1st Trip overseas

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England Paris 2001 Holidays

13th July 2001: We stayed at Michelle’s place before we left to go to England.
14th July 2001: Robert & I spent most of the night awake we were like two little kids waiting for our parents to wake up at Christmas to open our presents. We could not wait to go we had waited 20years for this. We were up having a shower at 4am we left at 5am to go to the airport.
We arrived at the desk to find that we were a little over weight in our hand luggage; the lady gave us an old bag to put things into. The lady was great I think she could sense that our trip was a first; she told us that once we were through customs we could pack everything back into our bag and throw the old bag away.
After we booked in thanks to Frank Clarke who had done all our checking in and had got us exit isle seats. We decided to have breakfast at McDonalds a shock for Robert but we had pancakes, after we had that Robert & I went to Ken Done’s & bought Louise & Mark a Painting it was a limited edition.
Then it was time for us to go we said our goodbyes to Michelle Darren & Aiden, and waved as we went in the doors to customs yep I cried, I think Rob also had a tear as he grabbed me quite firm.
We signed all our papers that had to be done; the other side of the airport was out of this world a shopping plaza. Michelle said we would surprised. If we had known earlier we could have gone in earlier and seen Joanne & Colin as they left to go to America on the 13th but there plane was delayed and they left at 8am the same day as us. We bought Raymond his smokes and then sat back watching everyone pass bye.I could hardly contain myself
At 9.15 we had heard our call to board our plane. With Japan Airlines for Tokyo We were very excited and apprehensive at the same time.
We got to our seat there was a young girl at the window seat then ours and in front of us were the exit door and then 2 seats for the air hostesses to sit on in take off and landings, it was great as we could stretch out. The girl next to us was English and made us feel at ease. once we took off and we were level people were walking around like you were in a Hotel. I had a look out the window and we were over the Whitsunday’s.
The hostesses were great on this part of the journey most of the hostesses could not speak a lot of English but if they had trouble communicating the head hostess could speak English but you always understood them. We were glad when the 9hours was up, upon Landing all we could see were rice paddocks and car lots.
We arrived at Narita Airport at 7pm.We were amazed by the size of the place.
We got through customs with the help of the young English girl who could speak Japanese. Once through customs we got on a train which took us to another part of the airport. We had to go out the large doors to a bus stop that said Nikko Hotel.
Those doors opened and the heat hit us it was very hot a dry heat not like Sydney, the smell also was so strong, we could not wait for that bus to arrive.
We boarded the bus and soon got to the Hotel Nikko in Narita. By 8.30pm we were in our room.
We put our bags in and then went to have a look around we walked out of the hotel and it was still very hot and we walked for about 20min and all we could see were cars parked. We went back to the hotel and looked around we were looking at the restaurant prices $96.00 for a steak. So we went to the vending machine and got to American beers and a bag of nuts we sat in our room and looked out the window and talked for hours.We could not get over there toilets the water level was at the top part of the loo very strange.
15th July 2001: We got up very early in the Morning notice people in line we asked and said you can get your boarding pass so we got in line to get our boarding pass for our next leg after waiting an hour and listening to this American bloke going of about he had to sit in a special place,I got to counter and he is still there the lady looked at my ticket pressed in a number and said that is ok Mrs C your tickets have been pre checked by Mr Clarke and you will not have to rush at any stage to get your boarding tickets as he has fixed them all for you.She added that you have to be a special traveler to get this looking at the American, I said no Mr. Clarke is very special. Thanks to Frank he made our trip wonderful he knew it was our first time and he wanted everything to be just right.
