Maudie

First and foremost a BIG thank you to all of you for your help and friendship in guiding me through the maze of planning and questions, and for putting my mind at rest for numerous bits and pieces of the planning. A special thanks also to Morgana (Yorkshire) and JuliaT (Cotswolds) - your knowledge helped me a great deal.


BACKGROUND: We are a married couple in our mid 50’s from Perth. This trip morphed a few times in the planning stages as all the best laid plans do. It started with Italy, Ireland and more UK for 8 weeks but a super cruise deal came up in October 2010, Perth to San Francisco then cruising back to Sydney on the P&O Oriana with an extension to see our DD in Whistler. We hadn’t seen her in two years – how could we pass this one up? That then depleted our bank balance as well as our annual leave.

We already had a booking at the Morgan Hotel in London for May 2012, so we knew our original plans would have to change, we would worry about Plan B when we got home.

The Early Bird Singapore Airlines fares for Europe came out on the day we left for Sydney; it was a good deal saving us 350AUD each so we held our breath, put the cursor on the purchase button, gulped and did the deed. Then off we went for 5 wonderful weeks, including a week spent with our DD in Whistler and Vancouver – can’t tell you how great that week was but I bet you can guess!

Lazy days on the ship gave us time to rethink our plans and consolidate Plan B down to 5 weeks, Unfortunately Italy was the casualty as well as Ireland – they’re both still on The Bucket List, we will get there someday. On our return we rebooked our week at the Morgan for two weeks later then set about booking the rest of our accommodation and sorting out our plans. In the end our holiday all came together wonderfully, we had an amazing time and wouldn’t change a thing.

We took two small cases roughly 21”, a backpack for DH and a computer/messenger bag for me. I also had a small Hedgren bag that fits my camera, purse, tissues, lip balm, hand wash etc. This was packed flat in the case for travelling. Didn’t do carry on as I prefer my own bathroom products and wanted enough to last 5 weeks. We do use packing cubes, one each fitted side by side in one case with other bits packed around them. The other case had our small packing cubes for underwear which fit again side by side in the mesh section on the lid. Toilet bags, shoes, laundry stuff etc filled the rest. We both wore our heavy hiking shoes, fleeces and coats on the plane. I use a large zip lock bag in my carry on with our iPods, my Kindle, his book, a pen and a little mesh purse for my liquids (the stuff that goes into my Hedgren bag for daily use), this goes into the seat pocket for our flights – works for us.

What follows is my journal that I wrote each day on my little Asus Eee PC, I hope you enjoy it.

Saturday – Travelling to London 21/05-/11

Left Perth on time at 1.10am, comfortable flight to Singapore. Spent 2.5 hours in Changi, time went quickly before the long flight to Heathrow, roughly 13.5 hours. Had the window and middle seats, bad idea as the guy next to us, although nice, spent most of the flight with the blanket over his head, which made it difficult to get out and have loo breaks. Food as usual was good but ran out of our 1st choice for lunch, we had to settle for a rather hot curry which included rings of green chilli! YIKES! But it was very nice and we both enjoyed it. Time seemed to go very slowly, we thought, last year’s trip to Vancouver which was even longer went quicker. We dozed on and off, really too tired to even read, just listened to the iPods and watched a couple of movies including the Boat that Rocked which was great. Quirky British humour – love it. The service was good with plenty of water, juice and snacks.

Arriving on time at 3.30 pm we went very quickly through customs, no questions apart from "are you here for a holiday", unlike last time when I got the 3rd degree. We did have to wait ages for the luggage to appear but at least both our little cases did come out. We negotiated the walk to the Tube station easily, having packed super light was a bonus as our cases are easily pulled or carried. Our Oyster cards were still valid, some 3 years later and showed a small balance so we just topped them up and went down to the tube.

Carriage was almost empty but as we got closer and closer to Central London it did fill up but nothing too bad - mostly families out and about on a Saturday afternoon going about their business. The Piccadilly line took us straight to Holborn Station, from there we easily found our way to the Morgan Hotel in Bloomsbury, though it is a bit disconcerting when you get out of the tube and don't really know which direction you are facing. Luckily London has plenty of “You are here” boards which do help a lot in getting your bearings.

At the Morgan had to ring a bell then enter when the door was unlocked. The manager just asked our name and quickly gave us our keys and said "up to room 209". So up we went 2 flights of stairs - again thank goodness for our small cases. Room is not big but suits us fine, 2 comfy chairs and small bathroom but very clean and also a nice firm bed. We are right next door to the British Museum and overlook a small leafy courtyard. After a quick unpack (read putting packing cubes in a drawer and hanging up tomorrow’s shirt) we took off with map in hand. We are very close of Covent Garden and had a pleasant wander around. Saw the actual markets and also the theatre were Priscilla is playing (which we hope to see). The weather is warm but soon cools down with a cold wind blowing. We ended up walking down to the Thames and saw the sun setting. Walked over the Jubilee Bridge and back again then back up to Covent Garden to Neales Yard and found a cosy little Italian restaurant. DH had a vegetarian Panini and I had minestrone soup washed done with a rather nice red wine, finishing off with a latte and a really nice chai latte for me. My watch on Perth time showed 3am, we had been on the go for nearly 48 hours. Quick walk back to our hotel, shower and bed. We were both asleep within seconds.

www.morganhotel.co.uk/

Sunday - Gardens and getting our bearings 22/05/2011

Up and showered then down stairs, 4 flights, to a pleasant breakfast room. Yoghurt, juice and fruit were set out then we were offered bacon, sausage, tomato, mushroom and a choice of eggs, we both had poached. Really enjoyed the bananas - also a choice of white or brown toast all washed down with a pot of tea for me and coffee for DH. As a side note on the bananas, our supplies were washed out in the floods earlier this year in Queensland and Carnarvon so what few bananas are available in the shops are very expensive – hence we made sure we had one everyday. It was like having a treat!

We headed back to Covent Gardens, Leicester Square and Trafalgar Sq, heard the bells ringing at St Martins in the Field and popped our heads in the door. We then headed to Admiralty Arch down the Mall, along the Birdcage to horse guards parade ground then through St James's Park to Buck house where we happened along the changing of the guards. We got a spot on the Queen Victoria Memorial right in front of the main gates. A lot of pomp and ceremony but a bit boring, although we did enjoy the bands. We wandered up Constitution Hill avoiding the horse droppings to Hyde Park corner then did a full circumnavigation of Hyde Park. We certainly left a bit of shoe rubber behind.

We headed to Lancaster Gate tube but somehow took a wrong turn so had to backtrack to Queensway then took a tube to Tottenham Court Rd. (Note: avoid this station at all costs as its being renovated, it’s a mess, from then on we used Holborn to get back to the hotel.) We were totally turned around when we got out of the Tube but finally figured out where we were. We walked down to Charing Cross National rail to get one day travel card for tomorrow. Wish we had thought of it this morning, would have saved ourselves a good hour at least. I put it down to lack of sleep! We wandered back to the hotel for a short rest, then went and had a couple of fortifying drinks at our local, The Museum Tavern. There had been a fairly cold wind blowing and it was getting colder so we went for a quick walk around the block and went to Tas next door to our hotel for a yummy dinner. It is a Turkish restaurant, very nice with linen tablecloths etc, we shared entrees, then I had Moussaka and DH had a lamb dish with along with a very enjoyable Chilean red wine. A quick walk up the street to settle dinner but the wind was so cold we headed back to the hotel.

Monday: Hampton Court Palace - 23/05/2011

Our off-peak travel card was valid after 9.30am, this allowed us all day travel out to Hampton Court Palace and back, pretty good bargain along with our 2-4-1 voucher for the Palace that I had printed before we left home. We had another good breakfast at the hotel, scrambled eggs this morning, yum! We decided to walk to Waterloo station, leaving the hotel at 9.00am we got to the station at 9.41 - train leaving at 9.42 from platform 2 - of course right at the other end. Anyway we made it as it was running 3 minutes late!! Train tracks all look the same, dirty and covered with graffiti, it was certainly true here. Seniors moment #1 - I remembered I had left our 2-4-1 vouchers back at the hotel - bugger! After a 30 minute journey we hopped off and followed the signs and people, over the Thames and into the gates. The size of the Palace and grounds was very impressive and much more beautiful that Buck House - King Henry V111 certainly knew what he was doing. Expecting to pay full price admission which was 15 pound each (!) I mentioned to the girl that we had vouchers but I had left them at the hotel she suggested we walk back to the station as they had pre-printed ones there we could use. YES! DH quickly walked back and grabbed one, we were very glad to save the money and it was well worth an extra 5 minute walk.

Their whole operation is very well done with lots of staff running around in costume giving talks and an audio guide that you could follow. We were half way into this when an alarm went off, everyone had to evacuate. The staff were excellent and the Yeomen used their King Henry voices and herded us out onto the forecourt, however we were only there about 10 minutes before we could go back in. The Palace is very opulent, must have been amazing in its day, how they build these things without modern machinery is mind blowing. I would have loved to have seen it all furnished - some of the remaining tapestries are just huge and cover entire walls. We particularly enjoyed looking up at all the chimneys and there were an awful lot! Can you imagine trying to heat a place like that in an English winter - well every room had at least one fireplace. But the amazing thing was that each chimney had a different pattern made with the bricks, some were crossed and some were spirals - hard to explain but pretty neat to look at.

We enjoyed the kitchens - just huge as you can imagine but very well organised. The roasting room had an enormous fireplace which was working; tended by two "servants" - you could just picture the huge animals being cooked on the spits - the heat must have been intense. The Royal Chapel was made entirely in oak with the most beautiful peacock blue ceiling painted with gold stars.

We rested our feet for a while and enjoyed a coffee in the Cafe then headed out into the gardens. We happily spent a couple of hours wandering around - the size and scale were fitting to match the size of the Palace. Shame some of the beds were empty, but spring was turning to summer so new planting was starting - would be a riot of colour and lovely to see. However the rose garden was in full bloom and the scent intoxicating. This was our first time seeing a formal garden of this kind, the work that goes into it is mind blowing. Again, how did they manage things of this scale in the 1500's???? Seniors moment #2 - I had brought along some embroidery to do and discovered on the plane I had not put in any needles - how dumb is that! Anyway as we were heading off to lunch we noticed a sign saying Royal Embroiderers Society - only open today between 1 and 2 - well it was 5 past 1 so in we went. The lady behind the counter very kindly found me a little packet of gold needles - understanding of my plight (sewing girls will relate to this!) I happily left with a lovely souvenir. (And truth be known, didn’t touch the sewing for the entire time we were away.)

