After long hours flying (and waiting to fly), I landed in Manchester, Enghland. After a brief car ride, I was in Chester for the start of the Overseas Adventure Travel tour.
East Gate of the Chester Town wall, including the clock. It was spring break for many of the schools so the streets were filled with tourists.
View along the Chester city wall.
Race track just outside the city wall, Unfortunately, the races did not start for another month.
Our transport for a view of the town from the Dee River.
Houses along the river
One of several groups of rowers on the river
Since Chester is on the border of Wales, we spent a day in Wales to see our first castle – Conwy Castle
An interior area of the castle
Also in Conwy is the smallest house in Great Britain, about 10 feet to the eave and six feet wide.
The rocky path at Cwm Idwal in Snowdonia National Park …
… led to this lake at the top.
Our day finished with a trip to a brewery
A wall decoration in Kirby Lonsdale
St. Mary’s church in Kirby Lonsdale, built in segments starting in the early 1100’s.
Wall plaque in Kirby Lonsdale
Dry stone walls separating fields in Lancashire
Closer view of a dry stone wall
Lecture on how to build dry stone walls that will last hundreds of years by Robert Willan (Emma Leech photo). Among other things:
Avoid voids!
Each stone is inclined downward to the outside face so any moisture drains out of the wall.
Later in the trip, we saw some dry stone car artistry.
In Grasmere, we stayed at the White Swan, an inn where William Wordsworth spent a significant part of his time.
The White Swan (Emma Leech photo)
The local sheep at Grasmere are Herdwick, which are brown when young and the turn whiter.
We spent much of a day at the Miller farm
It was lambing season so there were plenty of newborns around, including one born while we were standing around in the barn.
We saw one of the sheep dogs handle sheep …
… and also two sheep dogs work together to move sheep around a field. The dogs were individually controlled by whistles. This was fascinating to me since I had never seen two sheep dogs work at once.
As it turned out, our host Gary Miller was the champion of the local sheep dog trials (after 20 years of trying) and currently possessed the trophy.
In Edinburgh, a heart in the pavement of the Royal Mile
Edinburgh Castle
Castle view from below
St. Giles cathedral in Edinburgh
Mary, Queen of Scots, at the National Museum of Scotland
A lectern at the museum
Rosslyn Chapel (see the Da Vinci Code)
A night of Scottish entertainment
Some of the evening’s entertainment
And a bit more
On the way to the Orkney Islands, we stopped in Shetland long enough for this view.
Our first stop at an archaeological site in the Orkneys
The Standing Stones of Stenness, originally 12 in number (remains of the missing bases can be seen). These are approximately 5,000 years old – several hundred years older than Stonehenge. On the day we were there, the temperature was around 40 degrees and the wind speed was 50 MPH or so.
Next stop was the Ring of Brodgar
Again around 5,000 years old, the Ring was originally 60 stones with 36 still standing today. It also includes over a dozen burial mounds and an encircling ditch. The Ring is about a quarter mile across.
Video of the Ring during the 50 MPH winds
Skara Brae – right on the coast and uncovered in 1850 by a storm that swept away the knoll that covered the area.
The site was occupied from about 3200 BC to 2500 BC
The adjoining Skaill House – Skara Brae is on Bay of Skaill
Making Bere Bannocks at the University of the Highlands and Islands – Orkney College
Our stay in the Orkneys at Kirkwall happened to be timed to the day of the month when local fiddle and accordion players gathered in the hotel to play traditional music (Emma Leech photo).
St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall
St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall
During WWII, Churchill had Italian prisoners of war sent to the Orkneys to build “non-military” barriers to protect the islands from storms (actually to help protect a staging area for Allied ships from submarine attacks). The Italians were allowed to build this charming chapel.
Interior of the chapel
More info on the chapel …
…. and on the barriers.
In Kirkwall, a Ceilidh experience – dancing with live Gaelic folk music
Since I am an amateur radio enthusiast, the Orkney Wireless Museum was one of my stops.
Our trip back to mainland Scotland was via ferry
With an afternoon stop at one of the four Johnnie Walker distilleries
Samples for tasting
Old Packhorse Bridge – oldest bridge in the Scottish Highlands, and, no, I did not try to cross it!
Rothiemurchus – a private estate inside Carrington National Park
A Hiighland bull at Rothiemurchus …
… and a young one
A semi-outdoor spot for an excellent lunch
Highland Folk Museum (Emma Leech photo, this museum with buildings from numerous eras of Scottish history is huge and I took lots of photos but must have deleted them before they were successfully transferred to my phone/iCloud).
Interior of an old hunting lodge, now the Ledgowan Hotel, on the way from Inverness to the Isle of Skye.
Glen Sligachan on the Isle of Skye – the sky and land here combined to create a mystical/magical experience for me.
The water also seemed like something from a fairy tale
Info on Glen Sligachan
Eilean Donan Castle on the way back from Isle of Skye
A morning stop to see cairns
As an engineer, I always wonder how these stones (and the standing/ring stones) were moved and positioned.
And, of course, how were they used?
Info on the ring cairn
The battlefield of Culloden, site of the last civil battle in Britain in 1746. The English tactics kept the Jacobites trying to unsuccessfully fight from the swampy muck of the moor.
