Our trip to England May/June 2009 Part Three

Part Three

Sunday, May 24, 2009

This is an update to my part two May 24th. Jim and Wendy, Bob and Yvonne arrived within minutes of me sending out the part two update. They had stayed in York over night after a drive down from near Aberdeen Scotland. Found the roads great and made good time. I had given them a Google map and directions but used the postal code which put them over on Bunny Lane in the middle of the postal code area. They asked a few people and finally found the house. We then went of to Salutation Pub for lunch and a walk and grocery shopping. The afternoon and dinner was great with lots of laughs.

Monday, May 25, 2009.

Dave and Jim drove Wendy down to the train station so she could go off on the train to visit a friend who used to live in Whitehorse but now lives with her daughter near Worksop which is north of Nottingham. After breakfast the rest of the crew caught a bus to downtown Nottingham. We had a relaxing day with another pub lunch at ‘Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem’ inn and pub. I had mentioned in an earlier day this is the oldest inn and pub in England. I learned more that on the Crusades to Jerusalem by the armies this was a stop over for rest and food, thus the name. We also visited Nottingham Castle just to say as part of our Robin Hood day tomorrow we had visited the castle. We went to the Square again to listen to music. Yvonne and Marilyn went off shopping, Jim and Dave went to the National Ice Centre, while Bob stayed to listen to music and people watch. The National Ice Centre is quite a place. It has two ice surfaces, one for ice hockey and one for general skating. They do have a hockey team; those players in a league with European teams. The big arena seats 50m and is also where big concerts come. A very nice complex with many uses including national figure skating practice. Jim and Dave saw the other three off to the bus stop and they went on to the train station to wait for Wendy who was arriving back at 5:45 pm. The wait was in the pub across the street from the train station and once Wendy arrived we all went home on the bus. The dinner that night was sausages that we had purchased at the farmers market a week ago.

Tuesday May 26, 2009

I call this our Robin Hood day. I had promised Jim back in Indio that we could visit Sherwood Forest together and that is what we are doing today. We figured out a route to bypass Nottingham and what is left of Sherwood Forest is due north. Tom Tom (gps) is our great friend mapping out a route that worked great. We arrived in Sherwood Forest about 11 am. It is family week in England this week and all the schools are off so this walk was scheduled. I had told the team as part of my tour I had arranged for a fellow to take us on a walk through the forest and tell us stories of Robin Hood and his merry men. It turned out to be a great walk with a fellow who acted as one of Robin Hoods men and as we walked through Sherwood Forest he told us stories. He made the trip. Of course one of the stops on the walk was at the Big Oak the place where Robin Hood would to meet people. We learned that the merry men had homes in other parts of the forest, at that time, a very large forest and the Big and Old Oak (over a 1000 years old) was only where Robin Hood would tell people to meet him so no one knew where the homes were. This oak tree had just about every branch supported as oak trees rot from the inside out and this old tree was hollow inside. After we left this part of the Sherwood Forest we stopped in the local town for lunch. It was quite late when we finished lunch so we decided to find just one more point of interest then head home. We never did find the other point of interest but the drive through the country side was great. We arrived home in time for happy hour and ended the day with a deluxe roasted chicken dinner cooked as a joint effort of all present. Dinners usually lasted a long time and finished close to bedtime. Bob called the meals great social occasions. I would agree.

Wednesday May 27, 2009

Today we are driving south east towards, Melton Mowbray home of the famous Melton Mowbray pork pie. Our objective today is to get to Burghley House in Stamford after stops at Oakham and a view of the Rutland water. It started off raining and stopped as we were going through Melton Mowbray, and as we were passing through we saw signs selling the pies and also saw sign of an open air farmers market. We stopped and were disappointed because of the rain not many farmers showed up but Dave did find a pork pie place so he bought a Melton Mowbray Pie to go with the other ones we were having for dinner tonight. Our next stop was Stamford for lunch. Stamford is a very old town and the buildings were Georgian architect and several hundred years old. After lunch we went to Burghley House which is a house built by William Cecil 1st Lord Burghley. The Cecil family still live in and run the trust looking after the house. The interior of the home was magnificent. Some of you will recall the family that owned 100 Mile House and the Gang Ranch were Cecil’s. The present head of the family (not sure if it is Lord, Earl or Viscount) is the 7th. He moved from 100 Mile House to Oregon and his son who will be the 8th still lives in BC. A bit of interesting history and a fluke we visited this particular house. We enjoyed our stay and the grounds had interesting sculptures. The ride home was in sunshine allowing us to enjoy the views and in particular the Rutland water which is a big man made lake and reservoir. The various pies that evening made for great eating and the conversations continues.

