ChristineSjG

I’m writing this final blog from the airplane home somewhere over the Atlantic. I wanted to take the time on this very long flight to reflect on our latest adventure before the reality of normalcy sets in and it all becomes a happy blur. A few statistics about our adventure. Total miles driven in the car: approximately 2200 Total kilometers walked: 185.4 19 breakfasts with eggs; 12 breakfasts with baked beans Number of castles / palaces visited: 14 Roundabouts navigated: approximately 247 Number of sheep viewed: approximately 2 million We’ve been asked by various cabbies and people we’ve met towards the end of our adventure what we enjoyed the most. As Don has said, that’s a very difficult question to answer as we saw so many different things it’s impossible to really compare. How I’ve decided ... read more

Just a quick note to say we had a good day with Hannah and Felix. We packed a lot in but I’m going to wait and write about it in the morning….it’s after 11:00 here so heading off to bed to get a good night sleep before our travel day tomorrow. ... read more

Today markets the start of the final leg of our trip - 2 final nights in London. We did our final drive to drop the car off at City Airport and it was uneventful. But we did feel like we needed to mark the occasion with a selfie with the car. We put more than 2000 miles on it over the last two weeks. We had a bit of chaos when the taxi to the hotel from the airport dropped us off at the wrong place and in the rush to get us and our luggage out, and pay the driver, Don accidentally left his phone in the taxi. A tense couple hours ensued…we put in a report and had to wait to hear. We distracted ourselves with a visit to Harrod’s. We wandered past clothes ... read more

Very eventful day today! We woke up early in Oxford and headed out for a wander through the Covered Market at 8:00. It’s a lot like Granville Island or Pike place - but likely older. We had a nice breakfast without any baked beans. From there we made our way over to Oxford Castle. We didn’t go in (because we didn’t think to book tickets in advance) but got to tour the grounds. It was mostly used as a prison from sometime in the 1600’s to the 1980’s. Now the cells have been converted to a luxury hotel. From there, we went back to Christ Church College where we did do the self-guided walking tour. The highlight was the dining hall which not only has been used for the same purpose for more than 500 years ... read more

We’d planned a traditional rest and relaxation day in the country today and it did not disappoint. We slept in and went for a late-ish breakfast here at the castle. We booked a couples massage at the spa which was a nice relaxing treat. Then we had high tea for lunch - which really made us feel like we were in the Victorian era. The castle historian joined us for a bit and provided some background of the castle. He took us on a brief tour of the great hall which dated back to the 13th century. The castle was owned by the same Catholic family for 900 years from about 1158 to 1908. Their family head did a great job of playing politics through all the the wars in this area to hold on to ... read more