Hopefully this latest post goes
to ‘print’ on Christmas Eve, so firstly a very Merry Christmas, Seasons
Greetings, Happy Holiday, Happy Honokaa, etc. etc. to all! Personally we are on
a train to Zermatt to meet our families for Christmas and hopefully enjoy a
white Christmas on the slopes. Although to be honest with you, we just boarded
a train that we’re not 100% sure will take us to Visp to facilitate said trip
to Zermatt…
For those of you not up with my
poor French title, Bon England is French (well bad French, because yes I know
it should be Bon Angleterre, but that would be even more confusing!) for good
England, and this post happens to cover Bath,
Oxford and Newcastle. So let’s get started…
Day 54
After picking up an absolutely
lovely Peugeot 3008 from down Putney way, it was off into the unknown with only
a little old GPS to guide us. To be honest with you I don’t know how people
don’t use one of these in foreign countries, even with English road signs it is
so much easier and less stressful for the driver (me) and I could not begin to
estimate the amount of fights it avoided! We had a vague list of things to do
in 3 days, Stone Henge, Bath, Oxford and Windsor.
We arrived at Stonehenge to some
very threating skies and a howling wind that ripped across those rolling hills
so violently I thought it would raise the dead from one of the many burrows
that pocketed the countryside. Despite this and only having the one chance we
braved it and wandered around the site, audio guide in hand. There really isn’t
much to see except for a more close up view of what you can see from the road,
however the heritage society do their best to pad out the guide with
interesting theories/myths etc. about how and why the henge exists. Cool rocks,
and amazing that they are so old and how they got there without the tools even
the medieval builders would later use is amazing, but still… just rocks.
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| The "rocks"... with rainbow |
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| Our B&B ... |
Day 55
Waking to our first morning of
snow, however brief, was quite a treat, with the small square where our B&B
was located, briefly hidden behind some large white snow flakes! Unfortunately
it wasn’t to last and quickly turned to rain/sleet which made our walking tour
that morning all the more brisk! The Mayor of Bath runs free walking tours
everyday of the year except Christmas and New Years and are run by old retired
people to stretch the legs I think. Our guide was good and we covered all the
big ticket items, the outside of the Baths, the Circus, the royal crescent and
my personal favourite, Bennett St! It gave us a good orientation for an
afternoon spent wandering and shopping.
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| Royal Crescent |
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| ... Obvious ... |
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| The river |
But not before an audio tour of
the inside of the Roman Baths, complete with every little detail you could
possibly want to know. Please note if your interested in these details, allow
yourself a day to do this tour, we spend about an hour and a half there and
glossed over the ‘additional information’ sections!
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| The Roman Baths |
Dinner that night was a treat at
Jamie Oliver’s Italian, in Bath. Jamie himself wasn’t there unfortunately, but
the food was simple, good, Italian and the wine was red (we’re not fussy!). The
chefs definitely did Mr Oliver’s name justice and I highly recommend a table if
your in Bath. They don’t take day time bookings so you can just rock up of a
night time, have a drink while you wait for a table. Although we didn’t have to
wait at all, and the only people who did were groups of 4+ from what I could
see.
Day 56
Wanting to check out the ‘Cotswolds’
we headed north(ish) and called in at Castle Combe which we discovered was
nothing other really than a photographers dream. Apart from that this tiny
village was pretty dead at this time of year with us sharing the main ‘street’
with a few telecom crews being the only highlight.
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| The happening city of Castle Combe... |
Next stop was Malmesbury where
after visiting the church we stopped at the tourist information centre where
the guy told us that the only thing to do here was visit the church. Easy,
done, back on the road!
On toward Oxford we drove but
detoured to Cirencester where we stopped for lunch and a wander through their
little village. Lunch was a beautiful pub meal located next to an awesome
little private book store where Katrina finally bought something not shit to
read that will last her more than a week! (sorry had to get that out!)
Shantaram…great read if anyone is looking for a new book!
Arriving in Oxford we scored yet
another lovely B&B by turning up at the tourist office and seeing what was
available. We were too tired really to do much else so we had dinner at the
local pub and had an early night. I thought my Man Flu was making a return so
needed a good sleep!
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| The local... |
Day 57
We had an absolutely packed itinerary
to get through on our way back to London for a night time train to Newcastle so
it was go go go! A morning walking tour of Oxford was really interesting and
covered all sorts of information about how all colleges work and admissions etc.,
along with entry to one of the colleges and the main university library. Oxford
University is a collective of 36(?) colleges in the town and as such are spread
out throughout; they only come together for special guest lectures and at exam
and graduation times. If you see someone rocking an Oxford University hoodie,
they are a tourist as all the students rep their colleges in the choice of
clothing. A bite to eat on the run and it was a rush to Windsor Castle before
a) they shut and b) we had to return the car.
