Bath and stones

Today we started off by visiting Bath.  If your a lady and have ever read a historical romance you've probable heard of the place.  It was originally a Roman bath then after the Romans left the English made it their baths.  It's an escalated site with a audio tour.  I didn't really notice the sulfer smell as at other hot springs.  The stuff they found in the apron were neat.  Unlike the baths we saw the other day these have a natural hot spring.  They worshipped this hot spring as a sign from one of there gods so they would throw it offerings.  Of course that ment that when escalated thousands of years later we gotta see their cool stuff.

Next stop was Stone Henge.  Definitely impressive even though you can't go up close to he stones.  The crazy part is the stones are huge but 1/3 of the total stone is actually under ground.  This is how these things are still standing upright.  They have no idea why they were built.  But they do know the stones come from a little but away so they must of had one neat contraption to get them into their current location.  One thing we noticed is there were a ton of workers preparing the site for something.  Then we saw the sign,  summer solstice is Friday morning.

 

So next stop another less famous henge Avebury.  This place has a giant hill that was actually man made, and then a lot of smaller ones.  The big one they are not sure it's purpose but the smaller ones are old graves.  I shall never took at a mound of dirt in the same way.  Anyway these items are outside the actual circle so we went into town,  only parking was at a pub so we decided to pay for our parking by having a drink and some desert.

Always up for a good chat I asked the guy about the solstice.  This guy was a local since a kid,  considered himself a rock hugger, respect the rocks.  Anyway I think he said that in the 80s they would go out for a few weeks to celebrate the solstice at stone henge.  They'd have a free concert with a lot of spirit, he compared it to their own little Woodstock.  But then it started getting routy so the government brought in some brute force and started closing the henge before the solstice.  Now it's open again because some local changed his name to Arthur Pendragon and claimed his right to worship there.  Anyway the site is now setup for 20k people to watch the sun come up but is heavily policed.  In the town of Avebury the bar sets up an area, the guy said last year the police setup an area where people could drop off their weed and not get in trouble but if they were caught there was trouble.  Not much of a surprise they had no volunteers giving up their stash.  Anyway this towns circle wraps most of the town and it has other areas like an avenue or something with a lot of rocks.  Anyway a good day learning about the area.

Tonight we are staying in an old house converted to a country club.  Nice place.

South Wales Day 2

We started the day with Caerphilly castle,  it's suppose to be second largest castle in the UK only smaller than Windsor.  But honestly it must be the grounds cause it

 

didn't   look that big.  It doe have a lake versus a mote around most of it.

Our next stop was Coch Castle this is a newer castle built in the 1870's.  the cool thing with this place was the architect used 13th century techniques but its still in good shape so you could see the vibrant colors they would have once used on their walls.  This stuff makes a bright wall seem dull.  Not only did they use color they had patterns or pictures painted.  Cool place.

 

Next we went to some roman amphitheater dating from around 70AD.  Supposedly it could seat 6000, which seems like a lot but I guess they used bleachers like we do today so that can cram a lot of people in.  The amphitheater was only part of the roman stuff around here.  Guess there was a large roman fort setup so they have escalated a Roman baths.  They had great detail about the baths, one funny thing that was pointed out was some tiles with a food sandal print, another with a dog paw print and another with a cat print.  Guess even back then wet plaster would get prints in it.

Another neat thing in a museum next to the baths was carves gems they found in the baths.  Just like today things would get lost down the drains.  All these things were found in 1979 when the excavated the drains, they are definitely deep I can see how it may have been missed for 1900 years.

South Wales Day 1

The B&B was a bust.  It was clean but when we first got there when I went to close he bathroom door the handle came clean off.  Then the showers didn't drain at all.  Oh well we decided to stay just the one night instead of the three we originally booked.

So off we went and this was an easy day other than booking another hotel which we ended up at a holiday inn express.

We started the day at a beach.  There was an old castle estate on the coast that was demolished in 1965 but the walled gardens still existed.  This was interesting cause it looks like they took down the castle and filled in the basement with the rubble.  So there are archways that are sticking up under the ground you are walking on.  Kinda eerie.  Anyway the beach was layers of rocks and I found some fossilized snail like shell things.  Fun stuff.

Next we went to the museum at St Fagans.  This was great, it's an original castle home with some original buildings but in the 1950's they started buying oldplaces around  wales and relocating them here.  So you walk a country road, paved of course, come to think of it no matter how small the road we have not been on a dirt road.  Each house had a sign on its location, use and history.  They had a mill, tannery, church, smithery, store and different builds of farmhouses.  People where available for questions, they explained each piece is marked and removed and them the place is reconstructed as original.

