Reset search
Singapore UK and Europe 2019Singapore UK and Europe 2019
SatelliteEdit route

Singapore UK and Europe 2019

September 2019 - April 2024
An open-ended adventure by MF's travel blog Read more
Currently traveling
+9
  • 79footprints
  • 17countries
  • 1,700days
  • 351photos
  • 0videos
  • 23.5kkilometers
  • 16.8kkilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • TravelerSingapore UK and Europe 2019
    1
    Day 9

    Amiens and Villers-Bretonneux War Memor

    September 10, 2019 in France ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    We had a really good day - started with breakfast in our studio apartment then a wake-up coffee for Anne before we set-off for the Sir John Monash Centre Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. It’s dedicated to the Aussies that died on the Western Front, including the 10,700 with no known grave. It’s a magnificent (if very sad) place. It was special to Anne as we were able to find the name of her grand-uncle,Samuel Hardwick, that died at the front. It also reminded me that many returning of the returning WW1 soldiers settled around Stanthorpe and named their farms, and the little hamlets/rail sidings and the roads linking them, after battles (of the Somme and Western Front) in which they had fought - Amiens Rd along with Amiens, Messines, Bapaume, Passchendaele, Bullecourt, Pozieres and Fleurbaix. After there we went to a town called Albert to see another museum, this time underground, that gave a history of the battle of the Somme particularly showing the reality of trench warfare.

    We got back to Amiens for a brief rest and dinner before we headed to Amien’s own Notre Dam Cathedral (every city/town/village has a huge church or cathedral and mostly named Notre Dam!!!). It is huge and quite fantastic (the Catholic Church does like it’s edifices🤔). After dinner at the apartment we went back for a 9.45 light show at the Cathedral- again quite magnificent, the pics don’t do it justice.

    Tomorrow to Calais for an overnight stay before heading by car ⛴ to the UK.

    Ohh I took a pic of a tiny car😁.    Read more

  • TravelerSingapore UK and Europe 2019
    Day 10

    Drive to Calais

    September 11, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Up reasonably early (breakfast in the apartment) and packed the car ready to head-off. But first we had to walk down- town so Anne could have her morning-starter Café Crème to kick the day off. The drive was just under 200 kms and staying off major roads took about 3 hours with a brief stop for some French pastry. At one stage we passed a very Ditch looking windmill looking thing and I thought Anne’s navigation had brought us to Holland!!!! One of the small villages we passed through had a road closure and a detour sign pointing to the left. This would have been fine if there were further signs getting us back on the road but there wasn’t ☹️. We ended up doing a couple of 3 point-turns in dead-end streets and then going down an increasingly narrowing country lane getting caught behind a 🚜. We stopped to get out to have a look at what was being farmed, which was something we don’t see in Australia very often (if at all), - sugar beets. I actually had to pull one of the ground to see what it was, then a vehicle came up behind us so I threw it in the paddock and 🚶‍♀️back to the car pretending “nothing going on here”. Eventually we made it back to the road. It was overcast,with occasional rain most of the way, but the trip was ok. When we got to the hotel we were staying overnight there was a father and son from Austria with an old MG the dad had done up. They were off to the UK Goodwood for an MG rally that would end up in Spain. We had a chat with them (they were pretty excited), the young fella was drinking an Austrian 🍺. I’m not sure how many he’d had, but it was more than one🤭. They asked if I wanted to try one of the beers but I politely declined 🤔. The hotel was cheap - it was clean but we got what we paid for (a very very basic room, not even a kettle for tea/coffee☹️). Drove into town for dinner (Anne had fish and chips and I had the best toasted ham and cheese panini - most of the cheese was on top!!!). My attempt to order in French failed miserably, the waiter said he thought I was speaking Spanish 🤨). A quick reconnaissance of the car terminal then back to the room. Looking forward to the car ferry trip tomorrow (hopefully no hassles at the border - when you tell immigration that you don’t have a ticket back to Australia, they ask a few more questions 🙄) and then driving on the left (even if driving from the passenger side). With any luck London tomorrow.Read more

