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felicity's travels round europe & north america...
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Tuesday, July 08, 2003
Back to London today. I must say it was quite sad to know that my trip around the UK was coming to an end, and when we arrived back in London on the bus, with all the hustle and millions of people, I seriously thought about getting back on a bus and heading straight back to Bonnie Scotland. I would much prefer to be in the Isle of Skye than London anytime!!!!
Anna and I got back in around 2 and it was really nice have some time to put my feet up, and do some real washing. I think I have survived pretty well doing hand washing mostly the whole way around, however it is so nice to be able to put your clothes in a washing machine. They seem to smell so much better when it is washing powder doing the cleaning as opposed to my regular soap. I love my skin smelling like imperial leather, but not my clothes.
A lovely night tonight with a beautiful roast chicken with lots of vegetables. Susan (my London host) wanted to cook a roast dinner for Anna and myself, and it was just lovely. Needless to say, the wine was lovely too.
After dinner, Anna and I went down to the pub and met up with another nanny who works with Lilian and Maisie (the young girls I am staying with). Jackie is a great girl and we had a fantastic night. It was a nice welcome back to London for me.
posted by Flossie at 11:25 pm
Monday, July 07, 2003
Ok - after having two not so exiting days, I have gotten off my backside and actually done something today. This morning I went for a lovely long walk through the grounds of one of the Oxford University Colleges. As there was hardly anyone up, it was really lovely to be able to walk without hoards of pesky tourists (I keep forgetting I essentially am one too, but I am sure I am no where near as annoying). There was basically only people out who were jogging or walking their dogs and it was a beautiful morning and a most enjoyable walk.
After breakfast I went for a walk along the Oxford canal and had a look at all the canal boats. Some of them were very beautiful and I was very impressed. What a great way to live, being able to travel across the UK through the country side on a boat. It is tempting to plan another trip here to do that some time. Anyone interested in joining me?
My cousin Anna was coming up to join me from London and she arrived on the bus at 10.30 in the morning, so I picked her up from the bus station. After we had dropped her stuff off at the hostel and then we went for a lovely walk around the centre of Oxford. I think she was fairly impressed with the town (I think it is very beautiful). We went down through the college grounds where I walked this morning (which incidentally takes you past the Themes - same river that runs through the centre of London) and then we went and had a look at the Pitt Museum. We were recommended the museum, although I probably didn't appreciate it as much. Lots of stuffed animals and strange artifacts. Probably the weirdest museum I have seen on my travels thus far, mostly due to its contents.
After lunch we went on a walking tour of Oxford university. One of the major differences with Oxford to other universities is that it is not one huge campus, but lots of little colleges scattered throughout the centre of the city. Most of them charge for people to go in, or a closed to the public altogether, however on the walking tour we were able to have a look inside some of them. The buildings are very beautiful and it would be very inspirational studying there. If I had the brains and the money I would certainly look at studying there. Certainly lots of prestige.
I was really impressed with the architecture in Oxford. On the whole the buildings at the colleges are very old and beautiful and there seems to be have been quite a bit of thought put into many of the buildings. Certainly there are some from the 20th Century that leave a lot to be desired (what was with architects of the 1960s and 70s???? Tass, can you answer that one?) but on the whole it is all so beautiful and has such a inspiring feel to it.
We walked around the city some more after the tour and then went back to the hostel to cook dinner. I think Anna was a bit taken aback initially by the whole hostel feel, but she didn't take long to fit right in and we had some great conversations with a guy from the US and we also met some people from Australia and South Africa.
posted by Flossie at 5:32 am
Sunday, July 06, 2003
Another relaxing day today. I think I am slowly winding down from all this touring stuff, so yet again, not much to report (however Harry Potter is great!!!)
posted by Flossie at 5:18 am
Saturday, July 05, 2003
Sorry guys, nothing much to report today. I have spent the day relaxing and reading Harry Potter. I had resisted the temptation for so long not to buy the book, but couldn't do it any longer. Therefore have not much to report.
posted by Flossie at 5:15 am
Friday, July 04, 2003
ANGEL DAY TODAY!!!
