Spring Break in England


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April 2nd 1993
Published: December 8th 2011
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It was springtime and time to go to England again. This time we had made reservations at a farm cottage in Cornwall, a part of England we had never been to before.

2 April 1993 Friday. We drove from Overijse to Calais and caught the ferry to Dover. From there we skirted around the southern side of London and then headed southwest until the we reached the A303 which took us to Stonehenge. We stopped and walked around the assemblage of massive stones, which were placed precisely to align with the solstices and equinoxes; and other than astronomical purposes also served as a site for Druid ceremonies. We then continued west and then up the A36 to Bath. We found Robin and Rhona's home where we would stay two nights. The kids had fun playing with their children Rachel and Claire. We had a pleasant dinner and got caught up on each others lives since Robin had left NATO several years earlier.

3 April 1993 Saturday. We all toured the Roman Baths, some 1900 years old and still functioning. Then we were off to Stourhead, a palace with beautiful grounds with a lake and flowers all in bloom. After a walk around the grounds we returned to Bath for the evening.

4 April 1993 Sunday. We said our farewells, but only for a few days as they would be meeting us at the British Museum in London at the end of the week. Our first stop was the cathedral at Wells, where we took a quick look.

Then we headed directly west to the north Devon coast and Exmoor National Park. Our destination was the church in Oare, where Loorne Doone was shot as she was marrying John Ridd, per the romantic novel "Lorne Doone" by Richard Blackwell. In my middle school years I read this novel based upon historic figures from the 17th century, and it was one of my favorite books. We stopped to visit the church and Doone Valley, and I told my kids the story from the novel. They just wanted to play in the graveyard and pose lying down in front of the tombstones. However, something must have gotten through to them as they named our cat Lorne Doone. Now we have to explain to visitors that our cat is not named after the cookie.

We then continued west on the A39 as far as Bude and then turned south towards Launceston. The farm where we would be staying for three nights was just west of this town. We drove among the hedgerows that lined the narrow lanes and finally found the farm. We checked in and then walked around the farm.

We met the farmer's friendly black cat, and then we went to meet his sheep. He was about to feed the sheep. My family always gets embarrased when I am around animals at zoos and farms, as I take this opportunity to talk to them in their language. I like to get reactions. In this case, I had the whole field of previously complacent sheep rushing towards me and the kids, bleating their hearts out. Soon the farmer arrived with a bucket of feed, and they proceeded to eat their supper. We then went to see his llamas. Tamara got too close and a llama spit on her. We returned to our cottage to clean up. Then we drove into Launceston to buy some groceries, and upon return cooked dinner in our cottage.

5 April 1993 Monday. We drove west to the seacoast where we stopped at Tintagel Castle, reputed to be one of King Arthur's castles. It is sited on a rocky promontory at the edge of the raging sea. The weather was dreary, so only emphasized the gloom. After walking around the castle, we descended down a slippery path to the rocky beach below. We explored Merlin's Cave, which goes right through the promontory under the castle.

We continued down the coast to St Ives, where we walked around this artist town for a bit and had lunch. Then we drove to Lands End, the furthest point west of the island of Great Britain. We didn't get out of the car as it was raining pretty hard and we could see the point of land from the car. We drove east to Penzance, and didn't find any pirates; just holidaymakers.

By then it was late afternoon, so we drove back to our farm cottage. Driving along all the twisty turning roads with hedgerows that blocked my vision, and expecting to run into an oncoming car at every turn really gave me a headache. We prepared dinner using the groceries we bought the day before.

6 April 1993 Tuesday. Today we concentrated on the southern coast of Cornwall. We stopped at Castle Dore and then to Fowey, a yachting center with forts on both sides of the entrance to the harbor built by King Henry VIII to protect the town from pirates. Actually the towns people were the pirates, attacking Spanish and French shipping in the English Channel.

We continued eastward along the coast to Looe, another quaint port at the mouth of a river. When we arrived at Plymouth, we had to catch a ferry across to the town. This is where the Pilgrims departed for North America, eventually landing in Massachusetts on Plymouth Rock.

On the way back to the farm we stopped one last time in Launceston to do some shopping other than groceries. We got home and made dinner and visited the farm animals one last time. Tamara stayed well back from the llamas.

7 April 1993 Wednesday. We drove east on the A30 past Dartmoor National Park, Exeter with its cathedral and Lyme Regis until we got to Maiden Castle on the southwestern outskirts of Dorchester. Maiden Castle isn't your typical castle with a moat and stone walls. This castle is the largest Iron Age hill fort in Britain, built in 600 BC. It has three rings of earthworks surrounding an area about 50 football fields in size. We climbed the steep hill from the car park winding our way between the earth ramparts. The kids ran along the inner rampart and were soon lost in the mist. I had to try to collect them, so that we could continue.

We drove through New Forest National Park to where the author Thomas Hardy lived and wrote such books as "Far from the Madding Crowd" set in this area.

We continued around Southampton to Portsmouth, the home of the British Navy. We went to the naval base from which British fleets sailed to colonize the world. We toured the HMS Victory, Lord Nelson's flagship during the Battle of Trafalgar, in which he was killed. We stayed the night just east of Portsmouth.

8 April 1993 Thursday. We spent the day touring the southern coast to include Arundel Castle and Brighton before turning north to Gatwick Airport. We would pick up my Mom the following morning.

9 April 1993 Friday. Mom arrived first thing in the morning, and we then took her on a tour of the Kent countryside, stopping at Sissinghurst Castle and Bodiam Castle, before driving into London for the night.

10 April 1993 Saturday. We had previously arranged to meet Robin and Rhona and their girls at the British Museum for the day. When we arrived, an cohort of Roman legionaires were doing their drill in the courtyard of the museum. We watched that for awile, and were given a lecture on the equipment, their battle technique with locking shields and short thrusting swords and pikes, and what the legionaires life was like. We were glad to have had this opportunity. Then we toured the Egyptian section and saw mummies and lots of statues of the pharoes. We had lunch at the museum, and after a bit more looking it was time for Robin adn Rhona to take some very tired girls home to Bath. We just walked around the West End and then drove back to our hotel in Croydon.

11 April 1993 Sunday. We drove from London to Canterbury for a walk around the town and through the cathedral, and did some shopping before heading to Dover. We toured Dover Castle before cathcing the ferry back to Calias and the drive home to Overijse.


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