Back to Britain
A Journey With Sheep
August to October, 2000


Prologue & Preparations

12th November, 1999
4th January, 2000
5th March, 2000
22nd July, 2000

Friday, 12th November, 1999

Drop Cap ell, the decision was made months ago, even years, if the truth be told, we were going to escape the Olympic hype and hassle and return to Britain for an extended tour. This time we were taking Geoff and if Neil could scrape up the airfare he could join us in Scotland if he wished.

Drop Cap o, a few months ago I started researching on the Internet, looking for accommodation, car hire rates, canal barge companies, train timetables and events.

Drop Cap e all have our own ideas on what we want to see and do and have come up with a programme which should please us all. We start with four nights in London, booked through the Internet with HotelsLondon at the Berjaya Eden Park Hotel in the Kensington/Queensway/Notting Hill area. During this time we want to do the tour of Buckingham Palace, tour the Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, do a walking tour of either Shakespeare and Dickens' London or the Inns of Court area, see the Chelsea Physic Garden and Greenwich, including the Observatory and Thames Barriers.

Stick Figure Graphic

Drop Cap hen we leave London we pick up a hire car at Gatwick and drive for a night's B & B at Lyme Regis in Dorset. On the way we will stop at Cerne Abbas to see the giant carved in the hillside chalk, and other prehistoric sites (Geoff's choice of site). At Lyme Regis I wish to walk on the Cobb, made famous by Jane Austen in Persuasion and the film and book of The French Lieutenant's Woman, maybe look for fossils, in which the area supposedly abounds.

Drop Cap he next day we head for Cornwall, where we wish to B & B for the night in Boscastle, where there is a witchcraft museum (Geoff again) but the whole area is lovely. We could possibly see Tintagel again, it is very close to Boscastle.

Drop Cap hen we leave here we head to Bath, where we have a cottage booked at Greyfield Farm, the place we stayed in before, in 1992. We will be here a week and it will be the base for a wide area, including Avebury and its many prehistoric sites, Glastonbury, Lacock and its Abbey, a National Trust village which was featured in Pride and Prejudice on BBC. The Abbey has an exhibit of a pioneer photographer who once lived here, so it is something for Geoff as well.
We want to follow the towpath of the Kennet and Avon Canal and also visit Mac's cousin Beryl who lives in Burnham-on-Sea, only a few miles away.

Car graphic

Drop Cap rom Bath (or High Littleton, to be exact) we drive to Bristol to return the hire car, then catch the train to Chirk, in Wales (right on the border) where we will pick up our narrowboat home from Black Prince Narrowboats. We have booked a four berth Duchess 2000 class, 50' long, with two double beds, bathroom, galley, TV etc etc for two weeks. We intend to putter (5 knots max) from Chirk to Chester, then to Ellesmere Port, then back through Chester and Chirk to Llangollen, via the spectacular aqueducts. In Llangollen there is a lot to do, including the Dr. Who Museum. We are all really looking forward to this section of the tour.

Narrowboat graphic

Drop Cap hen we return to Chirk we take the train to Shrewsbury, one of my favourite towns, for two nights B & B, where we intend to visit the Shrewsbury Quest, based in Brother Cadfael's Abbey, and possibly do a Cadfael walk through the town.

Drop Cap rom Shrewsbury we take the train to Edinburgh, staying for two nights B & B in a very central guest house. Edinburgh is lovely, with lots to show Geoff.

Drop Cap e pick up another hire car in Edinburgh and drive through to Inverness, where we have another two nights B & B booked. We hope to have time to stop in Newtonmore on the way to Inverness to see the MacPherson Clan Museum and Waltzing Waters again. Also we would like to stop at Clava Cairns - Geoff has expressed the desire to see as many standing stones and circles as he can.

Drop Cap rom Inverness we drive through the gorgeous scenery to Plockton, home of Hamish MacBeth. We have a night's B & B booked there and I can't wait. It looks so beautiful.

Drop Cap rom there we head, via Eilean Donan to Glenelg, where there are broch towers, and a tiny ferry across to Skye. We have a cottage booked for a week in a remote area about seven miles as the osprey flies from Dunvegan.
Just hope the weather is a bit better than it was last time, when it rained all the time.

Drop Cap rom Skye, we head back down to Central Scotland, to Lochearnhead, where we have booked a cottage for a week at Earnknowe, where we stayed last time.
It may not be very adventurous, but we know we like these places so why not?
Geoff hasn't seen them. Lochearnhead is a very central base for Rob Roy and Braveheart country. And there is scenery there which we have not seen and places to which we have not been.

Bagpipe graphic

Drop Cap rom Lochearnhead we travel back across the border to Hadrian's Wall, where we have another cottage booked for a week at Corbridge. There are Roman remains, the Wall, many many historic castles, Beamish and Durham, and Lindisfarne, the Holy Island, which I hope to be able to visit. We have visited the wall before, and Beamish and Durham, but nowhere else in Northumberland and we are looking forward to that, as well.

Drop Cap ime is now running out, so we are spending 3 nights in the Lakes District, so lovely, then driving through the gorgeous Yorkshire Dales to three nights in York. We return the car in York and catch a train to London to leave the bags at Paddington for a while, then train to Heathrow for a late plane (22:20) to return to Sydney.

