Last photo

Happy fab five (all happy hikers) at lunch on the Seine!

See you all soon.

Viva La France

Paris is so different to London - Margaret is I love with Paris.  Wide boulevards, frenetic traffic and crowds - white knuckle rides in taxis, beeping horns and a few near misses!  Jackie, Margaret and I went off to Giverny and Versailles on a bus trip whilst Judy and Joanne did the hop on/hop off bus tour.  

Giverny and the gardens were beautiful as was Monet's house - everywhere colour and shape and the water lilies he painted were in bloom.  After lunch at a 17century mill we went onto Versailles but the crowds and the hot weather diminished this experience somewhat. Such extravagance by the kings of France! 

The next day we started at Sainte Chapelle a 13 century chapel in the original palace in Paris of Saint Louis and then visited the last prison of Marie Antoinette at the Conciergerie - a very grim and forbidding place where so many people as well as the queen spent their last days in fear and desperation.  A light note here was a living sculpture being "performed " by the artist - this consisted of taking a sheet of paper from a pile of old law documents, screwing them up, rubbing them on the back of his neck and tossing them into a "pool" made of seats wrapped in glad wrap! John Stanhope eat your heart out! 

Then we went to the Seine for our luncheon cruise (silver service luncheon cruise) which met every one of our expectations - wonderful food, great wines, champagne, white and red, spectacular views and great service.  

Tomorrow is our last day - we are feeling a bit sad but we're looking forward to going home.  A last hop on /hop off tour and the Luxembourg gardens then off to the airport.

We have had a wonderful time with something for everyone and we'll long remember our many experiences and our journey from Whitley Bay to Paris via Hadrian's Wall and many places in between.

Christopher Robin went down with Alice

London!  The Big Bus and a cruise to Grenwich took up our first afternoon and despite being caught in a heavy storm we enjoyed seeing London from the water.  The views of Tower Bridge and the Tower were wonderful.

Next morning just like Christopher Robin and Alice we went to see the changing of the guard (along with thousands of others). Our touristing was followed by our special night at the theatre.  All dressed '(still InThe rain) we had dinner in a Belgian restaurant watching France defeat Nigeria along with some noisy and very happy locals.  Then off to the musical "Once" - a very different musical with strong performances from the singers who were also very good musicians.  A very different experience because at Interval many of the audience went on stage to get food and drinks and we had ice-cream ordered from our seats. A beautiful old theatre and a lovely experience.  We rose early to get inline for West Minister Abbey which opened at 9.30 and we really loved this beautiful church and all it's varied history and the wonderful continuity so evident in every corner. 

Harrods and Fortnun and Mason provided elegant lunches and afternoon teas whilst we viewed the elegant and incredibly expensive clothes.

Tomorrow our last stop- Paris!

Gardens and Stones

PLeaving St Michael's Mount we travelled onto Salisbury - here Jackie and Margaret were enthralled by the Cathedral a wonderful example of ancient and modern- a set of terracotta sculpture representing the characters of the Twelve Apostles.  In 100 years will tourists view these contemporary sculptures and consider the time in which they were created?

Judy, Joanne and I took a different path and visited St Ives and Lyme Regis both seaside towns full of tourists and character.  

In the morning we left early for Stonehenge, a truly amazing experience.  To find that what we think of as prehistoric people, engineered and constructed this circle of stones over 4500 years ago, transporting giant stones from many places hundreds of miles away was a feat we could only wonder at. A truly magnificent place so no wonder people have so many different attachments to it.

Photos cannot do this wonderful place justice.

In Eastbourne Joanne left us to visit relatives and we checked into the 1930's at the Lansdowne Hotel.  One lovely lady at breakfast told me, She had been visiting the hotel since her sons were children "not every year, dear" and her boys are now in their 60's. A lot of repeat business here!

Gardens here have amazed and delighted us in many ways, the colour and forms are so varied but today we visited Sissinghurst world famous for it's designers Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicholson as much as for it's beauty. We all loved the White garden in particular.

Vita truly painted with flowers!

Brighton brought out the hidden child in each of us!  We followed this with a big ice-cream - found only after a long search - we are really expert on ice-cream now and only the best hand made stuff will do for us!  

We also visited the Pavillion the OTT  palace of George IV which was incredible in it's opulence.  Room after room of red, gold, gleaming and sparkling everything - George was amazing in his taste and extravagance.

After this we veged out on the Brighton Pier and watched people for a while whilst wondering how we'd get out of these deck chairs.

Tomorrow we are off to London Town -  look out London, here we come!  We are all ready to dress up and go out on the town!  Our tickets are booked!

I do love to be beside the seaside!

Clovelly proved a challenge (not as much as it would have before Hadrian's Wall) because the cobbled path from the cliff down to the sea is almost vertical and more then a kilometre down and of course, back up.  There are no cars in the village and goods etc are transported on sleds pulled up and down by hand or on donkeys which also take children for rides.

This is Ernie on the left and Jake at the back.  They have carried a load of materials for a garden down the hill and are having a well deserved snack.