So we went in and had breakfast, then we got on a bus and went into Narita walked around everywhere found a McDonalds and went to the loos reason being that they are the only place with a proper toilet besides Hotels the others are like ski machines. From there we started to walk again and we came across a Temple there was gold everywhere in the Temple, we watched the ceremony then we had to head back stopped of at the markets and bought some water, as the heat was so bad we got use to the smell. We got back to the hotel at 11.30 had a quick shower and packed our bags and went down stairs to wait for our bus to go back to the airport. The foyer was very big we went up to the mezzanine level bought a few post cards and posted them off.12.15 the bus arrived to take us back. Our plane was to leave at 2.45pm but didn’t leave till 3.45 as it was delayed arriving and then they had to clean it.
We finally got on board to go to London. We found that we had an exit isle seat again but this time it was up the stairs on the top of the plane. We were flying over USSR Sweden & Netherlands.
At 7.30 our plane landed at Heathrow airport. Robert went to get our bags I rang Ray to let him know that we had landed. Robert comes back with the bags.
We walked through customs with no worries at 7.45 we were walking out the door to find Mark. At first we could not see him and then at the back I heard this voice Bob and that was Mark, I was so relieved we had finally made it.
We got to the car and left the city for our journey to Brixworth at 10.30pm we arrived at Marks & Louise’s home, we met Our Harry for the first time.
Louise had a snack and broke the beers opened it was great. Louise took us up to our room and we slept like a log.
16th July 2001: 8am we woke up early had a shower got dressed and went down stairs; both Louise & Mask thought we would sleep well up to lunch time.
We were too excited for that. The day was sunny, so we had breakfast Mark had to go to work Louise took us for a walk around the village of Brixworth.
We seen the All Saints Church Brixworth This church is the oldest surviving Anglo-Saxon building in England. Originally called “Brickleworth” by the monks of Peterbourgh circa 680 A.D. We just had a lazy day walking around the little village we went to the butchers where Louise bought corned beef she said that she was making my dinner as promised. This was corned beef and Yorkshire pudding. Mark got home and we had a few beers in the garden and then dinner around 8.30 pm We could not get over the way it was light at 10pm.
17th July 2001We went to London to have lunch with Sharyn, it rained most of the day, but to Robert & I it didn’t seem to matter. We walked around for awhile had a look to see where things were that we wanted to see. At noon we went to where Sharyn was working, we went to a little café and had lunch; I thought that Sharyn had a little bit of a pommy accent, but Robert said no. After lunch we went to St Paul’s Cathedral this was built in 604 A.D The Cathedral length is 157mts and 111mts high, The Dome is 65,000 tonnes in weight. The Crypt is the largest in Europe.259 steps to the Whispering Gallery a total of 530 steps to the top. But 543 steps on the way down. From there we went down to the Old Bailey and had a look around. There were a lot of news people around and they were waiting on the verdict of Jeffery Archer.
18th July 2001: Today was sunny with a few showers. Robert had his first day of driving in England. We went to Nottingham to see Robin Hood at Sherwood Forest, This was very interesting we went walking in the forest and walked around these great big trees that supposedly that Robin Hood and his men lived in. We had some morning tea in the Robin Hood café I picked up a little Robin Hood and my thimble. From there we left and went on to Chatsworth House this place was amazing; it is the home of the Duke & Duchess of Devonshire. There are 30 rooms on display and they were all amazing. The paintings on the ceiling the tapestries on the walls the paintings everything was so old but in such good condition. The Gardens well that was something else the were fantastic you had 5 mile walks there was cascades; the Emperor & Willow Tree Fountain & Revelation There is also a large Maze & a rose cottage kitchen gardens, We went through the last part of the house through to the shop where we bought my thimble and a book on the estate. We were so excited we forgot to have lunch. So on the way home we stopped at a place called Melton Mowbray and had a coffee and a sausage roll. We got back to The Gouldstones about 6pm had a shower and then went on to the Coach & Horse Hotel in Brixworth.As Mark had to go to hospital and have a knee operation, So Louise took Harry and stayed at her sisters place. The Pub was great had a great meal and we were just talking about what we were going to do for the next day.
