Ireland and the UK...!

Tim & Kellie are off to the Emerald Isle and Southern England for two weeks, and then a week in London (work for Tim and fun for Kellie!).  We will document our journey with some commentary as well as some pictures so you can see what we are up to.

The floor of St Patricks Cathedral

We set off to the airport on the train after Tony dropped us at the station.  After checking in and having a glass of bubbles at the Qantas lounge, we had our waiting time extended as we were told that the plane would not be released from maintenance for a few hours.  We finally got loaded up and in the air about 6pm… although we made up some of this time to arrive pretty much at the expected time in London.  Anyway on the landing approach we had a magnificent view of London through clear skies, while flying right over the city.  We could see all the landmarks – the Shard, Tower Bridge, the Walkie Talkie, London Eye, Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace.  Quite spectacular, shame we didn’t have a window seat!

After transferring to Terminal 5 to wait for our flight to Dublin, Kellie realised that she had left her iPad on the plane.  The British Airways and Qantas staff were great and they managed to track the iPad down – it was still in the plane and the plane was in “holding”, I guess being prepared for it’s next trip.  The iPad was returned to Kellie in the British Airways lounge… so our first near-disaster averted.

A six hour wait in the comfort of the British Airways lounge before getting on our short flight to Dublin.  After 36 hours of travel, we checked into the hotel, and then took a walk down to St Patricks Cathedral which was built in 1220 and still is in use as a church – in fact they were packing away the chairs from the Sunday morning service when we visited!  It is the National Cathedral of the Church of Ireland, a member church of the Anglican communion.  The most famous Dean of the Cathedral was Jonathan Swift – who, in addition to penning some literary classics like “Gulliver’s Travels”, was very active in helping the disadvantaged in the Irish society in his time.  His pulpit is still in the Cathedral.

There is also a story that relates to one of Cathedral, of two families in Dublin – the Butlers and the Fitzgerald’s – who were having an argument and while they were in the Cathedral they argued through the Chapter House door.  Gerald Fitzgerald offered to end the fighting and put his arm through a hole in the door and the two families shook hands and made peace.  This is the origin of the expressions “to chance your arm”!

The Cathedral was beautiful, to be sure, but the pipe organ was magnificent!  It was being played / practiced while we were there, and the tone of the organ was magical.  Now some pipe organs can put me a little on edge, but the tone of this one was amazing, and I could have listened to it all evening… and we would have, but our tummies were starting to rumble, so we set off for a traditional pub in town to have dinner.  After a nice feed and a glass or two of wine (or the local brew, depending on your taste), our eyelids started to wilt – so we set off back to the hotel to try and catch a good night sleep to keep the jet-lag at bay.

The library in the Long Room

After a bit of a sleep in (good for jet lag) and breakfast, we set off on foot to explore Dublin.  We set off for the cobblestone streets of Temple Bar on the south bank of the River Liffey (the river that flows though the centre of Dublin) with its restaurants and bars and narrow streets.  It was the cultural quarter of Dublin and had the theatres and galleries.  We then headed off to Trinity College to see the ancient Book of Kells.  It was a display of the Book of Kells as well some other similar historical books of the same era.  The Book of Kells is a lavishly decorated version of the 4 Gospels that was produced (it is thought) by the Monks probably in Kells itself in County Meath in the early 800’s AD.  It was produced on Vellum, and written in Latin with very detailed illustration and calligraphy.  It was a spectacular piece of early Church history.

We then moved on to the Long Room, which was the ancient library in Trinity College – the one that inspired the library scenes in Harry Potter movies.  It is the main chamber of the Old Library that was built between 1712 and 1732 and is home to 200,000 ancient volumes.  The smell in the room is amazing – ancient and musty.  You can’t borrow any of the ancient books, and to gain access to read any of the volumes you have to make an application to the librarian with reasons why you want access and the topics you are interested in researching (it is usually academics that are allowed access).  IF your application is successful (and not all of them are) you are then able to read the books on one of two reading rooms at each end of the Long Room on the first floor.

We then set off for the St Stephens Gardens in the centre of town – it was a beautiful green (of course, this is Ireland!) oasis in the middle of Dublin.  The gardens were the epi-centre of the 1916 fight for independence and was steeped in history from the occasion.  Magnificent old trees provided a canopy of green as we wandered around the gardens.  It was then off to the Dublin Castle for a quick stop before we made our way back to near Temple Bar to find a nice place to eat lunch.

After a bite to eat and a rest of our legs, we set off again down the side of St Stephens Gardens to the Little Museum of Dublin.  It was an unexpected little gem!  It had an excellent history of modern Dublin from around the early 1900’s until today, and we had a very talkative guide who explained to us the history of the Independence fighting in 1916 right through the Mayor of Dublin “Alfie” who was so popular he was re-elected 10 times!  There was even a special display celebrating the band U2 - “4 young men from Dublin”.

The tour of the museum went a little longer than expected (on account of the young Irish guide, who excelled at talking!), so we then had to leg it back to the hotel to meet up with Tim's old friend Warwick for the drive south to County Wexford where we were to stay for a few days.  Once Sue and Lilah had returned from Pony Club, we spent a grand evening catching up on old times and sharing stories until early in the morning!