We had lunch in the cafe then sat by the Thames and waited for a ferry to take us down to Kingston, pleasant 1/2 hour journey and interesting to see some canal boats still in use. Found the train station and happily rested our feet for the trip back into town.

We hopped off the train and onto the tube up to the Leicester Square, we were hoping to get tickets to Priscilla. TKTS booth is where they sell off all the unsold tickets to that nights theatre events, they show on a board what is on offer and luckily for us we managed to get tickets for 45 pound instead of 68 – we were happy. We walked back to our hotel for a rest, tried to get into our "local" for a meal but it was full so settled for a sandwich and fruit juice at Pret a Manger down the road.

We had dress circle seats in the theatre, four rows from the front, great view. The musical was as good as the film; they certainly did a super job of recreating the bus trip with a full size bus on the stage. Anyway it was fabulous, we sang and laughed and clapped till our hands hurt - and laughed and cringed some more at the accents. It was pretty funny listening to some of the actors trying to flatten out their vowels. We weren’t really sure if everyone “got” some of the jokes as we found ourselves laughing when most other people were quiet. Aussies have a pretty weird sense of humour. Everyone swarmed out onto the street singing and smiling, all in a happy mood and taking photos in front of the theatre and that pink shoe! We timed our walk back to the hotel - 8 minutes at a brisk pace. Again, we are so happy with our hotel, we can walk anywhere from here. You might have guessed by now – we love walking.

There has been a very strong wind blowing (hoping it doesn't blow the volcano ash our way!!), at times it almost knocks you over. The worst thing is the blossom falling from the trees, it gets in your throat and eyes. We did notice last night that there wasn't as much falling - I think It’s all blown off onto the street by now. So far no rain - fingers crossed.

Tuesday - St Paul’s and the British Museum 24/05/2011

After breakfast we decided to walk to St Paul’s, which is a fair distance I can tell you after the event! Mainly because we keep getting off our path to see things down an alley or lane that takes our fancy we then have to get back on track. We finally make it and parked ourselves in a coffee shop using a voucher I had found on the internet to get one 1/2 price. Every little bit helps! We were joining a tour by the London Walks tour group. They use actors, historians etc and professionally qualified Blue Badge Guides - the best you can get. And yes, I managed to get DH to agree to doing it!!

We met Mary outside St Paul’s tube, paid our fee of 8 pound each and discounted entry - bargain for over 2 hours worth and her knowledge. There is no pre-booking, you just show up, luckily there were only 15 people so it was very manageable. Mary started by telling us some history of the area and about the original St Paul’s, was all very interesting. We then walked around the front and learnt about Christopher Wren and the design. We went in and bypassed all the queues then we walked to different areas while Mary described the building and all that it contained. We were fairly blown away by the size of it, the ceiling is stunning and the colours are so beautiful. I was looking at it all with the eyes of a patchwork quilter! I could feel myself designing a quilt using those rich colours. So much to take in and so much history. It really is much more than a church. The crypt was a treasure trove of famous names.

At the end of the tour Mary took us to the stairs heading up to the Whispering gallery, which is the first level and said farewell. Most of us went up and up and up the circular stairs, all 257 of them. The view down into the main church was made all the more interesting as a service was taking place. We then went up a very narrow stone set of 119 steps, this was a bit claustrophobic! Outside onto the Stone Gallery for an amazing view over London, next was the final set of circular iron stairs. A bit scary as you could see all the way down below and only a small handrail but you could see the inside brick cone that holds up the outer dome. We had seen a TV show on how St Paul’s was made so it was interesting to see it in real life. We popped out on the very top called the Golden Gallery, a total of 528 steps from the start. Not a lot of room to move so we did a circumnavigation then started the descent which was a lot easier than going up!!

We grabbed some water, sandwich, fruit and continued our journey. Found Postmans Park which has a wall dedicated to ordinary people who have died while trying to save the life of another. There are lovely old tiles that tell the story, most dating back to the 1800's. Onwards to the original old London Town, passed the Bank of England's very Romanesque facade, so much history here and wonderful street names like Pudding Lane, Poultry Street and Threadneedle Street. We found Leadenhall Markets and finally came to rest at Monument. There was no way we were going to climb it so after a rest we headed to the tube and back to Holborn. We spent about 2 hours at the British Museum but there is so much to see it needs to be done in a couple of visits. We were wilting badly and both had sore feet so the only thing to do was to head over the road to our "local" for a pint and a scrumpy for me then headed home to rest up for tonight’s visit to the Tower of London.

We really needed to eat some veggies so thought we would try Wagamama just down the road - well it was pretty expensive and didn't fulfil our expectations. . . .but you live and learn. We walked off dinner but really wasn't much to walk off with a wander down to the Thames. We watched the sunset over Big Ben and walked over the Jubilee Bridge and back then caught the tube to Tower then walked down to the Tower of London. The Ceremony of the Keys is held each night - well each night for the last 700 odd years to lock up the Tower and Crown Jewels. You have to apply in writing months in advance and you are sent tickets if lucky enough as there are only about 30 tickets issued. At 9.30pm a yeoman lets you into the Tower, bag search etc then we were led down to a spot where we were told not to take photos, talk etc. Just had to stand and observe, anyway It’s all a bit of pomp and circumstance but good fun. At exactly 5 1/2 minutes to 10pm a small group of Scottish guards come forward carrying a lantern and the keys, all dressed up in the red uniforms and big furry hats. Halt, who goes there etc, they swap the keys, bless the Queen; we all have to say Amen. Then the last post is played and it’s all over as the bell peels 10. We are then ushered out the door and into the night, good fun and it was free. We also got to see the Tower lit up and the Tower Bridge which was pretty speccy.

We decided to tube it back to Westminster so we could see Big Ben and Parliament House lit up then a brisk 30 minute walk home by just on midnight. There is no way we would catch the train at home or walk around Perth at that time of night but here we feel perfectly safe for some reason.

Maudie

Oops, sorry for screaming at you. Just realised I had used capitals on the title.

aussiedreamer

Hi Maudie, what a great read, I think we were there at the same time? Did we not realise that in the planning? Looking forward to more.
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Maudie

Hi Aussie, I have been reading yours too! Guess we didn't, though I knew you were going but I wasn't aware of the dates. That was silly wasn't it!

farrermog

Enjoying this very much, thanks Maudie.

cathies

What a great start, I'm looking to reading more.

irishface

Can't wait to hear the rest of the story!

julia_t

Oh Maudie, I'm pleased to see this, and read it too! It's a lovely trip report. Please continue with it.

I remember more than a year ago when you booked your Cotswold cottage and we agreed to meet, and then we actually fixed a date and time to meet - 2 weeks ago this evening - and I was looking forward to it! Then unexpectedly I had to cancel but you never got my email and you sat there thinking you'd been stood up! I'm sorry, I feel bad about that, but you now know why, and I couldn't have done anything differently.

But no doubt you will come to that as your report progresses, and I look forward to reading the rest of it.

aussie_10

Hi Maudie
Loving your trip report. We love to walk a lot too.
We will be back in London & Paris this Sept/Oct. We spent 5 nights in the Cotswolds last trip and loved it.
Looking forward to reading more.

Maudie

Thanks for your feedback everyone, glad you are enjoying it.

Hi Julia, oh please don't feel bad about our "date" at the pub, we were more worried that something had happened to you. We didn't feel that you had stood us up at all.

aussie - wish we had met up for a drink, that would have been fun. Lucky you going back again so quickly, I thought you were planning Italy?

Here we go again:

Wednesday - Tower of London and lots more walking 25/05/2011

This morning we braved peak hour on the tube to get to the Tower again to see it all by daylight, luckily we seemed to be going against the crowd but the masses of people using the tube were amazing, scary! We had to stop ourselves from getting sucked along in the wrong direction. We survived and were able to use another 2-4-1 voucher (bought the cheapest train ticket to qualify), saving ourselves well over 10 pound. I thought the Tower was just the home of the Crown Jewels and had some ruins in it, but it’s far more than that. There was so much to see, ramparts to walk around, displays and best of all the jewels - WOW. It was worth going just to see them. There must be billions of pounds worth of goodies in there - no wonder they have to lock it down at night. One crown originally had 1231 diamonds on it, none remained BUT they had put the same number of them around the crown just to show you what 1231 looked like - all with the kind permission of De Beers. Talk about sparkle, I would be happy with just one. Some of the stones used in other crowns were the size of small eggs - they could feed starving hordes for years if they sold them off. We were soon wilting after all that and needed a coffee break. Best day weather wise today, the strong wind dropped, the sky is blue and the sun is shining.

Next on the agenda was to visit the Tower Bridge Exhibition, which again we saved on with a voucher. We went up to the top level walkways and had a great view up each stretch of the Thames. There were lots of photos of the construction and a series of famous bridges from around the world which was really interesting. We then went down to the engine room to see all the workings, that was a bit boring for me but DH enjoyed it. Next up was a tube back to Temple to try and find the Temple Church, which was built by the Knights Templar - well we went round in circles and finally came across it. So many interesting places are down lanes and in behind modern buildings so you have to look hard for them. This beautiful little church was no exception, surrounded by buildings on all sides it just sits quietly in a small courtyard. The stained glass was very beautiful and the knights were all there laid out on the floor - how many people have trodden on this stone floor or sat on this bench???? It really does your head in; the history here in London is truly amazing and makes our visit so worthwhile.

Out onto Fleet Street and right before us is this HUGE old building and I mean HUGE! All domes and arches and majestic doorways - well we finally walked far enough down to read - The Royal Courts of Justice. What a magnificent building! As I was trying to get a photo in during a break in the traffic I noticed we were standing right in front of the Twining’s Tea Shop! This was on my list of places to visit and we just stumbled across it. The smell was divine - so many varieties to choose from, hard choice but I went for an assorted box of Green tea flavours, most I haven't seen at home. What a happy little vegemite I was! Further along we found Australia House and thought it was only right and fitting that we stop for a sandwich and rest right opposite it.

