Thursday – 8/3/17
(Itinerary – Kensington Palace, Albert Hall, V&A Museum, Natural History Museum)

I must confess I hold a fascination for the British Royal Family. Prince Charles is 3 months younger than me and since I was a child I was aware of his existence; I can remember thinking I could be his princess – a thought that undoubtedly occurred to millions of young girls his age. As he and I grew up I watched his romances and ultimately his marriage to and divorce from Diana. I followed the tragedy of Diana’s death and, like so many others, worried for their sons. I was – and am – enchanted with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their little family. When Kensington Palace – the home of both Diana and Prince William – showed up on the London Pass we knew we were going.

A small portion of the Palace is open to the public – no, we didn’t get to visit Kate and Williams apartment – but we did get a taste of the sumptuous living past kings and queens enjoyed. The tour was a mini-lesson in British royal history with exhibits on Queen Mary II – the Mary half of William and Mary, the last Stuart monarchs: The Georgian era of the 1700s with King George II’s State Apartments on display: Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and their mushy love affair: and an exhibition on Diana and her fashion story.

Queen Mary’s life was more interesting than her state apartments, but I won’t go into that story.

The King’s State Apartments were over the top with painted murals on walls and ceilings. The grand staircase was eye catching (understatement here) with, I’m sure, the goal to impress important visitors.

Diana’s exhibit displayed several of the dresses and suits she wore during her life and showed the development of her fashion sense. I remember when she wore several – more than several – of the dresses on display. The dress she wore when she danced with John Travolta at the White House was on display. Several of the dresses she wore for famous photo shoots were on display.

I’ve been to Elvis’ Graceland and I have seen some of the costumes he wore during his shows. I remember thinking the tailoring was lousy. Up close the costumes look cheaply made. Not so with Diana’s clothes. It must have been a huge confidence builder to don these gorgeous frocks and go out in public.

The last exhibition we visited was Victoria Revealed. Her apartments contained lots of mementos reflecting her life with Albert, with whom she appeared to be obsessed. Love letters were on display and little gifts of affection that had been exchanged. They must have had a rollicking sex life because they kept having children – this by a woman who purportedly was not fond of children; they got in the way of her time with Albert.

Outside the palace at one of the entrances stand the Golden Gates, where the floral tributes to Diana were displayed at the time of her death. A single bouquet and note marking the 20th anniversary of her death this month lay at the base of the gates.

We were off to Albert Hall and walking along the edge of Kensington Gardens when we stopped to watch a flying trapeze school. Youngsters were trying their hand at swinging the bars while safely connected to a harness and rope. I saw that several of the waiting children were quite young and I thought of Shannon’s 8 yr old daughter, who appears to be very adventurous, and wondered if she would enjoy trying that. I widened my range of vision to my left and I saw a man with two children I recognized. It was Shannon’s husband James and their kids! It almost seemed that my thoughts had made them materialize out of thin air! We hadn’t met James yet but that didn’t stop me from hollering out to them and marching off in their direction. Bruce, who hadn’t yet seen them, thought I’d gone bonkers (again) and wondered where I was going.
After formal introductions, James and kids walked us to the Albert Hall, sharing with us information about this neighborhood that James had grown up in.

What a famous venue Albert Hall is. It lies in the university/museum district on land that Prince Albert was able to purchase with profits made from the Great Exhibition of 1851. His idea was to create colleges of science and technology in the area. After his death, the construction projects continued and were combined with memorials to Albert including the Royal Albert Hall.

 

After four years of construction, using 6 million bricks and 80,000 terra-cotta blocks, the Hall was opened in 1871. Almost immediately acoustical problems in the form of a strong echo became apparent leading to several attempts over the next 100 years to solve. In 1969 large fiberglass sound-diffusing discs were install in the ceiling which evidently solved the echo problem. The Hall holds the second largest pipe organ in the British Isles with 9,997 pipes. The hall holds slightly less than 6000 people, so the concerts are rather intimate compared to some venues.

Who hasn’t performed at Albert Hall? From contemporary to classical to rock to hip hop, I think it must be comparable to Carnegie Hall in that everyone with any talent dreams of performing there. Currently the BBC Proms – an eight week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts is taking place. Amazingly, this summer event has been going on since 1895 (obviously not sponsored by the BBC way back then) so locally they are quite well known. While on our tour we got to listen to musicians warming up for that evening’s concert. By the by, Proms is short for promenade concerts – outdoor concerts originally performed in London gardens where the audience could stroll about while listening.
After our Albert Hall tour, we walked past the Museum of Natural History and the Victoria and Albert Museum – both on our list, but not to be visited that day.

Friday – 8/4/17
(Itinerary: Temple Church, Monument, Shakespeare’s Globe, Museum of London)
Friday morning we took the tube to Charing Cross to track down Benjamin Franklin House, at 36 Craven Street, the only surviving house in which he lived. Franklin lived in the house for 17 years as a diplomat for Pennsylvania before the colony became a member of the United States of America. He was actually a border at the widowed Mrs. Stevenson’s house but with his wit and charm soon became the de facto head of household.

The house is a Georgian style home originally built as a lodging house. I’m sure it still survives because of the English respect for old things, unlike the U.S. where the old is replaced with the new as often as possible.
Craven Street has an outlet to the Strand, an enormously major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster in central London, that runs from Trafalgar Square to Temple Bar where it becomes Fleet Street inside the City of London.

After a previous attempt to visit, we were going to see the Temple Church consecrated in 1185 by the Knights Templar, the soldier monks who gained fame and power by protecting pilgrims during the Crusades. It was built to be their English headquarters. While this church has been in London for a loooong time, it gained international fame by playing a role in the book/movie The Da Vinci Code.

The church is round, modeled after Jerusalem’s church of the Holy Sepulchre, and contains the effigies of Templar knights. The Knights Templar had the most interesting history right up until they were wiped out by King Phillip of France in the early 1300s. This is the second surviving Templar church Bruce and I have visited, the other one is in Metz, France.

We continued along Fleet Street, famous as a printing and publishing area with some newspaper buildings preserved and the name synonymous with the newspaper trade. We were on our way to Millennium Bridge, the pedestrian-only bridge crossing the Thames that gained fame in my eyes for being so overloaded on its opening day that it began to sway and twist, giving the walkers quite the ride.

