Three busy days in London

Monday 30th


Three full days has meant not much time for diary entries so this is just a summary before collapsing into bed (again).
Saturday am: Merilyn spent morning in bed because tummy troubles had kept her up most of the night. Bruce - train to Trafalgar Square, walk down Whitehall then two hours at Churchill's War rooms. Back at 12.30 to wake up Merilyn.
Saturday pm: Bond St for lunch at g/f bakery, St Martins in the Fields, Admiralty Arch, nearby chanced upon changing of the Royal Household Cavalry Guards - 5 riders in full dress on black horses watched by a crowd of several hundred people who were watched by 5 policemen with machine guns. Continued walking to Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Clock Tower - covered in scaffold for 5 year refurbish and Big Ben (the bell inside) not ringing, Westminster Bridge, St James Park, Buckingham Palace, Green Park, then trains back to St Pauls for another Vietnamese Dinner. A good day, feet a bit sore, people everywhere because still mid-term break.

St Martins in the Fields



Buckingham Palace
 

Sunday am: Tower of London - Crown Jewels, White Tower, Torture chamber, The Queens house - only remaining Tudor house after the Fire of London ( Queens House because Anne Bolyn stayed there the night before her marriage to Henry VIII in the  Chapel and four years later she stayed there again the night before she lost her head in front of the chapel).
Sunday pm: Tower Bridge (Merilyn actually stood on the glass floor on the upper level - eyes open but did not look down), Westminster walk - with all the walking poor Merilyn had a 'hypo' just near the Globe Theatre, so we had to sit on the edge of the Thames, in the cold, whilst she scoffed jelly beans. Fortunately we noticed an interesting small house just along from the Globe, so Bruce explored whilst Merilyn scoffed and discovered that former residents had been Catherine of Arragon in the 1500's, and Christopher Wren whilst he was supervising the building of St Pauls - well done Merilyn! A quick walk over the Thames, and a one station train ride got us to the Methodist Central Hall - Westminster, for a special service focussing on Martin Luther. It was excellent. A combination of Dialogues, Choir pieces, Hymn Singing  (four of Luther's and two others), Narrations, Readings, Addresses from Martin Luther by an actor, and an excellent message. Unfortunately Merilyn had two 'hypos' during the Service - too much exercise and not enough food - I was about to go up to the microphone and ask if anyone had any spare jelly beans in their pockets - our supply was almost exhausted. She came good however and after the Service we took two trains to Leister Square (no more walking) for an excellent Pasta meal and got home about 10.00pm - hence no diary writing.

Christopher Wren's House

Monday: Lovely crisp morning. Walk through Kensington Park, past the Palace - I waved to Kate whom I reckoned  saw at a window in her PJ's, into Hyde Park and happened upon an arena where six horse guards in full regalia were undergoing training drills - about 10 people watching and no armed guards - it was great. Trains to the river and then a one and half hour trip to Greenwich - a bit too long and we got quite cold on the top deck. Explored the Cutty Sark ship, the Royal Observatory, Greenwich Gardens and the National Naval Museum. Vietnamese for dinner again and home by 8 for an early night. Only one more day in London and then Rome - feeling a bit nervous.

 

 

One foot each side of the Greenwich '0' Meridian Line

 

To London

Thursday 26th October

A lovely drive from New Forest to Salisbury, mainly through forests of autumn coloured trees with some  dark green conifers mixed in - had to keep my eyes open for  'wild animals' on the open grassland areas. Reached Salisbury in 40mins, found the station easily, dropped Merilyn and the cases off, and it was only another 3 mins to the Herz yard to return the car, which took less than 5 min. The need to change trains 3 times to reach the station nearest to our hotel had seemed daunting in the morning before left, but it all went very smoothly with relatively short waits between trains and we were at the hotel before 2pm. The hotel is somewhat disappointing - it is in a very good position in a street of lovely Georgian buildings but the room is very small and the whole hotel shows many signs of wear and tear, it is a bit more like a youth hostel. Still, it is clean and we will hardly be in the room during the day and I am sure we will cope well. After settling in we caught the Tube into the city to pick up our London Passes and Oyster cards (like MYKI's) which I had bought on-line. Then, with gloomy skies above and some light rain, we just wandered for a while. Found Leister square, then Trafalgar Square with dozens of tourists trying to photograph Nelson's column using flash because it was almost nightfall. We walked alongside the river for a while and then up to St Pauls Cathedral where, feeling a bit foot sore we found nearby a Vietnamese  Restaurant that had lovely food, most of which was gluten free. London certainly is an assault on the senses and we are really looking forward to exploring it.