Onwards we went until we reached Trafalgar Square and the British Art Gallery, our mission here is to find room 43 and Monet's Waterlilies, well all I could do was to sit and gaze in wonder at it all. There were nearly a dozen of his works but the Lilly Pond is just so beautiful and those blues and greens are my favourite colours. We looked at a few other bits and pieces, some dude called Michelangelo too. Most of the works are not at all our taste and there is a very heavy sprinkling of religious paintings that we don’t care for. Out into the sunshine and sit on the steps along with half the population of greater London sunning themselves. A long slow walk back with sore feet and lo and behold our favourite watering hole appears. DH has started at one end of the beer selection and is slowly working his way through it, I just enjoy my Strongbow Cider as it’s always nice and cold unlike some of the beer. Back to the hotel to rest our weary selves and think what we would like for dinner tonight - it sure won't be Wagamama!

We decided to try and find Carluccio's in the Brunswick shopping area. Carluccio had a TV show that we had watched a few years ago on Italian food and also one he did in Australia so it seemed like a good bet. A couple of streets were blocked off so that threw us off the scent for a while but we managed to get there in the end. There is just a huge amount of building and construction going on here in London as it readies itself for the 2012 Olympic Games. Back to the restaurant - it was fairly bustling but managed to get a table for 2 inside as it was cold and windy out. We shared Courgette and Gorgonzola soup and cheesy garlic bread - great start to the meal as it was yummy! We picked a bottle of Italian red wine from Montepulciano in Umbria, excellent choice at 14 pound which we thought was good value for such a nice wine. Wish we could take a crate home. Next up we had the special, Seafood Risotto, very very good then splurged with a Raspberry Mascarpone tart, I almost licked the plate it was so good. DH had a baked Ricotta with lemon/lime syrup - which was just plain delightful all washed down with a latte (closet thing we can get to flat white).We strolled home and wondered if our DD had walked these same footpaths two years ago when she stayed in the area. We both slept very well!

THURSDAY - WESTMINSTER, SOUTHBANK AND SHOPPING 26/05/2011

Rain forecast today but they haven't had any here for about 2 months so are quite happy to get some. At breakfast we planned our day starting with finding a shop called Cath Kidston, I was searching for a purse for a friend of mine to match a bag she had. It was only in Covent Gardens so it didn't take us long but we forgot that most shops don't open until 10 so we planned to return on our way home later in the day. Next up was Leicester Square to the TKTS booth, we wanted to see if we could get tickets to Jersey Boys tonight. Stood in a small queue for about 10 minutes until opening and chatted with a young couple from Oklahoma. They couldn't believe how long it took us to fly to London, it only took them 8 hours - we told them we were still on the ground in Singapore after 8 hours! They got tickets for Billy Elliott and we got ours, wished them a happy holiday and strolled down to Trafalgar Square.

Quick loo stop (one becomes particularly adept at finding loos whilst on holidays) at the National Gallery and we headed towards Big Ben. Barack Obama has been in town and yesterday the helicopters were circling the city but we think he has gone as It’s much quieter in the sky today. We walked down past Number 10, plenty of armed police around and barricades which we assumed was something to do with Obama's visit. Onwards to Westminster, this would have to be one of the busiest intersections around with Parliament House on one side and Westminster Abbey on the other. We did the usual gawking at the buildings then went over to the Abbey - very long queues as it had been closed while Obama was in town - something about security as he was staying next door according to an American woman at breakfast this morning. Anyway we weren't going to part with 18 pound each just to see inside - as a passerby said a church is a church is a church. We had seen it on TV for THE wedding that was enough for us. We walked around outside and visited pretty little St Margaret’s next door for free.

We walked on to the end of Parliament House and into the park for a while then back over Westminster Bridge to see it from the other side. The clouds were gathering but no rain yet though the wind was chilly. We walked down Southbank in the Tower Bridge direction enjoying the sights but soon the heavens opened but luckily we were under cover - time to stop for a coffee. As we headed towards Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre we had a few more light showers but didn't get too wet. Our mission was to get to the Borough Food Markets for lunch. I was very disappointed to learn on Fodors just days before we left for our trip Kappacasein had moved from the markets – no gooey, cheesey toastie for us. Fresh food as well as cooked, the smell was amazing and so was the choice. Into our little bag went - a spelt roll, a piece of Spanish cheese, a small container of olives and half a Pork Pie. We found a place to sit undercover and had our little picnic. Reminded us of our last market picnic with DD in Vancouver. I found the pie too salty but thoroughly enjoyed the rest. Oh and we shared an Apple Strudel and thought of our son – anything with apple and cinnamon he is a sucker for - yum.

We realised the Tower Bridge was lifting at 2.15 so hightailed it back along the river to find a good viewing spot - oh I guess I forgot to mention the fresh raspberries that we grabbed on the way out of the markets? Well that was a nice snack to enjoy while we waited. Soon along came a motor yacht and the sirens sounded, traffic stopped and up she went. Great to see the Bridge in action. At this point we decided the clouds were getting very dark again so we found the closest tube at London Bridge, rode to Green Park and changed to Covent Garden. Found the Cath Kidston store again and made my purchases, note the plural. A quick detour into Marks & Spencer, found a pretty scarf but the price was ridiculous so left it there and we wandered the food court and found some salads and a mini bottle of wine to have at the hotel tonight before the theatre. Happy to have a rest now, its raining and we are having a nice thunderstorm as well so we are glad to be indoors at present.

We had our little picnic in our room, enjoyed getting some veggies into us. With coats and scarves on we did the 10 minute walk to the theatre - no sign of the earlier rain. Our seats were about 10 rows back to one side but still had a good view of the stage. We got chatting to the couple beside us, they asked us where we were from, turns out they were born and raised in Melbourne but moved to Calgary in 1969 - they had interesting accents! They were a lovely couple and we had a good chat with them, they were in London to visit the Chelsea Flower Show, along it seems like half the world’s population. Jersey Boys started and "Frankie Valli's" voice was amazing, he got right up there to the high notes - no problem at all. At intermission the four of us decided to move two rows down and into the middle as there were unused seats, we just got settled when there was a bit of a commotion behind us. A lot of people were taking photo's of a man that seemed to have a couple of "minders" around him, we looked at the guy but couldn't place him, thought he must be some local identity. The show finished with us up dancing and clapping, everyone was going crazy singing etc, such a good vibe just like the end of Priscilla. The lady we had been talking with looked at me and said "I think that guy is Frankie Valli" - "Yes I think you are right" I said but of course by that time he had been ushered out before the lights went up. On our way out the doorman confirmed our suspicions - how cool is that!!! We sat a couple of rows in front of Frankie Valli at Jersey Boys!!!!! Wonder what he thought of the show? We said farewell to our Melbourne/Canadian friends and walked back - too hyped up to sleep.

FRIDAY - OUR LAST FULL DAY IN LONDON 27/06/2011

Our plan today was to check out St Pancras for our Eurostar trip in the morning. We walked to Holborn tube and went through to St Pancras/Kings Cross. Such a huge station complex but plenty of signage so we easily found the check-in area were we skulked around watching people go through the barriers. At least we know what to expect tomorrow. We walked around St Pancras and did some window shopping and checked out the Champagne Bar - hhhmmmmm guess it will be a bit too early to imbibe in that in the morning.

Out of the station we headed into the British Library, I was surprised by the building - guess I was expecting a lovely old relic with some sort of amazing reading rooms but its just a modern ugly building. We used the loo - always, always take advantage of loo's when you can is my motto! We found the Manuscript Room which had some wonderful things in it - The Magna Carta, Jane Austen's writings, Beatles music, the original score of Handel’s Messiah, works by Shakespeare - what a treasure trove that room is.

Back over the road into Kings Cross station we walked for miles until we found the tube connection we wanted. For those of you that don't know the tube, there are quite a few different lines that run all over London, the large stations have lots of connections to the different lines. There are tunnels, stairs and escalators to get you where you want to go to, some of these run for ages which means a lot of walking to get you there. It’s hot and can be crowded but very efficient, the longest we have waited for a train is 3 minutes. There always seems to be a train on the way. We travelled to Warwick St and found our way to Little Venice on the canals, a very nice area to live in by the looks of the houses. Little Venice is like a lagoon where tourist canal boats are moored before plying the waterway to Camden Lock. We had a walking map so off we headed, no sitting back and enjoying the ride for us. The first area we came across was "the" place to moor your boat, very pretty with gardens etc but other parts were a bit tacky. The sky was overcast but no rain so it was pleasant walking, along past the ritzy houses on Regents Canal, past London Zoo until we made our way to Camden Lock. Luck would have it that there were two canal boats just going into the lock, one each way. We enjoyed watching them - one up and one down before they continued their journey.

We headed into the market to find something to eat - plenty of choice and it all smelled great. We did give the croc burgers and roo steaks a wide berth though. Food from all over the world, hard to pick but the Seafood Paella won me over and DH settled on a selection of Spanish chicken, lemon beans and potato cooked with chorizo, both were really nice! We resisted the beer urge too.

We re-traced our steps along the canal until we found the signpost to Regents Gardens, I had been looking forward to seeing this and it didn't disappoint. First stop was a nice hot coffee as that cold wind had sprung up again, the clouds seemed heavier but still no rain. Queen Mary's Rose Garden was just blooming into life, still a lot of buds but enough roses to make a pretty picture and the perfume was dancing in the air. Each bed has one variety and the rich colours were like jewels - I just couldn't pick a favourite. Wish I could have picked a couple of dozen stems to take back to our room. We spent plenty of time wandering in and out of the paths, finding special little spots, ponds, statues etc. Some of the beds are now empty which is a pity but others are bursting into life. We slowly made our way towards the main road, sorry to be leaving this quiet oasis in the middle of busy London. We sat down for a rest, just to savour the moment. Out into the traffic and noise - peak hour is starting to build, did a Monopoly Board walk almost along Marylebone, to Euston Road then down Gower which becomes Bloomsbury which is "our" street.

We went for a last pint or two at our local and decided to stay there for a meal. We ordered fish and chips which came with mushy peas - yuck why would you eat them! We both tried a mouthful and left the rest - can't see the point of mushing them up, DH reckons its because they stay on your fork easier! Meal was ok but nothing wonderful. We walked the long way home, then packed up, placing the packing cubes back in the case. I have learnt over the years, always put everything back in the same place because you know it fits!

