Trip to England: Summary with pictures (Day 12: Wales - Hay on Wye to Caernarfon/Snowdonia)

[OnTheBranchline]

It's hard to sum up a 16 day trip so I guess it's best to start at the beginning.

 

Day 1:

We landed at Heathrow after an overnight flight (relatively empty, not sure why) and did not experience much jet lag at all which was very surprising. We took the Tube from Heathrow to Waterloo station.

 

Our first stop after checking into our AirBnB was Borough Market for some lunch. It was really cool to walk around and see all of the different vendors (although it was very crowded). We got to experience a Scotch Egg, something I've never eaten before. We also found out something about our five pound notes. Before we left Canada, I took out pounds sterling from my bank in early June. When we got to England, we found out that the five pound notes that my bank had given me were out of date! I had to beg a woman at a NatWest to exchange them, thankfully she did.

 

After Borough Market, we hopped on over to HMS Belfast. In this time, it poured cats and dogs and we did not have our rain gear with us (it was bright and sunny when we first got to London). It was very cool to walk around the old ship and see what being around a WW2 light cruiser is really like. I also found out that I don't really like ladders that much, so I probably wouldn't have been a very good sailor in the Royal Navy. 

 

After HMS Belfast, we walked back to our AirBnB for a rest (25 minute walk from HMS Belfast). After our rest, we went to mass at St. Paul's Cathedral, which was a very spiritual experience (we're Catholic). It seemed like most of the people who were in attendance were tourists (can't blame them since regular entry is 20 pounds). It was unfortunate that the regular choir was not there but a choir from Exeter College in Oxford did a marvellous job. Pictures were not allowed inside the church, so here's one of the outside.

 

In the evening, we attended a comedy mime show at the Garrick Theatre which the future Mrs. OBTL wanted to go to. It was quite good and thankfully I was not pulled up on stage as part of the show.

 

Day 2:

We started off Day 2 with a 3 hour bus tour which was a little bit disappointing because the recorded commentary was GPS (SatNav) driven, so whenever we turned a corner, the commentary would cut off and start a new section. After the bus tour, we had to go get a Vodafone 20GB SIM card (more about that later in the trip).

 

 

After lunch, we walked around Westminster/Parliament Square. We were going to see the inside of Westminster Abbey but we forgot that it was Sunday and Westminster Abbey is still a working church so we made our way to the Churchill War Rooms.

 

 

The Churchill War Rooms were fascinating to see the items and the history around Winston Churchill's life and career (had WW2 not happened, he would have been a minor negative note in history.

 

After the Churchill War Rooms, we sat down on a bench in St. James's Park and enjoyed it's natural beauty. Then we made our way to the London Eye via Westminster Bridge (shoulders out). When we got to the London Eye, we found a huge line of groups of Asian students on a school trip (fortunately, I had bought priority tickets ahead of most of them). Now, I am afraid of heights but I agreed to go because the future SWIMBO wanted to go. Now the funny things about the Asian students (the ones in our pod) is that going up they were taking pictures but by the top of the Eye, they were looking at their phones and texting their friends. I had a lovely view of Charing Cross station and Waterloo station and saw some nice looking trains

 

In the evening, we decided to be ambitious and go to Abbey Road Studios (which is a fair Tube ride away from central London). When we got there, there was a huge group of people who were trying to recreate the famous Beatles walk. The only problem is that Abbey Road itself is still a busy street with cars constantly coming along so the people would have to get out of the way (I saw some close calls). We then looked for an Indian Restaurant (at Belsize/Abbey Road). What we found was that area is a bit run-down and we didn't feel safe being there. The Indian place turned out to be a take-out place so we didn't eat there. We ended up eating at a Cote Brasserie (paying 30+ pounds for the two of us and still being hungry at the end of it). However, I am glad that we saw Abbey Road Studios. I had previously written it off as too far out of our way.

 

Day 3:

We started at Tower of London in the morning which became our favourite London attraction by far. We both love the immersive history of Tower of London and the prisoners who stayed there (also the very sad tale of King Richard III killing his nephews). We saw the Crown Jewels and we had a tour on the grounds of the Tower of London/London Castle by a former Sargent-major who spent 22 years in the Tank Corps (he was fantastic). What is really interesting is the graffiti that was written on the walls by the various prisoners who spent their time there, some of them had a sense of humour. We spent 3 hours there and would have spent more but we had agreed to meet up with friends of ours who were also in London at the time. Also the crowds were getting too big by the end anyway.

 

Before we met up with the friends, we had a quick walk on Tower Bridge (which isn't as big as TV/movies suggest).