Friday 27th October

A very good weather forecast in the morning helped us decide to go to Windsor today. We caught the tube to Paddington, then with only minutes to spare found that the next train we had to catch was at platform 14, the furthest one away - Merilyn actually got up to a grandma shuffle (could not be called running) and we made it, puffing and crying/laughing at the same time. Changed trains again at Slough for the very short run to Windsor? Arrived just in time for the changing of the guard - they close off the street between the army garrison and the castle and the guard is escorted by an army band in full dress uniform. It was a bit disconcerting to see heavily armed policeman come through before the soldiers, checking out the crowd - a sign of the times. Windsor Castle is what you would expect of a working castle, very, very impressive. We particularly liked the State Apartments and the St George Chapel where many Kings and Queens have been buried. The grandeur, the artworks, and other displays of wealth are almost overwhelming for us simple folk from the Colonies, but it was good to see and perhaps to understand a little, what Royalty means to the British people.

Four train rides returning to London (we are getting good at this train travel) got us to St Pauls in time for Evensong - we had to go through bag checks on the way in, and then we found a French restaurant for a vey lovely meal - we could get used to this good life.

New Forest National Park

Tuesday 24th October

A fine day with times of brightness was the forecast so we headed of for Lyndhurst in the New Forest National Park and for most of the day the weather was low cloud dullness with some wetness. The locals seemed happy however, out walking in their hundreds because of the unseasonal warmness.
First stop was at Corf Castle - another ruined castle with quite a history - lots of intrigue and mistrust between the ruling classes. Highlights were seeing the firing of a catapult at the castle wall - the projectile being a soccer ball filled with water, and a passing steam train.

 

 

Mid afternoon we arrived a the lovely Royal Hotel in New Forest, where , not only are we on the 1st floor and not the 4th floor, there  is also a lift! - reputedly the oldest in Europe. You open a cage door to get in, it holds two, and at your floor you exit via a side caged door - open the door to soon and your stuck! If you exit and forget to close the door behind you it won't move when the button is pushed on another floor and someone has to come up from reception to close the door - they must love it.

 

Wednesday 25th October

 

Two  months to Christmas AND Leisel's eleventh birthday - we sure are missing all the grandchildren. The plan for today had been to have a day at Portsmouth - an hours drive away, lots of museums to visit and things to see but we decided we were just too tired and needed a rest day before London, Rome, Sienna... etc. etc. So what do we do? Given the choice, Merilyn decided on a bike ride in the forest which ended up taking about 4 hours! We travelled on some bitumen roads, rocky side roads, gravel tracks and very muddy tracks. It was good fun but we came home feeling very tired - so much for a restful day. Still, we saw lovely forested areas with autumn trees and tall conifers. clear streams, and open grassland with wild ponies grazing. I am still amazed that the National Parks seem to be for people to let their dogs run loose, and for herds/flocks of domestic animals to have freedom to roam at will, in this case ponies (which we saw plenty of), donkeys, deer and pigs. The weather was superb today, 17C, no wind and plenty of sunshine - consequently there were heaps of people enjoying the outdoors. A lovely Indian meal finished the day. Tomorrow we give up the car after 57 trouble free days and hopefully find the right train to take us to London. A new chapter in the adventure!

 

 

 

Hardy Country

,Monday 23rd October



Our cottage - sign points to Hardy's cottage further down the road

This afternoon we visited the birthplace and home for many years of Thomas Hardy, a two story, thatch roofed cottage  with a large vegie garden next to a lovely leafy forest Tonight we are staying in a lovely two story, thatched roof cottage just up the road from the Hardy cottage. We, of course, have electricity, central heating, a large carpeted room with en-suite just for the two of us - somewhat different to conditions in the Hardy family cottage. Apparently in his bedroom on the top floor he wrote Far from the Madding Crowd  'one of his best' the guide told us. I reckon we will be watching a few old movies when we get home.