We have been very lucky with the weather, it’s been cold at times and the first couple of days the wind ferocious but we didn't get drenched so all's good. Our hotel has been wonderful in terms of cleanliness, good hearty breakfasts, great position - nothing but praise and not a bad word to say. If we ever come this way again we will stay here in a heartbeat. We will leave the Morgan Hotel after breakfast around 8am, onwards to the next adventure


SATURDAY - WE HEAD FOR PARIS 28/06/2011

A final breakfast and pay the bill, say our farewells before we went out to hail a cab - didn't wait too long luckily as it was early and fairly deserted. Those black cabs are very roomy, wish they would introduce them at home, so much better than an ordinary car. We walked into St Pancras to a sea of people, unlike the few we saw the previous day. There were queues and queues of travellers so we just hopped onto the first one and waited in line. Turns out it’s a Bank holiday on Monday and end of term so every man and his dog were off to Paris or Paris Disney. So glad we had checked things out yesterday or it would have been pretty overwhelming to walk into that lot without knowing what we were doing. Our pre-printed tickets didn't work on the reader but the little French gentleman took us directly to a ticket booth and saw us through. Glad we took the suggestion on board of arriving early! We grabbed a coffee and before long we were boarding, in 2.15 hours we would be in Paris. We stored our luggage and found our seats, not a huge amount of leg room but enough. We plugged in our IPODS and settled back for the journey, time went quickly. The Chunnel itself only takes about 20 minutes to go through. DH went to the information desk and purchased our Carnets, little books of 10 tickets that are good on the buses and Metro. We were set to go.

Arrival at Gare Du Nord was a bit daunting - so we just went out the closest exit which luckily was near the front. The taxi queue was huge and getting longer by the second so we decided we would brave the bus. The crowds were huge, people everywhere - we thought London was busy! We saw some buses lining up so headed in that direction looking for number 54 (the entire time saying to ourselves Car 54, where are you - only oldies would know about that!!). Our bus came around the corner, there is no polite waiting in line here, its every man for himself. We watched a couple of people validate their tickets in a little machine so on we jumped, the bus was nearly full but somehow we managed to get on with our luggage. Everyone seemed to make room for us with plenty of Mercis, Bon Jours – wow – we were in Paris! We knew we had to get off at Blanche - and kept an eye out for the Moulin Rouge which is easy to spot on course. Saturday afternoon traffic was bumper to bumper and there seemed to be some sort of fracas going on with lots of police vehicles and cops wearing riot gear, no one seemed alarmed on the bus. Must be a day to day occurrence! We did learn that Obama is in town - he is following us.

Our stop came up on the overhead screen and we saw the Windmill - but you have to exit from the back of the bus and we were near the front – oh boy, but again everyone just helped us through and we found ourselves standing on the footpath heaving a sigh of relief. We found the little alley way called Cite de Veron and up we went - saw some people with suitcases who were also waiting to get in to No 7. We waited for a while as they said they couldn't raise the guy to let them in. They were a lovely family of 9 travelling together from Phoenix, Arizona. We had a nice chat with them and they were very interested in Australia and asked us lots of questions - most Americans can't believe how long it takes us to get to Europe. Turns out we waited at the wrong door! Senior moment #3. Anyway we found our doorway, rang the bell and a guy came out and quickly grabbed my case and took us though a door - had to punch in a code to get in then up one flight of spiral stairs (not too bad) and unlocked our little Parisian flat. It was as expected no surprises, thank goodness. Clean and a bit weirdly furnished but we knew that. He said the owner was out but would come by later. Any problems just come by and knock on the door of the flat below.

We did a quick bit of unpacking and looking in cupboards, fridge etc. Everything we needed. We decided to hit the supermarket for some supplies, did well with DH's school French to find some low fat milk, some yoghurt, some muesli sans sugar, wine, beer (all the important things) cheese, tomatoes, bananas (yes bananas again) and bread. Dropped it all in the flat and took off to get the bus down to the Seine. The bus stop was only a few minutes walk across the street which was great and of course by now we were experts at catching the bus.

We got off at the Louvre and wandered around, map in hand. It was a beautiful warm sunny day with a clear blue sky so that meant all the Parisians were out in the parks getting their gear off. We thought as first "what the hell are we doing here", so many people everywhere, tour buses by the hundreds, I was ready to run back to Montmartre and burrow down in our little flat. But we headed to the river and walked all the way along to the Eiffel tower, stopping here and there to look at things and just generally being tourists. We stood right underneath the Tower, there were huge lines of people waiting to get up the towers, we just took our photo's and tried to send a text to DD to tell her where we were but my phone didn’t have a signal. Really just wanted to make her jealous.

We walked back down to the river in the hope of getting a boat to Pont Neuf but they were all round trips so we just walked back on the opposite side from earlier. Lots of people were heading to the Tower with picnics and rugs, I guess to see it at sunset. Our plan was to take the Seine boat trip from Pont Neuf - also I had a voucher that I found online to get 2 Euro's off per person - why not! We had to wait for about 40 minutes so just sat with he crowd lining the river, lots of people having picnics and plenty of wine being consumed. There were even people sitting on blankets on all the bridges spanning the river having picnics.

We boarded the boat and did our circular trip, it was nice to sit back and relax and watch it all go by. We had some interesting commentary from a young lady who was learning the job, she was quite funny. We had the most beautiful sunset, the sky lit up with pinks and purples just as we were approaching Notre Dame, it was pretty spectacular and special. Well worth doing the trip, especially in the evening. Still can't get used to the sun going down around 10pm either!

We walked back over the bridge to where we thought the bus stop was only to see our bus #74 fly past us. We waited and waited, no more 74's, finally asked a young couple walking by and they told us to go over to another street as they are more frequent. We found the right stop but again waited and waited, by this time it was nearly 11.30, we thought give it 5 more minutes then we walk. But luckily for our tired feet one came around the corner - the bus was supposed to run every 16 minutes - we hadn't seen one in well over an hour. Again the Moulin Rouge was a stand out sign for us to get off - we crossed the road and got home safe and sound.

http://www.loftparis.fr/renting-montmartre/index.htm We stayed in the Suite

Now this place isn’t for everyone and I copped a tongue lashing on the forum for booking it but we really enjoyed staying in the 18th. Cite Veron is a small alley just past the Moulin Rouge, looks a bit dodgy and did smell of urine at times (there is a bar next to the MR so guess the guys can’t be bothered using the loo) but we felt very safe in our little flat. It looks the same as in the photo’s, no surprises and it was clean. We loved walking up LePic to do our shopping at the Boulangerie and mixing with the locals. Supermarket just nearby as well as the bus straight down to the Louvre. Also a Metro but we didn’t use it. Yes, it is busy all the time but there just seemed to be a vibe going on there that we enjoyed and it was great for people watching.


PARIS - SUNDAY MORE WALKING AND AN ELECTRIC BIKE TOUR 29/06/2011

We had a good sleep in, breakfast and washing done - ready to start the day. First stop was our local Boulangerie (baker/patisserie) and what a feast for the eyes that was!! Display cases of baguettes with all sorts of luscious fillings, lots of different pastries, then the cakes and tarts - where to begin. Sunday must be a big day as the choice was monumental, I thought they will never sell all this - we went back later in the day to get a tarte citron but there was next to nothing left. We saw lots of people walking around with cake boxes and huge bunches of flowers, maybe it’s visiting family day or something? We later found out that it was Mothers Day which would explain the huge selection of cakes. We purchased one of those custard tartes that DS had told us about and an almond pastry. Past a florist with a stunning array of flowers and plants, huge bunches of colourful flowers for 35E which is about $50, twice the size of what we get here for that price. And the best thing was the peonies which I love, I hardly ever see them at home and the few times I have they are top dollar. My hand was itching to buy a huge bunch for our little flat but alas they stayed where they were in the bucket. We sat on the seat right in front of the Moulin Rouge and ate our morning tea, it was warm and sunny with a light breeze blowing - does life get any better than this! Oh and the Almond Pastry was to die for along with the custard tarte.

Standing at the bus stop with the locals listening to the chatter, if only I knew what they were talking about! We really enjoyed using the buses, at times people spoke to us then switched to English when we shrugged our shoulders with a grin or helped us get off at the right stop, we found everyone so friendly. We hopped on the #68 bus down to the Louvre and walked through the Jardin des Tuileries along with all the Parisiennes enjoying their Sunday – it’s THE place to be seen. One thing that we dislike is the limestone like sand that all of the park walkways are paved in. It’s really dusty and coats your shoes and the bottom of your pants, when the wind blows or a mob walk past you feel like you're covered in it too. We entered L'Orangerie Museum, no queue we just walked straight in, which houses some of Monet's huge waterlily paintings. It was designed by Monet to display these paintings using natural light. The building has two huge oval shaped rooms with diffused skylights - the long walls are taken up with one long painting on each side and smaller ones on ends. The paintings just take your breath away, the colours and the sheer size of them are truly a sight to see. We just sat in silence and absorbed Monet's most loved paintings. I didn’t want to leave!

We checked out Place de la Concorde - a huge roundabout with lots of statues, fountains including the Obelisk of Luxor, cars and more cars. Also famous for the Le Tour De France when the cyclists do their final laps in Paris, we had seen this many times on TV now we were standing there looking at it! We sat for a while in the gardens then found our way to Place Vendome and met up with Milani who was taking us on our electric bike your of Paris - after seeing the traffic earlier we were having 2nd thoughts!! She showed us how to operate the bikes and we had a test drive, they go fairly fast with minimal peddling - yeah! We thought it was only the two of us on the English tour but a family group of 5 Americans from LA turned up about 15 minutes late – and they were so rude. I can't remember all the places we went to but 4 hours later we were cycling like the locals, cars give way to bikes - which in itself is amazing but we have to give way to pedestrians. It was fairly hairy at times but Milani took good care of us and we soon got used to being on the wrong side of the road. She showed us some really unusual things that most people wouldn't see, at times it was a little heavy on history but we had a great afternoon and a sore bum by the end of it. Still can’t believe we rode a bike around Paris on a Sunday afternoon. I have a great photo of our bikes parked at the Louvre – who would have thought we would ever do that!

