Wednesday 27^th June Westport to Donegal via Innishcrone Seaweed baths            

 Misty Irish morning in Westport. Lyndsay was the only one of the four of us who foolishly chose the healthy option of muesli and fruit only for her breakfast and when the Irish Breakfasts, including black pudding, arrived for the rest of us her lip dropped and she packed a giant sad. Fortunately her companions are kind hearted women and each donated to her a portion of their Irish breakfast !! 

Headed off about 10 am intending to go to Achill Island for an hour or two but when we got there the mist (well, rain by then) was so low even the smallest mountains were hidden, so continued on towards a small town on the coast of Co. Sligo called Innischrone where there are the Killcullen seaweed baths, opened in 1912.

Killcullen Seaweed baths exterior

Killcullen seaweed baths interior

They are beautifully maintained tiled rooms with two large baths in each and a steam box in the corner. The seaweed that is gathered from the local seashore is washed and heated with steam before it goes into the bath. You start by sitting in the steam box for 5 minutes then get into the hot bath with the seaweed and wallow there for up to an hour before having a cold seawater shower and emerge feeling fantastic.  

Bath filled with seaweed and hot water

Lynds in steam box

Mermaid fantasy 1

Mermaid fantasy 2

Continued on towards Donegal and went to WB Yates grave, café and gift shop which has lots of Yates books. Fortunately we were there later in day so only a couple of coach tours

On to Donegal, got B&B by 7.30 pm then to Castlel Bar in main square very nice dinner, caesar salad, crab, pear and almond tart plus obligatory Guinness and watched end of Spain vs Portugal football match won by Spain in penalty shootout. Have date to watch Germany v Italy on Thursday night and have to be Germans for this game.         

Tuesday 26^th June Doolin to Westport

Misty rain again today. Farewelled Charlie and Mary who were heading back to Cork and then we four set off in 2 cars now heading north.

Stopped in small town called Cong, famous for being the location of a John Wayne movie called “The Quiet Man”. Coach tours stop there outside the pub which has film memorabilia that you are not allowed to photograph.

Spent a pleasant hour walking in the grounds of a ruined abbey which has a very fast flowing little river running through it and out to the lough. The monks had constructed a little stone fishing house on the end of an island over the river-had a fireplace in it to keep warm and hole in floor to lower a net down into the river. Spoke to 3 young men fishing from the ruins who told me they catch salmon, trout and perch in the river

Cong Abbey interior

Cong Abbey Monks Fishing Cottage

Cong Abbey Grounds

Later in another small town we foolishly chose pies for a late lunch, not a patch on the standard kiwi gas station pie !

Continued on to Westport and arrived there in a one way street system just at evening rush hour. Consulted visitor bureau and went to a street with about 6 B&Bs and chose one for €60 per room. Then walked back down town and sat in sun and guess what, drank Guinness, then had dinner at Wests and wandered home about 10.30 pm in still daylight.

Westport at dusk

Monday 25^th June. Doolin and surrounding areas.  

Day dawned clear and sunny and stayed that way all day, Irish breakfast at B&B with Sabine, Ulrike, Mary and Charlie, and the talking started and continued without let up all day. Converted our Vauxhall Zafira to 6 seater so we could all travel together and headed off to Cliffs of Mohr, then back to Doolin for lunch at O’Connors pub, then off to Burren which is a great area of amazing rocky land which flows from hills to sea.

Nice walk on rocks near the sea, where we saw quite large pod of dolphins and then inland again to a Burial Tomb “The Poulnabrone Dolmen”. This was excavated in 1986 and remains of 16-22 adults and 6 children were found which dated from 3000 BC

Dinner and evening spent again at McGanns, all a bit sunburned but nobody has yet stopped talking. One of the best days we have had on this entire trip because of the great company.

Sunday 24^th June Dublin to Dun Loaghaire then to Doolin, Co Clare.

Fine and sunny but quite windy. Left central Dublin about 10 am and drove out to Dun Loaghaire and spent an hour walking around the harbour breakwater and marina. As we were making our way to the ring road to get to motorway we were stopped at some traffic lights and suddenly 3 Garda motorcycle police arrived at high speed, sirens blaring followed shortly by 2 bomb disposal trucks which raced through the intersection, no idea what that was all about. Torrential rain at times as we headed along toll motorway towards Galway, tolls on a number of motorways here but only €1.80.

Turned off just before Galway and headed down a series of winding narrow roads with some significant hairpin bends and arrived at B&B in Doolin about 5.30 pm where we were to meet our friends Sabine and Ulrike who were flying from Germany. However before they arrived about 7.30 pm we had already met their friends Charlie and Mary Roche who had driven up from Cork.