Hardy family cottage

 

We travelled here this morning leaving the appropriately atmospheric, misty, Dartmoor and travelled to the coast at Lyme Regus where the sun was almost shining and it was 16C. There were people everywhere, promenading along the esplanade, sitting on the rock wall along the very stony beach watching the waves and eating fish and chips and ice-creams, filling the shops and tearooms - it was just like it was the middle of the holidays - and then we realised that it was the start of the mid term break. Apparently the North of the country have a week followed by a week for the South - a good system for the tourism operators. Lyme Regus is quite an attractive town with very narrow and often steep streets, The main street turns through a right angle and traffic flow has to be controlled with lights. We stumbled across an operating Water Mill used to grind grains and had a lovely tour, starting at the top of the 3 story stone building with grains of wheat, and two floors lower down ending with fine flour. It was fascinating. Quite an Old England day !

Tor Royal - Dartmoor

Saturday 21st October

We'll be arriving home in just 4 weeks - hard to believe. There was a lot of rain overnight and the wind was very strong but no signs of damage and all seemed  to be OK for us to travel. Because Bruce was feeling poorly we decided to head straight for Princetown in the Dartmoor National Park so that we could both have a quiet afternoon, unfortunately Merilyn's cough also seems to be coming back. Of course it didn't work out that way. Morning tea in very busy Falmouth, lunch in not quite so busy Liskead and then on to Buckland Abbey where we learnt quite a lot about a former owner, Sir Francis Drake. It had been an abbey in the 15th Century but was another victim of King Henry's closure law in the C16 and had fallen into disrepair until it was given to a 'loyal servant' by the King, who repaired it and turned it into a home. Not long afterword's it was bought by Francis Drake who had amassed a fortune as a captain/pirate attacking Spanish ships on his boat Golden Hind. Most of the fortune went to Queen Elizabeth 1, who said thanks very much and gave Drake enough money to buy and extensively renovate Buckland Abbey. She also knighted him. We walked through many rooms, watched a video and saw many interesting historical items, including Drake's Battle Drum and a Rembrandt Painting valued at 30 million pound! Before we knew it, it was heading towards 5 o'clock, raining steadily, blowing an absolute gale and we still had to get to Princetown and find Tor Royal farm, our B&B - so much for the quiet afternoon!




Buckland Abbey

And when we found the Tor Royal Farm, boy were we pleasantly surprised. It was down the end of  Tor Royal Lane and although we entered by the back door it was most impressive. Just the walled courtyard where we parked 'impressed' with a tall belltower as part of the wall, guarded by two 'Hounds of the Baskervilles' statues. After signing in, beneath a high glass ceiling dome, we followed the owner upstairs, we were in an attic room of course, to our lovely furnished, quite spacious room with views across the farm to the high moors beyond. On reading the notes supplied we found out that owners are actually tenant farmers and that the owner of the land, and much more around, is none other than Prince Charles - how about that! We are wondering what we will do if the Prince and Duchess are at breakfast tomorrow.

 

 

The house was built in the late 1700 by a man who was secretary to the Duchey of Cornwall and who had a dream that the whole region could turned to agriculture. He was also the architect of Princetown and the Tor Royal property became the Devon base for the Arabian Stud of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. We will be having breakfast in the room which was originally part of the Royal Suite. Tor Royal is still a large working farm and we hope to explore it tomorrow - if it stops raining.

 

Sunday 22nd October

 

