Well, we've almost come to the end of our travels for this time. It's bed time in London, ready for a wake up at 3:15 am tomorrow to be ready for the transfer to the airport for our flight to Dubai where we have 2 nights before arriving in Sydney at 6:05 am on Thursday. It's been a really great holiday, not at all restful, but very interesting. I'll make another entry from Dubai (no early wake up call there!).
Home is looking very attractive, particularly things like bed, pillow, shower, washing machine (I never thought I would look forward to using the washing machine) and so on. I'm looking forward to telling you all about it, and showing the photos in print form after I've been able to do a bit of sorting and deleting!
Bye from London.
Monday, 8 September 2008
Saturday, 6 September 2008
Plymouth Friday 5 September
It's a whole week since I put anything up here. It's been very hectic, full of early starts and long days with not many minutes for blogging! It has also been raining every day - yes, every day - and we're looking forward to some sunshine.
It's hard to realise that we've nearly finished our holiday and will be home in less than a week. It has been a very enjoyable time, very busy too - as someone said, it's hard work being a tourist. We've been really lucky to have been with very good groups on the tours, with excellent tour directors and drivers who have done much more than their job descriptions require to make everything go smoothly.
All the photos have grey skies, except one or two that I took to prove that the sun did shine even if it was briefly!
I'll try to put some more up tomorrow if time permits, and will add again in Dubai if possible and finish off when we arrive home.
It's hard to realise that we've nearly finished our holiday and will be home in less than a week. It has been a very enjoyable time, very busy too - as someone said, it's hard work being a tourist. We've been really lucky to have been with very good groups on the tours, with excellent tour directors and drivers who have done much more than their job descriptions require to make everything go smoothly.
All the photos have grey skies, except one or two that I took to prove that the sun did shine even if it was briefly!
I'll try to put some more up tomorrow if time permits, and will add again in Dubai if possible and finish off when we arrive home.
Saturday, 30 August 2008
Limerick Friday 29 August
Since my last post we've had a night at Derry and two nights at Sligo. We had a tour of Derry with a most interesting town guide, who showed us some of the sites of troubles there and explained the history of the troubles, looking way beyond the religious front that usually hides the real problems of poverty and lack of opportunity. He was excellent.
We arrived at our hotel in Sligo to discover that because of a lot of heavy rain we had no water in our rooms. The fire brigade were there pumping water in to clean out and refill the system, the water was brown when we eventually had some, and the hotel provided bottled water in all the rooms and extra on each floor. Adventure of travelling!
We had a fairly quiet day on Thursday which we all enjoyed - we had no wake-up call and didn't leave until 9:30 am, a great luxury indeed!
This morning we had a bit of excitement on our way from Sligo to Limerick. There was a detour for a bike race, which sent us on a little excursion across country on very narrow roads, it really was good fun! It turned out that the bike race was the Tour of Ireland, so although we missed the Tour de France we had a bit of a consolation prize in this one. We saw the riders in the beautiful little village of Cong, I think it was probably the most exciting thing in Cong for a long time!
We arrived at our hotel in Sligo to discover that because of a lot of heavy rain we had no water in our rooms. The fire brigade were there pumping water in to clean out and refill the system, the water was brown when we eventually had some, and the hotel provided bottled water in all the rooms and extra on each floor. Adventure of travelling!
We had a fairly quiet day on Thursday which we all enjoyed - we had no wake-up call and didn't leave until 9:30 am, a great luxury indeed!
This morning we had a bit of excitement on our way from Sligo to Limerick. There was a detour for a bike race, which sent us on a little excursion across country on very narrow roads, it really was good fun! It turned out that the bike race was the Tour of Ireland, so although we missed the Tour de France we had a bit of a consolation prize in this one. We saw the riders in the beautiful little village of Cong, I think it was probably the most exciting thing in Cong for a long time!
First came the Gardi and the marshals ...
Then came the riders!
Have you noticed the colour of the sky? Yes, it's grey. There is a little bit of blue outside just now, but it's been grey for days! We have hopes that it will improve, will keep you posted!
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Some Scottish photos
This bridge featured in the film Rob Roy - Liam Neeson's spectacular escape from the English.
Look who came to greet us near Loch Lomond!
Eilean Donan castle - you might recognise it from the Highlander movies.
Glencoe, where the Campbells massacred the MacDonalds.
The Giant's Causeway in Ireland - scientists say it's caused by the action of lava and a subsequent ice age. I think it was Finn MacCool, the giant!Scottish Highlands
Much excitement after my last post - we were just getting into bed when the fire alarm went off. So back on with some clothes, grab the important papers and out of the hotel onto the footpath over the road. And then of course it was a false alarm so back to the room, into bed at last.
Next night, you wouldn't believe it, it happened again! And again it was a false alarm. There were various rumours about people smoking in their room, but I don't know if that was true or not.
Anyway, we left Edinburgh and went off to the highlands, which are truly amazing. The heather was out and looked spectacular.
We've also been to the Orkney Islands, much less rugged than I expected, very interesting place but not somewhere I'd like to live, really.
Then to the Isle of Skye, via the road bridge as the ferry has been replaced. We learnt a lot about the Jacobite history of Scotland, we visited the battlefield of Culloden, and turned into proper Jacobites. So we toasted the King Over the Water (Bonnie Prince Charlie) as we drove over the sea to Skye - we did it in style, with Drambuie the favourite tipple of the prince himself. Skye is a very beautiful and rather wild place, very windswept as you'd probably expect - there's a lot of ocean before the closest land to the west.
Yesterday we travelled to Glasgow, passing through Glencoe, the scene of the massacre of the Clan MacDonald by the Campbells. Campbells are not well received in the highlands even today after that event.
