One Kingdom, Three Countries, 50 Castles, 29 days, and 3,455 miles.
Thursday, May 28, 15
Flew into London Heathrow this am, got a car and headed southwest. I chose the small town of Salisbury as a target for the night somewhere near Stonehenge. Along the way I chose to stop and visit a bank or ATM in Winchester. There I found narrow crowded streets and the bank in the down town. So I need to park the car to go get money from the bank, but needed money to park the car ….. and I also needed to ditch the car to find a WC. Whata mess. Like Ireland, England so far has very narrow roads off the motorway, but usually in Ireland one could find a place to park in most small towns. Here seems there’s very seldom any room to park anywhere on the street. Though on some quieter streets people do anyway, creating single lane traffic at that spot! Traffic circles, roundabouts, are supposed to move traffic faster because nobody has to stop, but here they have traffic circles with lights that prevent/allow your to entry.
(Photos: A link near the end of a section will take you to the photo album related to the section, while interspersed links take you to photos related to the narrative context. - use Cntl or Shift click to show in new tab or window respectively)
After a poor night’s sleep in the worst B&B I can remember, next day I visited Old Sarum Castle, Salisbury Cathedral (highest steeple in England) Market Square,
Stonehenge and Wardour Castle. In Salisbury I got a SIM card for my cell system Wi-Fi hot spot and unlocked the device – still not working though.
Saturday Cathedral (Anglican) at Wells, Gallox (gallows) Bridge at Dunster, searched for Daws Castle near Watchet, visited beaches at Minehead and Watchet and Cleeve Abbey. Beaches in this area are cold and not very appealing landscape. SW England photos[1]
England has 53 million people, but is still living with the pathways left buy 13th (maybe 19th) century construction that allowed only for two stages to pass and parking was not an issue. I guess they built good masonry buildings and don’t want to tear them down – all of Europe pretty much like this if not destroyed by war. I’ve heard modern US (commercial) construction is designed for 70 year life. A lot of places a traffic light stops vehicles in one direction while those going opposite pass through a block or so of street, then the light switches and opposite stream clears – others just let you take the chance. My tiny stick shift, left-hand drive rental car with amazingly tight turning radius is up to it though. Since we taught them the language, I thought they would know of eminent domain, and have torn down a lot of those old building and make roads where two cars could pass with other cars parked on each side.
Once one gets out of the towns there is a surprising lot of good and productive farm land. I had a mind set that this small country had to be all people – but now I’ve heard they export beef. The farms are beautiful.
Sunday, May 31, 15
The Cotswolds: After checking out of the George Pub Hotel in Frome, I drove to Trowbridge and searched for a phone store. While waiting in line I booted up my computer and got my hotspot working myself – another couple hours wasted. Then went to the famous Bath, England, so named because of the genuine Roman baths built there by the Romans centuries ago. The Roman Hot Bath attraction is interesting. Very unusual, the whole city seems to be built of nearly identical (carbonated limestone) buildings. The Circus and the Crescent are two examples of 16th century condominiums. Also very worth seeing is the Bath at Work Museum. I saw all and gave myself a good vigorous hike walking the hilly small city. Next, drove to Wales, visiting the St. Fagans Natural History Museum – this is an outdoor park with many early Welsh buildings with appropriate furnishings and genuine equipment inside to depict Welsh life between the 16th and 19th centuries. At the last minute, as usual, I got a B&B in the nearby village of St Fagans, which is probably the best, and most expensive, B&B I’ve had. Monday morning I got going and in a full day explored, sometimes in a cold and windy rain, all of Castell Coch, Caerphilly Castle, Tintern Abbey, Goodrich Castle, and arrived from the west into the Cotswolds region. Wales photos. Got a B&B on a remote farm that really wasn’t much better than that near Salisbury several days ago, but the lady running it had a little more charm and it was adjacent to a working Cotswold farm, instead of a junk yard. Caerphilly is the largest and most impressive castle so far on this trip. Next day I toured the Cotswolds south and north. All the buildings seem the same, built in the 16th century using the local masonry source – including the B&B of the previous night. A rainy trip through Stow-on-the-Wold, and most interesting are towns of Snowshill and Broadway. Then buzzed by Stratford-Upon-Avon and finished day at Kenilworth Castle. The Cotswolds, an area of rolling hills, misty climate and lots of sheep that produce the best English wool, now worthless, begin approximately at Bath and end just before Stratford-on-Avon. Cotswolds photos:
