Days 16 & 17 Gloucester- Worcester

We packed up from Gloucester and drove through to our friends Matt and Michelle in Worcester- an easy 30 min drive up the M5. Great to see them again. Its funny- we all met in Fiji then first trip to the UK, it was to see Matt and Michelle. Second trip had the addition of the charismatic wee man Jack and third trip is to meet the beautiful little Olivia who reminds us of our Ayla!

We spent the day catching up on 2 ½ years since we have seen each other then enjoyed a leisurely meal, drinks and laughs over the course of the evening, interspersed with games with Jack who is way beyond his 4 years in comprehension.

Sunday after a good sleep in the great premier inn here- large and clean, we went back to the Adams for brekky then off to visit a nearby castle but the weather is really yuck, rain and wind.

Got to the castle and apparently there was a grand show on at the venue too and they were turning people away and cars were having to be towed out of the parking in the wet and mud! So nothing for it but to travel back to Worcester via the scenic route to “The Oak’ a lovely pub with a fantastic ceiling! Had a lovely midday meal, then headed back to tidy up before we go back to the house again for the next amazing gourmet meal that Matt whips up! English hospitality!

Have decided to head to Oxford for the next day or two before returning to London for Germany.

Day 15- Wells, Downside Abbey,-Standing Stones, Stratton Drew- Gloucester

Had a great night in the downstairs restaurant- experiencing authentic Italian Pasta and atmosphere then we partied on up stairs in the four poster room! Had Pschyedelic Furs and Visage playing on the laptop- thanks you tube! A real step back to the 80's and the music Graeme listened to when we first met.

Crashed out under the most wonderful huge feather duvet but woke several times, overheated and so, so dry. I say it was a bad hangover but Graeme tells me I was dehydrated cos it was so hot! Fixed that by chucking it off the bed and back to sleep till 7am.

Hard at work-
writing the blog!

Get up and....Oh dear- Im still not feeling hot though- couldnt stomach a cooked brekky but Graeme gallantly preserved through bacon, eggs and sausage! We tidied up and packed up- finding our rental car has been scraped overnight- no note on the windscreen.... although its not too bad as we can rub most of it off and we will just have to see when we return it.

We then drove on to Downside Abbey which is what I like to call a Nunnery and a Monkery! Its a Catholic church- massive and we were able to go through it and had it all to ourselves- it was tall and imposing- I wonder where the English churches all got their money to build these huge buildings.

Downside Abbey- some Nunnery!

Then on to Stratton Drew, down tiny lanes to a field filled with standing stones. The whole concept of what they were all about is intriguing.

Spaz shot for the day- Graeme set in stone!



On to Gloucester after going through Bristol- the roads and roundabouts now are nowhere near as stressful. We decided to stay in Gloucester as its only half an hour from our friends Matt and Michelle in Worcester. We found the B & B that rated well here on trip advisor. Its fine for our needs and at 65 quid, is cheap.

We wandered down to the town- heaps of shops here and a massive new label shopping complex where they have renovated all the old docklands warehouses.

It has been fantastically done but was strangely empty? Wandered back and went to a pub down the road to get a meal- needed lots veges- and that was from Graeme!

Day 14 Bude - Wells

After a great sleep and a huge yummy breakfast of cerals, yoghurt, fruit, toast, sauteed potatoes, eggs and bacon - groan!

We packed up then took a stroll down the canal right in front of the hotel which is a stones throw to the ocean. They have really made good use of the sea here, creating a lock and re-directing it inland.

We decided to head off to Wells as we wanted to see the cathedral there, werent sure what else was there, but worth a a look. It took 2 1/2 hours up the M5, which is actually quite picturesque for a motorway! Graeme is well used to it now I can tell as he is driving as fast as the locals. 115km equivalent here although everything is in imperial measures.

Youve got to love a great GPS- how did we ever manage without them?! Got to Wells and found the 'Ancient Gatehouse Hotel' we wanted to look at,which was built in the 1300's- can you believe it? one street over from the massive cathedral. With so many hotels offering free wi-fi, it has been easy to do a bit of trip advisor research before the next town and get the directions for the GPS.

