September 2014 – Page 3 – UK & Eire

York & Yorkshire

October 10, 2017September 11, 2014 by Smith & Smith

Travelling in a foreign land is all about surprises. My ignorance of early plumbing technology led to a pretty cold early morning shower – who knew you had to turn on a heat pump first!?

Off to York for an afternoon touring the ‘Minster’, walking the medieval streets of the ‘Shambles’, visiting the Quilt Museum and its’ signature quilts, a couple of great pubs, Scottish eggs & pork pies at the old ‘White Swan’ pub. Further down the road in Yorkshire is the outstanding Black Sheep brewery for dinner & bevs.

Our lodging for the night is the Ship Inn in Wylam, a pub with rooms close to Hadrian’s wall.

Heading North

October 10, 2017September 10, 2014 by Smith & Smith

Shaun & Carol are driving us up through northern England to Edinburgh and we head north this morning.

First stop is the Rutherford Abbey for tea, cakes & soup. Our route takes us through Sherwood Forest (!) and on to Haddon Hall and gardens. Magnificent country with beautiful views. We cut through Lower Bradford (home of the Ronksley clan) and observe a spirited game of lawn bowling and dine at a local pub whose garden area is loaded with chickens. Along the route is Chesterfield, home of a very curious ‘twisted’ spire. Legend suggests it’s the devil’s work, other thoughts are that green wood was used in construction and twisted as the wood aged. I like the devil angle.

Shaun and Carol’s son Kieran lives and works in Sheffield where he’s been kind enough to lodge us for the evening. He prepared a wonderful paella for dinner – really, really good!

Colchester, Chappel, & More

October 10, 2017September 9, 2014 by Smith & Smith

Wow – a 4* breakfast of Carol’s specialty: poached eggs, beans, English bacon. We Smiths took a vote – we’re not leaving.

Our tour guides took us to a bunch more special places – first the Wilkins Jam outlet then up to Colchester Castle where we hit the Castle Tavern & walked ancient Roman walls.

Later in the day we headed up to the Chappel Real Ale festival in a very cool setting – an old train station. Fun food (especially the Essex sausage!) and a fine selection of real ales. Good friends of S&C join us – Steve and Mara. Mara shares a birthday and year with me! How cool is that?

Essex Stops

October 10, 2017September 8, 2014 by Smith & Smith

Carol, why are you going out and buying croissants while we are sleeping? Thank You!!

Late rise – but an early visit to Wibblers, a small brewery in the Essex countryside . We then head out to S&C’s ‘allotment’ which reminds us of a plot in a community garden. Very serious gardening here – we harvest berries, corn, beans for later meals. Shaun’s folks Charlie and Anne live not far from the allotment and we stop in for a visit and a tour of Charlie’s auto projects. We also took a drive by the area where Carol spent her early years. Interesting to see how life is managed in a different cultural setting.

Dinner at the King’s Head

London Walkabout

October 10, 2017September 7, 2014 by Smith & Smith

After a fine breakfast at ‘Chateau McCafferty’, we head to London via rail.

What a great walking city. An early stop is the Tower of London where there is a moving exhibit, the ‘Poppies of Remembrance’. From July 17^th until November 11^th (Remembrance Day), they are placing ceramic poppies in the moat around the tower. When done there will be one for every British soldier who died in WW I (888,246). We wander past Traveler’s Bridge; Traitors Gate; Monument; caught a bus to Trafalgar Square; took Buckingham Palace tour; cut through Hyde Park; checked out Russell Square & Bloomsbury; rode the London Eye; walked over the Westminster Bridge to Ben, the Houses of Parliament; and dined at a Weatherspoon pub.

First class tour guides!

Maldon Time

October 10, 2017September 6, 2014 by Smith & Smith

Well, it’s clear we’ve made some special friends.

Carol has laid out a great breakfast and the two of them have planned a pretty cool day. First off is a visit to the ‘New Hall Winery’ festival just down the road from Maldon. Fun scene: good wine, stilted men, belly dancers, jugglers, local oysters! Later we take a nice walking tour of Maldon – up High Street to the ‘Blue Boar’, a 14^th century inn with angled walls & hunting trophies; past St. Mary’s church (Saxon, 1050?); by the All Saint’s Church (George Washington’s parents buried on the grounds); down to the waterfront with old rigged barges & the Queen’s Head Pub; and a romp through the woods & over fences to the Queen Victoria Pub!

Carol caps the day with a wonderful Thai Curry dish. Whew!!

London

October 10, 2017September 5, 2014 by Smith & Smith

Heathrow is huge, but we’re lucky – no issues with entry or luggage gathering.

Our friends Shaun & Carol pick us up at the airport. We share a great breakfast in Windsor at the Harte & Garter. Then onto Windsor Castle for a tour and got to see the changing of the guard. Our first brewery stop is at the ‘Windsor & Eton’ – nice! Cool to see some houseboats along the Thames.

Early crash for us tourists at the McCafferty residence in Maldon after a fine meal of baked salmon and Thai noodle prepared by Carol. With the time zone change and lack of sleep we are kind of out of it at this point.

Off to the UK!

October 10, 2017September 4, 2014 by Smith & Smith

At last, we’re heading out. After breakfast at ‘Bar Simon’ at PGH, we catch a prop flight to Toronto, our connection point for Heathrow. Flight to the UK was pretty easy – seat companions are a gentleman from Quatar & a retired teacher who was on a ‘world tour’. Maybe one day! Also traveling today are a group of Canadian women who drank wine the entire flight to London and never shut up, so no sleep.