Home again, home again...

We are back in Mission. It has been quite a journey!
The night before we left Dublin we heard that there were delays at many airports in England but we couldn't get anymore information. Next morning we heard the same thing - still no more info. The gal a the hotel desk checked our flight and it was on time so we went across the street for breakfast. The usual server was off and her replacement didn't know what wonderful tippers we are so we got one piece of toast each. She didn't get any tip! Then we were off to the bus and the airport. No delays - yahoo.
We were happy that we could check in and get rid of our bags right away. We had breakfast and then headed to the departure lounge. We got to ride on one of the golf carts and we weren't sorry as it was about a 20 minute walk. Everyone lines up for Ryan Air flights. There are no seats assigned so you do not sit and wait to be called. It's painful - you stand for at least an hour. Well, we stood longer because our flight was delayed by an hour. It was great to get on the plane and get going.
Once we arrived at Gatwick we were old hands and knew where to go so got our bags and the shuttle to our hotel with no delays. The reception lady recommended a pub that was about a 15 minute walk away as we really, really didn't want to eat at the hotel. The directions were as follows: cross the round about, follow the road to the cemetary, cut through the cemetary, pass the church and your at the "6 Bells". Sure enough we were! Backwards way to get to the pub!
It turned out to be the 3rd oldest pub in Britain and it had a lot of character. We sat outside in the garden and enjoyed a pint and fish and chips before taking a little walk on a public path and then going back to our dreary Best Western room. The room was fine but it was not exciting. TV was even a bore. Guess we were finished travelling. Oh yes, our suitcases were waiting for us right where we left them.

We requested the shuttle for 8:15 the next morning and were on our way home.
Again we breakfasted at the airport, shot the wad and had two cups of coffee too. Browsed the shops until they assigned a departure lounge for our flight. They only do this about 40 min. before departure.

On the plane - late loading because the flight into Gatwick is late and they have to clean the plane. They didn't do much cleaning. The movies were Dumb and Dumber and Kung Foo Panda. So exciting. I read A Thousand Splendid Suns and Roy read his book. The flight seemed to take for ever but at last we were at YVR, breezed through customs and Bruce and Roberta were there to pick us up.

An adventure to remember!

We are in Dublin

Couldn't believe the people on the streets when we arrived. It was rush hour and the sidewalks were full of people, you could hardly move. We were able to walk to our lodging from where the bus let us off.
Yesterday was a very busy day, but we seemed to hit everything right for crowds. We started at the book of Kells at trinity college. It is the oldest copy of the original 4 gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We were almost all alone when we viewed the book. Fantastic art wook from 800 AD. Since we had bought a hop on hop off pass we hopped onto the bus and headed for the Guiness storehouse. The self guided tour was better than we expected and of course we had a pint at the end. Back on the bus to Kilmainham jail which held the prisioners of the Easter Uprising in 1916 and where they were executed. Very interesting but very sobering (especially after the Guiness storehouse). It is hard to believe anyone could have survived there very long. Children were put in for months for stealing a loaf of bread. Back on the bus to the Hapenny bridge, so called because there was a hapenny toll to cross it. We went to Gogarty's pub where there is a traditional Irish music pub crawl every night. Had dinner and of course another Guiness before heading back to our room to dump off the excess baggage. Back to the pub and went on the pub crawl with the obligarity Guiness not included, but we drank one anyway. We went to 3 pubs over a couple of hours and listened to the music. (only had one Guiness all night, we were very restrained despite learning that Guiness is really good for you). We were a tired couple of people by the time we got home and climbed the 4000 or so stairs.

Today we went back to Trinity for a look around and couldn't believe the line up to get to see the book of Kells. Did we pick the right day and time. Spent the morning at the Museum of archeology and history.

Start our journey home tomorrow. See or talk to you in a few days.

