Birthday trip to England Nov 22, 2006

(scattered through this story are thumbnail pics; click on the pic for a larger view.)

For months, I puzzled over the perfect birthday gift for Gail for her big ‘65’. Finally, the date fast approaching, I decided on Nov 10 to take her to England for her first trip…, since her mother was born in London and she can trace her maternal ancestry back to 1357 in England and Scotland.
I wanted it to be a total surprise…first thinking that I would just tell her on the way to the airport, but the logistics of convincing her to pack for 10 days of English weather was undaunting…
How would I get International Driving Licenses? Convert money?
Too many problems with that approach.

I made reservations on Continental for Nov 22 to Dec 1.

Sunday the 19th we had a Packard Meeting scheduled at Mike Calistrat’s house.
I decided that as we were driving Madeleine, I would pop the surprise…so that she could tell our friends.. when they would most probably ask…”What are you doing for Thanksgiving?”

Needless to say, Gail was flabbergasted! We had talked about such a trip for the past 2 years, but never acted on it.

We decided that this trip we would pack very lightly… just one extra pair of shoes, pants, minimal changes of clothes….just very casual.  We departed with one checked bag, one carry on and the computer case.

Wednesday, Nov. 22

The flight over was uneventful…slept part of the way, but not enough to avoid some element of jet lag.

Thursday

Thinking ahead, we had reserved a Toyota Prius with Hertz, figuring that the great gas mileage would be a benefit with the high cost of gas over there. Fortunately/unfortunately Hertz informed us that their Prius had just been wrecked by the previous renter…so as a replacement, they would provide us with a Mercedes E280 diesel sedan.  I started to foolhardily protest until Gail started kicking me in the shins to shutup!

We loaded our stuff into the car, cranked up the computer with the Map of England and headed out.  Much to our dismay, the GPS would not give us our location and track.
First stop was about 10 miles southeast of the
airport, to the home/business of foremost Packard owner/restorer in the UK. (I have visited him every trip I have made over the past 20 years.)  After taking us on a tour of his shop and describing the ongoing restorations, he invited us to join him and his family at lunch.  Since lunch was about an hour away, they invited us to relax in their parlor.
Well, as I said earlier, we didn’t get much sleep on the plane, and before you could blink, we were both fast asleep on their sofa.  HOW EMBARASSING!!!... but they were most understanding.

After lunch, we decided to head towards Bury St. Edmunds.
Inadvertently drive west instead of east…end up in Reading….very tired….first B&B hotel…Donington
Walk up 3rd floor…check sheets.  Looks OK, so we register and start to settle in for the night.
“Boy, it sure would be great to have a bottle of wine”, we say, so we get in the car and start to look for a
Store. 
We very quickly discover that no streets are parallel or perpendicular…and to make matters worse, some are one way.
“What was the name of the street we were on?”, I asked..
“I don’t remember!” replied Gail.
Here we were…in a strange city, all our clothes in a hotel on a street we can’t find….in a hotel we can’t remember the name!!!
Well, I had a basic feeling that if I kept taking left turns, I would probably cross a major street that MIGHT be the one with our hotel.
Fortunately my Guardian Angel was working overtime and eventually got us back to the hotel. We parked the car and walked to the end of the block to a little grocery store and bought a bottle of Jacob’s Creek Merlot.  Across the street was a fast food FISH & CHIPS, so we relaxed with our first English Dinner.


Friday…Happy Birthday…
Up at 7am….After our first ‘Traditional’ English breakfast of one egg, one sausage link, one slice of ham, fried potatoes, one grilled skinless tomato and ½ slice of FRIED bread, toast and coffee, we were out by 8:30…
Because of our frightful experience the night before, we immediately stopped at a PC World store and bought a Microsoft Autoroute with GPS.  In the parking lot we installed it and as soon as it ‘found us’, we headed out.
What a massive difference in being able to navigate.
We named the voice, Liza (after Liza Doolittle).  Next stop was the local  Tesco (super grocery/dept store ) for wine etc. This was the fist time we had EVER seen a store similar to a Super Wal-Mart with about 150 covered parking spaces.

When I had made the reservations, my basic plan was to go into London for a day or so, so that Gail would have some idea of the city, but when she noticed at the Hertz counter that there was a daily ‘congestion fee’ of $16, and the clerk indicated that parking in London generally ran $50/day, we decided that our idea of a fun vacation was not being gouged and fighting traffic, so we decided to go on to Bury even though we did not have reservations until Saturday nite.

