tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55589706836362487052024-03-05T16:54:47.043+11:00Mills Family UK HolidaysMillsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-44524547187298682712010-11-03T23:53:00.002+11:002010-11-03T23:54:48.785+11:00House, Home and Highway HijinksI've been putting off the final entry of the blog because if nothing else it reminds me the trip is over and done with. That aside I'm enjoying being back amongst my mates and other family. Sometimes you don't know what you've got until you miss it! Reading back over stuff makes me realise how much we did.<br />
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The flight from Singapore to Sydney was a pretty decent one. The body clock took a bit of a battering but otherwise we arrived in good nick. Customs was a laugh, going through 10 times faster than everyone else because we actually bothered to declare stuff, not that the customs folks were in the slightest bit interested.<br />
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Richard was waiting to pick us up thank goodness. In the rain. It must be me! Apparently he'd been there quite a while as Mum got a bit anxious and booted him out of the house way too early. It was weird sitting in the passenger seat for once having been the sole driver for the best part of 5 weeks. I was pretty knackered though and happy enough to be a spectator for once.<br />
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The trip had one more twist in store for us. 20 minutes from home Dad's car overheated on the Lappo hill and we ended up parked by the servo at Glenbrook. Poor Dad, you do someone a favour and look what happens! Fortunately the tow truck got thier pretty quick and Anita saved us from a long wait by rushing down to jam all of us and out luggage in the car. Quite a team effort getting us home from the airport in the end. I've since found out my Dad also broke down after he dropped us off the day we left. Talk about Carma. Sorry, couldn't help myself ;-)<br />
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The house was in great shape when we got back thanks to Jenny the House Sitter. Many thanks Jen! We had no hot water unfortunately but that was a quick fix and considering we'd been gone for 5 weeks a pretty good result. The dogs barked at us when we got in (morons!) but before long were doing all the usual stuff like demading affection. Shanks has pretty much forgiven me for leaving him too, albeit at great personal cost.<br />
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Not much left to do now apart from thank a bunch of folks. Wyn, Gareth and Rebecca for taking us in, Julie, John and co for a brilliant night out, Steve and Dennis for catching up and finally everyone who followed and commented on the blog. It was good fun and I'm glad others got a few vicarious holiday moments as a consequence. Not sure I've got the styaing power to be a travel writer no matter what Ev thinks.<br />
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Time to start planning the next trip I reckon. It's been at least three weeks since I've had any mint cake...<br />
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Cheers,<br />
MillsyMillsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-32508408660837685742010-10-06T23:46:00.000+11:002010-10-06T23:46:58.298+11:00Farewells, Flights and Falkirk Wheel<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><strong>Day Thirty-seven – Edinburgh</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">So that's it then. Holiday over! It's been an absolute blast, even with the manky Pommie weather although I must admit we're all ready for home, our own beds and some proper sunshine.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We did most of our packing last night so there was not a great deal to do this morning. I did my best to clean out the car and we tidied the (wonderful) flat before we left. Once breakfast was out of the way we were off.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">There was no set plan for today other than "must be at airport at 3:00pm to return car" so we went for a drive. We were reluctant to go sightseeing "properly" so a wandering drive ending up back at the airport seemed like the best idea.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Jenni had a bit of trouble with directions and before we knew it we were committed to a trip across the Firth of Forth road bridge. No matter, we had plenty of time to kill and the opposite shore looked just as interesting. Once we reached the other side we turned west an headed, very roughly, towards Glasgow.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">After an hour or so of driving through some very pleasant country we decided we'd better head back towards Edinburgh. Just after doing so we passed a sign for the Falkirk Wheel, a name which rang a VERY vague bell but I couldn't remember why. Once we were within sight of the Wheel though it all came back. I'd seen and read a fair bit about it some time ago and was quite interested in it.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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The Falkirk Wheel is best described as a "canal lift", operating two caissons through 360 degrees of a loop, the top and bottom of which are both linked to canals. Each caisson can hold up to 4 boats or barges and hold so much water that an extra 1cm depth adds 1.8 tonnes of weight. The engineering involved is quite something and though I'm not sure exactly how high it is from top to bottom it must be 50 metres or close to. We wandered around the visitor centre for a while and ate lunch, all the while watching the Wheel do it's thing, lifting boat loads of tourists from bottom to top canal and back again.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">With lunch finished it was really time to start heading home. On the way back to the airport we filled up the car (LOL I forgot to take a photo of it!) and drove her to the airport drop-off point. We've spent the last couple of hours sitting about, checking in and now we're sitting in the departure lounge waiting for our short hop to Heathrow and then on to Singapore.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Update: After a very bumpy but otherwise uneventful flight we've made it to Singapore. Everyone but me is crashed and I think the jetlag is going to be worse this time because we're flying the other way...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-91268466880591439792010-10-06T23:40:00.000+11:002010-10-06T23:40:59.894+11:00Millsy Meets Mons Meg<strong>Day Thirty-six – Edinburgh</strong><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">So that's pretty much it. Today was our last full day in Scotland and also of the trip (travel home excluded of course). What a way to finish! Glorious weather and a visit to Edinburgh Castle. Not much could have topped that I don't think.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We took the bus into town from Leith rather than drive, partly to avoid the need to park, partly so I could have a break. The ride was good fun and as we had a double decker we sat upstairs so we could enjoy the view. There was plenty to see, including the Scott Monument, Princes Street and more. It also gave us the opportunity to see the castle from a distance. We got rather lucky as I asked the conductor which was the best stop to get off at exactly the right moment.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyXN89Tqej1czNWgZTOEfpOD8Uc8hwUCm7neroG9idWfBNMGKTlf5MwfWHqCcDEfoplZ1Auf1I5v90nKcUMeU6AwloSbezKs7vbSRAPgWsRQGkhEs0iuQK0dutaibkfKKl4h_dAJ4VvrY/s1600/DSCF3751.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiruR2vO2-THHWhM0zpxJp7sSzOfVOx2tqUXwcL3JTSpK8JFnoqRMPuT3PH1hAdIRviqQjFmWvCiIB_XPoIv6Pcsen1l_RZBaYdnLd2_fk1oxCKYnfG6LdGp1P999BfwVBOH1TwtSOoEA/s1600/DSCF3749.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiruR2vO2-THHWhM0zpxJp7sSzOfVOx2tqUXwcL3JTSpK8JFnoqRMPuT3PH1hAdIRviqQjFmWvCiIB_XPoIv6Pcsen1l_RZBaYdnLd2_fk1oxCKYnfG6LdGp1P999BfwVBOH1TwtSOoEA/s400/DSCF3749.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
Princes Street runs parallel to the Royal Mile and when we got off the bus we could see the castle up above us, dominating the centre of Edinburgh as it does. We walked along the park and then up the hill to the Royal Mile before following that a short way up to the castle. As we arrived they were still in the process of dismantling the stands and seating from the Military Tattoo which was kind of cool. It made it all the more obvious walking across the forecourt and bridge that you were walking right where they perform the tat.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyXN89Tqej1czNWgZTOEfpOD8Uc8hwUCm7neroG9idWfBNMGKTlf5MwfWHqCcDEfoplZ1Auf1I5v90nKcUMeU6AwloSbezKs7vbSRAPgWsRQGkhEs0iuQK0dutaibkfKKl4h_dAJ4VvrY/s1600/DSCF3751.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyXN89Tqej1czNWgZTOEfpOD8Uc8hwUCm7neroG9idWfBNMGKTlf5MwfWHqCcDEfoplZ1Auf1I5v90nKcUMeU6AwloSbezKs7vbSRAPgWsRQGkhEs0iuQK0dutaibkfKKl4h_dAJ4VvrY/s400/DSCF3751.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">While Jenni was buying the tickets I took a first look at the view from up high and it's magic. As I've said the weather was great and you could see right out across the Forth of Firth. The climb up the hill is only part of the height as the centre of town is already up above sea level.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">First up we wandered around the walls on the Northern side of the castle and then down into the National Military Museum of Scotland. It's a smallish museum but has some very interesting exhibits. The fact it is almost exclusively focused on Scots military history makes it a bit different from other military museums in that there is a combination of "anti-british" material from medieval times and the more "pro-british" stuff later on.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">As we walked higher we also visited the Regimental Museum of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. The RSDG were formed in 1971 when the 3<sup>rd</sup> Carabiniers and the Royal Scots Greys were amalgamated. Consequently the museum included plenty of Napoleonic gear, including my third French Eagle of the trip (45<sup>th</sup> Line), taken by the Greys at Waterloo. I have a bit of a soft spot for the Greys as they were raised by Charles II to fight the Scots Covenanters (Boo! Hiss!)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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By now we'd reached "the top" and I got to see Mons Meg, one of the largest medieval cannons. She sits at the very summit of The Mound and the view from the top in almost every direction is AMAZING. We sat right next to Meg and had lunch in the sunshine (and a pretty brisk breeze!). Afterwards we popped into St Margaret's' Chapel and then started our walk back down.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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On the way back down we stopped to see the National War Memorial, the Royal Apartments, a small (but entertaining) exhibition on prisoners held in the castle and finally the Crown Jewels of Scotland. The jewels are a much smaller collection than the English ones but no less impressive to my mind and they feel older and more "genuine" if that makes sense. Perhaps that's just my Scots blood coming through. ;-)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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Walking back down the hill was quite pleasant considering all we'd done so far all day was walk uphill. On the way back down we stopped in a crazy tartan weaving mill cum tourist trap shop which was as much a maze as a shop, mainly to pick up some final souvenir bits and a birthday presso for Sam (yes, we haven't forgotten you mate!). As we came out we passed a guy dressed head to foot like Mel Gibson from Braveheart, doing photos for charity. In my opinion he's tied for best street performer of the trip with the Purple Bike Dude from York.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The walk back down to Princes Street was over quick (certainly quicker that the trip up) and we were soon on a bus home. The rest of the day is going to be spent trying to get far too much stuff into four suitcases. I don't fancy our chances ;-)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">PS. Some quick bits and bobs...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><ul><li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">UK Trip Pub Spotter's Trophy goes to...... ME! I'm clearly a better pub spotter that Jen, kicking her arse all over the UK with 9 Royal Oaks to a measley 3 Rose and Crowns. To be fair Anna helped me a couple of times. Good girl!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></div></li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Photo count currently stands at 3,615. I'd say when we've cleaned out the "junk" and duplicates that will drop to about 3,400 but its still an impressive tally. I'd hate to think what that would have cost in film and prints back in "olden times".</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></div></li>
</ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-78387799937882136552010-10-06T23:34:00.001+11:002010-10-06T23:42:05.334+11:00Leith and a Leisurely Lifestyle<strong>Day Thirty-five – Edinburgh</strong><br />
What's that? A second day without rain and the promise of sun tomorrow???<br />
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We were all pretty knackered today having spent the last two in the car and driven from Hull to Edinburgh. As a consequence we decided to keep it quiet and do a bit more tomorrow when the weather is better.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Everyone got up VERY late and shambled about the flat until lunchtime. I suppose part of the reason for not wanting to go out is because the flat is brilliant. If it was a hotel it would be at least 4.5 stars if not higher. It is easily the best accommodation we've had (family aside as I said yesterday). We have great beds, a huge lounge / dining / kitchen and a TV that is reminding me of home ;-)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Not only is the flat itself good, the location is excellent too. In Leith, right on the water and close to the centre of the city. The Royal Yatch is moored just round the corner and I might take a wander tomorrow for a look if we get back in time. James is impressed with the location – there is a lighthouse at the end of the quay and the light changes colour, red, yellow, green, blue and back to red.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">After lunch we all went for a walk together along the quayside and then up the hill above where we're staying. The place *feels* like Scotland (which might sound silly as we *are* in Edinburgh but apart from Wales this is the most evocative). Everything is sandstone and of an age, much of the terraces easily over 100 years or more old.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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Jenni cooked us all a lovely pasta dinner and now we're watching Pommie game shows. James is going to miss The Cube when we get home ;-)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Tomorrow is our last full day. In some ways it has gone in a flash and yet it feels like we've been away from home forever. I think we'll all be happy to be back with family and friends, sleeping in our own beds but we will miss the new activities every day as well...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-83191249020185684342010-10-06T23:31:00.000+11:002010-10-06T23:31:02.131+11:00Castles, Cats and Coastlines<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><strong>Day Thirty-four – Edinburgh</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Flipping eck! A whole day of sunshine! Maybe I was a little harsh on the weather man after all. ;-)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Today was our last day in England and we finished on a high. Not only did we have glorious weather, we also saw a great castle and had a lovely drive up into Scotland.