19th July2001:We were up bright and early this day the sun was shinning. We had decided to go to Stratford-Upon-Avon; this is the place where William Shakespeare was born.
There were 5 Shakespeare houses in and around Stratford-Upon Avon. Henley Street is where William was born in 1564.Also Ann Hathaway’s cottage Mary Arden’s House.
William Shakespeare & Ann Hathaway married. We walked around the town got some lunch and sat in the park and watched some theatre people. From there we went to Warrick Castle this castle is over a thousand years old. There are a lot of secrets hiding in the shadows of Warrick Castle. Warrick Castle was built on the orders of William the Conqueror in 1068 as part of a defensive chain of castles. When you climbed the towers you got spectacular views of the country side and the 60 acres of land that the castle stood on. The most lavishly decorated rooms at the castle are the Great Hall & State Rooms the family treasure 7 collection from around the world & 2 centuries of history are housed in these rooms.
We walked out and around the back of the castle over the draw bridge and once you went over the bridge you felt like you had gone back in time, they had put on shows for you, and they had sword fights and The rat Catcher.
One of the other owners of the castle was Ethefleda the daughter of Alfred the Great. Then the Beauchamp Family owned the castle for around 200 years, in 1759 Francis Greville owned the castle and today is still in the family with Guy Greville residing. Bought thimbles and a book.
In 1472 there was a Duke Clarence there. We headed back home to have a lovely BBQ with Mark & Louise.
20th July 2001: This was another very sunny day and Louise took us to Althrop. This is where Princess Diana was born and is now buried. This house shows us the life & works of Diana The Princess of Wales. The Round Oval: was created in 1865 the Round Oval is a man made lake enclosed by lime trees planted by the 1st Earl Spencer. The Island in the middle of the lake is left wild and untouched and all you can see is an urn this is where the Princess is buried. Whilst the Temple at the far end, has been restored in the Princesses memory. Just walking around the home and the grounds there is a sense of eeriness about the place. Knowing that she once walked around here. On our walk around the Round we got a glimpse of the Earl of Spencer the Princesses brother walking his dogs. Louise was telling us of the night that she met him and had dinner with him in this house. We stopped and had lunch in the tea rooms there. Robert & Louise had another discussion on who was paying. I bought postcards & a thimble of the rose. This thimble I paid 25 pounds for. From there Louise just drove us around the area looking at a few things.
21st July 2001: We had hired a small blue car Martise for our journey to Scotland. We set of early in the morning and we were heading to Blackpool but our first stop was in Liverpool,
Liverpool is famous for the Beatles so we stopped of at the waterfront & Mersey Ferries, the famous Albert Docks; we went on the Magical Mystery tour and had an amazing trip to Penny Lane & Strawberry Fields. Also went to Mathew Street home of the Caven Club. We spent hours on the street reading taking photos, looking in shops, we took a walk down the steps to the Caven and stood on the stage that the Beatles played. It was a small place. I could see on Roberts’s face he had made one of his dreams come true. Only 3 more to go.
The time was 3pm and we had to make a move to get to Blackpool about 5pm we arrived at our B&B Cresta Hotel the people were wonderful they took us up to our room small but comfortable.Blackpool is famous for its big dipper and there donkeys. It has a big seaside fair so we went to have a look we decided to go on the big dipper it was that or the donkeys, well we got our tickets 4 pound each that’s $12.00 at that time. On we go I thought holding on for dear life to Robert that’s not bad Robert says look out there isn’t it great than Whoom down we went I screamed Robert was laughing glad we didn’t have dinner. Up & down around under over seemed like it would never stop. It was good but I should have picked the donkey, no can’t go to Blackpool and not go on the dipper.
