Twenty-one Days in Britain (Days 8-15)

This is heaven for Pam as she walked the beautiful gardens in this magnificent estate now in trust for the world to see and appreciate. 

On this day we embarked on a comfortable coach ride through the splendid British countryside- a landscape which English author Ben Aaronovitch described as being  so photogenically rural.  Along the way we stopped at Bodnant Garden a historic horticultural gem located in North Wales.

We have time to wander the paths of this beautiful estate and smell the flowers.  Then we continue on to the seaside resort town of Llandudno for the next two nights.

This is how the landed gentry used to live.  Our guide told us that many of these enormous estates were now in a trust and maintained for the public to enjoy. 

All we have shown here is four pictures, but we took over 40 as we strolled through the gardens.

Checking into our hotel we were met with a seagull that kept itself on the ledge of our window.  It was obvious someone had fed it and it would not leave.  We were unable to open the window and enjoy the great smell of the ocean.

Persistent cuss.  He would not leave. 

Next morning we were off touring the land of castles and the land of song.  Wales is also a land of fierce natural beauty as we saw for ourselves on the morning's visit to Snowdonia National Park.  Named for Snowdon, at 3,560 feet the tallest mountain in England and Wales, the park comprises some 840 square miles of unspoiled wooded valleys, mountains, moorland, lakes, and rivers.  This is Wales first national park, and covers more than 10% of the land area of the country.  We toured the park riding on the Welsh Highland Railway.  The train is pulled by a steam locomotive and provided a scenic ride through the park. 

The park is magnificent 

The park was very rugged, and as you can see it was very damp. 

The next stop was the port town of Caernarfon for a visit to the 13th century Castle, a medieval fortress whose brute appearance symbolized English domination of the Welsh.  Strategically set at the mouth of the River Seiont as it empties into Menai Strait, the castle was built by King Edward I of England.  Edward I (the first) was better know as Edward Longshanks and also "the hammer of the Scots."  If you recall from the movie Braveheart it was Edward I that William Wallace of Scotland fought against.

Entrance to the castle. 

The castle occupies almost a city block and was a small city unto itself.  

The castle was immense in size.  To get a description go on line and type in the name.  There is some excellent information about why and how it was built. 

The round circular disc in the picture is where the ceremony called investiture occurs.  The UK still has a Prince of Wales – nowadays, it’s Prince Charles (who’s next-in-line for the throne). The ceremony of ‘investiture’ (effectively a ‘crowning’, or giving the Prince his formal title) takes place in Caernarfon Castle. Charles, Prince of Wales, received his title here in 1969, and he did not do a thing to earn it except be born into the royal family. 

Caernarfon was the birthplace of the first Prince of Wales – a man who could ‘never speak a word of English’

As you can probably imagine, the Welsh people weren’t too thrilled with the English domination of their native country. However, the birth of Edward I’s son in the castle, in 1284, was a perfect opportunity for Edward I to ‘spin’ the story to his advantage.

The child – Edward of Caernarfon – was legitimately a Welshman, and was crowned ‘Prince of Wales’ in 1301 – demonstrably a Welshman, ruling over his own people.
This persuasive story-telling didn’t end there. It’s said that Edward I sold his son to the Welsh people as “A prince born of Wales, who could never speak a word of English”.

However, it was a bit of a crafty piece of propaganda – and it definitely didn’t mean that son Edward could only speak Welsh. The language of England’s nobility back then was still French, and so it’s almost no surprise that Edward of Caernarfon couldn’t speak English!

The history of the royals was very entertaining as we traveled through the countryside.

The next day we had a coach ride from Wales to Stratford-upon-Avon.  This was the longest coach ride we had for the trip and as we were always on the move, and the break felt good as we just looked at the beautiful Welsh and English country-side.  Pam and I both agreed Wales was one of the most scenic countries we had traveled. 

The first stop was at Anne Hathaway's Cottage and Gardens, the thatched farmhouse of Shakespeare's bride. The cottage is a bit of a misnomer as it has three chimneys (an indication of the number of fire-places) and twelve rooms. 