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We started the day at Alnwick Castle, family home of the Percy's for just over 700 years. Not only is it the best preserved castle we've seen, it had an amazing set of state rooms, a marvellous little museum with all sorts of antiquities and a plenty of Harry Potter stuff for the kids.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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Alnwick as I said is a very well preserved castle. Despite (or perhaps because of) the restoration work being carried out it is in excellent condition. The walls, towers and living areas of the castle are all in very good nick, every roofed structure being intact and containing some excellent exhibits.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The first place we visited were the state rooms. You aren't allowed to take photos which is quite possibly the biggest disappointment we've had in that regard. To say the rooms are SPECTACULAR is not doing them justice. The quality, volume and variety of art, furniture, sculpture and other items is something you have to see to believe. If at some point you pop past our house then please *demand* to see the catalogue we bought. Highlights (if you can pick some!) were the death warrant of the Thomas Percy, 7<sup>th</sup> Earl of Northumberland for treason (he was Catholic and a supporter of Mary Queen of Scots), van Dyck's portrait of Algernon, 10<sup>th</sup> Earl, the Guard Chambers containing the ENTIRE armoury of the Tenantry Volunteers (all of em!) and the library.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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Next up the kids tried their hand at archery in the inner ward, we walked the walls, checked out various exhibits in the Constable's and Postern Towers and I had a quick squizz at the regimental museum of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers (whose battle honours include Badajoz in Spain and Omdurman in Egypt).</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Last up we spent some time in "Harry Pottter Land" as I called it. The kids tried out all sorts of film-themed activities including a castle-wide hunt for scrambled names from the films, Anna made a spell book and both Anna and Jenni dressed up in medieval costume. We also got to meet Bunyip the castle cat (quite a monster size-wise but very friendly). All up a brilliant way to finish in England.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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We left just before lunch and headed North, enjoying the drive in the sun for once. Along the way we saw Holy Island (from afar only unfortunately). We stopped for lunch just before the border and then drove into our fourth and final different country in Scotland.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">An hour or so later we were in Edinburgh and not long after that settled into our last apartment of the trip which is lovely I might add, probably the best place to stay in the whole trip (family aside!)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">So we've got two and a half days left before we fly. Hopefully we can get in some good sights before we leave to finish on a high.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-72820763154577886802010-10-06T23:25:00.002+11:002010-10-06T23:25:24.910+11:00Driving, Driving Rain, Driving Me Insane and The Deep<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><strong>Day Thirty-three – Newcastle</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">From now on lets just ASSUME it is raining unless otherwise noted. The best thing you could say about the weather today was that we didn't waste a sunny day travelling. The weather, if possible, was actually WORSE than it has been yet.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Driving from York to Hull and thence to Newcastle was a real test, both of my patience and my ability. There are some idiots in Australia but nothing compared to the UK. Thank God we got the convicts. They may not be honest but at least they understand the baiscs of motoring signals, lane changes and the rest. I'd rather share the road with a murderer. At least when he kills you its because he cares, not becasue he has NOT FUCKING IDEA WHAT HE IS DOING.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Our last actitivity in Yorkshire was to drive down to The Deep, an aquarium on the Humber in Hull. The Humber itself was a sight, cracking in a gale with 2 foot waves and visibility less that the length of a football pitch. I've only ever seen brown surf once before (at Bondi) and that was for an altogether different reason. Inside The Deep was quite pleasant well set out and pretty good fun overall. Sydney Aquarium is a better one, but then it is also a lot closer to where the fish live. The Deep had plenty of good exhibits, a decent big tank and some massive mantas. For once it WASN'T a shame about Ray. Sorry, couldn't help myself there... ;-)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The drive from Hull to The North then began. In total it took about 3.5 hours, all motorway. Along the way I got to see plenty of "stuff" including a continuous 23 miles (YES, truly) of roadworks, the largest power station I've ever seen (getting desperate now), The Angel of the North (not as big in real life) and traffic. I missed Hadrian's Wall as it was too late when we arrived but DID get to see what happens on the A1 outside Newcastle at 4:30pm on a Friday. It's called Hadrian's Crawl. Not as interesting but probably more likely to turn people back than the wall ever was. If by now you have not worked out I'm a bit crazed after today then you probably need help as much as I do.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Anyway, we're here now. The weatherman, teasing bastard that he is, promises a morning of sunshine tomorrow which would enable us to see Alnwick Castle (aka Hogworts School) in the sunshine. I don't believe him for a minute. If he said it was going to shit meteors and lightning bolts I'd be more inclined to believe him after today. I wonder what the Georie is for "Ming the Merciless"???</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-51578374770740070652010-10-06T23:23:00.000+11:002010-10-06T23:23:45.926+11:00Crikey! Captain Cook, Cloudless and Clear<strong>Day Thrity-two – York</strong> <div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Today was sunny! I shit you not! There were blue skies, few if any clouds until late on and we went outside without getting wet!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We'd been hoping hard all week for at least one sunny day in York so we could drive down to the coast and today we got our wish. We left as early as was sensible given we all have to use one bathroom ;-)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Our drive took us up over the North York Moors and brought out many jokes about Catherine and Heathcliff, black dogs and Ripping Yarns. The drive itself was beautiful, some of the best driving we've done so far and is something we will always remember. Along the way we passed The Hole of Horcum (or 'Orcum's 'Ole by gum!) as the locals would likely call it, at least in my head if nothing else. I'm not sure what the hell the hole IS (other than a hole in the ground) or how it happened (Volcanic? Meteoric?) so that one will require a little research one t'internet is back.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">After an hour or so in the car we reached Whitby on the East coast. It was a toss-up between Whitby and Scarborough and I'm glad we settled on Whitby for a number of reasons... Firstly, Whitby is absolutely lovely. It's busy but not crowded, coastal but not a busy port, and much of it is real picture postcard stuff. We parked right in the middle of town, well within walking distance of everything we wanted to do.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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Having done a quick wander through the tourist info centre we walked along the quayside, over a bridge and into the Captain Cook Museum. Cook spent a lot of his youth in Whitby, living in the house that now houses the musuem. It might seem odd going halfway round the world to see stuff about a Captain Cook considering the museums in Sydney but we were curious to get a different perspective. The musuem turned out to be really good, with a lot neat maps, models of the Endeavour and artwork executed by artists that travelled with Cook and Banks.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">By now we were quite hungry and had fish and chips sitting on the quayside, watching the oldest working lifeboat in the UK at 73 years (supposedly) doing runs up and down the river on guided tours. If the number of times you yell "73 years old!" makes it correct then never a truer word has been spoken.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2RYpOT0BkoCaMFlWF58pLIR029dkt9shxvfY_jWuHNCadrHdFDXvb7AnwSkCa_5RwcO0T7AETm11xSnEuc3oXlrmEmVTnXn3nV27SeodrdiMimauyfg_OtInwmcitvn3QizFrwTSWV6E/s1600/DSCF3529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2RYpOT0BkoCaMFlWF58pLIR029dkt9shxvfY_jWuHNCadrHdFDXvb7AnwSkCa_5RwcO0T7AETm11xSnEuc3oXlrmEmVTnXn3nV27SeodrdiMimauyfg_OtInwmcitvn3QizFrwTSWV6E/s400/DSCF3529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">From there we walked up The Steps (note capitals) of which there are 199 (I counted on the way back down). The Steps lead you up above Whitby onto the headland, with great views North along the coast as well as of Whitby itself. The Steps were built to provide access to the church and graveyard on the headland and there are benches at regular intervals where the pall bearers could rest the coffins. Quite a few were in use by people who looked like they'd need a coffin themselves pretty soon, me included. For some reason I was feeling rotten, like I'd been on the turps, which is a major rip-off seeing as I've not touched s drop for days. The dizziness was the worst, especially climbing The Steps but there was no way I was going to give in on a sunny day!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBLZPZS0wG3V9Hli2u1Oe6MzErnMAQPbiBzIwggehP6SkItyuQDWR9n9v4raT_fjka3g0Nd2sCXx-EWUR1QXWD6N8eH-FNC8cVIKHkdpmJqBMKrrUTWYl2mvCKC-RH345lJPMJzeqeYjk/s1600/DSCF3510.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBLZPZS0wG3V9Hli2u1Oe6MzErnMAQPbiBzIwggehP6SkItyuQDWR9n9v4raT_fjka3g0Nd2sCXx-EWUR1QXWD6N8eH-FNC8cVIKHkdpmJqBMKrrUTWYl2mvCKC-RH345lJPMJzeqeYjk/s400/DSCF3510.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">At the top we walked round the graveyard, reading headstones from people who passed on up to 3-400 years ago in some cases. Many are so weather worn they are completely erased but presumably parish records could tell you who lies where.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Just behind the church is a large open grassy area and (hurrah!) an icecream van. I was still feeing tender so stuck with something basic (as did Anna) but Jenni and James had what I can only describe as "scary 99s". Jenni had some sort of lemon sorbet on hers which is apparently a "Northern delicacy". Jenni made a comment about not eating yellow snow ;-). James went one further and had a "Whitby gothic horror" which is blueberry icecream with the Flake replaced by a liquorice stick.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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Our last stop was Whitby Abbey, runied now but still magnificent for all that. Unfortunately I was really starting to feel shabby and didn't go in (James kept me company) but Jenni and Anna did. Jenni took some marvellous photos and even from the outside it looks like a brilliant place to visit. Oddly enough James and I were watching a flight of swallows flying in and out of the abbey tower at the same time Jenni and Anna were inside taking photos of them.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtfMgt3wq34gcDuq722CZgPhTl3Sn3rk-rGKIahyGQWacZ8kUVERNyB7kKaWimxpBixRfnpi095CVFx3VJEBvwwzfbFhA3P2fsFBFhyphenhyphenFyxOWl6vtH2EH73PBucDzwtXqCEdBZ26ZARTsI/s1600/DSCF3589.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtfMgt3wq34gcDuq722CZgPhTl3Sn3rk-rGKIahyGQWacZ8kUVERNyB7kKaWimxpBixRfnpi095CVFx3VJEBvwwzfbFhA3P2fsFBFhyphenhyphenFyxOWl6vtH2EH73PBucDzwtXqCEdBZ26ZARTsI/s400/DSCF3589.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
When the girls came out we headed back to the car, via The Steps. Along the way the girls stopped and bought a dress each while James and I kept walking.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Back in the car we had one more (painful!) stop to make. In a previous blog I mentioned how I was going to shut my eyes when we posted all our souvenir catalogues home. In the end I stayed in the car which was just as well. It meant I was sitting down when Jenni told me the postage for three boxes came to GBP155.95. OUCH! I know it was close to 10kg of paper and other stuff but it was mostly sea mail.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The remainder of the drive home was relatively uneventful not to mention thankfully a lot cheaper. We did have some fun trying to get back into York as the ring road doesn't allow us to drive the way we need to from the direction we came from. In the end we drove almost right the way round but as we've learned to say "we saw a little bit more of England than we would have otherwise..."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Tomorrow the weather is supposed to turn to shit again. It has already rained late today as the light went. It would be great if we could have one more sunny day here but I'm not holding my breath.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-35168667827913262602010-10-06T23:18:00.000+11:002010-10-06T23:18:50.416+11:00Rain, Rides and Religion<strong>Day Thirty-one – York</strong> <div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I've just done a quick count – over 2,800 photos so far. Certain individuals are going to regret insisting on a photo night I suspect, not pointing any fingers Nicole...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Today was amongst the worst so far weather-wise. Someone must have broken a mirror in London becasue the weather has been absolutely appalling ever since. All that aside, it was still one of the best days of the trip.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We started out by visiting the Jorvik Viking Centre, right in the centre of York at Coppergate. The centre is a kind museum / theme park around the Viking settlement of York (called Jorvik by the Vikings). The major exhibit is a kind of "Viking Ghost Train" which runs through a reconstructed Viking age representation of York, complete with sights, sounds and smells. The kids thoroughly enjoyed it and from an objective point of view it was kind of cool but it felt a bit cheesy to me, even if it was very well done for something of it's kind.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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Next up was possibly the absolute hightlight of the trip – York Minster. Even if you are a complete atheist, bored by history and uninterested in art it would be hard not to be impressed by the Minster. It is an amazing building. Simply breathtaking. There are no words to describe it really. The size, scale and complexity are something else. When you add to that the immense number and size of stained glass windows, you get a building that is hard to absorb. Every time you look up you see something spectaular, be it windows, vaulted ceilings or massive buttressed columns.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFhaKW1FLv5QCbcu4YsuaDNvAoNOyrD8q6fKuhx209kbiF74lWftAwiRPlJN5n1U-sJYqFz2AKiooPSyBapZ_s5xshA6f2q2jmWd6NrbX1gJ10cVCS3uRkqiSD1DvAWsBfR_TozRMydI4/s1600/DSCF3360.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFhaKW1FLv5QCbcu4YsuaDNvAoNOyrD8q6fKuhx209kbiF74lWftAwiRPlJN5n1U-sJYqFz2AKiooPSyBapZ_s5xshA6f2q2jmWd6NrbX1gJ10cVCS3uRkqiSD1DvAWsBfR_TozRMydI4/s400/DSCF3360.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUHhVoe4eCkdSXzR6uEv3NF_sOZJAl1_ItBuDVXD4-xFVU_bSsTTe64yBZyXFiIDV8ZMDaKBaxbhhRvg1qYxkutSTX8x3BK2lAG9Ci_mmrj7fi7k7GWj6tSdrP6I0cz_8rlLiVXTRDnoU/s1600/DSCF3367.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUHhVoe4eCkdSXzR6uEv3NF_sOZJAl1_ItBuDVXD4-xFVU_bSsTTe64yBZyXFiIDV8ZMDaKBaxbhhRvg1qYxkutSTX8x3BK2lAG9Ci_mmrj7fi7k7GWj6tSdrP6I0cz_8rlLiVXTRDnoU/s400/DSCF3367.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We spent the first hour or so wandering up and down the nave, transcepts and other central areas of the church. I personally spent a good 20 minutes on my own sitting the The Chapter House which in inself is quite an amazing space. The kids were doing a "treasure hunt" and Jenni was helping.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">After that I convinced everyone to climb the tower with me. There really should be a warning about the effort required. 265 steps, nearly all of them narrow spirals is hard work and even I was blowing a bit by the time I reached the top. The view is well worth it though. Despite the ugly weather you can see for miles and we got a good look at lots of things we've only seen from ground level so far inlcuding Clifford's Tower, the town walls, Stonegate and more.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhED1jVNQbn2HuP-5oCsaSPWXYvE8yBIW5b5uOTshlOdkJ_rpV5e4bb7Mo9m8xMPxYScZTxNjk0Dwkc8ZQPw9Q-Gu2ihwBD30Pa3Co4e8oh6sza82MGbznEfwUL7Ecsn6CMPAmQVZLerTk/s1600/DSCF3494.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhED1jVNQbn2HuP-5oCsaSPWXYvE8yBIW5b5uOTshlOdkJ_rpV5e4bb7Mo9m8xMPxYScZTxNjk0Dwkc8ZQPw9Q-Gu2ihwBD30Pa3Co4e8oh6sza82MGbznEfwUL7Ecsn6CMPAmQVZLerTk/s400/DSCF3494.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