The following morning I made a quick trip to Warwick Castle but didn’t go inside as I found it a tourist rip off just as indicated by Rick Steves. Then headed northwest with the goal of north Wales for the night. Stopped mid way at the Ironbridge Gorge, site of extensive iron works in the mid 19th century and of the first iron bridge in the world. Lots of tourist pitfalls here and parking pitfalls. There is great risk of paying for a minimum couple hours of parking for maybe £2.50 ($4), and after inquiring 5 minutes later one needs to be in some other distant parking lot. Almost no businesses or attractions provide parking. I’m anticipating my 1st UK visit to McDonalds, where at the parking lot machine I will see the most repeated phrase in the country, “Pay and Display” and have to put in a couple £s to get a 5 minute ½£ hamburger (I have not seen any machine that accepts less than £1 ($1.55)! Growing up in Pennsylvania we were frequently plagued buy a tall weed with yellow flowers that we called wild mustard. A couple years ago I found in India they grow a version of this for cooking oil pressed from the mustard seed. When I stopped to inquire about large fields of this growing along today’s drive I found the locals call it rape, grown to make bio-fuel from the oil of the seeds. Finished the day at Denbigh Castle, and a hotel in Denbigh, a quaint small town in and on the western slope of a beautiful valley near the north coast of Wales on the Irish Sea. Thursday morning I drove to Liverpool, home of the Beatles. Interesting tunnel under the bay approaching from the west has a couple “s” turns, must have gotten lost while digging, and even a branch going off in another direction. Don’t know why I drove into the city center instead of just going round – probably just so I might not have regrets later. No place to park as usual in the UK, but in Liverpool, no problem. The red lights are so long I could get out and walk the city and take pictures, returning to drive on to the next when finally a green light! So in this manner I went by the Maritime Museum and some of the important center-city buildings. While driving out of town I put on the radio expecting the Beatles. But instead got Bakersfield, California classic country. Fifty miles north, Lancaster is home of the major UK university of the north. Hung around this town about 3 hours visiting the Lancaster Castle, which is quite intact and a present day court. Just last week Queen Elizabeth was here to mark the 950th anniversary of this castle, which they say she owns.
The Lake District: A few miles further I got a room at the Windermere Hotel at the South end of the Lake District. This area was home of the poet Wordsworth. Sure enough in my Windermere hotel lounge tonight there was a very good entertainer singing classic country – they love it up here in NW UK! Friday I drove around the Lake District. The south nearer Lake Windermere is pastoral rolling hills with stone-fenced sheep pastures, like Ireland, while in the north lake area around Lake Derwentwater and Keswick gentle rounded mountains (~ 3,000 ft). Not being too focused on art and poetry, I found the Scott Bobbin Factory most interesting. For more than a century this factory made “spools” for thread and yarn with an evolving and interesting technology. The towns, Windermere, Hawkshead, Keswick, are very touristy – maybe like Big Bear, Ca! The Lake District is highly over rated, but the Brits flock here – what do you expect from a people living in a cold place with no appealing sea shores and few lakes elsewhere. When I arrived in Keswick early Friday afternoon there was a big beer festival beginning for the weekend and every room was full – except one in a B&B that I grabbed it immediately, despite the bath is down the hall. Lake District photos:
Saturday, June 6, 15
