Lynn's Travel Adventures

This one will be short and sweet as we only had one stop today. We left castles and palaces behind and moved back to WWII and the famous Bletchley Park campus. This was where the code breakers of the war did their work. If you saw the movie, The Imitation Game, this is where the real action took place.

As soon as the war started, England set up the campus at a rundown estate home (built in 1883) here in Milton Keynes. The group started with only about 50 people but by the wars end, there were over 7,000 working around the clock on breaking codes and ciphers. What’s the difference? A code is saying “Bring bread home for dinner” but what you really mean is, “The plane will land at midnight.” A cipher is saying, “sxyrl ekxot cmsit”, when you mean “The plane will land at midnight.”

One of the most famous story about breaking ciphers is the story of the enigma machine. It was used extensively by the Nazis and was considered so secure it was used to send Top Secret messages. What Germany didn’t know is that Polish mathematicians had broken Enigma before the war even started. They made their way to England where they helped decipher messages.

The coolest building was Hut 11/11a. This is where Alan Turing did his work with Bombe. This story is what the movie was about. Of course, it was a drama not a documentary so they didn’t get everything exactly right but it told the basic story.

The reason the Bombe was so important is that it used mathematics to quickly determine how the wires on the Enigma was set which made deciphering messages much easier and faster.

You know how Peter loves to read every word on every card but even he got tired of it, especially since a lot of it was a technical discussion about how the work was done. So we were only there about 2 hours and left.

After finding a Mail Boxes Etc. to box and ship stuff home, we headed to the Peace Pagoda Park to enjoy our lunch in the beautiful sunshine. Well, we got there, found parking, paid for parking and realized we left lunch at home. OOPS. We were going to walk to the lake and see that Peace Pagoda anyway, but it was a longer walk than we thought and, since we didn’t have lunch, we decided to bail.

So, we ended up at Bella Italia (next door to TGI Fridays) and had late lunch there. We were planning on eating dinner there but this is even better as we’ll have time to digest before bedtime.

We’ll hit the road again tomorrow and head for Cambridge where we’ll spend the day before heading to our last stop on this part of our trip. Have a great day everyone.

What, you might ask, is the difference between a castle and a palace? Well….the difference is the main purpose of the building. The main purpose of a castle is defense and have moats, keeps, cannons, etc. A palace, on the other hand, was meant to show of incredible wealth so they are filled with priceless works of art, tapestries, rugs, silver, gold, etc.

The palace we saw today certainly does a good job of showing off wealth. We visited Blenheim Palace, the ancestral home of Winston Churchill. The 10,000 acres of land was given to the 1st Duke of Marlborough as a reward for his efforts in the War of Spanish Succession and the 1704 Battle of Blenheim. He started construction in 1705 and 25 years later, the palace as it stands today, was finished. It is a remarkable palace and has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The rooms in the Palace were unbelievable. Here are some of my favorites.

In the basement, there was a large exhibition about the family’s most famous member…Winston Churchill.

We took a tram tour of the gardens which was beautiful. It turned out to be a private tour as we were the only ones there so we got to stop wherever we wanted for photos.

We spent a very pleasant 3 hours touring the Palace and the grounds. Even though we’ve seen many palaces on this trip, it’s still hard to believe people actually live like this.

On our way to our next stop, we took a detour to St. Martin’s Church where the Churchill family has its burial site.

The castle we saw today was Broughton Castle the home of the Fiennes family, the Barons Saye and Sele. While in the peerage, a baron is way down the food chain from a Duke (Churchill family). There are 5 ranks in the peerage. From highest to lowest rank they are: Duke, Marquess, Earl (or Count), Viscount and Baron. This highest ranking Duke is the Duke of Norfolk. Why is he the highest? Because this dukedom has the earliest date of creation…1397.

Anyway, I digress. Broughton Castle was originally a medieval fortress and has been home to the Fiennes family for over 500 years.