To finish off we climbed all the way back down and the went one step further into the Undercroft. You can almost FEEL the weight of hundreds and hundreds of tonnes of stone over your head. Much of the stabilisation work carried out in the last half of last century is on display, almost an exhibit in itself. There is also a good showing of the Roman and Norman structures that preceeded the Minster on the same site.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I could go on for hours about how good it is but I will say just this. If you go to Britain and you DON'T see York Minster then you should not bother coming at all.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We spent the afternoon at home out of the rain, napping in my case and playing games or doing a bit of craft in everyone else's. The weather looks equally grim tomorrow <sigh>.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-2795510341020251032010-10-06T23:14:00.000+11:002010-10-06T23:14:47.964+11:00Murder, Materials and a Military Museum<strong>Day Thirty – York</strong><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Another sleepless night, another grey day! Things seem to have settled into something of a pattern. No matter who shares with who at night we have a restless one. In an attempt to find some rest Jenni shared with Anna and I shared with James. For my pains I got a good couple of thumps and none of us got much sleep.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Despite that we still got out and about and had a good day. First up we went and bought some packing materials for the SILLY amount of guidebooks, postcards and other paper rubbish we need to send home. I can already see myself standing in the post office with my fingers in my ears and singing "la-la-la-la-la!" while the lady behind the counter tells me how much the postage home will be. ;-)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">After that we dashed home for a quick bite and then went out for some sight-seeing. Jenni took the kids to York Dungeon, a kind of harum-scarum "indoor theme park" designed to entertain and frighten you at the same time. It certainly had the latter affect on Anna who was unnerved enough that they only made it through the first ¼ of the place before they had to bail.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I went off on my own to see the York Military Museum which houses the regimental museums of both the Royal Dragoon Guards and the Prince of Wales' Own Regiment of Yorkshire. This is an absolute MUST if you are into military history and at two quid a go is easily amongst the value things I've seen. Not only is it a really well set out museum, it is absolutely CHOCKERS with really cool stuff for the military anorak.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUFZFfy1N4Y2Qqcwjetk6dFzH2qsU88LC_J3UsXXEB1BATU3cxtIVu30kMOhW8uEWuzf008jjU7FjDbDlYBah8gFjgAd2vX6bNUEmorMmnntFz0qB0mbF72qhTETdCVz_23hBgaj9N7_E/s1600/DSCF3279.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUFZFfy1N4Y2Qqcwjetk6dFzH2qsU88LC_J3UsXXEB1BATU3cxtIVu30kMOhW8uEWuzf008jjU7FjDbDlYBah8gFjgAd2vX6bNUEmorMmnntFz0qB0mbF72qhTETdCVz_23hBgaj9N7_E/s400/DSCF3279.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFHuFn2VBx_Rp904XoZ1kw3y0l3O9ZuCqqFE_XjEY0kEgMe4dHU7jDbkY90IxyyKXxFML9snym0uN_-DdTbK-E9oPvvSCXhE0tLox2whTsd6-N8_N8cOoOtpB79Y0ITzSr6W8XUstGhVw/s1600/DSCF3283.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFHuFn2VBx_Rp904XoZ1kw3y0l3O9ZuCqqFE_XjEY0kEgMe4dHU7jDbkY90IxyyKXxFML9snym0uN_-DdTbK-E9oPvvSCXhE0tLox2whTsd6-N8_N8cOoOtpB79Y0ITzSr6W8XUstGhVw/s400/DSCF3283.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Amongst the best stuff was a jacket worn by Capt. W.F. Browne as he led the centre squadron of the Iniskilling Dragoons in the charge of the Union Brigade at Waterloo. Browne had his horse shot from under him and was subsequently stabbed seven times by French Lancers but lived to tell the tale. There is also a pile of swords and other regalia brought back from Egypt during the Sudan War and a very healthy collection of VCs (plus literally hundreds of other medals). There really is too much stuff to mention.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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After I finished up I was wandering round looking for a bookshop when I ran into Jenni and the kids in a cafe (see above for why!). We all stopped for afternoon tea together and then headed off to see the Roman Baths underneath a pub. Yes, really. That didn't take long to check out even if it was pretty tidy. When done Jenni set off to see the Quilt Museum (patchwork anoraks?) while I took the kids back to our apartment. Over to Jenni...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">York Dungeon was a kind of historical tour of some of England's more gruesome history set in a dark dungeon. Actors play the part of grisly characters like a doctors assistant (cheking you for plague) and witches about to be hung. We only got through the first two rooms when something mechanical jumped out at Anna and me, making me yelp and Anna started crying. We had to leave. But we went down to the gift shop and purchased the photo of James chopping my head off that was taken at the start of the 'tour'. You'll have to wait until we're back to see that one as it was printed out for us.</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">I promised Anna a milkshake to cheer her up and as we were ordering, Mike showed up.</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">So after our quick stop at the Roman bath, Mike took the kids back to the flat while I went off on my own to the quilt museum and gallery. I wish we had one of these back in Australia (maybe we do, I'll have to look into it). It's a permanent fixture in a historical Hall where the quilter's Guild members of York also hold their meetings.</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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The current historic exhibition was one of Canadian Red Cross gift quilts from the second world war. The quilts themselves are not all that fancy, but the materials within them and the stories surrounding them are terrific. There was one quilt that had 'V for Victory' novelty material, and another that had little spitfire planes printed on it. The stitching wasn't perfect, but each quilt was obviously made with love and then given to needy families affected by the blitz, who greatly appreciated them (you can tell by the well worn state of the quilts). There was also a dress made from fabric rescue maps that were smuggled into prisoners of war, and a quilt which had a backing made from surplus red cross bandages sewn together in large triangles (as fabric was so scarce).</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">In two other (smaller) rooms, were exhibitions of contemporary quilts that made me want to get my sewing machine out when we get back. Back to Mike...</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">And that was pretty much it for the day. I cooked a roast dinner and the kids went to bed early, hopefully for a decent night's sleep. Jenni and I are not far away either. Hopefully the weather will be kind to us tomorrow for once. I really would like to see the sky.</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-18875039770071241882010-10-06T23:10:00.000+11:002010-10-06T23:10:54.656+11:00Missing Mallard, Models and Museums<strong>Day Twenty-nine – York</strong><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Today was another anorak day, full of trains of all sizes. We're not sleeping very well at the moment for some reason so we started late(ish) once again. This is becoming something of a habit and may well be soul destroying when its back to early work starts!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Once again the weather was dubious at best. One of my enduring memories of this trip is going to be the poor weather unfotunatley but we're making the best of it and to be fair it has not impacted the sightseeing that much. It has, however, made all of us quite homesick at one point or another. We're driving up over the North Yorkshire Moors tomorrow and for once the weather will be appropriate. Wuthering Heights under a lowering grey sky anyone? What's the betting it will be sunny? ;-)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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First up today was the National Rail Museum and a chance for me at least to enjoy some serious anorak time. The muesum is a pretty decent one as they go and certainly they have the largest collection of steam engines I've ever seen in one place.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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The one locomotive that they ARE missing at present is one I was desperate to see – Mallard – a streamlined A4 and one of the most iconic steam locomotives ever built. She's ON LOAN! What were the odds? In her stead was the Duchess of Hamilton, another streamlined A4 but I was gutted not to see Mallard. It was like expecting blue ribbon chocolate icecream and getting vanilla. Still blue ribbon, but NOT your chocolate...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We saw plenty of other interesting and very cool stuff, including original Royal Trains (carriages fitted out as saloons, bedrooms, etc), the loco that starred in the Harry Potter movies as the Hogwarts Express and brilliant exhibit involving an Atlantic class locomotive which had been cut open down it's full length to expose all the inner workings. You could also walk underneath and see all the underside, giving you a real sense of the size and weight. Jenni was very impressed by one of the largest steam locomotives ever built, a massive Chinese number with driving wheels over 6 foot high.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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Another highlight for me was the workshops where they are actively conducting restoration work. You can walk right round (above) the shop floor on a balcony and see the restoration engineers at work. I would have spent HOURS up there if Jenni had let me. I would have needed ear muffs though as the noise was ferocious at times. There is nothing quite like a bloke flogging a massive piece of cast iron with a metal hammer in a large hall for making your ears ring. Brilliant to see though! Monky (senior and probably junior too), you would have LOVED IT. ;-)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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Next up was the York Model Railway exhibition. This was something of a disappointment and not because everything was 100 times smaller. First up, the lady(?) on the desk was a bit creepy and I had a real "Little Britain moment". She was pleasant enough to talk to though. The model itself is a good size but everything is a bit tired and "done before". I've seen better at school fetes back home. It just seemed like it had been there for years and not been looked after much.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">From there we walked across York (just saying that sounds cool to me) and visited the York Castle Museum. This is a more "typical" museum i.e. it has a broader set of exhibits covering various periods of history. They have some very tidy collections of antique glassware, furniture and other knick-knacks as well as some fun themed exhibits. The 80's kitchen was entertaining as it was just like looking at my early teens all over again. LOL. Five different shades of brown tiles and an old microwave and suddenly I feel 12 years old again.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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The best exhibit is an entire (and really quite BIG) reconstructed Victorian street, complete with people wandering about in costume. The fire station (yeah, I know, I know...) was also pretty cool. Thank God for diesel pumps! Anna really enjoyed the kids activity stuff which was probably one of the best so far by the sound of it.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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We finished the day with dinner out as we've cooked for ourselves quite a lot of late. We all ate far too much and felt a tad under the weather walking home. I don't think we learnt anything though. ;-)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-38130838477345646362010-10-02T06:44:00.000+10:002010-10-02T06:44:27.069+10:00Walking, Wandering, Wonky Walls and More Walking<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><strong>Day Twenty-eight – York</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">What a massive day! Our first full day in York and an opportunity to make a serious dent in the Yorkshire Passes we bought late yesterday. These cover a pile of attractions both within the city and outside and seemed the only combined pass on our trip worth the cost vs what you got. If today is anything to go by we'll more than get our money back...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We started out late(ish), leaving our new digs at about 10:30am. At the end of our street is the medieval city wall which runs round a large portion of the old city. We climbed the nearest set of stairs and started off on a walk all the way round to the river. We still can't quite believe we've got such a great location. The wall-walk is a great way to see both the inside and outside of York and was a good "introduction" to the city.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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Halfway along our walk we got to Micklegate Bar and the museum inside. It's only a few rooms but came complete with plenty of replica helmets to try on and a very knowledgeable guide who also teaches various forms of medieval and renaissance fencing. Anna also got to dress up in 17<sup>th</sup> costume and looked lovely.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Further round the walls and we reached the river where we had to cross over the bridge, ending our wall-walk. We did a little shopping and then wandered into the end of Stonegate. Like The Shambles (wait for it!), the Stonegate is a VERY old and well preserved street. There are buildings dating from the 15<sup>th</sup> century onwards, all very well maintained and restored. We spent a good hour wandering along, poking in alleys and buying the odd thing. We also took time out to visit the Haunted House, which contains a very entertaining self-guided audio tour through a 700 year old house which is so wonky and out of shape you'd be hard pushed to find a single straight wall. Towards the end we went into a Olde Sweete Shoppe and spent Farre Too Muche Moneye.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE5NZrt1JNJc1PH8sYzTqPbi4D3bseXEhOfNuU7B5MpXmSobKDfEBEq3dNhxDEbN-9A_oXBtkvEpDgKgs2L-5-qySZbFIud-8wFvE38jCYQTjDdz9F4wzZDA4tHAhEb8IwEf0hD18tgCc/s1600/DSCF3045.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE5NZrt1JNJc1PH8sYzTqPbi4D3bseXEhOfNuU7B5MpXmSobKDfEBEq3dNhxDEbN-9A_oXBtkvEpDgKgs2L-5-qySZbFIud-8wFvE38jCYQTjDdz9F4wzZDA4tHAhEb8IwEf0hD18tgCc/s400/DSCF3045.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Further along we came out by York Minster and turned into The Shambles just round the corner. It is every bit as amazing as it looks in the pictures and well worth the walk. In places the shops almost touch up above and everything is so very old it is hard to believe. Anna initially wanted to see it becuase it looks like Harry Potter and she wasn't disappointed but didn't really understand it is all original. Before we left we stopped for afternoon tea in a great little Italian place (amazing cappucinos!) that may well get a visit this week for a meal I'd say.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifjOtHw_-N1PCNrY2jXsD7hkecAmyKxh1y4gvsCbNOLUsNqWtReaF2OgVsBxLt6l0_QRHj-2tOT7xmW8A8aMSq8C1kxiqHG7GvX4ZcRNszcLuNC94AcnK_PkFYqnzzxDWJUEL9s1WYBmw/s1600/DSCF3057.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifjOtHw_-N1PCNrY2jXsD7hkecAmyKxh1y4gvsCbNOLUsNqWtReaF2OgVsBxLt6l0_QRHj-2tOT7xmW8A8aMSq8C1kxiqHG7GvX4ZcRNszcLuNC94AcnK_PkFYqnzzxDWJUEL9s1WYBmw/s400/DSCF3057.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
