Today is it! After 41 days of travel we are heading home! Well...not exactly home....that doesn't happen till after Labor Day, but at least back to Massachusetts to start the next part of our summer---camping.
We headed out to the airport before 7 am so we would miss the commuter traffic. Our GPS came in handy again! I can't say enough about how important having one of these is when you are traveling by car in the United Kingdom! I don't know what we would have done without it.
We checked in our bags at the British Airlines desk and received a very pleasant surprise! They upgraded us from World Traveler....to World Traveler Plus....basically took us out of steerage!!!! YEAH!!! They basically gave us a gift of $500.00!
We tried to upgrade our seats over the last couple of days through the Internet and thru calling but we were unable to. We had upgraded our tickets on the flight going to London for about $500.00 and realized once we did it how necessary it really is for people our size. They have significantly more leg and seat room then the regular seats so we were very disappointed when the upgrade couldn't happen. So this was a very pleasant surprise.
The flight home was totally uneventful: about 6 1/2 hours, good food, free wine, and safe!
Ed & I sure are lucky to have both the time and the resources to make this kind of a trip. We are very grateful!
This is the end of my Great Britain Blog! We will be continuing on to camping for the rest of the summer. I will occasionally post to my Miles With Monty Blog if you have any interest. It can be found at http://summertravel2013.blogspot.com/. It's a continuation of the Blog I started last summer. Please don't feel obligated to continue to read, but for those who want to, be sure to sign up for e-mail notifications since I won't be writing every day.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Bath -- Our last fling in England! -- Monday July 8, 2013
We are down to the wire. Tomorrow we head home, so if we are going to do any more sightseeing in England it is now or never!
The only other city on my 'bucket list' is Bath so we head there today. It's a three hour ride to get to Bath. Bath was established as a Spa city back in 60 AD and may have existed even before that. It's almost hard to comprehend that age!
All of the buildings seem to be made of the same yellow color stone. The architecture really is beautiful.
We found a pub (like we do in each city we have been do!) and have a pint. Once we are fortified we decide how to attack the city. We were not good tourists today and did not bring the guide books with us, so I decided to take an open air bus tour of the city. Eddie prefers to see it by foot, so we head our separate ways for an hour.
While beautiful, it surprised me that this city has quite a bit of litter in it. I noticed it because almost every other city on this trip was immaculate!
Eddie and I met up for dinner at an outdoor café in the courtyard of the Bath Abbey. The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Bath, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is an Anglican parish church and a former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England. Founded in the 7th century, Bath Abbey was reorganized in the 10th century and rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries; major restoration work was carried out by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the 1860s. It is one of the largest examples of Perpendicular Gothic architecture in the West Country. Another spectacular church!
This was a great way to spend our last day in the British Isles. A beautiful setting on a beautiful late afternoon! Now it's time to head back to be sure we are all packed for home.
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| City street in Bath |
All of the buildings seem to be made of the same yellow color stone. The architecture really is beautiful.
We found a pub (like we do in each city we have been do!) and have a pint. Once we are fortified we decide how to attack the city. We were not good tourists today and did not bring the guide books with us, so I decided to take an open air bus tour of the city. Eddie prefers to see it by foot, so we head our separate ways for an hour.
While beautiful, it surprised me that this city has quite a bit of litter in it. I noticed it because almost every other city on this trip was immaculate!
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| Bath Abbey |
This was a great way to spend our last day in the British Isles. A beautiful setting on a beautiful late afternoon! Now it's time to head back to be sure we are all packed for home.
Relaxing weekend --- Saturday & Sunday July 6 & 7, 2013
While not exciting, it feels good to be able to just relax and put our feet up!
We spent the weekend doing little chores: laundry and 'mowing' Jane's lawn.
We also got to see (and hear) Wimbledon from the English side of the Pond. The Wimbledon Championships or simply Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and widely considered the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877.
I don't often watch tennis matches but do take the time to watch some of the Wimbledon matches. In England, however, EVERYONE watches Wimbledon! And this one was fun!
Did you know that Andy Murray won!!!? TV announcers and news had that startling news on for the next 24 hours! It had been 77 years since an Englishman had won this match so it was a very exciting time!
We had dinner again at Ye Olde Greene Manne. It's a comfortable pub not far from Northwood in the town of Rickmansworth. It was such a beautiful night we decided to take a drive around some of the surrounding towns of Rickmansworth on the A404, to Amersham on the A416, Hemel Hempstead on the A4147 and finally home again to Northwood. While all of these towns are suburbs of London and are therefore pretty crowded, they all date back to the 8th to 12 century! Amazing.
We spent the weekend doing little chores: laundry and 'mowing' Jane's lawn.
We also got to see (and hear) Wimbledon from the English side of the Pond. The Wimbledon Championships or simply Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and widely considered the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877.
I don't often watch tennis matches but do take the time to watch some of the Wimbledon matches. In England, however, EVERYONE watches Wimbledon! And this one was fun!