Driving through Reading was a frightful experience.  Liza took us through a neighborhood that was overflowing with a thousand white capped men coming out of their meeting places at every turn we took.  We thought they were muslims, but later were told they were Indian Sikhs. Of course we were afraid to take any pictures for fear of having the Mercedes torched.  Seems that different towns have become very ethnic.... Crewe, we were told, is filled with Polish.

Notice the green line...that was our DESIRED route.  also notice the blue line...That's how we ended up travelling because of poor signage.  Fortunately, Liza always got us back on track....

Liza took us to Bury St. Edmunds with no problem and we were fortunate to get the best room, the Garden Room, a day early at the Regency Hotel where we had planned to spend Saturday night.
We were surprised to walk into a foyer with the bathroom through one door and the bedroom through another.  The bedroom was quite large, with a fireplace, sofa, and dressing table.  Behind the sofa, there were French doors to a semi-circular glass conservatory with a large walled garden….just the kind of accommodations where you don’t mind spending a few days.
 After settling in, a nap was in order, and then we walked the 2 blocks to the center of town.  Bury is a very charming town, which dates back to the 1200s.  The Abbey in town is the place where the Barons in the early 1200s, drew up the draft of the Magna Carta.  About 5 years ago several inner streets were sealed off from vehicular traffic.  

Gail chose an Italian restaurant for her special Birthday Dinner.  As dinner was served, the waitress placed a complimentary bottle of water on the table…unusual bottle with a wire and rubber stopper.  At the end of the meal, I tried to con the waitress out of the bottle, but she claimed they were reused.
As we were exiting, the Head Waiter asked if everything was to our satisfaction.  I replied that the food was great but I was unable to acquire the water bottle as a birthday souvenir for Gail. He was apologetic and as a token response, invited us upstairs for complimentary after dinner aperitifs…which we graciously obliged.  During the ensuing conversation we discovered that the restaurant just recently opened; he had been brought up from London for the opening, and was staying in the room above us at the Regency….Small world.

p.s. when is the last time you stayed at a hotel when your room key looked like THIS:

Saturday
Up at 7..great breadkfast…walked into town…the weekly market was in full swing…farmers vegetables, clothing, cell phone vendors, meats and cheeses….

It was pretty raw out…cold and windy, so we went back to the room and called my contacts, ‘Alan and Cliff’ to let them know that we were in town.
Using the GPS, we drove to Rougham to meet Cliff…. He was busy giving a tour to an older gent who had been based at the airfield during WW II, so we went to the Pub on the far side of the airfield.  Appropriately, it is called the ‘Flying Fortress’ and the walls inside are covered with photos and artwork of the B-17 and some of the crews.
I could notpass up the opportunity on the lunch menu… partridge..
Guess that is one that wont be sitting in a pear tree this Christmas!
When we were checking into the hotel, I noticed a flyer for a concert in the Cathedral on Sat nite. Beethoven’s Egmont Overture and Brahms Requiem.  Since I had been in the Bach Chorale back in Indiana and got to sing the Brahms Requiem, getting tickets was a MUST.
Fortunately, the reserved tickets were sold out, so we took the unreserved.  I say ‘fortunately’ because the dregs of reserved seats were probably at the center back
 of the Cathedral.  As it turns out, we went early and got the choice seats about 15’ to the side of the soloists.  We could see the goosebumps on her arm.
Needless to say, it was a most enjoyable evening…

Sunday

At 10am we met Cliff and Alan at the Rougham Tower.  Cliff and Alan live nearby.  Cliff is the main Historian for the airfield, and has been most instrumental in it's restoration;  Alan is heavily involved with the local model airplane club and remembers the airfield from when he was a boy. Both spent hours taking us around and describing every building and artifact on display.  We were most thankful for their graciousness.

Prominently placed next to the drive is a Memorial to all the servicemen who were stationed at Rougham.  An engine from a B-17, recovered from the sea, has been mounted above the plaque, surrounded by a semi-circular wall, which hold a few brass memorials to various men.  During the next couple of months I will commission a memorial for Uncle Stephen.

