UK 2019

Last full day in England, so why not shout ourselves a bit of luxury?

We had decided to catch the train to Portsmouth to see the Mary Rose and a return cattle-class ticket was £16.60 or thereabouts. A First Class ticket was £24.90. Let’s do it. First Class. I suppose they have a drinks waiter and maybe complimentary nibblies, like a First Class airline lounge? No?

No. In fact the train from Brighton to Portsmouth doesnΓÇÖt even have a First Class carriage. Why in GodΓÇÖs name do they sell you a FC ticket if the train doesnΓÇÖt have a FC carriage!?

We thought we might do better on the way back, as the train leaving Portsmouth did at least have a FC carriage. Better seats but none of the other paraphernalia I was hoping for. We had to change trains a few stops into the journey and the next one not only didnΓÇÖt have a FC carriage, it was packed. There was only standing room! Not even FC standing room. I am feeling a bit hard done by. My MP will be hearing about this.

Okay, so we did at least get to Portsmouth and we did see the Mary Rose. This ship has a very interesting history, sinking in the harbour during a stoush with the French in 1545. It wasnΓÇÖt the French who sunk her though. The poor old Mary Rose scored an own goal, sinking when it turned tightly with the lower gun ports still open, taking on water and sinking within a few minutes. Nearly 500 soldiers and sailors went down with her.

The ship was rediscovered in the 1960s and finally raised in 1982. Her remains are now hermetically sealed in the worldΓÇÖs largest display cabinet. The real interest is in the myriad of artefacts found with her, including 170-odd bodies.

The whole naval museum precinct at Portsmouth is huge, and most attractions are separately ticketed. We decided to leave the remainder for a future trip. I did take some photos though.

Horatio Nelson figurehead, from HMS Trafalgar, completed in 1841

Last evening in England and last catch up with Emily so we went off to an English pub for dinner, the Blind Busker. Not sure who was running the pub, but they could smarten a few things up. The Blind Busker would appear to have a few other handicaps…

Michelle orders a meal, ΓÇ£sorry, weΓÇÖre out of thatΓÇ¥, Emily orders ΓÇ£sorry, we donΓÇÖt seem to have thatΓÇ¥. We did eventually settle on the order and I picked an interesting beer from the selection on tap, ΓÇ£sorry, that one seems to have run outΓÇ¥, luckily I was easily pleased and went with an alternate. Then the barman came back to tell me that they were out of Cabernet Sauvignon. Bloody hell. We were thinking of desert, but they were out of apple pie (seriously). Anyway, what they did have was top notch and they did manage to rustle up another cab sav from the cellar.

Enough for now, and enough for this trip. I wonΓÇÖt get a chance to write anything tomorrow because weΓÇÖll be busy catching a flight from Gatwick tomorrow evening. I might do a wrap up after we get back to Oz on Friday morning. IΓÇÖm hoping that there will be little or nothing of interest to write about. Maybe IΓÇÖll find my phone.

Cheers and over and out for the 2019 trip.

Steve and Michelle.

So, back in Brighton, with some time on our hands. There are a number of good art galleries in Brighton and it seemed a good use of our time to look them over. I managed to pick up some exquisite one-of-a-kind miniature sculptures, for a bargain price. Check them out:

To top it all off, the lady manning this particular establishment (FredΓÇÖs Fine Art Gallery and Souvenir Shop, I think) is coming to Australia next month to spend some time with her daughter – who lives around the corner from us in Sippy Downs. Small world.

We were a bit over public transport of all sorts with the number of planes, trains and automobiles we had ridden on over the last few days, but we made an exception for Volks Electric Railway, which runs for all of about a kilometre along the Brighton beachfront. Just the day to ride an open air train carriage – wet, cold and windy.

We havenΓÇÖt done much else today, except clock up about 18k steps by 4pm. So IΓÇÖll leave you with a few random photos.

More Dublin, more alcohol. No wonder the Irish are such unusual people – most of them are sozzled, most of the time. But first, a shoutout to the airline we travelled on to/from Ireland.

Ryanair, you are bunch of miserable bastards!

Okay, so we caught a no-frills flight, about Γé¼70 return from Gatwick to Dublin. You can only take a small cabin bag, which is fine. But you get assigned a seat at random, which scattered us over the plane. This isnΓÇÖt a big drama on an hour-long flight, however Michelle and Emily wanted us to stay together so paid the Γé¼4 fee to select the seats. The Γé¼4 fee turned out to be Γé¼8, for each seat. The flights are getting more expensive.