We had a wonderful evening the six of us, dinner first at Riverside Café, beautiful food and ambience, gentle music by an open fireplace and lots of talk. Then later in evening we moved next door to McGanns pub where Guinness was consumed as we listened to some very fine Irish musicians until closing time. Fortunately the B&B was within walking distance.  

  

Saturday 23^rd June Tralee to Dublin

Up early and off to watch the All Blacks v Ireland game back down at the Pikemans Arms in Tralee, another 6 or so New Zealanders there, stayed until half time when it became apparent they would win, then back to B&B for breakfast. On the road to Dublin via Limerick, good motorway, though rained most of the day.

Arrived at Trinity College in central Dublin about 3,30 pm, took about an hour to find our way to accommodation office and get sorted in our room in Goldsmiths Hall. Usual hall of residence room, quite small with bed, wardrobe and drawers, desk and basin and shared shower, bit expensive for what it was. Lots of security on campus,have to swipe card about 3 times on way into building. We were too late to get into see Book of Kells as closed at 5 pm. Went out walking in Dublin, not really a good place to be on a wet Saturday night as so many people moving about in relatively small area, bit of a zoo, though we spent a pleasant hour on the Stags Head pub. Cooked dinner from all left over veges in our food bag back in the kitchen at the hall. Very noisy night both from traffic noise from road 3 floors below ( think there was a problem with seal on double glazed window) plus some ignorant and inconsiderate people in the adjacent rooms who arrived back at 1.30 am and proceeded to go between rooms leaving very heavy doors to slam behind them.

Friday 22 June 2012 Waterford to Tralee via Dingle Peninsula

Miserable wet morning. Left Waterford by 9 am and headed west, one or two Tom Tom glitches –one landed us in middle of mums taking kids to school in small village, skirted around Cork and through Killarney and out onto Dingle peninsula. Stopped at surf beach where it was blowing a howling gale, sand flying up in the air and one or two people trying to windsurf. Dingle town itself looked like a pleasant place but was so overrun by coachloads of tourists we didn’t even stop there. Continued on road over the hill (which was too narrow and windy for tour buses) to the other side of peninsula which was much wilder and more to our liking and onto the town of Tralee.

Found another B&B for the night on Late Rooms-interesting discussion with Eileen our B&B host subsequently about what we looked for in a B&B (price often but not always) and discovered it was the first time she had been on that site, and then got another booking for 7 people for the next day. Times have been very tough for tourism operators here so far this summer as the weather has been so awful.     

Had a wander up and down the High street and then found a nice bar, the “Pikeman’s Bar” at the Grand Hotel on a side street. It had such a nice feel about it because there were groups of women having cups of tea, people reading the paper or having intense discussions or sitting quietly with a pint, sort of place local people come to after coming into the town to do their shopping. Stayed and had some dinner there and interesting discussion with farming couple sitting next to us about current economic situation in Ireland.

We have noticed in many places that there are large numbers of “For Sale” or For Lease” signs. There are also incomplete buildings, including groups of houses, just left half finished.

Thursday 21^st June 2012

Spent about an hour shopping in the Wexford High Street for a double adapter for the car power socket ( so we can run both Tom Tom and iPad at same time-If we stray with TomTom which occasionally happens the Google maps on IPad soon lets us know) and  for an Irish  SIM card for the iPad and then headed off west but then got lured down the Hook peninsula.

Went to Tintern Abbey an amazing 11^th century abbey which then became a private house after the reformation in which the last member of the family lived until 1959. Now owned by Irish Govt and has been partly restored. Beautiful grounds to go walking  in as we did down to the sea shore and  up to the local chapel and graveyard.

Tintern Abbey

Bridge at bottom of grounds 

Stile into churchyard

Quick visit to JFK great grandparents house down a side road 

JFK Great grandparents house

then off to the Hook lighthouse where there has been a warning structure since medieval times, on way back came across to Passage East on a ferry  ( €8). Lots of narrow lanes today and very tiny harbour quay at  Feathert.

Hook lighthouse

harbour at Fethart on Sea

Roadside produce, beautiful strawberries,

Put new SIM in the iPad and while on side of the road about 5 pm went on line on Bookings.com late rooms and booked room in Waterford Travel Lodge for €49.Off to supermarket ( SuperQuinn) and then spent evening doing chores and watching Euro 2012 Portugal v Czech. Somewhat noisy boy racers in McDonalds Car park next door.