Late start, great breakfast in the lovely dining room - we are the only guests at present, and then back to our room for a quiet morning - we are both a bit below par today. Not raining but very windy and cold outside. A below par lunch in Princetown did not lift the spirits much - 25 mins to serve just warm soup of the day with cold bread and we had to ask for butter. Also a dog was sick under a nearby table - the English take dogs everywhere and I don't think inside eating places is such a good idea. In the pub tonight a man stood at the bar with 3 spaniels and the waiters had to walk around them as they moved in and out of the kitchen - Bruce being grumpy again. We learned more about the Dartmoor National Park in the excellent Information Centre and then decided to go on a circular drive to see more of the country. Because of the extremely strong cold wind we decided we would not get out of the car and should be back in our warm room in about 1.5 hours. It did not quite work out that way. Because of the poor map, many unmarked roads, and missing small signs hidden by large branches we became 'geographically embarrassed ' several times and ended up seeing much more of Dartmoor than we had anticipated. Consequently on returning to Princetown about 5.15 we decided to have an early tea at the pub so we would not have to come out again. We really did enjoy the wildness of the high country, saw lots of ponies, many granite Tors, and very deep river gullies. We were surprised at the numbers enjoying the outdoors on such a cold day. Lots of white water canoeists on the fast flowing Dart River, cyclists, and of course heaps of people walking, many with dogs, on the tracks to the Tors. It was 9C outside the car, and with the wind factor must have felt like 5C, yet there they were, some even in shorts. They are indeed a hardy lot.

Cornwall touring

Friday 20th October

Sky clear and wind only light but quite cold. We needed to get going before Brian, the storm, arrived. First stop (Bruce well rugged up) - the Levant tin and copper mine. Just what you would expect if you are a Poldark fan. Buildings and chimneys made from grey rock on the side of a high cliff above the ocean, a remote and very barren landscape. Now owned by the National Trust, we had a very interesting guided tour (above ground). Opened in 1821  the mine operated until 1930 and made the original speculators very rich men. We were amazed to learn about the working conditions of the 350 men who dug the tunnels which went about a mile out under the sea, and the women and children who sorted and crushed the rock on the surface. Included in the tour was a demonstration of the steam driven beam engine which brought the trucks containing the ore to the surface. Normally visitors can climb down into a tunnel but we could not today because today was the 88th anniversary of an accident which killed 31 men. Their descendants are the only ones allowed to visit the tunnel

 on October 20th each year - most families in the district were affected by the disaster and it caused the mine to close in the following year.

Sky now cloudy and wind speed increasing. Lunch at Lands End - in the Hotel so we could get out of the wind. Short walk for photo - Merilyn wanted to go to Lands End because it seemed a nice thing to do but much of the tourism stuff is very tacky. Back in the car and some windy, narrow hedge lined lanes brought us to the much lauded Mirmak Theatre which is on a headland above the sea but having paid 2 pound for parking I refused to pay another 10 pound to have a look at the theatre - the head
cold is making me grumpy - even grumpier than usual.



Farm near Lands End

A short distance around the coast brought us to Mousehole - yet another picture postcard coastal village with narrow winding streets between the houses and a harbour protected by strong concrete walls - they expect waves to break over the walls at high tide in the morning when Brian should be at full strength. By now it was starting to rain so back to our cottage we went for a home cooked meal, not needing to go out into the wet and cold again.

 

Heading into Cornwall

Wednesday 18th October

Diarist is starting to suffer with a cold - probably thanks to Merilyn. Therefore, todays entries will mainly be in point form, and the pictures will do the talking.

8.4am full English breakfast - except no baked beans.

10.45 heading up to Lynton

 

 11.15am on the wonderful coastal walk to Valley of the Rocks, and in half an hour reached Castle Rock. After lunch in Lynton we decided to drive up to Exmoor to experience the Moors and look for Exmoor ponies, but there are no photos because we saw nothing - there was an extremely thick fog, visibility down to less than 100m.                      After crawling down many narrow lanes we finally came down out of the fog and had afternoon tea at the National Trust Lodge at Watersmeet.

 

Thursday 19th October

 

On the road again heading into Cornwall. Learned about Clovelly, which is actually still in Devon,  as we were leaving the B&B and decided to call in. An extremely steep, narrow, cobbled street leads down to the port. No cars - in the past donkeys used to carry the goods made in town or produce from the Estate down to the port and materials for building etc, up from the port - donkeys are still there but now carry children. The locals all have home made, hand pulled sleds for transporting every day things. We had lunch half way up the hill on the way back - mainly so we could have a rest - the locals must be very fit with all that sled pulling.

 

 

 

Then the rain, and strong winds started. We still called in to Port Isaac (Port Winn in the Doc Martin series), put on all the wet weather gear, and battled the driving rain, just because we had to and could! Arrived in Marazion, near Penzance, quite late, and settled into a warm, cozy cabin where we will look after ourselves for two nights. Still very wet and windy, they keep talking on the news about a storm called 'Brian' which is going to hit the coast in a few more days - could become interesting. Unfortunately Bruce's cold has become heavier, but he is still upright and out there exploring.

