UK and Ireland 2017

Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Thu, 31 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0000

I slept in this morning until 9:30! Even Steve slept til 9 which is a record as sometimes he has been up as early as 4am and other times he's been up for several hours in the night. We were only able to extend hotel room checkout time by one hour so had to be out by 1pm. We spent some time trying to force things back into our bags then caught a taxi to the airport. Outrageously early but we didn't want to be wandering about aimlessly in the heat and we needed to resolve our seating issue as we were again unable to select seats or check in online. On arrival at the airport we were directed to four different Cathay Pacific counters. At the last counter we were informed that we needed to go to the Air New Zealand check in counter as the flight home was being operated by Air NZ! So then we had a look at our Air NZ app and the flight was showing with seats allocated as 25f and 27f. That's f for you know what! When the Air NZ check in counter opened we were finally able to get the seats we wanted and how good was it to see the plane arrive with the Koru on her tail!

Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong

Wed, 30 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0800

Kowloon, Hong Kong

Tue, 29 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0800

Average flight from London to Hong Kong sitting beside a pair of aging Bogans from the GC. The woman thought it quite ok to sing a long to the theme songs of the movies she was watching when the lights were down and everyone was trying to sleep. They were constantly eating and rustling wrappers and moving about - grrrr. We got to the hotel about 9am and the room was to be ready an hour later so we had a cup of tea in the hotel cafe then got a few hours sleep to keep us going until bed time. Thus afternoon we did a ferry ride in the harbour. The weather is blue and sunny but there is a heat haze which makes the sky look grey in the photos. It is a humid 32c. Unlike Singapore, Hong Kong is quite dirty. There is a lot of litter is the streets and lots floating in the harbour too. This evening we walked a bit to a night market. We though there might be street food there but it was just a lot of stalls selling the usual stuff. Trying to find a place for dinner was interesting. Lots of pictures with descriptions mostly in Chinese. Some with English translations were deep fried chicken cartilage and pig intestines.

Hong Kong Harbour

London, United Kingdom

Mon, 28 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0100

The beginning of the return journey. Today will be spent on the plane and we will lose time as we travel south. Not very impressed with checkin for return flights with Cathay Pacific. When we booked in May we could not select seats for the London - Hong Kong - Auckland flights. Have tried online several times since and it wouldn't allow me to update until online checkin opened. By that time all the double seats at sides were allocated for the London - Hong Kong leg and we are sitting in the middle. We asked at Gatwick if we could sort out seats for the Hong Kong - Auckland leg but apparently we can't do that until online checkin opens tomorrow so presumably it will be the same thing.

Exit UK

Brighton, United Kingdom

Sun, 27 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0100

Brighton is heaving with people enjoying the good weather and the last public holiday weekend before Christmas. On the walk along the beachfront from our hotel to the pier we saw people sunbathing in deck chairs, kids in the paddling pool, people playing beach volleyball, and people in and on the water paddle boarding, kayaking and riding jet skis. Walking the pavement was a mission with people and dogs going in both directions and people using the cycle lane. We stopped at several beachside eateries to see if we could get a table for a late lunch (after 2pm) but had to go back up to street level to find a place with a free table. After lunch we walked along and out onto the pier which reaches over half a kilometre out into the ocean. Along the length of the pier are food vans, cafes and restaurants, deck chairs, an amusement arcade and a fun park with fairground rides at the far end. This pier is the only one remaining of the three built in Brighton in the mid to late 1800s. The West Pier was destroyed by fire in 2003 and its skeletal remains can still be seen in the ocean not far from our hotel. After walking along the pier we walked inland a block or two to see the Royal Pavilion. The Royal Pavilion is a former royal residence. It was built in three stages as a seaside retreat for George, Prince of Wales, who became King George IV. The current appearance of the Pavilion, with its domes and minarets, is the work of architect John Nash, who extended the building starting in 1815. I went inside, Steve went to a bar. The interior is very exotic and extravagant and was influenced by both Chinese and Indian fashion. There are lots of carved dragons, mahogany carved to look like bamboo and huge chandeliers. Queen Victoria found the pavilion too small and accessible to the public. She sold the estate to the town of Brighton. Since that time it has been a tourist attraction although it was used as a hospital during WWII. These days over 400,000 people visit annually and it is also used for weddings.

Burnt Pier

No sand just these pebbles

Brighton Beach

Pier

Brighton Beach

Royal Pavilion

5 hour happy hour

British Airways i360. The donut takes people up the tower to see the view. Big queues.