Then, on the way back, you can only check in on-line. This works if you can get on-line. No drama, except we couldnΓÇÖt so we arrived at the airport fairly early and rocked up to the Ryanair counter. Sorry, you need to check in on-line. Emily is the only one with any service (my phone is still enjoying a round the world trip) and, oh sorry, on-line check in just closed. Now what? Oh, we can check you in and print the boarding passes here. Surprise! WeΓÇÖre at the check in desk. That will be Γé¼55 … each!

Not sure if anyone is counting, but we have now spent an additional Γé¼189 on these cheap tickets.

We didnΓÇÖt ask about sitting together, that would have added insult to injury, and at least another Γé¼24 to the bill. I repeat, Ryanair you are a pack of bastards.

Fortunately the rest of the day went well. It started with a poke around in Dublin Castle, followed by a visit to Dublinia, then finally a trip to the Jameson Irish Whiskey distillery.

Dublin Castle was only a few blocks away from our flat, so this was an easy walk even accounting for the fact we had to drag our baggage with us. We couldnΓÇÖt believe our luck really as you werenΓÇÖt allowed to take any bags into the Castle and had to leave them in a free locker. We happily took up that offer and left them in the locker for hours while we went around the rest of the city.

Dublinia is a display of the early roots of Dublin, up until medieval times, and its earlier links with Viking raiders. Very interesting. I learnt that Dublin is an anglicised version of the Gaelic Duiblinn, ΓÇÿblack poolΓÇÖ, referring to a dark tidal pool where the Viking settlement was established.

After learning our early Dublin history we collected our bags and took in some more of the city from the hop on – hop off bus, before alighting at stop 23. The stop [insert Irish accent] ΓÇ£for dose of you who be wanΓÇÖing to learn a little about how to make the whiskeyΓÇ¥.

Except for having to lug our bags around, this was another very good attraction. The girls thought it was better than the Guinness tour, as a bit more attention was paid to the tasting, and they actually drank their complimentary whiskeys at the end.

Cheers for now.

WeΓÇÖre in Dublin. The biggest industry in Dublin is the Guinness brewery. So are we going to go and have a look? Of course weΓÇÖre going to go! ItΓÇÖs Saturday and there will be a crowd, so we aimed to be there as soon as the doors opened (9:30). We were.

It is a self-guided tour over 5 floors. All very museum-like, with some interactive stuff. The exhibits take you through the whole beer-making process, floor by floor. It is built into an old storehouse, they donΓÇÖt actually let you into the working brewery. Never mind, weΓÇÖll make do.

There is a tasting session, plus lessons in how to pour a perfect pint. And, theyΓÇÖre not stingy, everyone gets a pint of Guinness to complete the tour. ThatΓÇÖs a fair bit of beer at 11am in the morning. Still, canΓÇÖt buck the trend.

By the time we left it was pretty busy, getting in early was definitely the way to go. I wanted to do a lap on the horse and buggy. ΓÇ£NoΓÇ¥ I was told, ΓÇ£itΓÇÖs cruel to the horses. Look at the way they have to stand around.ΓÇ¥

ΓÇ£If we go for a lap they wonΓÇÖt be standing aboutΓÇ¥, I retorted.

ΓÇ£No, theyΓÇÖll be struggling to drag your fat arse down the roadΓÇ¥ was the response. Ouch. Fair enough, IΓÇÖll walk.

After the brewery experience we went and found ourselves a Hop On, Hop Off bus, one which wasnΓÇÖt standing around being cruelly exploited. These have been a bloody drama, and this one was no exception, but at least we (eventually) managed to find it. It was fairly miserable weather which meant we stayed under cover and I didnΓÇÖt take dozens of photos of everything we passed.

We rode the bus around for a while then hopped off at the Kilmainham Gaol to have a look. All the tours were booked out so we had to content ourselves with the museum. This was DublinΓÇÖs main gaol for a few hundred years and saw the incarceration and execution of many an Irish nationalist.