Anne Hathaway's Cottage.  This is far from we think of as a cottage.  We took a lot of pictures of the inside of the house, but as an amateur photographer they do not look good.  Online there are some excellent photos shot by a professional with expensive equipment. 

Gardens at Anne Hathaway's

Next stop was a visit to Shakespeare's Birthplace.  The restored 16th century half timbered house where the Bard is believed to have been born in 1564.

House believed to be Shakespeare's birthplace

The tomb of Shakespeare located in Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon. Written on the grave is the following verse: "Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare, To dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these stones, And cursed be he that moves my bones."

The next day we set out for the postcard-perfect Cotswolds.  England's south central region of gently rolling hills dotted with villages of honey-colored limestone, market town, and unspoiled countryside.  The Cotswolds looks much as it did 300 years ago.

We took this picture because all the roofs had thick tile or roofs made of rock looking like old stuff. That is a poor description, but there was no one to ask.  All the men made comments about upkeep on the roofs and here is proof it does take place with a lot of scaffolding. 

All the homes we saw on the trip were decorated with beautiful floral displays.  

Rock walls were everywhere especially in the farmlands. 

The traditional British Red phone booth.  This is the only one we saw.  

Next stop was Bath and we arrived late in the day really tired.  Checking into our hotel we were so pleased that this one had air-conditioning in the room as all the previous hotels did not.  Also this was the period where England had a heat wave and we got stuck in it in the evening.  For Iowa people used to air-conditioning, it was tough on us.  That evening we arrived at Bath.

Thank goodness we arrived in Bath and immediately contacted the front desk for help.  We had run out of clean clothes and needed to have laundry services.  It was outrageously expensive, but what were we to do.  We still had over a week of touring to do.  On our trip to S.E. Asia in January, we ran out of clean clothes in Laos.  Fortunately the guide had arranged for a person to pick up laundry and almost everyone of the tour had a bundle of clothing to be washed.  The best part was it was immensely cheap, so things balanced out.

The area where the city of Bath now stands show evidence of habitation from before recorded time.  It is best known as the location where in 60 CE the Romans built baths and first took the water at England's only hot springs. We learned about this historic site on the morning's tour as we visited the Roman Baths Museum.  These were a couple of buildings which included the original Roman era baths and temple.

The roof over the bath has long been destroyed.  This view is above the bath. 

The lady at this location on the ground level of the bath, played the part.  When we asked if we could take a picture, she responded with, "I don't know what a picture is.  I am here to help you with the bath.  If you would like to leave your attire with me, I will see that it is taken care of, and I have towels for you."  We got a good laugh out of all that.  

Nearly 2,000 years ago, a golden bronze head graced the center of the “Temple Sulis Minerva” at Bath. In pre-Roman times, during the Celtic polytheism practiced in Britain, the goddess Sulis was worshiped at the Bath thermal springs as a local deity.

The location where the Romans got the thermal water flowing from the ground and furnished the water for the baths. 

Next we visited the 7th century Bath Abbey, a majestic Anglican church noted for its intricate, fan vaulted ceiling and for hosting the coronation of King Edgar of England in 973.

The Bath Abbey. 

The ceiling in the Abbey is one of a kind. 

Beautiful stained glass adorned the wall of the Abbey. 

Next day the guide requested we all assemble at 7 a.m. in the hotel lobby.  A continental breakfast was available at 6 a.m. and the group was showing low caffeine levels due to lack of coffee.  We are supposed to be on vacation.

The reason was he wanted our group to be first at Stonehenge as the later you get there, the crowds get larger.  We were on our way to London, but this was the first stop with the second being Windsor Castle.

I shot this picture out of the coach as we went by a small village.  If you notice the chimneys all have several stacks.  This is because each stack serviced a fireplace in the house or apartment.  It really must have been smokey in the wintertime. 

