Addendum Monday September 16

Time to add the missing photos. Hope you like them.


Tuesday September 10

For our last day, we first planned to take the tour of the Tower of London.  So we left our hotel for the Collier Wood Tube into London, arriving in time for a tour at 11:30. Our guide, Barney the Beefeater, was fun and funny, and we had a delightful time.

Our Beefeater, Barney

Did you know that you cannot be a member of the Queen's Guard unless you have been in the service for at least 22 years and have received a good conduct medal (available after 15 years), which he described as a medal you get if you have had "no detected misbehavior" (he stressed detected). Barney had been in the Marines and made sure we appreciated that.

We heard about the many beheadings that befell royalty (mostly) and the grisly details of exactly how they were beheaded (ineptly, especially the town butcher who was quite intoxicated and required eight attempts to kill his victim), and what then happened to the remains of said victims (the head to the bridge to be hoisted on a petard as a warning to others and the body unceremoniously dumped under the chapel floor).

Queen Victoria required all those bodies be dug up and identified and reburied during the 1840s.

The Crown Jewels are as fabulous-appearing as you would expect, and we spent 20-30 minutes walking through the exhibit.

The light made for really nice photos.

Tower Bridge Shot from inside the Tower of London Grounds

Then we took a Tube trip to Notting Hill for shopping, which is probably much more interesting on weekends. We found a satisfactory place for lunch (and dessert, again), however, and we had a sit-down for awhile. We then went to Covent Garden where our shopping was much more successful.

The day was about over, so we backtracked to Collier Wood and our hotel, filled up the car with diesel, and got ready for the trip home tomorrow morning.

We are ready.

Thank you for following our journey.

10,628 steps today, 5 miles. In all, close to 70 miles of walking.

Monday September 16

Photos finally added to this post.

Monday, September 9

Having gotten a good sense of where everything was and what we wanted a closer look at yesterday during the double-decker bus tour, today we planned our day pretty well.

After breakfast at our hotel, we joined rush-hour traffic on the Tube at Colliers Wood, arriving in London in time to walk in the direction of Buckingham Palace. We had decided not to watch the changing of the guard here, but to walk to St. James's for the guard change there in order to be able to see.

The weather began to change from cloudy and overcast to raining lightly to raining not so lightly, but we got good photos of the Palace. We had time to detour for closer looks at Westminster Cathedral and Big Ben (which Steve calls Benjy), and then in heavier rain to walk back to St. James's Palace.

If the guards ever changed, we missed it. But they sat astride their horses in miserable weather for 30 minutes or so, and we stood across the street in the same miserable weather (but neither upon horses nor unprotected from the rain, since we found several trees to hover under).

Next we hoofed it over to the Thames to catch a boat tour from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge and back, cleverly and luckily avoiding the worst of the rain under cover. Terry got some great photos with her iPad through the rain-streaked window of the boat, including the Eye; the WWII and Korean War ship, The Belfast; the Tower of London (which we plan to tour tomorrow); and Shakespeare's Globe Theater.

Tower Bridge through Rain-Streaked Tour Boat Window

Once off the boat, we headed directly to the Tube for a quick trip to Knightsbridge where we found Harrod's easily. Sue was interested in shopping there, and so we did for an hour or so.

Next we found Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a pub touted in Rick Steves's guide to Great Britain. We were pretty unimpressed with the food, but I had another British lager that was satisfactory; the carrot and cardamom soup was not very good but the sticky toffee pudding passed muster. The pub was dark and partially underground, and it was easy to imagine Samuel Johnson spending some time there.

We then walked toward the Thames to find the Tube, and we caught a beautiful image of the sun finally showing itself over the Thames and the London Eye (the Ferris wheel at the left edge of the photo below) as the day waned.

We had to backtrack a bit on the Tube (Wimbledon is not the same as South Wimbledon and they do not share the same Tube line), but we managed to get back where we belonged.

We arrived at our hotel to find that it had introduced free Wifi today (hello 21st century), so we did a bit of catching up with email and this blog. No luck with my phone yet, though, so all those recent photos won't transfer to the Cloud. Sorry about that.

Walked 16,477 steps, 8 miles.

Sunday September 8

After breakfast at our hotel in Warwick, we were on the road to Wimbledon outside London, leaving at 9 and arriving at 12:30. After checking in, we walked across the street to the Underground at Colliers Wood and went into London (without getting lost once). We changed lines at Elephant Castle and left the Underground at Piccadilly Circus.

Our first stop was a double-decker bus tour to ground ourselves in the city of London and then decide how to spend our two remaining days. The tour was two hours long and covered everything from Piccadilly to Nelson’s statue to the Tower of London to Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and 10 Downing Street.