Today I drove into Scotland and along the southwest side to Girvin and Ayr on the shore of the north Irish Sea. Spectacular sweeping views of farm land as far as the gently rolling hills permit you to see in many areas, in others sheep eating astro turf up the mountain sides – small mountains in western US perspective. My B&B in Ayr is like a southern plantation home with a gracious entry way and huge room with lots of extra furniture – useless to me, and the lowest cost yet. Sunday found me driving the coast to Glasgow and exploring it a bit by car. Glasgow photos: Then north through The Trossachs National Park, very scenic, sometimes reminding me of the Jackson Hole area except the highway is at only a couple hundred feet elevation and the highest mountain in Britain, Ben Nevis is 4,400 ft. However the latitude makes up for the elevation and several had snow and Ben Nevis looked like a peak in the Tetons. Most of the lower mountains are treeless above half way and covered with green velvet grass to the top. The second highest mountain is Snowdonia in Wales at 3,500 ft. Another nail-biter getting a room when I arrived at 6:30 pm in Fort Williams – but after a lot of tries I got a good one. This time it was a weekend mountain bike competition that filled the town – the British are so good a pushing tourism. Ayr photos:
Isle of Skye: Today I toured all of Isle of Skye – first learning that this time all the B&Bs are booked up because of the unicycle race! That’s probably only a fraction of the reason, but I did pass about 15 unicycles racing along the road – on cheater cycles with handlebars. Around the Totternish Peninsula I encountered a farmer harvesting his trees. He confirmed that all the trees within 100 miles or so that seem to disappear at an elevation of 1000 ft. or below are planted. Trees aren’t very natural because of the harsh weather and any that start are eaten by the sheep if not protected. Callie has a farm of about 5000 acres with about 1000 sheep (all it will support) and a couple hundred cattle. Since the recession of 2008, 9 he’s making a decent living for one family on this farm, he said “things are very good.” However, in the 20 years preceding he was just scraping by due things like weather, the vanishing value of wool (sheep are now only raised for lamb) and remarkably Chernobyl! Following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor melt down some radiation was carried and deposited to this area of Scotland. He said no effects were apparent, but for several years you could not sell lamb grazing on this land. Proceeding around other parts of the island I visited Dunvegan Castle, where the MacLeod (McCloud) clan still lives or visits part time on the upper floors, and The Museum of Island Life and enjoyed a lot of seaside and mountain scenery. Isle of Skye photos:
More Highlands & Monsters: Many of the Scottish Castles are still privately owned and the heirs of past lords are using them to make money for upkeep, or otherwise. Some are just a ruin and they are charging you just to use the toilet and visit their gift center, for example Urquhart from which they laud the view of Loch Ness, which can be seen from 50 other vantage points along a 50 mile stretch of highway A82, as I did today – no monster in sight. Also drove through the Northern Highlands which is quite scenic farm (crop) land mostly. The Scottish Highlands just aren’t very high. Spending the night in Inverness. Inverness photos: Thursday, I drove through the eastern Highlands and parts of the Cairngorms National Park to Aberdeen on the North Sea. The beauty of the huge farm fields with crops of varying hues of emerald green, bright yellow rape, and occasional untillable hillsides covered with yellow broom is awesome! Difficult two hours finding a place to sleep in Stonehaven but on the advice of a fellow in a pub, I got a good room. The pub-guy told me about his father’s 5000 acre farm not far inland – I am continually amazed at the amount of farming in this tiny country, both England and Scotland, and farms in general larger than the big farms in the US. Here in Stonehaven it is intense North Sea oil exploration/extraction activity, not tourism, that’s filling all the B&Bs. Friday morning I visited Dunnotter Castle, better than average seaside ruin where the Scottish Honors were secretly spirited and hidden for a while, and drove to Edinburgh, pausing briefly at St. Andrews and Arbroath Castles. St. Andrews claims to be the world’s origin for golf about 400 years ago, having the golf museum and the Old Course where Sean Connery plays and requiring a year’s lead time for a tee time.