Not far from The Shambles and we reached the Merchant Adventurer's Guild, initially formed in 1357 and still going strong. The guild was formed by a group of like-minded Christian merchants and the building has been in their hands ever since. The building itself is amazing, being an impressive structure even by modern standards and it must have been quite something when first built. It has been added to and expanded a number of times since, each new section adding something else to the character. The audio tour was particularly good.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">By the time we had finished there it was getting towards 3:00pm and really turning cold. All this week has been cool and even the locals are commenting on it. At least today wasn't wet even if it was very grey. Jenni and the kids popped into a doll house shop for a few minutes and I snapped a few photos of buildings in the street. It feels kind of weird taking pictures of "ordinary" shops but when virtually everyting is older than (white) Australia it is hard not to.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">On the way home we fitted in one more stop – Clifford's Tower – the motte part of the original York motte and bailey castle. It sits on a very steep mound (as a proper motte should) and by the time you've climbed to the tower you get an excellent view from one of the highest points in York. The walk round the top is good fun and you can look down into the interior as well as outside. There's some pretty decent carving inside the covered chapel over the gate but elsewhere the weather has eroded almost everything of the detail unfortunately.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcAczIDVqHSBJCUCy7keTFeR0oqqoL-SKCeheTBQIt82QkUcAtXhQJj0vS_tT96bKlU7dw7Z4VWPrYgIVdKH34X3fe9xwzNbnf4YQT2ZAz_3eFM9oZVIh4JfQ5tAT1IsrlwW6x8QjPetA/s1600/DSCF3098.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcAczIDVqHSBJCUCy7keTFeR0oqqoL-SKCeheTBQIt82QkUcAtXhQJj0vS_tT96bKlU7dw7Z4VWPrYgIVdKH34X3fe9xwzNbnf4YQT2ZAz_3eFM9oZVIh4JfQ5tAT1IsrlwW6x8QjPetA/s400/DSCF3098.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
Back home around 4:00pm and everyone is quiet. Feet are sore(ish) and everyone is a bit knackered but the day has been brilliant fun and we've seen and done SO much.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">If we continue like this for the week we'll be absolutely shattered ;-)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Oops, I nearly forgot. So where are we now map-wise???</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC8e14ThkjU7e33f94IJeUMtLcEUhy91qhBvUX6HDve6-dQ-Qb6IVEUr3Or6hF1NZ1924_3JGvQKzsMvEtpbNbja_YVo0MPA1hETEezfysLYeVacR0mCQ0MR6Q7rDey5BgYflIUXmc1zU/s1600/York.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC8e14ThkjU7e33f94IJeUMtLcEUhy91qhBvUX6HDve6-dQ-Qb6IVEUr3Or6hF1NZ1924_3JGvQKzsMvEtpbNbja_YVo0MPA1hETEezfysLYeVacR0mCQ0MR6Q7rDey5BgYflIUXmc1zU/s400/York.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-4215007002692879682010-10-02T06:29:00.000+10:002010-10-02T06:29:58.749+10:00Rocks, Romans and Rupert's Royalists<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><strong>Day Twenty-seven – York</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Quite a busy and successful day today all up. Leaving Liverpool, travelling North and arriving in York...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We were up early to get ready to lave York and by the time we had breakfasted, packed up and sorted out the house it was close to our 10:00am departure time. As is usually the case, the were not supposed to be at our lodgings until later afternoon so we went looking for things along the way to break up the trip and keep us occupied.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The majority of the trip was motorway driving, passing quickly and without much of note. We tried not to look to the right as we passed round that horrible place in the North lest it offend our eyes. ;-) One thing of note DID happen, at one point we were passedby a Delorean, very lovingly restored and in apparently mint condition. It *wasn't* being driven by a crazy guy with white hair though...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Our first stop just before lunch was the Devil's Arrows, North of Leeds at a place called Boroughbridge. The Devil's Arrows are 3 standing stones, the tallest larger than any at Stonehenge. The stones themselves are quite an anti-climax, sitting as they do on the far side of a ploughed field in the middle of nowhere without any signage whatsoever. In the end we could only see two and didn't bother to stop.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Next up was far more interesting, the Roman town of Isurium Brigantum, now called Aldborough. There is a tidy little museum containing a decent collection of excavated jewellery and pottery, plus several really nice mosaic floors. The town itself is quite large and only a small section of the walls have been excavated. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Walking along the wall was quite pleasant in the sun but whenever the wind blew you could really feel the chill. Before we left we visited the museum again and James had a go at making his own mosaic – in typical James style a skull and crossbones. ;-) Just down the road we stopped quickly to see the 13<sup>th</sup> century church and the battle cross in the village centre.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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From there we stopped briefly for lunch before heading back South towards York, via Long Martson. This stop was purely for my benefit so I could visit the site of one one the largest battles of the English Civil War, Marston Moor in 1644. The battlefield itself is not much too see apart form the ridge and clump of tree where the Roundheads deployed with the Royalists under Prince Rupert of the Rhine (right on!). There is though, a quite large monument and a decent map plus brief history. All the surroundoing area also contains references to the battle in street names, etc.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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The drive into York from Marston Moor was a short one and soon we were driving up to the city walls at Mickegate Bar. A right turn and we driving round the walls before turning inside to our lodgings at Kyme Street. The apartment is very nice if smaller than what we had in Liverpool.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyWXZjhx4w6DuamtkoXZbkpdUvgEVf-TUmO1xpjcFwdCroidNo2qfKxWw4ZZSsa8lXFkeLA8BGNpzb-znl8z4B90kHHAkQ7z6as4R_tdcDnhL1xHKksubtpydzmgR_Vtfb8XjqmB6zMpY/s1600/DSCF2942.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyWXZjhx4w6DuamtkoXZbkpdUvgEVf-TUmO1xpjcFwdCroidNo2qfKxWw4ZZSsa8lXFkeLA8BGNpzb-znl8z4B90kHHAkQ7z6as4R_tdcDnhL1xHKksubtpydzmgR_Vtfb8XjqmB6zMpY/s400/DSCF2942.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
After unloading the car we walked down into York and across the river to the tourist info centre to buy our Yorkshire Passes. Along the way we stopped to take photos here and there. On the way back we did a little shopping for the next few days and then settled in for the evening. There is SO much to do in York I'm not sure how we will fit it all in. The weather will determine what we do each day to an extent but with everything being so close we hope to get a couple of things done each day.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy </div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-61668668131089904372010-09-25T05:01:00.000+10:002010-09-25T05:01:28.955+10:00Stadium, Shopping (oh my!) and the Spirit of Shankly<strong>Day Twenty-six – Liverpool</strong> <div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Today was another day I had marked down in my calendar as a real highlight of the trip – the Anfield stadium tour. To say it more than lived up to my high expectations would be a massive understatement.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The morning was a quiet one, mainly spent sorting out washing, eating and killing time for the tour in the afternoon. We left home about 12:30pm and walked down to catch a bus into the centre of Liverpool. From there we caught another up to Anfield and arrived about 1:15pm.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"He made the people happy"</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After taking a few photos outside the gates at the Kop end we went across the road to a local caff as the weather was really quite cold. Proper mugs of hot tea in a dodgy Anfield caff with a bunch of other fans was great. That tea tasted better than just about any other cup I've had since I arrived, even if Wyn and Julie do make a pretty good one too. Tea drunk, we still had some time to kill so we went into the club shop and did some "planning" for the massive raid to come after the tour (more on that later). Soon it was 2:30pm and we were on the tour....</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Let me say this up front, EVERY single one of the guides were entertaining, friendly, funny and obviously MASSIVE fans of the club. They way they talked about the history, players and managers both past and present made you believe they are every bit as passionate and obsessive as the craziest of us fans.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">That alone made the visit worth it. Everything else though is something you have to see to believe. Everywhere you go inside Anfield is a clear indication of what a *massive* club this is. Even the most hardened of outsiders would agree.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We started in the Guest Lounge with a look at past managers and players and some "education" on the history of the club, mostly since Shanks and the 60s. Most of what he said wasn't news to me by any stretch but I must admit I wasn't quite up to speed on Rafa's generosity or his obsession with the history of Liverpool. Not only did he donate GBP196,000 of his own money after he finished (96k to the Hillsborough familes and 100k to other local charities) he also had a new Boot Room built to the exact same size as the original one in an attempt to bring back that famous institution.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPxCA88OPxBIPCPzyhv9PL-nwp8R1aoDeCm4TkNbhAIeuBqLZklBLpkpkGMNTE8O5NMGI0tNcQfK2s73gTdXOUMoh43o_RBY4AjUIl53H7LlaLrkC26rI_LG3Am8B0s9ItuEtovfQ7fq4/s1600/DSCF2832.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPxCA88OPxBIPCPzyhv9PL-nwp8R1aoDeCm4TkNbhAIeuBqLZklBLpkpkGMNTE8O5NMGI0tNcQfK2s73gTdXOUMoh43o_RBY4AjUIl53H7LlaLrkC26rI_LG3Am8B0s9ItuEtovfQ7fq4/s400/DSCF2832.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">From there we went up to sit in the Director's Box and look at the pitch and stands. The guide spoke about the unique relationship between the people on the terraces and the players and staff. Our team benches are not covered like most other clubs, specifically so that if the fans are getting wet then so do the players and management because "they are no better than the rest of us".</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Back inside, we visited the media room where press conferences are held. The kids got to sit where the interviews are conducted and we got another talk on history, the current media room being the old Boot Room. I'm not sure what everyone else was thinking but I was well away on my own, imagining the discussions that must have happened, right where I was sitting and including people like Shanks, Paisely, King Kenny and more.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Next up was the bit I was really waiting for – players dressing room and tunnel. We had to visit the away dressing room as the home one was being prepared for tomorrow's game. No matter, I still had my photo taken with Carra's shirt, guaranteed to have been worn by the great man recently during a match. Out in the tunnel now and I got to do IT. Never mind in my own hallway at home. I actually, 100% genuinely, for real, TOUCHED THE "THIS IS ANFIELD" SIGN. Woohoo! Me! The guide gave a really entertaining speech at this point about how John Terry got goosebumps standing there listening to the crowd singing YNWA before the 2005 Champs League semi when we beat them 1-0 thanks to Luis Garcia and THAT goal.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC1Ihfe_kgLhy7XpAoXHRG_90Hg0MCB_n2zqFNbs7fdnblBXezNfU0Nd0P-6QbLQS162SU0qEgBHnB6fM_l2atYPP78TgvmU2hIKHijIUfrVU_WoDS_2wMBUVFw28vNGH_gFhQDbmDU48/s1600/DSCF2835.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC1Ihfe_kgLhy7XpAoXHRG_90Hg0MCB_n2zqFNbs7fdnblBXezNfU0Nd0P-6QbLQS162SU0qEgBHnB6fM_l2atYPP78TgvmU2hIKHijIUfrVU_WoDS_2wMBUVFw28vNGH_gFhQDbmDU48/s400/DSCF2835.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Head spinning now, we walked along pitch side and up into the Kop for a talk about the history of the Kop and why it is so named. Sitting there it is hard to imagine what it must have been like with 28,000 people packed in when it was still all standing. That concluded the tour proper and we moved on to look at the museum.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPTb4ry1pMrV-QxHfT2MjCZ9JDOrrMz4SCjoVg-OV49OdSrSoA4CEvNlwbUR4c2nFVcHvzpMj_OZHyI_GLT_XlOXy6h8pepgL3RtLvvDohLk-tdh9p9AIhPSxSvQHh0UZR8fg7IH4P24A/s1600/DSCF2838.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPTb4ry1pMrV-QxHfT2MjCZ9JDOrrMz4SCjoVg-OV49OdSrSoA4CEvNlwbUR4c2nFVcHvzpMj_OZHyI_GLT_XlOXy6h8pepgL3RtLvvDohLk-tdh9p9AIhPSxSvQHh0UZR8fg7IH4P24A/s400/DSCF2838.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">No picture, no photo can compare to standing in the trophy room. I seen it often enough online and in books but it pales by comparison. There is SO MUCH silverware in there that you simply cannot see it all at once. Never mind a "trophy case", we need a whole bloody cabinet just for the European Cups (4 replicas and 1 real one) alone! Something I didn't know BTW, since we got to keep ours for winning 5, UEFA have canned the practice so future winners, no matter how many they amass will never have the honour of keeping a "real" cup. One of the guides commented that a bunch Scum fans did the tour the week before. After all, where else will THEY ever see 5 European Cups??? Stick that up yer arse Fergie you miserable...