Sliante'

After a spot of breakfast and bidding goodbye to the Pony Club participants, Tim, Kellie and Warwick set off for a driving tour around the local area and into the Wicklow Mountains.  It was beautiful scenery with all shades of green on display in the patchwork field on the rolling hills.  As we meandered along the (often) single lane country roads with hedges on each side we could slowly feel ourselves relaxing.  We drove through the mountains and the forests (some of which were being logged) towards our lunch location at the Glenmalure Inn which is used as a base by walkers who tackle the Wicklow Way – a 131km walk across the Wicklow Mountains from the southern edge of Dublin.

We had to share an obligatory glass of Guinness (or two!), over a lovely lunch with the picturesque Wicklow Mountains as a back drop.

It was then on to Glendalough which means “valley of two lakes”.  It was a beautiful glacial valley with a smooth, almost bowl shape and was the site of an ancient Christian Monastery founded by St Kevin in the 6^th Century AD (It is amazing the length of time that Christianity has been practiced in this Island!).  The Monastery ceased operating in the late 1300’s and is now a parkland that is popular with walkers.  We saw many Irish folk out enjoying the summer – even some little kids playing at the water’s edge in the lake – even though the temperature was 14 degrees, with a chilly wind!  That didn’t seem to deter the Irish though who thought it was a “fine day, and the weather is grand”.

A few stops for provisions on the way home and we were ready for dinner which we had outside in the balmy Irish summer.  After dinner, Kellie conducted a “Masterchef” class while Lilah made some Brownies and Apple Cake for Lilah to take to Pony Club the next day to feed the hungry riders.

Givin' the Stone a smooch!

We set off after breakfast to pick up the hire car from Wexford, and after bidding farewell to Warwick for a few days we set off with the GPS set for Cork.  We were on our way to Blarney Castle, but on the way stopped off at the Jameson’s Whisky factory for a tour.  Jameson’s was originally distilled in Dublin, but moved to Middleton (just out of Cork) in 1867 when they merged with 4 other Cork City distilleries.  They ceased production from the old distillery in Middleton only in 1975 and moved next door to a brand new site.  The old site has the largest copper “pot-still” in the world that was part of the triple distilling process that is the trade mark of Irish Whisky.  Kellie even participated in a Whiskey tasting – involving Jameson’s (of course), Scotch and Bourbon – just to see if we could tell the difference….

After winning so many brownie point with Tim for participating in one of his favorite pastimes, Kellie set the GPS for Blarney Castle just outside of Cork.  Our aim was to get the gift of eloquence from kissing the Blarney Stone – the stone was used as throne for the Kings of Ireland for many years during the 1300’s and was seen as a kind of stone of destiny.  It was built into the Castle at Blarney, and legend has it that a witch that was saved from drowning “revealed” the power of the stone and that was that it bestowed on anyone who kissed the stone the gift of eloquent speech.  After a 45 minute queue to climb the stairs to the top of the Castle to kiss the stone, we finally got there.  We had to lie on our back and hold onto some handrails, balance so we didn’t fall off the battlements, and kiss a rock upside down!  I’m still trying to understand the connection with eloquence… but clearly you can tell from this blog that it has worked a treat… ?!?!

We then headed for Killarney, to the McSweeney Arms Hotel at around 6pm, in the daylight, even though it was a bit overcast, so we decided to take a walk along the river and down to the lake – Lough Leane – it was our first dose of Irish misty rain, but the walk through the forest was very beautiful and gave us a stretch of our legs which was very welcome after sitting in the car for much of the day.

After getting out of our wet coats, we went down stairs in the hotel, to the restaurant, to have dinner and watch the Wales vs Portugal Euro quarter finals – yet more brownie points for Kellie!  Not only has she drunk Whisky with Tim, but then watched a game of football with him!  To be fair, the atmosphere in the pub was electric!  Every Irishman and women in the joint was supporting Wales, as the only nation from the British Isles still in the tournament.  An unfortunate result with Portugal winning, but a great night’s entertainment for Kellie and Tim!

Beautiful scenery on the Ring of Kerry

We then got up nice and early and had breakfast at the hotel, before a quick walk around the town of Killarney, before meeting the bus for the tour around the Ring of Kerry.  While Kellie was making friends with two couples from Adelaide, Tim (quite literally!) ran into Mark, one of his friends that he plays Soccer with in Berowra!  What a small world!!  We then boarded our half-sized coach for the tour of the Ring of Kerry.

Our bus driver – Michael was his name, of course! – gave very strict instructions of what would happen if we were late back to the bus at any of our stops… he said (imagine an Irish accent) “If you are one minute late you will have to sing a song, if you are two minutes late you will have to do a dance, and if you are three minutes late you can sing and dance all you like ‘cause we will be leavin’ you behind”.  So we set off…

Our first stop was the Red Fox near the Irish bogs, and Tim had an Irish Coffee – the third of the big three (Guinness, Jameson’s and Irish Coffee)… so felt he was entitled to speak with an Irish accent.  We then moved off to the road around Dingle Bay, which is also known as the “Dark Skies Reserve” which is so named because the area is great for looking at the night sky because there is so little light pollution.  Half way along the Dark Skies Reserve we stopped to watch a Sheep Dog demonstration – it was fascinating to see how well trained the dogs were.  They keenly watched their master for instructions and guidance and were perfect in moving the sheep around the paddock.  The shepherd was one of Irelands award winning shepherds, and he frequently uses 4 dogs at one time (and trains them all himself).

After then moving on around the Ring, past the Village of Kells – we stopped half way around the Ring for lunch at Bayview Hotel at Waterville overlooking a statue of Charlie Chaplin, who was a regular visitor after he retired from movies and lived in Switzerland.  He stayed for 4 weeks during the summer holidays.  We then took a walk along the beach.  Not quite like Aussie beaches with their lovely white smooth sands… this one was full of rounded pebbles and rocks – not very comfortable for “sunbaking”… not that there was much sun!