To be fair, I think my view of Irish history is reasonably unbiased and as far as I can see, the difference between Nationalists, Unionists, martyrs and bloody idiots is a fairly fine line. Yeah, yeah we know the British have oppressed the Irish for a 1000 years, yadda, yadda. At the same time the Irish seem just as happy to fight each other as work on a solution. Their response to finally receiving independence? Have a civil war!

A bit more bus touring and then we hopped off and walked around the Temple Bar district, checking out interesting sights and the souvenir shops before walking back to our flat.

Literally next door to our apartment is a memorial to Robert Emmet, a prominent figure in the fight for independence. I suppose he would be called a freedom fighter nowadays, and an excellent example of why it took the Irish so long to gain independence.

He organised a half-baked rebellion, which erupted early after one of his gang blew himself up. Then he tried to call it off after someone got hurt, commenced his escape but was caught sneaking back to say goodbye to his girlfriend and finally, after being convicted of treason, was strung up over the road.

With leadership like this itΓÇÖs a bloody miracle they ever achieved anything.

IΓÇÖll finish with a safety warning to unsuspecting travellers. Make sure what you put on your toothbrush is actually toothpaste.

Emily asked if she could borrow my toothpaste, as sheΓÇÖd forgotten hers. Sure. Then I took a tube of ΓÇÿtoothpasteΓÇÖ from my toiletry bag, put some on my brush and went into the bathroom. I started cleaning my teeth and noticed another tube of toothpaste on the sink. How many bloody tubes have we got? And why doesnΓÇÖt this taste minty? What the @#&* am I cleaning my teeth with!?

Back into the bedroom, grab my glasses and turn on the light. Tinea cream! For ChristΓÇÖs sake! Quick check of the ingredients to make sure itΓÇÖs not poisonous, the only warning on the label was that it should only be used externally. That seems sensible. This happened hours ago now and IΓÇÖm still alive, with no sign of mould on my teeth.

ThatΓÇÖs all for now. Off to Dublin Castle first up in the morning. Cheers.

Very short post, as we spent most of the day in transit.

In summary:

• Left our accommodation in Hardwick and drove into Cambridge, dropping off the car without incident at 10am.
• Caught the train from Cambridge at 11:30am and arrived at Brighton about 2pm, again without incident.
• Walked to EmilyΓÇÖs place. Repacked our bags as we are only allowed a single cabin bag for the flight to Dublin.
• Caught a taxi to the station and train to Gatwick, arriving about 5pm. Still not an incident in sight.
• Caught a plane which (fortunately) flew directly to Dublin without hint of an incident, arriving just after 8pm.
• Taxi into town, with only the small inconvenience of having to stop at a cash point to get some Γé¼ out as the taxis for the most part donΓÇÖt accept cards (of all the businesses which should get on board with cashless itΓÇÖs taxis).
• Checked into our apartment, which very nearly turned into an incident as we were supposed to meet Joan. Joan wasnΓÇÖt there and no-one was answering messages. Fortunately after 15 minutes or so we did rouse Joan out of hiding and were able to check in. ItΓÇÖs about 9pm and we are done. Incident free.

While at Gatwick I thought IΓÇÖd drop into the Lost Property office and see if I can eyeball my phone. ItΓÇÖs hours are 10am-4pm. We got there at 5pm. No joy. On the way back from Dublin weΓÇÖll hit Gatwick about 9pm, no chance theyΓÇÖll be open. On our way home weΓÇÖll get to Gatwick about 6pm for a 9pm flight. That phone is long gone and it ainΓÇÖt coming back no more, no more. Bugger.

ThatΓÇÖs it. More tomorrow. Some bonus photos below, none of which relate to the day.

Today has been on the wish list for a while. The Shuttleworth Collection is housed at Old Warden Aerodrome at Biggleswade. What is it? ItΓÇÖs a collection of lots of aircraft, cars and motorbikes (plus the odd tractor, etc.). The point of difference is that the exhibits are all working and are regularly flown and driven. Unfortunately not today. We are past the end of the season.

Richard Shuttleworth was kind of like Richie Rich. Heir to a fortune, he could do what he wanted. What he wanted to do was collect stuff. He crashed his plane and killed himself in 1940, aged just 31, and his mother maintained the collection in his memory. It has been added to since and is a very impressive collection of stuff. Actual working and flying stuff.

Not much more to say. We spent about 4 hours looking over the collection and the drove back to Hardwick. IΓÇÖll gradually upload a heap of photos, because this is a great collection. Too good to keep to myself.

