a plate of that!

    This pace is London is taking its toll and we had to come back for a rest before venturing out tonight to see The Girl from the North Country! We had a bit of time so we braved the line for The London Eye! You do get some great views but it's all a bit sterile!

    We walked up to Waterloo looking for somewhere to eat before the show, tried two pubs both packed and couldn't find us a table. We were just walking past this little chinese place and a man in the doorway told us it was the most popular chinese for miles. It was packed inside, but someone was just leaving so we got s table pretty quickly. Tiny little restaurant and bloody hell so noisy but the food was great. Never know what you might happen upon!

    It's been great to see all the sights of London and we've enjoyed it all, but we won't be sorry to hopefully leave the crowds behind for a while!
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  • Day 9

    Over to The Coltswolds

    August 25, 2017 in England ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Picking up a hire car in central London, umm not really sure what I was thinking! Turned out alright though, it was only a few blocks from our hotel and pretty easy to get out of town thank goodness. The hire place was very interested in us, they had never had anyone hire a car for 40 days before so we were a bit of a novelty. They did their best to try and convince us to upgrade to a merc but for an extra 60 pounds a day, that's a lot of wine and beer so we managed to stay strong, although Graham did look longingly at it when we left. They did give us a new car though with only 400miles on the clock.

    Gps told me it was an hour's drive to the Coldswold. Sure if every other car on the road wasn't there maybe, it was pretty good once we got on to the freeway but still took us a couple of hours. We stopped in Stow-on-the-Wold on the way and had a bit of a wander around and some lunch. Pretty little village with supposedly England's oldest pub, although I think there are a few places vying for that claim.

    We found Chipping Campden where we are staying for 3 nights without much problem, finding a park near the hotel was a different story, but we managed it in the end. It's s pretty little village too. All the building are original or the facades are at least and it looks much as it would have three hundred years ago!

    There were a few tour bus people wandering around but they all disappeared at about 4 o'clock. Then it was just the locals and the people staying in the village.

    After a wander round town and a chat to a few people about where is the best place to have dinner, turns out its where were staying! So back we go had a couple of drinks in the bar with a few oldies and their dogs, and then Indian in the restaurant! Is it weird to have Indian at an old English pub? Was pretty good though!
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  • Day 10

    Quintessential villiages

    August 26, 2017 in England ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    We took a little driving tour of a few of the villages in the Cotswolds today.Moreton in the Marsh, Bourton on the Water, and the Slaughters. Gorgeous places where it looks like time stood still. Well it would if it wasn't for cars and buses but they are lovely towns and beautiful old buildings. My favourite was the Slaughters, there are two little villages very close together and it was very quite and laid back.Although they are having their annual fete on Monday and expecting 10000 people. So guess it won't be too quite that day!

    We check out a little brewery near Bourton on the Water. Had to go around the slaughters a few times to find I with a bit of help from a couple walking their dog.t. It just had a small front shop but the girl in there happily got us some beer to taste. It was pretty good and we came home with a couple of bottles.
    Tried our first cream tea. Which is Devonshire tea as we know it in Moreton on the Marsh. Clotted cream too, another first.

    On the way home we came across an open garden and pulled in to have a look. Burton House Garden, beautiful, and so peaceful. It's only open for 3 days of the week, the owners are there the rest of the time, so we were lucky we came across it on the right day. Acres of flowers, topiaries, gardens and gorgeous trees, and a beautiful tithe barn.

    The lady on the counter gave us a little lesson on the tithe barn. Tithe means tenth and the farmers had to pay the lords a tenth of what they grew. Most of which they didn't eat and threw back into the streets when it was rotten. The poor peasants who were starving would eat it and a lot of them died from the bacteria in the rotten corn. They then blamed the young girls of the villages and accused them of being witches. The girls then had to draw a perfect circle with some sort of leaves in the middle to prove they weren't witches and you can still see some faint ones there still!
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  • Day 11

    More of the Coltswolds

    August 27, 2017 in England ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Found some smaller villages today. Stanton, Leavton, Dumbleton, which sounds like it's a place the Wombles would have lived. All very pretty especially Stanton, it had a lovely old pub at the top of the town. We stopped in Broadway for a bit of a walk and bought some fresh strawberries and cream from the local church stall, then went up to Broadway tower for some great views over the countryside.

    Driving around the Cotswolds is like turning circles, you keep seeing the same things again and again. We set off then to find Hidcote Gardens, another gorgeous garden, which was set out in different rooms. 10 acres of them!

    Got back to our room just in time to watch a wedding at the church across the road. Nice view we had from the window in our room. I was nearly going to ask the photographer if they wanted to come use our perch. After putting our feet up for a while we set of to find Dover's Hill and then The Fleece Inn! Dover's Hill is a natural amphitheatre and great lookout point, and The Fleece Inn is a six hundred year old pub, probably another contestant in the oldest pub contest, it certainly did look the part!

    It's Saturday today the middle of the bank holiday weekend and it's pretty busy, but we've managed to avoid most of the crowds so far, except in our village where today it's a bit of a challenge getting a park. Came home through Evesham, which is a much bigger town and then on to Ebrington where we're having dinner at the Ebrington Arms!
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  • Day 13

    Getting to Cornwall

    August 29, 2017 in England ⋅ 🌫 15 °C

    We spent a night in Stony Stratford where we stayed at the Bull Hotel and visited the Vaults Bar, one of the longest running acoustic music session in England. A fun afternoon and we met some lovely people. Nice old coaching town full of very old pubs and we got around to a few of them!

    Long drive today down to Cornwall, and it's the last day of the bank holiday weekend so traffic was pretty heavy, we didn't really get held up though. We stopped in Cheddar to have a look at Cheddar Gorge and of course to try out some cheddar cheese and cider. A lot of the cheddar is matured in the caves along the gorge. The gorge is very pretty and very popular with hikers and climbers.

    Another couple of hours past there and we crossed the River Tamar and were into Cornwall. Our host had send us very specific instruction on how to get to our Airbnb and we found it without too much problem. Beautiful little farm with a gorgeous view and some friendly dogs and horses!
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