The Emerald Isle

It's my turn, Roy did quite a good blog from the Cotswolds. We had a wonderful time and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. We made many new friends and hopefully we will meet some of them again. The walking was fun too. I even enjoyed the mud!
Now we are in Ireland and yes, it is 40 shades of green. We landed, rented a car, and on the way to our lodging Andromeda let us down for the first time. We were shocked - found our way to the Travel Lodge (read Crap Lodge). It wasn't very nice - however, we did find the High Street where we had a decent dinner and then a walk - realized we weren't in the best part of town when we noticed many steel shutters on the shops - back to our room. Had an $8.00 bowl of cereal for breakfast and struck out to discover Ireland. We drove through Sally Gap and Wicklow gap in the Wicklow mountains. Saw the Guiness Estate and lake - very dramatic. The scenery was dramatic too - not much vegetation but windswept. Came out of the mountains at Glenadough and then on to points west. At this point we thought the Fraser Valley just as beautiful. We toured the Rock of Cashel, 12th century and earlier - St Patrick baptized King Anguen in 450 ad here. Impressive place so glad it has been preserved. On to Killarney where we stayed the night. A busy place, very alive and 10:30 on a Sunday night. Our B&B was up a lane so narrow we didn't believe it could be a street. We were in Kilkenney too. Old and confusing but neat to see - no cats.
Next day we had a short drive to Dingle Penninsula - we saw the most breathtaking scenery. It was worth the long drive the day before. LIFE will never be the same after seeing the most westerly place in Europe. There were very interesting historical sights to see and we had the best weather they have had all summer. The sun shone brightly! Can't wait to show everyone the pictures. They won't do it justice but it is straight out of National Geographic.
We are back in Dublin and Roy is happy to be vehicle free. He had done a great job but it sure is different here. We lucked out on our room. We got a great rate on the interenet - when we got there it turned out to be a Boutique Hotel right in the trendy area. A lady was at the dest asking the rate for the night 169. euros. Too much for our blood - thank God for internet. We get a continental breaky, free evening drink and a trouser press.
This may be it til we get home - only 4 more sleeps.

Here we are in the cotswolds on a walk. Believe it or not the last time someone went over this path, the river we had to cross was not there. Yes Linda made it across with out any problem. And I didn't fall in either. Ray, one of the walkers in another group took the pictures of us just in case someone fell in. Wednesday was a free day, so I took the train to Paddington station in London to retreive our bag from the lost and found. We were going to have it couriered to us, but if someone goofed, we might be off to Ireland before it came. Linda worked on housekeeping issues and prep work for the next leg of our journey. The good thing is that everything was still in the bag. Yesterday we walked to Blenheim palace where Winston Churchill was born, and the Churchill family has resided since 1726. We got on the bus in the morning which actually took us to the palace. It is over 2000 acres, so we got off and walked around the lake and the palace. We took the easy walk because we wanted more time to look around the palace. It is unbelieveable. The Junction Shopping centre from the TD bank road east could easily fit into the inner court yard. We took 3 separate tours of the facilities, and ran out of time. To see the

place properly a person would need at least a day. There are hundreds of paintings of the family, many done by painters whose name I recognized. Also some tapisteries that are about 300 years old and considered to be some of the finest in Europe. The picture to the left was taken by Ray again as were getting ready to go on the walk. Today is the last day of our walking tour, and we started in Stanton, and finished in Broadway. Couldn't see any of the lights though. Anyway, those two towns are considered to be among the most picturesque in the Cotswolds. Finished early so we could get back to Harrington House to pack for tomorrow. It should be an early day, as we have to go to Gatwick, off to a hotel to leave some of our luggage behind before going back to the airport to fly out to Ireland. We think we have all the B&B's booked in Ireland but one. We booked Dublin, but will have to confirm later. Anyway all for now

Walking the Cotswalds

It is really beautiful here. Each day we say that was the best walk yet so it is all good. The food and accommodations are excellent. We feel very pampered.
Yesterday we walked from Dunst and all through the little Dunsts to Cirencester ( the second largest Roman city in Britain) We got there in time to have tea and tour the parish church which is more like a cathedral. Took organ pictures - we took them in all the little Saxon and Norman churches along the way. We see lots of churches - I am feeling quite reverent. They are so old, parts of them often date from 600bc. Yesterdays walking wasn't quite as squishy and wet and the other days. We were fortunate to come upon some people who had been where we were about to go - they were wringing out there socks and shaking water out of their mid calf height boots. We detoured (diverted) and took a longer drier path. It took us past the oldest polo fields in Britain - looked like Anderson's sod farm- only more. Then into Cirencester Park which is owned by Lord Bathhurst. The public can use the park but he must close it for his personal use one day of the year or he will loose the land. It is huge. We had a bet to see how long it would take to walk to the Cirencester church at one point. The leader and I were 3 minutes short of the mark so of course no one won. John was our leader and his area of expertise seemed to be old churches. The day before Ian taught us about trees and the first day Alan broke us in to walking. All terrific guys.
Roy has gone to Paddington today to retrieve our bag and hopefully all of its contents. I am supposedly getting us prepared for Ireland and having a clean up day. I'm going to go explore the village of Burton on the Water as soon as I sign off.
Did I mention that the foot pain that was plaguing me before we left has disappeared! Miraculous!