Wednesday 20th June, Poppit Sands Wales to Wexford Ireland

Woke to a sunny clear and calm day over Cardigan Bay, had breakfast outside looking over the bay. Sad to leave this beautiful peaceful place When we left gave a ride down to Cardigan to a nice woman called Marsha, who was a first grade teacher from Little Rock Arkansas, who spends her summers in UK going from YHA to YHA hostel by public transport. Cardigan was a very nice looking little town, looks quite prosperous, lots of people out and about in the town.

Then headed off to Fishguard to board car  ferry to Ireland. Had a visit to Tesco to stock up and headed to Stena ferry terminal. There was a whole group of vintage cars heading off to a rally in south of Ireland including a 1924 Rolls driven by an English prat. Left  Fishguard at 2.30 pm, spent a fairly relaxed journey, reading, watching TV, drinking Guinness  and arrived in Rosslare in south of Ireland at 6 pm to miserable raining evening.

 Half hour drive thru to Wexford where we reasonably easily found our lodgings for the night at a place called “StayinginWexford.com” that Lynds had found on late bookings –its  Brian’s  private house, a terraced house  with 4 bedrooms on 3 floors  which he lets out for €28 per night with use of kitchen and living room. All 4 rooms in the house were full last night one with us, one with couple from Texas and two to a family here on business from England. Whole house has been refurbished and was very clean and tidy, and we would highly recommend.

Tuesday 19^th June  Cardiff to Popitt Sands YHA in Wales

Still problems with Gmail  in morning. Had good breakfast at our faded hotel ( radiators in old places are grand for drying a weeks  worth of handwashing in the bathroom) Then headed off to Alamo depotin Cardiff  to check out the insurance for Ireland –very nasty shock,

a) insurance for this had not been done at Heathrow

b)  they wont let us take our beautiful Volvo out of the UK i.e wont let us take it to the Republic of Ireland.

They have a policy of not letting high end modern cars leave UK  as they may end up on the black market  in Albania or some such place. Took sometime to sort out but in the end we have certificate to take a car to Ireland but the car we can take is a Zafira, similar to the one we had in UK 3 years ago. But no “in car Sat Nav, no heated leather seats, no sunroof. How the mighty have fallen ! However does have a larger luggage compartment which will be really useful when Caro and Emily join us in Edinburgh but has no inbuilt Sat Nav and no way of connecting iPod so we can drive along to various favourite music. Fortunately I hadn’t sent my TomTom home and had loaded UK and Ireland on to it so we can navigate fairly well in conjunction with iPad google maps.

Then headed off to Apple shop,  in big shopping mall in middle of Cardiff, to see if they could sort out our Gmail problem. Turned out they didn’t need to cos when both devices tuned on in Apple store heaps of gmails came flooding in –so possibly a problem with the wifi at B&B or problem with gmail server.

But other problem was that we lost the parking ticket for this huge mall even before we got out of the car !! Had to trudge off to admin office there and then talk to security who checked video of entering so in end we paid just the 3 gbp rather than 20 gbp for lost ticket. And guess what? we found the ticket 6 hours later in with the potatoes in our travelling grocery store.

So finally left Cardiff about 1 pm and went by Caerphilly where they make famous cheese and then  our Tom Tom took us to this amazing place called Poppit Sands YHA above cardigan Bay on the west coast of Wales You have to leave car at top of about 50 steps or even down the hill and walk to hostel. Simple Welsh cottage perched on hillside but now a bit eco. Couple of horses grazing down below and herd of Freisan heifers and steers in the paddock  above.  A few boats and kayaks  down below us but so quiet. 

Looking across Cardigan Bay from Poppit YHA

One of the locals

Sunset at Poppit Sands YHA

Morning light at Poppit Sands

          

Monday 18^th June

Photos will follow

NOT RAINING !!!

Another nice RAC man called Tony was on the site at garage by 9 am as arranged, used all sorts of pumps to extract every last drop of contaminated fuel from the Volvo, including from reserve tank. Some of this required removing back seats etc. This is his full time job and he covers the whole of Cornwall from Plymouth to Lands End  and does between 2-5 jobs a day. Has a 300 litre tank in his van and the contaminated fuel goes back to a refinery to be re refined into diesel or petrol. On road again by 10.30am having spent 82gbp to fill the tank completely with diesel again.

RAC Fuel patrol

RAC Fuel patrol

Drove thru very very small lanes to the small ( very small) and quite isolated  village of Kelly and the St Marys Church and graveyard there-found a gaggle of Cornelius graves  but about a century older than the ones was looking for.

Continued on thru Devon keeping away from motorways and stopped for lunch at a place called Lynmouth on the coast. Quite a lot of tourists out and about. Interesting place that was decimeated by a flash flood in the 1950s and also the place that the people dragged a lifeboat 10 miles over steep hills to Porlock Bay in 1899, and event re enacted in 1999.

