As you know we’ve not added to our blog since May 21 while in York.  Between no internet access in the hotels/guesthouses and internet cafes closing at 7, it made it difficult to post our daily adventures.  We are now home so I’ll do a recap of our last week along with pictures (however, I won’t include all 498 pictures taken at the Chelsea Flower Show!)

May 22

Today was the long awaited train ride from Pickering to Whitby through the York Moors. Shortly after we purchased our tickets we discovered our train would be delayed an hour.  That gave us the opportunity to check out a couple of sites in Pickering including the castle and one of the old churches in town.  After our quick walk around Pickering we boarded the train which took us through the Moors and small villages and farmland.  It was a pretty ride, and a popular one as the train was full.

[Jim's additions in []'s]
[The train was steam powered and run by a combination of paid and volunteer staff.  We almost took the train yesterday but am glad we waited.  Around noon, a volunteer was killed in a rail yard accident that shut down the service; we would have been stranded at Whitby with no way to get back.  As it was fallout from the accident cancelled the 10:00 train, but not the 11:00.]   

As we approached Whitby we could see the abbey on the hill.  It was a bit of a hike to the top but worth it as the abbey overlooked the North Sea.  As you can see from the pictures it was a huge building at one time.  [Unlike many Abbey,s this one was not destroyed when abandoned with its stones used on other projects,  The main destruction occurred during WWI by the German fleet sitting off the coast in the North Sea.  The Abbey was an inviting target, no military value, just a big target for their gunners.]  After the abbey we walked through the historic part of the city and then headed to the local’s favorite fish and chips place. [The shop was off the main path, strictly carryout with no seating or parking.  We arrived a 4:05 but they did not open until 4:15.  We could see them cooking as we waited.  We were the first ones in at 4:15, but by then there was a line of locals behind us.]  They were definitely the best fish and chips we had on our trip. [ Fully agree! We shared an order for 5 pounds,  I saw fish and chips on other menus for as much as 13 pounds.]

Steam Train to Pickering

Whitby Abbey

The North Sea at Whitby

May 23

Time to leave York and head south to Ashwell where my cousin lives (a cousin I’ve never met).  Our weather is definitely getting warmer.  After a very rainy April the farmers were now busy trying to get their crops in.  We saw many freshly plowed fields ready to be planted. 

As we were driving south on the Motorway we passed through Sherwood Forest (and of course the sign said we were in Robin Hood Country).

Jim and I stopped at Audley House and Gardens for a tour of the house and gardens.  The house was amazing and of course I loved the gardens.  My favorite was the vegetable and fruit gardens.  Some of the fruit trees were tagged with the year they were discovered.  One was from the late 1400’s while several were from the 1500 and 1600’s.  After we left Audley we make a quick stop at the Duxford Imperial Air Museum (similar to visiting Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio).  Jim could have used about four more hours, but we just didn’t have the time as we needed to get to Ashwell. [Duxford is both a museum and working air field,  There are 8 display hangers covering a distance of one mile.  We left one hanger after hearing a bi-plane flying loops and other tricks on the adjoining field. After they landed, we saw them park the plane in one of the display hangers as it was part of the museum.]  

The following pictures are at Audley House Manor/Gardens

[The gardens were also interesting because they were lined by fruit trees tied to wire as a grape vine.  The branches were clipped so that the trees are flat with just 4 or 6 branches tied straight along the guide wires. The English liked to hide their vegetable gardens because they thought they were ugly.]
   

Jim walking through the Concord at Duxford Imperial Air Museum

After checking into our hotel we met my cousin Andrew and his wife Wendy.  They introduced us to their landlord who had a one-day old baby lamb they had just rescued.  Laverne was thrilled to hold it!  Andrew, Wendy and their neighbor then joined us for dinner - we drove to the next village where we celebrated Pete and Laverne’s wedding anniversary [in a centuries old pub.  Its easy to still consider oneself young when eating in an establishment older than the USA has been a country.]

May 24

Andrew and Wendy joined us for breakfast at our hotel and took us to Bury Lane Garden Center (basically a Merrifield Garden Center, but with lots of new things to check out).  We bought some freshly picked strawberries to take with us to London – yummy!

Wimpole Estate was next and what a wonderful place it was.  This time it was not only a house and garden to explore but also included a working farm.  Several of the farm buildings had thatched roofs which was awesome to see. [The women folk when to the "working farm", the men to the house, each had a separate admission.  The house was used as a residence until 1940 but never had running water.  During the was it was used to train agents to infiltrate Poland.  The cover story was that it was a hospital, but the locals know otherwise cause who would use a building without water as a hospital.]  It was a fun day and I was so glad I had the opportunity to meet Andrew and Wendy.  We had a great time with them and look forward to seeing them again.  But it was time to move on so we jumped in our cars and drove to Heathrow.  We turned in our cars and grabbed a taxi to our flat where we would be staying for the remainder of our time in London.  [an 80 pound ride, plus tip--the most expensive taxi I have ever taken-- about $125 split between the 2 couples.]