We walked around for awhile then we headed up the waterfront into the town. We found a great pub Weatherspoon Hotel ordered 2 pints then ordered dinner Robert had a steak I had chicken creaser salad 2 more pints and we headed back to the park to have a look at the lights on the waterfront we bought a box of doughnuts went back to the Hotel made a cuppa and sat on the bed and text back to Sydney. We bought more thimbles
22nd July 2001: We got up early and headed down stairs for breakfast there was so much. We asked Brian how we get to the Golf, That’s where we were to go our main aim in England to see the British Open Brian’s father gave a lift there,
British Open was at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s the day was wonderful the sun was very hot David Duval won the golf
Roberts dream No.2, 2 to go. We went shopping and spent around 350pounds.that is about $1100.00 We started to walk back to Blackpool not realizing the distance we had to go, after about an hour a black cab came passed so we hailed it and he took us back which was about 10 min in the cab imagine the walk we had. We went back to the Weatherspoon Hotel for dinner.
23rd July 2001: Got up early had breakfast and headed of on our journey to Scotland, we drove through Lancaster and going through little villages we came to a place called Penrith, we had a little look around there and headed of again through a village called plumpton if you didn’t know any better the names are the same as Sydney. Other towns like Happendon, Brocketsbrae,Motherwell, we didn’t get into Glasgow we turned right on A8 to get us to M8 heading to Edinburgh, We had to go left onto the M9 to go over the Forth Road Bridge this we had to pay 2 pounds toll. We went through a town called Dunfermline there we had to veer right along the A92 then turn right on to Milton of Balgonie through to upper Largo,Largoward past Camerons Reserve on the left up past the” The St Andrews golf course” I’m sure I could hear crying. Robert’s dream No3 1 to go. Here we spent 2 wonderful days. We stayed in a place called West Park House we had a great loft room over looking the back garden. After we got settled we went straight out on the course I think we walked most of the holes Robert saying this is where this happened and that happened I took a lot of photos of him he was so happy. We were getting a little hungry so we went into the town and found a Victorian Café and had dinner, got back to our room at 9pm and it was still light.
24th July 2001:Got up for breakfast around 8am after that we headed of to the Golf course again we walked and walked for hours around that course. It was so hot I said to Robert we will have to go back and have lunch and get some water. We had a little lunch and then went on to see the castle ruins cathedral ruins and the British Golf Museum, in the museum we had this loud American this spoiled it a little but the girl on the gate had heard that a few people were upset with him and aloud us all to go back through. We had been told that the Americans are quite obnoxious out of there own country. We did a lot of shopping there I think we spent around 300 pounds. Another $1000.00 more thimbles. late that day we headed of to Edinburgh.
24thJuly 2001: Stayed in Edinburgh had dinner at Beef Eater Hotel was only 12.95 pound for 3 courses. Our B&B was called Brae House not the greatest but clean. We didn’t get to see Edinburgh hopefully next time.
25th July 2001: Stopped at Lauder to post a letter, also stopped at border town Jedburgh there was a wonderful Abby Augustinian Abby of St Mary founded in 1138. Mary Queen of Scots house is here she arrived in Jedburg in 1566 to hold a circuit court and a 16th century house was put at her disposal. Also seen Jedburgh Castle Goal this was built as a reform goal in 1820. We reached the Scottish / English border to find a piper playing the bagpipes. We then drove to a place called Hadrian ’s Wall. A Roman Castle Fort 2,000 year ago. We couldn’t do a lot as they had foot and mouth there so we had to be careful. We drove on through Otterburn Knowsgate ponteland Newcastle Upon Tyne Scagglethorpe Barton Le Willows then we got to York late in the afternoon,
Our B&B was called Queen Anne’s it was a short walk to the city of York. The lady was very nice. Our room was small but nice. We took a walk into the city had a little look around came outside the wall and walked into this pub called the Exhibition food was great we sat out in the beer garden because it was so hot. I have never seen a beer garden as long as this one it was so long.