The family name, Fiennes, may sound familiar. The current Baron is 3rd cousins to actors Ralph (pronounced Rafe) and Joseph Fiennes.

The Castle rooms were certainly not as large nor as ornate as those of Blenheim Palace but they were still very nice.

The current Baron is #23 and is 102 years old. He no longer lives in the castle but his son, and heir, does.

We saw a lot of memorabilia here as well. It’s amazing the stuff people keep.

After leaving the Castle, we drove about an hour to Milton Keynes where we are staying at yet another Doubletree Hotel. This one has air conditioning, except we no longer need it. The temp maxed out at 65 and we switched to long pants to stay warm. Unfortunately, when we got to Blenheim Palace and realized how chilly it was (at that time only 58 degrees) the jackets and long sleeve shirts were buried beneath the backpacks in the trunk. We managed without them but got them out when we got to the hotel.

Tonight’s Doubletree is adjacent to the stadium of the local football team. When I say, adjacent, I mean it. Here’s the view from our room.

We walked a couple of blocks to TGI Friday’s for dinner. It was a ton of fun.

Peter had ribs and I had a burger then we splurged on a dessert.

Tomorrow our day will be spent at Bletchley Park, the center of the codebreakers of WWII. According to the website, we could spend all day looking at the different exhibits. All I can say is….god, I hope not! I’ll let you know.

I didn’t get this posted last night because the internet connection at the Doubletree in Cheltenham is pretty awful and it was taking FOREVER to upload pictures. By the time that was done, it was after 11pm and I was too tired to actually write the post.

Anyway, we left Wales yesterday morning and headed straight for the Cotswolds, the fairytale region of England. The Cotswolds is very large covering a 40 mile by 90 mile area so we’re only seeing a tiny piece of it.

Here’s a YouTube video about the area if you’re interested. If not feel free to skip it.

Our first stop was Sudeley Castle, a medieval castle (construction started in 1443) that has quite a storied history. It was owned by two kings, Edward IV and Richard III. The latter is the hunchbacked King that was found buried in a car park in Leicester.

Henry VIII and his then wife Anne Boleyn visited in 1535 and Henry’s final wife Catherine Parr. After Henry died, Catherine secretly married Thomas Seymour who was the Baron of Sudeley. She died there after giving birth to a daughter and is buried in the Chapel. BTW. Thomas was executed for treason 6 months later as was his brother who had inherited the Castle. It then reverted to the crown.

They have a large exhibition with artifacts of the people who lived there. Here are a couple from Catherine Parr.

Queen Elizabeth I visited the Castle 3 times during her reign, once for a 3-day party held in her honor. That’s when the current owner landscaped the gardens There are 10 gardens covering 15 acres on the 1200 acre estate.

Moving on in time, during the English Civil War (1642-1651) the owner was a royalist and, at one time, housed part of the Royal army at the castle. King Charles I lived there for a time.

In WWII, the Castle was used to store the artwork from the Tate Gallery.

The Castle is still the private residence of Lady Ashcombe and her kids. We were able to tour the residential part of the Castle, but like at Highclere, we weren’t allowed to take photos.

Part of the grounds is now a Peasantry, where they have many different types of rare pheasants.

All in all, we spent a very pleasant couple of hours at the Castle. Then we headed to Bourton-on-the-Water which is usually listed on the prettiest of the Cotswold villages. It really is beautiful but because of that distinction, it was crazy crowded. It has a population of less than 3400 people and there had to have been half that again in this 3 block long section of town.

After lunch we headed a few miles up the road to Stow-on-the -Wold, another one of the prettier villages in the area. It was founded by Norman lords as a market town. One of the last battles of the Civil War was held about a mile north of here.

We spent less than an hour at Stow before heading to Cheltenham for the Doubletree. Airbnb flats are much more expensive than the last time we were in Europe, which is why we’re spending more nights than usual in hotels.