We ( Lyndsay and I plus Sat Nav)  got geographically misplaced leaving Lynmouth and spent ½ hour  wending our way thru even narrower steeper lanes until we emerged on correct road on top of cliffs  which are near Exmoor and had beautiful views across Bristol Channel and over Exmoor.

Onto M5 at Bridgewater, sped along at 70 mph again  and were in Cardiff in about 1 ½ hr, staying in  a somewhat faded older hotel –cheap and reasonably comfortable except for pump in bathroom that kept going on.

Discovered todays problem which is that the Gmail is not arriving on our iPhone and iPad tho is Ok on netbook but is a nuisance as the “I” devices both have data cards so we can retrieve email without wifi but netbook doesn’t.

So tomorrow will start with visit to Alamo people re Insurance for Ireland (where we head tomorrow) and the Apple shop to sort out Gmail issue.

                    

Sunday 17^th June

Lovely RAC man returned from getting new tyre in Penzance about 7 pm last night (which he then replaced still in the howling gale) by which time we had checked into to The Lizard YHA where we spent the night  in shared room  with 3 other women , 2 of whom were up at 6 am to go diving. Very comfortable hostel to spend a very stormy night and then today dawned sunny and clear with just a light breeze Had spent some time last night at tea time talking about some of our “favourite politicians”  and discussing the huge rabbit population in Cornwall with Glenys and Roy  from New Brighton in Christchurch.

Up and away by about 8.15 and headed for St Agnes to check out the cemetery in the middle of the village, within about 5 min I had found the grave of my 4x great grandparents ( Paul and Elizabeth Penrose). It is in very good condition and I suspect some other descendant has looked after I well. Had a bit of a stroll down the main street and then went off for our daily National Trust fix which today was an Elizabethan manor house called Trerice near Newquay,accessible via very narrow lanes which were also being used by horse riders.  Tried the clotted cream morning tea ( goes on the list of other English things only needing to be tried once, like chip buttys and Cornish pastys !).

Then off to Calstock to check out another set of 4xgggg, found the St Andrews church and graveyard which was high above the village and where a christening was happening. Checked out some of the headstones but a bit jumbled and many difficult to read, would need some further serious work to discover anything there.

Then we were on our way to YHA Exford (on Exmoor) for the night via a village called Kelly in Devon for some more ancestor hunting. At 3.30pm we stopped at a Texaco station in a village called Gunnislake, Cornwall to fill up tank. I got out and did this and realised after 30 litres had gone into the tank that I had put in lead free petrol instead of diesel, all 42 gbp worth!! Phoned RAC again and after a couple of hours discussion back and forth a tow truck arrived to move the car away from pumps, but then the man just rolled it down to front of forecourt where it will be accessible to RAC man who will come tomorrow morning to pump out the contaminated fuel so that we can spend a fortune filling it up again just with diesel. It is really upsetting to have had these two incidents one after another since we have driven thousands of miles in rental cars and had one puncture in Crete in 1997 which we fixed in 5 minutes!!

As yesterday, we had to cancel and forfeit our pre paid YHA stay ( cancelled within 24 hrs)  but again  there was some accommodation available within walking distance  so we are staying at the Drakewells Bed and Breakfast plus the garage staff and towie were all really helpful and pleasant to deal with and the RAC man says heaps of people do this everyday.  

Walked down to the local pub called "The Rifle Volunteer" and had a very nice meal at very reasonable price along with pint of cornish beer and nice view down the Tamar Valley.   

Saturday 16^th June

Overcast and very windy to start with again, another superb breakfast delivered to the door by Lyn, packed and out the door by 10 am, stopped at Europcar in Penzance to see if Ben there to check the fuse for the charger connections but wouldn’t be there for an hour, off to bank and Tescos to get food since self-catering tonite at YHA Bracken Tor in Devon.

 Then headed for The Lizard (most southerly point in UK), got down very narrow road to lighthouse and YHA and disaster struck when we hit a rock with front passenger wheel and punctured the tyre. Were in NT car park about 11.15 am when discovered this, no cellphone reception which is ironic on the cliff top where Marconi first successfully experimented with wireless telegraph. Fortunately very nice man called Patrick in the NT car park hut allowed us to use the landline and to camp out in his hut whilst we called the Alamo/Europcar breakdown people cos 2^nd part to this is that we discovered there was no spare wheel in the car. Eventually Alamo tyre people said not possible to get new tyre of correct sort till Monday (In 2 days time!. What happened to 24hr/7 day week service). Then advised to phone RAC, infinitely better reception from them, promised patrol here by 2.55 pm, then rang back to say would be another hour, hopefully he will have a tyre with him. If all else fails there is the Lizard YHA about 200 metres away which has shared female  dorm accommodation available tonight. The Lizard NT area is full of eccentric English people wrapped up well and out doing serious walking ( with maps around their necks) or walking dogs. Cant even go to the lighthouse museum cos closed Saturdays.