Drop Cap t this stage, a great deal has been organised and much of it has been paid for. After Christmas we will arrange B & Bs in Lyme, Boscastle, Shrewsbury, and York and pay for the airfares and car hire. We are getting an early bird rate with Cathay Pacific Airlines, where we intend to take 4 seats between us, so we can spread out a bit. It is still cheaper than 3 business class seats. Part of the deal means we have to spend $250 per seat on land content, that will be car hire, from Hertz of a Ford Mondeo Wagon, expensive, but big enough for three large people and luggage.
Since we have paid for so much of it already we have taken out NRMA travel insurance which will cover us if, God forbid, we have to cancel.

Drop Cap nd there we stand for the moment. I will write more when the rest has been organised.

Britain Map photograph

Planning and Preparation

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Tuesday 4th January, 2000 (and doesn't that sound strange?)

Drop Cap ell, I have now booked and paid for Boscastle (at the Old Coach House, which I wanted) and Plockton (second choice, but it looks just as nice). Unfortunately, the Lyme Regis guesthouses which I have contacted don't seem to want to book for only one night stands in August, which is their busiest holiday month. I suppose you can't blame them, but it is the same for Cornwall, Boscastle is on the seacoast, and they don't have a problem with our just booking Friday night and not the whole weekend. However, I will keep on plugging at Lyme, I will have to actually write to some of them, rather than emailing. I am getting so spoiled, such quick replies. If none of them will take us in we will have to go inland a bit. I might get on to the Tourist Information Office in Lyme by email and see what they can advise, if anything.
Also, we wanted to stay in the Lakes District at Silverholme, which is a B & B attached to the cottage we rented last time (or vice versa) but a letter has failed to elicit a response. I am writing again but we may have to find an alternative there as well.

Drop Cap o now, it is just Lyme, Shrewsbury, Lakes District and York to organise plus the rail travel (but we know we can't do that too early). More when there is more to report.

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Sunday, 5th March, 2000

Drop Cap ell, we now have quite a lot more organised. We have booked a B & B, Rotherfield, in Lyme Regis and could have booked another which was just a little slower. First in, gets the booking.

Drop Cap e also heard nothing from Silverholme after two letters so feel we must abandon them. We have booked a B & B called Dunmail House in Grasmere for the three nights and returned to the Ascot House in York for the last three nights of the trip. Both are booked and paid for. So, now it is pay the car hire and the rest of the canal hire, transfer an obscene number of dollars to Britain for much fewer pounds. We also have to consider whether to book the major rail journeys Bristol to Chirk and Shrewsbury to Edinburgh in advance. I feel we won't have any trouble with Chirk to Shrewsbury or even York to London. I also want to confirm our hotel bookings in London. They have been confirmed by Hotels-London, the agency which handled them, but I am still a little unsure of Internet bookings. I want to have it confirmed by the hotel itself.

Drop Cap have just received a letter from Silverholme to the effect that it is now a private house and not offering B & B. So that is that sorted out. I had rather expected that. But Dunmail House looks nice and nowhere is very far from anywhere in the Lakes District. We can drive to Hawkshead from Grasmere and do all we had intended to do.

Aqueduct graphic

Drop Cap he big news now is that Neil has definitely decided to travel to Britain at this time. He will not be travelling with us, but wants to join us for a week of the canal cruise. He wishes to see some of the south and west of England and Cambridge and the east as well. I have made out a suggested itinerary for him which he seems to like so he may follow it or reverse it or cut it about or whatever he likes. It is his trip.

Drop Cap o there we are now. Next report will be that everything is organised up to the back teeth, hopefully. Even Geoff, who is now working, is hopeful that there will still be a job for him when he gets back. Will report again in June or July or if anything drastic happens before then.

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Saturday, 22nd July, 2000

Drop Cap ell, here we are. Everything is arranged, everything is paid for. And there is still a month to go! We picked up the tickets and vouchers today. Found a couple of errors and had to leave the Visitor Travel Cards for London to be upgraded to all 6 zones and the second lot of car hire to be picked up in Downtown Edinburgh instead of the Airport. I thought we would be able to pick it up at Waverley station but it seems not. But it does seem strange to have the air tickets, all four of them (one for Mrs. Extra MacPherson) already computer printed with boarding passes and allocated seats already attached. Also the time of the flight from Mascot has been changed to 15:10 instead of 14:15. That's fine, gives us less time to hang around at Hong Kong airport. Still arrives at crack of dawn in London.

aeroplane graphic

Drop Cap he only things left to pay for and arrange are the train tickets, Bristol - Chirk, Chirk - Shrewsbury, Shrewsbury - Edinburgh and York - London. I think we can organise this from London. We all have our passports, and the only thing to organise from this end is transport to the airport and transfer of cash from my Macquarie account to Natwest. I will report further if any problem arises, otherwise I will start my trip journal from here.

Drop Cap got in touch with the Berjaya Eden Park Hotel directly and to my dismay, they only seem to have been advised that we have given a credit card number and deposit for the first night. I emailed back immediately and told them we had paid by cheque for the full period, get in touch with Hotels/London. They did and emailed in return that Hotels/London had agreed to guarantee payment for the full period! I will take copies of all my emails, just in case. Not too happy with Internet booking!

Drop Cap to a problem really, but have just received an email from the B & B in Plockton, stating family problems which will prevent them being open when we get there. They have passed on our booking to friends who also run a B & B with our cheque, and I have contacted the new guesthouse and all will be well, they say. Trip journal proper starts here.

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