Sunday, September 27

This is a very famous day in the history of our family.....today is Kate's birthday, and we're not there to celebrate with her. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATE!

So, where were we today? Still staying at the B&B in Cheltenham and after a 4-star breakfast of yoghurt, banana, juice and coffee, we packed lunch 'stuff' and headed off to Bourton-on-the-Water. This little village is a wee bit like St. Jacobs....a tourist magnet! 

Bourton On the Water

We arrived early, before most things were open, found a great parking spot, wandered around the town for a while, stopped in at the visitors' centre, and returned to the car to find we were the only car left on the street! It just didn't look right, and sure enough, on street parking was at an end, and we knew the 'tourist from Canada excuse' wasn't going to work, so we moved down the street to a parking lot right at the miniature village, one of the big attractions of the town. The original land owner created a miniature village, all out of the local Cotswold stone, complete with bridges, river, choir singing in the church, and a miniature village within the miniature village! The village is a 1/9th replica of the real town.

Miniature Village 

Then we visited the Dragonfly Maze made from tall boxwood hedges. Within the maze are 14 clues set in stone in the pathways which will help you to solve the Rebus puzzle, the secret hiding place of the Golden Dragonfly at the end. Lots of turns and confusion, hmm, kinda like our road travels, but on this one we were stuck amongst the hedges. We found the dragonfly and our way out. Good fun!

As we were sitting having lunch, near the main square by the little bridge, a lady came up to us inquiring where we bought our sandwiches; she said they looked so good! We had to disappoint her with the news that we made them ourselves....ham, goat cheese and tomato in a fresh bun. I agree with her, they were good, but not for sharing!

The trip back to Cheltenham took us up and down many back lane ways, with a stop along the way to go for a walk up into the hills through fields with sheep grazing. These roads were one car wide, so if another car is coming you have to pull over, at least one of you needs to pull over onto the grass shoulder.

Copse Hill Walking Trail gate

Sheep Resting in the Meadow

The weather again was perfect...sunny, warm, and no rain. One lane way, quite narrow (single car width....if that) took us to a farmer's remote house where the lane ended, and on another lane we saw a family of pheasants running alongside the road. Daddy pheasant was trying to get our attention so we would follow him, while Mommy pheasant gathered her brood and took off in a different direction with her four young ones.

 

View where we saw the pheasants.     

Tomorrow we move onto Evesham, not far from here, and we will use that as a base from which we will explore the Redditch area, my birthplace.

Saturday September 26 - Kelmscott Manor

Perfect day

Today was another spot on gorgeous day....sunny, warm, very light breeze....perfect! Apparently the weather here over the summer has been for the most part overcast, cool, showery, etc. I guess our timing was just right, let's hope it continues just as it is now!

The day began for me, the early riser, with a walk throughout our current neighbourhood while Deb grabbed an extra hour of sleep. The Cheltenham Cricket Club has its clubhouse and pitch at the end of the street, but not a soul in site as I walked past.....just a big green lawn!

After breakfast in our B&B, we packed a lunch and headed off for Kelmscott Manor, the Cotswolds country retreat of William Morris. On route, we were directed by Mr. GPS Garmin down some pretty narrow country lane ways and as we neared our destination, we thought from the volume of traffic that it was a good thing we had come early ...this place must be much more popular than we had thought....or maybe the great weather is just getting everyone out. Neither was correct! It just happened to be a ploughing match in the fields close by and farming is big in this end of Britain. Needless to say lots of antique and new tractors.

We arrived at Kelmscott Manor and got our tickets for touring his house and gardens, visited the gift shop and had our lunch in his back garden. 

Kelmscott Manor on the right

Walk to the back garden

Jon in front gardens

Rather nice 'outhouse'

Stone slab fence

Stairs to the attic

'Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful'. This is a quote from William Morris. The gentleman lived in the late 1800's and became known for his poetry, his writings, his fabric designs and his active approach to socialism. Some will know his works as the beginning of the Arts and Crafts movement, including mission style furniture. The manor house we visited was built a while back....1600 or thereabouts. Fabulous place to visit as you can see by the pictures! 

Quintessential British Telephone Booth 

Returned to Cheltenham, bought groceries, and are spending a romantic evening doing laundry....how's that for a fitting end to the day?