26th July 2001: We walked for 9 hours in York, we first went to York Minster one of the largest medieval gothic Cathedral in the U.K. It houses 800 years of stained glass. It also contains the Archbishop’s “catedra” (throne) the 1st minister was 7th century: the present one is the fourth on the site. We went to Clifford Castle symbol of the might of medieval kings. Built by Henry 3rd in the 13th century. Jorvi The Viking City. A vision of the city of York In the 10th century. Technology of the 21st century transforms real archaeological evidence. Their are things like ghost walksBoat tours The York Dungeon,Mulbery Hall Stonegate, The bars and the walls treasure’s houses. In and around York walls there is 365 pubs. we got in a few. Bought Courtney & Danielle a Scottish doll each and more thimbles
27th July 2001:By this time we had done 879miles and we had a few more to go.Today we are heading to Southend to see Raymond & Sharyn We drove through places like Lincon Boston Peterborough outskirts of Cambridge Colchester Chelmsford right on down to the water at Southend-on-sea.
This is where Ray was playing cricket. We watched Ray play for awhile, we found out that Ray had got hurt a few days before and had to go to the Hospital to have stitches in his face. Sharyn took me to our B&B The Mayflower This place was not very clean and was also very noisy. We went back to watch Ray for awhile they had a BBQ and a Jazz Band a great night I think Robert had one to many though.
28th July 2001: Had a great day watched Ray play cricket at Chalkwell that night we went to a pub on the waterfront and had dinner then went along the boardwalk and took a ride on the train out on the longest wharf. It was great we all walked slowly back it was a 1mile hike
29th July 2001:We met up with Ray & Sharyn at Shoeburyness walked along the so called beach not sand but pebbles. We went to the Shore House for lunch great meal. I had a sense that there was something bothering Raymond
Robert felt it to so we knew we would return. We said good bye and headed back to Northampton. Mark was to meet us at Kettering at 5pm but I was navigating and getting a little flustered and Robert got a little annoyed we got of the track but in Roberts mind not stopping to have a look he kept going and it only got worse. We ended up in a place called ELY .
Just past Cambridge we had to make a left on to the A14 but at this roundabout we missed it and ended up on theA14 on the wrong side so we went left on to Ely we couldn’t get of so I thought If we take this road we will get to the right place it was a A1123 road which is a dirt lane after a long time we got to a place called Hintingdon and we rang Mark and he set us on the right road to Kettering. Only 1& ½ hrs late. We got back with more baggage than what we went with but what the heck. Mark cooked the BBQ we sat out the back with a few drinks playing with Harry & talking about our trip
0th July 2001: We had to be up early as we were leaving to go to France that morning. Mark took us to Milton Keynes Railway to catch a train to Waterloo Station this was to get us onto the Euro Star to Paris.. The train set of and we got down to the White Cliffs of Dover where the train went under the channel. Rob could see I was a little nervous and once the train started to go in the tunnel Rob & I walked through to the dining room. I think everyone on the train decided to do the same thing by the time we got up to the counter and back to our seats we were out of the channel and on the way to Paris.
We arrived at Paris late and we got a free ticket to Paris for there lateness. We got on another train that took us to where the Louvre was, we were not sure where to go from there but eventually we found our hotel Timotel which is actually not far from the Louvre. We wandered around the Louvre and the Stein River
31st July 2001: We had a continental breakfast and set of for the Louvre. History of the Louvre two rooms presents the history and Philippe Augustein 1190 in Lupara later known as the Louvre. The Louvre consists of Oriental Antiquities Arts of Islam, Egyptian Antiquities, Greek Etruscan and Roman Antiquities Sculptures from late middle Ages to the mid 19th century French Spanish and Italy. Paintings the most famous of all The Mona Lisa.
The Musee d’Orsay the museum’s collection covers years 1848 to 1914.
That night we had a small meal and then walked along the river for 2 hours we arrived at the Eiffel Tower it was 11.30pm it was spectacular I fell in love with it so we headed up the hill to take photos there were people everywhere.
