Well... I'm breaking with the tradition of writing my travels in sequential order for this one exception. I have just come back from an 8 day trip around England and Wales with some amazingly fun girlfriends and I can't wait to tell you about it!
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"Oh what a feeling...!"
Jamie, me and Katie |
Within two weeks of the approaching half term break we made quick decisions as to how to spend our last week of freedom before Christmas. The best idea we came up with was to road trip in a campervan around the UK. Better yet - for convenience and budget we found a 'spaceship'!!! Spaceships are a company that are based in NZ, Australia and the UK and are basically Toyota Taragos turned into a mini campervan - pure genius! It was so much fun camping out with the girls each night and we had a blast as we'd all grown up camping... it was an epic week.
Day 1 - Westward bound!
With an initial slow start, we left London via a quick stop to pick up some last minute things and then we were on our way to Stratford-Upon-Avon; Shakespeare's birthplace, where we stopped for the first of a few lovely 'roadside' picnics.
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Picnic down by the river
Jamie and me |
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| Shakespeare's birth house |
Then straight up into Wales in Snowdonia (part of the Peaks District). We spent our first night in Dolgellau. And if it wasn't for 'Sheila' (nicknamed for her ironically Outback Australian accent), our trusty Sat-Nav, we would have never found our first place. It was a wet night, and our canopy unfortunately wasn't completely waterproof but a bit of water never hurt anyone anyway!
Day 2 - Cakes and Castles
A spectacular beginning to the Snowdonian region and to Day Two was the discovery of Welsh cakes... dense like a biscuit, small round and flat like a pikelet but crunchy and fluffy like a good scone (the Welsh have seriously conjured up something incredible!!!)
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| Welsh Cakes |
We passed through the quaint town of Betws-y-Coed to Swallow Falls (which speak for themselves!)
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| Swallow Falls |
On the road... we saw the most amazing sights of mountains and rugged terrain. The colours of Autumn were well in season and it made up for even more beautiful viewing.
We made our way up north to find our first castle - Caenafron...
...And then... Beaumaris Castle
...And then... Conwy Castle
The highlight of the day though was visiting one of the longest named places in the world.
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (and yes, I typed those 58 characters all 'from scratch'!)
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| 'Long name place ending in Gogogoch' |
Which means... The church of Mary in the hollow of the white hazel near the fierce whirlpool and the church of Tysilio by the red cave. The locals took great pride in being able to pronounce it perfectly fluently!
Day 3 - Back to England and thrown in the lockup
Straight up the highway to Lancaster meant that we were back to England and out of Snowdonia (Wales). We missed the incredible and dramatic surroundings... but the tour of Lancaster Castle (which still has a prison to date) made up for it!
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Lancaster Castle (behind the trees)
Jamie and Katie |
I learnt that the convicts that went to Australia were mostly debtors,
...nags and gossips were bridled with a hideously ugly metal bridle that covered their entire faces,
...the prison at Lancaster Castle had its last prisoner leave only in March of 2011,
...and prisoners had many privileges while serving their sentences (such as good food, tobacco and games.)
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| Lancaster Castle |
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| The barbed wire at the top of the castle |
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| Swans on Windermere |
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Windermere
Katie, Jamie and me |
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| Sun and clouds |
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| Vines |
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| Sunset on Lake Windermere |
After a LOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGG drive down a LOOOOOONNNNNGGGGG and extremely narrow one-way lane, we finally found a place to camp for the night. Words cannot describe how incredibly thankful we were that there was not one car that approached us on that road! Watch the following movie to get the idea...
Day 4 - We LOVE the Lake District
Waking up to a typical 'Lake' morning (overcast, cold and windy) we made our way north (yet again... this trip was moving north all the time until about the sixth day!) but saw a road sign to a random castle. And as you can do on a self-designed roadtrip, we turned around and went back in search of Wray Castle. All over again we fell in love with the Autumn leaves and colours that spread across the fields and hills.
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| Autumn leaves at Wray Castle |
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Wray Castle
Jamie, me and Katie |
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| A driveway to someone's house - so sweet! |
Next stop was Sawrey to visit Beatrix Potter's house. We had all grown up loving the tales of Peter Rabbit so it was kind of surreal being in her home which she used as her muse for many of her stories and illustrations. Look through any of her stories and you will most likely see part of her house (which is still in tact as she had it when she lived there).
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| Looking out from Sawrey Tea Room |
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| Beatrix Potter's house |
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| Me feeding Mr Gardiner his own carrot! |
Then the Aira Force falls which have inspired so many poets and authors alike...
were simply...
divine...
This was also the site where Jamie became an official 'tree-hugger' - but who can blame her? Look at it - it's MASSIVE!!!
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Jamie tree-hugging!
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Finally, we camped nearby to Ullswater and had some pre-dinner drinks and snacks down by the lakeside.
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Drinks at the Ullswater lake's edge
Katie, me and Jamie |
We were right beside an
unsafe pier... uh... duh?!!! Is that not obvious?
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| "Unsafe pier" |
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| The unsafe pier |
Day 5 - Centre of Britain, Hadrian's Wall and Harry Potter Castle
On the road again to Hadrian's Wall to see the Roman Wall that separated the (now) Britain across its narrowest point. But not before turning down a side road that took us to the very centre of Britain!
