HMS Warrior in Portsmouth Harbour |
The blog has had a break for a few days as we came into
England – we actually had to post the remaining Ireland posts which is why
there were a number of posts on the same day. The other reason for the hiatus
is that there has just been so little time for blogging during our time in the
UK.
Our impressions of England (and today a very brief entry
into Wales) are that it is very expensive, very busy with far too many people
and frustrating to drive around. We are hoping this will improve. Having said
this we probably have to say that we were spoilt in Ireland.
On arriving at the airport in London it cost the equivalent
of $100 Australian to get the train out to collect the motorhome – a journey
which was not even all that far (we will not complain about the Brisbane
Airtrain again). We collected the motorhome and then headed out of town to
prepare for our next adventure.
The Australian flag flying on the highest pole in Portsmouth Harbour - not even sure what building it is. |
Portsmouth was the first port of call the following morning
for Elizabeth to check out Freddy’s birthplace. We eventually found a place to
park the motorhome where we could get the appropriate photos and get a sense of
the city. We headed to the historic part of the city and found the HMS Warrior
from 1690 and the old port where the children used to wallow in the mud finding
coins that people would throw for them. As times were tough the spare change
would help out the family budget. On departing Portsmouth it was time to head
to Highclere Castle to check out setting for Downtown Abbey. This was the start
of our jinx – we found it quite easily which we thought was an accomplishment
only to discover that it was closed to the public for the day. We weren’t the
only ones caught out as a steady procession of people arrived only to turn
around and journey on. We decided to overcome the disappointment by heading off
to Stonehenge which was just amazing once we eventually arrived. Our trip to
Stonehenge was our first real experience of gridlock England style. We crawled
our way to Stonehenge and were rewarded with sunny weather although it was
blowing a gale which ensured it was cold. Stonehenge was just amazing and
another example of creating your own explanation of what it is all about. The
strong wind created amazing wave like patterns across all the surrounding
pasture. After Stonehenge we headed to our accommodation to find that a
diversion was in place so again we sat in gridlock with everyone else. This was
the first of a number of diversions so far – some where they just close the
road and send everyone a different direction for 35 weeks or with one to start
in June for 65 weeks! Beats dropping everyone down to 40km/hr like they do in
Australia I suppose, although the roads that you get diverted to are generally
narrow and winding.
Thermal water entering the pool at Bath |
Thermal spring at Bath |
Bath street scene complete with telephone boxes |
Tomorrow we head up to Snowdonia National Park.
Love to all