We found and crossed the bridge – with no noticeable vibrations – making our way to Shakespeare’s Globe, the reconstructed Elizabethan playhouse associated with Shakespeare. We had hoped to take a tour of the theater but a play was underway and we couldn’t go in. So, it was back across the Millennium Bridge and up to the Museum of London.
The Museum of London is a museum to be taken in small parts. It is the largest urban history museum in the world. It has over six million objects organized in chronological galleries dating from pre-history to current era. We got no further than the Roman era before we were exhausted and overwhelmed. It is an unbelievably interesting museum but to visit it at the end of a busy day was a mistake. Humbled, we left the museum and walked to St. Paul’s Underground Station to return home.

Saturday – 8/5/17 (Itinerary: Windsor Castle)
On Saturdays, our local bus goes to Windsor. Windsor was another attraction included with the London Pass so we set aside Saturday for our Windsor visit as soon as we learned of the bus.

Windsor Castle was built by William the Conquerer and since 1100 has been the royal residence of all the reigning monarchs. It is the longest continuously occupied palace in Europe.
The bus left our camping at 10:40 and the return bus left Windsor at 3:10. We figured that gave us plenty of time to see the castle and the town.
We didn’t count on the bus trip taking an hour to get there. And we didn’t figure on crowds as eager as us to visit the castle. The bus let us off right at the castle entrance and into a throng of people jockeying to get in lines to enter. We were a bit shocked; Tower of London, in the middle of the city, didn’t have lines this long.
We saw a second, somewhat shorter line to the right of the entrance and thought perhaps it was for ticket holders so we walked over to an employee to ask. Unfortunately, that line was for tours only. The gentleman told us that, what with summer recess just begun, we had picked the 6th busiest day of the year to come visit. He continued that we probably had an hour wait just to get through the gates, if however, we were looking for some good photo ops of the exterior of the castle we should head down the street towards the “Long Walk” where we would find plenty.

We had no idea what this “long walk” was but we followed signs to it and entered Windsor Great Park, a huge green space with a loong straight driveway leading up to castle gates. As it turned out, this was an almost three mile long approach to the castle the queen uses when she comes to stay. Two rows of mature trees flank the Long Walk and a large bronze equestrian statue of George III stands atop a small hill at the opposite end. We could almost see the statue from the palace gate. Windsor Great Park was originally a royal hunting grounds and a herd of deer still roams about as a reminder of the parks’ historic use.
The park is very popular; people walked their dogs, had picnics under the trees and strolled the 3 mile long walk. We walked part of the way and were able to take some photos of the castle before we re-entered the town to take the Thames cruise offered in our London Pass.

That cruise turned out to be a hoax. That’s not really fair of me, we didn’t read the fine print, otherwise we would have known the cruise fee was intact with a small discount for Pass holders. By this time, we were feeling thwarted by the whole day and stubbornly chose not to pay the cruise price. We probably could have gotten some great camera shots of the castle had we decided to go, but c’est la vie.
We spent the rest of our time walking around the towns of Windsor and Eaton across the river, before we returned to the bus stop and went home.
It was a nice day, but not what we had hoped.

Sunday – last day of London Pass
Everyone in the world who tells time can thank the British for giving us Greenwich Mean Time from which to base local time. GMT is based on the Prime Meridian – point 0 longitude – located at Greenwich Observatory. I’m sure everyone reading this has heard of GMT and the prime meridian (and if you haven’t, you should question your educational system.). Where we live, the time zone is GMT-8, meaning it is 8 hours behind London, England local time. There is a mathematical equation to determine this, but since I’m sure it was covered in your education, I won’t go into it.
I have always been curious about Greenwich Observatory and the prime meridian. On previous visits to London I neglected to visit Greenwich in the mistaken belief that Greenwich was too far removed for a London tourist to be able to conveniently visit. That is what comes of using the underground only to move around the city – I cannot get my bearings. In fact I was hoping we could use the bus system this trip just so we would be above ground as we moved from point to point. That didn’t happen for a couple of reasons; time and mastery of the system.
Anyhow, Sunday we decided to take the hop on, hop off river boat cruise to Greenwich. We made our transfers on the Tube to get us to a starting point on the river boat when I saw that the tube line we were on would take us to Northern Greenwich. Because our days always start out late, I suggested we may save time if we continue on the tube to that station and return from Greenwich via the river.
The problem with that idea was we do not know the geography of the area. As it turned out, North Greenwich was a time-eating 2 miles away when you knew where you were going. We didn’t, and when we asked for directions we were given wrong ones.
The time we hoped to save by staying on the tube was eaten by our ignorance. We did walk past an arena called the 02 and watched people climbing the outside of the structure. A Star Wars exhibition was showing at the venue:

Unable to figure out how to get to the observatory by walking, we expedited our process by taking a ferry across the Thames to the Greenwich Pier. A small carnival – or what we in the states would think of as a carnival – was dockside with a couple of traditional rides: a beautiful carrousel and a tower contraption called a Helter Skelter. A user climbs up inside the tower and slides down the outside. I don’t know how much of a thrill ride it is, but it certainly does attract the eye.

The clipper ship the Cutty Sark, is drydocked at the Greenwich Pier. She was one of the last, and one of the fastest tea clippers to be built before steam engines became the new generation of shipbuilding. She is now a museum ship, and – surprise! – was an attraction on our London Pass.

After touring the Cutty Sark we made our way to Greenwich Park and walked up the steep hill to the Observatory. Like Windsor Park yesterday, there were hordes and hordes of people in the park, making it a bit of a challenge to get to the top.

We stopped for a photo at the line marking the east and west sides of the Prime Meridian and it was a good thing we did so, because the more picturesque photo opp at the Observatory itself had a ridiculously long, slow moving queue. I waited about 10 minutes with no forward movement before I bailed out. We went through the museum that told all about the development of naval chronometers in order for sailors to know where they were while at sea. It was all interesting but we had a dinner date with our young friends and had to return to the river cruise boat in order to meet them at Trafalger Square.
We were walking down that steep hill when I took an odd step and jarred my right knee.

We reached the pier, got on our river boat and began the cruise to Westminster Pier, near Parliament. From there we walked up Whitehall, completing the walk from our first day when we were distracted by the Horse Guard Gate.

