Tour of the UK with Cavell - August 2009

Kieran’s mum came over for a holiday so we decided to go on a 2 week holiday of the UK to show her the sights and also to see the sights ourselves. Following is a write up of what we did during the 2 weeks on the road. There was hardly a moment to relax!

Date: Sunday 2^nd August 2009

What we did today: We started to tour with a drive to Bath via Windsor castle then onto

Stonehenge finishing at our hotel in Bath. It was great to see Windsor castle and have a tour around the

grounds and the rooms. The queen was not in but we did get to see her corgis. While on the tour we saw the flags which were the payment from Blenheim palace for the rent of 2009 (see blog posting easter 2009). After having our lunch in the car to keep to our time schedule and to make sure we had enough time to walk around Stonehenge. Paying our small feel of £6.50 to enter and walk around the stones at close

quarter. It really was a sight to see and so glad we did make the time to stop and look (even if they are rocks).

We made our way to bath as the sun was setting and getting to the hotel in time before dark.

Date: Monday 3^rd August

What we did today: It was a full day as a tourist in the town of Bath. We walked into town as

we were staying pretty close. We started to day with a free walking tour which was actually free. Most free walking tours will ask you for a tip at the end of the walk. This one was put on by the council and very well done. As there were so many people they had 2 guides and they split the group in the middle. We however did not want to go with the guide that we were placed with so we walked over to the other group. When the guide we just left asked us why we went there. It was best to simply tell him we wanted to

go with the other group. He wasn’t too happy with that answer.

While in the town we visited and walked around the Roman baths. Which is obviously a must if you are going to the town. The history of which is very interesting. We finished off the day with some afternoon tea and some Thai takeaway dinner back in the hotel.

Date: Tuesday 4^th August

What we did today: Today we had a big day of driving ahead of us, it was almost 6 hrs on the road and lucky

for us it was raining, the only day it rained in the whole 2 weeks for the good part of the day. We drove from Bath to Avesbury (a large stone circle) and then onto the Keswick in the Lake District. Stopping to have lunch at a truck stop. Arriving at our BnB and finding we had to park at the top of a hill, this

was a new skill to learn how to parallel park on a very steep hill (good job Kieran). The BnB was very nice and we had a very nice room, and we would want to have for this was the most expensive accommodation on the whole of the trip. We gave Cavell the top room with the nice view of the lake.

After we had checked in we headed off for a walk around the town to stretch our legs and get something to eat for dinner. We settled on a pub to have a nice proper English dinner. The thing about the lakes district is that everyone brings their dogs along for the good walking tracks and nature. There were loads of dogs sitting around in the pub it was a really good atmosphere.

Date: Wednesday 5^th August

What we did today: Today is a very special day for us to spend in the Lake District. We

started out trying to hire a canoe in the Derwent Lake but it was just to ‘blustery‘ and they weren’t allowing people out L. They made the rules I guess. Instead we went on a very nice 2 hr walk around the lake and up into the hills with a view over the town. It was very nice you could easily spend a whole week going on walks around the town. We finished off the day with a look at the

Derwent pencil museum and got to learn how they made pencils and where the famous pencils came from. Kieran was even lucky enough to get herself a box. And a colouring in book for the boring times, or when she wanted to be a child again. That night we celebrated Kieran’s birthday at an Italian restaurant before we had to run to the car and then drive to the local theatre to see “A Midsummer’s Night dream” at the theatre by the lake at 8pm. It was a good show we were worried it would be modern and not classic to Shakespeare, but it wasn’t and it was really well done.

Date: Thursday 6^th August

What we did today: Today we travelled from the Lake District to Stirling in Scotland. Once

arriving at the BnB we checked in and then drove straight up to

Stirling castle. Being summer and school holidays it was pretty busy. They had a sign out the front saying the parking was full. We headed up just to make sure. To our surprise there were still spots but only a few we were lucky to get a parking spot. Many people behind us (following the ram). We had a tour around the castle it was very interesting to learn the history. There were gr8 views over the city. We were a bit bummer that the entire castle was not open but it was still a good time.

Date: Friday 7^th August

What we did today: After going down to breakfast and running into some Rude Australians

we checked out and drove to the (William) Wallace Monument. Driving out of the city and thinking we were getting lost we finally can upon a sign that which let us know we were going in the right

direction. When we got there we decided to get our exercise and walk to the monument. There was a mini bus which takes you up there but as we did not know when the next bus would come we used our human legs to get us there. The walk turned out to not take too long but was pretty steep it sure was a wake up though. Getting to the monument just before it opened was wonderful it gave us time to just stand back and observe it for a while. Something I am sure we would not have spent that much time doing. Finally it opened, we bought our tickets and headed up the 142 stairs to the very top. All the way up there were rooms off to the side with things to look at and entertain us tourists. It was all very informative. The views from the top were amazing and not as scary as I first thought. Although I would not liked to have been one of the builders up there though.