Southampton, United Kingdom

Sat, 26 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0100

The drive from Marazion to Southampton wasn't too bad. We were not badly affected by the holiday weekend traffic. We made one stop at a service centre for a coffee and a sandwich. Most of the service centres we have stopped at have several food store options and a petrol station. We drove into this one thinking that there must be some other destination attached to the service centre as the car park was immense and full. However, there was only a giant food hall with hoards of people stopped en route to somewhere. A lot of people travel with their dogs and there was a pet feeding station in the food hall. We arrived in Southampton early afternoon and checked into our hotel. About an hour later Steve's friend John and his wife, Diane, arrived to show us around a bit. They were both born locally but moved to NZ in their early 20s. Now retired they have spent the past twelve summers here with Diane's mum who is 95. They drove us through parts of the New Forest where donkeys, ponies and cattle roam freely. The speed limit is 40 mph and the animals have right of way. At times the traffic was stopped waiting for animals to move off the road. The landscape includes forest and pasture, with a lot of heather and gorse. There are numerous small villages with pubs that were very busy today due to the good weather and long weekend. One of these villages is Brockenhurst which has a New Zealand connection. As this area is very close to the English Channel several hospitals were set up to receive wounded soldiers returning from France. One of these was the No 1 New Zealand General Hospital which opened in June 1916. By the end of the war about 21000 NZ troops had been admitted. 90 of these men died and are buried in the churchyard nearby. To commemorate 100 years since the opening of the hospital a memorial stained glass window was gifted by the people of New Zealand to the village church. In the section of the church under the window the pews have cushions with NZ designs embroidered on them. The plan had been to eat at one of the villages but as they were so busy we came back into town and ate nearby the hotel. Nice to catch up with John and Diane far from home.

Pet feeding station

Traffic going in other direction, slowly

Kids flying kites

Isle of White

Gorse eating donkey

Free ranging donkeys

Free ranging cows

Thatched Pub

Silver fern outside Brockenhurst church

Memorial stained glass window

Cushions

NZ Flag

Inside Brockenhurst Church

NZ soldiers' cemetery Brockenhurst

John and Steve

Marazion, United Kingdom

Fri, 25 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0100

Photos added for yesterday now. The Port Isaac internet couldn't cope with upload. The weather has sorted itself out. Best we've had since arrival! After walking ourselves back out of Port Isaac to the carpark at the top of the hill we headed to Penzance as we needed a laundromat. From there it was a very short drive to Marazion. From here, at low tide, you can walk across a man made causeway to the island of St Michael's Mount. If the tide is in you can catch a ferry for 2 pounds. Previously a monastic site and fort, the castle has been home to the St Aubyn family for almost 400 years. At low tide you can walk over and look around the village and harbour free of charge. If you want to view either the castle or the castle gardens there is an entry fee. We opted to view the castle only. Access for paying guests is via a very steep roughly cobbled path. The rooms open to the public are in the older part of the castle and include the chapel. The family live in apartments, that were added in Victorian times, under the roof terrace. I was on the lookout for the case housing an Egyptian mummified cat which had spooked me out a bit when I last visited - and yes it is still there! The views from the top were impressive today in good weather with no wind but I imagine it could be pretty bleak there in Winter. We had a Cornish pastie for lunch back on the mainland then checked in to our hotel which in contrast to last nights 1527 vintage is relatively new. There is a deck off our room with a stunning view across the bay to the castle. Not quite finished with Cornwall I wanted to see Land's End and St Ives. We got to Lands End which is at the south western tip of England. Crazy people climbing all over sheer cliffs! We didn't get to St Ives as although it was quite close Steve was over driving for today. Tomorrow we have a long drive to Southampton. The 355km motorway route will probably be the one we take. I would prefer a more scenic route along the coast but it is a bank holiday weekend and the AA are estimating up to 15 million drivers could be on the roads. Obviously not all on our road, but Steve heard that and has told me he wants out of here by 7am.

Cornish Pasties

Causeway to St Michaels's Mount

Causeway

Causeway to St Muchael's Mount

Cobbled path up

Window catches

I was taking photo of church but I see Steve managed to find someone as bored as himself