We passed the Cenotaph, the UK’s official national war monument, where the Queen lays a wreath each year marking the National Day of Rememberance. I was amazed at how small it is. I expected it to be much larger like the Wellington Arch near Hyde Park.
We met up with James and Shannon and the children at our appointed time and they treated us to a lovely dinner at a little Mexican restaurant near Charing Cross. We are really glad to have been able to spend as much time with them as we did, although we do need a chance to spend more time knowing James. There is always next time.
By the time we returned to the camping we realized we were pretty tired. Bruce felt a cold coming on, and my knee was getting more and more tender.
The next morning we were at a full stop. Bruce’s cold had arrived and I could barely walk. Instead of going into London to visit the museums we had planned on seeing: the V&A, the British Natural Museum, the British Library, the British Museum and the National Gallery, we spent the next four days recovering from colds and hyperextended knees. We made an experimental short trip into Uxbridge on Thursday for a grocery and cold medication run and to see how my knee held up. The results were mixed but we decided to return to London on Friday and see a couple of museums. We made it through the Victoria and Albert (V&A) but could go no further. Our museum fixes will have to be met in other countries. Fortunately there are some pretty fantastic museums in many cities we expect to visit.
Saturday, 8/12/17 we decided not to push my knee or Bruce’s cold endurance. Instead treated ourselves to a movie. We went to see “Dunkirk” in an IMAX theater. It was very well done. The last movie we saw in England was “Gladiator.” Gladiator won the academy award for best movie, maybe Dunkirk will too.

We’ve completed our British Isles leg. Tomorrow we leave London for Dover and expect to take the ferry to Dunkirk on Monday. We need to make a run back to the Netherlands to a camping supply store near Eindhoven to purchase a couple of necessary plumbing parts for the van. We have been unable to find them anywhere else. Then we will begin our 5-6 week journey to Croatia via France, Germany, Austria and Slovenia.

 

Friday 7/29/17 – London Town (part 1):

Friday we arrived at Wyatts Covert Caravan Club in Denham, a suburb of London that, at 18 miles out, was outside London’s Low Emissions Zone, a requirement we needed to heed since our camper is older than the 2001 minimum age limit allowed within the Zone. Since we were going to be staying at least a week at this location, we set up our “Guest Room” and spread out a bit.
Saturday we tested ourselves on the rapid transit by busing into Uxbridge, buying our Oyster card and learning how to use it.
The Oyster Card is probably the cheapest way to get around the London rapid transit system of trains, underground and buses. We used one 17 years ago and knew it was the best way to go but that was all we remembered. FYI you can buy one at the ticket booths just outside the Tube’s turnstiles. Ask an employee to help you; we found them all to be very friendly and helpful.
A local bus stops at the campground and delivers us to the Uxbridge Tube station. A 20-25 minute ride takes us into the heart of London where we can decide which stop or transfer will take us to our desired destination. It’s pretty easy, once you get the hang of it. (I do wish Americans took more advantage of rapid transit, it has a lot of advantages.) The only problem to this means of getting to and from the camping is the local bus’s last return to the camping is 2:30pm – far too early to get in a day’s sightseeing and use it for a return. The solution is to take bus #331 to Denham and walk the 1.1. miles up a hill to the camping, about a 25 minute walk.

When we got to the Uxbridge Tube Station on Saturday, no subway trains were running. Since this was our trial run day, this caused us mild consternation. We learned our station would be closed through the weekend (!) and we would need alternative plans to reach the city. We could take the train from Denham into the city but we needed to learn how to do that. Bus #331 took us to Denham Station where we bought a day pass that could be used on trains, buses and tube.
Then we walked up the hill and back to the camping.

We had a date on Sunday to spend time with an old friend of the younger generation, Shannon, an expat living in London with her British husband and two young children whom we have had the pleasure of watching grow via FB.
We actually had no trouble getting into London, and with the instructions Shannon gave us to navigate the buses, we met up with her without mishap. Well, actually not completely without mishap. While awaiting our bus a pigeon decided to poop on Bruce, and poop it did! Bruce’s hat, hair, jacket and pants got in on the action.  Shannon’s daughter said it is good luck; in that case Bruce is a very lucky man!

The last time we saw Shannon was in 2008 during a stopover in London awaiting our flight home after a five month trip touring Eastern Europe. A lot had changed in both our lives. She is the proud mother of two darling children, ages 8 and 5. She and James – her husband – recently purchased a home in Islington – a multi storied attached house that is similar to the brownstones in Boston. It was built in the 1880s and has all the charm one would expect of that era.
In the times we spent with Shannon we knew her to be an accomplished cook and our day with her proved the point. She fed us a divine dinner of shrimp and steak tacos with grilled peppers and portabello mushrooms. As much as we prepare our own meals on this trip, we are not equipped to cook such an outstanding meal and it was greatly enjoyed.

We used the afternoon to catch up on each other and we were so pleased to finally meet the kids. James was on a business trip, not to return until Wednesday, so we were unable to meet him.

Monday 7/31/17

Monday was walkabout London day. While still at home we purchased the London Pass, a multi day entry pass to many of the tourist sights in London, such as Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, St. Paul’s, Kensington Palace, the Hop on, Hop off tour bus and River Cruise and about 60 other places. We bought the six continuous-day pass on the theory that we are old and tired, and could spread out the sights we wanted to see over 6 days rather than the popular three-day pass. (This turned out to be a mistake because instead of getting exhausted after three days of go-go-go, we stretched it to six.) Using the list of attractions the pass allows us entry, we developed a 6-day itinerary to make our best use of it.

Day One was to be Trafalgar Square, the Royal Mewes, Piccadilly, Buckingham Palace, Parliament House and Westminster Abbey.

We got off the Tube at Charing Cross and walked out of the station into the immense Trafalgar Square with its mighty column topped by a statue of Admiral Nelson, hero of the Battle of Trafalgar which defeated Napoleon’s navy.

Four gigantic bronze lions guard the base of Nelson’s Column. Two large water fountains flank the square and 4 plinths (statue bases) stand guard at the four corners of the square. Two plinths hold bronze statues of famous military figures, a third has an equestrian statue of King George IV while the fourth plinth remained empty for 150 years due to inadequate funding, before the city hit on the idea of filling it with contemporary sculptures that change periodically.

Currently a giant thumb holds place of honor. Buskers complete for tourists’ coins and the whole square is as busy as a hive of bees.

Looking down Whitehall, one of the major boulevards that flows into the square, one can see the Parliament tower that contains Big Ben. We decided to visit Parliament and began a walk down Whitehall.

We didn’t get very far, on our right we saw tourists gathering around iron gates and we decided to investigate. We were at the Horse Guard, the official entry to Buckingham Palace and St. James. Guards have stood guard at the gate since King Charles II in 1660.

