November 2006 Travel Diary Part 2
Naturally, this is copied from the typed-up copy as I didn’t have a blog until 2010! This bit goes from London to the Lake District.
There will eventually be a slideshow…
- Link to Part 1.
- Link to Part 3
| Date: | Tuesday 5 December |
| Location: | Rhodes Hotel, London |
| Weather: | Cold and more rain than the weather girl said (12° C) |
| Notes: | Paula will finish this while I chase e-mails, but we beat London – just. We were going to the theatre tonight but decided to have a night in, instead, planning and e-mailing before going to the pub again.The Rhodes Hotel is old but very friendly. The owner is good fun and has given us lots of tips. We had another action-packed agenda for today.We planned to see St Paul’s before heading off to Trafalgar Square to meet the Big Bus walking tour to Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, the London weather didn’t cooperate and we were forced to revise our plans.St Paul’s Cathedral was quite restrained compared to the Italian Cathedrals. Religious satins have been replaced by secular ones and there is a great focus on Britain’s military heroes. Chris braved the steps to climb about two-thirds of the way to the dome. I didn’t think I could do another dome, and he nearly was blown off the railings, anyway!We sought refuge from the rain on the tube to Charing Cross and walked to the Palace, sans the tour. Fortunately the rained stopped and we got some good shots with some bonuses: the Blues and Royals (both kinds) rode past followed shortly after by a few carriages, obviously practicing something.Next, we walked around Westminster Cathedral where we send almost two hours touring this wonderful, historical building. So many monuments to deceased royalty—it was as if they were in competition with each other. We loved Poets’ Corner, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the choir stalls and the altars. I as also moved by the monument to Battle of Britain pilots with its beautiful stained glass windows.The time passed really quickly and we suddenly realised we were hungry. Unfortunately, so was the rest of London. We retreated into a pub for a cheap lunch with the obligatory wine and beer and to see the final overs of the second cricket test seal Australia’s victory.Headed to Westminster Bridge to visit the London Eye. On the way we discovered a market where I purchased a scarf and gloves for Liam and a £35 coat for me: a real bargain. The Eye was an architectural and mechanical wonder and we got some great shots over London. The size of the city really amazed us.We intended to return to the Houses of Parliament but the crowds were long, so we headed home. The Sawyers Inn for dinner: I love the English pub scene. |
| Date: | Wednesday 6 December |
| Location: | Rhodes Hotel, London |
| Weather: | Cold but sunny |
| Notes: | We began the day with a great walk around the Serpentine, through Hyde and Kensington Parks. It felt good to be in the sunshine in such beautiful parkland. There were lots of birdlife—swans and geese—and a squirrel. We had to post home a package of books which would ease our excess luggage problems, but this gave us a late start. The post office start were friendly but that didn’t ease the pain.Our first stop was Covent Garden on our way to Leicester Square. It was a great spot for a wander, surrounded by craft and unusual shops as rury Lane and the Royal Opera House. We walked to Leicester Square and purchased half-priced tickets to Amy’s View, starring Felicity Kendall (!). It was a great bargain for a unique theatre experience at the Garrick.By that stage, the day had marched on and so we had to revise our plan to visit the Tate Gallery. It will have to wait for another time. With the sunlight under threat we headed to Waterloo to catch the cruise to Greenwich. It proved to be a very relaxing way to finish the day and our time in London. As we headed down-river, it was interesting to see the development of Dockland and especially Canary Wharf.We arrived at Greenwich extremely hungry and stumbled into the Gypsy Moth Pub for a hearty but late lunch with included more beer and wine. We managed a quick walk around the town, including St Alphege’s, before taking the ferry back to battle with the peak hour crowds on the tube.We had a very short time back at the hotel before rushing back to Paddington station, but we had to book Padstow. What seemed a simply job took forty minutes but we organised with a B and B and rushed to change.Out into the cold air, we rode down the Bakerloo Line to Charing Cross. Leicester Square at night is one of the most amazing places: a hive of dramatic energy and audience enthusiasm. It was a memorable night as the play proved thought-provoking with some great one-liners and a challenging ending.Felicity Kendall was extraordinarily good, although it was a role I could imagine being owned by a Claire Bloome or a Prunella Scales. Her husky tone had that ‘world-weary’ quality and the company was more than competent. The play and an interesting structure and we both were