 

When meeting up with our friends, we agreed to go to the V&A Museum, which we found to be a bit disappointing. The disappointment was that there was not an overarching theme of the museum, it was more of a random selection of things in various rooms under the name of the Victoria & Albert Museum. I noticed in a lot of these big museums that lots of people weren't actually reading a lot of the items, they were just browsing and walking around (as if they were at high street shop).

 

After the V&A, we went to Oxford Street/Regent Street to look at the shops (I'll give you a hint, it wasn't my idea ).

 

Day 4:

Day 4 would be our day trip to Oxford. The train out would be Paddington to Didcot then bus services to Oxford. Paddington is beautiful and it was everything I could have asked for. If you are curious, we departed from Platform 2. After busing to Oxford from Didcot, we had booked a tour of Oxford (University & City Tour) where we were given a tour of Exeter College, The Divinity School, Radcliffe Square, etc. Our tour really gives you the idea of how ridiculously wealthy Oxford University & associated colleges are. Maybe I should have sent my CV in....  Anyway then we were wandered around Oxford, went to the cafe in the Church of St Marys for lunch (where I uncovered the pitfalls of giving people wooden utensils). For dinner, we went to the Kings Arms pub where I was given a meal where I wasn't sure whether or not if it was a chicken and leek pie or a mutant freak of nature.

 

 

 

Now it's been a hour and a half since starting to writing this summary, so I am going to take a break from it for a while and come back to it later. Enjoy so far!

Edited February 26, 2018 by OnTheBranchline

[The Stationmaster]

That definitely looks like a rather good pie crust - whatever the interior was!

[trisonic]

Mmm... Spent many an hour in Abbey Road’s bar. I used to live (for a short time) in one of EMI’s apartments next door. The bar also did great breakfasts....

 

Last time I went to Abbey Road’s website they had a live webcam of the crossing. No one gets the real photos perspective - the photographer was up a ten foot stepladder in the middle of the road. Taken very early in the morning.

 

Best, Pete.

[dhjgreen]

Did you not go to Westminster Cathedral, the mother church of England's Roman Catholics.

 

Edit to add bold.

Edited September 4, 2017 by dhjgreen

[eastglosmog]

Congratulations - you have seen more of the sights of London in 3 days than I have in 66 years!

[45156]

I must say that your choice of eaterie in Oxford WOULD at one time have been mine, as the King's Arms was a favourite pub of mine for years.  However, the meal that you got does appear to be quite odd. 

 

I look forward to getting the next few days once you're able. and have bookmarked the page.

 

Regards

Stewart

[Welchester]

Scotch egg? That's what every Scotsman once was.

 

Looks great fun btw.

[eastwestdivide]

Thanks for the report. Glad to know all those pages of planning and ideas paid off in the end!

[Georgeconna]

A couple of years ago a Visit to Oxford Street would be fine as Cunning plan would find you going eastwards to 'Accidentally' come Across Beatties or Modelzone! and the exclamation "I'll Just pop in for 10 minutes".

[rockershovel]

Obviously you now understand previous advice, that you should NEVER travel any distance in UK without rainwear, regardless of the time of year...

 

This didn't come up in the general discussion, but if you see a sign advertising PUKKA PIES, walk straight past and go somewhere else.

 

Oxford and Cambridge Universities (note, these are the governing bodies, anyone wearing a sweatshirt so marked is a tourist!) are both immensely wealthy.

Edited September 5, 2017 by rockershovel

[The Stationmaster]

I must say that your choice of eaterie in Oxford WOULD at one time have been mine, as the King's Arms was a favourite pub of mine for years.  However, the meal that you got does appear to be quite odd. 

 

I look forward to getting the next few days once you're able. and have bookmarked the page.

 

Regards

Stewart

 

Quite common down here for pies to be served like that Stewart although I do know one place where you get slices out of a large pie (but you also have to watch the play etc in order to get it )  Apart from the chips - possibly a personal choice - the rest again looks fairly typical although what appears to be cabbage looks a bit over-cooked and soggy.   But the pie crust really does look top notch.

 

 

Back in the days when I spent time in Oxford pubs (usually the Turl Tavern) I think the most that you could get in the way of a 'meal' would be a packet of crisps.

[Welchester]

Oxford and Cambridge Universities (note, these are the governing bodies, anyone wearing a sweatshirt so marked is a tourist!) are both immensely wealthy.

 

The wealth doesn't belong to the Universities, but to *some* of the colleges (not my alma mater, unfortunately). Both St John's are fabulously rich; it used to be said that you could travel from one to the other entirely on their land.

[big jim]

Comedy mime show at the Garrick?