After moving on, we stopped once again at the quaint little town of Sneem which is well known for its different coloured houses, and has been a destination for some of the famous in times gone by like Charles de Gaul (who has a monument erected in his honor) and Grace Kelly.  We then moved on around the Ring for a photo opportunity back towards Killarney over the Lough Leane before driving through an ancient Oak forrest with the trees covered in moss and looking very “other-worldly”.

After returning to Killarney, we walked around to visit the magnificent St Mary’s Cathedral on which construction began in 1842 and finally completed in 1912.  It is designed and built in the traditional Gothic revival style, and is a beautiful building to behold.  We then walked back through the town that had become our home for a couple of days, to the McSweeney Arms hotel to have a few glasses of wine out in the SUNSHINE(!) before we had a rest prior to dinner  - where we watched the France vs Germany semi-final…. Even more brownie points for Kellie (!)

The Rose garden at Kilkenny Castle

After breakfast we set off for the Rock of Cashel to see a bit of history.  The Rock of Cashel was the traditional seat of the kings of Munster for several hundred years prior to the Norman invasion in 1101 AD, and is reputed to be the site of the conversion of the King of Munster to Christianity by St Patrick.  The ancient Celtic art and Architecture was being restored  and about half the structure was under scaffolding – but we were able to get inside and view some of the works in progress.

After the windswept hill-top of Cashel, we walked through the old town and back to the car for the drive to Kilkenny, where we parked and had a wander through the alleyways of the old town.  After a bite to eat we walked up to Kilkenny Castle.  It was built on Medieval foundations that date back to mid 1100’s and has been built upon by several owners over many years.  The castle became the principal residence of the wealthy Butler family for over 600 years from the late 1300’s and was finally sold to the people of Kilkenny by Arthur, the 6^th Marquess of Ormond in 1967 for 50 pounds.  It has since been beautifully restored and is surrounded by the most magnificent lawn which was the most Irish of green colours and looked like a carpet.

We then wound our way back through many an Irish country road back to Wexford to drop off the car and Warwick drove us home for an amazing curry dinner by chef Warwick.

Stonehenge

We were up early this morning for the hour or so drive to the airport to catch our plane back to England.  We were greeted to some “serious” Irish rain… the kind you can actually feel dropping on you, rather than just being heavy mist – but it only lasted for half the trip to the airport, and was starting to become fine by the time we got there…. That’s Irish weather for you!  Warwick was again our chauffeur, and drove us right to the terminal.  It has been great catching up with Warwick, Sue and Lilah.  Back onto the plane for the short fight home, picked up our hire car – this time Tim was lucky enough to “jag” an Audi A1S, so is looking forward to having some fun with it over the next day or so – and we then set off for Stonehenge.

The traffic was pretty busy getting away from the airport on the M25, which didn’t surprise us too much, but the closer we got to Stonehenge, the more we slowed down!  The last mile and a half took about 45 mins!!  There was an incredible number of people at Stonehenge!  Well in excess of 1 million people see Stonehenge each year, and it seemed like half of them were there on the same day as us!

Stonehenge is about 4.500 years old (in fact the circular ditch and bank of earth is dated at 3,100 BC), and close to the oldest human structure we have seen.  It is a temple and burial site (as far as archeologists can tell) and is a world heritage site on account of its historical importance.  Historians are now very particular about conserving Stonehenge – but it was only in 1977 that the stones were roped off and public access was not allowed.  Tim can remember climbing on some of the stones that had fallen over and running in and out the Stones in the circle – we worked out that this must have only been a year or so before the site was closed to public access.  Now you have to walk around it from a respectable distance.  They have even diverted one of the main roads to assist preservation and to put Stonehenge back into the landscape so the public can appreciate what it might have been like all those years ago.

After we left Stonehenge we drove on to Bath where we would be staying for the next few days.  After checking into the B&B, we walked about 15 minutes down the hill to the old city of Bath and explored a bit of the town before some dinner.  Being Saturday evening, most of the shops and attractions were closed, but we managed to get our bearings and have an idea of the towns layout.  The roman Baths were right next to the impressive Abby that had a beautiful courtyard beside it.  We wandered around the town eventually setting on a Gastro Pub right alongside the Medieval City walls – part of which were still standing not 20 meters from the door of the Pub!

Roman Baths

Kellie had planned a hectic schedule for us today, so we were up and at breakfast early (we were the first ones there!).  After having a hearty breakfast, we set off back down the hill from the B&B to the old town of Bath and headed for the Roman Baths which were opening at 9am. 

The hot springs of Bath have been known for centuries before the Romans, and indeed there is a legend that Prince Bladud (the father of King Lear?) who suffered from Leprosy, noticed that pigs that had skin diseases were cured after wallowing in the hot mud near the spring and so he founded a city of Bath.  It was the Romans who really brought the place to prominence, in around 50 AD, when they built a temple around the hot springs – and later a town grew up around public baths that were built for the worship of their gods and the healing properties of the waters.  There are some beautifully preserved Roman details in and around the baths, and many coins (in 2012 the largest ever hoard of Roman coins found in Britain was discovered), artifacts and “curse tablets” have been found.  “Curse Tablets” are messages scratched into lead metal, than rolled up and thrown into the spring as prayers to the Roman goddess.  They are called curse tablets, because they generally are a request for the goddess to take vengeance on someone who had (for example) stolen something from them.  They tell archeologists a lot about daily life in a Roman town.