Friday 15^th   June

Stopped raining briefly, then started again. Beautiful breakfast delivered to the door with homemade apple juice, marmalade, crab apple jelly, muesli, fruit bowl, yoghurt and very nice coffee.

Off to Porthcurno (about 10 miles thru some very narrow lanes) to the Telegraph Museum ( because my grandfather Mackenzie was an engineer on one of the ships that laid the submarine cables-interesting tunnels built in solid granite rock in 1940 because of the strategic importance of this site) fascinating exhibitions of all manner of telegraphic equipment and talk and demonstration from Sue, climbed the escape route tunnel  up 4 flights of stairs dodging the nesting swallows. Then afterwards walked down to beach where raging seas and red flags ( beach closed sign) were no deterrent to one fool clad just in his underpants trying to go for swim (lifeguard had to tell him twice not to go into water-Lyn later told us there have been 4 rescues at that beach in last 3 weeks). Then nasty shock of parking ticket for overstaying our park and pay by 30 minutes-not so much the ticket but the cost -85GBP reduced to 50GBP if paid in 14 days. Rain had stopped and sun out but howling winds so picnic in the car.

Then continued on to todays National Trust site the Levant Mine and Beam Engine right on the edge of towering cliffs where they have restored and have working the 1840 steam engine used for the winding cables to pull the copper and tin ore up out of the mine. Even bigger than the restored  steam engines on the  ferries in Lake Lucerne. We walked along  a short tunnel  to the Man-Engine shaft where the miners were lowered down to the mining tunnels some of which were about 500 metres deep and extended a mile out under the Atlantic ocean. Gale force wind along these cliffs.

Then back to The Flower Shed  and walked down the path through the woods to Mousehole where we spent a couple of pleasant hours in the Ship Inn , very nice dinner in the bar-Newlyn crab salad and beautiful chips and a couple of pints of St Austell beer and on tap pear cider for Lynds (cider is very big in this part of the world), then watched first half of Euro 2012 soccer game between England and Sweden. And of course when we left to walk home again the heavens opened up again.  

( have discovered that the Google maps app on iPad is fantastic, never need a hard copy map again,  and works well when off line, especially with Location feature so a little blue dot moves down the road with you and you can double check that you are going where you want to go, cos sometimes the SatNav thinks it knows better)

Thursday 14th June

Raining again, wended way through country roads, some very narrow, through St Mawes and onto the King Harry ferry (5GBP), to National Trust Trelissick House, fine woodland garden, met woman whose son lives in Waitakere, onto St Michaels Mount, rough seas, no one going there today. Visited Alamo car people at Penzance Railway Station, Ben sorted the iPod which now works well on Bluetooth, said to call back when not raining and he will have a look at charger problem, H out in howling gale to get money from cash machine and to Tesco for dinner salads, Guardian and wine for evening.

Then to Mousehole, committed cardinal sin of trusting GPS postcode, ended up in very tiny street high up above harbour, then after backing out of the tiny lanes we actually  read the instructions we had been sent and also asked local and then negotiated  further tiny lanes and finally ended up at “The Flower Shed”  high above the harbour here which will be our home for 2 days. Raging storm waves breaking over harbour wall, warm welcome from hosts Andy and Lyn

Wednesday 13^th June

Still raining, to Lost Gardens of Heligan dressed for weather then sun came out and had glorious day there, many gardening  notes written by Lyndsay and many photos taken, then to Mevagissy which is a bit overdone with tourists, Cornish pasty for dinner, big black threatening clouds again so didn’t get to Fowey but back to St Austell.

Tuesday 12^th June

Still raining. Went down to local beach first with Siobhan and Toddy who have access to a beach hut  for a look what it might be like on a fine summer day, Toddy gave us 2  Irish footie jerseys , then  we headed up to Fordingbridge to the Branksome china factory. Difficult parking in small village.  Interesting small shop and  factory  in an old cinema. Unfortunately the business which has been making this specific china since 1930’s is having financial difficulties and is likely to close down.This seems to be a fairly common story in England at the moment. Lynds bought one cup so we are hardly likely to keep them afloat. Then on to St Austell in Cornwall to stay for 2 nights  in a fairly mediocre B&B (because the Youth Hostels are full this week with school groups) with terrible access and parking  from busy road, difficult access to room with suitcases and  somewhat odd host who is not well suited to this business. Out for walk around the town and  went to McDonalds for food

Monday 11^th June 2012

Left Truleigh after a great Big English breakfast cooked by the two women staff this morning. Sitting looking out across the hillside I suddenly noticed the rabbits, dozens of them in the paddock about 50 metres away, seems to be a common sight and no one but New Zealanders comment.