September 25 - Bibury & Area

Well, for those of you back home, your work week is drawing to a close, and we are already having trouble distinguishing one vacation day from another already! Pity, eh?

Today we were on the move again. After breakfast in our room, we packed, paid our bills and left for new adventures. The World Cup Rugby Championships are currently being played around the UK, so guess what is playing in the pubs.

Our first stop late morning was a small town called Wotton-Under-Edge. We wandered the main street and come lunchtime, we found a quiet little courtyard at the ancient Almshouse where we sat and had a bite. Almshouses were for the poor, offered by the city. While we were having lunch in the courtyard, a Meals On Wheels man made a few deliveries, one recipient was a 96 yr old lady, who lived in this corner of the building by herself. Then we saw a visiting nurse, makes me wonder about their Home Care.

Almshouse in Wooten-Under-Edge

Our next stop was in Bibury, quaint little row cottages all made out of limestone, dry-stone walls everywhere and a tea shop where we stopped for a tea (for the two of us) and one scone for the princely sum of £7 1/2! (Roughly about $15). 

Weavers Cottages 

Slate Roofs on Cottages

Time for Tea

Today’s trek took us ultimately to Cheltenham, but we didn't come directly. Even with GPS we still managed to miss turns (notice that I used 'we') and our invisible friend is constantly telling us that he is ‘recalibrating'. The roundabouts can be deceiving as to if it is a 2nd or a 3rd exit, so that is usually where we make our mistakes. The city signs are hard to pick out at the busy intersections. 

Our Cheltenham Accomodation

The next 3 nights we are at a B&B here in Cheltenham, a large Victorian house, as you can see above. Nice big room, high ceilings, large private bathroom, and a large shared kitchen. We've decided to buy food and looking after our own breakfasts and lunches for the most part, for the next few days.  We think we will be quite comfortable here.

Lovely Room

Great bathroom with very long tub & heated towel rack

Jon busy in the kitchen

Weather was awesome today....sunny, mild and clear. Now if I could only find something nice to say about the roads and driving over here. Oh, as an aside, I think I know where the idea for the Lake Louise Blvd. roundabouts came from, and they are just as insane over here!!

All for now.

Thirsty September 24

Well now, don't go reading anything into the title that isn't there. We are sitting at the pub in the hotel hydrating, having just returned from a 5 hour bike ride into Bath. 

Bike rentals...here we go

We rented bikes at a little place near the hotel and rode the tow path along the canal. All was well until we got into Bath and then the canal joined the Avon River in a somewhat secretive fashion, which when coupled with a lack of signs, made our ride to be a little longer than planned. 

Aqueduct

Barges

Canal bridge in Bath

But being hardy Canadians from a country full of ice and snow, we exclaimed a loud 'EH', and rode on, finally arriving back at our hotel where hydration in true Canadian fashion was the order of the day.

England is full of canals which in turn are full of barges, some quite luxurious and others not so. There are companies that rent them out to holidayers similar to renting an RV at home. Now in true British fashion, the canals are like their roads, rather narrow, but I must say, a lot straighter! The locks on the canal system are operated manually and the ones we saw could only handle one barge at a time.....slooww process!

Back to the bike ride. Pretty uneventful, a few folk out walking, some with dogs and some without. We rode by one couple living on a barge who had...you guessed it...two Golden Retrievers. Reminded me of a couple I once heard of who travelled across Canada and back with two Goldens in a VW bus!

On the return portion of the ride, we rode a paved trail that followed an old rail line so it wasn't too hilly (Deb might disagree), but the interesting part was the trail passed through two tunnels, the first one being almost half a mile long!.....and the second one over a mile long! 

Two Tunnels Trail

Supper tonight was at the local pub, the Hop Pole Inn, down the street from the hotel. One of the locals, Polly,  came and introduced herself to us shortly after our arrival, and checked on us throughout our meal. She was an exemplary hostess, and obviously wanted us to leave with a good feeling of our visit. Polly is a 10-year old labradoodle! Her owner and the owners of the pub and local authorities don't have any reservations of her being in their establishment and neither did any of the guests, patrons, etc. How unlike the repressive, restrictive rules and regulations we are constantly confronted with back home. A good day all around! 

