Stow-On-The-Wold to Shrewsbury

Wednesday August 31, 2011

Top Ten Hard Lessons learned while driving a right handed car in England:

1.     Your seatbelt isn’t over your left shoulder.  Your gear shift isn’t on your right. Quit reaching for them.

2.     Street lights flash yellow just before they turn green. Start moving!

3.     Quit going to get in the left hand door. There is no steering wheel there.

4.     Don’t yield the right of way and keep left except left to pass!

5.     When you come up to one of a thousand roundabouts, don’t turn right or you die.

6.     When pulling out on to a road or highway do no, DO NOT go in the right lane or you die.

7.     When cars come round you in “your lane”, just close your eyes and you will be okay. DO NOT swerve to the right of them.

8.     Do not turn your headlights on. It offends other drivers during the day.

9.     Drive about twice as fast as you feel comfortable driving or others will pass you on corners and while big trucks are coming at you.

10.  When coming onto a main road, look both ways, but in the reverse order of what you are used to.

Remember all of this at all times!

Morning found us enjoying another full English Breakfast at our hostel in Stow-On-The-Wold before packing up and driving east.  Our journey took us east through the small Cotswold villages of Bourton-On-The-Water, Nanton, Barton, Kineton, Temple Guilting, Ford, and Stanway.  The highlight of our drive was a stop at a church and castle called Stokesay somewhere along the way.  We actually slipped in, Tyler with sword in hand, by hopping a fence at the church and walked around the moat, accidentally forgetting to pay the admission fee.  From there we gained access to the draw bridge and penetrated the castle room by room appreciating the authentic fortification room by room. What a treat!

http://www.castlewales.com/stokesay.html

We stopped to tour several other churches and castles along the way and had coffee at Tewksbury before driving on through Worcester, Leominster, Craven Arms and by 4:00 pm we were walking the medieval streets of Shrewsbury where we secured a room for the night in a B&B above the historic cobble stoned streets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrewsbury

This was our first chance for a good father and son pub crawl so we had dinner at The Bull and then started drinking whiskey, Jagerbombs and Guinness in several pubs including one where King Henry IV stayed before the famous battle of Shrewsbury in 1403.

Charles Darwin

Our Room (With the window open)

Bath to the Cotswolds

Tuesday August 30, 2011

“The nicest thing about being here,” Ty says over breakfast “is waking up to the realization that it isn’t all a dream”.

We woke up an hour later than planned having slept in until 8:30 am. Moments later we were having an English breakfast and coffee and planning our day.  We planned on taking the National Express bus from Bath to Cheltenham but our plans were quickly dashed by the station attendant who said the $440.00 14 day passes I bought were only good if there was room on the bus and if it went where we were going, which it wasn’t. Bugger.  So we walked over to the train station and caught the 9:36 to Bristol and the 10 am to Cheltenham.  From the comfort of our train, and over hedges and forests of red hawthorne berries, we watched rows and rows of brick houses fly by our window, 1970’s tv antennas still pointing from the slate and terra cotta roofs. We saw numerous farms with picturesque stone manors, flocks of sheep, a few cows, and corn fields divided by old hedges. From the train station in Cheltenham, we hoofed it a couple miles to the rental company and hired a car for a week.  With no more training than it takes to use a toilet, we turned the key and headed off onto a main English highway, driving on the wrong side and all.  I doubt I have experienced that much adrenalin in one day of my life as we drove, terrified yet squealing with laughter around traffic circles, over narrow stone bridges, trading the single lane highway with oncoming traffic at way faster speeds than we were comfortable with.  We passed through tiny villages, their windy, narrow and steep roads built on ancient sheep trails and onto our second destination, the Cotswolds. 

http://www.the-cotswolds.org/

By noon, we were walking the narrow streets of Winchcombe with its stone-walled thatch roofed homes and churches. We toured St. Peters Church and spent several hours at Sudeley castle where King Henry VIII brought his lovely second wife Anne Balwynn in 1835, just before having her beheaded for not producing an heir. We climbed circular stairways to bell towers, jumped moats, got lost in a maze, posed beside ancient tombs and Ty bought a wooden sword, which he wore for the rest of the day.