The memorial cairn on Culloden Moor
Thus ended the initial part of the trip. All of my group photos had some member(s) of the group missing but here are photos provided by Emma Leech, our marvelous tour guide, after the trip.
Betsy, Tom & Sandy
Bill & Shirley
Bob & Chris
Ron, Jacquita, Judy, Nancy & Michael
Trish, Anne & Tom, Suzanne
Recovering from the tour, our guide Emma with her niece Aoife and Molly dog.
I would be remiss if I failed to mention the regional snacks Emma provided on our bus rides: Chorley Cakes, Welsh Cakes, Lancashire crisps, Uncle Joe Mint Balls, Kendal Mint Cakes, Scottish shortbread, Tunnocks Caramels, Orkney fudge, McVities Digestives, Penguin chocolate bars and Jaffa Cakes.
After a flight from Inverness to Heathrow, we visited Oxford
Trish, Chris, Bill, Judy, Shirley, Anne, Tom, Nancy, Michael, Ron, Bob and London tour guide Barry in the chapel at Harris Manchester College of Oxford. The colleges at Oxford (and Cambridge) are somewhat more like American fraternities in that they serve as assigned residences for the students who can take courses anywhere throughout the university without regard to their assigned college.
Oxford’s Bridge of Sighs
Oxford’s Museum of the History of Science is where I spent most of my time in Oxford. This is an early device used by astronomers.
Memoir of an Einstein visit to Oxford
St. John the Baptist church and graveyard in Burford
Street view of Burford, in the heart of the Cotswolds
One of the Rollright Stones near Chipping Norton
At the Rollright Stones circle: Bill & Shirley, Nancy & Michael, Tom & Anne, Trish Chris & Bob, Judy, Ron – one of the rare group photos I have of everyone.
Bath – as the Romans saw it
But Bath also has a modern spa
The Royal Crescent – originally lodging for guests visiting Bath in the late 1700’s.
Blenheim Palace
In the stables
Since Winston Churchill spent a lot of his childhood at Blenheim Palace, there is a lot of memorabilia here.
After Blenheim Palace, we ended the day in London … on the eve of the London Marathon and the streets were absolutely packed with people. Dinner that night was on Carnaby Street and I unfortunately left both my phone and camera at the hotel so no pictures of the revelers.
To avoid the marathon, we went to Cambridge. Here, ready to embark on our punting adventure.
Pictures along the River Cam.
There were plenty of other people on the river
And lots of Cambridge University buildings to see along the river
A “Giraffle” was being publicized while we were there
Another of the numerous decorated giraffe statues to be auctioned
Lots of bicycles and activity notices – Cambridge felt better to me than Oxford, maybe because it has been more the home of top scientists: Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Stephen Hawking, and plenty of others.
Finally back in London, at Buckingham palace
Queen Victoria memorial in front of the palace
In St. James park, with a marathon fixture from the day before. During our time in London there were always people with marathon memorabilia adding to the street crowds.
The London Eye, from St. James Park
Notes on the park
A decorative guard
The real guards
One of the guards on horseback
A stop by Downing Street
Entrance to the Prime Minister’s residence
Memorial to the women of WWII
Big Ben and Westminster Abbey
A part of the original Roman wall that still exists in London
We arrived at the British Museum just as a fire alarm was occurring and everyone was exiting. This did work out to allow us to be among the first back in.
British archaeologists were among the first to scour the world and brought back lots of artifacts that are now in the museum. I spent considerable time in thne Egyptian section.
According to the brochure, there are 57 sections to the museum and I was able to visit 5 of them in 4 hours.
Above the city: this is from the IFC Cloud “dangleway” cable car above the Thames.
Getting ready to go back across the Thames via ferry
On the ferry
At the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, there are hundreds of clocks and time-keeping apparatuses that have served as the basis for time throughout the world, including this very traditional-looking clock. As an engineer I was involved in lots of tests that needed to be resolved down to the thousandth of a second so time is one of my fascinations.
Again above the city at the London Sky Garden
Thames from the Sky Garden
Another city view from the Sky Garden
A rooftop view
The Tower
The bridge
Here;s a video created by our London tour guide, Barry, as memorabilia for our group.
Leaving London, I went southwest to the Cornwall area. From the train, this a view of Plymouth where I was amazed at the expanse of row houses.
Plymouth also has boats
My destination here was St. Ives
St. Ives also has rowers …
… and a picturesque oceanfront …
… as well as a beach.
As always, I am interested in cars/vehicles I see when traveling:
There were, of course, plenty of Land Rovers in the UK
Also double-decker buses
Police vans
Jaguar
A modern MG
Porsche
Yes, they have RV’s in the UK also
A London cab from the inside. I rode in several and they were each configured a bit differently.
I’m also interested in farm machinery
A modern tractor
And an older one. This Ford-Ferguson is pretty identical to the Ford ones around when I was growing up.
So, this was a good and encompassing trip but I still need to go back to London to see a play, as well as visit the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Tate Modern.
Happily, I did not lose anything on this trip (a cap I thought was missing did show up later).
Ron's Travels 