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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Other highlights of the museum were numerous collections of players medals (including all of Carra's ones), shirts worn by players in various finals (too many to mention!), the commemorative plaque from the first match between us and Juventus since Heysel and SO much more.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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Last up before we left was a trip to the shop. To say I went a bit crazy would be somewhat of an understatement. I'm pretty certain I have enough shirts of various flavours to go a whole week wearing a clean one every day. Lets just say the receipt is about 18 inches long and leave it at that ;-).</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The bus trip home was uneventful but did give me one last look at Anfield and the more typically Scouse parts of Liverpool. Today was our last day here and tomorrow we leave for York bright and early. I won't miss roadworks, boarded up houses and the rest but I WILL miss the Liverpool I have in my heart – family and football.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">YNWA,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">PS. From here on the blog posts will be intermittent with no wi-fi most of the time...</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-89268249738720756282010-09-24T05:12:00.003+10:002010-09-24T08:21:39.700+10:00Movies and Motoring Misery<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><strong>Day Twenty-five – Liverpool</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Today we had intended to do a little shopping and then visit Albert Docks and perhaps the Maritime Museum. In the end we kind of gave up on the back half of the plan, partly due to apathy, partly due to weather once again.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We left home about 10:00am and drove into town to a shopping precinct called St Johns or something like that. The roads in Liverpool are something to be seen (or is that avoided?). It's damn hard to go in a straight line, despite what maps say, largely due to roadworks and traffic diversions. Our reason for driving was that we'd be able to come home when we liked and the bus fares would be more than the parking costs.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">By the time we reached the shops we'd already had enough. Thankfully parking was simple by comparison. Inside the shops we wandered about a while buying odds and sods we needed. I was looking for a book shop having run out of book this morning. I had no luck whatsoever.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We gave up on St Johns and walked down into Liverpool One, a "snazzy" new(ish) shopping mall which at least did yield a large bookshop with the second book in the series I've been reading. By now we were hungry and a little fed up. Jenni has a sore ankle and walking was starting to get old as well.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Lunch was simple enough to resolve thanks to pizza. Two minutes after we sat down Jenni read my mind and suggested we give up on sightseeing for once and go see a movie. I didn't need any convincing and we went to see Inception with Leonardo Di Whatshisface.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Jenni quite liked it after it got going and the kids are not as critical as me. To say I was underwhelmed is an understatement. The best way I can describe it is a cross between a Matt Damon thriller and a Keanu Reeves sci-fi but with a script both would have turned down in a flash. The plot is machiavellian and jumps about, the acting is pretty wooden at times and the special effects, although half decent at times, certainly don't make up for the rest. I actually nodded off twice for a few minutes and it made not the slightest difference. I'm giving it 2.5/5 and it only gets that because I could sit down out of the rain.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Getting home was no easier. Another couple of mental road diversions ("road closed for 30 weeks"!?!?) meant a pretty sensible and straight trip was a pain in the rear once again. By the time we got home we were happy as to be able to shut the door and have a cuppa.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Dinner at least was pleasant and sitting in front of the tellie is improving my mood. We're going to Anfield tomorrow for the stadium tour. I'm tempted to ask for a discount after the shambles of a performance in the Carling Cup last night. Maybe we've hired a Scouse traffic engineer as our "master tactician"...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">PS. As you can imagine there are no photos today!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-57385278546100568692010-09-23T03:42:00.001+10:002010-09-23T03:43:34.727+10:00Spikey Speke and Sleeping In<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><strong>Day Twenty-four – Liverpool</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">After such a big day yesterday we were all pretty knackered this morning. The kids were up first at around 8:30am, me next at 9:30am and Jenni (finally) at 10:30am. None of us moved very fast even then and spent the morning blogging, reading and schlepping around our new abode.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The new house is magic. Room for 9(!) adults and three floors. Both kids have their own bedrooms with double beds and have spent the night spread out like starfish. I suspect going back to single beds in the same room on Saturday will be a bit of a rude shock ;-)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">After lunch we made ourselves presentable and headed off to Speke Hall. The weather was actually pleasant and the sun was out which was a very nice surprise. The drive took about 20 minutes and we managed to find fuel (without a massive queue at last) along the way.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKvojVo0l7SIF_gr7ECr6bB_EWlWbAW0KaXYo_COTUWoIXc3OJR2r1bJASUiaZtlLmjXGQSvgp0udLigQR5UHKyxP1jhEqS_3qQpgyCLJjhk_w90S7ijWk0KdtOr_UrjcmXUSo8H6_ulg/s1600/DSCF2817.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKvojVo0l7SIF_gr7ECr6bB_EWlWbAW0KaXYo_COTUWoIXc3OJR2r1bJASUiaZtlLmjXGQSvgp0udLigQR5UHKyxP1jhEqS_3qQpgyCLJjhk_w90S7ijWk0KdtOr_UrjcmXUSo8H6_ulg/s400/DSCF2817.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR9RQ61Y4NYMBY0otUMCr5u8aC2kT28kQKMeUNk3gwA_VwRgobi_41wHpJK_J-Arqh1G0v71GtQ8hzUNWjNlY2bISffRfkVTo6NB3tyfGGu75WMC4T9tePrV6bmE9enEx49xR2J_1ChmY/s1600/DSCF2809.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR9RQ61Y4NYMBY0otUMCr5u8aC2kT28kQKMeUNk3gwA_VwRgobi_41wHpJK_J-Arqh1G0v71GtQ8hzUNWjNlY2bISffRfkVTo6NB3tyfGGu75WMC4T9tePrV6bmE9enEx49xR2J_1ChmY/s400/DSCF2809.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
Speke Hall is another of the "been there, done that before" visits for me but apart from the outside I remember very little. The house is a wonderfully preserved Tudor manor with all the usual half-timbered trimmings, currently painted black and white as the Victorians often did. It was initially built by a devout Catholic family around the time Henry VIII was going about persecuting people of that faith and contains a number of nooks, hidden rooms and sopy holes intended to help the occupants avoid capture. The house is built around a courtyard which contains a pair of enormous yew trees, known as Adam and Eve which stood on the site before the house was built. Over several generations the house was added to until the courtyard was completely enclosed.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">You can't take photos inside which is unfortunate because there is some amazing furniture for starters. Any pics of the interior in this entry are from the Speke Hall website and copyright belongs to them. The Great Hall contains a massive fireplace, over which is a very tidy set of Tudor plate armour and a pair of 6 foot swiehanders, a dozen or so polearms of various flavours and and a few swords. There is also a life-sized picture of a previous Elizabethan occupant who was 9'6" tall.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj25P5MdGNZvY62Fz_7eZ8KLmLAioz8nY3X711ur5Iaptje-dGiXX3XsEPGCjfwwNKUxY9ImnS2zowiWXGkL58wWDi8pGKaywxiy7rPa4CPLoaoa2ldJuHWg3hQjvlEs0ES5FTvfvu8I24/s1600/w-spekehall-gallery-sixth_picture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj25P5MdGNZvY62Fz_7eZ8KLmLAioz8nY3X711ur5Iaptje-dGiXX3XsEPGCjfwwNKUxY9ImnS2zowiWXGkL58wWDi8pGKaywxiy7rPa4CPLoaoa2ldJuHWg3hQjvlEs0ES5FTvfvu8I24/s400/w-spekehall-gallery-sixth_picture.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
As a kid I was told one of the bedrooms was haunted, a previous occupant supposedly having thrown her baby into the moat and then killed herself but this is apparently complete guff.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The grounds contain some of the "nastiest" hedges in Britain, 6 feet tall and composed entirely of holly. They are very attractive but caused comments like "death by hedge" to be made.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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After touring the house we walked round the gardens for a while and took some more snaps of the exterior from various angles. The kids had a quick romp in the adventure playground, now devoid of school kids, while Jenni and I bought more Kendal Mint Cake, cunningly disguised from smaller folks by the National Trust wrapping. Mwahahahahaha...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">On the way back home the weather closed in again and it was raining lightly by the time we got back. Guess what? As I type this around 6:30pm it's effing bucketing down with rain. Again!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Tomorrow we're heading down to the Albert Docks and might have a look at the Maritime Museum for starters. One more day til the stadium tour at Anfield. Woohoo!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-91837616510998356712010-09-22T20:48:00.001+10:002010-09-22T20:50:57.909+10:00Piers, Penny Arcades and Piles of People<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><strong>Day Twenty-three – Liverpool</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">What a day! I doubt we could have fitted more in if we tried. We visited Southport, changed accommodation, said some family goodbyes and met up with a pile more family as well.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Today was our last day staying in Formby with Wyn, Gareth and Rebecca. It has been absolutely wonderful, not just because they looked after us so well but because it was great to be with people who were not complete strangers again!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Unfortunately as the day before, both Gareth and Rebecca had work and school committments, plus Wyn needed to do some work around the house. As a consequence, with the weather looking half decent, we decided to go down to Southport to see the pier, amusement arcades and seaside. Initally there was some discussion on whether Blackpool would be better being much bigger but it was a lot further away and didn't have much we wanted to see that wasn't already in Southport.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">After a quick trip in the car we were parked up on the seafront in Southport close to the pier. Even though it was 10:00am in the morning just about everything was still closed. To kill some time we walked back down the landward side of the pier into the coastal facing side of Southport. If nothing else it enabled us to buy a detailed street map of Liverpool which we'd need later in the day.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Back at the pier and things were starting to open up. We tried out the inevitable hall of mirrors and then wandered into a penny arcade. I'd not mentioned these to the family as I was interested in their reaction. They were hooked. I got almost as much entertainment out of watching them with the 2p arcade games and the tickets as I did playing myself. Nobody won anything (does anybody ever?) but it wasn't the point.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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Outside again and the weather had improved to the level that we had an iceream. 99s haven't been 99p in living memory but are still so typically English seaside that you can't go there without having one. The lady in the shop called me "luv" so many times the icecreams were almost melting by the time we were done. Suitably refreshed we decided on a game of mini-golf, a pursuit that is inevitably extremely competitive when Jenni and I play. I was appalling on the first couple of holes but finished up with a healthy 10 shot lead by the end thanks to a couple of cracking holes in one, both celebrated in Leighton Hewitt fashion. To complete the seaside eating experience we had fish and chips for lunch. While we were eating Wyn called so say she was on her way to meet us for the afternoon.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The sun was still shining so we walked down the pier to the end. The tide was well out by now and all sorts of stuff was going on down on the sand. Blackpool Tower was just barely visible in the haze to the North. As we walked back we met Wyn coming down the pier towards us which was lucky as she had left our number at home. By the time we'd walked all way back and killed a few more minutes in the penny arcades again Garerth had also appeared. While he ate a quick bite James and Anna took a ride on a really lovely carousel and I snapped a few pics.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcI26ljZ8ieFE_4rCO_FN7ozuzBOwNIj106oq4WvAd32qMDHDkyMXCmznwzdRU0LLd-Z5gK1Gydpyvxey1jAXIl4yZ__eiLqBQMV1iOLTr8l39BpELtyqnxag7y8Z4jqzNzST4t-GmvEs/s1600/DSCF2765.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcI26ljZ8ieFE_4rCO_FN7ozuzBOwNIj106oq4WvAd32qMDHDkyMXCmznwzdRU0LLd-Z5gK1Gydpyvxey1jAXIl4yZ__eiLqBQMV1iOLTr8l39BpELtyqnxag7y8Z4jqzNzST4t-GmvEs/s400/DSCF2765.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Not satisfied with the quality of opposition at my first attempt at golf we had another go. Gareth proved much sterner opposition, the pair of us going head-to-head until the last 3 holes, whereupon I choked and ended up losing by 2.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhivokK4bqSPr5D1ndguYiTSz-IIz0mvhq4woBFK5-OdtIb1t_4IqxQA6lpnIdETLENq9TXgAo8ZUL2vGIKcxA2S3niZsLtZwin7JBT62dZvEUSkx8u1NYhzfIKWk5VeG2dulT3jFNUByQ/s1600/DSCF2770.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhivokK4bqSPr5D1ndguYiTSz-IIz0mvhq4woBFK5-OdtIb1t_4IqxQA6lpnIdETLENq9TXgAo8ZUL2vGIKcxA2S3niZsLtZwin7JBT62dZvEUSkx8u1NYhzfIKWk5VeG2dulT3jFNUByQ/s400/DSCF2770.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Things were getting on and we had plenty to do so we rushed back to Formby. Unfortunately it was time to say goodbye to the family and it was a sad few moments. We've been very fortunate to stay with them and it has been a wonderful few days. If you are reading this guys we love you dearly, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for taking us in and will miss you more than you know. ;-)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">For the rest of the week we're back to looking after ourselves so we headed off to our new home in Wavertree down in Liverpool proper. One last drive past the (in)famous Gerrard Gym and we were on our way. The traffic and closed roads proved a nightmare and by the time we arrived it was close to 6:30pm. We were due with family at 7:00pm in Garston so apart from a quick shower the only thing we managed was throwing all the luggage inside what appears to be a fabulous house!