Today we crossed the Irish Sea and are spending the night in Derry (or Londonderry if you're talking to a unionist!). We'll be having some time for a bit more of a look around before we leave, so I'm looking forward to that.
Tomorrow we head for Sligo and a 2-night stay which will be very welcome. It's been very busy so far, with early starts and late finishes. Yesterday we were up at 6:00 am and reached our hotel about 9:00 pm, which was a bit later than usual, but included dinner on our way. I think we will have a free afternoon on our full day in Sligo, everyone is looking forward to that.
I'll try to put some photos on later if time allows. The internet connections have been a bit dodgy when they've been there at all, so that's why it's been such a while between posts. Hopefully it will improve now that we're back in more settled areas!
Next night, you wouldn't believe it, it happened again! And again it was a false alarm. There were various rumours about people smoking in their room, but I don't know if that was true or not.
Anyway, we left Edinburgh and went off to the highlands, which are truly amazing. The heather was out and looked spectacular.
We've also been to the Orkney Islands, much less rugged than I expected, very interesting place but not somewhere I'd like to live, really.
Then to the Isle of Skye, via the road bridge as the ferry has been replaced. We learnt a lot about the Jacobite history of Scotland, we visited the battlefield of Culloden, and turned into proper Jacobites. So we toasted the King Over the Water (Bonnie Prince Charlie) as we drove over the sea to Skye - we did it in style, with Drambuie the favourite tipple of the prince himself. Skye is a very beautiful and rather wild place, very windswept as you'd probably expect - there's a lot of ocean before the closest land to the west.
Yesterday we travelled to Glasgow, passing through Glencoe, the scene of the massacre of the Clan MacDonald by the Campbells. Campbells are not well received in the highlands even today after that event.
Today we crossed the Irish Sea and are spending the night in Derry (or Londonderry if you're talking to a unionist!). We'll be having some time for a bit more of a look around before we leave, so I'm looking forward to that.
Tomorrow we head for Sligo and a 2-night stay which will be very welcome. It's been very busy so far, with early starts and late finishes. Yesterday we were up at 6:00 am and reached our hotel about 9:00 pm, which was a bit later than usual, but included dinner on our way. I think we will have a free afternoon on our full day in Sligo, everyone is looking forward to that.
I'll try to put some photos on later if time allows. The internet connections have been a bit dodgy when they've been there at all, so that's why it's been such a while between posts. Hopefully it will improve now that we're back in more settled areas!
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
Edinburgh and the Tattoo
Last night we went to the Tattoo. Now, those of you who know me a bit will remember that I don't really like being out in the rain, and if you all thought very hard you'd find it difficult to remember the last time I willingly sat in the rain for any reason. Well, last night we sat in the rain for about 1-1/2 hours during the tattoo, and it was worth every minute!
The first photo is taken in the line-up to go in - you couldn't call it a queue, it wasn't that tidy - then we made our way through the gates up to our seats in the stand. The seats are not large, to say the least, in fact we were all quite cosy and close enough to each other that there wasn't much room for rain to get through at all. So although it rained for just about the whole performance we weren't soaked at all.
The second photo is the massed bands at the start of the show. I didn't take many after that because of the rain, but it might give an idea of what it was like.
If you ever have the chance, take it and enjoy it as much as I did!
Tomorrow we head off to the Highlands, then to Thurso from where we go to the Orkney Islands for a day. More to look forward to!
The first photo is taken in the line-up to go in - you couldn't call it a queue, it wasn't that tidy - then we made our way through the gates up to our seats in the stand. The seats are not large, to say the least, in fact we were all quite cosy and close enough to each other that there wasn't much room for rain to get through at all. So although it rained for just about the whole performance we weren't soaked at all.
The second photo is the massed bands at the start of the show. I didn't take many after that because of the rain, but it might give an idea of what it was like.If you ever have the chance, take it and enjoy it as much as I did!
Tomorrow we head off to the Highlands, then to Thurso from where we go to the Orkney Islands for a day. More to look forward to!
Monday, 18 August 2008
Stratford-on-Avon
We’ve left London and travelled to Oxford, then on to Stratford-on-Avon for our first night. Oxford was very interesting, a place I’ve wanted to see for a while now. There are 37 colleges in the University, we passed quite a few on our walk around, but they weren’t open, unfortunately, so we couldn’t go in for a closer look.
Stratford-on-Avon is a beautiful place, there are a lot of things still here from Shakespeare’s time. We saw Ann Hathaway’s cottage, and went in to Shakespeare’s birthplace – reverently referred to as just The Birthplace. I discovered that the first best bed was usually kept in the parlour, as it was a thing of status to have a four-poster to show off. Guests would usually sleep in the first best bed, while I guess the second best bed was for the parents of the family. Most unusual.
We have a welcome drink with the group tonight, followed by dinner at our hotel, which is a very interesting building, and not modern by any means. The corridor meanders along, up and down a couple of steps now and then, and the room numbering is not what you would call consistent. It has character!
Stratford-on-Avon is a beautiful place, there are a lot of things still here from Shakespeare’s time. We saw Ann Hathaway’s cottage, and went in to Shakespeare’s birthplace – reverently referred to as just The Birthplace. I discovered that the first best bed was usually kept in the parlour, as it was a thing of status to have a four-poster to show off. Guests would usually sleep in the first best bed, while I guess the second best bed was for the parents of the family. Most unusual.
We have a welcome drink with the group tonight, followed by dinner at our hotel, which is a very interesting building, and not modern by any means. The corridor meanders along, up and down a couple of steps now and then, and the room numbering is not what you would call consistent. It has character!
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