Stonehenge is the Neolithic monument that remains something of a mystery today. Archaeologists believe that the massive stones were erected sometime between 3,000 and 2,000 BC.  The prehistoric circles of stone are a masterpiece of engineering and building is undisputed.  The why is less certain, although many experts now believe the site was used as a burial ground.

We walked all around the structures.  We soon found out why we were up so early.  It wasn't but 30 minutes after we reached the site the crowds started to arrive. 

This stone has a special significance.  For the first 10 people that send me an explanation of what it is all about, I will send you a free book.  Post on FB your finding and email me your address to hhoutdoors@cox.net.

Our next stop was famed Windsor Castle.  Originally built in the 11th century after William the Conqueror invaded England, the sprawling stone fortification has been expanded in the centuries since to become one of the country's most impressive sites.

Windsor was one of Queen Victoria's favorite places.  The image of the queen is not at all like the image of the beautiful young woman who played the role of Queen Victoria on TV. 

Pictures were not allowed inside the castle. However, the government supplied a recording device that hung around your neck and you lifted to the ear and moved through the building with the history and background of each room.  This was absolutely outstanding and a tourist could move through at their leisure and pause where you wanted to take in the room and the sites.  I would recommend you go on line to see the inside of Windsor Castle and there are a lot of photos of rooms used today by the royals.  It was an enormous place and very fascinating.

This is a picture of a wedding and has nothing to do with the castle.  We were walking by and I just raised my camera and shot this picture.  Pam wanted it for the hats the women were wearing, and everyone was dressed to the nines.  We paused momentarily but were unable to get a shot of the bride and groom.  Really neat. 

We left the castle and continued on our trip to London.  This tour is not a tour for you if London is what you want to see as we only spent a day and a half there. you can't see what there is to see in that amount of time.  However, there was a post trip for those who wished to spend more time in London. We arrived late in the day and dinner was on our own.  The questions were: where do we eat, how much do we want to spend, and what do we want to eat?  There were plenty of options and even a McDonalds. 

Next morning we toured in the rain and drove by some of the city's landmarks.  We also visited two of the museums and the tour was over for us.  But the next part of this trip was about to start.  Read the next blog about where we went and how we got there. 

Trafalgar square.  Our hotel was just a block away. 

London Bridge, Just a little rainy. 

Westminster Abbey, Just a little rainy. 

   

Buckingham Palace.  The rain had let up a little, the next shots the lens was covered with water. 

We ended the day by touring some of the museums and enjoyed the art museum which contained many of the old masters painting along with some more temporary art.  This concluded the tour of Edinburgh, Wales, and England.  Next day we started on a new tour of the Scottish Highlands.  This was a great trip, but the Highlands was a WOW!  Read the next blog. 

My book makes a great gift for your hunting and fishing partners. 

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God hunting, good fishing, and good luck.  Hank

Twenty-One Days in Britain (Days 1-7)

The national flag of the United Kingdom is the Union Jack, also known as the Union Flag. The current design of the Union Jack dates from the union of Ireland and Great Britain in 1801.

Stepping off the plane after ten flying hours out of Omaha, and four hours on the ground in Newark we arrived in Edinburgh Scotland in the morning.  No activities were planned this day as people joining the tour would be arriving all day.  The first thing that struck us was how easy it was to go through customs, and then onto immigration.  We did not get our passports stamped as this is the European Union.  This was a major disappointment as we like to have our passports stamped for each country we have visited.  We were met at the airport by our guide and brought this up to him.  He just shrugged it off as he travels Europe all the time and goes from country to country.  Fortunately this was our only disappointment for the trip. 

Arriving at our hotel by 9 a.m., our rooms were not ready, so we just walked down the street and found a step on and step off bus touring the city.  We climbed up to the top of the double decker bus and enjoyed the scenes, the city, and the fresh cool air.  The camera was left back at the hotel, but we would be touring the next day.  Pam and I are not usually big city fans, but Edinburgh was really interesting and inviting.  This was a great place to visit.  We were now ready for the next day.