Still a bit of time left in the day so we thought weΓÇÖd do a lap of town on the Hop on, Hop off bus. Long story short, we couldnΓÇÖt find it. It occurred to us that maybe it wasnΓÇÖt running. There is supposed to be a HOHO in operation, but in three days we hadnΓÇÖt actually seen one. After researching where the 19 stops on the tour were we staked one out and waited for the ΓÇÿbus every 40 minutesΓÇÖ. We gave up after an hour. Then we passed one on the way home … Piss off HOHO!

Back to Brighton tomorrow afternoon, then off to Dublin tomorrow evening.

Not what you are thinking. Push bikes. Bloody everywhere, no helmets, no bells, clothes that blend into the streetscape and they literally sneak up on you. Anyway, more on that later.

First call of the day was at the American War Cemetery just outside Cambridge. ItΓÇÖs the only WWII American war cemetery in Great Britain. We werenΓÇÖt really that excited about seeing it, as far as attractions go, but it was on the way into town, so we called in. Row upon row of white crosses and lots of green lawn. ThatΓÇÖs about all there is to any war cemetery. Some very impressive statuary and a couple of Grahams and a Jewell on the honour roll. Almost certainly no relation at all.

Driving in Cambridge is a bit tricky, so we left the car at the Park and Ride and caught the bus into town. Most of the city centre is buses and bikes only anyway.

Because there are no cars, there are swarms of students whipping about on bikes in and around the myriad colleges. I can live without them wearing helmets, itΓÇÖs their heads, but a bell would be nice. The bikes are silent on the cobblestones and the riders are invariably dressed in grey to blend in to the road. You really need to look very carefully before venturing onto the road.

I needed to go to the toilet in the Costa coffee shop, so I went up the narrow staircase to the toilets on the first floor. No one was in the disabled toilet, so I used that one. Then I went back down the narrow, steep stairs and thought … wait a minute …

We walked right past the entrance to all the major colleges, as the entry fee was £10 for each college. Kings College is the biggest, it would probably be worthwhile (and actually it might also have been £20 a head). We were happy to just take in the ambience.

It must be graduation season, as there were people in gowns all over the place. It does have the air of a ΓÇÿHogwartsΓÇÖ about the whole town.

Lunch at the Mill Inn. Considered going on a punt down the creek/stream. There are hundreds of punts sitting around, the place must be gridlocked during the summer tourist season. At £22 a head it seemed a bit too adventurous when it was cold and threatening rain.

We wandered around town taking in the sights for a few hours before jumping back on the bus to collect the car.

Watched a Spitfire doing aerobatics overhead for a while this afternoon. We weren’t sure what prompted this until we realised that it’s Wednesday and Wednesday is flight day at Duxford. One of the attractions is being able to fly in a Spitfire, a trainer version that has a second cockpit. The flights start at £2750 for a 30-minute flight in one of these. Yes, you read right. I didn’t even want to think about what the $AUD conversion was.

ThatΓÇÖs it for now. WeΓÇÖre heading to the Shuttleworth Collection tomorrow, ahead of training it back to Brighton on Friday morning.

… and in case it was bothering you, Michelle did discover that Costa has a small lift at the rear of the shop. You donΓÇÖt really have to get your wheelchair up the stairs. Shame really, I wanted to watch someone try.

Duxford is a little village 10kms south of Cambridge and site of one of the main RAF bases during WWII. It now houses the Imperial War MuseumΓÇÖs aircraft collection. The place is pretty big and takes all day. We got there when the place opened at 10am and left at 4pm, and still only delved into 4 of the 8 halls/hangars.

Part of the reason it took so long to get around the site was that we took in the optional Lancaster tour, where you got to climb into the belly of the beast and see whatΓÇÖs inside. Surprisingly little. They were a no frills airliner. There was a loo though, which must have been fun at 20,000 feet and -20┬░C.

And back to Hardwick to catch up on blog, then off to the Blue Lion for the evening. Lovely food. When I get home and get on the scales and ΓÇ£canΓÇÖt understand how I put on 5 kilosΓÇ¥, just remind me. It was the Blue Lion that pushed me over the red line.

Cheers for now.