St Michael's Mount

Marazion from St Michael's Mount

St Michael's Mount

Church window

Mummified Cat

View from Hotel

Lands End

Port Isaac, United Kingdom

Thu, 24 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0100

This morning we had a last quick look around Bishopstone. With a bit of moss scraping we managed to decipher the inscription on Jane Day's headstone. "With patience to the last, she did submit. And murmured not at what the Lord thought fit. She with a Christian courage did resign. Her soul to GOD at the appointed time." We also got into the church where we found the name William Nobes on the WWI memorial. He must have be related in some way to my Beerhouse Keeper great great grandfather. Maybe a nephew or great nephew? We then drove south to Stonehenge and fortunately were able to walk up to the ticket booth with no queuing (not the case when we left a couple of hours later). Since I was there last in 1978 there is a new exhibition building that is 2km from the stones. As you can no longer walk inside the stones there is a projected image of them on the walls of a circular area which gives you the impression of being inside the circle. Also on display are bones and possessions found inside some of the burial mounds in the region. These are called barrows. A shuttle bus takes you across the fields to the stones. These did not appear as impressive as I remember, probably due to the fact that I am taller now than I was in 1978 but also because you cannot get as close. There are ropes that guide you in a circular path around the stones. The closest you get is about 10 metres. There was a audio guide available to provide information as you passed certain stones or indentations in the surrounding ground. Archeologists estimate that only a quarter of what is hidden below ground has been investigated. There are many stone circles in England but Stonehenge is the only one with the horizontal lintels. I think the most impressive thing about these stones is that they were moved here from elsewhere in England and Wales and set upright with the horizontal lintels at a time when the only method of transportation and manoeuvring them was logs and manpower. I would recommend that anyone planning to visit the UK for a period of time and visit several historic sights investigate joking the National Trust or Historic Places Trust. We used the London Pass in London which was good value but I hadn't thought about entry to other attractions. Stonehenge was probably one of the most expensive at 19.50 pounds and then they charged extra 3 pounds for the audio tour. After leaving Stonehenge we continued driving south west into Cornwall until we got to Port Isaac. This is the village where the TV series Doc Martin is filmed. Our hotel here is dated from 1527 and the floor in our room is at a treacherous angle. The website said that although there is no parking in the harbour, you can drive down to drop off your bags. We drove down through some narrrow streets until we thought we could go no further due to the angle of a right hand turn towards to the bottom. Steve then backed a way up until he could find a place to u-turn and escape. We parked at the car park at top of the village, packed what we needed for overnight in a backpack and walked down. Steve was NOT impressed with this but seems to be enjoying himself now that he's here. Once we did get to the harbour we found that there are plenty of vehicles larger than ours down here, including the Nissan Navara ute, owned the by Kiwi from Manurewa who runs the Slipway Hotel. He went to James Cook High School about ten years behind Steve and his grandfather owned the garage where Nancy and Dug had their cars serviced. We had a bit of a look around the village, walking past the cottage that is used as Doc Martin's. The village is a working fishing village so there is quite a strong smell of fish in places.

Font at Bishopstone

Interior of church at Bishopstone

Stonehenge

Doc Martin's cottage

Port Isaac

Narrow lanes

Six foot wide

Crayfish pots

Got to here before backing up

Had to back up here

Port Isaac

Cardiff, United Kingdom

Wed, 23 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0100

This morning we drove across the Severn River to Wales. We did a tour of Principality Stadium, home to Welsh rugby. The tour started with a short video about the stadium build and the different uses. As well as hosting rugby games it has been used for football matches, 2012 Olympic venue, speedway events and concerts. The tour took us through the Welsh changing room which used to be the visitors' changing rooms until Warren Gatland took over as the Welsh rugby coach. The reason for this change was that Warren liked to be able to stand in the centre of the room and see both the starting 15 and the substitutes while talking to them. We then entered the stadium via the doors that the players run onto the field from then we went up in the lifts to the top level of seating. The stadium seats 74500 people when the centre pitch is being used for a game or 60000 when being used for a concert with the stage set up at one end. It has a roof that can be closed or retracted depending on the weather conditions, however the roof is not operated when the stadium us full of people. Due to the overhang of the roof, the sunlight conditions are not optimal for grass growing so sun lamps are brought in to ensure that the grass gets enough light. We also visited a corporate box. These range in size to accomodate 12-40 people. The annual cost of a box is dependant not only on its size but where it is in relation to the halfway line. A box for 40 people close to the halfway line would cost 100,000 pounds per year. This would include tickets to all rugby games, 4 course meal and drinks and a visit from a current or previous Welsh rugby player. The President's box (president of the Welsh Rugby Union) is on the halfway line. The seats in this area are upholstered and access is by invitation only. We had lunch in Cardiff before driving to Bath. In Bath we visited the Roman Baths. Although the Celts had previously used the hot spring, the Romans developed the site around the spring in 60-70AD. The site includes the hot spring, the main Bath, a temple as well as other rooms which included a plunge pool and sauna like facilities. The spring is heated by geothermal activity. The baths are below current street level. The buildings at today's street level were built in the 18th and 19th centuries. An audio tour was available here to explain the different areas and what they would have been used for. The baths are no longer used for swimming. Excavation is still taking place with further areas opening to the public next year. As well as being famous for the Roman baths, Bath is known for its Georgian architecture. There are streets and streets of honey coloured stone buildings. One of these is the Royal Crescent. This is a row of 30 terraced houses laid out as a crescent. Although some changes have been made to the various interiors over the years, the Georgian stone façade remains much as it was when it was first built between 1767 and 1774. Of the Royal Crescent's 30 townhouses, 10 are still full-size townhouses; 18 have been split into flats of various sizes; 1 is the No. 1 Royal Crescent museum and the large central house at number 16 is the Royal Crescent Hotel. We drove back to The Royal Oak and both of us had a pork dinner. The current licensee, Helen Browning, has an OBE for services to organic farming. Eastbrooke Farm is next door to the pub and provides a lot of the produce for the dishes served.