Today, we’re heading off to Churchill’s ancestorial home, Blenheim Palace. Then maybe to one of the other Castles listed on the “Most Beautiful Castles in the Cotswolds” list. We’ll see how much time we have.

Good evening. The weather finally turned today with clouds and drizzly rain almost all day. The good news is that the temperature dropped about 25 degrees to the upper 60s so that was a welcome change. The sun came out later in the day but now it’s clouding up again a bit.

Today we drove a 45 mile loop to see 5 castles. All but the last were built during the time of the Norman invasion (1066) and most were in pretty bad shape. Our first stop was White Castle.

Next we moved on to Grosmont Castle but the gate was locked so we could only grab a picture from the road.

Skenfrith Castle was next.

Then it was on to Monmouth Castle. This one was in the middle of Monmouth, the largest town in this area. Monmouth Castle is where Henry V was born in 1386. He’s the King that successfully ended the 100 Years War, which actually lasted 116 years. But I guess the 116 Years War didn’t have the same ring to it. Henry V is the king who spoke the famous line, “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.” that was used in the best TV program ever…Band of Brothers. BTW. For you BOB fans, the last surviving member of the 506 PIR died a few weeks ago. They’re all gone now.

We planned to have our picnic lunch at our last stop, Raglan Castle, and we did. Except it was still raining so we ate our sandwiches in the car. Raglan Castle was a late medieval castle. This is what it used to look like.

Here’s what it looks like now.

After finishing at Raglan, we were less than 15 minutes from home so we had an early afternoon. Peter took a nap while I started packing up our stuff to head out tomorrow.

We decided to eat dinner out at a special place. Yesterday someone told us about Skirrid Inn which is only about 10 minutes from our cottage. It is one of several inns that claim to be the oldest inn in Wales, about 900 years old. Whether it is the oldest or not doesn’t matter. It was still very cool.

Tomorrow we’re heading back into England to spend the night in Cheltenham in the Cotswold region. It’s supposed to rain all week but if it’s like today it won’t be bad. It barely drizzled. Good night everyone and thanks for following our adventures.

So, if you read that taking a drive through Gospel Pass to Hay on Wye is one of the most scenic drives in Wales, wouldn’t you want to go? That’s what we thought too. OMG! I guess the author of that article has a different idea of scenic drive than we do.

This is what Wikipedia says the view from Gospel Pass should look like.

This is what we saw.

It’s not terrible but it’s not what we expected. But what we really didn’t expect was the road to get there. The UK identifies their roads with letters….M (as in M4) is for motorway or our freeways. ‘A’ (A465) roads are at least two lanes but could be 4 lane divided roads. ‘B’ (B4069) road are country road but should be wide enough for cars to pass each other. The key word is “should”. In our experience, that isn’t always the case. Then there are roads without any letters or numbers which are maybe 1 1/2 lanes wide. Mind you the speed limit on these are still 60mph, but only the truly insane (or suicidal) would drive that fast because you never know when you’ll be face-to-face with another vehicle.

Then there is the road we took to Gospel Pass. It was barely a lane wide and unpaved. I think maybe Gracie (our GPS) led us astray. This road was supposed to take us all the way to Hay on Wye but it narrowed down to virtually nothing so I can’t believe we were on the right road. According to Wikipedia, Gospel Pass is the highest road in Wales. Well, we did climb a lot but…

Turning around was an adventure in itself. I could only move about 8 inches in each direction so it took quite a few tries before I was finally able to go back the way we came. In the meantime, Peter is having a stoke in the passenger seat thinking we were stuck there forever. Here’s a video we took just after we turned around. The road looks much wider than it actually is. At least I didn’t have to remember what side of the road to drive on, I just stayed in the middle.

After going back the way we came, it took another 45 minutes to get to Hay on Wye. It’s a cute little town know for it’s book stores. Our first stop was the Hay Castle which was built in Norman times but now it’s a center for the arts. The lift was broken so we didn’t get off the ground floor.

We wandered around town for a while before having a bite to eat at a local pub.