At the time, we didn’t realize where we were but there was a walkway through the gate and off we went. Crossing a huge parade ground – which happens to be the site of the Trooping the Colour on the Queen’s official birthday in June – we continued towards a colorful flower bed that was the entrance into St. James Park.

St. James is the oldest of London’s eight Royal Parks. Along with the flower beds and a small lake, the 57 acre park has groves of lovely mature London plane trees whose branches created a leafy roof of welcome shade on hot and sunny days. Walking paths took us to children’s play areas, small food stalls, around the lake with its varied waterfowl, and finally to the gates of Buckingham Palace.

We were completely off course by then so we searched for and found Birdcage Walk which took us past Queen Anne’s Gate and the Horse Guards Barracks and eventually we reached Parliament Square.

Our approach took us right in front of Westminster Abbey’s western façade: the famous double towered entrance.
Along with a lot of other tourists we admired the abbey and debated starting our London Pass by using it to enter the abbey. It was mid afternoon and we decided against it since a day would be wasted on only one entry. We determined to return on another day when the clock was running. As we were passing the entry gate, a woman stopped us and asked if we would like entry tickets to the abbey. She had purchased tickets for her parents but they had returned to their hotel room and she had spares. So off we went into the abbey and we had just extended our pass by another day.
How one can adequately describe a 1000 year old abbey? First off, it survived Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Abbeys by being granted cathedral status by that very king.
Every king and queen has been crowned in the abbey since William the Conqueror in 1066. Several kings and queens are buried there, including the Tudor sisters, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth I. Mary, Queen of Scots is buried there as are several kings. Geoffrey Chaucer, author of Canterbury Tales, is buried in the abbey as is Issac Newton and Charles Darwin. National figures including generals, admirals, politicians, doctors and scientists as well as members of the aristocracy are buried there.

It is chock full of memorials and effigies of distinguished personages. The famous Poets Corner, near Chaucer’s resting place has memorials and burials of poets, authors and musicians, most of whom are known in literary circles.
The tomb of The Unknown Warrior, and unidentified British soldier from WWI, lies in the floor just inside the great west door. It is the only grave in the abbey on which it is forbidden to walk.
Seventeen royal weddings have taken place in the abbey, the latest being in 2011 when Prince William married Kate Middleton. A lot of us watched that wedding on TV.

We must have spent about two hours touring the abbey and when we finished, we walked to Parliament but learned we were too late to tour the government building with any level of thoroughness.
Ready to go home, we got back on the Tube to Uxbridge, took bus #331 to Dunham and walked the 25 minutes uphill to the camping where we made a chicken salad dinner and collapsed into bed.

Getting to and from London from our camping is a lengthy affair: the earliest bus to leave from the camping is 9:40 am. It takes about 20-25 minutes to reach Uxbridge, the nearest tube station. From Uxbridge its another 25-30 minutes to reach London. We don’t get out of the tube stations until a little before 11am.

Reversing that procedure coming home and adding the 25 minute walk at the end makes for a long day.

Tuesday 8/1/17: (itinerary was Tower of London, St. Paul’s, Temple Church, Monument to London Fire, and Museum of London.)
Instead of taking the Tube to Tower Hill we got off at Bank, in the middle of the City of London business district where we were blown away by the juxtaposition of old classic architecture and modern glass-covered skyscrapers. It reminded us somewhat of La Defense in Paris, the modern business district with groundbreaking architecture.

It was not what we were expecting and we slowly wandered down streets towards the Thames gawking at the high rises and comparing them to the staid stone classic Victorian architecture that survived the London Blitz of WWII. Londoners seem to like to name their skyscrapers: there is the Gherkin, the Cheese-grater, the Wilkie-talkie and the Shard.
We reached the Thames west of the Tower of London, way behind schedule and walked along the river spotting the HMS Belfast, a retired WWII battleship, and the reconstruction of Sir Francis Drake’s galleon, the Golden Hind. Lots of touring cruise ships motored along the river carrying tourists up and down the Thames. The Tower Bridge proudly spanned the river, its two towers holding the suspension cables and the drawbridge.

It is summer and school is out. This means there are tourists everywhere. The Tower of London was no exception. At least with our London Pass we didn’t need to wait in lines but were escorted to the front of the gateway and made our way inside.

We took in the half hour historic Beefeater Tour, telling us of Traitors Gate, the legend of the ravens, the location of the scaffolding were Ann Boleyn was beheaded and the chapel were she and several others are buried.

The Beefeaters have their own story to tell: actually they are Yeomen Warders who are retired from the Armed Forces. They must be former warrant officers with at least 22 years of service. They must also hold the Long Service and Good Conduct medal. Our Beefeater looked no older than our son Berkeley, so he must have started early to accomplish all that. We saw the first -and only- woman Yeoman Warder as she led a changing of guard at the tower jewels.

We walked through the White Tower – the castle fortress built by William the Conqueror and the home of kings for 500 years. Today it holds a museum of royal armory.
I have forgotten to mention other sites we’ve visited in Britain that are UNESCO World Heritage but I’ll add here that London Tower is on the list.

Our next stop was St. Paul’s Cathedral. The Great London Fire in 1666 burned down 80 percent of the City of London including the Old St Paul’s Cathedral that had stood on the grounds since 1275. Sir Christopher Wren, one of England’s greatest architects, was tasked with rebuilding 52 churches after the fire including his masterpiece, St. Paul’s. Until 1967 St. Paul’s dome made the church the highest building in London. We thought our London Pass covered the entry fee into the cathedral but we couldn’t find it in our documentation. We were extremely disappointed but we plan to use the Pass before we paid entry costs into places so we passed on paying the £18/per person to visit the interior.
By now it was nearly 4:30 pm, the witching hour for peak times on the transit systems. Between 4-7:00pm the rates increase as commuters head for home. On Monday we learned about the increased charges so today (Tuesday) we decided we would wait until 7 before heading home. We were hungry so we stopped at a little bistro next to the cathedral and shared an artisan pizza as we passed the time.

Heading towards a subway station, we walked through Temple Bar, a repositioned gateway into the City of London, into Paternoster Square, an open square surrounded by buildings containing important the London Stock Exchange and several international investment banks. A HUGE television is set up in the middle of the square with deck chairs facing it. We sat for a few minutes catching up on live news of the day presented by BBC. It was our first tv viewing since we left over 3 months ago.