First they gave us a tour of the Nissan huts (what we call Quonset);   lots of engine parts and other metal that has been dug out of the ground over the years.
Next we toured the tower building.  It is one of the few in England that still has the ‘glass house’ on top.  Unfortunately most of the displays have been stored for the winter, so we were just given descriptions. 
Next we braved the wind and cold and walked out to the runway and back into the weeds to the concrete bunker that would have served as headquarters in the event of an attack.
Lastly, they took us on a walking tour of the Technical area.  Buildings that were used for chemicals, photography, mess halls, etc. The large Quonset that had been used for Mission Briefing had doorways cut into the side and tractors and trucks are being stored there now.
It was an eyeopener to what had been an active airbase 60 years ago.  It was sad to see all the deterioration.  Some buildings are being used by various businesses in the industrial park, but some, like the photo lab are totally deterioriated.

It was  very surprising to think that the British are so active in preserving their British Heritage, but so many airfields that were instrumental to preserving their FREEDOM are being left to decay.

By now it was getting late (It gets dark around 4pm, and we never liked having to find accommodations in the dark.)  We saw a modern 4 story hotel called Premier in Rugby.  It was very clean, but we should have suspected something when we saw signs in the lobby about the doors being locked at 10pm. Much to our chagrin, we discovered there was only one set of towels, no top sheet on the bed and the thermostat could not be set above 23 degrees Celsius (73.4 degrees Farenheit)...which we considered a bit on the cool side.

Monday
This day we decided against a big breakfast and headed out to findthe narrow boat firm, Vikings, which we had heard was a good firm to deal with.  The narrow boats are generally 7' wide and about 60' long and are used to tour the canal systems in UK.Max speed is 4mph, so you can walk along side on the footpath.)  We stopped in the town of Rugby to check out a company that rents the narrow boats that ply the canals of England. Liza got us there with no problem and we had our first introduction to the boats and canal system. Sure looks like a fun way to have a vacation....maybe next year!!!

We decide to head toward the north part of Wales, sine we had heard it was Beautiful. 

We continue on toward Wales.....

On the way, we saw a sign pointing to another narrow boat marina near Nantwich, so we whipped around to check it out.  this was a small family owned opeation of a dozen boats.  Very friendly...clean boats, ...check out their webcam.  

http://www.camserv.co.uk/empress/ 

(I suppose in spring there will be more activity on the webcam.)

It was getting dark, so we asked Liza to tell us about the hotels in the area.  Seems the closest one,called the Wild Boar, was a few miles off the main road.  BEing  inquisitive, we went to check it out and this is what we found.

Just the kind of place that, when you drive by, you think...that must be a neat place to stay, but probably way over priced....which it was not.  Of course, we spent the night here. It was only about 160 years old, but it had all the charm you could want for a relaxing evening.

Tuesday

We decided that we would skip Chester because next year we might be back for a canal tour to Chester, so we headed on to Wales...

At the Wild Boar there was a stand with advertisements of local places to visit.  One that caught my eye, was the slate mine in North Wales...so we headed there.

Not sure if we passed a sperm bank, but here's the sign.

We don't have any great pictures of Wales.  First, when it comes to great scenery, pictures just don't capture what the eye sees, and second, to get a great picture, you need to have good sunlight and that we did not have, but we were utterly astounded by the beauty of Wales.  Nothing in England or Scotland can compare to the green hills spotted with sheep. 

The mine is in a little town in the center of a huge National forest.  It was a cold raw day with a little drizzle, but that did not phase us, as we were going underground. 

It was fascinating to learn that the slate mine was started about 150 years ago.  There are only a couple of slate mines in the world..One in Wales, England, China and New Jersey.   To docent said that many mines left Wales to work the mine in New Jersey. 

(I still have one slate that came off the chicken coop at the farm.)

We were aghast at all the Christmas tableaus that were down in the mine.  It was interesting to see the huge cavaties that each team would work....40' wide, 40' high and 100' deep.

Gail noticed outside the gift shop a sign describing the origin of the title 'Alice in Wonderland'.  Seems that Lewis Carrol had a girlfriend who lived just outside the mine.  He originally intended to name the story 'Alice in the Underground', but thought it sounded corny...like espinoge.

When we got out of the 2 mine tours, one a walking tour and the other a train ride, it was getting dark and drizzle.  thought it would be no fun to drive the winding hills at night, so we opted to spend the night in town at the Queen Hotel.

Wednesday

There was a little rain when we headed out after breakfast, but it did not bother us at all. ...especially because our Mercedes had INTELLIGENT wipers!!!!  Once you turned them on, it would sense how bad the precipitation was.  If it rained hard, they would go fast; if it sensed spray from a passing car, it would just wipe a few times and quit.  Never saw such wipers!