Did you know that Andy Murray won!!!? TV announcers and news had that startling news on for the next 24 hours! It had been 77 years since an Englishman had won this match so it was a very exciting time!
We had dinner again at Ye Olde Greene Manne. It's a comfortable pub not far from Northwood in the town of Rickmansworth. It was such a beautiful night we decided to take a drive around some of the surrounding towns of Rickmansworth on the A404, to Amersham on the A416, Hemel Hempstead on the A4147 and finally home again to Northwood. While all of these towns are suburbs of London and are therefore pretty crowded, they all date back to the 8th to 12 century! Amazing.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Back to Northwood, England -- Friday July 5, 2013
You can probably tell from my recent blog postings that I'm getting tired:) Traveling for 42 days is actually hard work. But there are still a few areas on the list to visit.
We are heading back to our home base of our friend Jane's house in Northwood. Although Jane has returned to her home in Orleans, she gave us a key to stay at her house.
I forgot to tell you some interesting tidbits about Northwood. Right at the end of Jane's road is Northwood Headquarters. Northwood Headquarters is a military headquarters facility of the British Armed Forces in Eastbury, Hertfordshire, England, adjacent to the London suburb of Northwood. It is home to three command and control functions of the British armed forces and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO); Permanent Joint Headquarters, Commander in Chief Fleet and the NATO Regional Command, Command Component Maritime. Very interesting!
Driving from Oxford to Northwood, we take a slight detour so that we can go thru the Cotswold area The Cotswolds are a range of hills in southwestern and west-central England, an area 25 miles across and 90 miles long. The area has been designated as the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. We went thru the town of Witney and settled on the town of Burford for lunch and walking.
Burford is a small town on the River Windrush in the Cotswold hills in west Oxfordshire, England, about 18 miles west of Oxford, 22 miles southeast of Cheltenham and only about 2 miles from the
Gloucestershire boundary.
One of the first things we saw as we were walking around this town was a Church. The church was completed in stages, but the first section of the church was completed in 1025! Always impressive that something that old can still be standing!
The drive continues to be along unbelievable beautiful rolling hills and pasture land dotted with sheep.
We are heading back to our home base of our friend Jane's house in Northwood. Although Jane has returned to her home in Orleans, she gave us a key to stay at her house.
I forgot to tell you some interesting tidbits about Northwood. Right at the end of Jane's road is Northwood Headquarters. Northwood Headquarters is a military headquarters facility of the British Armed Forces in Eastbury, Hertfordshire, England, adjacent to the London suburb of Northwood. It is home to three command and control functions of the British armed forces and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO); Permanent Joint Headquarters, Commander in Chief Fleet and the NATO Regional Command, Command Component Maritime. Very interesting!
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| Center of town of Burford |
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| Backyard along an alley way |
Gloucestershire boundary.
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| Church built in 1025 |
One of the first things we saw as we were walking around this town was a Church. The church was completed in stages, but the first section of the church was completed in 1025! Always impressive that something that old can still be standing!
The drive continues to be along unbelievable beautiful rolling hills and pasture land dotted with sheep.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Tour of Oxford University, England with our new friend Pip --Thursday July 4, 2013
Turns out the Abodes is a very nice B & B. Our hostess is from Wales and the standard B & B in Wales is simply one room in a home. The multi room B & B's are usually called Guest Houses. Who knew!
Our room is very bright, very clean and nice, but there is no living room or lounge to sit in, so that's probably the only draw back to this type of accomodation to us.
We got up early on the 4th of July and had a lovely breakfast before heading out to meet our new friend Pip. Pip is a Digital Editor for the Bodleian Library at Oxford University and she has offered to give us a personal tour of this building.
Our daughter Pam actually spent a semester at Oxford University and has always said it was a really beautiful library and area so we are eager to see it. The University of Oxford (informally referred to as Oxford University or simply Oxford) is a collegiate research university located in Oxford, England. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096,[1] making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world, and the second-oldest surviving university in the world.
The Bodleian Library (/ˈbɒdliən/ or /bɒdˈliːən/), is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library with over 11 million items.
The history of the building and the university itself is very impressive. And someone so closely related to it who has an incredible amount of knowledge of the history that it holds is a real gift. Pip was able to bring us into a couple of the rooms that are typically not on the visitor tours, which was fun!
We went to lunch and then let Pip get back to work while I took a open top bus tour to see the rest of the historic buildings in town and Ed went thru another museum in the area.
We came back for dinner and walked around this beautiful town for a little while. It must be heady stuff to be a student among the history in this area! We can't imagine how Pam was able to come back home:)!
Our room is very bright, very clean and nice, but there is no living room or lounge to sit in, so that's probably the only draw back to this type of accomodation to us.
We got up early on the 4th of July and had a lovely breakfast before heading out to meet our new friend Pip. Pip is a Digital Editor for the Bodleian Library at Oxford University and she has offered to give us a personal tour of this building.