 

Would that be Tapeface? if so I do want to see that as it looks brilliant

[Fat Controller]

The wealth doesn't belong to the Universities, but to *some* of the colleges (not my alma mater, unfortunately). Both St John's are fabulously rich; it used to be said that you could travel from one to the other entirely on their land.

One of the huge container terminals at Felixstowe is name after the Cambridge college that owned the site- Trinity.

[rockershovel]

One of the huge container terminals at Felixstowe is name after the Cambridge college that owned the site- Trinity.

Travel around the Cambridge area and you will see that many of the farms have college crests on the nameboards - these are the landowners..

[rockershovel]

The Stag Inn, Dufton, does quite splendid pies in big trays, although you DO need to judge your moment. Puff pastry pies in pots like that are a catering standard, I'm not a tremendous fan of them myself.

[OnTheBranchline]

Comedy mime show at the Garrick?

 

Would that be Tapeface? if so I do want to see that as it looks brilliant

Yes it was TapeFace. It was brilliant. Well worth the price. Be warned that you might be chosen to be on stage. Edited September 6, 2017 by OnTheBranchline

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

You both seem to have had a good time.

 

Concerning Churchill, famed overseas war correspondent, years as both First Lord of the Admiralty and Chancellor of the Exchequer, makes a pretty rare combination and would be a 'complete career' portfolio for anyone; and that's without his extensive later literary output being taken into consideration. If only we had someone now with as much talent as he seemingly possessed in one little finger...

[45156]

 

 

Concerning Churchill,  with as much talent as he seemingly possessed in one little finger...

Got to say that he was a great war leader, but having tried his writing, and having seen a lot of his paintings, I feel that his political achevements probably outweighed his artistic efforts.

[rockershovel]

Got to say that he was a great war leader, but having tried his writing, and having seen a lot of his paintings, I feel that his political achevements probably outweighed his artistic efforts.

Churchill's published writings fall into two categories - journalism in a now-obsolete style, and written history based upon his first-hand experience. I wouldn't say he was a particularly entertaining author, but he knew a great deal about subjects very few people knew about.

 

However - more pictures, please!

Edited September 5, 2017 by rockershovel

[OnTheBranchline]

Obviously you now understand previous advice, that you should NEVER travel any distance in UK without rainwear, regardless of the time of year...

 

This didn't come up in the general discussion, but if you see a sign advertising PUKKA PIES, walk straight past and go somewhere else.

 

Oxford and Cambridge Universities (note, these are the governing bodies, anyone wearing a sweatshirt so marked is a tourist!) are both immensely wealthy.

You mean a 13 year old Asian school kid with an Oxford University sweater isn't an actual student of Oxford? Edited September 6, 2017 by OnTheBranchline

[Clearwater]

Travel around the Cambridge area and you will see that many of the farms have college crests on the nameboards - these are the landowners..

Not wholly surprising given that when the monasteries were disestablished in Tudor times a lot of the church's wealth ended up in educational establishments (e.g. The number of King Henry Viii, QE or King Edward Vi schools). In any event, many of the older colleges were founded when monks were sent to Oxbridge for education.

 

David

[rockershovel]

You mean a 13 year old Asian school kid with an Oxford University sweater isn't an actual student of Oxford?

There is no telling what his object of study might be, on that evidence, but the chance of him being a student at any specific college in Oxford, probably isn't high, I agree...

 

Quick! More pictures!

Edited September 6, 2017 by rockershovel

[OnTheBranchline]

Day 5:

 

Day 5 would start with us Tubing to Euston station and taking the train to Watford then taking a shuttle bus to Harry Potter Studios. The future SWIMBO is a Potterhead (I can appreciate it for the artistry, modelling, and trains of course). We spent just over 3 hours at Harry Potter Studios. It's almost a Disney-esque production with how slick everything is inside. Visiting the studios makes you really appreciate the artistry and imagination that creative people have. The only thing that was really important to be was to get a picture with the Hall that thinks it's a Castle (in my head, the Castle was blocked from running on the Hogwarts line due to weight restrictions but the railway did not want to disappoint Dumbledore with a 'Hall' (so a discreet name change was to occur) . Dumbledore, not a true railwayman, probably didn't notice that it wasn't a Castle to begin with!). I mean, didn't the GWR switch loco names around when the royal family was involved? (4082/7013 for sure).

 

 

After Harry Potter Studios, we made our way back to London via Euston/Midland and Tubed it to Waterloo station. From Waterloo station, we took the train to Fareham station where distant relatives of mine live (we would stay with them for two nights). We took a drive to see the new aircraft carrier USS George Bush which had just turned up in Portsmouth. We were also driven around the Gosport/Portsmouth area which seemed nice and quiet. They also introduced us to a show called "Long Lost Families" and a show about real estate property flipping. We learned that my distant relatives (in their mid 70s) were still young at heart, staying up until 1am and pounding nightcaps. I did not know that a starting volume for whiskey on the rocks was 100ml, but needless to say, I wasn't going anywhere after that.