challenged by the exploration of relationships, ideas about theatre and dramatic form, all within the a subtly ironic plot.It was a slightly slower day, I think, but we still covered the ground. Amy’s View, Garrick, Londonguardian.co.uk, Tuesday November 21 2006 00.26 GMTSome plays shrink with time: others grow. And, nine years after its National Theatre premiere, David Hare’s play has matured well. That’s partly because, in Peter Hall’s expert revival, it seems a less sentimental paean to theatre than it once did, and partly because its marriage of family drama and state-of-the-nation commentary emerges more clearly.In form, Amy’s View is a calculated throwback: a four-act play covering 16 years of a changing Britain and a shifting relationship. Between 1979 and 1995 Esme, the principal character, moves from glamorous theatrical fame to pauperised recovery after a disastrous Lloyd’s investment.Meanwhile, her daughter, Amy, forms a fraught alliance with a media mover-and-shaker, Dominic, whose star waxes as Esme’s wanes. This is clearly meant to epitomise a Britain in which feckless dreamers like Esme precariously survive, while skilful opportunists like Dominic thrive.On a first viewing, the personal drama and the cultural debate never seemed totally in synch. But here there seems more intensity in the mother-daughter relationship. Felicity Kendal is excellent, playing Esme as a capricious, vain, and sometimes infuriating woman who views her daughter with an exasperated love; and, when Amy finally deserts her, Kendal emits cries of animal pain I never thought she had within her. Meanwhile, Jenna Russell intelligently implies that, for all her attacks on Esme’s wafting dreaminess, Amy has something of her mother’s obduracy.Because the central relationship is so clearly charted, the cultural debate comes more alive. Originally Dominic seemed an easy target. But here, in Ryan Kiggell’s sympathetic performance, you understand his sense of exclusion from this family relationship, and his dislike of theatrical clannishness.Admittedly, Hare satirises Dominic’s own cultural pretensions – as when he says of his new, blood-soaked movie: “We don’t call it violence; we call it action.” The arguments, however, seem less skewed than they did on the first outing.Hall’s production heightens the play’s Chekhovian undertones. Gawn Grainger gives a pitch-perfect performance as Esme’s quietly adoring neighbour, who is also the source of her financial ruin.Maybe the final scene, in which the ageing Esme sits in a shabby dressing-room before going out on stage, is less of a moving tribute to heroic tenacity than once it was. But the play as a whole stands up well as a portrait both of failed relationships and of a country for ever changed by the 1980s worship of entrepreneurial values. |
| Date: | Thursday 7 December |
| Location: | London to Tunbridge Wells |
| Weather: | Cold and Cloudy |
| Notes: | After a cold and windy night, we packed up our ever-expanding bags, left them at the Rhodes and headed off on our last tube ride to Russell Square to collect the car. It was the Toyota Prius we hoped for and came with a bonus GPS that assisted our passage back to the hotel and then out of London, in a completely different direction than the one we had thought to take. We hit a patch of bad weather for a few minutes (lightning, thunder and hail) only to discover on the news that a mini-tornado had hit north London.The GPS was quite sophisticated, diverting us around traffic problems and the exclusion zone, but it seemed to be taking us an unusual way. Chris still thinks he will buy me one for Christmas. I want a sexy male voice but Chris is threatening to download his mother’s voice which will identify errors with an ‘I told you so!’ tone.We arrived safely at Jan’s at lunchtime. She lives in a lovely rambling home with stables and a sooky lurcher named Gus. After a welcome bowl of potato and leek soup (I was dreading it would be cream of Brussels sprouts), we headed off for a walk in the forest. The wind was amazing and we turned for home as the rain set in.After a shower and the donning of trackies, we toasted Chris’s reunion with his godmother, whom he hadn’t seen in England anyway for 43 years, with champagne.Dinner was wonderful: pheasant casserole and vegetables, with blackberry and apple crumble. We settled down into the sitting for an interesting chat. I piked out at about 9 pm, leaving Chris to spend some time with Jan.A lovely welcomeing, warm evening with a lovely, tough and energetic 70 year old. |
| Date: | Friday 8 December |
| Location: | Tunbridge Wells to Torquay |
| Weather: | Early cloud, rain in the east, clear and sunny in the late afternoon in Devon. |
