This morning we left the Cotswolds behind us to head north, but not before one final stop at Gloucester Cathedral. We were going to drive into Gloucester yesterday afternoon but Bernie checked their opening times before we left only to discover that much of the cathedral was going to be closed from 4.00pm. We decided that we could fit a quick visit in on our way this morning when we would be able to explore more of the the cathedral. A place of worship on or near this site dates as far back as Osric, King of the Hwicce, when he established a minster, Gloucester Abbey, in around 679. In approximately 1058 a new abbey was built and construction of the present building commenced in 1089 following a devastating fire the previous year. This marked a ... read more

Well, I crashed into bed at about 8.30pm last night and slept just about straight through until the alarm went off at 7.25am this morning. Ah, sleep, it is a truly wondrous thing that enables the body to rest and repair itself. I felt so much better after a good night’s sleep. Apart from suffering something of a moral crisis that is. Bernie has been quite prepared to ignore the fact that he has had respiratory symptoms and just carry on regardless. This morning I am in a moral dilemma, should I go downstairs and confess to Kathleen that I have respiratory symptoms and ask her if she would prefer to put our breakfast on a tray for us to eat in our room??? I checked the UK’s COVID website. Hmn, it seems that under the ... read more

Today we headed south from Cirencester on the A429. As we passed the airfield at Kemble we caught a glimpse of some seriously large aircraft. In the glimpses that we had through the hedgerows we also saw some bunkers? Large Nissan-hut shaped lumps with turfed roofs. That had us thinking that the airfield is probably a former air-force base so it probably has some long runways for BA’s larger aircraft to land on for maintenance? We arrived in Castle Combe around 10.00am so it wasn’t too busy. We parked in the public parking area above the village and walked down through a tree-shaded valley into Castle Combe. The castle that it was named for, built by Sir Walter de Dunstaville in the 13th-century, is long gone and all that remains is a pretty little village beside ... read more

Today it was time to leave Portugal behind us and fly to the UK. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in Portugal and have seen some stunning sites and sights. Porto has a rail connection to the airport (unlike Melbourne!) so we ‘could’ have taken the train to the airport. We decided to do it the easy way though and booked an Uber. Without luggage the train would be fine, but with suitcases and cobbled streets it’s a bit difficult. Our Uber driver arrived within a couple of minutes of booking him and had us out to the airport in good time. We allowed time for traffic problems but had a smooth run out arriving well before check-in opened. We weren’t first there though! We lined up behind the people who were already waiting for the ... read more

This morning it was the Pálacio da Bolsa Take II. This morning we thought we had a cunning plan. Arrive soon after opening at 9.30am to queue up for the English-speaking tour at quarter past the hour. Well, that was the plan. We arrived at 9.40am and joined the end of the queue which was fairly short at this hour of the morning. Great, we thought, we should be a shoe-in for the 10.15am tour believing from our reconnaissance on Sunday that the tours rotated all day through Portuguese, English, Spanish and French on the hour, quarter hour, half past the hour and the three quarter hour. And that optimism lasted until we were able to see the board inside listing the tours and the number of people already booked. Wouldn’t you know it, the English-speaking ... read more