I must stay, although it was really tempting to stay in Whitbourne for an extra night, I am really glad I have had the chance to check out Stratford-on-Avon and do the Shakespeare thing. Due to the time of departure of the Stray Bus, I really only had the morning to cram most of it in, but thankfully that meant that I was able to miss most of the crowds. I was the first person through the Shakespeare exhibition centre and there were not too many people in his birthplace (just a handful of really annoying americans). The whole place was really interesting, although I am not sure how authentic the set up is. The people running the birthplace say it is as close as they could get it to how it would have looked when Shakespeare was 10, however my Lonely Planet guide claims that even Will himself wouldn't recognise the place. However the building is legitimate (from what I can gather from the records provided) so that was kind of cool.
I then walked down to John Nash's residence (the husband of Will's grand daughter). The house itself was very old and quite amazing, but the real importance of it was that Will's house used to be next door. Unfortunatley it was demolished some time ago, but the foundations are still there and you can go walking around the gardens which are very beautiful. Will lived in the house as an adult and I think was there mostly when he returned from London in the years before his death.
The ticket I brought then took me to John Hall's house, who was Will's son in law. He married Will's eldest daughter and was quite a prominent doctor in the Stratford area. He amazingly had many remedies for various ailments (some which were very dodgy) but some of which have been used as bases for further study. I think he even had a cure for scurvey, not that he knew it had to do with the fact that the remedy contained lots of vitamin C. Thankfully he wrote down lots of his remedies so they were able to be published at a later date.
Once I had finished at the museums it was time to go back to the YHA to collect my bags, then catch the local bus back into town (I was certainly not walking the trip with my bags a second time) and get on the Stray bus.
Here is where the angel pat of my day comes in.
The local bus went through some of the nearby towns to Stratford. We were driving along (about 5 mins from Stratford) and came around a corner. Initially I thought I had seen someone lying on the road. As we got around the corner (and the car parked on the road) I thought I must have been seeing things as it just looked like lots of bags (I then thought someone must have dropped their shopping). But as we got further around the parked car, I realised that there was actually someone lying on the road, a little old lady and it looked as if she had been run over. There was lots of blood streaming from the back of her head and she was lying flat on her back on the ground.
We stopped the bus and it seemed as if no one knew what to do. She was conscious and was talking to us as we got of the bus, but no one seemed to do anything, so I got off and put her in the coma position to make she was ok. I got one of the passengers to get my towel out of my bag and held it against her head to stop the bleeding. She seemed ok, was talking to us fine and could tell me who she was and where she lived.
We got her off the road and sat with her until the Ambulance came. Thankfully the bleeding had stopped so she was doing ok and when the Ambulance finally got there, the cut in the back of her head didn't even need stitches. With the amount of blood on the road, I would have thought it would have needed attention, but I think she would have just been cleaned up and sent back home.
I finally got on the bus to head to Oxford and the group seemed really nice. I kind of would have liked to continue on with them to London, but I was thinking Oxford was a good stop, and it would have still only been another 2 hours or so with the tour group and then we would have all gone our seperate ways in London permenantly.
The drive was pretty uneventful and we arrived in Oxford at about 1500hrs. The hostel was only about a 5 minute walk (as opposed to about 45 minutes the previous day!!!) so I was able to get booked in an settled pretty quickly. I went for a little bit of a walk around Oxford before heading to Sainsbury's to get some food for dinner. The hostel has its own kitchen so I wanted to get some food for dinner rather than going out. Sooo much cheaper.
posted by Flossie at 1:39 am
Thursday, July 03, 2003
I am completely exhausted tonight, and with fair reason. I think I have walked more today than I have walked any other day of the trip so this is certianly going to be an early night for me.
This morning Keith took me on a guided 'tour' of a walk around Whitbourne. I am glad he came with me as I certainly wouldn't have found it on my own. We walked down past the old church, past a few farms, across a paddock, along the river, up a hill through a wood, through another field and then back to Whitbourne. The whole walk was about 3 1/2 miles and was so beautiful. It still amazes me that there are public footpaths marked all over the UK and they frequently go right through farmland. I don't think that would ever happen in Australia.