| Notes: | We had a wonderful day’s drive through the south of England and we are so glad we chose the scenic route. We left Jan’s with regret at not being able to share more time together. Rejecting the motorway and a two or three hour trip, we drove via Winchester, through Ashdowne Forest (Pooh Country), the Downs and into the west.The constantly changing countryside was a beautiful narrative for the day. The route led us through villages and small market towns and, while we could not stop, we had a better understanding of the beauty and incredible variety of the English countryside. Our trip took over seven hours , but, while we missed our usual exercise, we had no regrets, as we came over the hill at Charmouth and saw the Channel gleaming in the late afternoon sun.Torquay is a bit of a joke, but perhaps we have not seen it at its best. The meal was poor but, as we had a fabulous lunch outside Winchester, we simply hoped for better things tomorrow. |
| Date: | Saturday 9 December |
| Location: | Torquay and the South Devon Coast |
| Weather: | Sunny but cool |
| Notes: | We donned the trackies for an early morning walk to see if Torquay looked better in the daylight, and we had to admit that it did. The coastline down towards Dartmouth looked spectacular at sunrise.We joined the retired Welsh and English travellers in the dining room for a full English breakfast. We left with fuller tummies and satisfied that our presence had momentarily lowered the demographics in Torquay. We took time out for laundry duties in Preston and then set out on our adventure for the day.We began drive along the South Devon coast (driving east from Torquay) and it was beautiful: green and rural with thatched cottages on one side and spectacular coastline on the other side. We stopped for photos at the Labrador Bay Lookout near Teignmouth, then had a cold walk along the sea wall at Exmouth. We then journeyed back to Jenny’s childhood by visiting Budleigh Salterton. It has grown but its sea-front remains unspoilt. The red cliffs were dramatic and the welcome in the Feathers Pub was friendly.Chris and I decided that we loved the fact that the Poms bring their dogs to the pub and they sit quietly next to their owners. We picked up a few souvenirs and then continued along the coast. Chris had talked about Lyme Regis in relation to The French Lieutenant’s Woman and I remembered some connection with Jane Austen’s Persuasion, so we continued on. As soon as we arrived there, we knew that Torquay had been a bad error, even though it was cheap. The beach and the cob, although battered by recent storms, certainly recalled the novels of these famous writers.The main street was beautifully lit up for Christmas and we enjoyed visiting the lovely local shops. We bought a few souvenirs and Chris was particularly happy with his polished fossil. We enjoyed a drkin and a lovely meal and the Red Lion Hotel and left Lyme Regis determined we would return to further explore the beauty, history and literature of this town. |
| Date: | Sunday 10 December (Our First Wedding Anniversary) |
| Location: | Torquay to Padstow |
| Weather: | Cold, wet and windy |
| Notes: | We woke early on our first wedding anniversary and hit the road for a brisk walk. Heading the other direction, we found a park which led to the sea wall. On our way, we spoke to Jenny who also celebrates her birthday today.I bypassed the English Breakfast in favour of cereal and toast. The Welsh tourists kept us amused an we were once again reassured by our status as ‘young’uns’. We won’t be returning to Torquay again, but you live and learn!Our drive through West Devon and Cornwall was soon overtaken by rain and wind. We had a good look at Dartmoor – complete with sheep and ponies – before crossing the Tamar into Cornwall. The stone houses were a hangover from some view of the Nineteenth Century and Dartmoor Prison (where John’s grandfather had been a warder) was like something out of a gothic novel.We stopped for lunch in St Austel’s, at the White Horse Hotel. Even though this was Bounds territory (Roche is just up the road), the raining was taking the edge of our travelling. Travelling through the town’s narrow street nerve-wracking but the greystone buildings and the smell of coal fires was a new and interesting experience.We headed cross-country over Cornish farmland to Newport, home of British surfing. In the midst of an English winter’s afternoon, in a street of stone houses, we nearly ran down a barefooted, wetsuit-clad, mad English surfer. It might as well have been Bondi during the late ice age. We followed him to Fistral Beach, where we were gobsmacked at the cold, the wind, the distance to the surf at this very low tide and the number of hardy souls surfing and windsurfing in 14° water and 9° air temperature. Of even greater surprise was the surfshop selling Australian surf brands for less than half the price we pay at home. Chris stocked up on new cords and T shorts and I got new t-shirts for AJ and Liam. We even managed to get Nick a surf hoodie. He’ll be the only kid in Sauk Centre in a surf hoodie.We then followed the narrow coast road to Padstow and found our B and B, which was a large rom in someone’s home. Our evening meal was memorable: good simple food in pleasant surroundings, and it was very satisfying to have made the quixotic dream come true. Rick Stein didn’t drop by, but we were well pleased. |
| Date: | Monday 11 December |