We were pretty tired by the time we reached Uxbridge station and decided to call a cab to take us to the camping. It was a very smart move and one we would use repeatedly for the remainder of our visit.
Wednesday  8/2/17– rainy day. (Itinerary: The London Bridge Experience, Tower Bridge Experience, Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe)

By Wednesday we were so off track from our itinerary that we sort of gave up on it.
Because it was raining we decided indoor things were our best option. The Pass had an attraction called London Bridge Experience that boasted a run-through of London Bridge’s history from pre-Roman times to the present. I love history and it was indoors and Bruce was up for that. We also received entry to the London Tombs – “voted London’s scariest attraction.” That didn’t particularly interest us but it came with the Experience. We should have known from the way they advertised it that this was a gimmick attraction rather than serious or even semi-serious jaunt into history, but we didn’t.
Our first clue this wasn’t going to go well was when we had to wait 25 minutes in an outdoor queue under the current London Bridge – at least we were protected from the rain -while they (it’s always “they” isn’t it?) chose not to share with us the reason for delay. Finally we got inside and were given a spiel about what to expect. We moved from room to room highlighting different important times in the Bridge’s history with young (very good) actors portraying different people from the history of London. Finally we got to the Tombs part of the attraction which was meant to scare the bejeezus out of us. If you have gone to Coeur d Alene’s Halloween extravaganza Scarywood, you know what the bejeezus is, so after experiencing Scarywood, the Tombs fell flat.
So much for that. If I were rating the Experience on Yelp, I’d give it no more than 2 stars.

We finally figured out how to properly use the London Pass app and did learn that St. Paul’s was free entry to those holding the Pass. After the disappointing London Bridge Experience, and because of the rain, we bypassed the Tower Bridge Experience and Shakespeare’s Globe and chose to go to St. Paul’s due to it’s proximity to us.
Between Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s, we hit a goldmine in religious architecture.
Neither church allowed photography within the edifice which is a shame because both of the interiors have so much to offer. Whereas Westminster is crowded with monuments and memorials, St. Paul’s feels relatively open and airy. The dome in St. Paul’s is probably its most famous feature and the interior view is just as impressive as the exterior. With the exception of one photo I sneaked in St. Paul’s, I borrowed photos of both churches off the internet to share.

7/26/17 Glastonbury:

King Arthur, ley lines, the Goddess Mother, crystals and a rockin’ music festival are what Glastonbury is famous for today, but it has a wealth of archeological evidence of human occupancy dating back thousands of years.

Historically, the Somerset area around Glastonbury was a tidal wetlands almost at sea level and navigated by boat. People have been draining the wetlands since before the Norman Conquest and there are a number of public works that currently maintain the drainage.

Mythology and legendary stories have come down to us from times when the area was still a wetland with islands of higher ground where settlements grew. One of these legends is that of King Arthur.
I have been fascinated with the Arthurian Saga for decades and have read more than my fair share of books about Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot and the Knights of the Round Table. I’m not going to delve deeply here other than to say the Glastonbury Tor is said to be the Isle of Avalon.
Tor is an Old English word for hill and the 500 ft tall conical clay-based hill is the iconic landmark of Glastonbury.

In legend the Isle of Avalon was a pre-Christian religious community celebrating the Mother Goddess. After his final battle in which he was mortally wounded, Arthur is said to have been taken to the mythical Isle of Avalon, where he was to remain until the land needed him again.
Jump forward to the Christian Era and Glastonbury gained fame from the legends of Joseph of Arimathea and the arrival of Christianity to Britain. Joseph came to Glastonbury by boat and landed at Wearyall Hill where he thrust his hawthorn staff into the ground and it grew into the original Holy Thorn Tree whose descendants still grow on the hill.
The Glastonbury Abbey became the richest abbey in the country using this and the Arthurian legend as a means to gain donations from wealthy citizens. None of that wealth or notoriety saved the Abbey when Henry VIII began the Dissolution and in fact the wealth was the direct means of the abbey’s destruction.
Today, the New Age culture has invaded the town. The Goddess is depicted everywhere, and to the casual observer, meditation centers and crystals and sacred wells are the order of the day.

It’s like being in Haight-Ashbury in the 1960s and we almost get a sense of déjà vu.
I have to admit there is a sense of peacefulness here and if I lived here I would probably become an advocate of Goddesses and crystals and who knows what else.

We are camping at The Isle of Avalon, a campground with a 15 minute walk into town. Location, location! The first day of our arrival it was raining so hard we spent the afternoon at the camping doing much needed laundry. On our second day the weather cleared and we walked the streets of Glastonbury, taking in the shops and people watching. There are a lot of dreadlocks, patchouli oil scent and colorful cottons being worn here.

We found the Lake Village Museum showcasing a small community that thrived in the wetlands over 2000 years ago and was rediscovered in the early 1900s. The museum is housed in the Tribunal, a medieval townhouse on High Street.

Further down the street was the St Margaret’s Chapel and Almshouse dating back to the 13th century. The monks of Glastonbury Abbey built it as a hospital for pilgrims. After the Dissolution (boy – Henry VIII really had it in for the monasteries. We’ve been witness to the aftermath all over Britain.) the hospital was dismantled and later 2 rows of five almshouses were added for the town’s poor men. One row still stands, the other was demolished in 1957 (!) and the foundations were incorporated in the courtyard garden.

The third day was sunny and warm. We walked up the Tor – a steep, hot climb – and enjoyed the fantastic 360* view offered. We joined many people, including a meditation class and children flying kites. The remains of a 14th century chapel stands at the summit and the shade it offered was welcomed. We could see Glastonbury at the base of the tor, we could see the town of Street, 2 miles further away. We could see Wearyall Hill and the Holy Thorn Tree at its summit and we could see the small cathedral city of Wells about 7 miles away.

At the base of the Tor is the Chalice Well, another legend-filled location. Returning to Arthurian legends, the Holy Grail is said to have been buried here and the iron tinged waters from the spring are supposed to have healing properties. In reality, the Chalice Well Gardens – according to the brochure – is a Living Sanctuary; a place to sooth the soul and revive the spirits. The well water flows from its source at the Lion head fountain through several pools and “rooms” of different garden plantings ranging from the profusion of flowering plants in the upper gardens terracing down to the shaded Yew trees and finally the lower lawns. It is very restful and shaded and cool and inviting.

