Recap: The Road to Edinburgh

I just want to offer a few observations about the UK - general impressions.  First off, when we checked in with customs upon arrival, I went up first and Leon waited in queue because we had gotten reprimanded in the US on our return from Italy 2002 for going up to the window together.  The US custom agent had said, "You're not related, get back behind the line."  At Heathrow, the agent asked Leon if he was traveling with someone and he said, "yes, my life partner".  The agent said - "Go, be with him,  this is England."  He did so and we were interviewed briefly. When the customs agent asked me if I had been to England before, I told him yes, many years ago.  I said, "I was the guy who asked the Bobby how to get to Traffle-Gar Square".  "Oh", he said, "That was you? They're still talking about that one."  I would never even consider such an exchange with the humorless, stone-faced US Customs Agents - who think their serious-business attitude is necessary to "protect the country".  The Brits achieve the same end with decency, respect, class, and, yes, humor. They have a sense of order, with rules and systems to make things run smoothly and they make allowances for for free and paid use of facilities, so long as one follows the rules - as in the rest-stop parking area.

Well, back to the tour:

We had arrived in London a few days ahead of the tour and so joined Trafalgar Tours for two more nights in London beginning on Saturday. The real Road Trip began on Monday morning at 6:30am with luggage call and breakfast. It took a day or so to get the hang of the routine, but everyone was soon on board with the schedule. We headed out of London and into the countryside. Like much of Europe, the population is concentrated in cities and towns with little suburban sprawl.  This leaves the countryside to the sheep and the farmers, and a few landowners with large estates.

Our first stop was Stonehenge which is in the middle of a great expanse of pasture and fields.  It was not as grand as my expectations.  I'm not sure what I expected, but I think the fact that visitors are kept at a distance - probably 150 to 200 feet or more - made the experience a bit underwhelming.

Leon was intent on saving Doctor Who who was supposedly trapped underneath Stonehenge, but could not get close enough to find the hidden button on one of the rocks.

Our tour took us to Salisbury for a brief orientation with tour guide, Paul, an Irish gentleman with the gift of gab, who has made England his home. It was basically a lunch stop with a couple of hours to explore on our own.

Paul, our tour guide in cap, holding folder

Cornish Meat Pies for Lunch

Salisbury

Salisbury

Salisbury Cathedreal

Salisbury

Salisbury

Who was St. Osmund?

I love stone.  My grandfather was a stonemason.  I build stonewalls at home.  I was fascinated by the decorative detail in the wall at St. Anne's Gate.

Off to the city of Bath, settled by the Romans and famous for natural hot springs that fed the pools in the elaborate public baths, the ruins of which we toured.

The Roman Bath at Bath

Stone "Tiles" at the Bath

Leon Could be a Professor at the Academy

Dress Shop Window with Antique Sewing Machines

Nice Water Feature

Not Quite Bristol, Connecticut

Bristol was just a night over.  We were up at the crack of dawn so did not see much of this town.  Then to Chester and the Lake District.

Chester

Typical Row Houses

Cheese Rolling Contest

One of Many Cathedrals Bombed in WWII

The Name of this Tourist Restaurant is So Out of Place

We took a side tour to Wales where they take letters of the alphabet, throw them in the air and make words.

A Personalized Camper

That can't be one word, can it?

Pastoral Scene

The countryside is truly beautiful.  It is, in some ways, like New England, except the fields and pastures are so much more expansive.  Paul, our guide, said that the grazing land was all forest at one time, but it has been cut and cultivated for hundreds of years; much land is used for sheep which need something like two and a half acres each for grazing.  The stonewalls in this area are made with quarried stone without mortar and there are hundreds of miles of walls.  In New England there are also miles of stonewalls made with fieldstone that was removed from fields as the land was cleared and plowed.  I found it fascinating to compare and contrast the Old England with New England - where just about every town is named after a city or town in England.

Pastoral Scene

Lake Windermere

Grasmere is the home of William Wordsworth.  This is where he is buried along with a couple of other Wordsworths. Our tour guide suggested that many people come to pay homage to the poet and writer.  At the risk of having my readers think less of me, I must confess that as I entered the churchyard, I harbored thoughts of how he, along with the other Romantic period authors, made my High School English class miserable and how got my only "F" in college when I had to take a course in Romantic Literature for Humanities credits I needed.  Needless to say, I still needed those credits going into the next semester.  Damn the Romantics!

Isn't the Stonework Superb?

To Gretna Green for lunch and souvenirs.

It's Only World Famous Because All The Trafalgar Tours Stop Here

Although we had an opportunity to tour Roslyn Chapel as an "add-on" but we chose to pass.  We purchased a couple of other "add-on" tours and had to limit our expenses.  Also I think the hype around the DaVinci Code turned me off somewhat to the Chapel, but those who took the tour found it fascinating.

From here it was a hop over to Edinburgh.