Stadium Entrance

Six Nations shirts

Steve wondering if he has anything up his sleeve in the press room

Welsh changing rooms

Players entrance to the park

The park from the stands

Cardiff Castle

Bath

Jane in the park

Bath Cathedral

Hot spring overflow

Old paving stones

Roman Baths

Royal Crescent

Bishopstone, United Kingdom

Tue, 22 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0100

This morning drove to Althorp House, ancestral home of Diana, Princess of Wales. The estate was purchased by John Spencer in 1508. The current mansion dates to 1688, replacing an earlier house that was once visited by Charles I. Originally a red brick Tudor mansion it's appearance was radically altered, starting in 1788, when the architect Henry Holland was commissioned to make extensive changes. Mathematical tiles were added to the exterior, encasing the brick, and four Corinthian pilasters were added to the front. Subsequent Earls have investigated removal of the tiles but the process would further damage the red bricks under the tiles. Over time, as fortunes have come and gone, land has been acquired and sold. At one time it was possible to travel all the way to London on Spencer land, a distance of over 100km. Art, books and other possessions were also collected and sold depending on family fortunes. There is still an extensive art collection, including one piece recently valued at 27 million pounds. Our ticket entry price included a guided tour of the house and access to the grounds and stables where there was a photographic exhibition of the last official portraits taken of Diana by Mario Testino. The tour took us through formal rooms in the ground and first floors of the house, including a couple of sitting rooms, library, dining rooms, portrait galleries and guest bedrooms. In total there are over 30 bedrooms in the house. When the 7th Earl inherited the house in 1922 there was just one bathroom. By the time he passed away in 1975 there were 16. It was at this time that Diana's father inherited the house. The walk to the lake where Diana is buried takes about five minutes. Driving through the small village where the church is that has the family vault I think it was definitely the right decision to bury Diana in a more private setting. The village and church would have been overrun by tourists. We continued on our way south and arrived at Bishopstone, home to my grandmother's family. We are staying at the Royal Oak pub where my great great grandfather was the Beerhouse Keeper. It is a quaint little village with a pond, thatched cottages, the pub and a church. We had a look around the churchyard and managed to find the grave of my 3x great grandmother. Quite lucky given that she died in 1859 and a lot of the stones from that time are illegible. We had dinner in the pub which is attached to an organic farm that produces a lot of the food that is served.

Althorp House

Diana's gravesite

The Temple

Island in the oval lake

Avenue of 36 oak trees planted to commemorate Diana's life

Jane Day, died 18 Jan 1859

Church

Village Pond

High Street

The Royal Oak

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Mon, 21 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0100

First up this morning was our Magical Mystery Tour. This bus trip took us around The Beatle sights in Liverpool. Included were some of the houses that each band member had lived in, the church hall where John Lennon and Paul McCartney met, places that inspired their songs, schools etc. There were several stops along the way. The first of these was at Penny Lane for a photo op with the street sign. Penny Lane was actually named after a Liverpool merchant named James Penny who had been involved in slave trading. A few years ago some PC people lobbied to council to change the name as they didn't think that a slave trader should have a road named after him. The council knew that to change the name of a road immortalised in a Beatles song wouldn't go down well; their response was to state that although they didn't agree with slavery, they couldn't rewrite history. The tour guide went on to say that in actual fact the song Penny Lane is not so much about this street as the junction at the end of the street which was the bus stop where Paul and John would get off the bus when visiting each other's houses. The station is still in the middle of the roundabout and the barber shop and the bank mentioned in the song are on the side roads. Other stops were George Harrison's childhood home in Arnold Grove, a name he used as an alias when checking into hotels, Strawberry Fields which was an orphanage and one of the McCartney family homes. Strawberry Fields is owned by the Salvation Army. It has been vacant for some time but planning has been approved for a special needs school. Some of the former Beatles homes have been bought by organisations such as the National Trust and are open to the public. The home where Ringo Starr was born is in a block of council houses that was due to be demolished as it was considered cheaper to demolish than renovate. People protested so the homes are currently boarded up pending a decision. As well as providing anecdotal stories along the way, Beatles music was played throughout the tour. The tour finished at the Cavern Club where the Beatles played gigs and were 'discovered'. We had some lunch in Liverpool before driving to Stratford on Avon. M6 has four lanes in each direction but at times it was fairly slow going. We got to Stratford just after 5pm to find that our 16th century hotel accomodation is being renovated so there is no access to the 16th century part of the building. A quick walk of the town showed that there are plenty of other places that old here. We finished the evening with a gin in the Garrick Inn, which according to the sign has been serving ale since 1594.