We timed things just right, being in the front seats of the upper deck, under cover, when the rain fell. By the time the bus returned to Piccadilly Circus the rain had stopped and we could go looking for a cuppa (found at Starbucks) and a sit-down.

We next did a bit of souvenir-shopping and then went back to the Underground to return to our hotel in Wimbledon. We walked out of the Underground to wet sidewalks, having missed yet another rain shower.

Next door to our hotel was a neighborhood pub where we dined with a noisy crowd and the Atlanta/San Diego football game played on the TV.

Photos to come.

Walked 5401 steps today, just 2.5 miles.

Saturday September 7

We left Llandudno this morning to take in the castle at Comwy, just a few miles away, and it was not a disappointment. Comwy is a medieval town entirely within the crumbling walls of the castle, and it was simple to understand the hard life of a soldier many hundreds of years ago. This castle was built between 1283 and 1287.

The sea from the castle wall

The day was dreary and chilly, so it was also easy to envision living then, never being dry or warm or safe. Looking out over a rampart, we could imagine an armada approaching the land below. Hard to decide whether it would be better to be killed by a cannon shot from the castle or in hand-to-hand combat on the slippery stones of the castle walls. No great choice.

View out a "murder hole"

Steve mentioned the speed at which the tide was going out, so I took a shot of a boat at anchor with a distinctive wave of an ebbing tide at its bow.

Receding Tide

When we left Comwy, we were off to Stratford-upon-Avon for a night before driving into London on Sunday. The drive was long but not bad, but we arrived at our very nice destination to find that booking.com had done us wrong. Ettington Chase had been booked for weeks, and there was no room in the inn. (We tried not to get into camera range for a wedding party just arriving for their reception. Not sure we were successful.) After a bit of his fault/her fault back and forth, we were sent off to a Holiday Inn Express not too far away, in Warwick, where we stayed in a new hotel with zero charm.

But we ate at a place across the parking lot (The Porridge Pot) where the potato soup was wonderful and the Eton Mess was majestically decadent. And so to bed.

Tomorrow...London.

Walked 8863 steps today, 4.5 miles.

Friday September 6

This was our first day in Llandudno in North Wales. We are staying at Del Mar B&B in  this small town where we started the day with a “full English breakfast,” which included ham, egg, tomato, beans, sausage, toast, juice, and coffee. Then we rolled ourselves out to the car and began a full day touring the area.

The Process

The Product

The weather forecast was dreadful for the afternoon and evening, but the morning was bright and sunny as we drove south toward Trefriw (pronounced TREV-roo), where there is a working woolen mill and we could watch the weaving process. At one time this was a significant mill, but now they mostly cater to tourists who are interested in how the work is done. The plaids were beautiful, the process of making them was impressive, and the fabric was plentiful and pretty.

Our next stop on this day’s journey was the Llechwedd Slate Caverns where Terry and I decided that a 1.5 hour tour over 200 feet down was beyond our capacity. Ultimately we all decided to shop in the store and head further south to Gwynedd for a look at Portmerion village and its pottery.

Portmerion

Portmerion is a fairy tale construction situated between two estuaries that was created by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and his death in 1978.  He employed a number of tricks (such as trompe l’oeil windows and curtains, including the creases in them, on the façade of one small house), several unusual acquisitions (such as the statue of Buddah from the movie The Inn of the Sixth Happiness), and a statue of Hercules which he had to drive 750 miles into Scotland to buy from the estate of the original owner. 

We took a short and bumpy tram ride around the property, popped back into the car and headed northwest along the coast of Wales to see the exquisite scenery and get to Comwy, near Llandudno, and visit one of the five castles of Bruce. Too late, unfortunately, but we will return there tomorrow morning on our way to London.

It sounds like a simple day, but Steve had challenges driving these small winding roads. The weather held until the end of the day and then it wasn't too terrible. We have been surprised by the quite nice weather.

Walked 10,522 steps, 5 miles.

Thursday September 5

This morning we were still reeling from our drive yesterday, and so we decided to walk around Buttermere Lake before leaving. I caught a great shot of Terry looking over the misty distance with the lake below her (and below here). Buttermere Lake is a fine example of a Lakes District lake, and we spent an hour or two admiring it. We left this lake with regret, and we left the wonderful Bridge Hotel with even more regret. The staff were especially wonderful and the pub food was delightful.

Bridge Hotel

Buttermere Lake

Our next destination was North Wales, and the unfortunate thing about getting there was having to reverse direction and re-traverse the narrow, bike- and truck- and lamb-laden road to do so. It wasn't fun, but Steve persevered and we survived.