Driving South out of the National forest was again a great pleasure.  Somehow I must have programed Liza to plan the shortest route to Salisbury, England.  We were following her verbal directions, but at one point she said 'Turn onto local road'.  I though she had her measurements wrong, so I continued.

"Off route!, Off Route" she clamored.  So I turned around and meekly obeyed.  Little did I realize that she was taking me 5 miles down a ONE LANE road. 

True, every 1000' or so, there would be an aneurysm in the event you might meet another car.  fortunately, in the 5 miles, we met only one, and the gal had just passed a driveway to a farm, so she backed up about 20' to let me pass....but what an experience!

Stop in a little village at a mechanical toy museum.  Amazing fabrications of wooden tableaus with hundreds of moving parts .

See a sign on the highway pointing to Ross on Wye, a historical town, so decide to check it out and perhaps spend the night.  Young woman at the Information office makes a few calls for us.  1st choice hotel is closed for renovation.  She recommends the King's Head, so we go and register....ends up being perhaps our BEST accommodations.
Menu states it is a 14th Century Inn (but the sign outside says it has been the King's Head since 1645. Superb venison dinner at night as we sit 8 feet from a plexiglass door in the floor. The sign on the door says it is an 11th century well; waitress opens the door and lets us peer down into the 58' rock lined well.
Other uniqueness of the room....

+Only hotel room we have ever seen that had a door knocker on the outside.
+ONLY hotel room we have ever seen that had TWO toilet paper rollers...one single ply soft, the other two ply medium....
+ONLY hotel room where a mouse ball would roll in two different directions from the middle of the floor.

Thursday

As we proceeded farther south, we started seeing 16th century houses with thatched roofs.  We stop to take a picture and chat with the woman who just emerged from it.

  continuing to the next village we see a chap up on scaffolding, re-thatching a house. His truck sign said "Master Thatcher." !...that's one sign you don't see in the States.    Stop to talk to him. He graciously comes down to talk to us... tells us that the house is 500 years old...the thatch is 3-4' thick and he is just replacing the top 6"; the original thatch is still on the house at the bottom of the layers.  The top 4-6" has to be replaced every 35-40 years.
"...so why don't more houses have thatch roofs?"
"because insurance is 3 times as high for thatch roof as for a slate roof."

...we thank him  for the education, and continue on to Salisbury.

We saw signs for Stonehenge, but continued on, because we wanted to get to Salisbury Cathedral before it was dark. 
I have been to many Cathedrals in Europe and America,...Notre Dame, Cologne, St. Stephens in Vienna, Immaculate Conception in D.C....but NONE impress me as much as Salisbury.

Bear with me as I relate just a few facts..

Built in 38 years from 1200 to 1238...
Tower built 35 years later....404' high...wooden scaffolding still inside the steeple.
400 years ago it was determined that the tower had tilted 30", but the tilt has not increased in the last 400 years.
footing for walls and columns only 4' deep on a gravel bed.
3 creeks meet in the gravel bed under the floor
holes in floor for measuring sticks to determine moisture level, but in 800 years, the level has not changed.

We had the pleasure of hearing the organist practice while we toured the Cathedral, and at the end, we sat in a pair of ancient liturgical chairs while we watched black caped choir boys practice a processional.

Before leaving, we went to a round building that was part of the Abbey.  Inside we were privileged to view one of the 4 extant copies of the Magna Carta (which as we mentioned earlier in this missive, that was drafted in Bury St. Edmunds.)

Leaving Salisbury was quite a challenge.  Unfortunately, the inverter we were using to power the laptop, seemed to crater, so we were left to our own sense of navigation to get out of the city and find a major road to get back to Gatwick.  It took us about a half hour to get out of the city, but soon we were headed back East.  Getting to Gatwick was not a problem, and we decided to stay at a hotel close to the airport.  We found another Premier and reluctantly checked in.

Friday, Dec 1.

Our whirlwind was coming to an end....
When we turned our Mercedes in, we had covered 870 memorable miles .

Through our travels we saw many familiar town names....Woodford, Wycombe, Horsham, Southhampton, Chester, just to name a few.

Three things that did surprise us, was seeing a turkey farm, a bison farm, and a Quaker Meetins House.

Since you managed to get this far in the story, we hope you enjoyed it vicariously, because we certainly had a blast!

'Til next time...

Keep Smiling.

Bob and Gail