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Navigation to Garston was a bit hairy but in the end we were only 2 minutes away when we finally needed to call for help. My cousin Julie had done an amazing job in short time and with little notice. She had managed to collect in one place my Uncle Edwin, Autie Eadie, herself and partner John, cousin John, cousin Carol and partner Ron plus their kids (another) James and Sarah. And Casper the dog. Woof! Woof! We had an AMAZING evening with everyone, especially our James, talking non-stop, looking through photos and catching up. They had put on a great spread as well and the kettle is probably never going to be the same again. I've almost forgiven Julie for trying to kill me leaving a teabag in one of my cuppas – maybe she just wanted me to shut up ;-) I haven't seen my cousins for 30 years but it felt like last week. The jokes, wind-ups and laughter were great and I wish we saw one another so much more.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Nearly two and a half hours disappeared in about 5 minutes it seemed. It was sad not to spend longer with people but with just about everyone apart from us having daily committments it was time to go. We'd have been away faster but Uncle Edwin managed to stretch a farewell into about 30 minutes of beinf chased round the front yard by Julie until he finally relented and went home. Dad, if you're reading this James asked him for a message and he said "Tell him he's still a scally". There seems to be a theme going here! I can't imagine what you did to your brothers to deserve such a reputation. <snort></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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On the way home we stopped at a 24 hour Tesco and bought some supplies for the next few days. Were all absolutely shagged and I have no idea really if we bought what we need. It was after midnight when I got to bed and the fact I'm writing this the next morning is testament to how rushed things were. Honestly though, I can't think of a better reason to be behind. ;-)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-35426399739591620632010-09-22T20:39:00.000+10:002010-09-22T20:39:58.824+10:00Lady Lever, Liverpool and Late to Bed<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><strong>Day Twenty-two – Liverpool</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Is that the sun? Possibly. It's been a while and we might be forgiven for starting to wonder. Appropriate timing, considering our plans for the day...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Today was our second full day in Formby with family today but unfortunately Gareth and Rebecca have work and school respectively. Wyn and I gave Rebecca a lift so school as she doesn't much like the bus and any small kindness on a Monday makes you feel a lot better.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">With the others off doing what they needed to do, Wyn, Jenni the kids and I piled into the car and drove down to Port Sunlight in the Wirral (on the other side of the Mersey), made famous (and built!) by William Lever for his Sunlight soap factory workers in1888. Lever was quite the philanthropist and his ideas on worker's rights and how they should be treated were enlightened to say the least.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The main point of going to Port Sunlight was to visit the Lady Lever Art Gallery, which was opened in 1922 by Lever to house his personal art collection and run as a charitable trust. The gallery was run "as a cultural and educational resource for his workers and the public at large" because Lever believed "the study of art refined and improved the life of the individual". Quite the man was Lord Leverhulme it seems. In 1978 it reverted to public ownership and now forms one of the Galleries of Liverpool which also includes the Walker.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The gallery contains an amazing collection of art and antiques, including paintings by Gainsborough, Turner, Burne-Jones and Rossetti, plus quite a decent showing of classical antiquities. Jenni got to see her "pre-laughalites" or "miserable ladies" as I call them, so named because the Pre-Raphaelites always painted their women looking pensive or unhappy. I enjoyed those too but I think Jenni nearly passed out a good few times in excitement.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I hadn't realised but the gallery contains a LOT of Napoleonic material, including a good half dozen or so busts of the great man, paintings, furniture and more, all in some way associated with Napoleon. I got to see the The Black Brunswicker as well which was great. Photos in books certainly don't do it justice.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Other highlights were an exhibition of Albrecht Durer's engravings and lithographs, an incredible bust of Ferdinando de' Medici c1700 , "Snowdrift" by Edward Onslow Ford, two really cool alabaster Egyptian canopic jars and the entire Greek and Roman antiquities collection. Lady Lever is currently battling it out with the Wallace Collection for the coveted Coolest Arty Thing of the Trip and looks certain to finish in the top three. Before we headed "home" we popped into the Port Sunlight Museum for a few minutes and Jenni bought some postcards of the now quite famous Sunlight soap ads.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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Back home and we spent the remainder of the day eating dinner with the family and playing games in the evening. Wyn and I were up until after midnight talking our heads off about everything under the sun and I neglected by blogging responsibilities. My bad!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-7356105638644179282010-09-20T06:20:00.000+10:002010-09-20T06:20:18.126+10:00Walker, Wagamama and Wasabi<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><strong>Day Twenty-One – Liverpool</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Today was a bit of a slow burner but once it got going it was great fun. Everyone was up latish as we'd been up talking til midnight. We lounged about the kitchen talking and slowly getting through breakfast and a bit of washing.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The weather was pretty poor once again so there was no urgency really to go out. By the time we had ourselves organised it was lunchtime and we had a quick meal before heading off to the station and eventually the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool city centre.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We decided to leave the cars at home and get the train in. Apart from the frustation of parking and the traffic it meant we could have a drink with dinner. We got a bit wet walking to the station but dried out soon enough on the train.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">When we arrived in town we found the St George's Hall was open to the public for "browsing". This is apparently a reasonably rare thing. I had heard of the place (i.e. I knew the building was there!) but didn't know anything about the inside of it's history. We ducked inside for a quick look at the main hall. It's amazing. Unfortunately for us the mosaic floor was covered as the hall was being set up for a performace. Even so, the remainder of the hall including the stained glass, statuary, pipe organ and ceiling are brilliant.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">From there we walked to the Walker. Jenni was particularly excited as the Walker contains a pretty decent collection of miserable ladies (pre-laughalites as I call them), including a Burne-Jones or two, a Rosetti and plenty of other goodies. I was happy because I got to see "And When Did You Last See Your Father", a cracking picture where a young lad from a Royalist family in the Englich Civil War is being interrogated by the evil Roundheads. I also had my photo taken with Henry VIII which was kind of cool.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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After the Walker we ducked into the World Museum (formerly the Museum of Liverpool) and had a look in the aquarium for a few minutes but they were closing and we were really only killing time until we were ready for dinner.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">For dinner we all went to Wagamama, a cool Japanese restaurant chain (which is now in Sydney too). The food was excellent and a bit different. The deserts were extra good.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGaoI9TbWemTB6O9vHWiwjR7wUlMoJT1zyb01UWONnxVBErT-94ybDwsA5JF40cXvtBU_jERFU-mBCJdAKp-U5VmPZA8BYday8hP7_427Ic7jb0LYa6f5ud2kUGNjta6chG-Gb6PeJqGk/s1600/DSCF2626.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGaoI9TbWemTB6O9vHWiwjR7wUlMoJT1zyb01UWONnxVBErT-94ybDwsA5JF40cXvtBU_jERFU-mBCJdAKp-U5VmPZA8BYday8hP7_427Ic7jb0LYa6f5ud2kUGNjta6chG-Gb6PeJqGk/s400/DSCF2626.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
Eventually we got the train home and Gareth gave me the 2 minute tour of Formby, pointing out where Steven Gerrard lives just round the corner. We got done today by the Scum 3-2 but Stevie scored a brace and it's hard to be that disappointed when you score 2 at OT, even if Ferg is a miserable gloaty bastard.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-14653058845725415932010-09-19T18:04:00.001+10:002010-09-19T18:41:58.163+10:00Roads, Rain and Rellies<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><strong>Day Twenty – Wales to Liverpool</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The weather raised a wry smile this morning when we got up. We were leaving Wales and the weather looked better than it had since we arrived. Not much we could do about it though so we got ourselves packed up, ate what food we had left and hit the road almost bang on 10:00am. We hoped to reach the family in Formby, just outside Liverpool by mid afternoon.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Before we left Jenni took some photos of the cottage for posterity...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKp6fCoYPr3PFAcjDE9-O0-H4535MGBIHPqZ_4s59R3VDu25Ris4SenTRtj_C7ujCaBx5xbvSUjmZPGmTt_zRVgnbMdTXNooArlbTzEIpCIr-NBnf1RbqGg1vs7fCe3JwXoLimgLUhnBs/s1600/DSCF2500.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKp6fCoYPr3PFAcjDE9-O0-H4535MGBIHPqZ_4s59R3VDu25Ris4SenTRtj_C7ujCaBx5xbvSUjmZPGmTt_zRVgnbMdTXNooArlbTzEIpCIr-NBnf1RbqGg1vs7fCe3JwXoLimgLUhnBs/s400/DSCF2500.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Our first stop was only a few minutes away in Beddgelert to see Gelert's Grave. The story of Gelert the Faithful Hound is supposedly made up, largely to aid tourism but it doesn't make it any less entertaining. If you read the inscription in the photo of the plaque you'll get the idea of what they say happened. The "grave" itself is quite pleasant and the walk along the river to reach it equally worth the effort. There is also a neat modern statue of a wolfhound in an old crofter's cottage nearby.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Our next stop was Swallow Falls just outside Betws-y-coed. The kids had enough of walking about and Jenni and I went down to see the falls on our own. At least here we got something form the recent rain as the falls were flowing fast and furious. You can hear them from the road despite the traffic. The weather had started to close in (as usual!) but even so it was bright enough too see the falls clearly and take plenty of photos. It was only a 15 minute stop but well worth the effort.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">From there we drove up to the coast at Llandudno and then right (after another small detour) towards Liverpool. Motorways are not my favourite thing in the world but after doing 50mph at best for a week, usually round blind corners with oncoming mad locals and crazy-ass parking I was very happy indeed. 70mph dual carriageway in a straight line does have its advantages after all! Lunch was in a roadside diner, called somewhat enigmatically the "Diner Fifty 5" and pretty reasonable fare. I got a decent cuppa which made up for the milk being off back at the cottage. Is there anything more uncivilised that your first cuppa at 11:30am on holidays???</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The drive from the Welsh border to Formby, just North of Liverpool was pretty uneventful and the weather didn't get too bad so the traffic moved quite well. Given it was a Saturday I was quite happy with that. We parked up at Wyn, Gareth and Rebecca's place at about 2:30pm. The rest of the day was spent catching up and enjoying a decent home cooked meal.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
So where are we now?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsbBjAk0VAoHORaaAu72qSbbtsoII92oebGT31DJJnoKCO12XeCfIq4TJSg-2w8YLy648BpI6H_VJZ5wZ9Ic3b2lacoEiDKCS1nsCxKjuna1bspVQqmpQQNGvE6zKodkjcbRQ0ZjQcFkY/s1600/Liverpool.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsbBjAk0VAoHORaaAu72qSbbtsoII92oebGT31DJJnoKCO12XeCfIq4TJSg-2w8YLy648BpI6H_VJZ5wZ9Ic3b2lacoEiDKCS1nsCxKjuna1bspVQqmpQQNGvE6zKodkjcbRQ0ZjQcFkY/s400/Liverpool.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Not sure what we're doing tomorrow with the family. The weather migth have some say as usual I guess.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-63736429819765339172010-09-19T17:54:00.001+10:002010-09-19T17:57:59.330+10:00Mountains, Mist and More Mint Cake<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><strong>Day Nineteen – Nantmor Wales</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Today was our last full day in Wales. Even if we wished for better weather it was our last chance to get the train up Snowdon to the Summit. We'll miss Wales as a place but certainly not from a meteorological viewpoint.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We got up early for a change as the train left Llanberis at 9:00am. Unfortunately the early trains were all deisels so no more steam railways for us. At least it was a rack and pinion system and interesting from that viewpoint. The carriage was pretty basic with hard seat and room for about 30 people. The windows were nice and big though and we were right up the front.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">It takes about an hour to reach the top station at the summit. For the first 40 minutes or so we could see quite a lot and enjoyed the commentary about the sights and places we could see. By the 700 metre mark the weather started to close in and visibility dropped right off. We couldn't see anything past about 20 metres and often less than that. It was a real pity but at least this time I was getting right to the top, unlike as a child where the wind prevented it.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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At the top we went straight inside into the new(ish) and pretty flash visitor centre and cafe. We bought a cuppa as we had all got pretty cold on the way up. Nobody was very keen to go outside, us inlcuded. Eventually a few of us succumbed to temporary madness and made a dash for the summit. The cold was mental, the wind going right through you and the damp from the clouds adding on top. The kids stayed behind and Jenni and I lasted about 5 minutes, just long enough to snap some photos. You can see how cold it is just by looking at us. At least I made it – 1085m up even if you felt like it was a nothing because there was no view.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0TbV2Km3tE2R_85XD9-JHpT5Bddyamry3hKaP-CfXni3X54dpZ5ZzN52C7PrjQBdcqtFrY4YteUv-9PPlkCuLNQ7pKPEHRZMOjXnpplHz5pE47UVjPFF410Scrhx3SY3lrKPjEUqGyNs/s1600/DSCF2450.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0TbV2Km3tE2R_85XD9-JHpT5Bddyamry3hKaP-CfXni3X54dpZ5ZzN52C7PrjQBdcqtFrY4YteUv-9PPlkCuLNQ7pKPEHRZMOjXnpplHz5pE47UVjPFF410Scrhx3SY3lrKPjEUqGyNs/s400/DSCF2450.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the top ;-)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The trip back down was quieter as the weather was really closing in and there was very little to see until we neared the bottom. James was dozing with his mum and Anna and I just stared out the window. We reached Llanberis again about 11:15am.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">As we got off the train I managed to get some decent pics of the loco and carriage we had gone up in, plus other services getting ready to run. There was a couple of steam locos working up pressure as well. While we were in the gift shop (buying more Mint Cake, the rest having *mysteriously* vanished) one of the steam locos blew something and started spewing a LOT more smoke that was normal, much of it a nasty yellow colour. I doubt that loco went up the mountain.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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We made a few stops on the way home to buy lunch and take some photos of the Aberglaslyn Pass from the highest point. We also took some pics of where Snowdon apparently is, but they just look like photos of hills with clouds on them ;-)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz2pEXUQIifWVDi5VcUagkZMfoCV_2jN5NGH1sqco6tQ2lF-NJFWpqTndj8pSBTH8Fq7YLHjaucabAVdwUqle23xq0oHzBrCIr3CgmsF7xPdK5PZh368Kz6sL40xu_7B8N9yA6ic_ok-Y/s1600/DSCF2496.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz2pEXUQIifWVDi5VcUagkZMfoCV_2jN5NGH1sqco6tQ2lF-NJFWpqTndj8pSBTH8Fq7YLHjaucabAVdwUqle23xq0oHzBrCIr3CgmsF7xPdK5PZh368Kz6sL40xu_7B8N9yA6ic_ok-Y/s400/DSCF2496.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
