Twickenham - England

Megs Typing

After saying farewell to the Hopping Family, I dropped Elona at her sister’s in Buckinghamshire, stopped for a quick coffee and then headed to Twickenham; my sister’s (Sarah) place.  Twickenham is where the big rugby stadium (Ruby 7s games) is situated just on the outskirts of London.

The first few days were just chilling as Sarah was still at school and didn’t start holidays until half way through the following week.  I was invited to attend the school’s social club’s Ascot Breakfast, champagne and sparkling wine, orange juice, Pimms cocktails, and ever soo much food and a game or two of croquet before heading off to the races.  Very big deal, the trains were packed with sparkling wine drinkers, top hats and tails, hats and fascinators and just glam, glam, glam.  (See some of the photos to get an idea)

Once Sarah had finished school for the year we headed into London to see the sights.  Started out to the train station with just a few clouds in the sky…arrived at Waterloo and stepped out into torrential rain… Hurray!!! London weather!!!!! So next step was to find a local pub and have a pint whilst waiting to see if the rain was going to ease up any time soon.

It didn’t so back on the train and headed into Covent Garden to shop instead.  Excellent Day.  Over the next week or so we did manage to get into London a couple of times and saw the sights – if you ever in London the City Sight Seeing Tour it is worth the time and money.   Though just a word to the wise, Sarah and I were heading to the Greenwich to the observatory where it is said that you can be in two time zones simultaneously.  Commercialism being what is it today we found out just before we stepped off the ferry that, what was once a free experience up to recently will now cost you £10 to stand either side of an imaginary line – imagine that!?!?!? 

Whilst I was staying with Sarah it was also her birthday, we had a wonderful weekend, we went out to a tapas restaurant in Twickenham and then spent the next day enjoying the rare but magnificent hot sunny weather that occasionally London provides.  We went to the local park with a picnic and a Frisbee.  The two weeks came to a close all too soon and it was time for Elona and I to get on a plane to Istanbul.  I said goodbye to Sarah who was preparing for her trip to Nepal.

Croquet at the Ascot Breakfast

Sarah's school staff dressed for Ascot

Dave (Sarah's man) buy the household milk for the week.  

There is only 3 boys living in the house - but they will all have good bones.

Sarah and I decided on a round the world theme for food and drink whilst at the Camden Markets.

Chinese dumplings, Sangria and

and a Pakistan Tikka Chicken Marsala Wrap - very yummy.

the Camden Markets

We happened upon this very la de da cermony - we deducted that it may have been a graduation of sorts for ambulance/paramedic students.

Lots of pomp and ceremony - check out that dudes sceptre!!!!

Tapas in Tickenham - Sarah's B'day dinner

Frisbee in the park - look at that technique.

Lunch for Sarah's Birthday - on the Thames

Yummy - Tapas again.

Happy Birthday Sarah - instead of candles we had cake-pops - very cool and very tasty.

Peterborough, England

Elona typing

The drive to Peterborough was just beautiful – passing some amazing landscapes and of course more sheep!!! To get to this town you need to pass through Sherwood Forest and we have to say we were very tempted to turn off and have a look but due to time restrictions we decided that we needed to keep going and to arrive as on time as we could at Lin and Keith’s place.

We were warmly welcomed by these lovely people whom we met on our transatlantic cruise from Brazil to Portugal; Keith was the orchestrator of the Cruise Olympics that Megs and I ‘participated’ in J They were also part of the team for Trivia and just such a wonderful couple that we spent loads of time with either around the pool or dancing, drinking; you name it!!

Lin knew that Megs and I had never tried mushy peas and so they served us up the traditional Fish and Chips with mushy peas. Fabulous start to our stay!! Lots of catching up was done and Lin informed us that we had Keith to ourselves as she was working. He had stuff planned – of course he did!!!!!! Mr Organiser that he is we had a fabulous day biking around a local park called Ferry Meadows. There were numerous bike and walking paths that you could take to enjoy the lake views and beautiful scenery. It was such a beautiful day too – sunny but not too hot – just lovely and after a couple of hours we stopped to have a drink at a café. This place had everything!

After our adventure in the park we headed of to the town centre and were very surprised at the size of Peterborough; much bigger than we thought and with some very interesting history – especially surrounding the cathedral.