Having recovered from our hot Tor hike in the cool of the Chalice Gardens, we continued to the Abbey. Most abbeys we have visited have been set apart and in their own grounds. Glastonbury’s main gate opens onto Magdalene Street – in the heart of the town. With the gates closed and without the large banners proclaiming the Abbey’s presence it almost could almost be mistaken for another store front. Behind the gates lies a 36 acre beautifully tended park the ruins stand in.

The abbey ruins have been photographed so often I’m willing to bet many people have seen them even if they were not sure what or where they were.
The abbey was the earliest Christian monastic site in Britain and by 1068 it was the wealthiest abbey in all of England with a worth placed at £846 (there has been a bit of inflation in the last 1050 years!)

A huge fire in the 11th century burned the whole thing to the ground leaving the monks penniless but resolute. In 1139 they devised a method to reel in the pounds by “discovering” King Arthur and Guinevere’s grave on the monastery grounds “proving” Glastonbury was the Isle of Avalon and making it a place of pilgrimage. Soon the cash was rolling in and they were able to rebuild the abbey to magnificent proportions.
The whole thing came crashing down in 1539 when the last abbot resisted the King and was found guilty of treason. He was hung, drawn and quartered on the top of the Tor (shades of Mel Gibson’s William Wallace), his abbey was dismantled and anything of value was sold off to the highest bidder. What was left is what we see today, a romantic look at days gone by and the legends contained within.

Thursday, July 27, we drive to Street to get new tires on the van and visit the Clark Village Outlet Stores; I’m looking for sandals. Friday we head for London Town.

7/20/17 The Gardens of Cornwall – part 2:

Seventeen years ago, on our last visit to Great Britain, while traveling around Cornwall looking for the tin mining tailings we came across a massive construction site for the Eden Project. It was an abandoned porcelain clay pit that was being repurposed as a giant greenhouse containing plant life from all around the world. The site was conducting tours of the grounds and the giant biomes and introducing the concept to visitors. We knew when we returned to the United Kingdom this time, that we would absolutely be visiting the completed Eden.

The same architect who restored the Heligan Gardens came up with the idea of the Eden Project. In two immense biomes (geodesic domes) he envisioned and helped bring to life the largest “captive” rainforest and Mediterranean landscapes with plants from Africa, Australia and the Americas. Outside gardens continued the great variety of plant life. Original artwork is scattered throughout the project. It is one hell of an idea.
Cornwall and China are the two largest producers of porcelain quality clay. The exhausted clay pit the Eden Project occupies is 60 meters deep, the area of 35 football (soccer) fields and 15 meters below the water table. It took 5 years to terraform, build the biomes and acquire, grow and plant the millions of 6000+ varieties of plants. They “made” 83,000 tons of soil from recycled waste and created their own water system by cleaning the seeping water that drains into the pit. They even have a zip line – purported to be the longest in Britain – and we believe it!
It is a sight to behold. We could not have begun to envision what the end product would look like 17 years ago when we first came across the Project.
If this sparks your interest google “Eden Project” for even more information. And next time you’re in England, make sure you go to Cornwall and visit the Eden Project.
For your pleasure here are some of the 150 photos we saved:

 

7/20/17 – Cornwall

We are in Cornwall, the furthest west part of southwest Britain. For me, Cornwall conjures up tales of King Arthur and his Knights, Pirates of Penzance, St. Michaels Mount and Lands End. But Thursday and Friday it will be all about gardens.
Thursday we visited the Lost Gardens of Heligan.
The Tremayne Family owned the Heligan Estate for over 400 years. Each generation added to the development of the 200 acres that made up the estate, but after WWI the last Tremayne closed it up and moved to Italy. By mid century half of the estate had been sold, but for 60 years the remaining gardens lay neglected and became “lost” to the locals.
In 1990 a descendant of the Tremaynes turned a trained archeologist friend of his, on to the history of the gardens. This friend determined to bring the gardens back to life. It took ten years to bring them back and the project was billed as “Europe’s largest garden restoration project.” Now – along with the Eden Project – it is one of the more popular tourist destinations in Cornwall.
So here are our highlights of the Heligan Gardens:
There are easy walking routes around the estate and there are more challenging routes. The challenging routes involve steep paths up and down hills but they bring you to interesting destinations. One is The Jungle, with exotic plants that include fern “trees” fifteen feet tall. A raised boardwalk leads you through the jungle to a rope suspension bridge that is great fun to cross.

The Woodland Walk is great for children with lots of things to climb on, and it has the Giant’s Head and the Mud Maid:

The Home Farm raised heritage breeds of sheep, pigs, poultry and cattle. It also had a sawmill and a woodworking shop:

The Garden is a feature all its own. A huge kitchen garden grows rows of vegetables and herbs interspersed with rows of flowers:

The Pleasure Gardens highlight a large grassy area bordered by the largest rhododendrons ever to be seen. We were walking under a canopy of greenery when we suddenly realized the trees were 150+ year old rhododendrons – and at least 20 feet high!

Now the Pacific Northwest grows Rhodies to be proud of, but they got nothing on the Heligan Rhodies. We missed the blooms by a couple of months but they must have been stupendous to see – the plants dressed only in green leaves were amazing. We copied a photo from the brochure so we all could see how they look in bloom.

We finished off the day with a continuation of our cribbage tournament (Peggy 17 wins, Bruce 16) and an Italian dinner featuring our kitchen window basil privacy hedge.

 

 

7/17/17 Secret Agent Man:

In 1968 CBS aired a 17-episode British TV series entitled “The Prisoner.” In brief, it was the story of a secret agent who suddenly quit the service but was kidnaped and imprisoned in a beautiful but bizarre village from which there was no escape.  Besides being counter-cultural for its time, the series carried existential themes and was very influential to this young college student who watched it.  Patrick McGoohan produced and starred as No. 6, the only name allowed him.

The series was filmed in the Northern Welsh town of Portmeirion, built by an architect – Sir Clough Williams-Ellis – in an Italian Style. He wanted to show that architecture could enhance natural settings and yet be fanciful and colorful.
I knew the series was filmed in the village but it has been almost 50 years since I have watched it and memory is dimmed. (Note to self: make sure to find and watch the series when we get home.).

The name Portmeirion is also used as a popular line of dishware that is best known for its botanical themes. The Portmeirion Pottery company is owned by the artist-daughter of Sir Williams-Ellis and is available at the village – and a lot of other retail outlets.