Thursday May 28, 2009

This was clean up and pack day for the Pollock’s. We did manage to go to The Plough Inn Pub in Normanton on the Wolds about a 20 minute walk. We sat in the garden and had one of the best pub lunches we had on this trip. After lunch we stopped at the butcher shop and picked up a fresh leg of lamb for dinner. We capped the afternoon off by sitting outside in the sun enjoying happy hour followed by the lamb feast. We felt we had covered every English dinner that people eat in England which consisted of roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, English sausages, meat pies and lamb.

Friday May 29, 2009

The Pollock’s left for London Heathrow with driving instructions off Google.. We learned later they arrived safely in the hotel, gave the car back and were able to go to central London on the tube. Marilyn and I then set out on the drive from hell. I wanted to see the North Sea and everyone said why? I thought if we just drove east to Boston we would be on the sea. Jan the lady next door said we may have to go Skegness in order to see the sea. We did have to go that far and arrived 3 hours later. In what we thought was the smaller town of Grantham rather then take the route that Tom Tom had planned we would go through the centre of town . The traffic was stop and go and it took one hour and all we saw some buildings. The same happened in Boston and it does not have a by pass road. Guess what at Boston we were no where near the sea so onward. We finally saw an Inn and decided to stop for lunch. They did not serve food but said we were only 10 miles from Skegness. On we went and guess what? When we were in New York we thought Coney Island was bad but it come a far second to this place. More amusement parks then I had seen in a long time. It was family week so every family was here and we could not find a parking spot to even try and see the North Sea. Finally at 2:30 we stopped for lunch. Nice pub and the waitress was great. She said just up the coast to the next town and we could park and walk to see the North Sea. She said you have come this far so do it, but she too did not know why we drove so far. We went to the small town and finally found parking for a £1 and I walked up a hill to have a look. Marilyn went off for ice cream. The tide was coming in and the North Sea was a muddy brown. Lots of sand bars right up to a cement wall and the wind was howling.. We got to see the small shacks all along the sea shore that have been in families for years. They are day cabins only and very small and off in the distance many wind turbines. We had seen the North Sea from a gun in placement used during WW11. I now asked Tom Tom to direct us home and to my liking we went through the back roads away from traffic and by all the farmer vegetable fields. A very pleasant trip until we got on the A46 by pass around the city of Lincoln where the traffic picked up with many cars pulling trailers but even at that we were home in just short of 2 hours. We were glad we did not take the Pollock’s on this trip.

I have learned to drive on the left hand side but still find going on the round abouts a little hard but I am sure over time one would get used to them as they do speed up traffic flow.. The changing of gears is fine and I still have to tell myself to gear down. All in all it has been great having the car to get around and Tom Tom has been a big help and a must for driving in England and Europe.

Saturday May 30, 2009

Dave woke up yesterday with a bit of a sore throat but it went away but now it was back with vengeance. We decided to stay home and relax. Marilyn got caught up with the washing. In the afternoon we had lovely tea with the next door neighbour Jan.

Sunday May 31,2009

We decided not to drive today and Dave is still not feeling good so we went to Nottingham on the bus and had leisurely stroll around some of the areas we had not visited. We came home early and Dave had a rest and quiet evening.

Monday June 1, 2009

It is hard to believe we will be leaving on Wednesday morning. We confirmed our London tour trips this morning so we are all set for the three days we have in London. Today we are going to Newstead Abby the Ancestral Home of the Poet Lord Byron. Tomorrow we will clean up the house and do laundry, wash the car and cut the back lawn and hope we leave the place the way we found it. I may not have time to update you until Sunday when I get some time at my Brothers place in Holland.