May 25

It’s the Chelsea Flower Show!  I can’t begin to say how wonderful it was.  The gates opened at 8 am (we arrived by 8:30) and closed at 8 pm (we didn’t leave until 7:45 pm).  It was the flower show’s 99^th year and they definitely know how to put on a flower show.  There were 350 exhibits and 250 vendors.  They now limit the number of tickets per day and sell out way in advance of the show (which is why we bought our tickets several months ago).  The exhibits were unbelievable.  Everytime you thought you had seen the best of the best you went around a corner and there was more. Needless to say we were not disappointed.

Vegetables!

 Primroses

Daffodils

Clematis

David Austen Roses

Meanwhile Jim and Pete visited the British Museum, The London Museum, the Imperial War Museum and walked along the Thames River to see Big Ben and the Tower of London.  [The British museum has a history of the start of when the English began recognizing archeology and the need to preserve historical items. By starting early and having contact around the world through their trade, they collected many items before other countries recognized the value/need of preservation.  In one room with many items from the Parthenon, they had a pamphlet with their agreements as to why the items should be kept in England rather than returned to Greece.  If interested, I'll give you the position in person.]

May 26

Today we’re off to Greenwich.  We thought it would be a good day to do so and get a “little bit away from the main sites in London.”  Well, with the rainy April they had and today being warm and sunny, guess where everyone was headed?  We took a boat cruise on the River Thames to Greenwich passing by many of London’s famous sites. Once in Greenwich we checked out the market where we had lunch and then walked through the various vendor stalls.  Greenwich has several sites to visit but with just one day there we chose the Maritime Museum and of course the Royal Observatory where we saw the “Prime Meridian”.  While at the Royal Observatory (on top of the hill) we had a great view looking back at London.  We also saw the site of the Olympic equestrian events.  They have a some work to do - with their rainy April they are a bit behind schedule in getting some of their event sites ready.  We took the train and tube back to our hotel.

Tower Bridge

Maritime Museum (this bottle was huge!)

Back of ship (amazing it's still intact)

Royal Observatory

May 27
Happy Birthday Abby!

Our morning started at the Victoria and Albert Museum.  What an amazing place.  Laverne and I decided to check out the Ballgowns exhibit.  Wow!  It was quite an exhibit with gowns from the 1950’s to the present.  We also visited the fashion exhibit of the mid 1800’s to early 1900’s.  Jim and Pete checked out other parts of the museum and then took off for the London Museum.  Laverne and I headed to Harrod’s and then Hyde Park and the Albert Memorial. Lots of the Queen’s Jubilee memorabilia in all the stores, including Harrod’s. Dinner tonight was at Covet Gardens.

Triton at Victoria and Albert Museum

Food Court at Harrod's

 Albert Memorial

May 28
More history today by visiting the Churchill War Rooms, Westminister Abby and the Jewel Tower.  We toured the war rooms using the audio tour.  They also recently opened a museum which is now part of the tour.  I can’t imagine what it was like to live during that time period and being bombed day after day and wondering when the invasion might begin.  They did an excellent job with the tour. 

Another audio tour at Westminster Abbey – it’s definitely the way to do it as you can take your time as you wander through the abbey.  It’s a beautiful cathedral but St. Paul’s (which we visit later) is definitely my favorite.

The Houses of Parliament:  Lines too long today and we did not have time to visit them.  Oh well, maybe next time.  The lady at the info center suggested we visit Jewel Tower across the street which we did. The exhibit gave us the full history of the Houses of Parliament so it was a good substitute since we were unable to see Parliament.

Time to take in the theatre.  We saw “The 39 Steps” (done as a comedy) at the Criterion Theatre in Picadilly Circus (this area is similar to Times Square in New York city – which means it’s a busy place at night). 

Westminister Abbey

Criterion Theatre (The 39 Steps)

May 29
Can it really be our last day? We started our day at the Sloane House (he was an architect and collector).  The home was remarkable as it basically was a museum.  He had collected some amazing pieces of history including an Egyptian sarcophagus.  After the Sloane House we headed for St. Paul’s – another audio tour!  Two highlights here: climbing the 350 steps to the outside of the dome to see the London skyline and attending the Evensong service. What a wonderful way to end our trip by attending the Evensong service.

St. Paul's Cathedral

The view from atop St. Paul's

Our trip on the tube back to our flat was in the midst of rush hour so it was a little crazy getting back.  After dinner at the neighborhood pub it was time to pack!