  • TravelerSingapore UK and Europe 2019
    Day 11

    Calais to London

    September 12, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Up reasonably early, breakfast then off to the Ferry terminal to board a P&O car ferry. Boarding was easier than I thought - through French border control for a an outbound passport stamp, collect a boarding card, then through UK immigration and a very quick check of the car that took about 30 seconds (open the boot, make sure no stowaways in the spare- tire compartment) and that was it. Got lost on the drive to the boarding area (cars line up in lanes ready to drive in). It’s a big dock and easy to get lost especially if you don’t follow the arrows, we had a couple of cars behind (us as we went around in a big circle). Finally we found the marshalling area. I went for a walk and when I came back to the car I had a walk around to see if there were any scuff marks and tapped on the passenger window to talk to Anne. When the window wound down a strangers face was looking at me - I was at the wrong car!!!. I could hear the lady laughing at me as I walked away. Funny thing was that she then went for a walk, and when she got back she went to get into our car 😛 - I got to laugh at her 😁. The Ferry is huge (9 levels I think) with cafes, duty free shops, bars and pokies (for a minute I thought I was back in a Qld RSL) - all for a 90 minute crossing. The white cliffs of Dover are quite a sight just before docking. It was good to be back driving on the left side of the road (if slightly awkward sitting on the left side of the car). We made it to our (again little) apartment (we’re actually on the outskirts of London in East Croydon, but it’s only a 15 minute train ride into the CBD). Tomorrow (hopefully a lucky Friday the 13th) we’ll organise oyster travel cards and head into the city....Read more

  • TravelerSingapore UK and Europe 2019
    Day 12

    First full day in London

    September 13, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Up not too early and down to the kitchen/lounge for breakfast (the apartment includes a free breakfast and I am getting tight in my advancing years). We’re about a 20 minute train ride from centre of London so we bought a couple of Oyster cards for train travel. Got to London Tower Bridge on first attempt (lucky we followed Anne’s excellent sense of direction). Did the tour then off to Trafalgar Square, St James Park then Buckingham Palace before on to Hyde Park. It’s pretty warm in London at the moment (sunny and 25 degrees) so almost every square inch of open grass has a pasty white Englishman, with no shirt, sunning themselves - makes it hard to eat lunch in the park ☹️. Plenty of other wildlife as well (particularly water birds and squirrels). The squirrels, especially, are so used to people they come up to you begging for food. We caught the tube few times and only got lost (i.e. went in the wrong direction) when we followed a businessman that was catching the tube for the first time - apparently he’s usually limousine driven. On the way back to the apartment, from the rail station, we stopped at a local pub and Anne had her first warm English beer (turned out to be a cold Coors from the USA 😱). We🚶‍♀️ about 17.5 kms for the day.Read more

  • TravelerSingapore UK and Europe 2019
    Day 13

    London - a lazy day

    September 14, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Nice slow day with a bit of exploring of Croydon. The centre has a huge pedestrian mall which was used as a market - plenty of fruit/vegetables, fish, cooked food and clothes. Basically everything was £1. My shoes have all but given up, but still couldn’t bring myself to replace the old faithful pair, even for one pound. Lunch then back to the apartment. Walked back later to one of about 6 barbers, all within a 5 minute walk, and got basically a head-shave (Anne doesn’t think it’s a good look).

    Barbers are normally pretty chatty; but nobody wants to talk about Brexit!!! It is all over the news, but no-one has any idea of what is going to happen. Luckily (I think) we’ll be back in Europe by October 31.

    I thought once we got to England we could stop having to pay to use a public toilet. No such luck and the conversion rate in London is shocking - 30 P converts to one pee and no change given !!!!!    Read more

  • TravelerSingapore UK and Europe 2019
    1
    Day 14

    London day 3

    September 15, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Another full day in London - breakfast then train and tube into Camden Town for the markets (yes I know - we go to a lot of markets 🙄). These really are huge with well over 1,000 outlets and shops. Heaps and heaps of bag shops and Anne likes to visit each one (you’ll often find me loitering outside). Had lunch on the “Italian food alley” didn’t get what I ordered and got charged almost twice the price - I think that was supposed to be part of the Italian experience 🤨.

    There’s a canal that runs through the middle that works on a lock system (with manual wooden gates) and it was fascinating to watch a boat come through dropping about 3 meters.

    Next, my highlight of the trip so far - a trip to the Beatles Abbey Road studios and I got to walk over the pedestrian crossing made famous on the cover of the Abbey Road album😃. It was Sunday afternoon but there was still a heap of people all disrupting traffic doing the same thing (I was much more considerate of traffic - but I’d hate to live and drive around there).

    Got back about 4.30pm needed and had a rest.