 

 

Day 6:

 

We went to see the Victory which was a must for me. When you walked abroad, you could feel the history oozing from the wood. The Victory was also a good reminder of how short they were in the 1800s due to the nutrition in the food that they ate at the time. I'm about 6 foot tall and I think I hit my head more than I would like to admit on the ceiling beams. The audio tours gave a great storyline of Admiral Nelson and the battle of Trafalgar (I knew already but it's still good to listen to). We stayed on the Victory for about 1.5 hours (it's still well worth the 18 quid). We felt like we needed more time in the Portsmouth Dockyard (we didn't have time for the Mary Rose or the Warrior but we will return to Portsmouth again in the future). After HMS Victory, we, distant relatives and us, walked around Gunwharf Quays which had soldiers with machine guns walking around inside the shopping centre. Such is the age we live in.

 

 

Day 7:

 

We took the train from Fareham to Salisbury and got on a bus tour to Stonehenge. Now, the first thing is that Stonehenge turned out to be the coldest/windiest/rainiest day that we had on our trip. I could not but think back to that scene in the Beatles movie Help! where the 4 Beatles are freezing their butts off on Salisbury Plain during one of their song numbers. But I think that the weather added to it, to experience it like it was back in earlier times (rather than a polished museum piece). The second thing is that I'm shocked on how far the A303 is to Stonehenge, I would have thought that they would have made the A303 farther away. Yes, Stonehenge might be a bit overrated and definitely a tourist trap (the worst tourist trap gift-shop of them all for the gift-shops we visited in the UK) but it's one of those things everyone should do once.

 

 

After Stonehenge, we hung out in Salisbury for a bit and visited the Cathedral. It's a beautiful Cathedral and worth a visit (even just for an hour). Lovely for pictures. Salisbury is also a pleasant town to walk around in.

 

 

One thing about Salisbury Cathedral is that it has the best copy of the Magna Carta (but not the most original, those two are in the British Library). Now, the Magna Carta is one of the most important documents in the history of the world. Now look at the below sign.

 

 

Spot what's wrong with this?

 

After Salisbury, we caught the train to Bath and checked into our AirBnB. We were lucky that our AirBnB was on the hilly part of Bath (it was southeast of Bath Spa station). 

 

Day 8:

 

Day 8 would be a whole day in Bath. Bath is divine. It's our favourite English city. The buildings are beautiful, the crowds are (slightly) less than London and the history is great. We took a free walking tour (thank you City of Bath) which took 2 hours, where we got to learn about the Roman Baths, mustaches made from mouses, lead poisoning, Jane Austen, Beau Nash, Royal Crescent, Sally Lunn, etc. After the walking tour, we went to Sally Lunn's which had a bit of a wait to get into (the place was full of foreign school students again with their phone cameras). The buns were good (I had one with bacon and onion on it, and she had a chocolate hazelnut I think? Don't quote it on it). After Sally Lunn's, we walked to the Royal Crescent/Circus. We also did the Fashion Museum, which is worth an hour of your time just to see how clothing progressed through history. We waited until about 6pm to do the Roman Baths as they had just started the "see the Roman Baths by night and fire" advertising where they lit the torches around the Baths (it was still pretty bright outside but the flames had a neat effect). The Roman Baths were excellent with its presentation of the Roman artifacts and how the healing power of Baths were used by people suffering from lead poisoning. The one really interesting about the Baths is that people would scribble a curse that that would want the Gods to put on people (for stolen property and such), or if they didn't know who did it, they just wrote down a list of names (thankfully, the justice system has moved forward since that time). Note: We did not have time for Bath Abbey but it's lovely from the outside.

 

[eastglosmog]

Well, at least I have still seen more of Portsmouth than you have (my father was born there and my paternal grandparents lived there, so I have had a bit more of an oportunity)! When you have a chance you should certainly go back and visit HMS Warrior.

Unfortunately, when the proto A303 was laid out, back in the dark ages, nobody bothered about what visitors to Stonehenge might think in 2017.  There has been a long campaign to move the A303 or bury it, but there are strong archaeological objections, due to the consequences of disturbing the very important remains round about and the cost of tunneling is astronomic.  Must say, though that one advantage of being over 60 is that I was able in my youth to visit the stones close up.  They are much more impressive when you can stand alongside them (especially if you are quite small at the time).  In this case, distance does not add enchantment to the view.  Try a trip to Avebury, where you can still stand alongside the stones.