Peter had a BLT and I tried the meat pie. I was expecting something along the lines of the pie I had in London, but this was quite different. I wasn’t impressed when it came as it looked mushy, but it actually tasted very good.

Once we finished lunch, we headed back south to White Castle Vineyards for a tour and tasting. It’s fairly new, established in 2008. The owner, Rob, took us on a tour of the vineyard explaining about the types of grapes he grows.

The tour was very nice but incredibly hot, the mid-90s yet again. Luckily, the tour was followed up by a tasting. I only took a sip of each of the 4 wines as I still had to drive home.

Luckily we were only 15 minutes from home and for the first time all day, I didn’t take any wrong turns so the drive back was uneventful. We’re here for one more day but the weather is going to turn…cloudy with a high in the low 20s (upper 60s; low 70s) and a possibility of rain. The cooler weather will be a nice respite from the 90 degree temps we’ve had over the last week.

Today Peter added a new country to his ever-growing lists of places he’s visited. We left Bristol and headed straight to Cardiff Castle. It only took about an hour to get there but took another 30 minutes to find a place to park and walk back to the Castle. But it was worth the trip. The site was originally a Roman fort from AD 55-80. The Normans then built a castle over the ruins of that fort. It passed through many hands either as a gift or through inheritance until it 1766 when it became the property of the 1st Marquess of Bute. It remained in that family until 1949 when it was given to the people of Cardiff by the 5th Marquess of Bute. The high death duties he owed when his father died made it impossible for him to keep it.

After we finished at the Castle, we took a boat to Cardiff Bay.

We took a train back to the city center and went to Ed’s Easy Diner for lunch. When we passed it on our way from the car park to the Castle and I immediately knew that where I wanted to go for lunch. It looks just like Johnny Rockets.

We made it to our new home in Abergavenny Wales in about an hour and quickly settled into our little stone studio. As it was once again in the 90s it was hotter than hell in the house. In fact, it is just now cooling off and it’s after 9pm. But it has a washer and all the amenities we need so it is perfect for us.

In fact, Peter and I are going to sit out on the patio and cool off a little before bed. We also have to decide what we’re going to do tomorrow. I’ll let you know what we decide.

Today was a light, but excellent, day beginning with a 16-minute train ride from Bristol to Bath. The Bristol Temple Meads train station was a short walk from the Doubletree Hotel so it was much easier than driving to Bath and trying to find someplace to park.

We had 9:00am tickets to the Roman Bath so that was our first stop. The famous Bath water came 10,000 years ago in the form of rain. The rain soaked 3km (1.8 miles) into the earth and it is still bubbling up. There was a very large bath/temple built 60-70AD. The museum has a lot of artifacts from the ancient structure.

After finishing at the Roman Baths we headed to the modern day version, Thermae Bath Spa just around the corner from the original. We were able to book a time at 1230 for our bath play time and a 2:30 massage for me. We killed time by going to a large department store (M&S; Marks & Spencer) to see if we could pick up another pair of shorts for Peter. I didn’t realize that the shorts we brought with us are so big they’re practically falling off of him. We found a pair at M&S earlier in the week so went to see if we could get another pair….no luck. They didn’t have his size.

We also visited the Bath Abbey (aka The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Paul), a simple but beautiful church founded in the 7th century.

After a bit of lunch, we went back to the Spa for our relaxation time. For privacy reasons, no cameras were allowed so there are no pictures. But, here’s a YouTube video I found that shows the spa.

The lift was broken so we only went to the pool in the basement as we only had to walk down one flight of stairs. The other two were on the 3rd and 4th floors so climbing up there was a non-starter. So, we spent our time in the Minerva bath. All the water is warm, almost too warm given the mid-90-degree temps outside, and filled with 42 different minerals.

My massage was wonderful and, between that and the warm pool water (not to mention two of my new favorite drinks….Lemon Kiss), I’m pretty relaxed.