The Scottish capital since the 15th century, Edinburgh boasts a rich architectural heritage centered on two distinct districts: 18th century Georgian "New Town" and the medieval "Old Town, featuring the Edinburgh Castle and the lively Royal Mile.  We explored both areas on the morning tour.  A masterpiece of urban planning, the New Town retains many of its original Georgian and neo-classical architecture dating from 1765.  Historic architectural highlights that we saw here included the National Gallery of Scotland, the Royal Scottish Academy, the Assembly Rooms, Waverley Station and the Scott Monument.  The New Town also boasts Edinburgh's main shopping areas on Princes and George Streets.

This magnificent rock is called Arthur's Seat.  It is an 800-foot hill on the edge of the city and provides a breathtaking view of greater Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth. The Firth of Forth is the estuary of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south.

Looking out over the city

Monument to Sir Walter Scott

This is typical Georgian architecture. 

This afternoon we toured the Old Town including the Royal Mile.  Tiny medieval streets and alleyways, the Old Town presents a contrast to the more orderly New Town.  The district stretches along the Royal Mile from the medieval fortress of Edinburgh Castle and is high above Holyrood Palace, the official residence of the Queen when in Scotland.  The Castle was one of the highlights of the day.

A tavern on the long walk up to the Castle. 

At the gate to the Castle, we are met by a statue of William Wallace.  We all remember the movie "Braveheart."  This is a statue of him before he was hung in England and drawn and quartered. 

The final gate into the castle.  This is what summer time is like at major tourist spots.  Lots of people. 

The castle took most of the afternoon to tour as there were so many buildings, halls and living quarters.  I said to Pam,"What would our readers like to see?"  She said, "Your people are hunters and fishermen, and they want to see the armory.  So here goes. 

Everyone needs a suit of armor. 

Every home needs a sword and a pike.  

This is a cemetery for dogs that lived with the people who inhabited the castle. 

This is a wall in a prison, and it was a carving made by a prisoner after our war with England in 1776. A prisoner carved the American flag into the wall. 

Next we walked down the Royal Mile filled with shops and great restaurants.  Along the way there was plenty of street entertainment.  I thought we would never get through as the women on the tour wanted to stop and shop.

If you  like music made by Bagpipes, you can hear it everywhere.  The best part of Scottish music was the last day when we came back to Edinburgh for the Military Tattoo. 

Nest stop was Holyrood Palace. Holyrood has served as the principal residence of the Kings and Queens of Scots since the 16th century, and is a setting for state occasions and official entertaining.  Queen Elizabeth spends one week in residence at Holyrood at the beginning of each summer.

The tour was exciting as we visited the quarters of Mary Queen of Scots, and where the royals lived centuries ago.  Unfortunately, photos were not allowed but we felt fortunate to tour as much of the palace as we did.  When members of the Royal Family are there no tours are allowed. 

Our final view of the Castle on the hill.  Our guide told us that during the war Hitler did not want the castle bombed as he wanted for himself. 

The next morning we departed Edinburgh and headed for the beautiful and beloved Lake District of northwest England.  The most-visited national park in the United kingdom, the Lake District comprises a diverse landscape of lakes, rivers, ancient woodlands, and small towns and villages.  Some of England's most celebrated literary figures call this corner of the country their home.  William Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter lived in this region and we visited their homes. 

Traveling south we passed by a small bay holding  the Britannia.  This is the Royal yacht of the Queen and her family.  The Royals really know how to live. 

This is typical countryside that we saw as we sped down the highway heading into the Lake District.  It is a bit hard to see but at the top of the field is a stone wall.  These walls were everywhere dividing up the land between farms and fields. Also, we saw a lot of sheep.  Coming from Iowa this was a bit of a treat as we saw few cattle. 

We took this picture of the window where the group had lunch.  This was a typical small village restaurant. It was the name, "Four and Twenty," that caught our eye and reminded us of an old poem. 