By 4 pm we were staying in a hostel in the town square at Stow-In-Wold and having meat pie in the Queen’s Head Inn. After getting settled, we walked the small town and explored the local church.  Interestingly, the story goes that JR Tolkien (Lord of The Rings) was inspired by the one door of this church which is overgrown with yew trees.

http://www.yha.org.uk/find-accommodation/heart-of-england/hostels/Stow-on-the-Wold/index.aspx

After dinner, we took a drive east to Chipping Norton and ended up at a tiny village called Great Pew where a 15^th century manor was converted to a pub called the Falkland Arms back in 1629.  Tyler walked in ahead of me wearing his wooden sword and the memory of the shocked locals looking at him sceptically will forever give me belly laughs.  We ordered a couple of beer from the round English barmaid and took a corner table under the old wooden beams and low ceiling.  Scanning the menu, we ordered a wooden platter of baked camembert and fresh bread with cranberry sauce on the side.  As we sat there dipping our bread and sipping our beer, we took stock of yet another fine day in olde England. Tomorrow, we intend to head north east towards Wales and see how far we make it.

Monday August 29, 2011

Monday August 29, 2011

Well clearly they knew we were coming because the British have declared today a national holiday.  As much as we are honoured, I would have rather they called it tomorrow so I could have gotten into a bank for some cash.  Nonetheless I woke up at 3:30 am, local time and laid there in my single wide bunk which is not much wider than I am, until 6 am lest I awake the other ten guys in the room.  I quite enjoyed making my way down to the hostel kitchen and making myself a hot chocolate, salvaged from food left by departing guests. A full English breakfast followed at 7:30, when Ty joined me and we had our fill of coffee, hash browns, scrambled eggs, sausages and get this, Canadian back bacon.

We decided over breakfast to stay another night in this hostel and booked our beds though they were already taken for the night.  We agreed to move to other beds and later found out we scored a private room for ourselves which is much nicer.

A short jaunt to the bus stop and four quid later, we took the #18 bus downtown and toured the Roman Baths.  Though other hostel guests had mixed opinions, this was to be one of the highlights of the day, though many more followed.  We spent about an hour exploring the excavated remains of a roman civilization buried beneath 18 feet below the streets. Our only disappointment of this attraction was “The Pump Room” which had nothing to do with pumps and everything to do with expensive dining… much too expensive for our tastes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Baths_(Bath)

Just across the street was an even bigger highlight in the form of the Abbey, which was a large cathedral in the heart of downtown bath.  We took several hours to tour it inside and out including a tour up several winding staircases to the top of the bell tower with a couple of young ladies (tour guides Hannah and Heather) which we went around with for the afternoon.

http://www.bathabbey.org/

For lunch we bought a couple of pasties (meat pies folded in half and baked) which are very popular here and we washed it down in the shade of an ancient oak tree at Kings Mead Square with a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon that I liberated from the hostel pantry. 

From there we walked the half mile or so to the Royal Crescent and Circus, two of baths best known sights.  These are a half circle and full circle of homes made from the locally quarried yellow stone found throughout this area.  Walking back downtown, we quenched our thirsts in an Irish Pub called Flan’O Briens and then took the bus back to our hostel for a break. 