Back home and we spent the rest of the day relaxing out of the weather and getting ready to head to Liverpool. We'll be staying with Wyn, Gareth and Rebecca, who also stayed with my folks when they visited Australia recently. It will be nice to see them, talk to someone new and maybe enjoy a few more civilized comforts again. I must be going soft...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-74321803322185638772010-09-19T03:06:00.000+10:002010-09-19T03:06:05.171+10:00Mountains, Moats and Mint Cake<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><strong>Day Eighteen – Nantmor Wales</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Today was a great day, one of the best yet. Conwy Castle, The Great Orme and much more. Not only did we see and do a LOT, but the weather was also suprisingly kind to us for once. We slept in a little, Jenni and I having been up quite late and the weather forecast being typically grim.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Tomorrow we're going up Snowdon on the rack and pinion railway. Thus far we've had zero luck with the "automated phone booking system" referred to in every pamphlet about the place. In order to make sure we got on the early train (and paid the *discount* rate of 60 quid!) we decided to divert slightly fronm a direct route to Conwy and drive up the Llanberis Pass. This not only got us an amazing drive NOT to be missed, it also allowed us to go right by the bottom station and make a booking in person.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The drive up through Beddgelert and then through the Llanberis Pass is stunning. Even in the intermittent rain and low cloud it is breathtaking. Everywhere you look there are massive towers of rock, incredibly steep hillsides and cascades of water. At least we had the rain to thank for some great waterfalls. This is the Wales I remember best from my childhood and Jenni is rapidly coming to understand just why I so wanted to come back.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6m7yuNOK_m2tBMG5hAXhWZxRe2XQML_d4jeEjEoDrwSudkFufHrqoamosPU_V1MrIsMMah3YL5RbRrR1eUKGrIBw5eWFF8Rn4ewzCLwNwhvmQKPncSny80C1R0XPip4uyjd6_UKbHwWg/s1600/DSCF2277.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6m7yuNOK_m2tBMG5hAXhWZxRe2XQML_d4jeEjEoDrwSudkFufHrqoamosPU_V1MrIsMMah3YL5RbRrR1eUKGrIBw5eWFF8Rn4ewzCLwNwhvmQKPncSny80C1R0XPip4uyjd6_UKbHwWg/s400/DSCF2277.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Once we had booked the Snowdon trip for tomorrow we continued on down to the coast North of Caernarfon and then up and around to Conwy. At last we got some decent motorway driving and made some good time, arriving about 11:30am. The inevitable pay-and-display machine was out of order (mechanically, not "ethically") so we got another freebie. Having already driven round and through about three quarters of the town walls to get to the carpark we walked straight up and into the castle.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4-XSK1YJ5OhFKq_WNjJ_mUiO2H2T1ZFTmfOCFk8ftk3oGt9BF6QHMbYmExVMLNkSwLdwYaa_vq0AID9utfKuWi1iZHTO5fmEhk089En-I4EPuxDWhHK2lpsrvkgEpSbW4Q3Mf9wPiF6g/s1600/DSCF2314.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4-XSK1YJ5OhFKq_WNjJ_mUiO2H2T1ZFTmfOCFk8ftk3oGt9BF6QHMbYmExVMLNkSwLdwYaa_vq0AID9utfKuWi1iZHTO5fmEhk089En-I4EPuxDWhHK2lpsrvkgEpSbW4Q3Mf9wPiF6g/s400/DSCF2314.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Conwy is in some ways a lot like Caernarfon – massive, Edwardian, palatial (literally) and coastal. In other ways it is quite different. The stonework is much more random and the constructions materials generally smaller piece by piece. This is not to say the workmanship is not impressive. In fact, you have to give them credit for creating something like this with this sort of stone. Much of the walls and towers are also more broken and in disrepair by comparison, although in still very good condition for a structure of this age.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We spent about an hour climbing up and down, through, round and about. It was pretty damn breezy up top and quite cold but at least the sun wasshowing itself on occasions. The view from the top was great and we took a lot of pictures both of the castle itself and also the town, town walls and quayside. I snapped a couple of lovely pics of a lovely timber two-masted sailing ship for Dad.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaUtzFEPSdouy4aL-Dtkm_1z17kUVEF4i59a2W036hZ9g1W5HGk85PAeL4MmZl8Q7nLCtCAgItu-AMw2tvIKooQVgd1MTMdTVS6PSVdnpQZO4bFiATUAkBE7V6-YBw-Wu4Rn6-hVj9iCw/s1600/DSCF2305.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaUtzFEPSdouy4aL-Dtkm_1z17kUVEF4i59a2W036hZ9g1W5HGk85PAeL4MmZl8Q7nLCtCAgItu-AMw2tvIKooQVgd1MTMdTVS6PSVdnpQZO4bFiATUAkBE7V6-YBw-Wu4Rn6-hVj9iCw/s400/DSCF2305.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
In town we wandered down Castle Street until we found a great little cake shop. Lunch was accordingly some tasty sausage rolls and a brilliant vegie soup by the quayside. Jenni and the kids went into The Smallest House in Great Britain while I wandered about the quayside.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYJiDe9dbNqX0ULqEJOydKeqYQp4JnfH-h7FAyEwMH5EJzXOt5E4EvJPucCAtWegBpJMDjJQjrPiY9vaAayycn0zSj94ECA1OlsRtcpgWer7baMGH25KC6D1ElIzZEBUhTzr6rrw8QmRg/s1600/DSCF2368.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYJiDe9dbNqX0ULqEJOydKeqYQp4JnfH-h7FAyEwMH5EJzXOt5E4EvJPucCAtWegBpJMDjJQjrPiY9vaAayycn0zSj94ECA1OlsRtcpgWer7baMGH25KC6D1ElIzZEBUhTzr6rrw8QmRg/s400/DSCF2368.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">On the way back to the car we stopped in a proper sweet shop and I at last got my hands on something I would likely sacrifice a limb for – Romney's Kendal Mint Cake. For a mint addict like me this stuff is ambrosia. I've already eaten a third of a quite large bar and had to make Jenni hide it so it doesn't all disappear tonight. ;-)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRj3K_HZZwqo574UF1BcJXly04bDU6gUMPPigTb9qutdao1sAFwUDdUbu0ZbKDD-0YS7vcLcX0yP6hh6JcP_YK5X2bEubUFy1B11XqnzGoOt68jWypi4JjwmDjazoSpOg0FT9NZV2P3XU/s1600/DSCF2421.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRj3K_HZZwqo574UF1BcJXly04bDU6gUMPPigTb9qutdao1sAFwUDdUbu0ZbKDD-0YS7vcLcX0yP6hh6JcP_YK5X2bEubUFy1B11XqnzGoOt68jWypi4JjwmDjazoSpOg0FT9NZV2P3XU/s400/DSCF2421.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The weather being so generous we took a drive after lunch, across the bridge at the foot of the castle and down to Llandudno. A quick jaunt through the town and we were driving up the Great Orme. You can get a tram up which is pretty cool (I did that was a kid) but it was pretty blowy and given time was getting on we settled for driving up. The drive right to the top is great fun, the gradient being 20% and full of sharp turns and wonderful views. You cross the tram lines a couple of times before you reach the summit.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">At the top we parked the car and went for a wander. I took some photos of trams and the view while Jenni and the kids burnt off afternoon tea in the playground. Jenni had bought the largest custard slice known to man to share with Anna, but ended up eating the majority of it herself as Anna was unimpressed. On the way back down Jenni took some surprisingly good pics of Llandudno given being in the car.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJkzZstwjsK9WqqkMEE2Ge367IE1tGrKjZeGfpAupLxR1hQRj4QjbpIrbELLP5qib9Gw_7SqDjtiHaBCRn7rFsLAXV1_TPH_8WMxCszUzXxl9R2R-IJf2a2bvMpPRVNcddnEeFt2yRPbQ/s1600/DSCF2406.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJkzZstwjsK9WqqkMEE2Ge367IE1tGrKjZeGfpAupLxR1hQRj4QjbpIrbELLP5qib9Gw_7SqDjtiHaBCRn7rFsLAXV1_TPH_8WMxCszUzXxl9R2R-IJf2a2bvMpPRVNcddnEeFt2yRPbQ/s400/DSCF2406.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
We drove back through the Vale of Conwy and then through Betws-y-coed. We stopped on the way to take some pics of the Afon (River) Glaslyn, down through the Pass of Aberglaslyn as it flows between Beddgelert and Nantmor. The rain was back in fits and spurts but we didn't care much, we'd had a great day in the sun for once.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">PS. The Reds have just finished my day off nicely, winning 4-1 in Europe. Bring on the Scum on Saturday... ;-)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy </div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-73210063941978702412010-09-19T02:55:00.001+10:002010-09-19T02:59:09.145+10:00Ffestiniog Ffogg<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><strong>Day Seventeen – Nantmor Wales</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Another "nostalgia" day for me today with a second ride on the narrow guage Ffestiniog Railway, 30 years after my first one. The day (as usual for us and Wales) started grey and windy. Supposedly this was going to be one of the better days but I'm wasn't so sure.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We drove down into Porthmadog once again and parked up right outside the station which made a nice change. No driving in circles looking for, and often not finding, a parking spot. Tickets were sorted in short order and we found good seats, two and two, facing one another across a table. Jenni disappeared to take some photos of the loco that was to take us up to Blaenau Ffestiniog, the top station. She (the train not Jenni) was a lovely dark red, Fairlie double boilered number, obviously a favourite with the crews as we'd seen her the day before as we drove through town. Jenni is also dark and lovely but the day I refer to her as "boilered" will likely be my last.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We set of at 10:15 across thr causeway, looking out towards the sea. Low tide meant there was little water on the sea-side of the causeway. At the end of the causeway we passed the workshops where the rolling stock are restored and maintained. There was a green loco being prepared for the next train but we didn't get much of a look.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUuex42yllVuQkhHjJ4FpdEqHd-IAs-4aQucnzk8H9GCvflAajzALU6DF0J8ia-gvgB14sxnUXPiBwldd043PwKh72MnGv9ib4y6qfAsABaqEGcZz4eNjo2lbpxWZKS-JMHjvIFXA-q5M/s1600/DSCF2192.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUuex42yllVuQkhHjJ4FpdEqHd-IAs-4aQucnzk8H9GCvflAajzALU6DF0J8ia-gvgB14sxnUXPiBwldd043PwKh72MnGv9ib4y6qfAsABaqEGcZz4eNjo2lbpxWZKS-JMHjvIFXA-q5M/s400/DSCF2192.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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For the next hour or so we had a lovely ride up the hill, looking at all the various sights including some great views back down the valley. Along the way we talked to one of the crew who had been to Australia about 3 or 4 years back and ridden the Lithgow Zig Zag. He was quite amused by the size of "bottom station" (which if you;ve never seen in is a ladder and platform big enough for one person).</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Towards the top we started to encounter what we are rapidly learning to call "proper Welsh weather" i.e. raining nearly horizontally. For the second week of Autumn it was quite cold and we were all well rugged up. Activity at Blaenau Ffestiniog was limited to a couple of quick shots of the loco running round to join the front of the train and finding new seats as our previous ones were booked for the return by someone else.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYhoAGQWnzNrWh0ky_eaC_GZZsDm9hyPaqat4MqpJyhAMRZziN_BggHnsgR2hw_FqQrukbIX4NsfYz3p8XfDgefqnOKQATUYnBBiMmG7LrxHYsSsovIUrPhYryyRWzRTT9qZLanBU6X1I/s1600/DSCF2210.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYhoAGQWnzNrWh0ky_eaC_GZZsDm9hyPaqat4MqpJyhAMRZziN_BggHnsgR2hw_FqQrukbIX4NsfYz3p8XfDgefqnOKQATUYnBBiMmG7LrxHYsSsovIUrPhYryyRWzRTT9qZLanBU6X1I/s400/DSCF2210.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
The return journey was much the same with a quick stop halfway down to let another upward bound train pass. Despite the fact it was raining and blowing hard, one dedicated bloke was walking the length of the platform selling incream to passengers on the other train. We were surprised at how many he managed to sell!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">It was still raining as well pulled into Porthmadog and well past lunchtime. As we'd not seen Beddgelert yet (mainly due to the weather!) we drove past Nantmor and up the valley for lunch. Beddgelert seems to be 90% pubs and houses, plus the odd camping store. This is probably largely due to the clientele being mostly mad climbers but it meant our choices for lunch were limited to an expensive, if quite servicable cafe. At least it was warmish and the food was hot.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJUxODpC57pGFsyFMjJdhRL5x0KXndJD9PbIk2eakIUBVirUXoufio9yys6y2ebxe73xwzOJTrwI4SbAuHBBLqIachIxCH8PhZzeusvSQpe9aMUPdxXYM9JFz8n96AC3BOx_vSIKoImSw/s1600/DSCF2224.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJUxODpC57pGFsyFMjJdhRL5x0KXndJD9PbIk2eakIUBVirUXoufio9yys6y2ebxe73xwzOJTrwI4SbAuHBBLqIachIxCH8PhZzeusvSQpe9aMUPdxXYM9JFz8n96AC3BOx_vSIKoImSw/s400/DSCF2224.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
