Details for lunch this Saturday!

Date: Saturday 27th October
Time: 12 noon
Place: Meet outside Village Cinemas at Knox then we'll choose a place somewhere in Ozone

Hope to see you there!

Comparison of us just before we left and just after we got back


- Get me some sleep
- Get me a haircut
- Get me to a gym... STAT!

The final day of our honeymoon turned out to be a glorious sunny day. We drove the short distance from Amesbury to Stonehenge to observe the rocks that were placed there so many thousands of years ago. We were impressed even from the highway as we drove to the car park. Once you buy your tickets you can only get to about 50 metres away from the stones but it's close enough to really appreciate them. After spending an hour or so there we drove to Sheridan's house for lunch. We spent a few hours there chatting and taking her dogs for a walk on a nearby common (it's a massive piece of public land where the army sometimes train, but unfortunately not on this occasion.)

We said our goodbyes and made our way to Heathrow. On a good run it should take 40 minutes to get there but the M25, a ring road around London, was very slow. I think there had been an accident on it earlier so it took us almost 90 minutes. The airport is so massive that it took us a while to find where to return our car. Then we had to check in and get through security, where they have a stupid rule that each passenger can only carry 1 bag of hand luggage. I ended up putting my 2 small bags in 1 big plastic bag and they seemed happy with that. Finally, 3 hours after we left Sheridans, we were ready to board.

We've had an absolutely amazing time. Everything was just as we had hoped, or better. It's both exciting and sad to be heading home after such a fantastic journey. We hope you've enjoyed reading about it. We've certainly enjoyed sharing our stories and photos.

John and Kim Hanson

Stonehenge




Burial mounds near Stonehenge (just visible in the background)


Birds


The common near Sheridan's


Kim at the common


Sheridan with Archie and Bertie at the common

Our last full day in England took us down to Cornwall in the very south-west of the country. But before we set off we caught a local bus from just near our B+B down to Bath. Conveniently the B+B was right near the University of Bath so there were buses every 6 minutes or so which was handy as we were quite pressed for time with the long drive ahead. We were very fortunate that the weather had improved dramatically since the previous day and the sun was shining in a clear blue sky.

Bath is another really nice old town. It's famous for being the location of some ancient Roman baths. We did a quick tour through the bathing complex which included pools filled with naturally warm water. You can't go into the baths but the whole complex is very impressive.

We returned to our car and drove the 4 hours down to St Ives in Cornwall, right near the south-west corner of England. It's an old fishing village with lots of traditional seaside buildings. We sampled the fish and chips there and found them to be of a very good standard. Perhaps it's just the London area that's not so great. While we were there we checked out the harbour beach which is really cute and has a great atmosphere. We also checked out the nearby Porthmeor surf beach which is much prettier in terms of the actual beach.

Sheridan suggested that we try Cornish Cream Tea which we did at The Beach House, a cafe above the fish and chip shop. It consists of cups of tea with scones, jam and clotted cream. I've never enjoyed them as much, they were really something!

Once evening drew near we started on our 4 hour drive to Amesbury where we stayed the night. We missed the last room at a local inn by 5 minutes so had to settle for another Travelodge. Again we were left with only a smoking room. But it was a family room so the smell wasn't as bad, and there were no insects or arachnids present. It turns out that Travelodge is getting rid of all their smoking rooms over the coming months, we were just 1 week too early at that particular one. We had a good nights sleep and got our suit cases packed for the trip back home.

Bath buildings


Bath gardens






Roman baths




Bath Abbey


Enroute to St Ives


St Ives houses


St Ives harbour




St Ives fish and chips (and crumbed fish cake)


Porthmeor Beach, St Ives


Another nearby rocky beach


Us near the beach


Houses above Porthmeor Beach


Very narrow St Ives street


Cornish Cream Tea

Today was our first day with really miserable English weather. But we didn't let it deter us from enjoying ourselves! We travelled down to Stratford-upon-Avon with the rain at a steady drizzle. The town was cute nonetheless and our 5 euro umbrella came in handy again. We had Cornish pasties for lunch but were disappointed that the bakery didn't sell tomato sauce to go with them, something which I'm pretty sure would be unheard of in Australia. We'd planned to head down to see Bath that afternoon but the weather had deteriorated further so we checked our guide book for other activities in the Stratford area. It recommended Warwick Castle which isn't very far away. It was quite expensive to get in (about 18 pounds, AU$45 each) but there was heaps to see and do there. And it's not in ruins like some of the cheaper castles. Everything is in great condition and many of the rooms have been set up with displays ranging from medieval knights to Victorian era bedrooms. There's a "ghost experience" included as well which was short and fun. Both of us did our share of jumping when the "ghosts" appeared.

Afterwards we drove down to Bath. At first we tried to find parking and accommodation in the town but quickly gave up on this when we realised that driving around it was quite similar to driving around Nottingham, plus rain. We found a B+B just out of town instead. They recommended a nearby pub, the Rose and Crown, for dinner and we had a lovely meal there.

Stratford-upon-Avon street


Shakespeare's Birthplace




Warwick Castle












Views from tower at Warwick Castle

Today was a big day. We left Aviemore and made our way down to the gorgeous little town of Falkland. We stopped there briefly to take some photos then continued on to St Andrews. St Andrews has a beautiful old university and the ruins of a cathedral and a castle overlooking the sea.

After lunch we travelled down to Roslin to visit the Rosslyn Chapel, made famous most recently in The Da Vinci Code. It's quite an amazing place. There are so many carvings inside and many facts, myths and legends about them and the building itself. We were lucky enough to catch the last tour of the day which was a thoroughly engrossing 30 minutes focusing on the inside of the building. The outside is nice too but for the last few years has been covered in a roofed structure to protect it from the rain. The good thing about this is that the public is allowed to climb the outer structure and get a close view of the roof.

As we left the chapel the sun came out and bathed the Scottish scenery in light as we headed south back into England. We drove for a few more hours until I started to feel tired and then stopped at the next opportunity, which was a Travelodge along the motorway. It was pretty cheap but they only had smoking rooms left. Kim hates mosquitoes, I hate spiders, and the room came equipped with plenty of both (4 mozzies + 2 spiders) I think this room managed to place itself below, or at least equal to the one in Florence! Fortunately we were so tired we had a good nights sleep anyway.

Pretty houses in Falkland




Main street of St Andrews


Cute houses in St Andrews




St Andrews Cathedral




St Andrews Castle


University of St Andrews




Inside Rosslyn Chapel


Ceiling


St Francis - note the animal in the bottom left


Angel (left) and Fallen Angel (right)


Star of Bethlehem


Can you spot the death mask?


Crypt


Outside the chapel


Chapel Roof