Goodbye London, hello Cambridge. We cleared out of the flat in Edgware early (we will miss that place) and hopped onto the underground for Kings Cross Station – sort of like playing Monopoly but we didnΓÇÖt pass Go and didnΓÇÖt collect $200. All the underground lines back working today, which didnΓÇÖt matter as we didnΓÇÖt need any of them.

Found the right platform at Kings Cross and bought tickets to Cambridge. This was easier than I thought, thereΓÇÖs a train every 10 minutes and the trip only takes 50 minutes. So we settled back and enjoyed the trip, no stops, straight through to Cambridge.

Once in Cambridge we settled into a pub next door to the station, booked a place to stay for the next 4 days and had an early lunch, complete with black pudding. Then it was off to hire a car and look around.

I call it looking around. We were actually trying to find the farm we were staying at 10kms outside Cambridge. After a couple of hours we found it. We also found about 20 other villages as well and experienced the local roads and lanes.

WeΓÇÖre staying at Wallis Farm, in the village of Hardwick, just west of Cambridge. Finished the day with a meal at the local, the Blue Lion, about 100 metres up the road.

So thatΓÇÖs it, quieter day. Lots of travel.

Started the day with a trip back to London Bridge to see Sir Francis DrakeΓÇÖs ship, the Golden Hinde. For those of you who donΓÇÖt know the story, Drake sailed this ship from Portsmouth in 1577 and circumnavigated the globe, robbing the Spanish blind in the process and returning home in 1580. Because he shared the loot with Elizabeth I he was knighted. If he hadnΓÇÖt he would have been called a pirate and hung. ThatΓÇÖs how taxes work.

Michelle claimed to have once met Sir Francis Drake, which seemed highly improbable. Turns out she had met sir Francis Chichester, while a schoolgirl in Plymouth, who was following in DrakeΓÇÖs footsteps (can you follow a sailorΓÇÖs footsteps?), which seemed much more probable.

Typically, the Golden Hinde isnΓÇÖt really the Golden Hinde. ItΓÇÖs a replica, which does have the distinction of actually sailing from England to California, Japan and other locales. So it has some street cred – itΓÇÖs not a static model. Bloody small though. ItΓÇÖs only 30m long and 6m wide. An ideal crew member would have been about 3 feet tall. Not a lot of boat for 80 crewmen.

Then we went for a brief wander across London Bridge and caught the train back to Edgware Road to meet up with some of EmilyΓÇÖs friends and finally meet the boyfriend, Chris. Very brief meeting, they were only taking advantage of our flat for a shower after one of them had run in the Hyde Park Half Marathon, but Chris seemed a fine young fellow – which is pretty irrelevant anyway because heΓÇÖs not our boyfriend! First meeting concluded. Michelle thinks he is good looking.

After parting ways with Emily and company we visited Body Worlds at Piccadilly Circus. This is a rather unique thing. I read about it in a book called Stiffs by Mary Roach a couple of years ago. ItΓÇÖs basically a display of dead people, ΓÇ£but not dead people as we know them, JimΓÇ¥. They have been subjected to plastination. Plasti-what the tarnation!?

Plastination involves injecting plastic into veins and tissues of the dead body (donΓÇÖt ask me how, I canΓÇÖt remember – read the book). Then you dissolve the tissue. This leaves you with a plastic model of the veins, muscles, etc. So itΓÇÖs not a plastic representation of body parts, itΓÇÖs plastic body parts. It was very interesting and took a few hours to get around. Worth the effort and ┬ú25 entry price it if you are in London.

To finish the day we had booked a 7pm Jack the Ripper tour in the East End. But how to get there? We needed to get to East Aldgate, which was on one of the underground lines not operating. No problem, weΓÇÖll go to Aldgate. Except that lineΓÇÖs not operating either. WeΓÇÖll catch a bus, and it appears a route 205 bus will get us there. After wandering around Kings Cross Station for a while we fluked on the right bus stop and it dropped us at the right spot for the tour, early enough to get a Sunday roast at a nearby pub.

The tour? Bloody boring. It was interesting to see the sites where the murders took place, but it was a two-hour tour that had about 45-minutes of content. We gave it a bit over an hour, then quietly dropped off the back of the group, called it a night and found the #205 bus to take us home. We didnΓÇÖt walk through the park on the way home, no sense in taking risks…

Big day, lots done. Tomorrow we head to Cambridge. See you then.