MALAYSIA TO ENGLAND & WALES (No. 1 of UK Visit)

Skipper takes it easy for a minute or two

It's good to be back in KL and we find another very comfortable hotel in Chinatown where we have close access to the stalls and markets. We revisited the spectacular Petronas towers and this time also strolled around the Aquarium (note: Don't visit the Aquarium at the weekend – aargh children everywhere!). However the Aquarium itself is worth the visit. On our second day in KL the skipper unfortunately picked up a slight stomach bug and so we made sure we had plenty of rest prior to our flight to London which meant not straying too far from the hotel and taking things a bit easy.

In the Aquarium

Thankfully, IN the Aquarium

We are pleased to say Air Asia again gave us a smooth flight and although the airline food reputation has somehow wormed it's way into this airline, we landed fairly well rested and 50 minutes ahead of schedule. When you are young staying awake for 24 hours is easy – not so now although having daylight for those 24 hours helped slightly and we soon caught up with the time change. Landing in Stansted airport gave us the opportunity to view the lovely English countryside on our approach as the airport is quite remote and England from the air, to our delight, looked like an enormous patchwork quilt in various shades of green.

After landing we took the driver-less train to the terminal, collected our bags and slipped through the formalities without a hitch (the crew now also has her British citizenship so both of us were in the 'short' queue). We did however, unfortunately have a very miserable, stern, short-tempered bus driver who we are convinced hated his job from the greeting we got. Oh dear, Welcome to England. One other young passenger overheard the crew's comments and assured us that “we are not all like that here”.


 

LONDON

The term 'Old London Town' is absolutely justified and walking around this city is like walking back in time. The rows of buildings, double decker buses and old cabs add loads of character to a busy, modern metropolis brimming with tourists at this time of year. Our hotel is small but clean and a cooked breakfast is available each morning. (There goes the gym workout). Of course we follow all the other tourists and visit the popular sights – Buckingham Palace, Royal Horse Guards, London Bridge, Big Ben, Hyde Park, Museums, HARRODS (the crew is keen to go back there), Paddington Station, Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and the list goes on. 

After three days of walking London town we give our blistered feet a rest and hire a car to meet up with the Skipper's parents in Wales for a week's tour. We are not used to wearing shoes and socks and the skipper has enormous blisters on both feet and the crew is going to lose a toenail. 

We spied this little fox with his eye on something in the garden in Hyde Park

Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace

You are allowed to ride your horse through Hyde Park

WALES

Wales is just beautiful and we seemed to have stepped through a time-warp back into the 1800's and sometimes as far back as the middle ages. There are many castle ruins and towns are still alive and well within castle boundary walls. The weather was mostly kind to us and we are happy to say we even got to shake out the shorts! One waitress told us to “make the most of it, it won't last” but it actually did – the entire day! Our accommodation has been varied and 98% of the time very good – mostly farm or village B&Bs and we were fortunate enough to have the 'Bridal Suite' at one place – very posh – spa bath, brass bed and a view of the sheep up the side of the hill – very romantic. I said 'very romantic' skipper, are you awake? Oh well.  Below is Carnarvon Castle.

Looking into the village within the castle walls

A drive through the Snowdonia region delighted us with soft rolling hills and lakes dotted throughout the valleys and tiny villages with very narrow streets – only wide enough for one car – but they do have passing points which consist of a bit of road gouged out of the hedges that line the roads just big enough to pull into to let another car pass. Navigating was a bit of a challenge as the Welsh town names are something else. They seem to lack a few vowels and approaching road signs and then trying to compare names on the map before the driver got caught up in the roundabout became the bane of the crew's day. We did see a couple of roundabouts twice – didn't we just pass that? 

As you can see the streets are extremely narrow.  Our last night in Wales was spent at the seaside town of Mumbles where we believe the skipper's father has some ancestral heritage. The local post office and library were ever so accommodating in tracing back the names of streets so we could take a drive around to have a look at what may have once been the family home. Sometimes a hit-and-miss operation with many streets having been mentioned in the history and names that are very similar but not quite right – however, many a laugh was had with the 4 of us in the car navigating through the narrow streets sometimes reversing to allow oncoming cars to pass. 

A gorgeous Welsh village.

As our Wales visit came to an end we were welcomed at the home of the skipper's uncle and aunty where we said farewell to his parents and after a delightful afternoon tea we made our way to Wilton Farm (a B&B) and a self-contained unit for a few days.

One of our delightful farmhouse accommodations - 9:30pm and the sun is still just peeking over the roof.

ENGLAND (No. 2 of UK Visit)

So from our few days on Wilton Farm we drove into the English countryside to Bath a city steeped in Roman history.  