 

 

 



 

 

 

Lovely Lynmouth

Tuesday 17th October

Blue sky start from Bath but unfortunately sunshine did not last very long. An hours trip to Glastonbury and then two hours exploring the ruined remains of the Abbey. Another ruin as the result of Henry VIII's command to close all abbeys in the 1500's - the abbot of this abbey said he wouldn't close it and was hung for his objection - I suspect Peter Dutton might have liked Henry VIIIth. The main claim to fame of this abbey is that they are supposed to have found the remains of King Arthur and Guinevere in a tomb in the Abbey's grounds - there is some suggestion that the monks made this story up so as to increase tourism, and hence income, to the abbey. Further travel west brought us to the coast at Lynmouth and to the Orchard House B&B. Our host Yvonne, whilst leading us up the stairs, said that although we had booked a room with a private (but separate) bathroom she thought we might like the one that was available that had an en-suite. We followed her around a passage and when she opened the door and we saw the room we looked at each other and said "yes thanks, this will be OK". We are in a room furnished with antiques which  has a four poster bed that is as big as the room we had in the Stratford Youth Hostel. We think we would like to stay here for ever, especially when lovely Yvonne also supplies clean towels, makes the bed and cooks wonderful breakfasts.

 

Orchard House

 

Lynmouth is situated at the bottom of a very large hill and its twin town Lynton is at the top of the hill. The two towns are linked by a steep zig-zag road and a unique two car cable car system powered by water - they fill a tank in the car at the top with water whilst the car at the bottom empties it's tank, and when ready they release a brake and the heavier car at the top starts down and pulls the bottom car up,  the cars passing each other at the half way point.                               

                                                                                                               

 

It only takes about three minutes for the trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Avebury then Bath

Sunday 15th October

Smooth start, good run on the highways and before we knew it we were back in England. Decided to go to the Avebury Henge Site, a World Heritage Site which has the largest Stone Circle in the world. We had already decided we would go there instead of Stone Henge because there would be less people and you can actually go right up to the stones - you can give them a hug if you like which some ladies, supposedly Druids, were doing later in the afternoon. We managed to squeeze into the last available car park, pay our 7 pound parking fee, and found a café for soup of the day and g/f roll. Thankfully our Australian National Trust Membership Cards got us into two museums and, later in the day into  the Manor, otherwise we would have been up for another 40 pound. It was great to walk around the Henge and wonder how on earth they managed to get the huge stones (some up to 60 tonnes) into place. A henge is actually the very deep trench which is dug around the stones and it is also quite amazing how they managed to shift so much dirt 6,000 years ago and why they bothered. It was quite warm, about 18C as we walked and some of the locals were in shorts, thongs and tee shirts - on the BBC Weather Report they were calling it an October Heat Wave! - we at least took our coats off. After the Henge we spent time in the Avebury Manor House which is now owned by the National Trust and has been re furbished by the BBC - each rooms furnishings representing a different period of the house's ownership. It was quite interesting and we particularly enjoyed the formal gardens. Another hours drive brought is to Oldfield House in Bath - an up market B&B, where we are in, of course, the Loft Room. It is actually a very nice spacious room and our loft window gives us a good view over the town. A 15 min walk into town for a vegetarian Indian meal concluded another great day.

 

Oldfield Hotel - our window top left

 

Monday 16th October

 