Back home in mid afternoon we called it quits for the day. The weather is really hampering us as this is one of the most "outdoorsy" parts of our trip. Jen had a nanna-nap while I read and the kids played games. Jenni walked up to the phone box before dinner to try and book seats for Friday on the Snowdon Mountain Railway. For some reason every time I try to call them on my mobile it hangs up. No luck for Jenni either so we'll have to drive past tomorrow if we can. Dinner was homemade hamburgers and there was an early bed for the kids who were nodding off on the train.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDxmuPObhWJVJ1kVU2nW7sM9LW9U_JA91S7Wdz2W_2Na2ELVcvt3BZQ6gaqhSwvImuwlE4F4P0UdR-UeEg65KSiON1j11wObd1_MhJ3KRkhT8dPU13m9GNEgfSD7l2Rm36A9DTLsEcAJo/s1600/DSCF2193.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDxmuPObhWJVJ1kVU2nW7sM9LW9U_JA91S7Wdz2W_2Na2ELVcvt3BZQ6gaqhSwvImuwlE4F4P0UdR-UeEg65KSiON1j11wObd1_MhJ3KRkhT8dPU13m9GNEgfSD7l2Rm36A9DTLsEcAJo/s400/DSCF2193.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">PS. Even Anna commented on how much I enjoyed the train. You've got real problems when your ten year old daughter laughs at you for being such a massive anorak.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-42938690874610253572010-09-19T02:51:00.002+10:002010-09-19T02:58:53.490+10:00Pouring in Porthmadog, Portmeirion and the Prince of Persia<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><strong>Day Sixteen – Nantmor Wales</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">After a quiet day yesterday we were hoping for some activity today. When we got up the weather still looked a bit grim, with the odd shower and plenty of low cloud. According to the TV weather it was supposed to clear around midday. We decided we hadn't come all this way to stay indoors all the time so off we went to ride the 11:00am train up from Porthmadog to Blaenau Ffestiniog.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Unfortunately, the closer to Porthmadog we got, the worse the weather got. By the time we got there it was raining almost horizontally and visibility was very low. We had some trouble finding the station in the rain, Jenni got out twice and got quite wet walking about and by the time we'd found where we wanted to be everyone had decided the train could be buggered.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisDJ5WNbYMv_mFLsnbTlXDR_t3Ap0WUCUORvC927Ltm2kxqhhVxhgIv2_LtghnhVlbxCxGlZJAl06t6dwmSf89BO6k18A6kiEOa9FJ3W8yaEUb6LnwTDowBhMIltJB-wDTJ1ETVfLyp-Q/s1600/DSCF2070.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisDJ5WNbYMv_mFLsnbTlXDR_t3Ap0WUCUORvC927Ltm2kxqhhVxhgIv2_LtghnhVlbxCxGlZJAl06t6dwmSf89BO6k18A6kiEOa9FJ3W8yaEUb6LnwTDowBhMIltJB-wDTJ1ETVfLyp-Q/s400/DSCF2070.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We needed some bits and pieces so we went into Tesco and grabbed what was required. While we were in there James bought a copy of Prince of Persia on DVD so we'd have something to do after lunch. That was enough of the great outdoors and we headed back to the cottage.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Back "home" we settled down to (hopefully) wait out the weather. By the time we'd finished lunch, the movie and nap time for Jenni it was about 3pm and the sun was shining, even if there were some black clouds about. Pertmeirion Village and Gardens are not far and apparently it's half price after 3:30pm so off we went.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Time for a quick rant here on Welsh drivers. The roads here are NARROW and full of blind corners. Despite that the local drivers are almost exclusively of two types – 100mph down the middle of the road and other cars be damned, or, 10mph and 100 years old. I was almost run off the road on a roundabout this morning and then near driven mad taking 10 minutes to go 100 yards as we arrived at Portmeirion. Now that I've gotten that out of my system on with the story...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU8n240yoDzZtuRG3mxYJ_gI19Z3S_y15fvyQ5Jsb8syWjFpCF_RRRLzvZioHNKiclXmlLS6c8IRs2RWFD60ddMr8drThA85NmSnnjy37Rm9HgdHEU48dG9Uquy9V_x_AVkGqckCoOx6U/s1600/DSCF2080.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU8n240yoDzZtuRG3mxYJ_gI19Z3S_y15fvyQ5Jsb8syWjFpCF_RRRLzvZioHNKiclXmlLS6c8IRs2RWFD60ddMr8drThA85NmSnnjy37Rm9HgdHEU48dG9Uquy9V_x_AVkGqckCoOx6U/s400/DSCF2080.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Portmeirion Village is the mad creation of a fellow called Sir Clough Williams-Ellis who decided he couldn't decide what architectural styles he preferred to he'd have a bit of everything. On the Welsh coast. In about 2 square miles. His point was to demonstrate how a beautiful natural landscape could be developed with out ruining it. It's the kind of crazy thing I really enjoy and apparently so do plenty of others as about 220,000 people a year visit.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj26u33433eMB8MEBVJ9lGM2TxX5EvL-FG955DYLXiW0zLJ9ZuBW5InxV8F2iZAPk5gSDAqgH2Z2zp8PFc0YHD0E_ymbxbsrS78q_iVUX3khcNU0jzGyvNbhKwCY8XzaF8zvblt64a8Qsw/s1600/DSCF2106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj26u33433eMB8MEBVJ9lGM2TxX5EvL-FG955DYLXiW0zLJ9ZuBW5InxV8F2iZAPk5gSDAqgH2Z2zp8PFc0YHD0E_ymbxbsrS78q_iVUX3khcNU0jzGyvNbhKwCY8XzaF8zvblt64a8Qsw/s400/DSCF2106.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsg5GaoLu7R6ZS8lC7C4T43xfj19CzQ1AbmJQRtCAFF6uxnGrUdTjKIBPeRqIIYBeJAhoYKkv5JSDV6_VP0eqNI_yuUgjee6SJcKtMwUw8aEcFME_BxOVId1b4ZDT5gGXs_Ordzyzs5_s/s1600/DSCF2157.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsg5GaoLu7R6ZS8lC7C4T43xfj19CzQ1AbmJQRtCAFF6uxnGrUdTjKIBPeRqIIYBeJAhoYKkv5JSDV6_VP0eqNI_yuUgjee6SJcKtMwUw8aEcFME_BxOVId1b4ZDT5gGXs_Ordzyzs5_s/s400/DSCF2157.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The village is also famous for being the setting in the English sci-fi / drama The Prisoner, in which the main character was held prisoner in a weird village and constantly harranged to give up information. Each person in the village was referred to by a numbr, the lower the number the more senior the individual. The show has been so popular it has now been remade and also rated a tribute episode of the Simpsons.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-apde4XKawIdFjss41dJbMq9kw1RC7JRTstjeH8zrOcAWYQX04P6Q94ipmexsSA2yQOQ3DfQKqCNaBQnfzpc3uu6SNi0aclAkzBGAC4slf8KovY4rroxna5CVnZu56t47L5utVthHm9E/s1600/DSCF2166.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-apde4XKawIdFjss41dJbMq9kw1RC7JRTstjeH8zrOcAWYQX04P6Q94ipmexsSA2yQOQ3DfQKqCNaBQnfzpc3uu6SNi0aclAkzBGAC4slf8KovY4rroxna5CVnZu56t47L5utVthHm9E/s400/DSCF2166.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
We all enjoyed the village immensely and took a pile of photos. Jenni and I spent a lot of time fighting over the camera it was so good. Thankfully the weather held off and we were able to walk around as much as we liked. We also took some photos of the coast and got a group photo courtesy of a fellow tourist.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkRLqcIZOrLvyDBQERY8pLGA9TfJ3tfssG5pBjIaHnhOq27L1GF2hcQBpHRbC6z7CDZfRaAXOIJdYSMzKRKCSOaMub5T9wp6ofkCN5vqGU5-OOOOqK0Cn97iN5GVwNBxWD4Z3SfU_aK9Y/s1600/DSCF2173.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkRLqcIZOrLvyDBQERY8pLGA9TfJ3tfssG5pBjIaHnhOq27L1GF2hcQBpHRbC6z7CDZfRaAXOIJdYSMzKRKCSOaMub5T9wp6ofkCN5vqGU5-OOOOqK0Cn97iN5GVwNBxWD4Z3SfU_aK9Y/s400/DSCF2173.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVPgoMiw8RbMhx-b5s-9KitPqguHVVJH1PB4lzXmOSPdug9JncPSmWQ8BqT7vcseJBYOGd0seE2ZKQzNRHEIk4pwS4Q5627wnITAUT9dHISHzia9UZu0q9a_TpSxW66QAtSyX53KMGmJM/s1600/DSCF2175.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVPgoMiw8RbMhx-b5s-9KitPqguHVVJH1PB4lzXmOSPdug9JncPSmWQ8BqT7vcseJBYOGd0seE2ZKQzNRHEIk4pwS4Q5627wnITAUT9dHISHzia9UZu0q9a_TpSxW66QAtSyX53KMGmJM/s400/DSCF2175.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
On the way back we stopped and managed to find parking AND a book shop that was open. This is an extremely rare combination and not to be missed. Even better, I managed to find a book I am genuinely interested in – historical fiction about the Battle of Waterloo. I'm about 20 pages from the end of my current book and was getting edgy at the thought of Welsh television drama...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Back at the cottage James and I took a quick jaunt up the hill above the cottage. I was a bit dubious but with the weather doing all sorts I was reluctant to let the opportunity pass. We didn't get that far before deciding to turn back. Deep ferns and heather, much of it still sodden or pooled was a real turn off and not worth the effort. 20 yards from the cottage fence was re-crossed a very slippery bridge.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Anyone who knows James knows he is very much like a 6 month old labrador when it comes too coordination, even if he is only one exam off a provisional black-belt in Tae Kwon Do. No sooner had the words "watch that, it's very slippery" left my mouth then over he went, trapping his foot. Fortunately the damage was limited to a badly bent back big toe-nail, which although very painful, is unlikely to hold him up much. I don't think he'll lose the nail but having lost both of mine in the last 12 months I can say for sure it will take a good few weeks to know. He's pretty tough so I know he'll manage.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Dinner was another home cooked job, Pasta a la Millsy. Last up, time for a quick blog, photo download and some yahtzee before bed. Tomorrow the weather WILL be better and we'll get in some steam train time. We could smell one on the way back and passed it in Porthmadog. I'd best look out my anorak... Huzzah!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-42263265877552425462010-09-19T02:46:00.002+10:002010-09-19T02:58:39.370+10:00Whether to Weather the Wet, Windy Welsh Weather<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><strong>Day Fifteen – Nantmor Wales</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">In short, no! The weather lived up to the forecast and was very unpleasant indeed. Driving rain, wind and occasional thick fog. At times it was difficult to see past the end of the patio, particularly when the rain was coming in at 45 degrees. Despite the fact it is only the second week of Autumn here we've had the heating on a couple of times. The locals would probably laugh if they knew...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">As a consequence of the weather we decided to use today as a rest day. For the first time we've not left our accommodation at all and just spent the day relaxing and doing what we liked. Neither Anna nor I got dressed which is a measure of how slow-paced to day was. For the most part the day was spent napping, reading, playing games and watching the odd bit of tellie.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We've also had a couple more decent home cooked meals which were nice. Right now if I never see hot chips again it wouldn't bother me in the slightest. I think Anna might cry though.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">This is probably a good time to describe the cottage a little. We're very thankful for it right now for a number of reasons, not least because we have two bedrooms and proper beds for everyone. Also a blessing is a cosy lounge with comfy chairs for all and a decent TV / DVD setup. Swallow Cottage (Bwthyn y Wennol in Welsh) is very attractive, being an architect converted barn. I think the owner said it was previously used as a goat shed / workshop. It's pretty much Welsh picture postcard, with low ceilings, 18" think (yes, a foot and a half!) slate walls and lots of exposed timber.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">That's all for today. Not much to say other than the wind is still blowing hard. Supposedly tomorrow things will ease off and the rest of the week will be patchy rain and sun.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5558970683636248705.post-71691356538721829482010-09-19T02:45:00.002+10:002010-09-19T02:58:23.260+10:00Caernarfon Castle, Cooking and Computing<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><strong>Day Fourteen – Nantmor Wales</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Our first full day in Wales was an enjoyable one. We were lucky with the weather which threatened early but turned out quite nice in the end. We were a bit undecided what to do given the sky but eventually decided to go to Caernarfon Castle. It proved to be a good choice. The weather forecast for the week is pretty grim and any sunny day is not to be missed.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Caernarfon Castle is one of a number of Edwardian castles built in the 13<sup>th</sup> and 14<sup>th</sup> centuries to help control Wales and gradually convert it into a more "English" aspect. Caernarfon is arguably the best preserved and most impressive of all of them.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI75HvZgr2DCuQyaUhmDQ5fuX8Z_JteyTZ09KmOc-4Dh9oK4aO2C5q4O9edzefChPZYOQ4h94ATp5oxZz2SpHJOoyYOJF_bIj9fXIy0COBBr6OzIJ8C8arBVwPcw9uNrbx4vVATYHw-EU/s1600/DSCF2007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI75HvZgr2DCuQyaUhmDQ5fuX8Z_JteyTZ09KmOc-4Dh9oK4aO2C5q4O9edzefChPZYOQ4h94ATp5oxZz2SpHJOoyYOJF_bIj9fXIy0COBBr6OzIJ8C8arBVwPcw9uNrbx4vVATYHw-EU/s400/DSCF2007.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The drive to the castle was a nice one, down to the coast at Tremadog and then North to Caernarfon. Along the way we got a good look at a lot of the larger hills and the odd mountains in the area, the tallest of which seem to generate their own weather. The top of the tallest were in cloud for the majority of the day. We also got our first proper look at the sea and the estuary the Caernarfon sits on.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We arrived at the castle around 11:00am and parked in the carpark immediately under the walls. Because of the waty you approach, the castle pretty much appears from nowhere right in front of you. Since I was here as a kid they have made some changes (for the better). Entry to the castle is now via a large curved bridge in steel, timbe and slate – quite well done and the fact it is modern doesn't detract at all.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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On entry we went and bought a Wales Explorer Pass. For GBP36.00 we get a week's worth of entry to a long list of castles, religious sites and other properties managed by CADW. We spent a while chatting to the people in the shop about what we were going to see, where we are from, etc.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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The next hour and a half was spent climbing, descending, wandering, peeking and poking through the various towers, passages and halls of the castle. The kids did very well given the steepness and height of the some the staircases, especially James who is no fan of heights. Some of the tallest towers, like the Well Tower and the Eagle Tower are really very high and we took some great photos of the town walls, estuary and surrounding countryside as well as the castle itself.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">From there we visited the regimental muesum of the Royal Welsh (23<sup>rd</sup>) Fusiliers and saw one of the most amazing collections of medals I have ever seen. They have quite literally HUNDREDS of medals from a great number of past members of the regiment from the lowest private soldier right up to senior officers, including a few VCs and plenty of Military Crosses. They also have another French Napoleonic Eagle (82<sup>nd</sup>) which was also taken at Martinique along with the one we saw at The Tower in London. Jenni was very impressed with the "flash", a cluster of ribbons worn at the nape of the neck to represent when the regiment wore wigs with a ribbon at the rear.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Lunch was pies and drinks from a local chippie. The pies themselves were great but James ended up with salt on his after the girl in the shop didn't listen. She offered to put salt and vinegar ON A PIE and Jenni thought she was offering sauce. I think she just automatically put salt and vinegar on everything.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">After lunch we went looking for Segontium Roman Fort which is, theoretically, quite nearby. A large number of Roman road builders would be turning in their graves at the number of rounabouts and bad signposting we went through before we found the place behind a 5 foot steel fence. With no visible way to get in and time getting on we gave it a miss. It was only a "top-up" item on our list of things to do so none of us was particularly upset.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Last stop for the day was shopping for the week. Like everything else it involved narrow streets and people parked everywhere and anywhere. At least now we had some proper home cooked meals at sensible prices. Even the kids have commented on wanting something on a plate and a family dinner table instead of a paper bag in a park.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Tomorrow is still up for grabs. Right now the weather looks pretty good but Wales is like Melbourne (thankfully minus the Mexicans!) and tomorrow could easily be rotten, especially if the forecast is correct. Just a quick thought, I wonder if the Reds won today???</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Millsy</div>Millsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17580692168847505881noreply@blogger.com0