Magical Mystery Tour Bus

Spot the Yellow Submarine barge

Street where Ringo Starr was born

Harrison Home

Churchyard - Eleanor Rigby grave

Strawberry Fields gates

Lennon Home

McCartney Home

The Cavern Club

M6 traffic

Old Tudor Building

Shakespeare's birthplace

Jester

Backyard, Shakespeare's birthplace

Old buildings

Inside Garrick Inn

The Garrick Inn

Liverpool, United Kingdom

Sun, 20 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0100

Long drive today from Edinburgh to Liverpool. The plan had been to drive to York and do a walking tour there but a few days ago we received an email to say that the tour was cancelled as the guide had broken her leg. Instead we took a more direct route from Edinburgh, driving through part of the Lake District. Lots of beautiful mountain scenery, lakes and quaint little villages. We didn't stop much as parking was an issue due to the number of people there and the weather is a bit gloomy. Our hotel in Liverpool is across from the Albert Docks area. These docks were built in the mid 1800s and officially opened by Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, who they are named after. The design was revolutionary as the ships were docked, loaded and unloaded directly to and from the warehouses. It was the first structure in Britain to be built from cast iron, brick and stone and as no wood was used in the structure it was the first non-combustible warehouse system in the world. Due to its secure design the docks became a popular facility for valuable cargo such as brandy, tobacco, silk, ivory and sugar. Due to changes in shipping technology and the general decline of docking in the city the docks fell into disuse. Some parts had been extensively damaged during WWII. After being derelict for more than 10 years redevelopment of the area began in the 1980s. Today the Albert Dock area is a major tourist attraction with museums, galleries, shops and restaurants. Several hotels, offices and apartments are located in some of the buildings as well as tourist attractions such as The Beatles Experience. Sightseeing tour buses depart from the docks.

Lake District

View of Albert Docks from hotel room

Albert Docks

Mersey River

Albert Docks

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Sat, 19 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0100

The plan had been to do a day trip to Glasgow today but we decided to stay and look around Edinburgh a bit more. Although the sun was shining there was a vicious wind blowing but we didn't work that out until we had left the apartment in our summer clothes. Instead of heading for the Royal Mile we went to Princes Street where there are good views of the castle. The Princes Street gardens run along the bottom of the hillside that the Royal Mile goes up. The buildings are built down the side of the hill and in the days before indoor toilets all the waste was tossed out the windows and would end up at the bottom of the hill so the area was not very pleasant. Theses days there are gardens with outdoor theatres, seating, fountains and statues. Edinburgh is fill of statues. After walking through this area I walked up to the Mile as I had booked a castle tour. Steve came back to the apartment to watch the Bledisloe cup game. The oldest part of the existing castle is St Margaret's chapel which dates from the 11th century. The newest section is the gatehouse seen from the Royal Mile which was built in 1887. The guide called it the Disney castle as it was said to have been built after Queen Victoria visited and expressed her disappointment with how the castle looked. Like the Tower of London the parts of the castle that are not built in the cliff face have an outer wall with a series of gates to get access to the interior. The Scottish Crown Jewels are housed at the castle. Nowhere near as glitzy and impressive as the English jewels these include a single crown, gold with red velvet and lots of pearls, the sceptre and a sword. Also displayed is the stone of destiny on which the Scottish kings were crowned until it was stolen by the English and held in Westminster Abbey beneath the English throne. It was returned to Scotland in the 1990s. The views over the city from the castle are amazing and on a clear day you would be able to see for miles. At the moment these are partially obscured by the tattoo stadium that is erected each year. The tattoo is performed each day throughout August, usually to sellout crowds (seats 8800 people). Edinburgh is beautiful but if I was to come again it wouldn't be in August as there are so many extra people in town because of the fringe festival. You can't walk anywhere in the Royal Mile and surrounding streets without someone shoving a leaflet at you for some event or other. The other irritation was the wind. Even when the sun was out it was cold because of the wind. In the evening we booked a Gin Masterclass. This was held in a basement gin bar. A young guy described the gin making process and the history of gin. We then got to try four different gins, with a selection of garnishes; lemon, orange and strawberry, and both Indian and Mediterranean tonics.

Castle from a Princes Street

Princes Street gardens

1887 Castle Gatehouse

St Margaret's chapel

Tattoo stadium from the battlements

Inside the castle

City view from castle

Portcullis Gate

Braveheart

Police in the Royal Mile

Distilling process

Gin bar

Saint Andrews, United Kingdom

Fri, 18 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0100

This morning we did a walking tour of Edinburgh old town. The walk started in the Royal Mile. The guide took us through some of the small laneways, called closes, into squares that in the past were used as markets for different produce, pointed out some of the other landmarks and gave us a re-run of the Scottish history we heard yesterday on the bus. The most interesting part was the Greyfriars Churchyard where we saw Mortsafes. These are cages that were built around graves to stop grave robbers digging up the recently deceased and selling the bodies to doctors for medical science. In those days there were not a lot of people who would donate their body to science. Doctors would pay a lot of money for a body so grave robbers would go to cemeteries at night to dig up fresh graves. If you were extremely wealthy you could afford a mausoleum. The wealthy could afford a permanent mortsafe around their grave, the well off a temporary one. This meant that they paid to be buried temporarily in a grave protected by a mortsafe for a few months until the body was too far gone to be used for medical research. It was then dug up and reburied elsewhere in the churchyard. Poor people could not afford a mortsafe so a family member would guard the grave at night time. This is where the term the graveyard shift comes from. The other interesting stones in the churchyard belong to a night watchman and his dog Bobby. The owner died and was buried. For the following 10 years Bobby would come every day and sit on his owner's grave earning him the name Greyfriars Bobby. Bobby could not be buried in a churchyard as he was not a Christian but a memorial stone was erected and visitors place sticks, dog toys and treats in front of it. Just outside the churchyard gates is a statue of Bobby and a pub named after him. When the walk was finished we picked up the rental car, picked up Derek and drove to St Andrews, where the game of golf originated. It was raining and freezing cold so we just stayed long enough to take a few pictures and drive through the town. Back in Edinburgh we had dinner, Haggis for me, which tasted like cracked pepper pate, although the texture was different, and went to a few different bars.

