This post is a little delayed as we have been travelling for
several days.
We arrived in London on the 21st January feeling somewhat peeved that, due to our low-fare, round-the-world tickets meaning we could not get seats to Asia until February, we were being held captive in England in mid-Winter for three and a half weeks!
We arrived in London on the 21st January feeling somewhat peeved that, due to our low-fare, round-the-world tickets meaning we could not get seats to Asia until February, we were being held captive in England in mid-Winter for three and a half weeks!
We decided to hire a car and
do a big loop around Southern England visiting family and friends. Rather than
being ‘held captive’ we were warmly embraced and have had SUCH a great time and
been SO well looked after!
 |
| London Skyline View |
The Meals!
Beef Bourginon, Greek Lamb, Fish Pie, Pub Meals, Harissa Chicken,
Mexican food, Homemade Pumpkin Soup and a few fabulous beef and lamb roasts
with the trimmings and our quota of Yorkshire puddings for the year. All scrumptious.
Of course along with those we sampled some fabulous wines and
local ciders, not to mention a few digestifs.
The Walks!
The great walk of Windsor, Epping Forest and the farmlands of
Kent, Buckinghamshire and Warwickshire. Loads of sloppy, muddy paths but loads of fun.
 |
| Kenwood House, Hampstead Heath |
 |
| View From Holwood Park, Kent |
 |
| Walking in the Surrey Hills |
The Pubs!
Two Brewers (Windsor), The Owl (Epping Forest, Essex), Six Bells (Woodchurch, Kent), The Star (Hampstead Heath, London), Shortlands Tavern (Shortlands, London), Half Moon (Warninglid, Sussex), White Horse (Shere, Surrey), The White Hart (Weston-In-Gordano, Bristol), The Bridge (Dulverton, Somerset), Clifden Arms (Worminghall, Buckinghamshire), Kingsbridge (Bourton-on-Water, Gloucestershire).
The good old English pub with a selection of beers and cider and
wholesome food is not dead!
But Mostly, The Company!
It was so nice catching up with everyone. Lots of long chats and many, many laughs
around the fire, dinner table or out walking.
We really cherish our time here and look forward to returning in the
not-too-distant future. And we even got the
treat of attending a social dance with Jean’s cousin, Sheila and her husband,
Nick.
The Weather!
We could not finish this post without mentioning the weather. In Devon, we timed our stay with Storm Imogen
which did not directly impact us except Anthony and Bob having to deal with a tree
that hit the telephone line on the property.
The temperature ranged between -5 degrees Celsius at night to a balmy 9
degrees during the day. Having
said that, the great thing was that most days we had lovely clear skies and it
was very pleasant to be out and about as long as we had a few layers of clothing on. All in all, we had about 4 really miserable
days out of 26 so we really can’t complain.
 |
| Fo enjoying tea and looking at travel mags with his cousin, Haggis |
More to come shortly about our time in Thailand and the
preparations for our return to Sydney.
Nice one, guys! Great places and pubs!
ReplyDeleteLook forward to hearing how your dive trip went! It was lovely seeing you and catching up with your news; Sheila, Haggis and I send our love.
ReplyDeleteCute teddy! Looks like Rupert. I'm envious of the hearty English food and Cider. Did you try any English sparkling wine? It's meant to be very good, but expensive. I miss those cosy pubs of the UK.
ReplyDelete