Since we were in Northern Wales we made it our goal to visit the village, now run by a charitable trust as a hotel. All buildings are available as hotel rooms and there are shops, a café, tearoom and a restaurant. It lies above a tidal estuary that is reachable via paths from the village and there is an additional 70 acres of wooded land surrounding the village.

A few photos are posted on line and we thought we had an idea of what we were going to see, but we WAY underestimated it. We walked through the archway entrance and into a miniature fairyland full of color and fancifulness.
I overheard one of the visitors mention that is was like being on a movie set and I had to agree. Besides the TV series, Portmeirion has been the inspiration for writers and musicians. Noel Coward wrote the play “Blithe Spirit” while staying there and the village is the setting for Festival No.6 which takes place every September. Needless to say, The Prisoner plays a pretty important role in the marketing of the village.

A 1965 Lotus 7 was featured in the series and while we were there a Lotus club was just completing a weekend stay at the village. There were Lotuses parked all over the place.
We thought Chester was a must see – and it is – but Portmeirion won my heart that day.

We were making a serious run south with our goal being The Eden Project in western Cornwall, the furthest most part of Britain, and a long trek. We had a long drive ahead of us after our morning at Portmeirion and it took its toll on us. After 5-6 hours and 141 miles of scenic but slow driving (never above 50mph and often in the 30s mph due to peaks and valleys) we finally made it to our camping in Newport, Wales where we promptly collapsed.
Newport was our day’s destination because we wanted to see the Romain remains at Caerleon.
After a nights rest, we drove to Caerleon, a blessed 7 miles away.
In its day, Caerleon was one of three major garrisons in Britain, the other two being Chester and York. It also has King Arthur associations, being a possible location of the mythical Camelot.
A great deal of the original fortress has been buried under the modern town, but there have been archeological digs uncovering the remains of the baths and barracks and a fine museum displaying artifacts found at the digs. A short walk away is what is left of the amphitheater, in recognizable condition for a neglected artifact 2000 years old.

Quite satisfied with our stop, we got back on the road – this time choosing to drive on the M roads – equivalent to our freeways – and made a short day of it by stopping south of Bristol at a port town. The weather is warm and muggy.

7/15/17 – Travel Day:

We crossed over into Wales today. This was not a particularly astounding feat since Chester is right on the border of England and Wales, but nonetheless we entered a new country.
It turned out to be castle day. Our objective was to visit Caernarfon Castle in northern Wales – the castle where the investiture of the Prince of Wales takes place. It is also across from the Isle of Anglesey, the location of the Celtic Druids’ last stand against the Roman army back in AD70 (spoiler alert: they lost.)
On our way to Caernarfon we passed 4 castles in the 67 mile drive from Chester; this leads me to believe that the Welsh – much like the Scots – were a major pain in the ass for the English.

We stopped at Conwy, a walled market town on the northern coast of Wales with a complete castle and the smallest house in Great Britain. The town boasts a stay from William Wordsworth whom it likes to claim, was inspired by a gravestone in the church to write his poem “We Are Seven.”

We crossed over to Anglesey and had a drive around, but while the island is verdant and lovely, its history was what caught my interest and we saw no sign of that.

We arrived at Caernarfon (I dare you to pronounce that – it took me 3 days to get it right and retain it) and were immediately enchanted with the castle and the walled town. I’m beginning to think there are as many restored castle as there are ruins in this country. The current castle was built by Edward I, replacing a motte and bailey (wooden) castle constructed in the days of Norman conquest. It is another UNESCO World Heritage site, and it is still owned by the British Royal Family.

The castle and town lie on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. I was unable to learn where the Romans attacked the Druids on Anglesey but I would not be surprised if it weren’t here, where the bay is shallow when tide is out. We walked about, looking for the best camera shot of the castle. We watched sailboats playing in the Strait with Anglesey in the background.

As we were leaving town we saw a sign directing us to Segontium, the old Roman fort manned by the army of General Agricola, who led the attack on the Druids. Of course we stopped to see it. It was at the top of a hill overlooking the Strait. The stone foundations of the fortress showed the typical orderly pattern the Romans used to lay out their camps.
Finally we got back on our way to Porthmadog and Portmeirion.

7/14/17 – Chester

Seventeen years ago, after our last visit to the UK, a good friend of ours – Tad – wondered if we had visited Chester. We hadn’t, but he spoke so highly of it, we put it on our bucket list should we ever return to the UK.
We were not disappointed. In fact, we had no idea we would as pleased with the town as we were.
I am all about ancient history and a lot of Roman history has survived the centuries via writings and ruins spread through what was once a vast Roman empire.
Chester was once a part of that empire. Founded around 70AD as a military fort – Deva Victrix – it was probably used to defend against Celtic tribes as the Romans advanced northward.
By the 5th century the Romans had left Britain and the fortress was abandoned. The Saxons arrived and the settlement was known Legacaestir – Old English for “City of the Legions.” Then the Normans conquered the island and Legacaestir became “Castor” (Latin for army camp) which, as the English language modernized, became Chester.
The Romans built walls enclosing their fortress and these walls have survived to this day. A two mile walk along the walls takes you all around the historic old city with great photo ops everywhere.

 

 

We began our wall walk at the Northgate. We passed the remains of the Roman Amphitheater and left the wall to visit the Roman Garden, an area with locally found roman relics. We saw where the walls had been breached during the English Civil War in the 1600s. We walked down to the River Dee to see the promenade, bridges and a fish weir. We walked along a portion of the river whose access to the sea made Chester the main seaport in the Northwest until the river silted up and Chester handed over its title to Liverpool.
We returned to the walls and passed the Cathedral Falconry and the cathedral. We walked under the 2nd most photographed clock in the country – Big Ben being the first. We glimpsed the famous Rows in the heart of Chester.
We walked past the Roodee, England’s oldest racecourse and once the Roman harbor before the river silted up and changed course. We passed the defensive tower where King Charles I watched the defeat of his army during the Civil War and had to flee for his life.
And then we descended into the city proper.
We were met with half timbered buildings ranging in age from 400 to a modern 150 years old. As we walked down Northgate we came across The Pied Bull, a pub that had been in business since the 1200’s and whose current building had been erected in 1547. That is 900 years of pouring beers!

We passed the stone archway that was the original entrance to the Chester Abbey. As with most other abbeys in England, it was dissolved in Henry VIII’s quest for separation from the Catholic Church. Someone in the church hierarchy was pretty smart though because a year later the abbey was reconsecrated as a cathedral of Henry’s Anglican Church, saving it from destruction. We saw the impressive Town Hall.
We finally reached the Cross; a junction of four streets: Northgate, Watergate, Eastgate and Bridge Streets. The Cross serves two functions that we could see; it is a meeting place and it introduces the Chester Rows.