Mrs America wouldn't listen to Milani but would then interrupt her and asked the very same questions that we had just been told. At one point she wandered off into a shop and we all had to waste time looking for her. She also managed to say 3 times in conversation that their son had just graduated from Yale – like who cares! He might have graduated but he couldn’t figure out know to use the stand on the bike. They really were the dreaded American tourists - we have met some really nice Americans and they don't like owing up to it - prefer to be called Canadians!! They really did spoil an enjoyable afternoon!!! And I felt very sorry for Milani – she was very patient.

We headed home for a nice cold beer - its great having our own fridge and supplies from the supermarket - ice cold Leffe beer that we first sampled in Brugge. It has been warm today 28, very unusual we were told. After freshening up we headed up the hill behind us to the heart of Montmartre to find food. The outdoor smoking is awful here and it puts us off, in the end we found a seat inside at a pizza place and ordered pizza and a nice big mixed salad. We love the 1/2 bottles of wine you can buy – it’s a great idea, we have had red wine from Chile and Italy, even the stuff from the supermarket was nice. No drain cleaner amongst them yet.

So ends another day.

farrermog

More good stuff from distinguished members of the Antipodean Walking Brigade. If only we could solve the sore feet problem.

Maudie

Why thank you very much, we are thrilled with our membership of the Brigade. And let me tell you there is plenty more walking to come.

We had well worn in hiking boots too!

Maudie

PARIS MONDAY - MORE MONET AND A LONG WAIT 30/05/2011

Up early this morning for a 15 minute walk to Gare St Lazare for 8.20am train to Vernon, no waiting at the ticket office and man that speaks perfect English sorted it out for us. We had a journey of roughly an hour then followed the crowd to the bus. No taxis anywhere to be seen. There were two bus loads going from the station to Giverny, we got on the first one and headed out for the short drive to the village. We were lucky enough to be there before the hordes descended - just! Paid for our tickets - through the gift shop(always through the gift shop) then we were in the garden. You can clearly see how Claude planted the garden in hues of colours - lots of purple shades, just stunning. The smell was divine, it just floated in the air all around me. I thought the hot weather may have taken it toll but it all seemed well watered and happy. We headed for the lily pond and had some quiet time there to just take it all in - managed to get our photo's on the Japanese bridge done without any trouble. Soon there would be a queue waiting. The lilies were flowering and you could pick up the colours that we saw in the museum yesterday. It wasn't hard to imagine old Claude there in his smock, painting at his easel. Everyone just stood or sat in hushed silence – it was almost like being inside a church. Only disappointment was that the wisteria had finished flowering but Mother Nature more than made up for it in other areas of the garden.

We ventured back into the garden area for a second look around then toured his pink and green painted house. It was well worth the effort to get there and so glad we did, big tick off the list that one! We walked around the very pretty village - beautiful old stone homes and buildings and the gardens and roses were in bloom everywhere you looked. We walked along the narrow Rue de Claude Monet (yes, he has the main street named after him). My research had given us a good place to try for lunch, the Hotel Baudy. Once a famous meeting place for artists. The Hotel was on one side of the road and on the other a garden cafe set under the trees with wrought iron tables and chairs, flowers blooming - just a perfect place to eat a nice lunch. We were going to treat ourselves today. We just sat down and picked up the menu - rain drops started. The waiters quickly ushered us inside the hotel - we were so disappointed. However we still had a great meal and washed it down with a glass of French Champers - yum! We went for the set menu as there was just too much to choose from. I had a duck terrine, DH a cheese terrine - both very good but mine was the winner. Then I had salmon with Normandie sauce and rice, DH a lamb kebab, again both oh so nice. We followed up with home made creme caramel, just perfect.

The hotel boasts a delightful old rose garden so we wandered around there for a while, would be a lovely setting for a wedding. All too soon we headed back to the bus for the shuttle to the station. One bus filled up and took off to meet the train - the rest of us were just left standing there. No explanation - nothing. Time went by and then we all realised we had missed the train. Next one wasn't for another 2 hours. If we went back into Giverny and came back for another bus - would the same thing happen? We all decided to wait and finally another bus came - again no explanation or apology. We boarded the bus and were dropped at the station with nearly a 2 hour wait. Total waste of time - we could have been seeing the Luxembourg Gardens in back in Paris. We went for a walk but the rain came again so we went back to the station to wait. Only loo was one of the silver space ship things outside – a girl went in and came out dry retching. She said it was “the worst experience of my life”. Right then, only one solution for me, engage those pelvic floor muscles and clamp them for the next 3 hours or so.

Finally got back into the city and raced back to our flat. Made for a long but truly memorable day, so glad we did it.

A visit to our bakery for a baguette which we will have much later with cheese and tomatoes. If we have the willpower we may head up to see the sunset at the Sacre Coeur.

Energy returns so we walk up the hill of Montmartre behind our flat. Up Rue Lepic up and up until we find the lively area full of bistros, bars and restaurants. Lots of people out walking enjoying the warm evening. We made it to Sacre Coeur – this is a huge church sitting up on the hill with a view over all of Paris. Lots and lots of young people enjoying the atmosphere, music playing and cameras going off everywhere. The church itself is huge and pretty speccy but plays 2nd fiddle to the view. The steps are lined with people, you can hardly move but we did the photo op then moved on around a corner and had an awesome view of the Eifel all lit up. It looked like it was floating above the skyline. We missed the twinkle mode that goes on at 9.55 each night as we were in the Diwali scarf shop doing some Euro damage - yes DD I got you one too! Some things in life are just more important than others. We made our way down, so many people sitting out in cafes, we can't believe how they all make money as there is a cafe nearly every 2 or 3 shops. Home for a good night’s sleep - no alarms in the morning. Though we were woken in the middle of the night by my phone going off - no message left, unknown number!!!

PARIS TUESDAY - TICKING THE FINAL THINGS OFF THE LIST 01/06/2011

Much cooler today with a pretty cold wind blowing - see I really did need that new scarf! We head up around the corner to visit our boulangerie, I just can't go past those almond pastries while DH has a sultana one - over the road to grab a Pistachio Macaroon and we head for the bus. Macaroons are sort of like a thin round pavlova all gooey in the middle with a filling sandwiched by another macaroon - they come in the most amazing flavours but pistachio is THE best.

We enjoy catching the bus as people speak to us and when they see the blank look they laugh, some speak to us in English, It’s just sort of like being accepted. We jumped off at Pont Neuf and walked around Ile de la Cite which is the bigger of the two islands in the middle of the Seine - this was the first place in Paris to be settled. I had printed off a self guided walking tour so off we went. We enjoyed all the little narrow streets and plaques with lots of history - the house were Madame Curie lived - lots of famous names. The forecourt of the Notre Dame was bathed in sunshine when we arrived - must have been a sign - so we sat and ate our pastries. The line to go in was huge and growing so we just walked around and enjoyed it from the outside. Many of the old buildings in Paris are dirty with years and years of grime, they would look so much better with a clean up and the Notre Dame is no exception. We have been into churches that are almost crumbled down but are still in constant use - they could be so beautiful with some care and money spent on them. One wonders how much longer they can exist before they fall apart. The builders must have been pretty good in their day!

Next we crossed over to the smaller island Ile St Louis and did the same. The main street that runs through the centre is a very fashionable shopping street, we only window shopped! Lots and lots of interesting buildings to see, more old signs to read - some of these places date back to 1600's. We decided to walk over to the Jardin du Luxembourg), it was a good stretch out for the legs. We grabbed a baguette with gammon and cheese - there is something about the bread here its so nice and very crusty which we love. Again the white dusty sand was used in all the walking areas. The lawn areas are not for using at all which we find very strange, they are just for show. All the parks have plenty of metal chairs that you can grab and move around - now that IS a good idea. We wandered around and watched some of the gardeners planting out a border of purple petunias; we then found the Fountain of the Medici's which was very pretty.

We walked back to the river and did another self guided walk of the Marais, another of the oldest parts in Paris that is fairly well preserved. Again we walked around and followed our notes from a guide book and just soaked it all up. Afternoon tea today was a Gelato, just had to have one before we left and it was worth it. We grabbed our bus and headed home - rested our feet as well as doing some packing before heading out to find a light meal. Walked around for a while and settled on a little place that had a nice menu - all the menu's are displayed outside so you can see what they offer. We both had onion soup, then I had beef burgundy and DH a cassolet of duck, white beans and something else I can't remember. We were sitting towards the back of the cafe (it was only very small) and thought it odd that I couldn't hear or smell any cooking going on - thought to myself "bet its all done in the microwave" and next thing I hear DING - sure enough out comes our soup - piping hot from the microwave!! The meal was nice enough but disappointing to know it was all pre-cooked.

We wandered around and enjoyed the lively atmosphere of the village before heading home for our final sleep in our little Paris flat. Did I tell you about the loo's here? Well they have these unisex toilette "boxes" (silver space ships) on the streets - from what I understand you shove your money in the coin slot, usually around 30 euro cents, go in and do your thing, then as you leave it cleans itself by showering water everywhere! Needless to say we both have excellent bladder control, no way was I using one of those things (ah la Vernon). Very few public toilets here apart from those so one has to be very selective. On our walk today I really really needed to go so we decided we would just have to go to Starbucks and buy a drink so we could use the loo. We went up to the loo, which you need a key to use, but it just happened to be open. So I dived in, DH followed and we sailed out the door - well almost ran out the door before anyone noticed us. Sneaky but you have to do these things!


PARIS TO YORK WEDNESDAY - A DAY ON RAILS 02/06/2011

We ate the remains of our yoghurt and muesli, did the final packing and made sure the flat was in order. Luckily we were able to securely store our luggage downstairs and went off for a walk around the village again to see it come alive in the morning. Everyone was out doing their shopping, butchers, fish, flowers, cheese, fruit & veg, it was interesting to see. We followed another walk that I had downloaded before we left, passing some of the most expensive houses in Monmartre. It was warm and sunny, a perfect way to end our Paris adventure - we even braved sitting at a cafe for coffee, mainly because no one was sitting outside which meant no cigarette smoke. Everyone here smokes like chimneys - they must all have a short life expectancy. It’s pretty gross and we held our breath a lot of times walking behind people. We even managed to get a latte which was fairly good and not too strong.