So a little bit of background first -

The origins of the Cathedral can be traced back to King Peada of the Middle Angles who founded the first monastery on the site in 655AD. The monastic settlement was almost entirely destroyed by the Vikings in 870 and rebuilt as a Benedictine Abbey between 960 and 970. The Abbey church then survived Hereward the Wake’s attack on the Abbey in 1069, and remained intact until an accidental fire destroyed the second Abbey here in 1116. It was rebuilt in its present form between 1118 and 1238. It became the Cathedral of the new Diocese of Peterborough in 1541 and it is now known as the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew. It is unusual among medieval cathedrals in Great Britain because of its triple front (dominated by the statues of the three saints) and overall asymmetrical appearance.

It was the burial place of two Queens - Katherine of Aragon and Mary Queen of Scots. The former English queen Catherine of Aragon was buried in the cathedral's cemetery in 1536. In 1587, the body of Mary Queen of Scots was also buried there, but was later removed to Westminster Abbey on the orders of her son, King James I of England.

Now what’s really interesting (well to us anyway) is the fact that this is one of the oldest monasteries and one of the last to be abolished by King Henry VIII. Yeah get that – the bugger realized even though individual monks took a vow of poverty, monasteries were usually very wealthy because rich barons gave them land and endowments. To add to that the monks often experimented with herbs and plants which they made into medicines that they sold as they did with wine etc as we know from the Dom Perignon information from France. These monks in England were no different and due to the fact they actually did VERY well financially the King decided to get rid of them because they were getting too powerful due to their financial status.

Keith did a fabulous job of showing us around – we had an easy lunch of burgers and hot dogs as we were going to be greeted by the beautiful Lin with a curry when we got back to their place!!!! YUM!!!! We had such a wonderful time with Keith and Lin meeting their girls and enjoying many laughs. Make sure you check out the famous shot of Keith; let me explain… Keith not only is an ex Grunt but also an Ex Cop and in the toilet – where as we all know; families keep their best photos (It’s true!!!!) is a fabulous poster of Keith himself with an advertising of the Underground and it’s police presence and their in the front is our Keith – Bless Him.

We said a sad farewell to our friends to head back to family to cool out for a couple of weeks before heading to Turkey. Now the next two posts will be individual as I spent time with my sister and her family and Megs spent time with her sister. We will post these separately and then start together again from Sarah’s birthday when we joined up again.

We set off with Keith as guide to cycle around Ferry Meadow.  It has been a while since I have ridden a bicycle but as the saying goes "its just like riding a bike" I felt confident that it would not be a problem - I mean how else would the saying have come to be?????

No major issues but let me tell you it did take a little bit to feel balanced and fully in control.

I wonder what they are all looking at???

 There is a local craftsman who has created a few of these 

amazing artworks that you can find around the park.

We head off to explore the next section of the parkways...

And we arrive at the stables

Another of the statues by the local man - this was an amazing totem 

With incredible detailed carvings all the way round,

 it was surprising what animals and motifs can be found.

Ferry Meadows also has a large lake that plays home to an extensive number of water birds.

It is a very pretty place

Keith admiring the scenery - we were actually looking at a red kite - a bird that is not the toy

it is a great place for the family and there are water sports on the lake as well

Ohh we also went cross country riding - and did the ducking and weaving of trees and other obstacles soooo well!!

We stopped to enjoy a refreshment

Poppies and wild flowers.  The park has a section dedicated just to wild flowers.  Unfortunately we missed Blue Bell Season - apparently just beautiful. 

Keith's media debut for the London Underground.

Peterborough's Cathedral 

Very impressive and after recently reading Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth, it was really interesting to read the history of the how the Cathedral started out as a monastery until Henry VIII abolished all monasteries as they were making money that was not directly available to the throne.

It is a very lovely Cathedral - even the outer gate

Peterborough  Square

The gardens and buildings within the Cathedral walls.

Lin's lovely curry dinner

with strawberries for dessert - Yummmm

This is Tilly - Lin and Keiths' beautiful granddaughter.

Keith and Lin with their daughter Eve and Granddaughter Tilly

We also met Sonja but unfortunately a full family photo opportunity didn't present itself

Tilly - Formula 1

Elona and Eve

Keith and Davina took us out to lunch before we left for London.  Good luck on the new teaching job Davina - you'll do great!

Scotland - UK

Scotland

The grand plan started out something like this:

1.     Nice cooked breakfast (early)

2.     Drive the 9 something hours to Plockton (land of Hamish MacBeth and Wee Jock).

Part one – check; nice breaky and we were on the road saying goodbye to Wales and hello to Scotland.

4 hours into the trip we crossed into Scotland and still about 3 hours south of Edinburgh or Glasglow and Plockton is about 3 hours north again.  Time to re-evaluate the plan.

We pulled over to visit Starbucks (really a travellers friend with free WiFi).  First cancel accommodation in Plockton; done.  Where to next????