The crew is very impressed with the Roman Baths and indeed with the delightful streets of Bath and with the numbers of visitors here we decide to ‘Park and Ride’ – a carpark about 10 minutes out of town where the double-decker buses pick you up and drop you back for only 3 GBP as carparking is very hard to find and expensive.  The Roman Baths are amazing and still being excavated.  Hot water at a temperature of 460°C rises here at the rate of 1,170,000 litres every day and has been doing so for thousands of years.  Lead pipe that the Romans fashioned is still embedded into the stonework of the floor to carry the water to various pools.  

After Bath we visit Bristol and the SS Great Britain exhibition – without doubt one of the very best exhibitions we have ever seen.  Keep a watch for a separate page on the blog for this.   We are also able to visit some cousins -  this a highlight for the crew as she has not met this cousin before.  We are welcomed and instantly feel at home and enjoy their company and that of the puppies they are fostering, their own dogs, cats, geese and horses and take pleasure in home grown vegetables and fruit.  YUM. We discover this cousin also enjoys sailing and so we spend time recounting our trip up the east coast of Australia and through Indonesia for them.  We are chauffeured around the coastal towns of Margate, Ramsgate, Deal and Dover to enjoy the marinas and different styles of houses and buildings.  In one hotel at lunch time as we were enjoying our drinks awaiting lunch a funny little man wandered in the door near where we sat and rabbited on about nothing much, rolling our eyes we turned to try to ignore the rantings and after he departed we discovered he had pinched the pint of beer from a lady at a nearby table and scarpered.  Cheeky bugger!

Pubs get the summer treatment of flower baskets

The south of England is just lovely and again we were both in awe of the lovely cottages and properties we saw while driving around.   The villages are just as picturesque as in Wales and a little further north the Lake District is reminiscent of quaint alpine villages seen in travel brochures.  Again, we encounter very good and varied accommodation and enjoy strolling through cobbled streets past houses, paddocks and around churches in the long twilight of the English summer.  The crew also has the chance to visit the family's old homes and the church where her parents were married. 

An evening stroll around the village

From the south we travel to Northampton to visit the Spencer family home Althorp House.  If we don't do this one daughter will not be happy with us as she is a big Princess Diana fan.  So off we go, walking around the grounds – the crew venturing inside the family home – the skipper strolling outside and finally we both walked through the  gardens to the small island where Diana is laid to rest.  How lovely, the surrounds are so serene and pretty.  A few ducks waddle up to us quacking quietly as we sit and enjoy the peaceful atmosphere.  Apparently Diana and her brother moved to Althorp after their father inherited the title and property from his predecessor while they were still children although they were both born at Park House in Sandringham.  Of course, her brother is now the current (9^th) Earl Spencer and so lives on the property with his new wife. 

Althorp house

Princess Diana's peaceful resting place

Now it's on up to Manchester and Liverpool to visit the Beatles old stomping grounds.  I have to tell you Liverpool and Manchester are not the most beautiful areas in England  but we did encounter very friendly people many of whom have a story to tell about someone they know in Australia.  We also visit Oldham where the Skipper was born (yep, he’s a POM if you didn’t know) on our way to Scotland via Blackpool and the glorious Lake District. 

SCOTLAND (No. 3 of UK Visit)

We both fell in love with Scotland and again we encounter glorious scenery especially up in the highlands where any Scotsman will tell you that there is nothing there, but really there are spectacular rugged mountains which one can imagine snow-capped in winter but now are covered in the most glorious mauve heather.  We take the opportunity whenever we can to drive through the moors dodging sheep and horses that have had the right of way for hundreds of years.  Our hosts in B&Bs are very friendly and treat us as one of the family.  We stay in quaint and sometimes grand accommodation depending on who inherited what in the way of estates. 

A rather grand B&B - we think this one was inherited

On one of our back-road treks we stumbled upon a place called 'Birkhall' and while taken aback by the presence of a 'Bobby' on the gate we continued to wrack our brains as to who may reside there.  Once we drove past Balmoral Castle (where the Queen is in residence for summer) we discovered that 'Birkhall' is Charles and Camilla's summer house, once occupied by the Queen Mother.  Explains the policeman.

We are both keen on taking the roads-less-travelled and a good percentage of our time is spent exploring tiny winding tracks (they call them roads) over mountains and past paddocks and through glorious villages that most of the Brits and Scots themselves would never have seen.  