Bollards - same sort now on London's bridges to prevent drivers ploughing into pedestrians

Piper on the Royal Mile

One of the squares off the Royal Mile

Castle

City streets

Greyfriars kirkyard

Temporary Mortsafe

Quirky gravestone

Greyfriars Bobby's memorial

Greyfriars Bobby

St Andrews

Haggis, neeps and tatties

Tour Bus

Clever Dick's bar

Castle at night

Inverness, United Kingdom

Thu, 17 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0100

Today we had an early start as we had to check in for our bus tour to the highlands at 7:45. The driver informed us on the way to Loch Ness that this is the longest day trip in Europe and that we will cover around 500km. Oops, sorry Steve. He also has some strict rules about being back at the designated point on time. Five minutes late, you sing for the bus, 10 minutes, you sing and dance, 15 and you make your own way back to Edinburgh! We drove up to Inverness with two short stops, one for coffee and one for photos. The driver absolutely loves the sound of his own voice and jabbered all the way. Some of it interesting but mostly his own opinion on everything from Scottish independence to Brexit. We didn't stop in Inverness but drove on to Loch Ness. Apart from being famous for the Loch Ness monster the loch is the biggest freshwater body of water in Britain. I took an hour long boat trip down the Loch to a castle. Steve and Derek opted out of the boat trip on the Loch and spent this time in the bar. It was very windy out on the boat and the weather turned as we headed west. After leaving Loch Ness we drove on past several lochs which are connected by man made canals. These were built so that cargo could cross from one side of Scotland to the other without having to go around the top. However they took so long to complete that they were never used for the intended purpose and are now used for leisure. We stopped at the Ben Nevis mountain range. Ben Nevis is Britain's highest mountain at 4406 ft. The name apparently means 'mountain with its head in the clouds'. It lived up to its name today as we couldn't see it. Also at the Ben Nevis lookout is the commando memorial as this region was used as a training ground during WWII. Next stop was the Glencoe mountain range. Due to the amount of rain there has been there were numerous riverlets running down the sides of the mountains. Even with the rain, the scenery was amazing. Rivers with old stone bridges, castle ruins and arched stone rail viaducts. There are lochs dotted everywhere, over 20000 throughout Scotland. All water classified as a loch is named. Lochans, small lakes which may disappear with changing weather conditions, are not named. Throughout the day the driver commented on several periods of Scottish history. Mainly William Wallace aka Braveheart and the Jacobite Risings. Some of it quite interesting but he had a tendency to repeat himself. He also pointed out landmarks that have been used in various films or TV programmes. Lots of Harry Potter, Monty Python and GoT among others. We got back to Edinburgh at 8:30pm and grabbed a takeaway as we had been on the road since just after 7am.

Where Ben Nevis should be

Into the highlands

Loch Ness

Urqhuart Castle

Weather turning

Commando memorial

Glencoe mountains

Murky weather

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Wed, 16 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0100

Sad to leave Northern Ireland this morning but it was looking like, after a week of good weather, it was turning. It rained all the way to Belfast. Airport security was quite rigorous. I beeped going through the scanner so had to take off my shoes and jewellery, have a pat down and walk back through. I beeped again so they used the wand to rescan me. They seemed to be pulling a lot of people over so maybe their machines were a bit sensitive. When we landed in Edinburgh, Steve's mate Derek was waiting for us with tickets for the tram. The apartment is up on the second floor (ground, first,second) and there is no lift so it was a bit of a mission getting the cases up. Once inside it is fairly spacious and will be fine for the next four night. It's a bit further our from the centre than we would've liked but Edinburgh is full up at the moment as it is the festival month. Tattoo tonight - oh WOW but late now so photos only as early start tomorrow. We walked from our apartment to the Royal Mile. At the bottom of the Mile is the Palace of Holyrood House. The Mile then heads up hill to the castle at the top of the hill. The road is quite narrow with lots of small laneways, called closes, off to the side. There are numerous stores selling tartan, wool and tweed products, whisky, shortbread and fudge, and restaurants, bars and cafes. The upper section of the Mile is closed to traffic at the moment due to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. There were buskers, tarot card readers, hair braiding and face painting. Also a lot of people handing out flyers for various comedy and other events. There were heaps of people around. The tattoo is held in the forecourt of Edinburgh Castle. Pipe and brass bands from different countries participate. There are also highland dancers and reenactments of various historical Scottish events. At times different colours or silhouettes were projected against the castle walls as part of the performance. BBC we're filming this performance and Prince Charles and Prince William were in attendance. The evening finished with God Save the Queen, Old Lang Syne and a lone piper playing a Scottish lament on the castle battlements.