We drove to Llandudno (you should have a Welshman pronounce that name for you -- that Ll at the start has a gutteral CL sound to it, nothing that a southerner can easily achieve) where we spent two nights at the Del Mar B&B with host and hostess Keith and Fiona, who are charming and capable people who work all day every day seven months a year at this business. But then they recuperate for five months before starting all over.

Walked 12,064 steps today, 6 miles.

Wednesday September 4

Today we left Edinburgh to drive to the Lakes District, stopping along the way to spend some time at a part of Hadrian's Wall where Housesteads Fort was erected by the Romans in 122AD to keep out the dreadful Picts. Time and stealthy people in search of good stones for their foundations have eroded the walls, so that today -- where they exist at all -- they are 3-4 feet tall at most.

Terry, Steve, Sue at Hadrian's Wall

In Hadrian's day they were 20 feet tall with sentry posts every mile or so. The Wall stretched 73 miles across the entire width of England at its narrowest point. The population of the fort we visited was 20,000 soldiers plus hangers-on.

Standing at the most northwesterly point of the ruins of this Housesteader's Fort, Hadrians Wall looks like the Great Wall of China as it winds its way over hills into the distance. But it's not, of course, but rather is just a remnant thousands of years old.

We stopped at a pub (named the Twice Brewed Inn) for a hearty lunch before our hike. The food we eat continues to be much tastier than we expected.

Without a reservation for the night, I borrowed Terry's phone (having no phone service myself, thank you Verizon) and made about 10 calls before getting two rooms in Buttermere.

When we left Hadrian's Wall, we had a two-hour drive to Buttermere, the last of which was more exciting than we had anticipated. As we left the main motorway for the final 25 miles or so, we found ourselves on progressively smaller roads, finishing the last 10 miles on a lane about as wide as 1.5 cars could fit with tall rock walls on both sides, just waiting to scratch the finish of our rental Passat. The final 6 miles were not heart-stopping, although I don't know why not, with periodic slowdowns to let a truck or several cars or many bicyclists pass by in the opposite direction.

For the last few miles, to make it very special, lambs grazed freely on the one-foot verge of the tiny road, so our speed slowed even further.

Lambs in Buttermere

When we rounded a corner and found ourselves in Buttermere, we were weak with relief.

Inside the Bridge Hotel we went to find two really nice rooms on the second/third floor (hard to tell how many floors in this building, and we wondered if we should have brought breadcrumbs to drop to help us find our way back down later), no lift, and incredibly delicious pub food for dinner.

And then to bed.

We walked a mere 5511 steps today, 2.5 miles, but we came a long way.

Tuesday September 3

We learned a bit about washer/dryers yesterday, thanks to Sue's willingness to give it a try. Unless you know what you're doing, laundry can take 3 hours to complete its several cycles, and it is not kind to those who forget to remove a tube of lipstick from a pocket. The rest of us benefited by learning from Sue, and we will leave Edinburgh tomorrow with clean clothes.

We did quite a bit of walking today, heading back up to the Castle and taking an hour-long historical tour of underground Edinburgh, parts of which date back to the 18th century. Including a ghost story or two, the tour was entertaining and interesting. We learned more about the plague than I had known before and more about emptying waste buckets than I needed to know.

Anchor Close

There are often tiny passageways between buildings that are called "closes" in this city. Many of them have good stories behind them. One in particular, Anchor Close, marks the location of the printer who produced the works of Robert Burns and the first edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Until 1771, the parents of Sir Walter Scott resided there.

We went to Piemaker for a bite to eat and were not disappointed. This is a tiny walk-in-and-order-but-don't-plan-to-stay-long type of vendor, so we did all of that. Tart-sized individual steak and ale pie and shepherd's pie were just excellent.

Then we walked the remainder of the Royal Mile and across to the site of the National Monument, a sharp left to begin the return trip, choosing to walk through the very pretty Princes Street Gardens rather than fighting foot traffic along the street above.

Bagpiper

Because we hadn't walked enough, we then climbed the 87 steps back up in the direction of Edinburgh Castle for more shopping, and then finally back to the apartment.

Because we still hadn't walked enough, we returned to Princes Street to find a recommended restaurant, Cafe Royal, in New Town. It too was a fine choice.

By now we had walked enough, so we took a taxi, Terry and I riding in jump seats facing the rear, and got back to the apartment yet again, this time to stay put until we leave tomorrow.

13,408 steps today, 6+ miles.

Monday September 2

And so we arose at 4:15 and made our 7:45 ferry, taxing Steve to do the driving again. The Dukes at Queens sent us off with a takeaway breakfast, which was a nice touch. We would return there.