As we started to walk back the time being 12.30 we were back in our hotel room by 1.45.
1st August 2001: We were up early to have breakfast as we were of to Disneyland. We had a wonderful day we walked for 9 hours we were exhausted but we should have stayed for the big show at the end. But we will be back. We got back to Paris and had dinner in a lovely café. Then we took another walk to The Eiffel Tower I still loved it .It was around 10.30 and we took a ride up to the top of the tower the view was spectacular. Around 12.30 we were heading back to the hotel and ant the main junction near the Eiffel Tower was so busy the traffic and the noise I had to check that my watch was right. In Paris when you hear a siren you don’t pull over you chase it, they are mad. There parking in Paris is something else you park bumper to bumper and then you shunt each other to get out.
2nd August 2001: We went to see Notre Dame that was unbelievable the Sacrecure that was another great church and the views from the top was mind boggling we were leaving the next day and it started to rain. We had not seen all we wanted to see so we shall return. We bought a lot of Thimbles & key rings of everything we visited.
3rd August 2001: Arrived back at the Paris station awaiting our journey back to London at 4pm. We caught a train back to Northampton where Mark met us, we passed Roberts favorite town called Leighton Buzzard he just loved that name Had a BBQ and talked of Paris.
th August 2001: We went to Cambridge to meet up with John , Marks brother and meet Dawn for the first time. Also Oliver & Luke. We also met Marks Twin brother & sister Paul & Lyn. We had a great lunch with a lot sparing and bantering going on it was great. After lunch we all went down to a village New Market we had a look in a racing museum and the we went and had a look at Mrs. Gertrude Shilling’s flamboyant hat collection this was fantastic.. After this we went back to John & Dawns place for afternoon tea High Tea as they call it. We had a slight mishap here as Mark gave Harry the wrong milk sent Dawn into a slight flap. Louise was panicking and getting stuck into Mark and telling Harry that it was alright that he had a silly Daddy, was serious then but looking back it is quite funny to see. Louise was saying you wait till I tell mum she will have you. After settling Harry down we decided to leave for Louise’s Mums place after lots of photos and farewells we were off.
We were staying the night at Louise’s parents. Mark had said that David would say lets go to the club the girls will work things out.
Sure enough we arrived and got introduced to Elizabeth & David and David came out with lets go to the club the girls can deal with this.
We just laughed. Louise told her mum what had happened earlier and Liz just said these things happen, I think Louise was wanting Liz to react but soon all was forgotten but Mark was not forgiven. Louise had told her mum we didn’t want dinner but that didn’t stop her. We heard jokes about David buying 2 of everything don’t let him shop all about the ice-cream in the freezer. Mark & Louise went of to bed we stayed up and had a few more drinks & ports with David & Liz to finish of a wonderful day & night around 1am.
5th August 2001: Today we went to Cambridge we went punting looking at the schools Kings College, debate broke out to who was going to pay so Louise & Robert had a race to the place where you had to pay of course Louise won but Robert says that she paid these 2 girls to slow him down, not true Robert was to slow. A great day we walked everywhere I bought my thimbles some t-shirts. We headed home.
6th August 2001: We went to London for the day we seen The Tower of London ,London Bridge. For 900 years the Tower had dominated the city of London and today is still one of the capital’s most prominent landmarks and famous attraction. The Tower has served as a Royal Palace and fortress, prison and place of execution, a Royal Mint and Jewel house. The Yeoman Warders better known as the Beefeaters have been at the tower since the 14th century today they combine their traditional ceremonial role with the tourist guide. The Ravens: The legend has it that Charles II was told that if the Ravens left the Tower, the monarchy would fall; so he ensured that a limited number would be kept here permanently.
We went of to have lunch with John and then had a walk around the city looking at Big Ben and other things.