The hotel didnt have a room left on the cathedral side but did have a massive beautifully carved 4 poster bed room and at a good price. Apart from the premier inns, all hotels we have turned up to on the day have given really good discounts.

We went out and wandered the charming little town- you can tell Glastonbury isnt far away with all the way out, tattooed and pierced types wandering around with pink hair and dreads! On the way to the cathedral we talked to man in the street with 2 schnauzer dogs like ours. They were so like our two, it made my heart go squelch! Sounds like all the mini schnauzers have the same type of lovely character personalities.

We went through Wells cathedral- the first we have come across with no entrance fee, just donations and a 3 pound permit charge for taking photos. The lady selling permits was friends with one of the doctors in Hamilton!
The stone work has been so intricately carved, it is beautiful and there are many crypts and stone plaques laid in the floor of people from by-gone days. Many died young I see.

The carved foot of an ornate dias that the priest stands at.

An ancient childs? coffin in the courtyard

Ok- the spaz shots are getting unevenly photographed....dont ask!

We wandered back through town after and after shifting the car down the one way streets to a spot by the hotel, we came back for a relax and a vodka. We are booked into the authentic Italian restaurant downstairs for dinner- sounds like it gets packed and all the pasta is handmade on the premises so should be good.

Day 13 Dartmouth- Rick Steins Padstow- Tintagel- Bude

Had to post a pic that shows the up and down nature of our hotel in Dartmouth- look at the window ledge and thats on the ground floor! We could skate downhill from the hallway to our bedroom door!

There were lots of noises in the old hotel - things going bump in the night. A local told us it was haunted but we only picked up good vibes there. SO could spend a month or two there as we had the room that is on all their marketing- loved it.

We packed up and left about 9.30am, we were driving right across the country today over to Padstow which Rick Stein has made famous. The GPS took cross-country for the first part to join the A road but OMG! it was soooo narrow only 1 small car could fit. It got even more exciting when we met a delivery van on one of those lanes. We had to back up but the problem is all these roads are dug down with banks and hedgerows so there is nowhere at all to move onto the verge. We and the van had to do a manoeuvre where we both moved in opposite directions at exactly the same time so we could both squeeeeeeze through. Should have taken a photo but we were both too busy shite-ing our pants. Was funny afterwards tho!! I actually had blackberry bushes coming in my window and the car tyre on the left side was covered with mud on the outside!!

This wasnt as narrow as the bit where we met the van!

The road widened and then on to Padstow- raining lightly off and on but was fine- everywhere in the UK is pay and display for parking on the edge of town, makes it easy to access their high streets which is our main drag.

It is a quaint little town and we found Rick Steins fish n chip shop we came all this way to see- knew it wouldnt be cheap but $20 for a piece of fish alone? Graeme said uh-no! So we walked into town a little further and got a piece of fish for $8! Seemed cheap after that and was y.u.m. Why doesnt our fish taste like that? So moist and flaky.

See what you can artistically do with gumboots?!

Bought a really nice padded jacket that doesnt make you look like a michelen man in a designer boutique that wasnt really expensive- certainly feels completely different to ezibuy or glassons gear haha!

We departed for Tintagel- King Arthurs reputed castle- Mum you would never have made it, many many steps made from Shist. Hard on the knees but worth it to see the remains and the wild countryside. Spent an hour up there then walked up, down, up, down roads like our steep driveway- worked off our fish n chips!

Living on the edge!

Ok, I have the spaz shot of the day, after climbing ten million steps!

Straight out King Arthurs window!

Outside our hotel window.

The rain set in again so we decided to stay in Bude tonight and booked into a grand old hotel- the Falcon which is 200 years old and had the most fantastic meal for dinner- the best we have had since arriving. It was really fresh produce :-)

Now relaxing as we look out over the canal before setting off tomorrow to Wells.

Day 12 Dartmouth Castle and Steam Train

We stayed up late last night- definitely are right side up on England time now and slept like a dream in a huge bed that was as up and down as the floors! We had a very posh brekky in the dining room then decided we would walk round to Dartmouth Castle rather than ferry. Being a perfect crisp, still day it was perfect light for photos as well and a lovely walk. Went through the small castle, more like a harbour entrance fortification and there were lots of school kids in there- love the innocence of excited youth!