Edinburgh: At Edinburgh the castle is supposed to be the best in the UK. It is complete and in good repair and has a lot of good exhibits, but is rather Disney-ish, with gift shops in many towers and quite a lot of people – shutter to think of the ‘tourist’ season! Feature exhibits are the Scottish Honors (crown and coronation regalia) and Mary Queen of Scotts. The Scottish National Museum is quite interesting. Architecturally, the Scottish Parliament building looks like a favela in Brasil. City center seems to be built in two layers. About 4th story level is the Royal Mile and busy street activity of shopping etc., but it’s on bridges over streets and other busy parts of the city below. Quite cold on this Saturday. Got a very comfortable and friendly guesthouse (can’t tell the difference between B&B and guesthouse in UK), in a convenient location for downtown bus travel in Edinburgh. Noticing a bottle of scotch on the breakfast buffet, a night ago I decided to have a taste when coming in after dinner. Getting caught by the Jerry, he explained it was there for Scottish Porridge. So Sunday morning I asked for Scottish Porridge, a bowl of hot oatmeal on which you spread brown sugar, then pour on the scotch whiskey – it caramelizes and is delicious. Edinburgh photos: After breakfast I went to town and took the guide-narrated bus city tour, then headed south east back to England at Newcastle on the North Sea coast. Along the way I visited the Jedburgh Castle Jail and passed through Northumberland National Park. In the UK National Parks are an area that the British have decided to label and color green on the map. However they are just private land like the other land surrounding. Lest we seem critical, Scotland and northern England is covered with spectacular agricultural and sometimes low mountain landscapes. One can often see for 10 – 15 miles across rolling plains and hills sliced into a quilt of manicured croplands of contrasting colors and separated by artistic stone walls and hedges. I have noticed all over the UK signs “TO LET” where curiously the same letter “I” is always omitted or obliterated – as is the subject of this sentence. There’s lamb all over the hills, but several times when I tried to order from the menu, they had none tonight. Can’t park anywhere so I have learned the people just park everywhere. Often streets are made one-way, different direction every half block by the illegally parked cars on alternating sides.
York: Spent the night in Whitley Bay, then moved on to York on Monday. Sometimes when I not sure which turn from roundabout I just go round and round hoping my Garmin (SatNav they call em over here) will catch up and tell me where to get out. A trip seeing so many places and sites in my limited time would have been impossible a few years ago without GPS aid. Now I drive into a large strange city like Liverpool or Glasgow, tell the Garmin where I want to go next, then wander round the city at random on impulses and at any instant the Garmin is telling me how to get out. It’s a real enabler! In York there are endless attractions for tourists. I avoid all the shops but try to make most of the pubs! It’s the only walled city in the UK. Today I visited all the museums including the biggest Railway Museum in the world, all the churches, walked the entire wall almost twice, and drank all the beer – what else could I do? I was lucky here to get a pretty good B&B on Monksgate Street close enough to completely ditch the car and walk the city. York photos:
Cambridge: This is a university town – not too much different from a tourist town. Between York and Cambridge I traveled a long distance on a 70 mph two lanes each way divided motorway, but every ½ to 1 mile there’s a roundabout that slows you to 15 mph or so – what are they thinking? Again lucky to get a B&B, with no B, close enough to walk to town center, though a good bit down scale from what I had in York. University of Cambridge has 31 colleges, but the hierarchy might be more complex than the Hapsburgs or the Stuarts. When I ask the academic discipline of a particular “college” I get a blank stare. In the US a university has colleges such as college of journalism, college of music, college of engineering, etc. Here the colleges are Trinity, Kings, Clare, St. Johns, etc. These appear to be just living quarters and social centers much like a fraternity. All the journalism students from these collect somewhere that I could not clearly identify to study journalism, likewise for other subjects. And just my style, I am here at the end of Easter term when they are having exams and celebrations and parents and friends come to town to fill all the B&Bs, while the colleges are closed to the public. I was planning to get into Trinity college to shake Isaac Newton’s hand, but it’s closed – guess I’ll have to complete my life satisfied only to have been a student of Richard Feynman. Other notable students here were Tennyson, Wordsworth, and Darwin. Cambridge-Oxford photos:
