Sat Sep 8

Our final day. A visit to cousin Richard and his wife Petrina in Coolock to meet the children. Then downtown for a remarkable farewell dinner with the family. It was Maeve's last evening too.




Far too little time in Ireland. Our hotel room overlooked Trinity College. At the end of the night, it took a great deal of willpower to head up to the room rather than out to the Temple Bar.

Home tomorrow :-(

Location:Dublin, Ireland

Thu Sep 6

Arrived in Ballinasloe mid-day whereupon Niall took us on a history tour of nearby sites.









Clontuskert Abbey, 9th c. Several styles evident.








Clonfert - Cathedral of St. Brendan the Navigator who is buried in the church yard. Original was 6th c. Door likely medieval is the best example of Norman-Celtic architecture.




Clonfert - Our last Mitford link. It was here that the English fascist Oswald Mosley and his wife Diana Mitford lived immediately after WWII.

Location:Ballinsloe, Co. Galway

Wed Sep 5

We drove from Devon to Heathrow this morning, dropped our luggage at the hotel and then on to our final destination, Windsor Castle. Spectacular chapel, remarkable state rooms (better than Buck), and some interesting architecture. The famous Richard III painting is there among other great portraits. Pub dinner at the White Horse in Longford. Off to Dublin early tomorrow. Will Rob Ford be gone when we get home?









&&

Location:Windsor, Berkshire

Tue Sep 4

We headed south to the coast today first stopping at a donkey rescue sanctuary. The donkeys who arrive at the sanctuary have either been abused or neglected or retired as working animals. Over 400 donkeys are here, guaranteed a nice life of food and companionship in the lovely fields of Devon. Donkeys tend to bond to one other donkey so if one donkey goes to the vetinary hospital, the other goes too. Thousands of people leave bequests for this place in their wills so they appear well funded with no entrance fees requested..here I am with "Pippa" who is 35 years old!







From there on to from where we hiked 2 miles along the cliffside to Beer, a holiday town. Beautiful views of the cliffs along the way. The Devon cliffs are mostly red but at this point they are white. Then back along the top of the cliff. A rather hilarious drive to get here, down single track roads with a couple of encounters with garbage trucks. They take precedence because they refuse to back up :-)
















Next we moved along the coast to Sidmouth, all in search of the perfect Devon cream tea. While perhaps not the best scone ever, it was pretty darn tasty with lashings of clotted cream and strawberry jam. Sidmouth is a lovely town with sprawling old Victotian hotels and beautifully maintained gardens. It is a decent size and so not too touristy.

Drive day tomorrow, back to Heathrow with a visit to Windsor Castle first.

Location:Devon Coast

Mon Sep 3

We began today with a short detour to a location about 10 miles north of us. This is Wolford Chapel, the burial place of John Graves Simcoe - founder of Toronto - and it is fairly well hidden in the Devon forests. It was deeded to Canada in 1966 and it was nice to discover some Ontario history in this old region.




Then on to the Dartmoor village of Chagford. Gorgeous vistas in the park. We had the ultimate ploughman's lunch at the Three Crowns Inn which consisted of Devon blue cheese, ham, pickled onions, apple and crusty bread - delicious!! The Three Crowns is famous as the site where Evelyn Waugh wrote Brideshead Revisited (although none of the staff knew that - too young)






Our final stop was at Lydford, site of a gorge through which we made a 3 mile hike. It seemed easy enough at first but the wet, muddy rocks were slippery so it took some caution. The water rushes down from the Dartmoor heights in a series of rapids and falls, well worth the visit.




Devon countryside is absolutely stunning. The county is sprinkled with all these lovely villages with thatched roof cottages and ancient small churches. The weather was perfect today which made our travels all the better. Food has been excellent here at the hotel. We need to keep walking to work off the calories. Tomorrow we head for the coast to do some walks along along the cliffs...and perhaps visit a donkey rescue sanctuary nearby...I have to work on Carl for that one!

Location:Dartmoor, Devon

Sun Sep 2

Here's to Brad Wiggins & the cyclists who train on the roads of England. The hills and curves are great riding but one must do so on shoulderless roads where the speed limits are often 60 mph. The cars are very respectful and give a decent birth. However, it does mean that at times they must just wait for a gap in the oncoming traffic. Perhaps it is because a car must always pull around a bike that they are patient about it. Back in Canada, it seems that even occasional patience is too much for some drivers (can't you tell Carl wrote this!)






We are in the heart of Devon in the village of Gittisham. It is a village of thatched cottages reached via a single track road and beloved by the Cornwalls. We made an 11 km hike along country trails and lanes with a pub stop for some good bitter and Somerset cider. The day is soft but warm and having skipped lunch, our dinner will be welcome.




Above is an example of the local wildlife...those little chicks are adorable!






We arrived today at our hotel, Combe House Hotel, a beautiful 16th c Elizabethan manor home set in rural beauty of Devon. The interior is gorgeous with a huge front hall with a enormous wood burning fireplace. I know we will enjoy our 3 night stay here - the food is supposed to be excellent.

Location:Gittisham, Devon

Sat Sept 1

Today we visited two very interesting local towns - Wells and Glastonbury. Wells is named after St Andrew's wells that bubble up near the Bishop's Palace and flow through the town. Surrounded by a moat, the palace has been inhabited by the Bishops of Bath and Wells for over 800 years. Swans in the moat know to pull on a bell string when they want food - quite something to see! The landscaped gardens are just stunning. The Wells Cathedral is definitely worth seeing - begun in the 1100's and contains tombs dated from the 990s. A city of much medieval character. But no 16th c. bishop tombs.