After two hours in comfort on the ferry, we arrived in Scotland, Troon specifically, and headed to Edinburgh, several more hours away. We have an apartment here for the next two days. It was not ready when we arrived at noon, but we found a nearby Starbucks to waste an hour in quite happily.

After settling into the apartment (2 bedrooms, kitchen, bath, washer/dryer [and I mean washer/dryer -- we will see how well it does either shortly]) not far from Edinburgh Castle.

Off we went in the direction of said Castle, Terry navigating because she still has a sense of direction, and eventually discovered that the enormous mound with huge buildings overlooking us was indeed the Castle. A nice brisk uphill trudge and we were there, admissions paid (we are called "concessions" due to our ages, which saved quite a few pounds on the fee), and off uphill again to see what we could see.

Terry, Sue, Steve

We still are unsure of the exact year in which the Castle began to be constructed, but King David I built St. Margaret's Chapel on the grounds in memory of his mother who died in 1093. And Terry recalls seeing a mention of walls that were there in the 800s AD. Can you imagine?

Edinburgh below the Castle

The view from the parapets is a stunner, with even the Firth of Forth visible in the distance.

We spent a good two hours looking through the Castle, including an historical museum of the Royal Scots Guards and another showing the long involved history of the crown jewels. Included there was the royal crown, full of garnets and amethysts and looking mighty heavy.

Leaving the Castle, we headed for the Royal Mile and found a highly recommended restaurant, Angels and Bagpipes (which had neither), where I had haggis and survived! It's not all that bad and I can check it off my list of native foods to try. (It's way better than manudo.)

Back to the apartment to rest two of our number who are dealing with colds and not enjoying it. Tomorrow is another day!

16,694 steps today, 8 miles.

Sunday September 1

Today we left Dublin and drove to Belfast, Northern Ireland, close to where we will depart for Scotland tomorrow early morning. We resolved to drive off what they call the motorways and instead wander the back roads along the coast of the Irish Sea. No such luck. We got lost time and again, but it was all in fun and we arrived in Belfast around 3pm.

Interesting that there was no border guard, no passport check, no nothing when we crossed the border from Ireland into Northern Ireland. 

We were lucky enough to have reservations at Dukes at Queens, a quaint hotel with modern amenities and the usual large and well-appointed bathroom with absolutely no storage. After having spent many hours in the car, we decided a long walk was in order, so we headed for City Hall. This is an  enormous and beautiful building with a memorial to Queen Victoria in its front and a Jumbotron in its side yard that was showing an international steeplechase competition.

Belfast City Hall

Then down to the waterfront to see what that looked like.

Belfast is pretty dark and very dirty. There's a lot of cigarette smoking in the UK, much more than you would encounter on the streets of the US. I watched a young man take a small packet of cigarettes out of his pocket, choose one to light and smoke, and throw the empty packet on the sidewalk. I can't remember the last time I saw that happen.

We returned on foot to the Dukes at Queens for dinner since we saw very few open restaurants and nothing of interest during our walk. We had low expectations about dinner and were very pleasantly surprised by a delicious meal in seedy-ish surroundings. Then to bed for a 4:15am wakeup call to make sure we get to Larne, 45 minutes north, in time for the ferry at 7:45.

8874 steps today, 4.5 miles or so.

Saturday August 31

The Long Room, Trinity College

Today began again on the "English" bus, this time for a short trip into Dublin where we visited the astounding Book of Kells at Trinity College. After learning about the sources of the dyes used for ink, treatment of the calf skin for the covers, binding and decoration, we visited the Long Room, which houses both restored and over 100,000 to-be-restored ancient texts. This is a dark and beautiful room in which the oldest text I saw dated from 5 years after Columbus discovered America.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

We returned to our two buses and were given a panoramic tour of Dublin, seeing the many bridges built over the ages over the River Liffey, the houses of Parliament, Phoenix Park where the US Ambassador's residence is located, and St. Patrick's Cathedral. Then we were returned to Trinity College and set free for several hours on our own.

Kindelan Matriarch

Thanks to Terry's keen sense of direction, we located a recommended restaurant, The Bank, and lunched on fish and chips and fine Irish ale. Then we were off on a shopping quest, ultimately successful, and returned to the bus for a short trip back to City West Hotel.

Dinner took place at the hotel, with long rectangular tables full of Kindelans, the eldest 93 years old and sharp as a tack. We exchanged more details about ourselves, shared email addresses, and planned the next reunion in 3-5 years in (perhaps) Cordoba, Spain. We US Kindelans resolved to bring a larger contingent.

Walked 12,046 steps, 6 miles.