Jim Here
I was the only one who wanted to visit the newest castle in the Heritage Trust--a cold war bunker built in 1960. for about a million pounds.  The bunker is 3 levels, two underground. It was intended for up to 60 people to monitor the nuclear activity for 30 days.  One of the interesting facts dealt with the commander's office and a  safe in his room.  It held two keys and and an envelope.  One key for the pantry, one for pencils and paper, and the envelope contained instructions on what to do if the bunker systems all failed.  The envelope was considered to be secret so its contents was never revealed. 

Saw a lot of trains today with Pete, a castle and castle museum.

We have lots of catching up to do as we've not had access to a computer.

We left the Lake District on Saturday and headed to York.  Along the way we (Jim and I) stopped at a couple of castles, an abbey, the remains of a Roman town and a beautiful garden.  The further east we drove the colder it became (even after weather forecasts of it getting warmer this week).

The garden (Acorn Gardens) we visited was absolutely beautiful.  It was a small garden estate, but well cared for.

After arriving in York and checking into our hotel we waited for Pete and Laverne to arrive and then headed toward the town centre to get a quick overview of where things were and then had dinner.

Sunday started with a guided tour of the city which covered the history of the city.  We saw the sites that included the Roman era, the Vikings and of course the various English rulers.  We took a walk on the city wall, saw the Shambles and of course saw the York Minister. Our guide (who was a volunteer) has been leading tours for 30 years and knew his English history.  I don't know how they keep all their kings separate or when each of them ruled.

After our tour Pete, Laverne and I checked out the market on the square and the many shops while Jim checked out a Cold War Bunker (he'll add more at the end).

We were all looking forward to 4 pm and the Evensong service at the York Minister.  We sat in the choir and were right next to the Minister choir (men and young boys).  The music was wonderful.  The service was about an hour.  It was Ascension Sunday so the scriptures, music and sermon were all on Christ's ascension.  We even used the Common Book of Prayer. After Evensong we listened to the organist and the postlude -wow!  It was something to hear.  Then it was time to walk through the Minister for a tour.

Today was the Railway Museum for Pete and Jim while Laverne and I headed out of York to tour gardens.  We never made it past the first one as we spent the entire day Harlow Carr, a Royal Horticultural Garden.

Below are some pictures of our last few days and then Jim will add to our blog.  Not sure when the next blog will happen.  May not be until London - and that's if we can find an internet cafe.  Tomorrow we're hoping for our train ride across the York Moors.

Barnard Castle

Eggleston Abbey

Timbered Building in York (notice how it kinda dips in the middle)

Romans coffins

York Minister

Today's Garden Tour at Harlow Carr.

Saturday Morning

Friday's weather forecast was for rain at some point, but we decided we were going to hike the Catbells no matter what, so off we went.  The first part of our trip was a boat ride across Lake Derwentwater to Hawks End where we would pick up the trail.  A bit of scrambling up, but a nice hike to the top.  Beautiful views of the surrounding countryside and the lake.  And, of course, sheep below and along our trail.  The higher we climbed the cooler it became - and windy.  Our return hike to the bottom was along the ridge line which was pretty cool.  The people in town can see people who look like stick figures in the distance along the hill top.  Laverne and I were hoping to see some wildflowers, but because of their rainy, cool, April things are a little behind.  So nothing but grass. 

After our ride back across the lake to Kessick we headed to the hotel for a quick change of clothes and then the guys headed to the Pencil Museum (see below) and Laverne and I ducked in and out of shops in Kessick.

The big new in the UK today is that the Olympic torch has begun its run to London.

The Pencil tour was like the chocolate tour in Hershey PA, all fake, no actual factory.  In fact even though the first pencil was made here, the factory has been moved to the coast--the factory is now an empty building.  One interesting item in the tour was a video on their efforts to create a commemorative pencil set that included a special pencil created for their fly boys in WWII that was so secret that they had no instructions on how to make them and all those who had worked on the pencil had died. The pencil looked like any other one, but was hollowed out to include room for a map and compass so if they were shot down, they could find their way out.  very interesting.

lots of sales on outdoor equipment here, there must be at least 10 clothing stores catering to that area. Looking for a coat since mine has holes.  no idea what caused them, but looks like battery acid.

Jim and Von

Jim's 2 cents, or should I say Pence

Don't look for a lot of pictures here, Von has the camera, there is one with my Blackberry, but I don't know how to get them off.  So I'll use words. [I also never asked for a camera from Von.]