We made our way back to our boulangerie (notice a pattern here) and purchased some nice filled rolls to take on the train, brie and salad, chicken and salad. Oh and did I mention the pastry? - No? Well you can't leave without getting a final one - DH went for the Almond and I had a chocolate. Also picked up some cherries and raspberries. We sat on the seat in front of the Moulin Rouge again, ate our morning tea and people watched until it was time to collect our luggage. We jumped on the number 54 in the direction of Gare du Nord, again it was packed but everyone made room for us and our cases. When got off we were a bit bamboozled as we didn't recognise anything but noticed some people walking with cases so we just followed them, rounded a corner and there was the station!

Check in went easily and we sat and waited for boarding. We had seats with a table in the middle and then seats facing us, luckily no one got on until Lille so we could stretch out for a while. We ate our yummy bagettes and shared a bottle of Orangina (DD told us we HAD to try it), it’s sort of like a fizzy orange juice drink - not like Fanta though. My Kindle has been just brilliant, I have read 2 books so far and still have a couple on it before I need to buy new ones. As yet I haven't had to charge it. DH has his Sudoku and crosswords so we happily pass the time with a bit of dozing as well.

We changed over from St Pancras to Kings Cross - just an underground walk (read long walk). Cashed in our Oyster cards this time, who knows when we might get back – there is still so much to see in Europe. We got back the 3 pound deposit plus any remaining funds - about 10 pound all up. Next we had to get our tickets to York, we had pre-booked them but had to get printed tickets. A grumpy dude at one of the ticket desks told us to use the machine and pointed to a bank of machines but when we put in the credit card it wouldn't read it. We then had to walk to another desk and wait in a long queue but luckily a guy was wandering up and down, we stuck our piece of paper under his nose and he very nicely took us to another bank of machines, wiped the card on his sleeve and voila, out came our tickets! PHEW, as time was marching on we went into the departure hall and only waited a few minutes until our train number showed track 4. We boarded and found our reserved seats and settled back for the ride, roughly 2 1/2 hour trip. Again the iPods and kindle had a workout while we watched the green fields whiz by.

Arriving in York we easily followed the map to our B&B Abbeyfields by using the old Roman walls as our guide. Our delightful host, Les met us and filled us in on the workings, took our order for breakfast and showed us to your lovely room, luckily only up one flight of stairs. The house smells so nice and it’s squeaky clean. Our room overlooks a leafy park, we have a beautiful old iron bed with really good quality linens, soft fluffy towels, a kettle with a choice of teas/coffees etc including Horlicks!! Oh and even a perfect white rose on the dressing table. At 78 pound a night, we are more than happy.

Our first impressions of York are good as we walk through the gardens of the Yorkshire Museum, a shortcut from the B&B. Green everywhere we look, delightful planted borders of roses and pansies, huge trees, squirrels and the ruins of St Marys Abbey - almost ghost like in the fading light. And above all else is the huge York Minster - much bigger than I thought - it just dominates the skyline. Les had given us a recommendation for a cafe that served good food with plenty of veg so after a walk around the old streets we dived in for much needed food.

Concerto Cafe was a great find and suited us down to the ground. The tables were made from old Singer sewing machines so I just knew I was going to like this place. DH had slow cooked pork belly with apricot stuffing and potato rosti and lots of mixed fresh veg while I had an Angus beef cottage pie and the same veggies. We both thoroughly enjoyed our meal, washing it down with a Yorkshire Terrier beer for DH and a glass of rose for me. DH spotted a bread and butter pudding in the dessert cabinet (own son would have been smacking too). I had the creamiest Creme Brulee I have ever eaten with fresh raspberries in the bottom - the tartness setting off the Brulee to perfection! I could have eaten two! We rolled out and walked the long way home as the shortcut is closed at 8pm each night. We fell into bed - it had been a long day.


http://www.abbeyfields.co.uk/index.html
Lovely hosts, very clean, good breakfast and a short walk into the main shopping area.

cathies

What a lovely report! Can I offer a suggestion for those sore, walking feet? I try to soak mine each day in ICED water. Usually hotel housekeeping can provide it or if we are renting an apartment or flat we pop a jug of water in the fridge before heading out for the day. It hurts like the devil but it's worth it. I also try to change shoes at some point in the day so that the pressure points are changed. They still hurt but it helps a little.

scotlib

Following your adventure, Maudie, and really enjoying the trip report! Thanks for writing and bringing me "along."

Cheers.

annhig

ttt 4 later

Maudie

cathies, thanks for the suggestion. I never thought of doing that. I did have a change of shoes and yes it sure did help, well worth taking a second lighter pair.

Thanks, scotlib. Glad you are there with me, I'm enjoying reliving it, its so easy to forget everything you have seen and done. I just hope I'm not rambling on too much but then I guess you can just stop reading.

As for the bread and butter dessert - that should read, our son would have been smacking his lips too!

Maudie

YORK THURSDAY - WALLS, WALKS AND SHAMBLES 03/06/2011

After dinner last night I didn't think I would be able to eat again for a week but we followed the scent of baking bread downstairs just after 8am to a pretty dining room set with about 10 tables. In an ante room was a huge big old table filled with 6 different kinds of cereals and muesli, milk, yoghurt (I had Canadian Blueberry), fruit salad and 3 different kinds of hot bread.

We met Les' husband Al who does the cooking, while she served us up plunger coffee (YES!!!) and got us settled. The hot dishes came out, bacon, a poached egg, mushrooms, a Yorkshire sausage and tomatoes. DH even managed a piece of Malthouse toast with the mother in law’s marmalade on it. What a feast, I told him to enjoy it as when we get to our house in Ampleforth it will be back to basics.

We walked down to the river and watched some narrow boats (and boy, are they narrow). Les had recommended that we do a free 2 hour walk run by local guides so we met them at the Arts Centre. Up walks a lady in the exact same top as me - we had a good laugh, they were from NZ but she was originally from the next suburb to us and her sister lived in quite near us a few years ago. And she purchased her top from the same shop as me!! How's that for a coincidence? There were 2 guides working so we split into two groups of 10 which was great and off we went.

We learnt the history of the Abbey ruins - Henry VIII wrecked it along with almost every other decent abbey we saw and had all the heads knocked off the statues. There is so much Roman history here it’s just fascinating but then of course first were the Danish Vikings. We walked along two corners of the original wall, managed to peer into some incredible gardens in the process. Our guide took us all over the place mixing history with some funny anecdotes. We went into an old Norman church as old as the hills, walked down the Shambles which is a shopping street with all the original buildings but now of course filled with Pandora shops etc etc. It’s very narrow and used to be the butchers’ street. Google it if you are interested. The walk was thoroughly entertaining and gave us a good background of York. One of its names used to be Eboracum which was the name of the Yew tree, then the Danes called it something in Danish that meant Yew tree which then developed in York.

We then wandered by ourselves checking out all sorts of places, walking the rest of the walls, visiting the Minster, did I mention how big it is???? At one point we sat in the gardens and ate our cherries and raspberries that came with us from Paris - that was our lunch. The York Train Museum was interesting as well as the Yorkshire Museum. We looked at lots of places for dinner but went back to Concerto, this time we shared a tasting plate of olives, hummus, pita bread and roasted tomatoes. DH had the slow cooked lamb shank and I had an entree serving of leek and gruyere tart with fresh salad, again washed down with the nice house rose. We had a good coffee latte to finish. We wandered back by the river and sat in the park to watch the squirrels and listen to the church bells going crazy. We think it was in celebration of the Queen’s birthday and York is one of only a handful of places that really recognise it. The churches seemed to be taking it in turns to ring the bells as they were peeling from all different directions - it was something that we don't hear at home. Sitting with our feet up resting in the B&B we can still hear the bells going in the distance.

AMPLEFORTH IN THE YORKSHIRE MOORS FRIDAY - OUR HOME FOR A WEEK AND SOMEONE HAS MADE THEMSELVES AT HOME 04/06/2011

This morning’s breakfast was fruit salad, full of things that are now out of season at home, local yoghurt - plum for DH, raspberry for me. However when we read the label it was yoghurt mixed with whipped Yorkshire cream - no wonder it tasted so nice! Les served us up a thick round of barley toast topped with scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, a nice change from the Full Yorkshire we had yesterday and much lighter. We packed our gear up - we are getting good at doing this and it’s much easier to travel light than heavy! We both still have a few things we haven't worn yet. Using the packing cubes makes things so simple, they are certainly worth using and ours have had plenty of use.

DH went off to pick up our hire car from the station while I chatted with our hosts. Al told me the trees have only had their leaves on for about 3 weeks, previous to that you could see the Minster from the breakfast room and I am guessing some snow in the winter too. DH pulls up with a nice blue Ford Focus that still smells new. We load up our bags and say farewell to Les and Al, hugs and kisses. Now the fun begins - we turn on our SatNav and plug in Castle Howard which will be our stop on the way to Ampleforth. Nifty Nev the Navigator (the woman’s voice was painful to listen to) gets us going out of York then somehow I touched the screen and off it went - yikes! We were on a busy-ish road so just turned down the next street we came to and pulled over. Having got Nifty Nev back on track we found we had actually taken a short cut. DH got used to the fact that the indicators and wipers are on opposite sides to our car at home and off we sailed. I chatted with Nev but he doesn't answer - typical man.

We made our way easily to the Castle, parked under a shady tree, took a good look at the car so we would remember it and went in to see the gardens. Now this place is some "pile", the "house" is huge and the grounds enormous. The upkeep must be staggering but I guess by letting the gawking public like us in is how they pay for it. We spent some time in the walled rose garden - some were flowering and some in full bud. Today the temp got to 26C so I guess they might be all flowering soon. The weather is much warmer than we expected, the week before we left it was around 18. There appears to be no reticulation system and some of the plants were wilting, they haven't had much rain here either but at least its greener than home.

We wandered the rest of the grounds, huge lakes, a wilderness garden, ponds, statues etc then sat in the shade to rest and rehydrate.