| Location: | Crediton, near Exeter, Devon |
| Weather: | Rain Clearing, 10° |
| Notes: | We slept soundly and woke to a gale with the rain sweeping the roads. After a quick breakfast, we packed, said farewell to our hosts and set off on the road to Crediton. We stopped briefly at Launceston for some toiletry top ups and some wine for Liz and John. This gave us the opportunity to walk into Launceston castle before a sudden shower drive us back to the car.Devon opened up before us and, while our electronic guide took us through the outskirts of Exeter (which I think was the slow way) we saw the cathedral to our right and knew we had achieved another goal.Liz and John live at Crediton, a farming centre 5 miles out from the city. Our welcome was warmer and, when John had returned from rescuing his parents from TV problems, we have a good exchange of news before Liz gave us part one of the family tour. In bewildering succession we drove past important parts the Wreford history – the house where Henry Davy’s widow brought up their children, which became the family home; the other cemeteries with my great grandparents grave. We found out that my great-grandfather had ended up as Dartmoor prison officer so our adventure of war was not in vain We walked along the Exe and then found parking in the town, where Liz and John showed us the High Street and Cathedral Close. A Carol service was being held in the cathedral, so we had coffee and waited for the end – and for Liz’s mother (Auntie Frances) to come out.It took a minute to connect Frances to the family tree, but then I got Mum’s references. She is really my only relative from my grandparents’ generation so it was an important moment.The cathedral was quite beautiful, ancient and intimate, with none of the polish of Westminster. Very much the local Centre. We heard the choir practicing and I found Capt Scott’s sledging flag near the West door. Of course dinner was that the pub – a wonderful end, in the middle of the countryside of at least some of my ancestors, to a fascinating day. |
| Date: | Tuesday 12 December |
| Location: | Crediton, and all over North Devon |
| Weather: | Sunny and 9° – until the inevitable rain. |
| Notes: | Up early for a quick walk, and then John and Liz took over as tour guides. We love Crediton church, which was the Cathedral Church until the 11thcentury. It has a recent crest in one window the monument to 1/13 century knight who lived one hundred and six. We headed over to the crematorium to see the memorial to Leonard and Alice Bounds, my grandparents. Then a quick stop to see Claire and her new baby Anna (not forgetting three-year-old Liam). We visited Sowton village and the church where Jenny and John were married – a pocket of 19th-century surrounded by the roar of the motorway.John and Liz drove us along the Exe Valley and the day was full of simple country pleasures – annoying stag and fox hunts, sheep and farm implements and the world’s most stupid bird, the pheasant. For a bird that is hunted at great expense, it has no road sense at all. A machine gun would do less damage.Our route took us by Tiverton to Dunster (yarn market, castle and tower), Minehead (where we couldn’t see the coast of Wales because the weather was closing in), Lynmouth and Lynton (amazingly rugged gorge with hotels dotted), Porlock, Oare church (seen in Lorna Doone) and the Valley of the Rocks.We had lunch in an isolated pub at the top of Porlock Hill after the weather closed in. It howled over Exmoor and we felt very cosy and snug over cottage pie and (for me) a cider. Thank God I wasn’t driving.The day finished with an obligatory cream tea, then a final dinner with John, Liz, Shane and Claire. Thanks to John, we have seen more of southwest England than we ever expected and have come to love the amazing contrasts in the countryside. We will certainly be back, but perhaps in different weather. |
| Date: | Wednesday 13 December |
| Location: | Crediton to Windemere |
| Weather: | Overcast when it wasn’t blowing a gale |
| Notes: | After a final “Bailey” tour of East Village, the union we are Mary Davie worked from age 10 after she was orphaned and a look at Katrina and John’s farm, we left Crediton. After a deviation at the Chemist to download 267 photos, we began our journey. We headed down the M5 and M6 through the Midlands and towards the lakes. We had a few slow patches and arrived in Windermere in the dark. The weather was very windy but the welcome at the Thornbank was warm. The B & B is delightful and the hosts have thought out everything; maps, self guided walks and a 12 days in winter in the Lakes’ booklet. Sadly we didn’t have 12 days. We were also given some suggested places to eat including a 10% discount at the White House. The food was beautiful and the owner and waitress had ties to Australia. A lovely intro to the Lakes. |
| Date: | Thursday 14 December |
| Location: | Windemere, Thornbank |
| Weather: | Bloody awful – 8°, wet, the roads flooded. |