Today was a Jane Austen binge day. It actually started last night with Merilyn, and sometimes Bruce (pretending he wasn't interested) watching the DVD of Persuasion - Jane Austen's last novel, much of it set in Bath. I had downloaded a map and accompanied by an audio app on the phone we toured around 15 sites in Bath associated with Jane Austen, which also gave us a great look at Bath. We set off at 9.30 am, after the essential scrambled eggs and smoked salmon breakfast, and did not return to our room, a little foot sore, until about 7.00pm. The audio included snippets from her books, which added interest, as well as historical information about each site, and we particularly enjoyed the Roman Baths, the Georgian Houses in the Royal Crescent and around the Circus (Latin for Circle), the Assembly Rooms and finally Bath Abbey. Bath certainly is a lovely city with a lot to see. The weather was quite weird today, dense, high level, clouds made the Sun a red disc - reminded us of bushfires in the Grampians, and a very strong gusty wind brought low clouds scudding across from the West coast. It had cleared up by mid afternoon but the wind persisted all day and tonight it seems to be even stronger. Apparently the latest hurricane in the Atlantic has come closer to the coast than usual resulting in severe storms in Ireland, the most damaging in 50 years, and huge waves in Cornwell - where we are heading next. On the evening news it said that the high clouds were a mixture of smoke, from wild fires in Portugal, and dust from the Sahara - both carried up by the hurricane. It could be a wild time in the high loft tonight!

 

Rest day then 3 good walks

Wednesday 11th October

A lazy R & R day. Merilyn washed and dried clothes and then had a nap whilst Bruce tried (unsuccessfully) to get emailing reconnected on the computer. Lunch in town at Anne Hathaway’s Tea Rooms (again). Bruce spent time in the Library on the computer and at least got a phone number to ring to contact Telstra from overseas, Merilyn dozed in the Library and then we went back to the Youth Hostel so Merilyn could have another sleep. Finished the day with a lovely meal in the local village pub. Not one photo for the day!

Thursday 12^th October

Planned to visit Oxford University on our way to Bourton-on-the-Water but changed our mind after not being able to find a parking place - all the car parks were full and the city was extremely busy. So on to Bourton we went and it was such a pretty place with a narrow stream running through the town, lovely stone buildings and five stone bridges crossing the stream, linking the town. At times it was difficult crossing the foot bridges because of the number of tourists wanting photos of themselves taken on the bridge – including us. They call the town the ‘ Venice of Britain’

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After lunch we did a lovely walk along laneways and on Public Footpaths through farmland, which took us about 3 hours. We went over little bridges, through fields, one containing cows, along a tree lined laneway, through a farm and then a very cute village – a very delightful afternoon. Late in the day I finally made contact with Telstra and they will call back early tomorrow morning and hopefully the problem will be resolved.

 

 

Friday 13^th October

The day began with another adventure on Public Pathways. This time we walked from Stow-on-the- Wold (sounds like a place out of a Beatrix Potter story and looks like one too, except it also has a huge supermarket and lots of cars), to the very picturesque town of Lower Slaughter, which is not far from Upper Slaughter, and then on to Bourton-on-the-Water from where we caught a bus back to Stow to pick up the car. It was a good walk of about 7km, a bit more tiring than yesterday’s walk because of uneven ground through several large paddocks, but we still very satisfying. In a farm we chatted with a lady and met her dog, a Border Collie named ‘Pip’ – same age as the Huddarts Pip but much more shy – the lady had rescued her from a home where she had been mistreated. After picking up the car we drove around the Cotswolds as far as Chipping Camden and back to Bourton-on-water for Pizza. The Cotswolds are very, very pretty with fields of different colours and sizes lined by hedgerows, golden autumn leaves along the roadsides, green hills and dales and many villages where the houses are built from a light coloured stone, the cottage gardens are beautiful and some of the homes have thatched roofing – they look magnificent. I had some success with Telstra this morning and it seems we might be able to get messages again on the bmbertram@bigpond.com  address.

 

Chipping  Camden

Saturday 14^th October.

Up in plenty of time to pack the car before breakfast, leaving at 9.45am. A very smooth 3 hour drive to Brecon Becon in Wales for lunch. Then on to the National Park for another walk. This walk took us through fields again to a high point that had been the site of a Roman Fort and had 360 degree views. Above the small, neat farm fields were large areas of bracken and above this it was very barren and stony. Unfortunately the sky was mostly cloudy, as it has been all week, but we had no rain – the weather has been affected by yet another Cyclone in the Atlantic which brings warm, moisture laden air to Britain and very strong winds are expected tomorrow. On our walk it was interesting to learn that the farmers cut and bail the bracken to be used as animal bedding during the winter.  We are staying in another Youth Hostel in an old building with a lovely country outlook – green fields, black cows next door, autumn trees and a backdrop of barren mountains – how lucky are we!