France and England, October 2022: Part 4 — Derbyshire, Wales and home
We had not been to Derbyshire before, but we should have known better than to go anywhere near Birmingham because it always seems to have a perpetual traffic jam. However, we visited Tewkesbury on the way, and its abbey and river were worth the visit. Bakewell was smaller than we expected but absolutely humming, especially with walkers, as it is the gateway to the Peak District. We stayed in a mill that had been converted into apartments, and it was the pick of all the places we stayed at during the trip. Bakewell was a base for exploring Chatsworth, the Monsal Rail Trail, Buxton and Mam Tor; and we had an amazing (and for me a birthday) dinner at the town’s Michelin-hatted restaurant.
We intended to drive back to Bristol to leave the car and catch the train to London, so we planned a route through Wales, staying at Caenarfon to visit the Castle, wandering around Dylan Thomas’s Laugharne and staying in, of all things, a Welsh Vineyard with an excellent restaurant. We must have run out of ideas, because we ended up staying in Barry Island, where Julia Gillard was born. Now we know why the family emigrated. We should have stayed near Tintern Abbey, but then, we couldn’t have kept making jokes about Barry…
With the rail strike closing everything down, we had to drive back to London a day early and stay overnight near St Pancras, before spending a last two nights in Paris. Our trip home was memorable for two reasons: I came down with a stomach virus the day we left, which was not what you need on a three-leg, 28-hour plane trip; and Qantas cancelled the premium economy seats for the Singapore to Sydney leg without notice or compensation. It will be a long time until we trusted them…
Fri, 11 Nov
| Date | Activities | Food and accommodation |
|---|---|---|
| Fri, 28 Oct | Drive from Shepton Mallett to Bakewell | Millstream Mews Smiths Lane, Bakewell Lovage by Lee Smith, Bath Street, Bakewell |
| Sat, 29 Oct | Brewery Tour, Riverside Brewery, Buxton Rd, Bakewell | Millstream Mews, Smiths Lane, Bakewell |
| Sun, 30 Oct | Tour of Chatsworth House | Millstream Mews, Smiths Lane, Bakewell Lunch at The Cavendish, Chatsworth House |
| Mon, 31 Oct | Monsal Trail Walk | Millstream Mews, Smiths Lane, Bakewell |
| Wed, 1 Nov | Millstream Mews, Smiths Lane, Bakewell | |
| Wed, 2 Nov | Drive from Bakewell to Caernarfon via Chester | Celtic Royal Hotel, Bangor Street, Caernarfon |
| Thu, 3 Nov | Caernarfon Castle Wine Tasting, Jabajak Vineyard | Jabajak Vineyard Restaurant Banc y Llain, Whitland, Wales Dinner at The Smythy, Jabajak Vineyard |
| Fri, 4 Nov | Touring Laugharne Dylan’s Walk | Flat 5, Pagent House, Barry Island, Vale of Glamorgan |
| Sat, 5 Nov | Tintern Abbey | Paget House, Barry Island |
| Sun, 6 Nov | Driving to London | Crowne Plaza London Kings Cross |
| Mon, 7 Nov | Eurostar 9024 – London St Pancras Int’l → Paris Gare du Nord | Hotel Ares Eiffel, 7 rue du Général de Larminat, 15th arr., Paris |
| Wed, 9 Nov | CDG → ZRH, LX 645 (SWISS), Terminal 2B9:45 pm GMT+1Arrive Zurich (ZRH)10:40 pm GMT+1, ZRH → SIN: LX 176 (SWISS), Thu, 10 Nov6:00 pm GMT+8Arrive Singapore (SIN)Terminal 3 | |
| Thu, 10 Nov | 8:05 pm GMT+8, SIN → SYD: QF 82 (Qantas) | |
| Fri, 11 Nov | 7:10 am AEDT Arrive Sydney (SYD)SYD → CBR, VA 640 (Virgin Australia) |