Walking the Paths

When I ended we were in a bit of a dither because our bag with Andromeda was lost. Well, we spent and anxious Sunday - actually we (or I ) put the worry aside and enjoyed my walk, I think Roy was fretting. Monday morning first thing we were up and at the mobile as soon as the clock struck nine. No answer. It was busy, we kept calling as advised by Kath. Kath is a lovely, helpful person, good to have around when you are dithering. She offered to call during the day as she wasn't walking. Roy managed to leave a message and we decided to go walking.
We had a great walk. The first day was great too but we encountered lots and lots of mud. It was a bit of an eye opener. We knew that the national walkways go through farm yards and fields but I didn't grasp that it was right through the bloody middle of the field, through muddy ploughed fields. It has been very wet here this summer, very wet indeed. The walk was interesting. We saw churches and homes to die for. I'd love to live Upper Slaughter or Lower Slaughter. Straight out of the pages of a book, complete with working water wheels.
We got back at the end of the day, muddy but happy. That was day one. Day two was again a very nice day.
We walked with Ian as our guide and Marion and Alan from Austrailia. A great moment when the mobile rang - our bag is at Paddington Station. Just like the bear! We were pretty excited. The days walking was better after that. We learned all about the trees, and what to call collective groups of animals and trees, most interesting. The high point of the day came for me not when we waded across a flooded field and my shoe took on water but much later when we crossed a stream. Thankfully, there were rocks forming a water fall. We used the rocks and all was well. Tea cakes and tea at a tea shop in Burford at the end of the day. We had a good day

Bath to Burton on Water

Roy left off after our day in Bath. Next day we were pretty tired so our hostess, Sophie suggested a walk to the Tithe Barn in Brdford on Avon and then on up the canal to Cross Guns where the canal has been built to go over the river. The canal is probably 30 feet in the air over the river. The tithe barn was interesting - the farmer used it as did a convent to store his crop. The roof was the interesting part and the wooden roof supports and arches were set in the stone walls and the whole thing was massive. The small buildings surrounding the barn have been converted into artist studios and they were interesting to visit and meet the artists. We sauntered along the canal, taking in all the canal boats tied up at the edge. Some were spick and span clean and painted up beautifully and others were probably gypsy boats and quite a mess. We talked to a man steering his boat up the canal as we walked along. He had been on the canals since April and was heading to moor his boat for the winter. His boat is his home and he lives in it year round. As the boats are very long and narrow I think year round living would be cramped but it looked like people with children lived that way. We had a wonderful walk and after figuring out how to get to the other side of the canal at Cross Guns and visiting the train station we had lunch out doors at Cross Guns pub. I had scrumpy, a cider. It tasted okay but I wouldn't want to drink too much as it wouldn't be nice coming back up. We walked back to Bradford. Had dinner at an old pub then walked home in a downpour. Sophie had promised to take us to visit an old pub, the Dog and Fox and that is what we did. She is a delightful lady and she says that she is a what you see is what you get person but she is very knowledgeable and intelligent - we spent an evening we will always remember with her.
Nex morning EXEL airlines has gone bust. That's two. The other guests at our B&B offered to put us up if we become stranded. We headed for Trowbridge because we have decided that we need gaitors.Oops, did that yesterday between the walk and the pub. But now we have decided we need another bag as we are a bit short of room. Mailing home is too expensive. Roy forgot to give Sohpie the key so we dropped it off on our way back from Trowbridge on our way to Bath. Got the car turned in and a taxi to the station. Andromeda again proving to be an amazing GPS. We have to kill two hours at the station but didn't know we would be rid of the car so quickly.Got on the train to Redding. At Redding we had 8 minutes to get to our next train. Roy asked where we were to go and the fellow said just around the corner. What he didn't add was , and down the stairs and then up some stairs to another platform. We stopped to await the train when I said, where is our new bag. I had put one of our backpacks in it -it was on the last train bound for London. Our coats, fleeces and sun glasses were in it. Later we discovered Andromeda was in it with all her cables. We are devastated. Such an important and expensive lot of our possessions to loose. We also missed the train and had to buy new tickets on the next one. Damn!!!
The train is late and delayed many times so Roy has to keep calling the taxi that will pick up up to tell him we will be late. Eventually we arrive and find a store to get new coats and a back pack. Had our first walk, did the second easiest 5 1/2 miles and it was a breeze. We have met many nice people and the food is great. We cannot do anything about Andromeda and our coats until tomorrow, Monday, so we are on pins and needles to find out what will happen. Wish us luck. Andromeda is like a family member now.