Once we arrived in London we walked to the local shop and got a Oyster card . These cards are for the underground and National Rail link. Using these saves time in travelling and not worrying about finding change etc .
11th August
London City here we come . We left our hotel at 9.15am to catch the National Rail to Liverpool station that took half a hour , then changed trains to the underground to Victoria station this took us 1 1/2hours . It was a lovely sunny day in London.
We found a Big Bus London tour, a hop on hop off bus. These are great for seeing a complete look around the city on a double decker bus. We were told by one of the drivers that there are over 70 Big Buses on the road around London at one time, with over 100 drivers, and people monitoring the main pick up stops around the London and greater area.
Our first hop off was at the Tower of London Bridge . We walked from one side to the other then back , that way we got some good photos . John was surprise that it was not very big as on TV it looks bigger. Looked at the poppy display . This is amazing to see as every poppy represents a fallen soldier in the First World War . Each poppy is hand made using ceramic .The display is due to be completed by early November 2014.
Poppy Memorial at the Tower of London
Tower Bridge
Then from here we went to see the London Eye. This structure in itself is huge. It took us 1 1/2 hours of queuing to get on the ride . The cost of this was £21.00 each. From the top of the eye you can get a 360 degree look over London wow wow that all I can say. 450 feet high the eye is. ( see photos below).
Then it was hop on the bus again and finish our tour of the city back to Victoria station.
London Eye
The long que waiting for the London Eye ride
Beefeater at the London Tower
The shard ( the tallest building in London
The Marble Arch
Buckingham Palace was not far from the station , so off for another walk this time is was dodging the showers . The showers passed over quickly which was great . Thankfully there were many covered in entrances to apartments where we were able to shelter . Lol . The queen was in residence , but we did not see her.
Buckingham Palace ( yes we got there)
Back on the underground and rail to the Travel Lodge getting back at 9.00pm a long day but very enjoyable.
12th August.
Off to London again to visit the Natural History Musieum of London. Here we saw mammoth bones exotic birds and a large display about volcanoes.
The from here we visited Trafalager Square normal tourist photos lol then it was time for a boat cruise on the River Thames . That was seeing a lot more tourist spot from a different area, in saying that we were lucky to get a return trip as it was the last boat for the day for free. Normally you only go one way :).
Trafalager Square a must for all visitors you may never know who you will met there
In the evening we caught up with Felix Pope at the The Old Chesire Cheese Pub in Fleet Street . It was burnt down in the great fires of London then rebuilt in 1645 . It had about five floors with many nooks and crannys for seating in . Each room was quite small. They had put scattering of sawdust on the floor which was interesting. The reason for this is during the old times the men chewed tobacco and then spat it out into the sawdust. Saw dust was now put on it just for a little of memory with the pub. We had a good catch up with Filex and what he's been doing since living in England. A pleasant evening had by all.
Getting back to the travel lodge at 11.45pm a long day but a great one
Our stay at the Travel Lodge in Enfield district was very enjoyable thanks to a very helpful team . The room we had was a good size and the bed very comfortable . Many thanks for everything. 10 out of 10 .
13th August ,
Another sunny day in London. We are now heading towards Hitchen to see if we can find some more of Johns family . Sad to say after checking out the graves at a church in Hitchenand then talking to some locals we tried Sandon which was only a few miles away , but here too we came to a blank wall.
We gave it a good go.
Sandon 's local church
14th August
Time for us in Uk is getting less and less sad to say, with only 14 days left till we fly back to Aussie . Today we are making our way to Liverpool to check out about a trip to the Isle of Man for a few days and have a look around Liverpool.
The Old And New in Liverpool
The Lion (a very early steam locomotive)
We had a good look around the wharf, dock area of Liverpool . A lot of history here in regards to the slavery on the boats and the sugar being shipped from here .
The shops are the same in every town plenty of them. I was surprised to see that the city was not has clean as we thought it would be. A lot of paper and cans left around , and very noticeable a lot of cigarette buts just thrown on the foot paths etc. not a nice thing for tourist to see. Especially when they are the ones brining in a lot of money to the local people.
We looked at going to the Isle of Man , this will not happen as they is racing there this coming week. There would be no rooms available and the cost to get there is £380.00 return for us and the car just for 3 days . So sad to say that will not be happening. We were informed that the accommodation is booked out 12 months in advance for this week. Just our luck.
15th August
We left Liverpool on a sunny day, by the time we got to Preston it was overcast. Once again lovely country side and coastal route.
Blackpool Pier , time for lunch and a walk around. 2 large hamburgers and bacon with chips £8.95 a great buy. Blackpool Pier is very much the same as Brighton Pier . We both thought there was not the same amount of people around interesting especially as it's the school holidays .
Now making our way to Chorley to see a friend I have not seen in over 35 years.
We arrived at Kathys mid afternoon. It was so great to see Kathys and catch up with what's been happening with each other over the years. A quiet night in with a glass of wine and for us a Guinness, talking until midnight .
Marg, Kathy, and John a great get together finally
Kathys lovely 5 bedroom home
16thAugust
Today brought a very overcast day with a few showers. More talking in the morning and photos taken, then, we left for Scotland via Bacup and Rossendale .
Bacup in the county of Lancashire
We popped in to see Kathys mum who turned 100 at the beginning of August, in Colne . She said I had not changed and just kept wanting to hold my hands which I thought was sweet .
We stayed at a quiet village called Bolton-Le-Sands on the coast near Morecambe Bay .
17th August
Today we are travelling from Bolton-Le-Sands to Glasgow via Haverthwaite up to Hawkshead . This area is know as Furness Fells lake lands ,passing Windermere lake then onto Connistin Water lake up Ambleside. This area is not far from the boarder of Scotland .
Driving into Keswell remainded John and I both of bits of the New Zealand landscape with the hills , pine trees and plenty of pig fern. Once again the streets are very narrow , passing on these roads can be very difficult , in saying that the scenery is beautiful so you just take your time.
SCOTLAND HERE WE COME!
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