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| One of the colleges |
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| The library at above college |
Windsor for me is the most
impressive of the tourist items in and around London, I think mainly owing to its
constant upkeep at the residence of Queen Elizabeth II (and Prince Charles
officially, still lives at home with his mum… no wonder people want him to abdicate!).
Another site another audio tour which covers the grounds, the royal apartments
(these are majorly impressive and you’ve got to wonder whether the private ones
are more or less so, would they be more extravagant or would they tone it down
when people have to live there?) and the cathedral. A recent (early 90’s) fire
has led the refurbishment of a large part of the royal apartments and this only
ads to their appeal as they have been very recently restored/improved.
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| Windsor gate |
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| Getting my revenge for sending my relatives to Australia for petty crime... oh hang on... thanks for that! |
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| The honeymooners outside the chapel |
Heading back into London we got
major traffic jam, but not on the main freeways. It took us nearly an hour to
go about 4km’s from the exit to the Europcar depot at Putney, one lane two way
streets causing absolute chaos! All that was left then was a short 3 hour train
ride to Newcastle…
We couldn’t of been more wrong,
whilst I’m sure it was only 3 hours, it felt like 3 days with a group of 8
young Celtic fans making their way back from a Europa league game/bender who regaled
us with such hits as “If you’re not topless you’re not Celtic, ole ole!” at the
top of their drunken lungs for the whole journey. After that it was almost a
relief to stand a cab line at Newcastle station for 30 minutes with all the
other quiet drunks, including the ‘Emirates co-pilot’ in front of me who
mistook me for his mate. “where are we going?” don’t know mate, “what are we
waiting for” it’s a taxi rank, you’re waiting for a cab, “I’m f&%king sick
of this S%$t, where are we going seriously?” It’s a cab rank, I suggest you get
a cab home, “I don’t know where I am or where I’m staying”… luckily to ladies
took him off my hands and put him in a cab home. Just like being at home in
Newcastle…
Day 58
Having spent the night in the
comparative luxury (compared to our standard hotel choices) of the Staybridge
suites, it was a wander of the quayside and a visit to the new-castle (the
toon’s namesake) before heading to the game! This time the game won’t get its
own match report due to a) my laziness and b) a reasonably frustrating game
which finish nil all.
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| The river and one of many bridges |
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| The new castle... |
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| Top of the castle with St James Park in background |
A few highlights in lieu,
Coloccini’s header missing narrowly wide (see photo), total domination by
Newcastle for much of the game winning a phenomenal amount of corners and
limiting Swansea to one half chance late on, an awesome bicycle kick from Demba
Ba and the amazing pre-match tribute to Gary Speed. Our tickets were also
great, good view of the game and also access to the “Platinum Club” before,
during half time and after the game where you can actually have a real,
alcoholic beer! A disappointing result, but better 1 point than none, and some
good football none the less.
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| A very happy Toons fan! |
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| Collocini heads wide |
Dinner consisted of happy hour
cocktails at the local Latin restaurant before a curry and bed. This bed
courtesy of Michael Barwick and Stephanie Jasper which we were most
appreciative of, thanks again guys!
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thanks Bob and Steph! |
Day 59
Not having enough Toon action it
was back to St James’ Park for the stadium tour and a spot of shopping. Despite
still being dirty from match day, the tour was really interesting with a
personal guide who was an employee of the club taking us around the facilities
and through the sheds etc. I didn’t realise it is the 3rd largest
league ground behind Old Trafford and the Emirates, and one of the largest
conference centre’s in England. They rely heavily on corporate sponsorship
although there is still some bitterness towards those who jumped ship when they
dropped to the Championship, our guide was one of the many Geordie’s who was ecstatic
that we were able to bounce straight back, saving further money and job losses!
Definitely a ‘people’s’ club and this was evident from the way the tours were
run, to the friendliness and knowledge of our guide.
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| The same happy Toons fan! |
Many pounds later we left the
Toon shop and headed back to the Latin restaurant for lunch (we couldn’t get a
table the night before). Then off to board the DFDS ferry to Amsterdam. I was a
bit apprehensive about an overnight long haul ferry ride, but apart from eating
too much at the buffet dinner and making myself ill, there was really no down
side. It served as our night’s accommodation in small but comfortable bunk beds
and dinner and breakfast were ok without being amazing. So it was we arrived in
Amsterdam on the morning of Day 60…
(and by the way, it was the right
train!)
All our Love
M&K