To get back to the harbour we had to signal the boat- by turning around a board so it was white instead of green. How the man could see that far across the harbour with the naked eye (and that is what they do) I have no idea. But we paid the ferryman 2 quid! and he took us back home.

Old, old gravestones in the church grounds beside the castle

In the Magazine tunnel

We decided to catch the Dartmouth steam train which is fairly unique I'd say- through to Paington and back. So you get the passenger ferry across the harbour then board the train for a half hour journey, very pleasant and a smooth ride. Then you return 45 mins later- think we have taken a trillion shots between us of the train...yawn yawn.

Had the carriage to ourselves on the way back- this steam train has been in service since 1920, bet the cameras and the clothes have changed somewhat since then!

We caught the ferry back across at 3pm and then sat in the bar of our hotel, which looks out over the street and harbour. We put the world to rights over a couple of pints! Such an interesting view out the window here, so many different types of people- some match each other, others match their dogs! The canines even get to come over on the ferrys lol.

Dinner in the bar then off tomorrow to Padstow- Rick Steins here we come! But have definitely loved Dartmouth and want to return someday soon

Day 11 Poole-Torquay-Paington-Brixham-Dartmouth

Rain rain go away……… I think NZ doesn’t want us to forget the time zone as Graeme had forgotten to turn off his cellphone and guess what time a noisy meeting reminder came thru? 3 bloody am!@#@!!! Murphys law.

We got up to wet and windy weather in Poole where we had stayed on the Quay front at the marina. Stayed in a Thistle hotel, was fine as we had had trouble finding hotels in the wet yesterday. But decided to head off since if was really too wet to walk around and off to Torquay way today.

'Ory' the GPS took us on a fantastic road- no motorway yay! Slower but much more scenic- got rather exciting when an idiot of a big truck driver up ahead decided he could fit down the narrow country lanes too. One poor motorhome coming the other way squeezed thru by the absolute skin of their teeth- felt sorry for the driver as he was looking quite traumatised as he finally got past the truck, who stopped all the traffic both ways 5 or 6 times trying to fit thru!

As we entered Devon we could see how pretty it is even in the rain- long sloping valleys and dales. Drove through Torquay and had a driving scenic tour- nice enough but nothing different. Then on to Paignton which is quite nice along the seafront, before moving on to Brixham. We had been tossing up where to stay when we were back in NZ but a lady at our last B & B suggested Dartmouth and we are so glad we kept driving to there as it is what we came halfway around the world for.

Olde Worlde charm, a small fishing harbour with coloured houses, bustling people and a steam train line and castle to boot! We decided to chance the small car ferry that we vaguely knew existed and it was a piece of cake-apart from when Graeme didnt realise the big queue was actually for the ferry and drove straight past them haha (he was very law abiding and backed back up the road to the back of the queue)! The car ferry saved us 35 mins driving around the coast road.

We were looking out for an old, rambling hotel like we had in Eastbourne and Arundel- these are our favourite. Graeme spied the one and only right in the middle of the seafront, so I went in and managed to negotiate a 90 pound price drop for a huge room overlooking the harbour. In fact we quickly decided we would stay 2 nights as there is heaps to do and we were keen to stop 2 nights somewhere we liked.

Went out for a walk around the harbour front and we walking back into the town when a man walking the other way stopped and asked if we wanted him to take a photo of us as we looked like tourists- the short story – he is a kiwi from Wellington who lives here now!! We got talking and Steve is a real character. He works at the old castle and said he would have taken us touring the area except he is flying back to NZ tomorrow as his mother died last night. He is a character, full of energy and is a historian buff. Very nice guy who may or may not turn up tonight at our hotel for a drink!

Funny how you can start the day in one place and end up somewhere you would never imagine- life is so ordered it is nice to be leaving things to chance for a change! Nice on holiday anyway.

No spaz shot today but thought I would add a photo especially for Dad- showing him how you can take interesting photos of birds that arent grey!! The seagulls here are huge- way way bigger than at home!