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Standing at the centre of Britain in Havianas... (only Australians would do this on an 10 degree day)
Clockwise from the top: Katie, Jamie and me |
Back on track and we did manage to find Hadrian's Wall! Here we asked if we would be able to climb up in our Havianas thongs (flipflops). And - the gatekeeper could not "recommend" us to wear them as we would be climbing over lots of uneven and rocky ground, steep and slippery slopes and trudging through potential mud puddles (due to the recent rain). So we decided it was best to change into more suitable footwear. As it turned out, the English underestimate what can be achieved in thongs... the ground was no more uneven than a gravel ground, the steep and slippery slopes were standard hills and the mud was possible to walk
around. Never mind - we got over it by jumping all over the wall.
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Leaping over Hadrian's Wall
Katie, Jamie and me |
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| Hadrian's Wall beyond |
Katie (a Harry Potter movie fan) directed us up to Alnwick Castle which was featured in the very first of the Harry Potter movies. We had a lot of fun finding wands (sticks) and then pretending to make each other disappear and reappear! (We also got a few looks from passers-by...!)
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'Charmed' at Alnwick Castle
Jamie, Katie and me |
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| A lion (with a surprisingly straight tail) was spotted pointing the way to Alnwick Castle! |
Day 6 - Yorkshire Coastline
We had camped out at Whitely Bay Holiday Park which was an absolute bargain of £5.50 for the night! In the morning we went down to the beach... and spotted this sign. I misread it at first thinking it was "DRivers: Please use discretion when undressing. Clearly I had driving on the brain!
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| Read carefully! |
My favourite tree of the holiday! \ |
Durham brought much Autumn beauty... check out those leaves!
Jamie, Katie and me |
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| Durham Cathedral |
Later we stopped in Durham where Jamie's family have ancestral roots. She even saw a statue of her great great great grandfather on a horse in the middle of town!
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| Durham House |
Driving, driving, driving...! Look familiar??? Australia is on the left and England on the right!
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| Australia and England! (The moors of Yorkshire) |
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| Seagull at Whitby |
Finally arriving in Whitby - the town from where Captain Cook departed to then discover Australia! It was a gorgeous town and we had a lovely afternoon with ice cream and a walk to the top of the hill where we saw Whitby Abbey in its fine ruins.
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| Very much a 'sea' town at Whitby (where Cap'n Cook started out from!) |
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Whitby Abbey
Photo: Jamie |
As we left Whitby (running low on petrol yet again) we made a sudden stop on a bridge. There were a slow and loud chug noise and began to get faster and faster. Initially I had a little 'moment' where I thought they were raising the bridge to let a boat through when we were still on the bridge. However, it turned out to be a steam train making tracks downtown. At this point, Jamie (our driver of the day) began yelling at Katie and I to take photos: "Get out of the car, get out of the car - GET OUT OF THE CAR!!!" The car behind us found it rather hilarious that Katie and I got out of the car so quickly just to take a photo of a steam train. However all the angst and havoc was worth this sight...
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| Steam Train |
We made our way to a campsite between Whitby and York and cooked up our very last camp dinnner.
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| Me busy cooking up some burrito mince |
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It was a bit chilly so we ate in the care
Katie, Jamie and me |
We all had an amazing time camping... and of course with every holiday there was a reoccurring theme of funny things. One being that this light/torch (that Jamie is pointing to) only liked Katie. She was the only one that it would work for. Jamie and I continued to drop it, or smash it in doorways or boots or drop it again. Katie was the electrician of the trip and was the only one that managed to fix it. Ironically, she usually got it to work again by banging it a lot!!
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The forgivable light
Katie (the electrician) and Jamie |
Day 7 - York & Sherwood Forest
Check out the sunrise we had on the morning of our seventh day! We were very blessed for weather this trip.
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| Sunrise between Whitby and York |
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| Me at the York Minster |
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Walking down the (gorgeous and quaint) York streets
Jamie and Katie |
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| Mmmm... Nutella and banana crepes! |
On our detour drive to Sherwood Forest, we were stopped due to two MASSIVE bails of hay blocking our side of the road! Have a look at the progression of events...
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| Hey? Hay! What to do...? |
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| Get a tractor! |
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| And push it out of the way! |
We found Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest! Still as defensive as ever.
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| Robin Hood |
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The Major Oak tree was MAJOR! This picture does not do justice to just how big this tree is!
It is about 500 years old! |
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Our reenactment of fighting like Robin hood
Jamie, Katie and me |
That night, we treated ourselves to a dinner out at Three Horseshoes. As it was in a small village of Comberton (just outside of Cambridge) when the three of us walked in, the whole pub went silent. They looked us over and then continued about their way. It was just like you can imagine off a movie! A little bit embarrassing!
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| Three Horseshoes, Comberton |
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| Lamb Shanks. This was restaurant quality PUB food! |
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| Me and Jamie |
Day 8 - Cambridge
Our last day was spent in the University town/city of Cambridge. It was lovely getting in there early before all the crowds and hearing the church bells ringing.
To see the colleges of Cambridge, we went on a punting tour. It was a great and relaxing way to see all the colleges - and it meant that I finally got to go for a punt (even if I didn't get to try it myself!)
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| St John's College |
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| The Bridge of Sighs (in Cambridge) |
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| Apparently this is the only viably grown banana tree (behind the red flowers). Our tour guide told use the banana tree was the dead grass to the right! Ooops... use Queensland girls caught him out! |
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Punting!
Jamie, Katie and me |
But until next time... Cheers!