Ballymoney, United Kingdom

Tue, 15 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0100

Not a lot going on today. Went through the Loughan village to show Steve where Dad grew up. Also said a few good byes knowing that I'll not likely see some of these people again

Arthur and his body guard Rocco

Shy Noah, Cassie and James

The Aunties

Ballymoney, United Kingdom

Mon, 14 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0100

This morning we woke to rain. Not a good start as we had planned to drive the Causeway Coast. We decided to head of in that direction anyway hoping that the weather would improve. As it was still raining when we arrived in Bushmills we went in and did a distillery tour. Bushmills Distillery was granted its licence in 1608 by James I. The process starts off in much the same way as Guinness. The barley is sun dried, then ground to release the sugar from the grain. The resulting powder is called grist. This is added to water in a huge vat which mixes the water and grain together to form a mash which rests for a period of time. The mix and rest process is repeated then the liquid is drained off. Yeast is added and fermentation takes place for a couple of days. At this point the alcohol content is only 8% so the liquid goes through a triple distilling process to bring the alcohol content up. The temperature in the distilling room is 35c. The guide said it would be the only time we would feel so warm in Ireland. The alcohol content rises to 30% after the first distilling, then 70 and 80% after subsequent distilling. Water from a tributary of the River Bush is then used to cut the alcohol back to 40%. At this point the spirit is colourless. To be classed as Whiskey the spirit must be aged in oak for at least three years and one day. Used barrels, imported from USA, Spain and Portugal, which have been used previously for bourbon, sherry, port and madeira wine are used to give the whiskey its colour and flavour. Five different whiskeys are made at Bushmills and different types of barrels are used for varying lengths of time, 5-21 years, for each type. Evaporation occurs at 2% per year. The distillery does not refer to this as a loss, but calls it the Angels Share. From the barrels the whiskey is bottled and shipped around the world. Included in our ticket we got to sample the original malt which is barrel aged for five years, and also a choice of either another original, a 10 year, or a 12 year malt. We tried but didn't finish them, Steve because he was driving and me coz I didn't like it much. No photography was allowed inside the distillery so the only pix are of the outside. After leaving the distillery we continued on to the Giant's Causeway. Tourism in Northern Ireland has increased incredibly since I was last here. Partly due to the length of time since 'The Troubles' ended and partly due to the success of Game of Thrones. There are GoT tours available which take people to the various locations that have been used for filming GoT. When I was last at the Giant's Causeway, in 2005, there would have been less than 20 people there. Today it was swarming with people and a self guided audio tour is available which describes the geology and history of the area and highlights points of interest along the way. The sun had come out and it was quite warm. We continued along the coast a way for lunch then back tracked to the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge. During this 5-10 minute drive the temperature dropped from 22c to 15c. On reaching the car park at 3:45 we were told that the next available ticket time was 5:15 but we were welcome to walk down to look at the bridge. By this time the rain had arrived so we decided to carry on as I had walked the bridge before and walking across a rope bridge far above the sea was not appealing to Steve. Back in town we called with Belle. Sheelagh was also visiting with Belle so we ticked off two visits there. We took David and Kath out to dinner tonight in Portrush then called in with Lesley. Pearl and Linda were at Lesley's so that was another aunty and a couple of cousins seen. We will hopefully see a couple more tomorrow and that will be most of them done. The internet has been playing up a bit here tonight so I will load photos tomorrow as this website is slow to upload at its now after 1am.