    Ohh and we saw Simon Pegg the movie ⭐️.    Read more

  • TravelerSingapore UK and Europe 2019
    Day 16

    London to Liverpool

    September 17, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Up, breakfast and then a 400 km drive to Liverpool. London traffic - yuck. It took about 1 1/2 hours to get out of London (maybe - 35 kms) and on to the Motorway. Speed limit is 112 kph but just about everyone goes a lot faster (most of it is 3 lanes). Drivers religiously stick to the slow lane unless overtaking and are incredibly courteous - if you put a blinker on to change lanes, the car behind you flashes their headlights to let you know it’s okay to pull out in front of them. We did get passed by a AMG Mercedes chasing an A8 Audi both doing what must have been well over 200kph (we were doing around 125 and they went past us like we were standing still). As they went passed, the air pressure bubble gave our car a bit of a shake and scared the daylights out of Anne. We stopped at a service centre (they call them “welcome break”) and apart from fuel, there are coffee shops, burger shops and newsagents. They even have a bar with pokies!!! We got fuel and a coffee. We stopped at Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare) and had a look at Anne Hathaway’s house (was going to cost about $40 to go in so we just peered in through the bars around the house/garden). The town had apples and pears growing wild - we even picked and ate some blackberries. We probably would have stopped overnight if we hadn’t already booked Liverpool. We got to Liverpool about 4.30pm. We had booked an “Aparthotel” - when we got there they upgraded us to a 2 bedroom apartment (even had a bath !!!) Dinner at a near-by Pub and then an early night. Looking forward to seeing Liverpool (and more Beatles stuff) over the next couple of days.Read more

  • TravelerSingapore UK and Europe 2019
    Day 17

    Liverpool 2nd day

    September 18, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Up and breakfast (pretty much the same as most days - maybe I don’t need to repeat that every day 🙄). Spent the day on the Liverpool docks - now done up for sightseeing. Went through the Beatles museum - for anyone a great experience, for a Beatles fan, just fab(4)ulous. Had lunch then through the maritime museum. Had a section on the sinking of the Lusitania and also a section on the Titanic. Liverpool had been heavily involved in the slave trade and there was a very large area devoted to that. Very sorry piece of history- it does make you think. After there we went for a visit to the London Museum that had a large exhibition on John Lennon, particularly after the Beatles. Liverpool really does use its Beatle’s history to its advantage and it draws tens of thousands every year. The city should be paying them millions of pounds a year !!!! After the museum we visited the Beatles statues (too much Beatles is not enough 😛). You could easily spend 4-5 days here.

    Tomorrow off to Edinburgh.    Read more

  • TravelerSingapore UK and Europe 2019
    Day 18

    Liverpool to Edinburgh

    September 19, 2019 in Scotland ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Up, breakfast (there did it again) then headed off to Edinburgh. We were stopped at a set of traffic lights, in the centre lane (of 3), with a blinker flashing to go left but very undecided 🤷‍♂️. A work van pulled up besides us and a man wound down his window and asked if I wanted to turn left in front of him. I said I would probably make up my mind when the light went green as I was “sorta” lost. He had a laugh then asked where we were trying to get to. When we said Edinburgh he gave us a rough idea (go straight ahead and good luck) but was amazed we intended to drive 245 miles in one day!!!!! We stopped at Penrith (Cumbria) for lunch (at a church cafe) and a walk around - a beautiful typical English town. We took a scenic 80 km drive before getting to Edinburgh. Wow, this country-side is beautiful, green fields, sheep, cattle and lots of baled hay. Makes you feel all the more for the drought ravaged farms back home. Got to the Airbnb we booked for 4 nights - first impression (before getting inside) was ohh 😲. The door to the building was between two shops and graffitied. The apartment is on top at the fourth floor with 85 steps and no lift!!!. I had to carry my and Anne’s bag up (had to walk up 2 times - Anne’s is over 30 kg ☹️). I had to have a rest between floors. The outside might be ordinary, but the apartment itself is fantastic. Central heating, Really great kitchen, comfortable lounge, good bathroom (with probably the most complicated shower tap I’ve ever seen), comfortable bedroom and fantastic views (sunset over other houses/buildings was just glorious). Looking forward to the walking tour of Edinburgh we have booked for tomorrow.Read more

  • TravelerSingapore UK and Europe 2019
    Day 19

    Edinburgh - 1st full day

    September 20, 2019 in Scotland ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    We had booked a “free” walking tour of Edinburgh, unfortunately Anne pulled a muscle in her back moving her bag (told you it weighed at least 30 kg 😛) and we had to cancel ☹️. So being the thoughtful person that I am, I went off to explore by myself 🤭. Walked up to the “old town” and did a general reconnaissance of the area. Hopefully Anne will feel better tomorrow - I did bring back some muscle pain spray (told you I was thoughtful 👍).

    We did some clothes washing using the washing machine (it’s in the kitchen and so is the clothes line!!!). The machine has the fastest spin cycle of any washing machine on earth - at one stage I called Anne into the kitchen as the machine looked like it was lifting off the floor. It literally sounded like a jet ✈️ about to take off. The clothes came out all but dry.    Read more

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English