The Roman complex that was built around the hot springs contained numerous baths and sweat rooms (similar to modern saunas) and had very sophisticated engineering and plumbing using lead piping.  The main pool is stone that has been lined with lead to stop the water seeping away, and it is still watertight to this day.  Many of the surrounding buildings are replacements of the original Roman bathhouse – for instance the main bath is open to the sun now (which is why it is a greenish colour because of the algae – this is not a problem the romans would have had as their baths had an enclosed roof, one of the largest buildings in Britain at the time.  Tim could have spent all day among the Roman history, but we had to cut it short at one and a half hours, to catch up with our next scheduled item – the Walking Tour of Bath.  But before leaving Tim tasted some of the (filtered) water from the spring.  Yuk!  It was very minerally and had a bitter after taste that stayed with him for some time…..

We then met up with the Walking tour of Bath, which was conducted by the Mayor of Bath’s Honorary Guides – ours was Andrew.  He took us around the old town of Bath and gave us a history of some of the features of the town.  There were many old hospitals throughout Bath, as people believed Bath to be a place of healing and the warm springs were prominent in the therapies that were provided to the patients.  During Georgian times, Bath thrived because of its hot springs and a reputation of a place to come for a health Spa (as it still is today).  As a result of the influx of money from the tourists, an extensive building program was undertaken.  The fashion at the time, at least in Bath, was to build houses and buildings in the Roman style – s walking around the streets of Bath provides you with a sense of both Roman times and an Italian metropolis.

It has some quirks that we would not have known about without going on the walking tour.  For instance, during the Napoleonic wars, the British government taxed landowners to help finance the war efforts.  The way they calculated the taxes was by counting the number of windows you had – the more windows, the higher the tax!  So many of the buildings have had “renovations” to close up some windows, and enlarge others!  Bath also has the oldest “Theatre Royals” outside of London as members of the Royal family often came to Bath to holiday (a Theatre Royal is so named because it is visited by the Royal family).  The walking tour was an great way to see the old city on foot – and quite difficult too, as Bath is a pretty hilly place!

After our tour, we left and set off for the Bath Skyline Walk – a walk around the hills overlooking the city of Bath.  It was a 10km walk up and down quite steep hills – good exercise for us, as we had been eating quite well over the past week or so!  From the tops of the hills we had an excellent view of the city of Bath below us, and the landscape we walked through changed from open fields to woodland forest.  It was good fun walking through the English countryside – and we timed it really well… it started to rain just as we were finishing our walk!

We then set off back up the hill to our B&B to have a shower and change for dinner – another walk down the hill to the town at one of the local pubs (aptly named “The Three Lions”) to watch the final of the Euro 2016 between Portugal and France.

Polperro Harbour

We started with a lazy morning and a bit of a sleep in, before heading down to breakfast.  After checking out we set course for Dartmoor National Park and were aiming for Buckland Moor to go on a walk to see the Buckland Beacon.  Our GPS had a fit, and didn’t take us to the correct place (in fact it took us in the opposite direction to start with!), but we finally ended up at the Dartmoor National Park Information Center where we asked for instructions to the Beacon.  They had no idea!  But they suggested a trip out to Grimspound instead – What’s a “Grimspound”?, I hear you ask.  Well….

Grimspound is a Bronze age settlement in the Dartmoor National Park.  It is the remains of 24 circular stone huts within a circle stone wall.  It dates back to 1,300 BC, and was a significant structure for the era.  The stone wall encircling the huts may have been 1.5 meters tall, and was probably topped by a hedge or fence.  The huts were built using the same dry stone waling techniques that are used in the countryside of England today… larger granite rocks in the inner and outer walls and small rubble infilling them.  It was quite bleak at the top of the hill looking at the remains (particularly when the rain started to come in), so we decided to move on to some less exposed tourist spots!

We then drove to Buckland on the Moor – a cute little town of only a few buildings – but a lot of them thatched in the traditional style.  We wound our way through single lane Cornwall country roads – meeting the occasional oncoming vehicle, and even cows and a flock of sheep that slowed our journey!  It was a real experience, and Kellie got up close and personal with a cow (through the car window) – see photos for details!

We then arrived in Polperro where we were going to stay for the next few nights.  Polperro was an old smugglers town on the south coast of Cornwall, England.  It is a fishing village and has a harbor with many boats (which were stranded at low tide when we arrived).  It is located in a narrow valley that leads to the sea, along which flows the small river (creek) Pol.  Polperro has been recognized as fishing village as early as the 13^th Century and has been mentioned in the Doomsday Book.  The town is long and thin and we walked along the length of it exploring all the narrow lanes and roads and all the old buildings that lead down to the harbor.  After we had explored most of the town, we settled at the Blue Peter Inn for a drink and a local seafood dinner.  Scrumptious!

We returned to the B&B, where we enjoyed a glass of wine “al fresco” while writing this blog.  This is livin’!  How’s the serenity?  Until tomorrow….