We moved on to Penzance where the sea gulls are bigger then cats and better alarm clocks then clock radios (set for 5 am) where we visited St Michael's Mount.  This island castle and community began as a monastery but for the last 400 years or so has been a family home to a lot of rather odd baronets.  The previous baronet had 15 children by 2 ladies one of whom he married when he was 63.  It is now owned by the National Trust although the present family still occupies part of the castle.  Another incredible walk up over cobbles (and down) to view the chapel and other rooms.

Margaret and Jackie enjoying the gardens - a really incredible sight given the extreme weather and salt laden air with which the gardeners contend.  A special feature of the visit was the very real pride the islanders displayed in their community and the way in which the village, castle and sea front have been conserved.  In the recent storms in February the waves came up over the sea wall, washing out much of the stone work and basements and reaching almost to the second row of houses.  Because of the way the sea wall and island are configured the waves washed around the island, hit the shore and rebounded, rather like a Tsunami.

When the tide is out it is possible to walk to the island via a causeway partly seen here.  Small boats provide transport when the tide is in. 

Margaret conquers the walk to the top of the castle approach ( she doesn't really need to lean on this wall).

We followed our wonderful day of castles, beaches and sea gulls with a truly fantastic dinner at the Tolcarne Inn.  Fish has seldom tasted soooo good.  The menu changes twice a day. According to what the fishermen catch and is prepared by a one star Michelin chef.

Along with the food we "enjoyed" the company of 4 dogs (big dogs), two of whom had been swimming and were quite smelly, also two local artists and a chatty women from Switzerland, about whom we now now more then we need.  The British are very dotty about their dogs which come in all shapes and sizes aNd accompany them everywhere- just about every shop and public place accepts DOGS- many of whom are better mannered then children.

On a last note - this window embrasure was once a garderobes - that is a toilet.  When one needed to go, one sat on a seat and whatever was produced simply ran over the side of the walls and rock.  Today it is a pretty window sea in the alcove.

Smugglers, lifeboats and cream teas

Driving from Bath we passed through beautiful, rolling hills and patchwork fields surrounded by neat hedges.  The roads are no narrower then our country roads but because there is no shoulder they seem much narrower.  Traffic comes swiftly and sometimes unexpectedly - a large tractor pulling trailers, trucks, buses, even an ambulance - often well over the imaginary line in the middle. 

Bradford On Avon a short distance from Bath was a really quaint town with thatched cottages and houses extending up the side of the steep valley.  Once a centre for weaving, the little weaver cottages have pretty gardens where every advantage of the sun is taken.

After meandering through hedges and by-roads we arrived at Ilfracombe - what a view of the seaside!  A harbour guarded by sea walls to protect the fishing and recreational boats with towering cliffs overlooking the stunning coastline.  Yet another great dinner - how we are enjoying the fish.

He bridge over the Avon River - there are umpteen Avon rivers in the UK - Avon simply means river in old English.

The tide is out on the other side of the sea wall at Ilfracombe.

As we enjoyed the beach we noticed a swimmer trying hard to pull himself up onto a rock some distance from the shore but he kept slipping off the slimy rock back into the water trailing blood from his knees.  We felt very sorry for him but rather wondered why he was so far out if he couldn't do the distance.

Later when the tide was out we realised that the rock was high and dry - a huge difference between high and low tide - very Doc Martin. Notice the green weed on the top of the rock? This is the spot the swimmer was trying to reach - only this green weed was out of the water!

Our accommodation at Mullacott Farm is lovely with cheery rooms up under the rafters and surrounded by farms - pigs, horses, ducks and chooks -won't need an alarm clock tomorrow morning.

More Romans

We began our day at the Roman Baths - several of us had seen them before but the advances in excavation and display were so  wonderful that we felt we were seeing them for the first time. The Roman footprint was really extensive and seeing the remains in Bath brought the Roman civilisation into perspective especially having seen so much on Hadrian' s  Wall.

This beautiful head of Minerva was one of the "finds".  The Roman Baths here were not only a social place to bathe but a place to worship and Minerva was the main object of this worship. Exploration is continuing and it is hoped that more of this statue will be discovered.  We also saw coins and jewellery found from sacrifices to the gods.  The lead piping still functioning today is the original Roman lead piping.

Following lunch in a courtyard cafe (these were thick on the ground) we walked up the hill to the New Assembly Rooms to view not only the restored Georgian grandeur of this important social meeting place but a spectacular display of clothing from the 1700 to the present.  How times have changed.  Lady Di's going away outfit plus a ball gown and suit were displayed - she was a very slender girl.

Imagine the under garments needed for this one! 

Bath is incredibly busy with tourists, buskers, traffic, buses etc.  The quality of the buskers is outstanding - everything from Jazz to High Opera and everything in between.

Tomorrow we leave for Illfracombe - that is if we can get our cars out of the most difficult car park any of us have ever encountered.  Twenty point turns needed to get in- how many to get out?

Breakfast tomorrow at Bradford Upon Avon before heading for the coast.