| Notes: | We began the day with a vigorous walk in the rain. We had to return home when some clerks became impassable. Clothes soaking, we returned to the B & B for a warm shower and hearty breakfast.Walks in the late were out of the question so we decided on drives or indoor activities. The countryside was wild and beautiful with towering mountains, dry stone walls stone bridges. The rivers and decks were flowing quickly with much localised flooding. The lake, or go failed in mists and fog, was beautiful.We visited Rydal Mount, Wordsworth’s historic home, and the setting to many of his poems. The displays of furniture, photographs, letters, paintings and other artefacts were amazing. The garden overlooking Lake Windermere was beautiful (if somewhat waterlogged) – all of a sudden, Wordsworth’s poetry came to life and as teachers it all made sense. We purchased some cheap copies of his poetry and headed off. We drove through the lake towns of Grasmere, the Thirlmere and Keswick then stopped to buy some winter woollens at Edinburgh Woollen Mills.We stopped for a soup lunch special at Thirlmere and drove on to Coniston. We stopped on the eastern side of the lake to take photos and then returned to Windermere along flooded roads.Hole in’t Wall Pub for a cheap dinner. |
| Date: | Friday 15 December |
| Location: | Windemere, Thornbank |
| Weather: | Very wet, cold (8°), snow on the fells |
| Notes: | The weather looked “iffy”, so we didn’t walk and decided to change our plans and head to Kendall to look at the Museum of Lakeland life and Abbott gallery – big mistake! Both places were close and then we got caught in traffic through busy candle.We parked the car at Ambleside and boarded a cruise of Lake Windermere two gunman and return. The weather was pretty awful but at least we could now see the Lake! It is a huge lake (one mile across in one part) and very deep (80 m).The cruise passed some beautiful sights including the summer house of Beatrix Potter, recently used in the filming of Miss Potter. The wildlife was beautiful with cormorants, Swans and gulls in plentiful supply. They were hearty and humans because there was only one sailing boat on the lake apart from to cruise boats. While we were enjoying the cruise, we were interviewed by an ITD film crew because the lake had just been nominated for inclusion as a world Heritage site. We also noticed that the temperature had dropped and, as we looked towards the mountains, we saw the reason – Snow!We headed for a part in Ambleside to warm up and were served a massive lunch. I think it will be soup for dinner tonight and Weight Watchers breakfast in the morning as penance. We wandered into a bookshop and purchased a bit more weight of a suitcase to replace what you posted home this morning. Our present buying is close to completion. We visited the Steamboat Museum with promises of seeing Arthur Ransome’s Swallow and Amazon boats but, alas, it was close for renovation.The young fellow must have sensed Chris’s disappointment and gave us a brief but informative peak at the steamboat room – slightly flooded. The steamboats dated back to 1860. Chris also got to view the sailing boats from the Ransome books. What we saw was fascinating and we would love to return in a few years time to see how the renovations have progressed.After a detour at the Internet at the information office to book or island accommodation, we returned to the BHP to “warmup” with some relaxing reading. PostScript: we made ITV news!!Realised late tonight that we would have to leave before breakfast to get the car to Holyhead by 12 PM: a five hour trip followed by a five-hour wait for ferry booking. Looking for a solution. |
| Date: | Saturday 16 December |
| Location: | Holyhead Ferry Terminal |
| Weather: | Cold but sunny |
| Notes: | Just our luck: we leave the Lakes the day the sun came out! We packed up the car again for a final trip the previous and farewell to the UK. We ran the ferry company to reschedule fairy which was good – unfortunately when we arrived at the terminal we discovered that we had booked on the slower ferry and would arrive only one hour and 15 minutes earlier than the other one. Mind you, if we had to sit at the ferry terminal any longer, listening to Brownies singing Christmas carols out of tune and slot slowly accompanied by keyboard player who had no idea of rhythm or how to read and we would have gone mad.The trip on the M6 and a 50 Sikhs was great all stop the countryside of North Wales was beautiful – lovely coastlines and lots of ruined castles. The Welsh signs were a little disconcerting and challenged linguistic skills. It would be nice to return and further explore the area.The ferry trip was very relaxing. It was luxury with bars, restaurants, and duty-free shopping, etc. We met a lovely New Zealand woman called Carol who reminded us of Rhondda or Helen . We agreed to meet the dinner on Sunday night at the bar in Temple Bar.We arrived in Dublin at about 5:30 PM, caught a bus to the town centre and managed to find a hotel which was nice and comfortable — mind you, it needed to be for the cost of the tariff! Dublin is a pretty city particularly with the Christmas lights. |