Our next mission was to get to Ampleforth which was about a 15-20 minute drive, we only went around the roundabout outside the Castle twice - Nev kept insisting - turn right, turn right, luckily no one was around. We both told Nev to cool it, got on the right road and with Nev behaving himself we arrived safe and sound at Hillside Cottage. DH insists that his blood pressure is ok and his underwear clean. Sue, our host, was out in her garden and what a garden it is! She belongs to the local garden society and it shows. A lovely lady about our age, they retired here about 4 years ago, purchased an old run down stone cottage, did it up and re-planted the garden. Our part of the cottage is at right angles to theirs and completely separate though we can use her laundry through a door in our kitchen. The house is super spotless and has everything we could want, including our own patio and use of the garden, a bargain at 70 pounds a night.

We have a small entry hall, up stairs to the main room and a spare room, down to the bathroom, through to the sitting room then down a few steps to the kitchen and table area. This in turn has French doors to a small patio area which then looks out into the back garden, through the back fence to a sheep paddock then onto the woods. The front has sweeping views across undulating farm land in a patchwork of green and bordered by hedgerows.

DH, Nifty Nev and I took off to Helmsley to do some food shopping and have a quick look around. We just missed the produce market being a Friday which is a shame. This is the nearest bigger village but still not huge. The whole area is so quaint - stone houses are so pretty. Back at home we unload then go and sit outside in the late afternoon sun. Sue's husband John comes home so we all have a good chat while wandering the garden. He is very proud of the vegie garden and tells us to help ourselves, great! We got two loads to washing done, nice to have almost all clean clothes. Had a nice dinner of a steak pie from the local bakery with carrots, broccoli and salad.

One of the great things in the house is a warm towel rack - man would I love one of them! Switch it on and it stays hot for 2 hours - its doing a nice job of drying the socks and underwear! Hate to think of how much electricity it uses though.

I had a feeling Sue was a cat person from some of the little knick knacks around the house and before we knew it we had a little visitor come by. Maisey the black cat came right inside, meowed and let me have a good pat then disappeared. DH found her fast asleep on the spare bed on his polar fleece vest - the same one our cat loves! Now we feel right at home. DH is a happy man as he found a whole shelf of books.


AMPLEFORTH SATURDAY - THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKING 05/06/2011

What a joy to have a king-size bed! No alarms today, we can sleep in and take our time. Over night Maisey had left us a gift on the door step - a pretty little bullfinch, what a shame. Sue and I buried it in her garden and gave the little black puss a stern talking to. After breakfast on the patio we made plans to follow a walk around Ampleforth from a book John had lent us. The earlier sun had disappeared and it looked like rain so we grabbed our jackets, some water and the brollies, and off we went.

We had to find the public footpath between the White Horse Inn and the phone box, first mission accomplished. The first mile (yes, we have to think in miles again) was very steep so we huffed and puffed until we came to our first stile. Over we went, then had a chance to stop and look at the views. We were looking towards the Howardian Hills, it was very pretty and filled with fields of wheat waving in the breeze as well as the golden yellow of rapeseed. The public footpaths are like a spiders web criss-crossing the country - one minute you are going right through a farmer’s field, skirting a pile of cow dung or walking up beside someone’s house. They are pretty well sign posted too. We were partly following the public paths and the North Yorkshire walking routes. Anyway we didn't get lost and saw some very pretty scenery up behind the village. All in all it took us about 2 1/2 hours - I thought of it as walking off the pastries we had in Paris.

It’s great having our own space and we quickly made up salad sandwiches with John's rocket from the garden and sat outside again but the wind was fairly biting so we hightailed it back inside. We sat and pored over more maps and books then decided to walk around the village and see what we could find. It’s very small and sleepy, full of stone cottages with roses climbing the walls; all the houses have cute names too. We found a general store, 2 pubs and a fish and chip shop - that's it! However there is a massive school here called the Ampleforth College (DUH!) - Its famous all over the UK and was founded years and years ago. There are acres of rugby fields - we lost count of them, cricket pitches, tennis courts - some serious money here. As school is out we wandered all over having a good look. Very impressive stone buildings and some ugly modern things too which we think is the accommodation.

We walked and walked for nearly 3 hours and most of it was on their land which included a nature reserve, lake, wheat farms and a wood mill - we are guessing it all helps the coffers. We dragged ourselves into the White Horse pub for a pick me up, they had the heaters on and we nearly died from heat stroke. We peeled off some layers and enjoyed a drink while we watched the Epsom Derby. The Queen’s horse got 3rd - she was not amused, beaten by a young French jockey who waved the French flag - you could almost hear her saying "orff with his head"!

We staggered up the hill (it isn't called Hillside Cottage for nothing) to home. We have some salmon to cook for dinner and will see what we can find in the veggie garden to go with it. Our hot day yesterday has now turned into an overcast chilly evening - may have to crack the heater on or go stand in the bathroom and drape myself over the heated towel rail. Maybe I will still get to use that thermal top I have been carrying around. Can someone please send my ugg boots - I miss them.

Sue and John have gone to spend the night in York with their son and I have just seen Maisey fly down the side of the house with something in her mouth. She dived in through the catflap and there was a loud crash! Goodness knows what she is playing with - either a bird or mouse, I couldn't see. Hope Sue doesn't come home to a mess!


AMPLEFORTH SUNDAY - FOUNTAINS ABBEY & STUDLEY ROYAL 06/06/2011

Sky is looking overcast but no sign of rain, though we do get some patches of blue. We enjoy breakfast out on the patio - no sign of Maisey!

We decide to head to Ripon and check out the cathedral, wake Nev up and tell him where we want to go. After heading up a one way lane the wrong way we realised he expected us to come out of the driveway forwards and not backward - getting and our lefts and right mixed. Back up the hill and we are on track. DH is getting used to the narrow lanes and driving around cars that seem to just park everywhere and clog the streets so you have to wait until it’s clear or someone gives way to us. Not far down the road we came across a wheelbarrow day in a small village. All the houses had decorated wheelbarrows out the front of their houses - some had flowers, some had scarecrows - all manner of things, guess that's what they do on the first weekend of summer around these parts but it was very pretty to see.

Next up we came across a line up of tractors that looked like they were going on a rally, thank goodness we passed them before they took off. Nifty Nev was behaving himself and we made progress. Then along came a line of vintage cars, some really old ones and the people in the open ones must have been rather chilly. We found Ripon which, in parts, looked similar to York only on a smaller scale - very pretty. We found a free carpark and headed off towards the spire of the cathedral, lo and behold we walked right to a Sainsbury's (supermarket). We had a few things we needed to pick up so took advantage of the situation. In the cupboard at home we have a box of muesli, a jar of coffee and a jar of jam that we purchased on the first day. Other than that we have salt and pepper. We picked up salad dressing, some chutney, tissues, liquid soap, more fruit & veg and some packet pasta meals. You take for granted that you can just grab anything out of your cupboards at home - makes for some interesting creativity at meal times.

Shopping done we wandered to check out the cathedral, it’s fairly large and important in the area. Some of the memorial stones are interesting reading and the dates are daunting. Back to the car and we headed onto Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal - another UNESCO site to tick off our list. In a nutshell, while in York we would walk through a park containing the ruins of a church, St. Marys. The monks in York were a happy well fed lot but a small section of them thought they weren't being as loyal to the church as they should so they left to set up camp in the beautiful valley of the River Skell. They had a hard life but stuck with it and built the abbey in 1132. Good old Henry VIII ruined it in 1539 and it’s now the largest monastic ruins in the country. The then owners of the estate designed a spectacular Georgian water garden in the 1700's and it is little changed today. They used the deserted Abbey as an added attraction, its now been tidied up and looked after gaining World Heritage status in 1986 - end of history lesson.

We joined the Australian National Trust before we left and this gave us free entry to the site. The water gardens are formal geometric ponds and canals, lined with ancient trees and hedges, the sweeping views are stunning as is the size of the grounds. There is a circular path that you follow starting from up in the carpark that leads you down into the valley past the Abbey and onto the breathtaking sight of the water gardens. We walked to the garden first, it was so peaceful with the sound of running water, swans and waterlilies, secluded paths leading onto grand vistas that left us wondering what was around the next bend. We returned along a high path set half way up the valley floor and spent hours walking around the Abbey ruins. We thought St Mary’s in York was big but this is incredible - how did they have the vision to make this in the 1100's? We lost ourselves in passages, staircases and towers, trying to put it all into perspective. Fountains Mill was an engineering feat by the monks so they could mill corn and barley to make bread and which they could also trade. There was a short history timeline that you could follow and a model of how the site used to look. It was very well done. We spent a lot more time there than we had anticipated - we shared half a sandwich around 4pm - goes to show how immersed we were. On the way out we found all the vintage cars lined up - Fountains Abbey was the end of their rally.

We have had a very light shower of rain and a lovely tinge of pink in the clouds behind our cottage. Its 9.30 and still light, it’s hard to get used to! Some nights we read late into the night and forget the time, getting a shock when we look at the clock. Still no sign of Maisey today, she must know she is in the bad books.

AMPLEFORTH MONDAY - ROBIN HOOD'S BAY AND WHITBY 07/06/2011

Today’s plan was to head to the coast, we plugged Whitby into Nifty Nev and set off. Slowly getting used to the roads but this time he took us a different route - trust him! Onto the A170 then the scenic route through the Moors to Whitby on the A169. At first we went through some small villages and towns then hit the rugged landscape of the Moors, the heather is only just starting to flower - it must be an amazing sight when it’s all covered in purple, wish I could see it that way. The roads are good and we have no trouble, there are plenty of things to look at on the way.

Heading down into Whitby we could see the ruins of Whitby Abbey standing tall on the headland. This is the setting that Bram Stoker used in Dracula - and you can see why! We decide to head to Robin Hood's Bay first, some 6 miles further on. Nev is having kittens to we turn him off and rely on the human navigator (me), who got us there and parked at the top of the village. It’s a very steep downwards walk, no cars but the view along the coast is wonderful and the smell of the sea air refreshing. The tide is out and I mean OUT, leaving a delightful stretch of rocks and brown sand. Oh so different from our white sand beaches at home. But there are plenty of people out and about, its funny to see the little kids playing in the "sand" - we think to ourselves "if only you knew" but I guess for a lot of them its the only sand they ever see. The village is well reinforced from the sea - it must have a huge tide when it comes in.