The Mud Maid in the Lost Gardens of Heligan

We got up for an early breakfast this morning, as Kellie had planned for a big day out today!  Our first stop was St Ives – a lovely town on the Cornwall coast.  Kellie had researched it and found that it was a very popular tourist spot in Summer, so our best bet was to “Park and Ride” – so we parked in Levant Saltings and took one of the branch lines of the Great Western Railway GWR (also called “Gods Wonderful Railway” in other parts of the South West of England!) for about a 10 minute ride to the town of St Ives.  It was a beautiful town, and we were able to walk around it for an hour or so – trying to avoid the crowds of people (difficult, as there were many of them!), before heading back to the station for the train trip home.  While we were waiting for the train, we were watching the swimmers on the beach, Kellie in her wind-jacket, and it started raining!  It didn’t seem to bother the English too much though…. They just kept on swimming.  To be fair, within about 5 minutes, the rain had stopped and it was sunshine again.  Frustrating!

We then moved onto Marazion where we walked through the town and saw the St Michaels Mount – which is a civil Parish managed by the National Trust and has a population of 35.  It is the home of the St Aubyn family since 1650.  It has a counter-part in the Mont Saint-Michel in France (which is a Benedictine Island commune).  It has a causeway that links it to the mainland, that is underwater at high tide, and exposed at low tide.  So you are able to walk across to the island at low tide, but when we were there (at high tide) the only way of getting to the island was by boat.

We then made our way to Truro.  It was an interesting old town, and had we looked at Cathedral that was located right in the center of the old town, and we then had a brief walk around the old town while Tim had an authentic Cornish Pasty.

It was then off to the Lost gardens of Heligan  They were some of the most spectacular gardens that we had ever seen.- beautiful.  They were created by the Tremayne family during the mid 18^th Century but were neglected and largely forgotten after the First World War, and only recently re-discovered and restored in the 1990’s.  We spent a lot of time wandering around and experiencing many of the aspects of the gardens – the ancient Rhododendrons and Camellias, the Lost Valley, The Jungle (with some ferns with the biggest leaves we had ever seen!) and many others.  Kellies favorite was the vegie patch with just about every type of vegetable you could imagine!  We asked one of the gardeners what they did with their vegies, and he told us that they were used in the Kiosk and Restaurant – just like Kellie does at work with her veggies.  She was very interested in this part of the garden!

We then had a quick drive through Mevagissey, which was a small village with a few thatch roof buildings situated in a valley.  We then stopped at the village of Fowey.  It was a great little town on a harbor – quite like Polperro, but considerably larger.  It was situated on a very steep hill – we parked in the main car park at top of the hill, which meant that after we had walked around the town, we had a long STEEP walk back up to the car for our trip back to Polperro.  We took the ferry across the harbor (it reminded us a bit of the Berowra Waters ferry in Northern Sydney) and then took some VERY NARROW streets and laneways (that were so narrow that even our small car was getting scratched on the drivers and passengers sides by the hedges as we drove) back to the B&B at Polperro.

After dinner at the Old Mill Pub in town, we crashed in bed – after covering quite a few miles in one day!

Our Brokenhurst walk

We left behind Mark and Jo, our excellent hosts at Polperro, and headed off on our drive today.  We had a few miles to cover.  Our first stop was Totnes Castle.  We parked in the main carpark (after the GPS directed us through very narrow streets clearly designed for horses or foot traffic, not cars!) and walked through the town up to the castle.  It was a medieval castle that was built in the 1100’s and had a man-made earthen mound with a stone fort on the top.  Originally, the castle would have had a wooden wall around it at the base of the mound and the surrounding buildings – with another smaller wooden wall around the village.  It was re-constructed and expanded, this time with stone walls, in the 1200’s.  It eventually ran into disrepair when the owner of the castle stopped paying for it’s upkeep (which was expensive) as there was no need for the fortifications any longer.

We then made our way to Lyme Regis.  It is a coastal town in the county of Dorset, and is situated on part of the cost known as the Heritage Coast, or more popularly the “Jurassic Coast” – so named as it is well known for its abundance of fossils in the rock strata in the area.  It is a World Heritage Site because of this.  Many of the earliest dinosaur finds in the early 1800’s were found in the rocks around Lyme Regis.  The town itself was yet another sea-side fishing town set on the side of steep hills/cliffs.  It has some sandy (!) beaches and we saw many people enjoying boating activities and sailing.  We had some lunch in a café alongside the small river that runs through the center of the old town.

We then set off for Brockenhurst in the New Forrest for our overnight stay in a B&B called “The Blacksmiths House”… but, alas, it didn’t have any connection with Blacksmiths.  We then set out for a 10km walk through the woodland forests, local towns, bog lands and heather fields.  It was a good opportunity to stretch our legs and explore the local area.  We finished our walk at the local pub, and sat in the sun enjoying a well-earned drink, before having some dinner.

Fish & Chips on Brighton Beach

We started off by bidding farewell to the New Forest and setting off for Portchester Castle near Portsmouth.  It was an really well preserved castle from (predominantly) the Medieval times, although there were still well preserved walls from the Roman fortifications prior to that in the 3^rd century.  It was situated on the north side of a bay that was adjacent to Portsmouth that was sheltered from the ocean.  So it would have been an excellent harbor for ships, and strategically very significant.  It was a significant stronghold for the English in their battles during the 100 year war with France.  In fact the castle was briefly taken by the French in the 1200’s, but recaptured by the English after that.  The main portion of the structure was built in the 1100’s after the Norman invasion, and gradually built and changed over the years  - including being inhabited by royalty and them using it as a base for their military exploits against France – until it was eventually used as a prison in the 1600’s.  and later fell into disrepair.

The view from the top of the Inner Keep, was quite spectacular, as you were able to see right out to the heads of the harbor – easy to see why it was such a strategically significant location for such a structure.

