Saturday, 13 September 2014

We said goodbye to Veronica and the couple from Alberta and two women (one from Troy, OH) who where hiking. They made arrangements for their luggage to be transported from town to town while they walked. Veronica suggested avoiding Birmingham by staying away from Warwick. We fussed with the TomTom for a bit then decided to take the recommended route for a while, then look for something other than the motorway (read interstate).

Side bar. The TomTom has been great, especially with roundabouts. Tells you which direction you are headed and which exit to take off the rotary. Most of the time it works. Sometimes it’s hard to count the exits – like this afternoon. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

We had decided to skip Warwick Castle and head for Ironbridge. Rick Steves has an overnight there, but we were going to press on for Conwy in north Wales. I decided to follow the TomTom for while then enter a waypoint that was off the motorway. She got us to Kidderminster, then she decided there was a shortcut – back on the unnamed roads with no centerlines. Poor Michael.

There are several museums and other attractions at Ironbridge. Most of the historical re-enactment sites in the US are focused on Colonial times – Plymouth, Sturbridge Village, Jamestown, Williamsburg, etc. Ironbridge is focused on the Industrial Revolution. One museum is a Victorian village set on a site that produced pig iron back in the 1800s. There was a coal mine with iron ore and limestone deposits nearby. And a canal to transport goods to the sea. Perfect.

Some of the original equipment, including the ironworks, the blast furnaces, and the mine are still standing. There are re-enactors for the general store, print shop, candle maker, plasterer, blacksmith, chemist, etc. We walked into the general store. I was admiring the cash register – large and silver. The owner was very proud of it – it was a National cash register.  as in NCR of Dayton. I informed him that it was made near the town I was from. It had been sitting somewhere and was rediscovered in 1971. Fun coincidence.

That's an NCR cash register

Dentist chair

Millinery shop

There is also a clay mine and a museum of china and clay pipes. You could easily spend a day visiting all the museums.

Blast furnaces at Blists Village

Grabbed lunch and set off for Conwy in North Wales. About halfway there we decided to pull over and let me drive, since it would be mostly divided highways to Tal-y-Bont, where we were staying. After sitting on the left for 4 days, I had less trouble switching and driving – and the lanes are wide on the divided highways. Unfortunately, there was a serious accident on the A55 and we were stuck for 30 min then put on a 5 mile detour. No worries, we got in about a hour late, but we got here. And Michael was only slightly terrorized.

North Wales  - at least where we are - is beautiful. We had a glimpse of the Irish Sea before we made the turn south. Dinner choices were 10 minutes from now, or 8:15 – we took 6:15. Goat cheese starter and roast lamb shoulder main. Nice end to the day.  Tomorrow we will visit a garden and wander around Conwy. The woolen mill is not open Sundays so it will have to wait until Monday. 

12 Sept 2014

Trying to cut back on the itinerary, we decided to go the Blenheim Palace then back to Chipping Campden for an hour – early stop. Then we talked to Veronica, our hostess, and she suggested we go “cross country” from Blenheim to the “Slaughters”  (Upper and Lower) and maybe Broadway. Definitely avoid Burdon in the Water. (Tour buses can’t fit into the Slaughters. )

So we set off for Blenheim. The place is huge. Reminded me of Versailles. Lots of portraits and state rooms are what is open to the public.

The grounds are also very large. We walked down to the rose garden, but that was about it. There were horse trials going on on the grounds and we were lucky that the traffic was not bad. Another location with a café – in fact about 6 of them. I was very happy with my arugula, pear, local blue cheese, and walnuts salad.

We also heard and interesting short lecture by the organist. I had not idea how a pipe organ works, but he did a demonstration of the effects of the various stops. And I now know where the expression, “pull out all the stops” came from.

Then off to Lower Slaughter. We were able to take main road up until the last mile or so. Lower Slaughter is a charming village with a shallow river and an old mill. There’s a café and a gift shop with ice cream!  Double chocolate. Yum.

The old mill at Lower Slaughter

We told the nav system to take us back to Chipping Campden. She wanted us to turn around – not happening on that road, so we chose an alternate – off we go on the narrow back roads again.

View from one of the no-name roads in the Cotwolds

Finally back on A44 headed for Campden where we intend to wander around and maybe eat dinner. We came into town the same way we went yesterday when we had to circle back Left turn, right turn, right turn, left turn. Somehow we end up going the wrong way on a one-way street. Aiieee!  Finally got straightened out and parked. There is a very nice craft gallery in an old silk mill. Glass, pottery, silk scarves, stone sculpture, and some very good watercolors.