Slate Mine

We had two tours, one down to a deep mine accessed via a funicular {sp} rail train.  The other on a ground level rail car.  Both were electric driven.  The  miners bid on a cavern and then it was theirs until the slate ran out, maybe 10 to 50 years. A team of four, usually from the same family, worked each cavern, two in the mine mining the slate, two on the surface cutting it into roof tiles. They were paid for each tile produced.  The miners used a long metal bar, like a pry bar about 5 feet long to drill holes.  A 3 foot hole could take 3 to 4 hours to drill by hand.  They would fill it with gunpowder, light it and then leave.  The fuses were string dipped in wax and gunpowder, very unreliable and not predicable of when will it go off or has it burned out. The men worked 6 am  to 6 pm Monday to Friday, and from 6 to Noon on Saturdays.    In between each cavern were sections of good slate, but it was left behind to hold up the roof. The mines were 24 levels deep.  Surveyors had to determine where the walls were so they were always directly above/below one another, otherwise the mine would collapse.  Pretty amazing how successful they were since they only had a few candles to see by.  

To day, underground mining is no longer used.  They strip mine--getting the columns between chambers that used to be needed to hold up the ceilings.  A Miner would start working at are 10 to 12 and would be finished in their mid thirties.  The slate dust affected them much line black lung disease did our coal miners.

Snowdon

Bummer that we did not get to hike.  There were four tickets available when we got there, but by the time we figured out to buy them, 2 were sold at another gate so we have to wait an hour. The men's rest rooms were cool.  The stall doors were 4 panel wooden doors, the walls were  plaster, and the toilets flushed via a pull chain that opened a value for the water tank 5 feet off the ground. I thought about taking a picture, but did not want to get in trouble taking one in a men's room,  what would the locals think?

Well, I'll start off with a few pictures that I can load on the computer here in Kessick which is in the Lake District of England.  No computer at the guest house where we are staying so we're upstairs at the Post Office.

The following two pictures were taken Tuesday at Bodnant Gardens.

Wednesday morning we awoke to almost sunny skies but the weather forecast was encouraging for an outing to Mount Snowdon.  So off we went.  When we arrived we just missed one train to the top so we had to wait a bit for the next one.  That meant not having enough time to hike down the mountain. 

Our train arrived and they packed us in for the ride to the top of Mount Snowdon.  It was a coal-fired steam engine (cog rail), built in Switzerland in 1986. The ride to the top was alongside the mountain and the views were beautiful.  Still lots of sheep to see along the way.  Once on top we had 30 minutes to see the view from atop the mountain.  We were grateful we had a view because more often than not people get to the top and the clouds have enclosed the mountain top and there's nothing to see.  The was still a little snow as you will see in the pictures below (as well as how cold we were).

Today, Thursday, we woke up to rain so our Catbells hike is off.  But, we discovered that Beatrice Potter's Hill Top home is not open tomorrow so we we drove south by the lakes to her home.  It was a pretty drive through the country and past more pastures full of sheep, but this time we saw lots of black lambs which we later discovered are Herdwick lambs.  We had hoped to visit Dove Cottage today, but parking was non-existent - maybe tomorrow.

Rather than drive around the lake we took the ferry across which saved us some time.


We toured the house and gardens at Hill Top and then headed back to Kessick as Pete was not feeling well.  Laverne, Jim and I spent the afternoon at market square visiting all the booths and ducked in a few shops before stopping for some scones and tea.  Then it was time to pick up laundry we had left this morning.  And here we are at the internet cafe.  Time to sign off  for today with a few pictures from Hill Top.

Brrrrr . . . it was cold when when our day started.  We arranged for an early breakfast because we were hoping for our Mount Snowdon train ride and hike today.  But when we got up and walked into breakfast we were told the forecast for Mount Snowden was snow, hail and very cold.  So, we went to our back-up plan.  We stayed in Conwy for the morning and toured Conwy Castle and one of the old homes here in town.  Another beautiful castle while the home gave us a glimpse of what life was like in the 1500's.  We managed to get a little shopping in, too.

After lunch the guys took off for a slate mine tour (slate mining is huge here) and train ride from Ffesitiniog to Porthmadog (you get bonus points if you can pronounce both those towns!).  Jim and Pete had a great time and had lots of info to share about the slate mining.  They were pretty deep down in the mine.  hey had a scenic train ride alongside the hills to the town where we picked them up.

Laverne and I headed for the Trefriw Woolen Mill - we were a little disappointed but did buy buttons for future projects.  After the mill it was time to spend the rest of the afternoon at Bodnant Gardens.  They were absolutely beautiful.  Another garden with spring time blossoms everywhere.  The azelea colors were stunning.  More garden than we had time to walk through, but we did find the names of some plants we have seen on the trip that we could not identify - this garden had most all of the plants identified.

Then it was time for us to drive to Porthmadog to meet the train and pick up Jim and Pete.  We ate our evening meal while there and then drove back to Ffestiniog to pick up the second car before heading back to our hotel.

Tomorrow we will try again for Mount Snowdon.  But if the weather does not cooperate we'll move on to the Lake District.  The Mount Snowdon trip was something we were all looking forward to, but we also knew it was iffy depending on the weather.

I guess the servers are not used to people praying before their meals - we've caught a few of them off guard when they've walked up to our table!