After visitng the monument we headed for the Falkirk Wheel the largest man made lock at Falkirk we ended up having lunch there and watching a few boats go up and down. It was a very nice peaceful time just sitting and watching in good sunshine by the water. After we had had enough of that we headed for our next destination, Glasgow.

Date: Saturday 8^th August

What we did today: We spent the day in Glasgow soaking up the sights and being proper tourists. We did a Hop on Hop off bus tour, we all got off at the ‘Kelvingrove Museum’ I went and saw the ‘Dr Who’ exhibit and it was rubbish. I was looking forward to it and then when I got in there it was just really boring which was a major bummer, think it must have been made more for children than adult fans. After our Hop on Hop off bus tour we went back into the major part of Glasgow for a shop/walk around. We ended up having afternoon teat at the willow tea rooms ( a Rennie MacIntosh’s tea room)

Date: Sunday 9^th August

What we did today: Driving to the airport car drop of at 7am, what a night mare I am so glad

we left early. All the roads were on a de tour and after following all the signs getting a bit lost we finally made it there on time to drop the car off and then check in for our flight to Belfast. Our

flight got in early as a result we decided to get the bus into town and to save some money. We then walked with our bags to the hotel in a rush. We had a tour to get in 40mins and were unsure how long the walk would take. We could have checked in then and there but instead we decided to put them in storage, we briskly walked back to the meeting spot for out Giants Causeway tour where we waited for 20 mins, so happy we rushed!

The tour was really good we learnt a lot and got to see a bit more that just the causeway. It would have been nice to have had the time to do a whole day tour but with the packed itinerary it was not to be. The causeway was good to see but to be honest it was a little bit small than I thought it was going to be.

Date: Monday 10^th August

What we did today: we started the day with a very hearty all you could eat breakfast and

then have a black cab tour around the city with ‘Fergus’. It was a really good tour and he even went for longer than he should have it was well worth doing it if you get a chance. We took in all

sights and learnt a lot of the history and the wars, we even got to see where the titanic was built. Once it was over we were dropped off at the train station. We took our train from Belfast to Dublin then a bus to the airport to pick up the car and then on to Kilkenny. What an effort that was. We made it all in one piece and even got to pick up our car early so we had a nice drive down to Kilkenny. We had a drive through the town it gage its size and see some sights. We parked up and had dinner in a pub before going on the search for our hotel on the out skirts of the town.

Date: Tuesday 11^th August

What we did today: Today we had a day out in Kilkenny, we wandered around the Kilkenny Arts Festival. As we have done in most town we visited we made our way to the walking tour. This one was not free and was no where near as good as the other ones we have had L Still got some info and a good walk around town.

Date: Wednesday 12^th August

What we did today: Wednesday was another driving day. Today we headed to Cork. On our way to Cork we stopped off at Waterford to have a look at the factory and shop for some crystal. Turns out the factory has been closed and the prices are still high even in the factory itself. We walked away without buying anything. Making our way to the city of Cork took a bit longer than we had expected, we did not get in until late. After parking and checking in at the hotel we went in search of food and settled on an interesting restaurant called “Kelly’s” located on the upper levels on the high street. This place was a house freaks, I guess they just wanted to get a nice home cooked meals. We felt instantly out of place and could be told as tourists straight away. Everyone in there seamed to know each other and were having a chat with the waitress. The restaurant had old 70’s carpet and curtains with a few Irish pictures on the wall. The reason we settled on this place is I was in search of some Irish lamb and this was the only place with it on the menu as we sat down and we got to order I find out they had just run out!!! Comon. Changing my mind we still had a good meal and it was good value for what we got, hence why they have so many regulars.

Date: Thursday 13^th August

What we did today: This morning we went to Blarney Castle to pucker up to the blarney

stone. Was a really nice grounds and was so happy we got there first thing in the morning right as it opened we didn’t have the crowds. We did take our time making our way up tot the castle and having a nice look around as a bus load of American tourist was storming behind us just as we were getting into the castle. All we heard as we walked up the tiny narrow staircase was all the fat unfit people who couldn’t breathe or walk up the stairs or even fit up them for that fact. We got to the top,

laid on our back and with Kieran’s top almost coming off giving the guy holding her a good sight. We headed back down and looked around the gardens. That afternoon we took ourselves to the Jameson distillery and went on a tour. Walking a bit too quickly through all the parts of the “non working” distillery we made our way to the tasting area. I (Glen) got to sit down at a table and compare Jameson with a scotch and bourbon. It was good! Buying some nice souvenirs we left. Kieran drove us back to Cork and that afternoon we walked around, there were no free walking tours here so we just had a wander around ourselves.

Date: Friday 14^th August

What we did today: It was the final day. We had to drive from Cork to Dublin drop off of the car and then get to the airport. We decided against going back into Dublin town we might not have made it back in time for our flight so we decided to just hang around the airport. Nothing special happened and we arrived back in London for the end of our trip around the UK.