7th August 2001: Louise took us around the Cotswold’s what a beautiful place. We called into a Tea house in a place called Shipton-On-Stour again a discussion broke out to who was paying Well Robert won this battle; this became a regular thing with the 2 of them. Robert said he hadn’t finished and wanted another cake Louise fell for the trap and Robert paid for the bill. He came back to the seat and said ready Louise released what had happened and they were off again. So by this time in the holiday it was about even in paying bills. We went walking in a town called Chipping Camden, We went strolling through a Broadway where Robert found a painting of a cricket match going on in a town, as we were leaving we retraced our steps to go and buy it but the shop was closed.
8th August 2001: We went to Windsor Castle; this castle is one of the official residences of the Queen. In November 1992 there was a fire at the castle, which started in the private chapel. This is a magnificent castle; Queen Mary’s Doll House was wonderful.
St Georges Hall was fantastic the ceilings covered with the arms of the entire Knights of the Garter. Bought a few more things there. Then went on to Eton Collage this to was a very interesting place.
9th August 2001: We went to Buckingham Palace and it was raining and I mean raining we got drowned I thought we wouldn’t be aloud in the Palace but we wiped our feet and of we went. Visitors enter the palace by Buckingham Gates through the Ambassador’s Court the Ambassador’s Entrance is a temple like Ionic Portico of Bath Stone.
The State Dining Room is used regularly, by the Queen for official entertaining, Luncheons, and formal dinners. At there shop I bought Harry a Christening present a Silver spoon with an Elephant on it for 100 pounds $300.00 a clock for 100 pounds and a couple or thimbles.
10th August 2001: we had a relaxing day at home and did some washing and Ironing for our next trip.
11th August 2001: We were of to watch Mark play cricket at Bishop Stonstead Robert umpired all day. Mark got 100 runs. We stayed at David & Liz’s place we were of to London the next day
12th August 2001: We were staying at Joanna’s place in Bettersea. She was a great girl and made us feel at home. Joanna bought us tickets to go and see The Phantom of the Opera. We had seen it in Sydney but to go to that theatre was fantastic and the performance was great. You see Joanna worked for Andrew Lloyd Webber.
We didn’t know that she and Julian slept on the floor in the lounge room. Robert was cranky with her.
13th August 2001:We were of to see Ray again in Southend he seemed a little happier he was glad to se us so we had dinner But being a mum I knew there was something wrong.(this we found out later)we had a little drive to where we were staying.
14th August 2001: We started our journey to Cornwell our first stop was Stonehenge. Very interesting rock formation something that had been there for a very long time. We arrived in Cornwell late in the afternoon our first stay was at, Falmouth, The Lerryn Hotel for 3 nights. We had a wonderful room that over looked the water. After settling in we took a walk into the town, it was a beautiful old shipping town very narrow streets. We found a lovely little restaurant to have dinner in.
15th August 2001: Our first place we visited was places called the Lost Gardens of Helegan.They were exquisite we walked around for ages; we had lunch there, bought a book and thimbles.
16th August 2001: We went to a place called Mevagissey was absolutely beautiful, It is a little fishing village that went down a slight mountain, it had very tiny streets, you drive in slowly found a park and walked into the town centre and you come to the water and this little village takes you back in time. It reminded me of an old movie of Sophia Loren taken in Italy; the whole waterfront was so colorful. We left there and headed for a place called Truro we had some lunch and on the way back we made some stop at some golf course.
17th August 2001: We headed out early as we had a big day we drove to Helston Crowlas and up to St Ives we got on to this little track and seemed to follow the coast line through little villages called Zennor, Boswednack, Botallack, St Just Cape Cornwell this place had a Golf Course we had a drink there spoke to an Australian girl behind the bar, we left not before buying a cap and a ball. We headed of down this track came to a fork in the road one said Land’s End the other Penzance, we headed for Land’s End passed Sennon cove we eventually got to Land’s End what a great place. As the word says Land’s End there was no more land only the Atlantic Ocean and Longships Lighthouse, this day was quite foggy over looking the water, from this we walked over a suspension bridge this was very scary but at the same time wonderful we walked around to see Sennon Cove this is where I took Roberts photo and you can see the caves, Lands End is 12,000 miles to Australia. We were told to go and see a place called Mousehole the English pronounce it Mousille I’m sorry we didn’t get down there .We passed through a town called Penzance and as we were driving along the water we noticed a castle on an Island this place was call St Michael’s Mount you could only get there when the tide was out, our next trip will have to see these places. It had been along day and was along dive back to Falmouth.