Still raining and headed to a National Trust site,  Petworth House which is  still a private home,  didn’t spend much time outdoors but inspected the kitchens which were separated from main house by a 50 metre underground servants tunnel.

Ate our left over lunch in the car as so wet. Intended to visit another NT site plus the Branksome factory at Fordingbridge but so wet and driving so difficult just headed to Bournemouth to a very warm welcome from Siobhan and Toddy. Toddy’s cuz Marcus and partner also staying there. Pleasant evening spent by all over magnificent roast lamb dinner with free flowing wine and plenty of talk.

Sunday 10 June 2012 YHA St Pauls to YHA Truleigh Hill

This morning got off to a truly magnificent start with attendance at 8 am communion at St Pauls with the 50 strong congregation seated in the choir stalls. We sat next to a very kind and engaging older lady ( perhaps mid 80’s) who is a parishioner there, has to catch a bus to get there tho, and is a  member of the Honourable Company of Fishmongers and a Freeman of the City of London which among other things gives her the right to drive a herd of sheep through the City.

Then checked out of YHA  (after rolling suitcases down the 56 stairs we had carried them up earlier in week) and headed on Tube to Heathrow to pick up the rental car from Alamo.  Nice chatty woman just happened to say she had a Volvo V60 available in the class we had ordered  instead of the anonymous potluck brand  for ” just a few more GBP per day and since were  going to be driving around in it for 39 days we might be more comfortable in it perhaps ?”

We were easy meat and who wouldn’t be for fully adjustable heated leather seats, in car GPS, sunroof (tho why that in England today !!) iPod/USB connectors, separate ventilation for driver and passenger. We had to have lesson on how to even start the car as well as how to operate the GPS which took about ½ hour so didn’t get away from there until about  12ish heading off to Sissinghurst in Kent  which we had visited once before in the autumn on first trip to England in 1989. GPS worked fine however driver (H) ignored instructions resulting in 26 mile detour so arrived there about 3 pm and of course it started raining the minute we stepped out of car.

Castle and gardens as beautiful as before (in full summer bloom in contrast to the autumn hues that were there our last visit) and there is now an organic vegetable garden.  There also  seemed to be more ancillary things than I remembered like restaurant, gift shop and displays in oast house.

Back in car , reset GPS to take us to YHA Truleigh near Brighton, and first part of journey was fine through narrow roads and beautiful Kentish countryside but then somehow we found ourselves on a portion of motorway M25 with no off ramps for 15 miles heading straight back to London. Figured out that GPS was taking us by the biggest motorways possible rather than cross country, a wee problem that is easily rectified by ticking the” no motorway” box in settings but  which was a bit pointless by then. Unfortunately ran out of time to visit Lindsay and Lisa in Brighton.

 Arrived at YHA Truleigh which is on top of a hill about 4 miles north west of Shoreham about 7.30 pm in torrential rain. Nice man cooked us Cumberland sausage and mash for dinner there with enough left over for lunch tomorrow. 

Saturday 9^th June London

Out the door about 9.15 am to walk to Houses of Parliament for tour at 11 am –took us about an hour to walk there from St Pauls along Victoria Embankment with a few stops on the way at interesting places like Cleopatra’s Needle and the Battle of Britain memorial.

Then we had to go thru security screening to get into Parliament building –everything scanned and Lyndsay had pat down search and into the Great Hall of Westminster awaiting our tour group. About 30 people booked at same time, as well as in English language, tours were also organised in German, French, Japanese or probably any language you wished. Our tour leader was very pleasant and knowledgeable woman called Carol. The Tour which lasted about 1 hr 15 min was hugely informative and put into context many of the historical figures and events we have known about in relation to British politics over the years.  The architecture is huge and sumptuous until you get to the House of Commons which is relatively sparse. Very pleased to have done it.

Then a bit of lunch in quite quiet and peaceful Whitehall gardens, a respite from the thousands of people out and about today, bit windy and cooler but no rain. Also no free yoghurt today. Went off to check out Spitalfields Markets which were largely closed by the time we got there but by going on Circle line we discovered our carefully laid plans for taking tube to airport tomorrow were in disarray as that line will be closed tomorrow. Very helpful man at TFL Information helped sort out an alternative route from Mansion House which is actually easier than the one we had planned.