We then drove on the Brighton, to have fish and chips on the “beach” in the “shadow” of the Brighton Pier.  Well…. We did all that, and even walked along the Pier, but we were disappointed with Brighton – not unexpectedly so, it has to be said.  We went with the full understanding that Brighton had a “reputation”, but thought it was worth seeing anyway.  The way we described it to each other as we drove away was by using words like, crowded, decadent, decay, Gold Coast and many other descriptors.  It seemed to us to be the type of place that the Gold Coast could become in 100 years tie, if they let it decay and loose character.  Unfortunately, there were many great examples of Art Deco architecture in the town, but most were in a sad state of disrepair.  It could have a real character of it’s own and be very unique.  But it seemed clear that the almighty dollar had meant that proprietors were concentrating on night clubs and bars that brought in the biggest “buck” rather than trying to remain true to the character of the town.

We moved onto to our last stop for the day – Whitstable.  We were staying in a very posh hotel, just out of Whitstable.  It was lovely, and we had a very relaxing drinks and dinner at the hotel overlooking the bay and town of Whitstable while the sun set.  It was a magnificent way to end our last night before hitting London town.

Some of the intricate detail in Canterbury Catherdral

We had a bit of a sleep in in our posh hotel in the countryside overlooking Whitstable, before having a leisurely breakfast and then setting off for Canterbury.  It is a very historic town and has been a destination for religious pilgrims for hundreds of years – and this was the setting for Chaucer’s famous “Canterbury Tales”, an ancient (14^th century) collection of stories and poems of a bunch of pilgrims making the journey to Canterbury.  

Our main target was the iconic Canterbury Cathedral – and impressive building that had been built over many years as various Arch Bishops had added onto the Cathedral.  The original one was established in Canterbury in the 500’s AD – but more about this later.  The Cathedral is important as it is the “chair” for the head of the Anglican Church, the Arch Bishop of Canterbury.  Interestingly he was ordained by a women (the first time that has ever happened).  The day we were there, part of the Cathedral was not open to the public as there were graduation ceremonies taking place for the University of Kent… we thought it was a bit of a shame, until the traditional brass ensemble playing the music for the graduation march…. It sounded awesome, and the acoustics in the old Cathedral were amazing!

Canterbury has been inhabited ever since pre-historic times, but is famous as the seat of Christianity in England.  In the late 500’s Pope Gregory sent St Augustine to England to covert the country to Christianity – something Augustine didn’t want to do at first, and turned back from his first journey, only to be sent back by his boss the Pope!  We he did eventually arrive in England he was greeted peacefully by the King of the Anglo-Saxons – Ethelbert – whose wife had already converted to Christianity.  Augustine converted Ethelbert to Christianity, and he was given some land to set up a monastery in Canterbury and from there began his efforts to convert the Celtic Tribes in the west and the Anglo-Saxon tribes in the east to Christianity.  This is why Canterbury holds such importance to Christian pilgrims, as it is ground zero for the conversion of England.

When we moved on from the Cathedral, we visited the site of the ruins of St Augustine’s Abbey.  You could still see the foundations and some of the walls of his original building, as well as the Norman Abbey that was built around it later on in the 1100’s.  We could have spent much longer in this historic place, but will have to leave that to another day…

We then drove on through Faversham to London to drop off the car at the City Airport, and caught the DLR to Tower Hill where we checked into our London hotel for the next week.  After settling in we went for a walk around the district near the hotel before stopping in to Jamies Wine Bar for some dinner.

Ronnie Scotts!

We set off later this morning on the tube and headed out on the District line to Putney Bridge where we connected with the Thames Walk that runs all the way from its source in Gloucestershire to the Thames Barrier… today we only walked from Putney Bridge to Richmond Lock – well the White Cross Inn to be precise, just past the Richmond Lock.  The weather was fantastic and we were walking in summer sunlight and about 28 degrees for most of the walk.  We really appreciated the parts, particularly near Kew Gardens, where the trees gave us some shade from the sun!

When we finally made it to Richmond, we rewarded ourselves with a late lunch and a beverage while over-looking the historic part of the Thames river and all the many people that had come for the day t visit.  It seemed to be the summer thing to do, to buy a beer and take it out onto the river bank, cop a spot on the grassy bank and spend some relaxing time watching the world go by.  Very pleasant way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

We then caught the train home to freshen up and head off to Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club in Soho.  We had some spare tickets as one of our friends was not able to join us, so we took one of Tim’s business contacts.  It was a fantastic experience, we heard the support band – a piano trio – who were very good and then the main show – the Yellow Jackets, from the USA.  They were superb.  Some of the best live jazz we have ever heard.  They are a jazz fusion quartet – keyboards, Drums, Bass (a six-string version… very cool!), and Saxophones and EWI (pronounced “EE-wee”).  An EWI is an “electronic wind instrument”, and is basically a synthesizer that is controlled by wind and fingers – using the same fingering system as the Soprano Sax.  It actually sounded fantastic and really suited their style of jazz, and Bob Mintzer (who played it) was exceptional.  When we met some of the band after the show, we learned that the bassist was an Aussie from Perth but had been living in the States for about 4 years.

We then moved on for a spot of dinner in Soho before heading home to the Hotel.

Dinner at Heston's

After a leisurely start, we set off to have lunch with one of Tims old colleagues, Christian, and his wife Lisa and their family.  They lived just off Clapaham Common, so we took the train to Clapham South and walked along the Common for about 10 munutes, taking in all the activity of people enjoying the Summer sunshine on the Common.  Christian fired up the outdoor wood-fired Pizza oven and cooked a rack of lamb for us.  Very nice!

