Advertisement
Published: August 29th 2008
After our time in London, we have another motorhome for 3 weeks to travel around the U.K.
Other travellers we had met along the way encouraged us to join 'Caravan Club'. This gives you access to what are called 'certified locations'. They are simply a patch of grass with access to fresh water, and a dump for the loo. About half the time they have power available. The certified locations (C.L.'s ) are not regulation camp grounds, and were often in a field of a farm, a back yard, or even at the back of an old pub. All of them had character and were a fraction of the price of a regulation campground.
We picked up the motorhome and headed for our first destination, Canterbury. We visited the historical Canterbury Cathedral. Not only was the church impressive, but the gardens around the church were great to wander around.
Next we went to Oxford; very impressive place, fantastic buildings and gardens; but the experience was dampened by the rain.
Off to Cornwall, where we stayed at a fantastic C.L. at Whitemoor.
We went to the Eden Project whilst there. This is
Canterbury
Old Wall Surrounding The Citybasically an old claypit which has been transformed into a magnificent garden project. Amongst the wonderful gardens, it has two huge biospheres, one of which has the climate of a tropical rainforest. If the project has one aim, it to educate and inform about nature and the problems that mother nature faces in the future.
We visited Redruth in Cornwall, where the Thomas LUKE lived before he immigrated to Australia. While there we indulged in cornish pasties. When we asked the baker of the pasties what is there to do in Redruth, after a pause he replied.....'well you cun eat mee pasties...' .
The cornish coastline was good to see after driving down wee little winding roads, and the visit to Lands End (the furthest point of Southwest UK) was worth a visit.
Wales was next, where we visited Cardiff and this time chased down some of Bronwyn's relatives.
First Cardiff. We stayed at a C.L. that was also an animal farm that people could visit. The kids, especially Maddy, had a ball playing with and feeding the animals. In Cardiff itself, we visited Cardiff Castle, had a look around town, and walked along the
foreshore.
John (call me Jack) Robert Humphreys was in his young 20's when he immigrated to Australia from a small seaside fishing villiage in Wales called Borth-Y-Gest. It is a ripper little place with lots of character and charm. We walked around the small villiage, and up and down the street where he and his family lived .
On our way to Edinburgh we passed through a town called Carluke. I wonder who that was named after?!! We had pictures taken in front of many Carluke signs.
When we got to Edinburgh we must have been the only people in the UK who didn't know that the Edinburgh festival was on. Campgrounds were overflowing with people and rain (literally), but we were lucky and managed to get into a campground near the central city. Whilst there we took Albert into hospital to have his plaster off. 'The Royal Hospital for Sick Kids' was wonderful and we even saw a physiotherapist. Whilst in Edinburgh we walked the Royal Mile (an old bit of road with lots of old buildings), paid our repects to the grave of Adam Smith (Adam who ? The author of 'Wealth of Nations'
and the father of 'economics' as a subject), and visited Edinburgh Castle. The castle is on the top of a volcano, and it's geographical and historical perspectives are impressive.
Our last destination in the UK was a small villiage near Cambridge called Barkway. We stayed with Melissa and Paul, who are not too distant relatives from Australia, for a few days. Barkway used to be on the 'horse and cart' road on the Northern approach to London, and has lots of old charming houses. The oldest house was built in the 1300's, and many of the house in town have thatched rooves (roofs) .
Our time in the UK has come to an end. It has been been great to see a bit of London, have a look at where our ancestors came from, and drive some of those little roads around the countryside.
We had a great time.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.204s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.063s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