It was a pretty low-key day but after all the running around we’ve been doing it was a welcome change. Tomorrow we check out of the Doubletree and head to Cardiff, Wales. After that we head to Brecon Beacon National Park for the next 3 nights. It should be wonderful.

Today was all about me. When we were planning this trip, I told Peter that out of the 8 weeks we were in the UK my must do list consisted of 3 things: (1) attend the Edinburgh Tattoo, (2) golf at one of the courses at St. Andrews and (3) visit Highclere Abbey. We’re doing my first 2 items in two weeks when we get to Scotland and we did the 3rd today.

If you’re not a Downton Abbey fan….why not??? Seriously, if you’re not a fan this post might not mean much to you and, as always, I’m not offended if you choose to skip it.

We got to Highclere Castle a little before opening time at 1000. It was only about 1:15 drive from Portsmouth and we made great time.

Here is a very short video of me walking in the footsteps of Carter. If you’re a fan of the show, you know what I mean.

They are very careful about how many people they allow into the Castle at the same time. Even though we started to queue at about 9:45, we didn’t actually get into the Castle until about 10:20 and there weren’t that many people in line before us. By the time we got in, the line was twice as long.

We weren’t allowed to take pictures in the Castle, but I found a short documentary on YouTube about the castle. This shows you many of the rooms used most often in the series as well as a small bit of the Egyptian exhibition. The video explains the link between Highclere Castle and Egypt. I couldn’t get the it to embed, so here’s the link that should get you there on YouTube. It’s about 6 minutes long. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv5AQDntIcI&t=1s

One thing that struck me about the rooms is that they are much smaller than they look in the series. The bedroom that was used as Lord and Lady Grantham’s bedroom was a nice size but much smaller than it looks on TV. The guide said that by the time the actors, the 30 crew members and all the equipment were squeezed into the room, no one could even move. The one that surprised me the most was the grand staircase. It looks gigantic on the screen but it really isn’t all that big. It’s still beautiful though.

To help us understand how the house was used in the series, there were posters set up in the rooms that were used most frequently for the show, particularly the salon, the dining room and the drawing room. Since they used all the original furniture I could almost see the actors in the room. It was very cool.

After touring the Castle and the Egyptian Exhibit, we wandered the grounds for awhile. The Castle sits on 10,000 acres of beautiful rolling hills. Like most of England, the hills aren’t very green right now but it was still beautiful. There were plenty of benches in the shade where we hung out and relaxed.

The final treat for the day was Afternoon Tea in the Coach House. It was hotter than hell in there but we thoroughly enjoyed our lunch. We had champagne, scones with cream (butter) and jam, 4 types of sandwiches (the 4th was smoked salmon; didn’t try that one) and 3 types of desserts: chocolate mousse, carrot cake and a Victoria sponge that was delicious.

We had a great time at the Castle. Even Peter, who’s never seen Downton Abbey, enjoyed it. He loved the history of the Castle and thought tea was amazing.

After tea (which was a pretty big lunch) we got back into the car for the drive to Bristol about 1:15 away. This trip was easy as we were on the motorway (highway) for almost 60 miles. After the narrow country roads, it was a real treat.

We’ve settled into the Doubletree and plan to take the train to Bath tomorrow. It’s going to be hot again so we’re going to take it slow.

Today we traveled about 50 miles north of Portsmouth (but it took almost 90 minutes) to visit the ancient site of Stonehenge. Archeologists believe it was constructed between 3000BC to 2000 BC. We got there just before it opened so we were able to get on the first shuttle bus to the stone circle. We could have walked but since it is over a mile in each direction it should come as no surprise that we took the shuttle.

We have pictures from every angle but here are a few of the best.

After walking around the circle, and stopping to chat with a couple we met yesterday on the ferry, we headed back to the visitor center. There were several huts built in the style in which the Stone Circle builders would have lived.

Archeologists believe the circle was originally a cemetery. During excavation, they unearthed many fragments of bones. Get ready for another skeleton.