Map of Scotland, ummmm – Perth a familiar name -what is around Perth????????? Excellent Crieff – the home of Ewan MacGregor and the Biggest Christmas Store ever……Decision made, now to find somewhere to sleep for the next  3 days.

Research completed we set off to Crieff in search of a chance to run into Ewan and some fantastic broad Scottish 'brogue' accent. The first day we just decided to get in the car and explore the countryside.  We turned off the GPS and hit the narrow winding roads of Scotland.  We found lots of sheep, some horses, and we happen upon a small place called Gleneagles Country Club.  For those in the know; the game of golf is said to have originated in Scotland and The Gleneagle Country Club is the most prestigious of all possible courses. Just to give you an idea of how prestigious; it costs £620 for  “tee off time” which is up to 4 people to play one round of golf. The country club also has a massive shopping mall, spa and hotel if golf is not your thing, though you may need to save up for these activities as well.

After a few shots for prosperity we were off to find somewhere for lunch.  We drove into the small township of Auchterarder, we parked the car, and quickly headed to the door of this teahouse to get out of the rain.  We were welcomed by this lovely lady with a truly strong Scotlish accent that if she hadn’t pointed to a table by the window we would have had to ask her to say it all again. Fantastic place run by the family, only Grandma seemed to have the unintelligible Scottish accent we were hoping to hear.

The next day we headed off in search of a Scottish Castle and found the Falkland Palace.  The Keeper of the Palace had a sweet gig in the fact that once appointed to the position by the Monarchy you got to live in a beautiful castle in Scotland and you are paid to look after the Estate.  The position is handed down through the family; up shot - steady income, you get to live in a castle and set up future generations with more of the same. See Photos.

We spent our last day in Scotland visiting Edinburgh, interesting city; lots of tartan shops, more men in skirts than we have seen in a while and of course the Edinburgh Castle.  We took the opportunity to visit the Tartan shop and exhibit, where we could not resist the temptation to dress up in the tartan ourselves for a few 'wee shots' of us lookin’ like two bonnie lasses lookin’ for heather in the highlands. (See Photos)

They were setting up for the Edinburgh Tattoo whilst we were at the castle hence the scaffolding around the forecourt of the castle.  We did note that the city of Edinburgh has not faired as well as other UK cities when it comes to preventing the pollution of nearby industry; staining the stonework a dreary grey and black giving the city a not quite clean (actually very dirty) appearance.  It was a little disappointing when many people have expressed how much they enjoy the city of Edinburgh.  Even with the coal like streaks on the stonework the city itself does have its charm and is worth a visit if you are in the area.

The next morning we are up early and say farewell to Scotland as we start our drive to Peterborough to meet up with Lin and Keith whom we met on the cruise, for a few days.

Oh Dear...There we are - the wee lassies

musical lassies at that!!

When you take a wrong turn you end up here

because this is generally the landscape you see for hours

lots of sheep - lots and lots

Edinburgh Castle - The Entrance

Edinburgh Castle looks very impressive from this angle!

This is the view you would get if you were trying to besiege the castle! 

View from the castle forecourt

Crieff Markets

This Cathedral in Edinburgh has now been converted into a cultural centre with a really nice coffee shop inside.

We took a day just to drive where whimsy decided and investigate the area around Crieff.  This is the main street in a small town neighbouring Crieff called Auchterarder.

A lovely house just outside of Auchterarder

One of those interesting photo opportunities that present themselves when driving the Scottish countryside in the rain on narrow streets with no pull over room, so you just stop in the middle of the road and hope no one hurries around the corner. Cool Shot!!!! 

For the golfers out there who will appreciate what this stands for - for Non Golfers this is a very prestigious course that is a life time dream for most golf enthusiasts.

View of the Gleneagles Hotel and Resort. Very Castle like.

Another whimsical photo opportunity.......

we were on a roll and getting very good at choosing daring locations

though occasionally we did get lucky and managed to park across someones gateway.

The long Shot

The close-up which do you prefer??? The reason Megs!!!....

was to show a bloody phone booth in the middle of no bloody where LOL

Tartan Factory - impressive!!!

Floors and Floors of Tartan

We will never get bored with this gorgeous scenery

Edinburgh; just inside the gates

Megs just outside the gate

Men's skirts for as far as the eye could see - a dream come true for Elona...

well almost; there are no men in these skirts!!

We apologise for the fact that there are so few photos in this post but we had great difficulties in uploading photos at this time. We will however come back and add some at a later date but we feel the need to move on to our next post.