We then had a quick freshen up at the hotel before heading off for dinner with Matt and Trudy at “Dinner at Heston” in the Mandarin Oriental hotel – but first we started with a drink in the bar in the foyer of Claridges – very posh!  Dinner at Haston was an exotic  and quite different, with all of the dishes based on old (often ancient!) English and Anglo-Saxon recipes that Heston had adapted to modern eating (while trying to maintain the original intention and flavours.  Kellie had an Earl Grey Tea cured Salmon dish for entrée which originated from 1730 and Halibut for main with the recipe dating from 1830.  Tim had an entrée from 1390 called Frumenty (Grilled Octopus) and Powdered Duck Breast from 1670.  T was a real experience.  We topped these dishes off with deserts from 1590 and 1660 of Strawberries and Taffety Tart respectively – The Srawberries coming from a cookery book titled “Book of Cookrye very necessary for all such delight therin”.  It was quite an experience.

The Inner Temple of the Knights Templar

After Tim left for work this morning, Kellie took off for a walk around London's Parks. It was a guided walk called The Princess Diana Memorial Walk which was signposted with memorial plates embedded in the ground. She started off at St James's Park, circumnavigating the lake, past Buckingham Palace then past Green Park, under The Wellington Arch and into Hyde Park. The rose garden at the Knightsbridge entrance to Hyde Park was in full bloom and the smells of summer were beautiful. The walk took Kellie past The Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens which commemorates the death of Prince Albert in 1861 and is positioned opposite the Royal Albert Hall. Continuing on the walk she past Kensington Palace, The Italian Gardens and back through Hyde Park. The walk finished at Green Park where Kellie jumped on the tube to Holborn to meet up with a walking tour of the Inns of Court.

The Inns of Court are the professional associations for Barristers in England and Wales. All barristers must belong to one of the four associations. The Inns have a supervisory and disciplinary function and provide libraries, dining facilities, a chapel, gardens and professional accommodation. The four Inns of Court are Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple, Middle Temple and Grey's Temple.

The Inner Temple was chosen by the crusading Knight's Templar in the 12th century as their headquarters. The round church was modelled on the church of St Sepulchre in Jerusalem and still forms part of the church today. This is where The Da Vinci Code was filmed and as part of the filming agreement the production company restored and cleaned the church. 

As a rare treat the tour group was able to go into the main hall in middle Temple. Normally access to any of the Inns is strictly for members only so it was a real treat to see the beautiful interior of the hall. Check out the photos in the gallery. 

After 6 hours on her feet Kellie retreated to the hotel for a quiet night on her own, while Tim had a work function in the historic Royal Exchange building near Bank tube Station.

Kellie about to climb the 311 steps of the Monument

After having breakfast together, Tim went off to work and Kellie set off on a 2.5km walk of London's city gardens. Beginning at the beautiful St Paul's Cathedral Garden she meandered south east stopping off at 7 city gardens and ending at Monument. The Monument was built between 1671 and 1677 to commemorate the Great Fire of London of 1666 and to celebrate the rebuilding of the city. The flaming urn of copper at the top (which Kellie has always thought looked like a golden pineapple!) symbolises the Great Fire and the 311 spiral steps take you to a balcony at the top where there is a breathtaking view of the entire City. The Monument is 202 feet high which is the exact distance between it and the site where the fire began.

From there it was off to The Old Operating Theatre Museum, south of the Thames across London Bridge. Kellie wasn't quite sure what to expect upon visiting this museum but never did she think she would find an old operating theatre and apothecary in the roof space of a church! When St Thomas' Church was built in 1703 it had an unusually large space in the roof so it was used by St Thomas's Apothecary (part of St Thomas' Hospital which surrounded the church) to store and cure herbs. But what was bizarre was the operating theatre also in the roof space! It was created in order to provide a means for the hordes of medical students to watch operations which were previous performed on the wards. The tiered seating allowed uninterrupted views of surgical procedures and there was plenty of natural light from a large skylight above.

Onto Borough Markets for a spot of lunch before walking back across the Thames via Tower Bridge and up to Mansion House for a guided tour. Mansion House is the home and office of the Lord Mayor of London and is used by many charitable and business related organisations for fundraising events, receptions and dinners. The Mayor also entertains Heads of Government, royalty and many other prominent figures at Mansion House. The role of the Lord Mayor is to support and promote the City of London as the world leader in international finance and business. The Lord Mayor and his office is not supported by taxpayers but instead is run by the City of London Corporations which is older than Parliament, and is centered at Guildhall. In fact when William the Conqueror won his battle he did not take control of the City of London as the battle was outside of the city. The Lord Mayor is a position which can only be held for one year and there is no salary. In fact they have to take one year's leave of absence from their job and fund at least 5 events/banquets from their own pocket! Clover Moore could learn a lesson or two from this practice.

When Tim had finished having a after work drink with a few colleagues, we went for a wander around St Katharine Docks before having a light dinner at a local wine bar/bistro.

Jazz in the Crypt!

Today while Tim was in budget meetings, Kellie took the train to High Barnet to join the Dollis Valley Greenwalk in Barnet.  It was a 10km walk that followed the Dollis and Mutton Brooks in a green chain all the way to Hampstead Heath – on the way passing close to the tube station that was near where Tim’s brother Jeremy, and his husband Ian, used to live.  It was an incredibly peaceful and serene walk that only crossed a few roads and ended in the large expanse of Hampstead Heath.