Back to St Pauls exhausted and crashed for nap about 5 pm interrupted by very noisy helicopters immediately overhead. Then weeks washing done and dried and watched Euro 2012 Soccer match between Denmark and Holland, shared fish and chips and watched some more TV then crashed for night.

Friday 8^th June London

Raining and blowing in London today as it has been since Tuesday.  Slightly frustrating start to the day when the headphone/microphone I had bought with us  to use for Skyping a) didn’t work for either  when talking to Anne and b) jammed up my USB wireless mouse which took me ages to sort out. Fortunately working at end of the day.,

 Had our regular  breakfast of muesli, yoghurt and fresh pain au raisin (from the M&S food about 100 metre away from the hostel), coffee made in room with the immersion heater in our lovely set of Swiss aluminium camping mugs and then set  off to walk to NZ shop in Covent Garden.

Took us about an hour to get more than a kilometre or so as there are 2 spectacular churches within that distance, both suffered major war damage but have been restored beautifully. The first was St Brides in a small lane off Fleet St where there has been a church in various forms for 1500 years, and where one of the first printing presses in England was used and it has subsequently become the “Fleet St”  or Journalists church with many of the pews bearing the names of companies and individuals active in the media. St Brides has significant Roman ruins in the crypt. The second church was St Clement Danes further down the Strand, where there has been a church for 900 years and  whose bell rings out the rhyme “Oranges and Lemons” ( we heard it at 12 noon but it may ring at other times). It is the official church of the Royal Air Force and has lots of memorials to RAF fliers. The floor of the church is an open space with hundreds of badges of RAF units embedded in the floor and the pews on either side can slide over when there is a large congregation. There is also a magnificent organ that was  donated by USAF personnel.

So then on to Covent Garden (on the way managed to score 8 cartons of very nice greek yoghurt in street giveaway so that was lunch and dinner!!) to the NZ/Australia/Canada shop which was fairly “underwhelming” but where I did manage to buy a decent NZ/Europe power plug. Then off on Tube to Knightsbridge and then walked to Albert Hall to buy tickets for a Proms Concert in August when we are back in London. Tried earlier in day to buy “last minute tickets” for ”War Horse” or “Singing in the Rain” but nothing less than 42 GBP so passed on that.

 Interesting on way to Albert Hall to pass the Iranian Embassy in Princes Gate that I remembered as the scene of a major hostage siege in 1980. Read about it on Wikipaedia when we got back.

Wandered our way home again dodging the showers via St Pancras to check out left luggage facilities for when we go to Paris with Caro and Emily, and Holborn to check out access for us with all our gear on way to Heathrow to pick up car on Sunday.  

Thursday 7^th June London

Miserable day again and after long day yesterday we got off to a slow start. Lyndsay stayed at “home” (in our little hut on the 2^nd floor of hostel) and read/ napped/ played iPad etc and I put on my coat and walked ( 30 min) to the London Metropolitan Archives  where I was  enrolled as a user and spent a couple of hours searching microfilm of Bethnal Green Waterloo Work House for information about my great- great grandfather Boyce who was admitted there in Feb 1891 and died there later the same year. Ironic that at the same time as father was languishing in the poor house his son was becoming a prominent and moderately wealthy citizen on the other side of the world. Very similar to going to Archives NZ in either Wellington or Auckland, very quiet and full of people winding thru microfilm and looking at old documents laid out on cushions and handled with white gloves.   

Wednesday 6^th June

Up and packed early and off to “Marie’s Café” in Lower Marsh St for a # 1 and #2 breakfast, both had 2 eggs, bacon, sausage, 2 slices white bread, tea or coffee ( very good) and #2 had   great homemade chips.  Waddled back to UJC, checked out, to underground from Waterloo to Bank, then short walk along the flat to St Pauls YHA by 11am. Couldn’t check in until later in afternoon so had to haul bags down to basement to storage room for the day, lockers here were not as wide as at Earls Court so we had to decant some stuff out of our suitcases –when we returned we had to take suitcases back up to ground floor then up another 2 floors ( 5 flights of stairs in all –great inducement to travel light !). Fascinating building  that used to be the quarters for St Pauls choristers, about 100 metres from St Pauls itself-some people complained because the bells ring every quarter of an hour, 24 hours a day but it didn’t bother me at all, in fact rather liked it.  

Then we went off to do some visits to some of the dozens of churches in the City of London. First was St Mary Aldermary a Wren church. Very nice volunteer man there who told us about the group who were rehearsing in the church for a concert the next night. They are called “Cardinall Musick” and specialise in unaccompanied 16^th and 17^th Century English music and their director is Andrew Carwood who is also director of music at St Pauls. We sat entranced for nearly 1 ½ hours listening to them rehearse in  beautiful surroundings with fantastic acoustics. Then it was off about 50 metres down the lane to St Mary le Bow, yet another Wren church which is the home of the Bow bells. The crypt here is now a café.