The Rows are covered walkways with entrances to individual shops on the 2nd story level of buildings. The lower or street level is another set of shops. The walkways are continuous with access from the street level by way of numerous stairways. These Rows date back to the medieval era – probably around the 13th century and nowhere in the world is their equivalent.
They are along all four streets that make up the Cross. They are often contained within very architecturally distinctive buildings. They are a shopping Mecca with worshippers flocking to pay homage. They are picturesque as all get out.

We walked back to the Cathedral and upon entering it were treated to an organ recital. We walked about the interior listening to the music. Cathedrals are always amazing and this one was no different. Along the south wall are large mosaics representing events from the lives of Abraham, David and Moses and the cloisters are the first we’ve seen that are enclosed, usually they face out to an open green space.
We returned the next day to complete a couple of errands: Bruce got a badly needed haircut and we needed to start thinking of the most economical way to stay online after we left the UK.
We have been using SIM cards in our unlocked phone and iPad. Our first month on the continent we used the Lebara company’s data SIM card. We got it in Delft and for €20 we received 6GB of data. That, and available wifi use, was enough to last us for the month. When we reached the UK we were introduced to Three phone company. They had a phone/message/data package that gave us 12GB of data for 30 days for £20. We could use my iPhone as a hotspot and Bruce could connect through me to get online. We also purchased a 3GB data-only SIM for the iPad, good for 3 months. The 3 months will end about the time we return to the Continent and we wanted to purchase a SIM card that will last a year and give us 9GB data usage abroad. According to what research I could find, the deal for the 9GB was the best currently available so we wanted to buy it and be done.

While Bruce was getting his haircut, the barber explained the activity that was happening outside. The Cathedral was closed to the public for the day and Northgate Street was being cleared of vehicles. A funeral procession was being made ready for.
In late May, you may recall, the city of Manchester had a terrorist attack at an Ariana Grande concert. Among the murdered victims was a policewoman from Chester. It was her funeral that the city was preparing for.
We thought back to yesterday’s organ recital at the cathedral and wondered if perhaps it had actually been a practice session for the funeral.

Around 1:30 pm the procession began: a dozen police officers dressed in formal uniforms lined up as honor guard at the entrance of the cathedral. With great solemnity, elegance and dignity, the coffin was carried into the walled city by a horse and carriage, preceded by two mounted officers. Chester citizens lined the street to pay their last respects while in the background tourists, oblivious to the event took selfies in front of landmarks.
After the procession we made our way back to the bus station and returned to the camping to cook dinner and prepare for our departure.

 

7/12/17 travel days

We drove south through the Scottish lowlands stopping for the night at Gretna Green on the border of Scotland and England.
Gretna Green got famous when, 200 years ago, it became the destination for underage lovers running off to get married without parental consent.

Talk about a tourist trap! Busloads of tourists come to see the “famous” blacksmith’s anvil where the marriages took place. The souvenir shops sell the kitschiest items for exorbitant prices and the lines at the register are long. Ugh.
And people still come to Gretna Green to get married.

We left Scotland and drove south through the Lake District.
Oh. My. Gosh. What a beautiful area.
Of course we’d heard of the Lake District just as we’d heard of the Yorkshire Dales and Moors, but you have to see them to appreciate them.
Years ago I read an opinion that the UK – with all its civilized land – was one of the most beautiful islands in the world. When we toured Britain in 2000 we heartily agreed with that assessment.
The Lake District is the most beautiful area we’ve seen in a beautiful country (Robin – remember we haven’t been to the Highlands. Call off the Floggers!) And I don’t have a photo to share that does it justice.

Our road took us through a necklace of fairytale stone villages sitting on glittering lakes with a backdrop of fields dotted with stone walls. Low lying mountains rimmed the vales where the lakes lay. It is so hard to describe the beauty of the area. Evidently we are not alone in that assessment because the Lakes District is visited by something like 23 million people each year and I think they all come in the summer.

 

We found a stone circle at Castlerigg on a hilltop and we spent the night at a camping in Keswick. The camping – and the town – sat on the edge of one of the lakes the district was named after. The view reminded us of Lake McDonald in Glacier Park (sans snow).
We drove through Grasmere, where the poet William Wadsworth lived for 14 years. We passed by Beatrix Potter’s village of Near Sawrey and made our lunch in Windermere. Eventually we passed through the Lake District and stopped outside of Blackpool on our way to Chester. We are not visiting Blackpool, known as a seaside resort with an amusement park, because we want to devote a couple of days to Chester, a town with Roman origins, before continuing to Northern Wales and then to the South.

7/9/2017 Rosslyn Chapel

Beginning our journey south, we made sure to stop at Rosslyn Chapel, the 15th Century Scottish chapel made famous by the book/movie “The DaVinci Code.” It is located just 8 miles south of Edinburgh proper and has many mysteries associated with it. Was it a Templar chapel? Is the St Clair family descendants of Mary Magdalene? Is there a secret vault beneath the crypt? Did the master stonemason really kill his apprentice in a fit of jealous rage? These are just a few of the mysteries promoted by authors and conspiracy theorists over the centuries.

We found no answers to those questions but, like so many before us, we were enchanted by the chapel. It seems that every bit of masonry has been carved. It was considered a collegiate church which meant it was a teaching church so most of the stonework told stories for the illiterate. It took over 40 years for the stonemasons to complete their work.

IT WAS SMALL!!!! As we entered the chapel we were stunned by its diminutive size.
We stayed to listen to a talk about the chapel and its history and then explored the chapel more closely. We saw the famous master and apprentice pillars; the apprentice pillar completely outclassing the master’s pillar the tale of the jealous, murderous master. Carvings depicted all sorts of things: a devil and lovers; an angel with bagpipes, members of the St. Clair family – owners of the chapel; green men; seven deadly sins, seven acts of mercy, on and on. It was fascinating.

We couldn’t take photos of the interior so you’ll just have to watch the movie or look at the two photos I found online (no photo credits this time).

We left the chapel and began our drive back to England. The weather held for us during our time in Edinburgh but rain has returned and looks to stay for the time we allotted for Scotland. We decided to bypass Sterling and Glasgow and instead head for drier weather.