At the end of the walk Kellie caught the tube one station south to Hampstead where she joined a walking tour of the old village.  Hampstead Village is well known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and has some of the most expensive housing in the London area.  In 1700 many suffering from tuberculosis would come to the higher ground of Hampstead for its cleaner air and the medicinal chalybeate waters (waters impregnated with iron).

After Tim had finished with work, we ventured off to Embankment station on the tube to the English version of Smith & Wollinsky’s – a famous New York steakhouse.  After this we walked 10 minutes down the road to The Crypt of St Martins in the Field to watch some Jazz by the Mississippi Mud Dogs.  Despite their name they came from Manchester, but the sextet of Sax(s), Trombone, Guitar, Bass, Drums and Keyboard were fantastic and played some great New Orleans style Jazz and Blues.  It was a great night!

Dinner at the Jugged Hare.....

A very early start to the morning saw Kellie rising at 5am to join a tour of the Smithfield Markets. The Smithfield Markets has been a livestock market on the same site for over 800 years. The original market was outdoors and live animals were herded in through the narrow streets, sold and then butchered. You can only imagine what a noisy, smelly and disgusting environment is was. All that changed when the present Grade II listed buildings were constructed between 1866 and 1868 and it became a dead meat market. An underground railway tunnel was also built to facilitate the transfer of animal carcasses to its cold store and directly up to the meat market via lifts. These sidings closed in the 1960s and are now used as a car park.

The two main buildings are the meat and poultry market but there are several other buildings in terrible disrepair which are soon to be renovated to house the new Museum of London. A typical day will start around 10pm with butchering the carcasses, then at about 2am the wholesale market kicks off with sales to the restaurant and pub industries and finally at 6am the market opens to the public. Everything is shut down by 7:30am. Not a very social life! One butcher by the name of Biffo told stories of how the markets used to be 40 to 50 years ago. Apparently it was tradition to "initiate" young men who were either turning 21 or getting married. They would be strung up naked, smeared in animal blood and offal and then covered in sawdust and feathers!

After the tour Kellie and Tim met for breakfast at Smiths of Smithfield's, a favourite breakfast spot of theirs before Tim went off to work and Kellie onto another tour - this time a food tour of the east end! The east end is home to such an array of varied styles of restaurants, cafes and shops influenced by immigrants from as far back as the 17th century. Successive waves of foreign immigration began with Huguenot refugees (French Protestants), followed by Irish weavers (Spitalfield markets were originally silk markets), Jews and in the 20th century, Bangladeshis. It was the poorer end of the city so as the immigrants arrived overcrowding became a real problem. Now the east end is a trendy and expensive area to live in. First we visited the Spitalfield markets then onto Arzu Confectionery which sold sweet and savoury food from Asia. Next stop was Poppies Fish and Chips which was hands down the best battered fish Kellie has every eaten! Big call yes, but the batter was so crispy and light that the fish tasted like it was steamed not fried. Next was a Jewish Beigel shop where the delicacy was the salted beef Beigel and finally a cocoa house where Kellie was able to indulge in some vegan chocolate!

Later that day Kellie explored the Guildhall Art Gallery which houses an extensive display of Victorian paintings but the highlight was what lay beneath the art gallery. In 1988 whilst excavating for the construction of the gallery, Museum of London archaeologists discovered the remains of a Roman amphitheater. Excavation continued until 1996 when the designs for the gallery had to be altered to preserve the remains. The gallery and amphitheater finally opened to the public in 1999. It's incredible that a piece of this ancient city was only recently discovered!

When Tim arrived home from work we caught the train to Barbican and walked down to “The Jugged Hare”, a classic English Gourmet Pub where we had celebrated Tim’s birthday a few years before with the Henrys and Tim’s Brother Jeremy and his husband Ian.  It was as tasty as we remembered it to be!

The Canals

Another early morning saw Tim head off to the office for some early morning meetings, while Kellie went for another walk.  This time she followed the Thames Path from Tower Hill past St Katharine's Dock through Wapping before connecting with the Regent's Canal at Limehouse Basin.  Kellie followed the towpath along the canal to Little Venice some 15km long.  The towpath is so named because it was the pathway the horses used to walk along to tow the canal boats.  The canal was very dirty and littered for most of the walk as Kellie walked through residential and commercial areas.  There were two sections where the towpath didn't follow the canal and one time was at Islington Tunnel.  It was nice to come up from the canal and walk through yet another familiar area where Tim’s brother Jeremy used to work.

The other was a private mooring at Lisson Grove.  This area was a gated community so no doubt the mooring costs here would have been expensive!  The canal became much cleaner past Camden Lock when it passed through the London Zoo and Regent's Park.  The mansions along this stretch of the canal were impressive to say the least!  After reaching Little Venice Kellie had a rest and some lunch in Rembrant Gardens then it was off to Paddington Station to catch the tube back to Tower Hill for a much needed shower

Tim came back to the hotel mid-afternoon, after finishing his meetings and we packed up and headed for the airport.  We must have had the slowest cab driver in all of London – lucky we left ourselves some time to get to Heathrow!

So that is the end of our holiday blog for this trip.  We are writing this to you from the lounge as we wait for our flight home.  25 degrees and very pleasant – so we are a bit hesitant about flying 24 hours to arrive to about sub-10 degrees in Sydney… we have quite enjoyed our northern summer!

Thanks for reading.