Back to YHA and made 2 trips up stairs from storage room to our tiny room on 2^nd floor , 2 single beds, hand basin, small window that rattled, 4 power points ( so can charge all devices at once) and just enough room for 2 suitcases.

Within about a 200 metres of this hostel which is not self catering is a Tesco Express, a similar Sainsburys and a M&S Food. In all of these you can buy pre prepared meals and since we didn’t have access to a microwave there we had to stick to the cold salad ones. Our favourite so far is a Moroccan Chicken and Couscous salad at 2.50gbp, desert is rice pudding from a can and a Belgian Chocolate mousse for 55 p on half price!! 

Went out for a walk about 8.30 pm along Thames bank as far as Southwark bridge and back. Discovered beautiful urban garden, Cleary Gardens, then St Pauls met 2 young American bankers from New York, all sharp suits and teeth,  slightly lost and looking for their hotel. In course of conversation they looked at St Pauls and asked “What is that building ? ” Some cultural teaching required there !!

Tuesday 5^th June

Overcast day again. Stayed in room and watched service at St Pauls on TV , then walked across Westminster Bridge  and through side street onto Whitehall. Found a spot  3 back from barrier just by the Women’s War Memorial near the Cenotaph, stood there for a couple of hours then woman in front of us left so we were just one row back.

Lots of things to entertain us while waited for the Royal  carriages-watched cavalry tow the guns around to Hyde Park for the salute, bands played (RAF, Royal Marines and Household Cavalry –riding and playing instruments and honour  guards deployed. Lots of stamping of  highly polished boots and shouted orders.

 Then there was shouted order  “Queens salute” and all of a sudden the open  horse drawn carriages flashed past, The Queen with Charles and Camilla, followed by William and Kate with Harry, blokes were all in top hats, women in very flash hats. 60 gun salute as they went down the Mall.

We then moved ourselves slowly through the crowds and out on to Westminster Bridge by Big Ben, it started raining again and at 3.30 pm there was the flypast of WW11 planes followed by Red Arrows with red, white and blue trails.

Back to UJC and hot shower yet again, mediocre dinner of salads from Iceland Supermarket and cheap bottle of red wine.

Monday 4^th  June

Quiet day in room recovering from Sunday. Out for a walk about 4 pm to see what was happening in street parties etc –went to two ,one on green opposite Old Vic and the other in an adjacent street where we were made very welcome and offered Union jack cupcakes and apple slice. Found route to Westminster Bridge that we are going to use for Tuesday.

Then back to UJC, changed and walked to Cambridge pub in Charing Cross Road, met Christine and Geoff  Tyler there and had lovely quiet dinner upstairs there –most people had gone to watch concert on the Mall. We walked down there just as concert finishing ,watched end on TV set in shop window on way home and then saw fireworks from Waterloo bridge

Sunday 3^rd June Jubilee pageant on Thames.

I went out about 9.30 am to see how crowd was on the riverbank  and then hurried back to get Lyndsay as crowds starting to pour out of Waterloo station  in their hundreds. Down in chosen place by about 10.30 am found a place where we were 2 rows from edge of the river bank. We were just by an area where people  from a charity organisation were going to be let through to a small pier. Security wasn’t well planned and I made some suggestions to the guard about setting up barrier differently so that 20 rows of people were not disrupted everytime they opened the barrier. Lyndsay spent quite a bit of time talking to and  supporting  to the woman who was organising this area who was the CEO of the charity. Just as pageant about to start and we had been standing there for nearly 4 hours she came and escorted Lyndsay and I plus another woman we had been talking to as we all waited, through another gate, put wrist bands on and led us to a clear area in front of a building and said thanks for supporting me –there we were in ringside seats (actually no seats)  plus had an area to shelter from the rain  plus could see one of the big screens easily. Then we got talking to a bloke in a flash suit standing next to us who turned out to be a kiwi now living in London, previously a professional rugby player, then his wife arrived who had been born in Devonport cos her father had been in the Navy, then her auntie arrived who turned out to be an ex Labour MP who knew heaps of people we did so a cheerful time was spent by all.  The crowd seemed to be very good humoured even tho many had been standing in the rain for up to 6 hours by the time it finished. The chmber singers on the top of the boat with the orchestra were amazing and just sang on despite being drenched. Back to UJC for hot shower, dinner was packet of crisps and ½ bottle of red wine !