All the pubs we wanted to eat at were booked, so we called the Ebrington local and booked a table for 6:45. We both had the cod and finished off with a very good port. Tomorrow we are back to Wales. North Wales, that is. Conwy, which is a walled city. We decided to pass on Warwick Castle after reading that it has been turned into a sort of theme park. But we’ll probably stop at Iron Bridge and check out some of the museums to break up the drive.

11 Sept 2014

Thursday, 11 Sept 2014

Change of plans. The past two days have been long, especially with Michael doing all the driving (He does not want to navigate). We had planned to go the Wales and make a couple of stops. One at on outdoor museum and Tintern Abbey. We decided we had seen enough ruined abbeys and we wanted a shorter day. So instead of going to Cardiff, we went to Caerphilly to see the castle. Yes, it’s in ruins, but it is quite extensive and you can wander around it – both inside and out. You can climb spiral staircases in the tower, walk on the battlements, see the eating implements that would have been used when the castle was built in 1271. A lot of it was built in just 3 years in response to political and military threats.

As you can see, the castle is surrounded by water. The Earl figured out that water defenses were the way to go after the siege of Kenilworth failed.

Everyone feeds the birds that hang out in the lakes. There are a pair of swans and the cygnets have not lost their cygnet plumage in favor of the adult white.

So we did the castle, had a nice lunch in Caerphilly and set off for Chipping Camden and Ebington, the location of our next stay. We spent most of the day on 6-lane highways, which helped the driving a lot. But the directions to the farm on their web site were different, depending on whether you were coming from London, or the southwest (us).  We stumbled around Chipping Campden a little, then decided to follow the Tom Tom to Ebington and that worked.

We’re up under the eaves at the top of the house, which dates to the 14^th century! homefarm

Very nice dinner at the local pub, the Ebington Arms, which is within walking distance. I should have taken a picture of my sea bass with pearly barley, king oyster mushroom and tiny clams. Michael has the fish and chips. Even better than Killarney. Local beers, too. 

Wednesday 10 September

Wednesday, 10 September

We set of at 10 for Avebury. For some reason the Tom Tom app on theiPad sent us on a bunch of back roads – 4 digit numbers. No center line and about 1.5 cars wide. Very nerve-wracking for the driver – Michael.  It may be the fastest route for a British driver. Not so sure about us.

Avebury is the home of another stone circle (two) and henge. No where near as crowded as Stonehenge. You can walk among the stones, which are in a natural state rather than shaped. The circle is huge, compared with Stonhenge and the henge (“moat”) is much deeper. You can walk on top of the barrow most of the way around. The town of Avebury is partly within the circle.

At one point the good Christians of Avebury were concerned about the pagan stones in their midst and knocked them down and buried them. Most have been dug up and reset. There are concrete markers where the stones are missing. As you can see, these stones are shorter than the sarcens at Stonehenge and do not have lintels. They are set about 30’ apart.

Stone circle at Avebury

Henge at Avebury

Second stone circle at Avebury

After lunch at the Red Lion (we need to eat at a Swan and a Lamb somewhere on this trip), we made our way to Glastonbury, home of the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey. The Abbey was the victim of Henry VIII’s vendetta against the Catholic Church. Wells Cathedral, 6 miles down the road, was built at the same time and still stands. But the Wells Cathedral was not owned by the Church.

Glastonbury is an interesting town. Like Yellow springs on steroids and then some. Lots of small shops selling everything from crystals to ice cream. The Abbey was interesting. They are still doing restoration work. Based on the archaeology, they have determined that this was the earliest Christian church in England. Parts of the structure date to 580. There is also the legend that King Arthur and Guinevere are buried here. Three early English kings are definitely buried here. This picture is of the Lady Chapel at the west end. The whole church was huge.

Lady Chapel Glastonbury Abbey

Glastonbury Abbey 

Having chatted with a couple of the docents, we headed off to Wells and another cathedral. Wells is where the bishop went from Bath, which is why Wells has a cathedral and Bath has an abbey. No bishop – it’s not a cathedral.

The Wells Cathedral is huge. Unfortunately, the eastern end is no longer open to the public. But you can still see the scissor vaulting at the transept – very unusual.

Wells Cathedral facing east - note the "scissors" supports 

Scissors Supports

Wells Cathedral West Face

At the end of a long day, we headed back to Bath – on wider roads than this morning. Tomorrow we are off to the Cotswolds (Chipping Campden) by way of south Wales. I did get to see some sheep today. English roads have no shoulders and the laybys are not in the most scenic places. You need some scenic overlooks, people.