Series: 2013 UK

Thursday we drove from Portsmouth to Exeter. Along the way we stopped at Cerne Abbas – a large chalk drawing In the hill. No one is sure if this is a prehistoric figure or a representation of Oliver Cromwell. Either way it is pretty impressive. If it wasn’t blowing 30+ knots we would have walked up the hill to get a closer look. Some of you will be more familiar with the Simpsons version of this.

It was a short drive from here we went to Sherborne Castle built by Sir Walter Raleigh. Very informative local guides helped to make this another interesting stop. Still too cold to walk outside so we missed the old castle destroyed by the Cromwell’s soldiers in the Civil War.

Friday we awoke to grey skies and showers. We spent the day trying to trace our roots in Devon. Warren’s family on his fathers side had lived in Dartmouth and Totnes while my family on Dad’s side had come from Littleham and Northam.

After visiting a number of churchyards we finally found the headstones for what I think are relatives of my Granny, the Pickards.

It is beautiful country though the lanes to some of these small villages are VERY narrow. The east coastline was very pretty even with the grey weather while what we could see of the west looked much more rugged.

On Saturday we made our way north towards Cheltenham. On the way we stopped at the Wells cathedral. The cathedral is beautiful and along with the amazing stonework, stained glass windows and ornate carvings, it also contains the second oldest clock in Britain still on use.

Wells cathedral bells

From here we drove to Farrington for lunch with neighbours Denise and David. They spend 6 months of the year in England living in the renovated stables at the Manor House. A quick tour of the field near the house showed the destructive work of badgers and moles.

Denise suggested we stop at the Farm Shop to buy something for dinner. The farms are owned by Prince Charles and the produce was first class. I particularly like the signs advising that the produce has 0 food miles!

The apartment in Cheltenham was spacious even if it was in the attic (4 flights of stairs). On Sunday we drove to Cirencester to visit the Roman amphitheatre (underwhelming) and the Corinium Museum (excellent).

The whole town is built over the Roman city. Every time they build a new building they uncover more artefacts. The mosaics in the museum were huge.

We also visited Wotton-under-Edge where Mum’s ancestors the Foxwells came from. Nice little town but no luck finding any evidence of ancestors.

Weather has been cold and drizzly.

Two nights at a great B&B just a short walk from the walls of Chester. We walked the walls on Monday afternoon after a quick drive up from Cheltenham on the M6. Rain meant we didn’t stop at the places we’d planned but the weather had improved by the time we got to Chester.

On Tuesday we had a guided tour of the city then after going on a walk along the canal, we helped John and Terri bring their canal boat up the 3 locks at Chester. They gave us a lift back to the city walls which was a treat.

We were racing the weather north as we headed from Chester to New Lanark. So far we have missed most of the rain with just a few showers as we found our hotel in New Lanark. This 18th century cotton spinning mill village is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This was an industrial area where the Industrialist looked after his workers with good housing, schools and improved working conditions. Our hotel was in one of the old mills with views across the River Clyde.

An early start to drop our bags at the hotel, return our hire car and have a walk around the streets of Edinburgh. Unfortunately Holyrood Palace is closed as the High Commissioner is in town but we enjoyed a walk to the top of Calton Hill and the views to Arthur’s seat and the town.

Friday dawned with clear blue skies and we headed up to Edinburgh Castle. Perfect weather to appreciate the views and take in the history of this place.

A quick trip to the Museum of Scotland then back to the hotel to meet Jane who is joining us for our trip to the Isle of Skye.

Jane, Warren and I left Edinburgh on Saturday morning and drove north west, keeping just ahead of the predicted heavy rain in the east. We had a quick stop at Stirling Castle on our way to Oban for lunch. This is a very pretty fishing village on the west coast of Scotland.

From here we headed north stopping at the commando memorial but our view of Ben Nevis was obscured by the low cloud. It is still cold up here with snow on all the mountaintops. On to Eilean Donan castle, one of the most photographed castles in Scotland and used for the movie Highlander.

Over the bridge and we arrived at the Isle of Skye and our B&B Mo Dhachaidh.

Our host surprised us by dropping in a big bowl of langoustines which he had BBQ’d in garlic butter. He called them prawns but they were more like small lobsters.

We spent Sunday circumnavigating the island which is rugged, picturesque and unique. We had perfect weather – blue sky, sunshine and little wind.

We stopped at Talisker distillery which unfortunately was closed!

I would love to come back here and do some walking which is very popular. The mountain are rugged with little vegetation. At the top is a plateau of moors and peat bog. Lots of cute lambs grazing along the road.

We left Skye on Monday morning and headed across to Loch Ness. We booked a boat trip to look for Nessie with captain George who had pictures of the 2 times he had seen something.

It was bitterly cold sitting on the flybridge but Jane and I didn’t want to miss a thing. Very informative commentary, good views of Urquhart Castle but alas no Nessie.

Jane drove us to Corbridge and after dinner with us at a very nice local pub (The Black Bull) drove home to Newport.

We then had Tuesday to visit Corbridge Roman Town and warm up the legs with a short walk around the area. English Heritage has done another good job with this site which was home to the Romans for over 300 years.