And a castle pops up here and there

Afternoon tea in Scotland

There's that glorious heather again

The Scottish are very friendly people and have the most wonderful accents and a good sense of humour.  Australians are heartily welcomed amid wisecracks about the cricket and the Scottish version of 'g'day mate' said with their beautiful accents.  Although they do try to offload a Fosters or two we decline – YUK – why do they think we send it over there?  We are fortunate to catch up with a fellow cruiser who had sailed with the rally from Darwin through Indonesia and Malaysia and on to the Mediterranean to finally return to Troon in Scotland.  Iain and his friends entertain, feed and provide a bed for us for a night of Scottish hospitality – just great, thanks so much. 

Inverness Castle, now government offices

While in Edinburgh we treat ourselves to a night at the Castle to watch the 2011 Military Tattoo and what a wonderful experience that was.  Just fabulous.  The TV does not do the night justice and we are so glad we rugged up and bought a blanket and climbed the steep stairs to really goods seats to enjoy the entertainment.

Opening the Tattoo

 

A spectacular finish

On arrival however, we were a tad worried as the hotel we had booked 4 months earlier told us that we were double booked but would be accommodated in the hotel 'flat'.  Hmmm – the flat was not fit for squirrels let alone guests and a frustrating afternoon's debate ensued but finally we found alternative accommodation - and a refund - and the following days made up for all the fuss.  Strange though, the alternate accommodation we found was hosted by a lovely Indian lady with a very strong Scottish accent.  Weird looking at a Sri Lankan/Indian-looking lady and hearing her speak with a Scottish accent.  Hope I didn’t stare for too long. 

Loch Ness and up through the beautiful Scottish sailing grounds around the islands off the mainland are again breathtakingly beautiful and of course we had to drive to the Mull of Kintyre (yes we had Paul McCartney playing while we shivered and sipped red wine from the bottle overlooking the Mull watching the sunset and the mist rolling in from the sea....) corny we know, but it just had to happen.  Finally we reached northern-most tip of mainland Scotland (Dunnett Head) to see the Orkney Isles in the distance.

The top end of Loch Ness

All too soon we have to leave the Scottish summer (just like Winter in Melbourne really) to wind our way back into the lush green English countryside.  

The pretty coastal town of Lynmouth

Lynmouth

Anne Hathaway's house (wife of Shakespeare)

A back road somewhere in England !

For your viewing pleasure - The Amazing Falkirk Wheel.

The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift located in Scotland.  The wheel has an overall diameter of 35 metres (115 ft) and consists of two opposing arms which extend 15 metres beyond the central axle and take the shape of a Celtic-inspired axe.  Two sets of these axe-shaped arms are attached about 25 metres (82 ft) apart to a 3.5 metres (11 ft) diameter axle. Two diametrically-opposed water-filled buckets or gondolas each with a capacity of 80,000 imperial gallons (364,000 litres) are fitted between the ends of the arms.

These gondolas always weigh the same whether or not they are carrying their combined capacity of 600 tonnes of floating canal barges as, according to Archimedes principle: floating objects displace their own weight in water, so when the boat enters, the amount of water leaving the gondola weighs exactly the same as the boat. This keeps the wheel balanced and so, despite its enormous mass, it rotates through 180° in five and a half minutes while using very little power. It takes just 22.5 kilowatts (30.2 hp) to power the electric motors which consume, in four minutes, roughly the same amount of energy as boiling eight kettles of water.

The wheel is the only rotating boat lift of its kind in the world - press the arrow below to see it in action.

BACK TO ENGLAND (No. 4 of UK Visit)

Skipper is having withdrawal symptoms I think as he has mentioned hiring a canal boat several times so with this in mind we drive on through the flat moors and industrial towns to a couple of marinas to discuss the possibility of hire.

We strike a deal with Wyvern Shipping, who were absolutely wonderful and have good clean boats for hire and decide now to hand the hire car back with 5,300 miles added to the odometer and swap the road for the Grand Union Canal.

THE GRAND UNION CANAL built by engineer William Jessop was opened in 1800 and formed part of a network of canals designed to give faster and a more direct route for transporting goods between Birmingham and London by barge/narrow boat. Its main line stretches for 137 miles (220 km) and has a total of 166 locks although we only went through around 30 of them TWICE! as we had to turn around and come back to base.

The canals are lined by tow paths along which horses would haul the barges before the introduction of engines, now they are used for walking, cycling or access between locks.

Press the arrow in the box below to view a slideshow of our holiday:

PARIS & LONDON (The final chapter of UK Visit)

Following our idyllic 10 days on the canal we head for London to catch the train to Paris.

The Eurostar fast train was efficient, comfortable and reasonably priced but on boarding we discovered our window was not as clean as it could have been.  Skipper decided that he would clean it up before we departed with wet-wipes and tissues so we had a clear view of the countryside much to the amusement of fellow passengers who after observing the skipper’s skills, decided to do the same thing – at least 4 others got out on the platform to clean their windows.  Funny. 