18thAugust 2001: We left Falmouth to go to Oakhampton but we took the long way round. We headed back to Truo and then onto a place called Newquay a nice fishing town then onto Bude I didn’t like the town much but the Beach area and Rocks were great. They had like a channel with a weir gate and all the young kids were jumping of it and having fun. We then headed for a place called Clovelly this place was the most spectacular place I had ever seen Commercialized but beautiful. The first thing we seen was this little old lady tugging on a rope pulling a donkey up this 90deg angle pebble stone. It was very steep we started or decent and the heavens opened we took cover under the roof of an Inn like a lot of other people. After 20 minutes the rain stopped but for me it was to slippery to continue Robert went down and took some photos, I said that I will be back. From there we drove to our motel
19th August 2001:There we headed to Exeter stopped on the way at a Tedburn St Mary’s Golf Course, through Exeter we followed the coastal road to Dawlish, Teignmouth, Shaldon, to Torguay ,Torbay down to Brixham and then back around and down to Dartmouth what a lovely place we had lunch there went and had a look at the castle and then headed on down to Torcross and then to Salcombe a small fishing village. Then we went to Plymouth We headed back to Oakhamton, and had dinner in a typical English pub
20th August 2001: We were on our last leg of our journey we were heading home to Northampton. We headed towards Wales we called into a place called Weston-Super-Mare we followed the mouth of the Severn towards the most enormous bridge called The Severn Bridge, The Bridge was 2 miles long and they charge you 4 pounds to cross that was $12.00. We drove to Cardiff so Robert could pick up his Cardiff kit to go to a soccer match with Louise. On the way back home we wanted to call into Bath but it was so congested. So we had a look around Oxford before it closed this was around 5pm. We got to Northampton and I said to Robert watch out for that camera but it was too late they took our photo we have not heard anything yet so maybe we are lucky. Had a great BBQ that night.
21st August 2001: We had a great day John Dawn Paul Jo Oliver Luke Mark Louise Harry & us had a great day of relaxation before we had to head back home to Aus.
22nd August 2001: We had a day left so we got in touch with Ray & Sharyn and spent it with them in London Robert and I walked around in Hyde Park for awhile watched a protest march and then we headed to Knightsbridge had a look in Harrods then met up with Ray we went around to Lords Cricket ground Roberts 4th dream but we could not get in so he still has 1 dream to go so we will have to go back. Went to a pub around the corner had a few drinks and watched the cricket for a while. Then we went back to the central of London and got on a bus tour and went around London we had a great day said good bye to our son and that we would see him soon at home in Australia.
23rd August 2001: Was our last day in England we were packing our bags up but found that we need more bags so Louise took Robert into town to buy another bag. We had so much to take back home.
When we got to the airport and booked in we found that we were so over weight but they took pity on us that they let us through. And again thanks to Frank Clarke our seats were booked and we had exit isle seats. Well it was time to go I could not stop crying, I didn’t want to go home just yet. It was very sad leaving but on the other had I couldn’t wait to see the girls, I had really missed them.
24th August 2001: We landed at Narita Airport we had a 5 hour delay and waiting in the airport was not very comfortable.
26th August 2001: 7am we are home at last and to see Michelle & Aiden at the airport waiting for us was great I just started to cry.
Then we got to our place and there waiting for us was Joanne Joshua & Courtney it was great to be home.
THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME for that.

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