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| One portion of the Bodleian Lib |
The history of the building and the university itself is very impressive. And someone so closely related to it who has an incredible amount of knowledge of the history that it holds is a real gift. Pip was able to bring us into a couple of the rooms that are typically not on the visitor tours, which was fun!
We went to lunch and then let Pip get back to work while I took a open top bus tour to see the rest of the historic buildings in town and Ed went thru another museum in the area.
We came back for dinner and walked around this beautiful town for a little while. It must be heady stuff to be a student among the history in this area! We can't imagine how Pam was able to come back home:)!
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Driving day to Oxford, England -- Wednesday July 3, 2013
Today is primarily a driving day to get to our B & B in Kennington, just outside of Oxford which we have for two nights. We take the opportunity, though to travel thru the other Lakes Region towns we hear so much about. Ambleside and Windermere on the A591 are even more quaint then Grasmere. They are, however, definitely more crowded so I'm glad we chose where we did. The countryside all around is wonderful. I would really like to return here.
We arrived in Kennington in early afternoon. We are staying at Abodes. This is the first Bed & Breakfast where there is only one room for rent. It is basically a room in someones house. I know Chuck and Jean mentioned they thought that's what many of them were here in England, but we had not come across this until now. Not sure how I like that.
Our hostess was very warm in greeting us at the door. Our room was not ready yet so she suggested a good place for lunch: The King's Arms Pub. The instructions were funny: you drive down a small road thru an industrial area, park by the horse pasture, walk over the bridge and along the canal and walk over the lock. Very quaint!
The Pub was actually on the other side of the Thames River. This is the river that our friend Jane was encouraging us to rent a canal boat on to take a one or two week tour. You actually drive them yourself. Your own little camper on the water! We watched the canal boats going thru this particular lock. It does seem like it would be fun. At least if the weather was good. You can tie up the the side of the canal almost anywhere and get out to walk along the pathways or go to one of the restaurants or pubs along the way.
The lunch at The King's Arms was great! Then we walked along the paths for awhile watching the locks being opened and closed and went back to our room to settle in. Good start to this location!
Oxford is really a walking or bus type city. It's expensive to park your car and its crowded. While we planned on using the bus tomorrow to get into Oxford to meet up with Pip, we decided to go into the city in the evening when we thought the traffic would be lighter to get our bearings.
It looks like a really interesting city! It's filled with young people and still really busy at 9 pm on a Wednesday night. We walked around for awhile and found a pub for dessert and English Coffee.
For all our talk about not being fond of cities, we both feel comfortable in this one!
We arrived in Kennington in early afternoon. We are staying at Abodes. This is the first Bed & Breakfast where there is only one room for rent. It is basically a room in someones house. I know Chuck and Jean mentioned they thought that's what many of them were here in England, but we had not come across this until now. Not sure how I like that.
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| The King's Arms |
The Pub was actually on the other side of the Thames River. This is the river that our friend Jane was encouraging us to rent a canal boat on to take a one or two week tour. You actually drive them yourself. Your own little camper on the water! We watched the canal boats going thru this particular lock. It does seem like it would be fun. At least if the weather was good. You can tie up the the side of the canal almost anywhere and get out to walk along the pathways or go to one of the restaurants or pubs along the way.
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| Sample Canal Boat |
The lunch at The King's Arms was great! Then we walked along the paths for awhile watching the locks being opened and closed and went back to our room to settle in. Good start to this location!
Oxford is really a walking or bus type city. It's expensive to park your car and its crowded. While we planned on using the bus tomorrow to get into Oxford to meet up with Pip, we decided to go into the city in the evening when we thought the traffic would be lighter to get our bearings.
It looks like a really interesting city! It's filled with young people and still really busy at 9 pm on a Wednesday night. We walked around for awhile and found a pub for dessert and English Coffee.
For all our talk about not being fond of cities, we both feel comfortable in this one!
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Grasmere, England -- Monday July 1, 2013
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| Ed's view while hiking |
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| Dale Lodge Hotel |
We first learned of this area thru a show on Chronicle this past winter. They made it sound really beautiful--and it is! While we were at Eagle View, two of the men we met at breakfast gave us the tips on which of the little towns in this District where not always overrun with tourists. They recommended Grasmere, so here we are. So far, it looks like a good choice!
When Ed arrived back from his hike in mid afternoon, we decided to stop at a quirky place for lunch. It was called Faireyland Tea House. Not much for lunch but it was right on the edge of a lake with ducks so it was very cute. Good enough to hold us over till dinnertime.
Then we took a ride thru the Lake District towns of this area including Ambleside, Carlisle, Coniston, Glenridding and Keswick. Each town was more quaint and beautiful then the other! Most of the buildings were constructed of beautiful stones! Spectacular! And the roads, while terrifying, are also one of a kind. Beautiful, beautiful area!
This is definitely one of those locations I would love to come back to.
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