Our hotel was convenient and comfortable with breakfast provided each morning (croissants, buns, yoghurt, cereal, tea, coffee, juice) the usual tasty French culprits (how much weight have we gained?) and the staff friendly.  On arrival we did what we normally do and immediately investigated the best ‘local’ train tickets to use which made getting around extremely easy.

Hmmm, Paris.  Paris was everything you would expect it to be, spectacular in it’s sightseeing but dirty, smelly and busy with unfortunately lots of graffiti which does not seem to bother the Parisians as no effort seems to be made to clean it up.  In fact, on our boat trip on the Seine we were talking to the hostess/tour guide about the graffiti and she remarked with surprise “oh, you don’t like it?”  Well, NO.

Moving on though, we very much enjoyed all the usual sightseeing – Notre Dame, The Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Montmartre, the Basilica of Sacre Coeur, boat rides on the Seine, the Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Moulin Rouge district, Versailles – AND enjoyed doing what most French do and sat in cafés and bistros sipping wine and eating.  Very nice thanks.  Overall, the people were friendly and helpful and we also found a couple of ‘English’ sports bars so the Skipper was able to keep abreast of the soccer.  Little Yay?

Although our visit was fairly short we managed to walk many miles around Paris and very much enjoyed the exquisite architecture and small avenues filled with cafes and shops.  And like ducks to water, we enjoyed a couple of boat tours on the Seine - one of which took us through 4 locks (because we didn't have enough of them on the canal!)  this time, however, lockmasters pulled levers and the crew just sat and watched. 

We observed on our return to London by train that the windows were clean!  Maybe the frantic cleaning by the Skipper and passengers on the inward journey had some impact. 

Eiffel Tower

The Arc de Triompe

Fantastic Notre Dame

The Moulin Rouge

Outside the Louvre

Sacre Coeur

Gorgeous Montmartre district

LONDON

We had a small hiccup with our flights back to Malaysia – airline decided to use smaller plane and make a stopover in Delhi.  We did not want to stopover in Delhi and so negotiations ensued.  L o n g story short “Sure we can put you on a flight the next day” – but not in our extra-legroom seats – “no problem we can refund you” – not the point Skipper does NOT fit into conventional seats – “ok we can get you on flight with legroom a few days later 16 rows apart!  Not happy but it will have to do. 

There's no escape from the French Police in this get-up

So let’s see what can we do to fill in our time in London for a week?  We discovered that the universities have wonderful FREE museums and we visit the Zoological and Surgical Museums – fascinating.  Another ‘must see’ and we are disappointed we did not have more time, is the London Science Museum.  A great way to fill an entire day.  We also take in a couple of the West End theatre shows which were great although Mama Mia is way better on DVD.  A visit to the famous Abbey Road Studios and the crossing that the Fab Four have on the cover of their Abbey Road album.

The Tower - where the crown jewels are housed

The Tower Bridge - which actually has nothing to do with the Tower of London

Poor Skipper, the crew made him line up for over an hour to get into Madame Tussauds (he was NOT a happy chappy) but cheered up when I took his photo with Shrek.  (It's the little things that make one happy)  Was it worth the wait and the money?…. No but filled in a morning.  The London Tower however, was very good and our guide, a Beefeater who lives onsite, made the tour very interesting with his knowledge, passion and sense of humour AND there was no queue.  Calm, happy Skipper again.

We re-visited Harrods of course and Paddington Station to buy a Paddington Bear to add to the crew’s collection.  We took a picnic lunch to Hyde Park, visited the Aussie pub to catch up on the footie.  Go Pies!  And prepared ourselves for the long flight back which, we are again pleased to say, all went smoothly.  Oh unless you count the twerp at the security desk in London who decided to tell the entire airport that the crew’s plastic bag holding her liquids was “THE WRONG SIZE”.  Hell, are you talking to me?  Calm, calm, calm, just buy the correct size plastic bag and move on.  TWERP! 

The very ornate ATM atrium at Lloyds bank in Fleet Street

Back in Kuala Lumpur – aaah nice to be back in Chinatown where the beer is cold and cheap and the food yummy.  Big Yay.  We spend a couple of days exploring KL shops (as you do) and decide to take the bus back down to Johor Bahru this time.  You may recall the last couple of times we took the train and previously the plane but this time we tested the bus.  A direct train to the bus station, walk straight onto a luxurious bus and arrive in JB 4 hours later.  Very smooth indeed.

Bluestone is still floating – a good thing.  She has more barnacles than Moby Dick and needs a real good scrub – oh yes, and the toilet seized, but apart from that all is good.