As we wandered the ruins, we were amazed once again with the infrastructure here. A fountain provided fresh water while stone drains channelled water and waste and steam to the baths. Note the height of the main road on the right relative to the columns – a consequence of 300 years of resurfacing!

4 days, 39 miles, spectacular scenery, bright sunshine, 40 knot winds, rain even some small hail – our walk had it all.

We set off Wednesday morning about 10 after a hearty English Breakfast at our B&B. We had a 4 mile walk mostly uphill before we reached the Hadrian’s Wall Path. This is a National Trail mostly through green fields of sheep and lambs. Our first “fort” at Halston has not been excavated so the small mounds near the road did not inspire.

Our first sight of the wall was at Planetrees, a short length that showed a section of narrow 2m wall meeting the 3m wide wall. The 84 miles of the wall was completed in just 7 years to keep out the barbarians in the north. Roman Emperor Hadrian visited England in AD122 and had instructed that a wall be built to define the northern boundary of the empire. The central section we are walking contains most of the remaining wall, turrets and forts and is therefore the most interesting walking.

Fine weather with little wind made this our easiest days walking though we saw only a few short sections of wall and 1 turret. We spent the night at a great B&B at Humhaugh.

Thursday was overcast and had a strong wind from the west. As we are travelling the wall east to west it is in our face all day. On the top of the many hills we climb today I estimate the wind gets to 40 knots. It is also cold and at 12 miles is our longest day.

We arrive at our accommodation at 6.30. If this sounds hard it is – but today also has the most spectacular scenery and wall sections along the crags.

We also visit Chesters and Housestead Forts and Museums.

Friday we awake to rain but thankfully the low has moved south so the wind is behind us. This means the walking is much more enjoyable although it is still bitterly cold and we wear our wet weather gear all day.

More spectacular views from the top of Winshields Crags and a visit to the Roman Army Museum. This gave a soldiers view of life on the wall including a 3D movie with a flyover of the wall that we had just walked.

Our final day, Saturday we awoke to bright sunshine and light winds for the last 8 miles to Brampton.

We had dinner at a pub with Swedish friends Anita and Ake who we had met at our first B&B and numerous times along the journey. This has been a highlight of our trip so far and we would certainly recommend the walk.

Sunday we caught the train to Newcastle. The train was full of kids on the way to a concert – getting louder the more alcohol they consumed. We wandered around town for a while then crossed the tilting Millennium Walkway to visit the Baltic Centre of modern art.

With the noisy crowds in town we were glad we had booked a room at the airport Hilton near where we are picking up a car tomorrow.

Monday we headed south to York via Whitby and Scarborough. It is a bank holiday and we were amazed at the crowds in these seaside towns. We visited Whitby Abbey, another ruin of the Henry VIII reformation and Scarborough castle which had spectacular views.

On Tuesday we wandered the streets of York including a guided walking tour of York. Roy, our volunteer guide obviously loved York and explained its history with great enthusiasm.

We braved the cold to see the remains of the roman fort, the medieval wall, and then visited the Jorvik Viking museum. This museum includes a Disney like ride through the reconstructed village that was discovered when they excavated a site in York in the seventies.

We left York on Wednesday morning under overcast skies and headed south on the A1. On the way to our hotel in Chesterfield we stopped at Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire.

Although originally built in the 12th century, the Little Castle that is seen today was built in the 17th century by Charles Cavendish and his son William who completed it as a “Pleasure Palace”.

Some of the ornate rooms have been restored and give a glimpse of his life. Cavendish was a passionate horseman and had an indoor equestrian centre attached to the stables. The buildings for the horses were as large and grand as for the people living here.

The rain had started falling during our visit here and it made today one of the least pleasant weather wise although it did not stop us enjoying the castle.

On to our hotel for the night which turned out to be a beautiful early 1800’s building with large gardens that hosted many weddings (including one today). It was only rated 3 star although our room was much nicer and larger than our previous night’s 4 star accommodation. After dinner in their restaurant and an early night we were awoken by the fire alarm at 3am. Turns out the groom set off the alarm by mistake!

No rain on Thursday so we drove into the Peak District and had lunch by the stream at the medieval market town of Bakewell. After admiring the many stone buildings and resisting the Bakewell tarts and puddings we then stopped at Ashford-in-the-Water to see the well dressing. In this ancient custom unique to Derbyshire, 6 wells in the town are “dressed” with artwork made with flowers or petals.

On Friday we drove back to Jane in Newport via Leicester where we went to the Richard III exhibition. This was interesting as they explained how they discovered his remains under a car park in town. He had been buried without much ceremony in a medieval friary after his defeat by Henry VII at the Battle of Bosworth. Our knowledge of English history has grown and it is interesting to see the same characters reappearing at different sites with different stories.

Saturday Warren’s cold he had been fighting had worsened so I wandered around the pretty village of Newport in the morning. Jane is lucky to have such a beautiful small village with all the amenities she needs just 5 minutes from her work. Jane had just returned from London where she had attended a garden party with the Queen for people involved with the London 2012 Olympics.

In the afternoon Jane and I drove to the nearby market town of Ludlow. First stop was Stokesay Castle, which English Heritage describes as “quite simply the finest and best preserved fortified medieval manor house in England”.

On then to Ludlow Castle, a ruined medieval castle in the centre of this picturesque town. A quick walk around the markets finished the day for us.