For dinner we caught a ride downtown with one of our new mates from the hostel and made our way to the oldest house in the city of Bath (Circa 1482) called Sally Lunn’s.  After being seated by a delightful young waitress with a contagious laugh, big dimples and a smile to match, we ordered their special which was soup (or salad) and a bun followed by an entrée of steak, chicken or fish with steamed veggies and a glass of wine.  I had the soup, bun, a small steak and red wine, while Ty had the white wine, salad, bun, chicken and he gave me his baby potatoes. The buns which are what all the fuss is about were worth every quid.  They were shaped the size of sourdough loafs and my soup came with the bottom half battered with a sprinkle of herbs/spices and then toasted.  The mushy vegetable soup was so hot that the steam coming from it hissed and I had to sit back from the table to let it cool.  My steak and veggies were served next and I TY and I toasted our good fortune.  Absolutely an interesting and  delicious landmark and a place I would return to in a heartbeat .  We didn’t get to see it but 18’ below Sally Lunns is another Roman kitchen that dates back to 40 AD. Incredible what we are walking right over top of over here.

http://www.sallylunns.co.uk/

Next came a stop at the local starbucks where we now get cheers from the beautiful English girls behind the counter when we come in for "filters" which is what they coffee here.  Its all about some nasty rumour that when they offered me skimmed milk in my coffee, I nearly passed out such was my frustration, that the owner has a litre of it now hidden in the back for us.  We also had regular washroom priviledges in this washroom too.  When we order out “Grande Dark Roasts, Room for Cream” they simply ask if we want filters which seems to mean the same thing.

Evening found us walking the streets aimlessly so we stopped and we each had a double of dark navy rum for a nightcap.  We managed to flag the taxi driver down (Silly man was on the wrong side of the road) and get a ride back to our hostel with a very shy woman from Tailand.

We booked a hostel for tomorrow night in a tiny English Village called Stow On The Wold which has no bus service from bath.  We will have to go by bus or train or otherwise teleport ourselves to our new spot.

Off to bed!

Kev

Sunday August 28, 2011

German WW II Bombing and bullet holes in Bath is extensive. Many streets are still covered in soot and bullet holes!

Sunday August 28, 2011 

Nine hours after taking wing (2pm - 11 pm), we time-warped to the dawning of a new day (6:35 am local time!) with a beautiful sunrise on the eastern horizon of England. Talk about jet lag!  Our first sight off the starboard wing was of a freeway with cars driving on the wrong side of the road, though we didn’t see any collisions.  Following an easy walk through customs and a short wait for our bags, we boarded the 07:42 (South West Train) at Gatwick and transferred to  Clapham Junction.  Tyler and I descended off the tube into the bowels of Clapham for a morning coffee and croissants before journeying onward to the Cathedral town of Salisbury. On our first train ride through lush green rolling hills, the towns, cities and countryside were well-populated with brick homes and factories with grey and brown concrete, stucco and slate roofs.  Tidy sheep farms and fields of wheat and barley decorated the landscape. Unlike Canada, with our generous wood supply, there wasn’t a stick framed building in site and the only wood I saw was for doors, the odd fence post and painted trim on windows.

Salisbury was a delightful introduction to England for us.  We exited the train with our hop on-hop off tickets in our back pockets and spent several hours walking cobbled streets and taking photos of the medieval structures. It wasn’t until we walked through the gate of an old castle wall and saw Salisbury Cathedral that our jaws actually dropped in awe.  The tallest spire in all of England and millions of tons of quarried sandstone gave us cause to just stop and take it all in. Our fingers traced dated lettering over 800 years old and behold;  below our feet, we walked over tombstones that were laid before Columbus even sailed the ocean blue.

Penniless and poundless, thrice we attempted to exchange our pin numbers for cash despite calling every bank and credit card company before we left Canada, but to no relief and finally, for want only of our next wonder, we boarded the train again and travelled on to the Georgian City of Bath. We conned a taxi driver into taking us broke as we were to yet one more bank where we were finally able to get 100 pounds and pay our fare to the Youth Hostel about a mile straight up a hill from down town.

http://www.yha.org.uk/find-accommodation/south-west-england/hostels/Bath/index.aspx?hostelid=000013

Once settled into two of eight bunks, and following a nice hot shower, we walked into town and walked the narrow Victorian streets.  Dinnertime found us each enjoying a traditional plate of fish and chips washed down with the quintessential amber fluid known around the world as Guinness.  We  finished the afternoon by getting completely lost and climbing every hill in town searching for our hostel…