Western and Southern England

It is now April 23; we crossed the Wye River to enter England.  Our first stop is in the Georgian city of Bath on the River Avon.  In about 60 A.D. the Romans began to develop Bath as a spa around it's natural hot springs.  Bath Abbey, now a parish church, has a history from 781 as part of a monastery of St. Peter.  It was fun walking the ancient streets, crossing Pulteney Bridge, walking along the River Avon, visiting the Roman baths and the abbey.

Today we were in the first seat of the bus; I have some great pictures of typical English country roads taken on-the-go through the front window.  There is one place near the town of Cheddar where the road is covered with vegetation.

We made a brief stop to view the huge facade of the Wells Cathedral.  Then it was on to Glastonbury (associated with King Arthur) for lunch.  Another nice town where we had time to wonder on our own.  We stopped in the local civil government hall to buy some homemade goods at a bake sale.  Then we sat on a bench in front of the building to have lunch and watch the local street activity.

In the afternoon we journeyed to the Dartmoor area where ponies still run free.  We bumped into a hiking group and saw lots of the ponies.  We stopped at Widecombe-in-the-Moor to visit the local church and do a little shopping.  We purchased a very old ceramic horse and some Russian box matches that our daughter collects.  

We still had time to get to Plymouth harbor to see the spot where the Mayflower left in 1620 and hear stories of Sir Francis Drake.  The Citadel, overlooking the harbor, is now a marine barracks.  We stayed overnight in Plymouth before heading west crossing the Tramar River Bridge to Cornwall.  Our first stop was Penzance Bay to view St. Michael's Mount.

We were then off to Land's End (western most point of England) to view the cliffs and lighthouse.  For the past 10 years a hotel occupies the site.  Some people wanted to keep the area commercial free but lost the battle.  We then headed northeast to a great fishing village of St. Ives.  We had most of the afternoon to wander around town.  On our way back to Plymouth we saw stone chimneys all over the landscape.  Apparently they are abandoned structures from old tin mines that were numerous in the area.  We stayed a second night in Plymouth.

It is now April 25, and we are headed to the Salisbury Plains and Stonehenge, which is supposedly 5000 years old.  Then it was on to Salisbury Cathedral with its 404 foot spire.  Inside was the oldest working clock in England (and probably the world), and on display was one of  four surviving copies of the original 13 copies of the Magna Carte.  After having lunch we were off to Portsmouth to spend a few hours around the harbor area before checking into our hotel which overlooked the beach and harbor entrance.

Leaving Portsmouth was probably our worst weather day - cold, cloudy and a light rain.  Since this was the last day of the tour we felt lucky that we had great weather to this point.  Our first stop was Arundel Castle where the Dukes of Norfolk live.  The famous Battle of Hastings in 1066 was fought nearby.  Then our last stop of the trip was at Canterbury to see the cathedral and have lunch.  Then on our way back to London, by 2:30 p.m., the sun was again shining.  But by the time we arrived in London, it was very windy and on the cold side.

The next morning, April 27, 2002, we walked the 2 blocks to the Underground station at Euston to arrive at Victoria station and get the Gatwick Express train to the airport.  We became quite adept at using the public transportation.  Our flight from Gatwick to Pittsburgh took about 8 hours.  Then the flight from Pittsburgh to Phoenix was about 4.5 hours, then a 2 hour drive back to Tucson.  Glad to be home after the 30 day road trip!

The End