I went into Worcester with Susan at about 11.30. She dropped me off at the bus station which was so nice of her. One less bus trip I had to take. I didn't have to wait long for the bus to Evesham, and then finally the bus to Stratford.
Now is where the fun begins. My lonely planet guide listed that the YHA backpackers was 1.5 miles out of town. I figured with all the walking I had been doing, I could easily manage that, even with my pack and all the other stuff I have. So off I trotted, looking rather like a pack horse gone wrong.
2 1/4 miles later I arrived at the YHA. It felt like about 6 miles and I was absolutely exhausted by the end of it. I even got some really weird cramps in my outer chest muscles when I got up to my room and tried to take my boots off. Thankfully the tennis was on downstairs so I ended up crashing in front of that to recover a bit.
The next slight dilema was what to do for dinner. After such a long walk it was really tempting to just eat at the hostel (meals provided at a cost) however the menu didn't look all that appealing and was kind of expensive. So I decided to walk back into Stratford to find a supermarket. I had remembered there was a Tesco's but I couldn't find it anywhere once I got into town. So after wandering all over town for about half an hour, I finally found a Marks and Spencer. Managed to get some yummy looking vegetables to have with my rice.
Needless to say, by the time I got back to the hostel, I had walked about 10 1/2 miles in total with a few of those with my pack on. For all you 'metrics' out there, that is equivelant to about 17kms. A bloody long way if you ask me.
So tonight is officially names 'crach in a heap' night.
Till later....
posted by Flossie at 1:01 am
Wednesday, July 02, 2003
I have decided to write this mid afternoon, so I apologise if I might not include all of the day. I think this has been the most relaxing place I have visited on my journey so far. This morning I went for a walk at about 0700 and was so impressed with how quiet and relaxed this area is. I don’t think I saw more than about 4 cars, couldn’t hear any traffic whatsoever and the only noises interrupting my walk (if you could call it that) were the birds and the animals in the fields. I had such a lovely time and would have walked much further if it wasn’t for the fact that I forgot my water bottle and needed to re-hydrate before I did too much more.
After breakfast Keith and I went for a little drive to Bromyard, a little town about 6 miles away. It was a lovely drive and we even diverted off the main road to have a look at a spot where they have filmed one of Anthony Hopkins films. Keith thinks it was Remains of the Day, but he wasn’t sure. We got some lunch supplies and then headed home, where I went for another walk, a round trip that takes you from the top of Whitbourne to the lower end. It is about 3 miles in length and was just delightful. Again, no traffic and the only thing I had to watch out for was the horse along the way.
I am just relaxing this afternoon. Not planning on doing too much as I am so enjoying not having to be anywhere or do anything. I am thinking I might go for another walk and see what I can discover. I would love to stay longer in this little neck of the woods, but unfortunately Shakespeare country calls.
Till later all…
posted by Flossie at 7:19 am
Tuesday, July 01, 2003
Today has been a long day but I think I have come to one of the most beautiful parts of Britain. I am currently staying in the little village of Whitbourne, which is about 20 minutes west of Worcester. I have come to stay with a couple of people that mum and dad know and I have been made to feel exceptionally welcome. I hadn’t met Susan or Keith until this afternoon and already I feel like I have known them for years.
I caught the Stray bus again this morning at about 1030hrs and we headed south towards the lovely town of Stratford-on-Avon. I must say that me breaking up this leg of the Stray ticket has been a blessing. I don’t much fancy having gone all the way from York to London in a day. Such a long and tedious journey.
I got off the bus in Stratford-on-Avon and then walked down to the bus stop to catch a bus to the little town of Evesham. Then I proceeded to catch the next bus to Worcester, and then on to Whitbourne. All in all it only took about 2 ½ hours in total, which I didn’t think was all that bad. It was a lovely journey as the countryside was so pretty. Very like that out of All Creatures Great and Small.
I got to Whitbourne at about 1630 and sat and waited for Susan to get home. I ended up writing some letters (badly needed and overdue) to those who don’t have email or internet access. However I didn’t have to wait long as Susan was home at about 1730. We had dinner fairly early (spaghetti bolognaise – yum!!!) and then we watched the TV for a while before I had a shower. It is getting pretty late so will post this and be off.
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