Thursday, June 18, 15
To round out the academic exposure, I went to Oxford and walked by a couple of the ‘colleges’. Then realizing Bletchley Park, recently popularized in the movie The Imitation Game, is in the area about 50 miles northwest of London I went to their museum. This Museum tells the story of the WWII code breakers, their environment of secrecy and the extremely important role played in shortening the war. Next morning after sleeping in a B&B about 10 miles north of London I set my Garmin on the Royal Observatory where the Greenwich meridian and lots of early astronomical lore are located. Given that Greenwich is on the east side, I expected a route skirting the city – but the Garmin led me through the busiest city center right past the London Eye, the Strata Tower, and all those cheating bankers - Oops[2]. I was too busy driving or likely on the wrong street to spot the iconic newer structures, The Shard and the Gherkin (pineapple) – I had planned to avoid London altogether on this trip. Finished the day at the Dover Cliffs and the excellent Dover Castle. From the cliffs I could look over and just discern France in the mist, but not nearly as well as I see Catalina from my balcony in Redondo Beach. Excepting the museum displays, Dover Castle rivals Edinburg in size and condition of the castle construction. London-Dover photos: After a pleasant stay at New Romney, I headed west of London again toward Cornwall. However with only 3 days left, Cornwall is too far. Passed Arundel Castle but didn’t go in because of short time and high cost. This also is a very elaborate castle and gardens that is still sometimes occupied by the owners. Since Cornwall is too far I am kind of killing time and the lady at my Bournemouth B&B was helpful in letting me in on some lesser known but very interesting sites for the day. First, the “twin sails” bridge is a new drawbridge in Poole. The raising rectangular section is cut in two triangles hinged at opposite sides of the bridge. When they raise one gets the visual image of a sailboat with two sails or two sail boats, when viewed from various angles. Photos are rather spectacular. Next, the Tank Museum, where I spent several hours has literally 10’s of tanks of various designs, vintages, and purposes. They also had a display running the recent movie, Fury, with Brad Pit about tank warfare (that I was later lucky enough to watch on the plane on the return flight to LA). This museum is very well presented with lots of information about tanks and tank warfare from both sides. I didn’t have enough time. The weekend following my visit, they are having a tank warfare reenactment – this should be great to see. Finally, Tyneham Village whose description I will leave to the wiki. Another full day that is ending in The Olive Mill inn with beautiful sweeping views from the room down and across the Somerset farm land. Olive Mill was perhaps the best B&B – do visit.
B&B vary tremendously in quality. Some just take a spare bedroom, put in a double bed so they can call it a double, and put a shower and sink in what was the closet – no, not a walk-in! Some B&Bs don’t tell you until morning that they are really a B&b, breakfast is cereal and coffee, while many have cereal, juice, yogurt, fruit and a big cooked breakfast of bacon, eggs, etc. Then there’s the B&0 version! SouthEngland&Windsor photos:
I am
quite disappointed that I didn’t make it to Cornwall as I am a fan of Doc
Martin (Martin Clunes) which is centered at the fictional Cornwall village of
Portwenn (Port Isaac on Cornwall).
Cornwall is also noted for best beached in the UK, though June is
probably to early for beach life at latitude 50°.
Rick Steves says the average Brit weighs 170 lb. This average number must include women – who typically weigh around 110 lbs and men weighing 170 on average. So how do we get to an overall average of 170! There’s a lot of big (fat) people around. Don’t know how they turn in the little showers in the B&0s? And they still smoke a lot. Another great adventure ends well!
[1] A note about photos. I am placing a link to shared Google photos related to each geographical area. There are too many but hopefully the reader can choose to indulge as many or few or none, as he and his giga byte limit will accommodate.
[2] A month later a mysterious charge appeared on my AmEx card in the amount of £107 ($167) from my Hertz rental! Some research determined that this was a citation for violating the “congestion zone” at Albert Embankment along the Thames east of the Vauxhall Bridge. Beware!