After finishing at Stonehenge, we headed back the way we came, to visit the town of Salisbury. I think the only reason anyone goes to Salisbury is to visit the Cathedral and with good reason. It is gorgeous!

It is the head of the Anglican Church in the diocese of Salisbury and the main body of the church was completed in 1258. As much time as I’ve spent in Europe, it still boggles my mind how old everything is here. I had a hard time selecting the pictures to include because they were all so beautiful but here are a few of my favorites.

Of course, the crown jewel of the cathedral is in the Chapter House, a very non-descript room. But what’s in it is precious….an original copy of the Magna Carta. King John was very unpopular and was forced to sign the document in 1215. It is the basis for British and U.S. government.

There are 3 other original versions still in existence but this one is, by far, in the best shape. The volunteer steward told me that the reason is because this one has never been removed from the Cathedral since it arrived. It was amazing to see.

When it was time for lunch, we found a restaurant called Prezzo and enjoyed some Italian. Peter had lasagna and I feasted on a Margherita pizza. It was quite good.

As a consolation, here’s the drink I had. This was taken before I had even the littlest sip. It is a Peach Bellini and was very yummy.

We were home very early, about 3:30, so it has been a very relaxing late afternoon/early evening. But now it’s time for dinner and while Peter is getting that ready, I need to start packing up for our departure. Tomorrow night we’re in Bristol at the Hilton Doubletree. I couldn’t find a reasonable priced Airbnb anywhere near Bath (which is where we wanted to stay), and since Bristol is only 30 minutes away, we decided to stay there and do Bath as a day trip on Friday.

Have a great evening everyone. Talk soon.

We had a lovely day today visiting the Isle of Wight a good-sized island about 45-minutes by ferry from Portsmouth Harbor.

We arrived at the Isle of Wight ferry terminal just after 10AM and headed straight for Osbourne House, the summer home of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. They thought their other 3 homes (Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace and Royal Pavilion in Brighton) were too small to raise their 9 children so they bought this place.

Once Albert died in 1861, Victoria went into permanent mourning and moved to Osborne House full time. Her youngest daughter, Beatrice, stayed with her for the rest of her (Victoria) life.

The back grounds/gardens were beautiful. There was a shuttle to take us down to the beach but since we were going to a local beach for lunch we decided to take a pass.

After a couple hours at Osborne House, we headed to Shanklin Beach about 30 minutes away. We got lucky finding a spot to park in the very small lot and, because of the handicap placard, we didn’t have to pay.

We found a place to have our picnic lunch then Peter headed for the water.

We planned to head to the southernmost end of the island and visit the Needles Lighthouse on the cliffs but decided it was too far to drive. We would have only been able to stay about an hour before having to turn back around to get to the ferry on time. So instead, we visited Carisbrooke Castle in the center of the island. It was only about 20 minutes from the beach so it was very convenient. Since it was later in the day, there was plenty of disabled parking immediately outside the entrance of the castle. Otherwise, I don’t think we would have been able to go since the other parking lots were a very long walk.

The site has been occupied since pre-Roman times and the first building went up in late Roman times. Most recently, Queen Victoria’s daughter, Princess Beatrice lived there until her death in 1938.

One of it’s more famous occupants was when it was a prison. After the Civil War, King Charles I was imprisoned there for 14 months before his execution in 1649.

A few musicians entertain us with some music.

The grounds held Princess Beatrice’s walled garden and a bowling green (built for Charles I) but both were down a hill and Peter didn’t want to walk all the way down and back. We’d been doing a lot of walking and we were getting tired.

Since we didn’t have time to do anything else, we headed back to the ferry. Our reservation was for the 6:20pm but we got there in time for the 5pm sailing. Luckily we were able to get on so we were in the flat before our original ferry even left.

It was a beautiful day and while there was still more to see, we felt like we had a full day. We especially loved hanging at the beach for a while. Tomorrow we off on another day trip….this one to Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral. It should be another great day. See you there.