Arriving at William Wordsworth's family home on Rydal Mount, we had the opportunity to tour the home and his gardens that he loved so well.  He lived at this hillside home from 1813 until his death in 1850.  He designed the gardens and a writing hut that sits overlooking the grounds and the nearby lakes of Grasmere and Windermere.  

Home of William Wordsworth

Example of the gardens

The only reason for taking this picture is because the cat would not move for anyone that came and went from the house.  This is his/her house and I am sure it was thinking, "I am not getting out of the way for any trespasser. It's my house."

Next morning our excursion began with a boat ride on picturesque Lake Windermere.  This is England's largest lake at over 10 miles long.

Castles and summer homes for the rich and famous line the lake. 

Castle remains along the lake.  Notice the rock wall at the waterline. 

Next we visited the village of Hawkshead, home to less than 600 people.  This is home to Beatrix Potter Gallery and the Beatrix Potter's home.  The town is tightly packed with white washed houses lined along cobble stone streets.  Beatrix is world renown for her famous work "The Tale of Peter Rabbit." 

Hawkshead, home of Beatrix Potter

The original Peter Rabbit.  He made her rich and then the town famous. 

Next stop in Hawkshead was the Grammar School.  Founded in 1585 the school was most interesting, and was where the landed gentry sent their children to school.  You and I would not have attended this school unless your family was upper crust and wealthy from taxing the peasant farmers.  The little boys came from the surrounding areas and lived with local villagers.  What was interesting as explained, they did not bathe in those days, so the little boys were stinky little boys.  Now since you could not drink the water then, you drank beer that had a very low alcohol content, and the stinky little boys were given two quarts a day to meet their liquid needs.  There is more.  The stinky little boys were given a knife to sharpen their quill pens.  So, when they were not busy they would carve their names in their desks.  As we walked around the school room, we could see the names of the stinky little boys carved in the desks.  There is a lot more.  The stinky little boys all had a clay pipe they smoked and brought from home.  So, they were given tobacco to smoke.  So, now you have a bunch of stinky little boys who drank and smoked.  Oh there is a lot more.  The stinky little boys were given an allowance to gamble with.  They gambled every day on cock fighting. Picture that today.  There has to be some organization that is against that sport.  What you have is a bunch of stinky little boys who smoked, drank, and gambled.

Discipline was very strict and they were required to read Latin and Greek and around age 14 they graduated upstairs where they learned how to be gentlemen.  Fencing was part of the curriculum, along with going downstairs to help the stinky little boys.  It was never mentioned whether the boys upstairs were also stinky.

The majority of the stinky little boys went to Oxford College and the majority became leaders in the government or military.  That is what you get when you are a stinky little boy who gambles, smokes, and drinks.

If you haven't read the narrative above, now is the time. 

Entrance to the school

The school classroom

Next day was a travel day as we made our way through the Welch countryside.  We have never heard anything about Wales, but it is truly a beautiful country and the landscape looks like something out of "The Hobbit."  Stopping for lunch at a very busy tourist town, we had the opportunity to walk down cobblestone streets centuries old, lined with buildings of the same era.

Just as a quick note, whenever we travel overseas, our main meal is breakfast.  The hotels always have a European style breakfast and we torque up then.  You never know what is out there for lunch and dinner even though many of the meals are provided.

Now that is an old building.  We had lunch right across the street. 

Lunch

We were beat and when we hit the hotel, it was dinner, and then to bed.  Breakfast was at 7 the next day with the coach leaving at 8 a.m.  This is vacation.

Looking forward to my Elk hunt October 7th into northeast Idaho.  I have hunted this ranch before and there are a lot of big bulls.  going to try to make a fishing trip to Lake Elwood south of Lexington, Nebraska in September.  My good friend that I hunt ducks with has his spot all set to go and is turning on the pump for teal season.  Will I hit any?  Maybe, but I will put a lot of shot in the air.

For an entertaining read buy my book.  Makes a great gift. 

Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck, Hank