Britain 2016

Our 12 days in London and surrounding areas kicked off with a fabulous and unexpected opportunity to experience space-age transport technology. To get from our hotel to Heathrow airport to connect with trains and the underground (tube) we had the choice of taking a regular shuttle bus (£5) which comes every 30 mins, or take a POD (!!) (£4.50) which comes every 20 seconds. Unbelievable. Each pod holds 4 people and 4 suitcases. It was such a smooth, hassle free ride - like a monorail- so it does not get caught up in traffic like the shuttle bus. Modern technology - love it. 

Our friends Ken and Ros live in the delightful village of Padbury in Buckinghamshire which is about 130 km (80 miles) NW of London, where Ros is the resident Vicar. Not letting the grass grown under our feet, Ken took us out to Bletchley Park - if you saw either the movie 'The Imitation Game' or 'Enigma', you would recall that the Park was known as Station X and was the hidden hub of code-breaking during WW11. A most interesting place to visit - I have since bought two books on the place - one called 'The Bletchley Girls' and the other 'Alan Turin' written by his mother - he was the British mathematician who was pivotal in the code deciphering process.

After Bletchley, Ken took us for a beer at a nearby pub that dates back to around 1645 - can you believe it?? Sadly their beer isn't as cold as I like it, but that is how the Brits like it, so I had a cider instead.

We then had a 3 day stopover in the heart of London - we got our steps up by wandering around Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. The red double decker bus/boat tour gave us a great view of London and refreshed our Monopoly Board locations! It was great to see Piccadilly, Mayfair, Park Lane etc. 

We wandered through famous Borough Market, one of the largest and oldest markets in London, it claims to have been active since the year 1014. Staggering to think of it being over 1000 years old!! 

Saying our goodbyes to London, we picked up a hire car and drove to stay with Jen, Charlie and Ollie in the Cotswolds. Their home is the restored Train Station house at Adlestrop. Despite the train line running directly beside the house, the trains were small and fast, and were a novelty rather than a nuisance. I daresay that Jen et al don't even notice them going past anymore. The red arrow in both photos below show where our bedroom was. Jen is the daughter of our friend Anne who lives in Ballina. Jen showed us around her beautiful part of the world, including a visit to the Rollright Stones (like a mini Stonehenge) dating back to 3,500 BC, as well as taking us for High Tea - she started a trend for us trying variations of Cream Teas (we call them devonshire teas back home) after that, but no more High Teas, so nowhere near as grand as our experience with her!

High Tea - thanks Jen

Plymouth, Cornwall was next on our agenda - it was a central location for us to do day trips from. We enjoyed walking along the Plymouth Hoe (waterfront) and on our last evening we bought back memories of our recent visit to Spain by dining at a tapas bar overlooking the English Channel. It was a glorious evening, and a fitting end to our stay.











However, the highlight of the stay was a visit to Port Isaac - the location where they film the series 'Doc Martin'. The fishing village of Portwenn always looks so beautiful in the series, and it has been high on my bucket list, along with Cinque Terre in Italy. So now I can die happy …I've seen them both and am content! Oh wait, I still have yet to visit Medjugorje, but that special place will have to wait.

Port Isaac - Cornwall

Have you heard of a little village called Salcombe, on the English Channel in Devon? It has the highest property prices in the UK. We thought we should take a drive and see what it looked like - the population soars from 1900 in the winter to almost 25,000 during peak summer periods. Sadly the day we visited it was drizzling rain, but we could appreciate why it is such a popular holiday and retirement location for Londoners. 

For our final night in the UK we booked into a unique AirBnB property that was less than 30 minutes from Heathrow airport where we were to fly out of the next day. The owner lived in a houseboat on the canal, and we stayed in a cabin a few steps from the houseboat. Breakfast in the morning was in the houseboat. To access the property you had to walk about .5 km (.3 mile) along the canal tow path to the cabin. It sure rates as the most unusual BnB we have stayed in! It was fun to walk about 1 km to the locks on the canal, and watch them raise and lower the level of water to allow the barges to get access along the canal.  

Our final hurrah for the UK was a Mexican dinner out with our friend Nick. I worked with him many years ago when I was still in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and he was in the British Army. It was wonderful to spend a few hours having a meal with him and catching up on family news. Next stop Dublin...