Cousins

Bushmills

Giant's Causeway

Giants Causeway

At Ballycastle

Fairview Head

Sunset at Dunluce

Kath at Dunluce

Lesley and her harp

Londonderry, United Kingdom

Sun, 13 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0100

This morning we drove to Londonderry aka Derry, a city just inside the NI border. The original name of the city was Derry but London was added to the name when the town came under British rule. This is very contentious and a lot of the road signs we passed on the way in had the London blacked out. Londonderry is the only city in Ireland to have a complete city wall remaining, although today there are very few residential properties inside the wall. The wall was built between 1613-1619 to protect the town. It is a double wall with seven gates. You can walk the whole wall. In some places it is 10 ft wide. We arrived just before 12 noon and were able to join a guided walk of the wall which included some of the history of the town and points of interest that could be seen, both inside and outside the wall. These included the cathedral, guild hall, the peace bridge and the bogside. The bogside is a republican housing area outside the wall. It is where the Bloody Sunday riot took place in 1972. British soldiers patrolled the wall though until 1994, after the Good Friday peace agreement. Once the walk was completed we visited the Guild Hall where there was a mini museum with exhibits explaining the history of British Rule in Londonderry, We then crossed the Foyle River via the pedestrian peace bridge which was opened in 2011. The design of the bridge is supposed to represent the two communities coming together. The fact that the two arms are not touching shows that there is still work to be done. We had lunch in Ebrington Square. This area was used as a barracks and parade ground by the British Army. There are now several cafes in the area and a boutique whiskey distillery is due to open there next year. Back on the city side of the river we drove into The Bogside to see the Bloody Sunday memorial and some of the street murals. 13 or 14 people were killed that day, most in their teens or twenties. After leaving Londonderry we stopped at Downhill House and Mussenden Temple on the way back to Kath and David's. The house was built a few hundred years ago by some priest. It was used as barracks for soldiers in WWII but was allowed to fall into disrepair. The Temple on property is now on the very edge of the cliff due to erosion. It is still intact and used as a wedding venue. It was open today but closing just as we got there. I was able to have a quick look inside. The view out over the ocean is amazing. The interior is very plain. Stone floor and brick walls and ceiling.

One of the wall gates

On the wall

Union Jack and Ulster flag

Columb Carhedral

The Bogside

Canon

Guild Hall

Peace Brudge

Ebrington Barracks

Bloody Sunday memorial

Bogside Mural

Peace Mural

Downhill House

Mussenden

On the edge

Downhill

Ballymoney, United Kingdom

Sat, 12 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0100

Today we drove to a tiny place called Killymurris to visit my Grandparents' grave. Also in the plot are my great grandparents and great, great grandparents. I'm not sure why they are buried here as it is a small cemetery in the middle of nowhere. Some graves are very old while we also saw a stone for someone who died last year. From there we continued on to the village of Broughshane where Steve's great grandmother was from. It is a very pretty village with a thatched pub, where we had lunch. We drove to the address for the property that Emma had given us to see the place where the family lived. It is a fair way out of the village. Although we could see the original cottage at a distance from the road, once closer, a new house has been build in front of it. Steve didn't want to go in to ask if we could look around so we didn't get to see it up close. In the evening we went to Heather and Mark's for a BBQ. They had a few of the family there also.

Killymurris

Broughshane

Nikita and Kaylana

Belfast, United Kingdom

Fri, 11 Aug 2017 05:20:00 +0100

This morning we caught the train down to Belfast. The trip took just over one hour. First stop was Titanic Belfast. The exhibition is self guidied and started with a brief history of industrial Belfast which included the linen mills, cigarettes, whiskey and ship building. From there the focus was on ship building and Harland and Woolfe, the company that built the Titanic and lesser known her sister ships the Olympic and the Britanic. The various areas of the exhibition took us through the design, the building of the ship (for this part you got into a car that took you up and through the different heights of the gantry - a large metal structure that surrounded the slipway and allowed workers access to different parts of the build), communications and powering the ship and the outfitting of the interiors which took a further 10 months after the hull was launched. They were displays of how a first class stateroom and third class bunk room would have been set out. The first class rooms offered luxury similar to the best hotels of the day while the third class cabins although a lot more basic were better than anything see before on ships. Unfortunately, these displays were behind glass so did not photograph well. The bathroom fittings were made by Royal Doulton. In first class there were private bathrooms, while in second and third class the bathrooms were public with only two bathrooms for the whole of the third class. There were also sections on the rescue and aftermath of the disaster and a movie sowing underwater footage of the Titanic wreck once it was located and technology allowed people to go that far underwater. Outside you could visit the slipway areas where the Titanic and her sister ships were built. One slipway area is divided into grassed and paved areas which represent the percentage of people in each class that survived or perished. The other slipway is marked out to show the location of cabins, promenades and lifeboats on the deck. In the afternoon we did a walking tour that was done in two parts. The first part was done by an IRA man who had done 10 years for his involvement is bombings. He took us through the Falls Rd area and explained the Republican viewpoint. A guy from the Unionists then took over to take us through Shankill Rd area. He had also spent time in prison for shootings and had been released as part of the Good Friday peace treaty. Both men said they had come to believe that tolerance and integration was the way forward rather than violence. There is however still a wall dividing these areas of Belfast. The wall has murals painted on it and many people have left peace messages on it. We had a rush to get back to the train after the walk as we needed to be on the 5:45 pm train to be back in time for dinner at Naomi and Darren's house. There were 30 people there, mostly relatives, and a fantastic spread of food.

Titanic Belfast

White Star ads

Gantry

Titanic launch

View of slipyard

Similated deck experience. Movie with movement wouldnt upload the blog

Cashing in on the movie at the gift shop

Memorial plaque

Titanic Studios where GoT is edited

Belfast Lough

Titanic slipyard

Belfast City Hall

Murals

Mural

Murals

Peace Wall Belfast