Then on to Glastonbury - most famous for its annual rock festival in June which attracts tens of thousands for a 3 day event. The town has many mystical associations...lots of shops selling crystals, tarot cards, incense everywhere, scruffy hippies, sad goths ... and then there's the whole King Arthur thing - he's supposedly buried within the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey. We climbed to the top of the Glastonbury Tor. Seen for miles around, the Tor is a very high hill with the remains of a 14th century church atop it. Amazing views of the Somerset countryside. Beneath the tower is where Joseph of Arimathea buried the Holy Grail.





We then headed over to the Glastonbury Abbey ruins...built in the 8th century, burned down in the 12th, rebuilt and then left in ruins after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century. It's a beautiful place to wander about. Tomorrow we move onto Devon. We loved our time here in Bath - such a beautiful city.







Our only disappointment was Pete Best. Imagine not being "the" Pete Best, but a karaoke singer instead, who did a Neil Diamond set followed by a Tom Jones. Not so bad with a pint in the end.

Fri Aug 31

A walking tour mod Bath today, 15 km overall. One of the pleasures of this trip has been the guides, volunteer docents who give informative and witty tours at historical sites. The tours of Bath, Bletchley & St. Paul's were all very enthusiastic on their subjects, and all 3 tours went long by a half hour because everyone was having so much fun.







One of the sites was a circular street of handsome town homes called the Circus, home to famous folks from Pitt to Cage. Lovely architecture. Just off the Circus is The Circus Restaurant where we returned for a second dinner. This place is worth a trip to Bath alone.




Bath Abbey is known as the Lantern. As the last Gothic church built in England, it took advantage of engineering advances to use very large windows. As a result, it is gloriously bright and a pleasure to see.

Location:Bath, Somerset

Thu Aug 30

Stonehenge has fascinated us since childhood and we were not disappointed today. While it is difficult to get inside the ring of stones these days (although we had a tour company offer us a 07h00 visit for £420!), one gets quite a good view. It is truly a fantastic site to see this sort of logistics and engineering from 5 millennia ago. All this without the wheel. We spent an hour going around slowly, taking in the different perspectives. The oddest site was a dozen Buddhist monks with iPhones whom we last saw climbing the Celtic burial mounds.




Then 10 miles south to Wilton House, seat of the Earl of Pembroke (apologies for crooked photo) Gorgeous state rooms - the Single and Double Cube rooms - in the baroque style filled with Van Dyck, Lailley (the best two), Rembrandt, van de Velde and Reynolds works. It was here that Churchill and Eisenhower plotted the Normandy invasion. An interesting aside: if the present earl who is 34 yrs old and married does not produce a male heir, the 600 year old earldom will revert to those folks over at Highclere - the Carnavons who are distant relatives.










Then over to Salisbury Cathedral, 13th c. It has the highest church spire in England, it is glorious gothic. The charter house even has a copy of the original Magna Charta on display. It was a nice complement to the last gothic church built here in Bath which is more advanced and has more windows to give it better light.

We are happily ensconced in a small hotel - a house that apparently was built in 1830 for the Duke of Wellington who needed a local home for his mistress. Tomorrow, we head to the tomb of the baby eating bishop of Bath & Wells.

Location:Stonehenge, Wilton House & Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire

Wed Aug 29

Today began with lashing rain in Oxfordshire and it continued through our visit to Highclere Castle aka "Downton Abbey", home to the Earls of Carnavon. Great fun to be there. Bad news was that no photos were allowed of the interior rooms. The rooms are exactly the same as shown in the series including the dining room where so many scenes of those Grantham family dinners are shot. It's a beautiful home and despite its size, feels quite cosy. Place was packed with visitors...lots of big tour buses..at 20 pounds per head the Carnavons are doing well!

Very interesting Egyptian exhibit in the basement. The 5th Lord Carnavon financed Howard Carter 's King Tut expeditions and was present at the Tut discovery. Unfortunately he died from blood poisoning due to an infected mosquito bite while in Egypt a few months after the big discovery - giving rise to the "curse of King Tut" theory.

From there we drove through more rain to Bath. The old town was built in the 2nd half of the 18th c. and it is the best Georgian architecture. A very beautiful city We will have photos tomorrow to share.




This picture is of our local pub. Carl never got to see the Beatles - Pete Best was the 5th beatle - so this might be as close as he gets. And it proves to Ed that Carl is on this trip.

Location:Bath, Gloucester

Tue Aug 28

Today we visited Bletchley Park where thousands of people toiled during WW II attempting to break encrypted messages sent between German/Italian/Japanese army and naval personnel. While no computers were available to the code breakers at Bletchley Park, the machines and methods they invented were the foundation of computing. It is the birthplace of the post industrial era.





There were many to thank for the countless lives that were saved via advance knowledge of Axis plans but Alan Turing stands out for his decryption of Ultra coded messages (see machine above), his contributions to computing and his death as a result of being persecuted for being gay. The breakthrough was the "bombe" machine which broke the daily Nazi code every day.


While not on the beaten path, Bletchley Park is well worth a full day visit....and Carl thought he had died and gone to heaven, especially when he laid eyes on "The Bombe Machine"!!

Now we go back 500 years...and on to the beautiful Cotswold town of Burford. The High Street hasn't changed over the centuries. Beautiful 15/16th buildings in Cotswold stone line the streets...antique shops, galleries and lovely pubs..photos below. We dined at The Lamb pub...food was excellent. Just a beautiful and charming place. Stay tuned tomorrow for our visit to Downton Abbey...Carl has the alarm set early for this one!

Location:Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire & Burford, Oxfordshire