Hop Pole Inn pub

Finally a good night's sleep....slept in until 8 am....that's late for me....and still early for Deb. Nothing like a 'properIf' English breakfast to start the day, after all, wouldn't want to insult our hosts, would we?! That wouldn't be very Canadian!

So we began our day with another test of navigating the roadways between Limpley Stoke and Bath....made it there and back with ne're a foul word spoken....wahoo!

In Bath, we joined a walking tour first thing lead by a local retiree who loved recounting historical tales, and adding colourful anecdotes for everyone's amusement. Bath's claim to fame lies in the 3 natural hot springs, the only ones in England, that have attracted all manner of folk, Roman conquerors, royalty, gentry, common folk, not-so-common-folk, and people like us! The tour lasted 2 1/2 hours and we didn't get rained on at all, although it looked pretty threatening a couple of times. It actually turned into quite a nice sunny day in the end. (This happens when you come prepared with umbrellas, etc)

Post tour, we walked/shopped/lunched  on our own, including a visit to the Cathedral in central Bath. Having read 'Sarum', the scale of this building brings new meaning to the parts of the book that dealt with the construction of such massive and magnificent buildings.

Grocery shopping, drive back to the hotel, a beer (!), and our own supper completes the day. Tomorrow will see some local hiking, weather permitting! 

Twos day the twenty tooth

Well, here it is Tuesday night and we are comfortably settled into our room in an old manor house in Limpley Stoke, just outside Bath. No, that did not mean that the bath is outside. This is actually a Best Western facility, so pretty nice digs!

Limpley Stoke Room

We went back to the airport this morning on the shuttle bus to pick up the car....what a zoo (human type) at the car rental agency took almost an hour,….but we came out with a little black Peugeot and got our feet wet (literally) in London traffic immediately....do you know that they still drive on the wrong side of the road over here! The objective was to get outa town quick.....it almost worked except the driver took a wrong turn and ended up on one of those 'M' series carriageways heading in a different direction from the planned escape route. Now for those of you from Waterloo who have experienced the roundabout syndrome that has fervently gripped the area, you should not complain if you have never experienced them like they have them here.....EVERYWHERE....even in the middle of nowhere (those ones were probably built for practice).

Roundabout chaos

Deb got the Garmin connected and charging which helped immensely! Now let me tell you of the 'New Street' that we discovered. Whenever we changed to a different road in a roundabout, or tried leaving a town we had stopped in and had to consequently drive through a few more roundabouts we were often directed to take 'New Street', and we could never find the sign for 'New Street'. At one point I thought how unimaginative it was for those who name the roads to put a 'New Street' in every town along the way! You can probably guess where this is going, and Lord help me if we ever do encounter a road with that name! To add to the confusion, the names are not posted on the signs with the road numbers, they are posted low to the ground, took a while for us to see that. 

The afternoon took us to Stonehenge. Absolutely amazing how advanced ancient civilizations were and the construction of this, and transport of these huge monolithic stones over several hundred miles really boggles the mind. Very cool!

Jon Stonehenge

We had dinner in the pub at our manor house, yummy potatoe soup and fresh buns served on a tray with linen, along with an British beer of course. 

Beer time

Perfect spot for me

Flight to Heathrow Airport, England

Sunday night after supper we drove into Toronto to stay overnight at Choice Hotel at 50 Britannia Dr in Mississauga.  It was a nice room, crisp, fresh, white sheets and a clean bathroom, perfect for a short overnight. Up at 5:30 to get to the airport, leave our car at Park & Fly, hop on the shuttle and get to the long line up to drop off baggage. From there it was another long wait to go thru security. I had a small container with milk for a tea but no way they were letting that thru, so in order to keep my good leak proof container, Jon was gallant and drank the milk. They then re-scanned the container and we got thru. The waiting area of departures for International has upgraded to nice seating and tables with plugs and Ipads to use. The flight over was the usual tight seating as in the past, except for those people looking quite comfy in their 'pods'. Landed at Heathrow.

Silver 'spaceship' in Heathrow

Another long line up at the border security and then we found the shuttle to the airport.

Shuttle Bus to hotel

Now we are settled in at the newly renovated Mercure Hotel near Heathrow.

Mercure Hotel

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