We chatted with an elderly couple who had just come over from Keswick - our next destination - they have given up international travel and are now just concentrating on seeing the UK. He was in the RAF and has had enough of moving around and plus they don't like leaving their dear little dog anymore as he is old too. We walked along the beach to the next headland, the weather somewhat brisk and not much sun. RHB was a smugglers haven and the village is full of tiny streets and lanes, I could touch the walls with my arms out they are that small. This was done so the smugglers had lots of places to hide. We found a nice looking tearoom in a tiny lane and had tea, scones, jam and cream, warmed us right up. We spent some time exploring all the nooks and crannies, we could have stayed longer but had to move on.

The human navigator got us to the Abbey but we decided not to the pay the 7 pound each entrance fee as we could see it well enough from the carpark and didn't think it would live up to what we saw yesterday. We walked around the entire site and looked across the river to the main part of Whitby, the sun was trying to come out by this time and the wind dropped which was nice. Our parking ticket was up so I got us into Whitby and found the car park - again we fed the meter. That's three times today, a couple of pound each time. We walked along the river to the main part of town - it was very busy with family groups and tourists like us. All of a sudden DH stops and says "I don't have my wallet" - so I sat and waited while he hightailed it back to the car, luckily it was still there. This is the second time he has had a senior’s moment with his wallet, last time he left it on a seat in a railway station, a lady pointed it out to him when he got up to walk away. Sheesh!!!!!

We enjoyed watching the boats come and go, the seagulls here are huge, much bigger than home but still make the same squeal. We walked along the quay and decided to have fish and chips, every 2nd place sells them so we looked for a busy place and made our order. We had the choice of cod or haddock, the haddock was just coming out of the fryer so we chose that. We found a place along the pier and sat and enjoyed the fish, which was a generous portion to say the least. It was thick and juicy. The gulls were circling but we protected our lunch just hoping not to get pooped on. The morons next to us were feeding them so of course we were almost fighting them off. We live near Fremantle and do not feed seagulls as they are real pests. One thing we have noticed here, both times we have had fish and chips - is that the chips are not crisp. They seem to like them soggy - guess it goes with the mushy gooey peas!!!!

We continued our walk but the overall theme near the pier was of an amusement park, there were fun parlours etc just like side show valley at the Royal Show. It was pretty crappy but the people were flocking into the shops and rides. I think it is a place that a lot of people go to for holidays so has that holiday theme park atmosphere by the sea. We said hello to Captain Cook and slowly walked back to the car. It was time to head home which was going to take about an hour. The best thing about the long days is you can stay out and still drive home in daylight. By now the sun was shining and we had much more blue sky so got a whole different picture of the Moors. We turned off, much to Nev's dismay –“ u-turn, u-turn”, into Goathland which is Aidensfield of Heartbeat fame. We however didn't go into the town but tried to find a Roman Road that was supposed to be nearby however we couldn't find it. We hope to return to Goathland later in the week and will have a better look around then.

Back on the road we again headed for home and enjoyed the rolling hills and dales, dry stone walls, black faced sheep, found some heather about to burst into flower. Stopped in Helmsley for milk - we can even turn Nev off here now as we know the way to Ampleforth. We caught up with John who suggested a hike for us tomorrow but not sure of the weather at this stage. He said its cooler than normal for this time of year, its supposed to be summer but the weather is almost the same as our winter back home.

We sat in the fading sun in Sue's summer arbour and enjoyed some cheese and biscuits with a glass of red, Maisey decides to show her face for a pat leaving most of her malting fur on our pants. We are still full from lunch so some fruit salad will be dinner tonight. Ah life is good!


AMPLEFORTH TUESDAY - A VERY LONG WALK AND SOME RAIN 08/06/2011

We sat outside in the sun this morning as the wind was calm and had our breakfast listening to the birds chirping. DH has been studying the Pathfinder book that we found in the bookcase and decided to take John's advice and do the walk he suggested yesterday. Little did I know that it was in the "challenging" section of the book, 8 miles or 12.9 km's!

We parked and paid the appropriate fee, then set off following the directions, unbeknown to us we had parked in a different carpark than the guy who wrote the book - great 2 minutes in and we can't find the first sign. We followed a road and came across a marker for the Cleveland Way (a long distance walking path) near a gliding club, knew part of the walk skirted a gliding club and found our way to the correct path. Whew! We were standing on the summit of Sutton Bank with a panoramic view across the flat farming lands of the Vale of York with the Pennines in the distance. The land was all shades of green, like some one had thrown a patchwork quilt over the land. All the fields were irregular shapes with either hedgerows or dry stone walls marking them, hard to explain but a wonderful sight.

We followed the escarpment for about 1 1/2 miles before heading down into the valley below. The next 5 miles were like being on the Wild Mouse ride only we were walking it. We went up steep inclines and what goes up has to come down, we were gasping and panting getting up some of the hills only to find we had to go down again and see another steep path ahead. We followed roads, public footpaths, public bridleways - you name it. I guess it’s sort of like orienteering as there are so many public footpaths you have to make sure you take the right turn or pathway. We went along dark tracks were the trees and ferns were brushing our legs, exposed paths where the wind froze you but we had a great time with only a little minor complaining.

At one point we came down off yet another path and descended into a farmer’s field, the public footpath went right through the middle of his wheat field, then across in front of his house following a stream. Through a stile and into the cow paddock - watching out for all those fresh cow pats - out another stile, up the back of his property, over another stile to the road. The smell was yuck and we had to check our boots and rubbed them on the grass. I lost count of the number of stiles we walked through or went up and over. We only saw a handful of people the whole time.

We were close to finishing the worst part, which was getting back up to the escarpment when it started to sprinkle so we sheltered under some trees till it cleared. Finally at the top we had about 2 miles of following the path back along the escarpment to the starting point. Again the view was beautiful but there were big grey clouds rolling in and the wind was freezing - we were in view of the carpark when the heavens opened but ducked under a big tree. When it died down we high tailed it to the National Park complex. The rain came down steadily but soon cleared up. They haven't had rain here for about 8 weeks so it was very welcome. We were pretty cold so headed in the cafe for hot pumpkin soup and DH enjoyed a ploughman’s lunch. The Parks have great facilities here, good clean toilets, a great info centre with lots of pamphlets and local craft items as well as cafe's that sell really good meals for a reasonable price.

The rain cleared so we headed back to Helmsley for some bread and fruit. We had another shorter walk we wanted to do but the rain looked threatening again so we went home for a hot coffee and rest for an hour. It was dry as a bone here only 4 miles from Helmsley, but it soon thundered overhead and rained here too. Sue will be happy for her garden. The sun came out and we decided to do the 3 miles walk to Rievaulx Abbey ruins that we tried to do earlier. We walked for about 45 mins but again the black clouds rolled in and it was getting to be 7pm so we returned to the car just as the drops started.

We fired up Nifty Nev and drove to the ruins just so we could see them. The evening light was perfect - it lit up the beautiful stone work, we managed to see it easily from the fence even though the site was closed for the night. It really was a good time to view it. Similar ruins to the ones at Fountains Abbey and just as impressive looking. We may get back for a wander if time permits. Back home to scrub the boots and the end of another perfect day in the Moors.


AMPLEFORTH WEDNESDAY - MORE WALKING, SOME RAIN AND A HEDGEHOG 09/06/2011

We took off today for another walk from our trusty Pathfinder book, we could spent all day in the car but we prefer to walk and see things close up. The sky was blue, white, grey and black. Our destination was Hutton-le-Hole - don't know where they get some of these names from but there are some pearlers around. There were 3 couples all taking off for the walk at roughly the same time - some people come here for their holidays to walk or bring the dog to walk - its quite interesting talking to various people.

Today’s walk was 6 1/2 miles or 10.5 km's. Not as strenuous as yesterday but still a couple of steep uphills’ - we had no lasting effects from yesterday’s adventure! Important thing we found out was that sheep poo doesn't smell any where near as bad as cow poo. The sheep around these parts just seen to roam freely - they are everywhere and you have to be careful driving though they bolt when you get too close. We enjoyed the scenery as we had barren moors on one side and lush green farming land on the other.

We wandered into the town of Lastingham which had a really old Norman church in it, we even went down into the crypt - kind of spooky as we were the only people in the place! We walked by an older couple sitting taking Tiffin at the local pub, he had the blue blazer on and she had the twin set with pearls - their Landrover was parked nearby, we had a chuckle! This town was very pretty with some beautiful stone houses and gardens - a few for sale too especially a lovely one on the green. . . . . . .hmmmm.

We finished the walk dry even though the heavens seemed like they were going to open at any minute. We sat at The Crown pub, DH is continuing his assessment of the local beers while I enjoyed a gin and tonic - the tonic was served in a cute little bottle, just the correct portion. We headed back to the car and just hopped in when the drops started - talk about timing. Well it bucketed down, again huge big drops so we just sat it out. It cleared up into bright sunlight and blue skies within about 10 minutes so we headed off to find Yorkshire Lavender. Half way there the rain came again but our little blue Focus handled it well and so did the driver even during the thunder and lightening. The outside temp dropped to 13 then down to 10, but it was nice and cosy in the car. Nev wasn't any help and we knew it was near Castle Howard so we headed there and looked out for the brown tourist signs. We eventually found it and went inside the cafe for some homemade tomato soup with a roll. It was very good too. Out came the blue sky yet again so we walked around the lavender farm, some were out and some not but the smell was lovely.

Next stop was the Scampston Walled Garden, again we had trouble finding it. A lot of places say near Malton or near Pickering but don't give an actual street address which is annoying and useless for the satnav. We had a pleasant walk around the walled garden but probably a little too early for a lot of the plants. Blue is certainly the dominant colour here at present and in all shades. We then walked the grounds of the owners "pile", lake, white swans and all but the house was ugly as.

It was nice just driving around seeing what we could see but knowing that when it was time to head homewards Nifty Nev would get us back on track.

Back to Helmsley for a wander and window shop, we stubbled on The Oak pub in the Market Place so in we went for a quick sample. We grabbed some veggies and chicken breasts at the little corner market and headed home to rustle up some dinner. So far its stayed fine but there is dark clouds scudding past, hope they keep scudding so we have a fine day tomorrow.

texasbookworm

Wonderful! Brilliant! Keep going!

MissPrism

If you want white sand you need to go further North
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5953925...in/photostream

Mind you, rock pools are fun for children too