They showed the restoration of a walled garden.  It's amazing what they did as they start clearing the overgrowth on these places.
 

Day 22 ( Wales)

Today we saw three castles all built by Edward I of England.  On the way to the first one as we were driving into town the tide was out so all the boats were perched on there nice stands on dry land.  By the time we left about 2 hours later the boats were floating around like you'd expect an anchored boat to be doing.

Anyway the first castle was Biwmares.  The one thing I noticed about these castles were they must have been taller than the Scottish because there were not signs everywhere telling you to "mind your head".  This place wasn't on a hill so to protect the castle they had a mote, an outer wall and an inner wall. 

Second castle was Caernarfon.  This place was massive.  The camera couldn't capture the castle from the bottom of the mote to the top of the tower.  

Final castle was Harlech.  The wind was almost blowing us over coming off the coast.  The castle was perched on a hill, it was smaller than others we had seen.  One piece I really like are the fireplaces.  The ones here had large pieces of slate making up the flute.  You can just envision how grand they must have been.

On our way back to the house we came across an area with slate mines.  The hills are just covered in slate pieces.

 

Day 20-21 ( Wales )

Yesterday we drove down from Scotland into England then over to wales.  We stopped at a random gigantic estate.  Lots of history and wealth.  Next three nights are in a B & B in a town called llandudno.  It's right on the coast next snowdonia national park.  Apparently the town was an original holiday town for the wealthy.  So the B & B were actually B & Bs, the one we are in was built in between 1817 and 1819.

Today we went to Conway, this is a costal town with a wall all the way around.  We found out also why everything is so green.  After such great weather the last week or so we finally got some heavy rain.  Luckily we were prepared so rain gear and umbrellas ready we ventured out.  We were able to walk along the wall about half the town, the rain was nice enough to take a break at that time. The views were awesome and being so high up i can see how it was definitely defensible.  The town has a castle at its entrance.  Other than the walls and towers it is mostly empty but very large.

 It would have held a lot of people.  Inside the walled town we also visited a wealthy persons house.  This place was cool, it was all intact which is amazing.  One place the tour took us was the upstairs to e bedrooms and attic.
The floors were just not even they sloped this way and that.  They showed an originally kitchen with all the fixings that would have been there, and the fixings were actually real there were carrots and fresh herbs as well as eggs.  They also had some stuffed animals showing what meat they would salt to preserve.

The bay is rather interesting.  The boats are built with stands underneath because when the tide goes out half the boats are in the sand.

After the town we went out to some gigantic gardens.  They even had some red woods and they must have been there a while cause they were pretty big.  The flowers were in full bloom and since it had rained all morning they had a great look to them.  They had water features that had water Lillie's, and is trellised walk way with these long yellow flowers hanging down.  It was like a yellow tunnel with a green backdrop and big black bumble bees as the accent.  Wifi isn't working so ill have to upload pictures whenever we can get it going.

 

 

Day 19 (Sterling / Glasgow)

 

Today we went to see Stirling Castle.  This was considered the main strong hold of Scotland.  It's like many castles its on an old volcano up on top of the hill.  It's an impressive castle but the tour history was what I liked.  The one hour tour included in the price of admission was great.  I learned that men were the only people in the kitchen in old days.  That kids would have to take a chicken or duck up on the roof and drop it down the chimney to clean it.  That would have been a mess, wonder who had to catch it when it flew out the bottom.

On our way out of sterling we stopped at the Wallace monument.  His is the guy braveheart was based off of.  The monument is on top of tango the high point in sterling but on top of that its 245 steps to the tippy top.  Spiral staircase e whole way, at least ere Re a few flors on the way where you can read about William Wallace and catch your breath.

After Stirling we went to the Glasgow museum it had a Dali painting of a fishing like village with Christ on across across the sky where normally there would be clouds.  Very different but there was something about it that just popped off the canvas.  The museum also had fossils, animals(taxidermied), and lots of other stuff.   After the museum we did dinner and then on the way back to the car ran into the Kelvingrove bowling green.  It was free and they would provide the balls.  So we walked up and asked if we could play, the guy was great he got us all setup and showed us how to bowl.  So first you toss down the Jack, which looks like a cue ball.  Next you line it up strait on your lane based on where it landed.  Now you take turns rolling the balls down, the balls are not round as you roll them they curve.  The closest ball to the Jack wins the round.

 

One other picture.  This was in the museum and it was the same head with every imaginable expression it was very different.  Funny how you forget things but then looking back thru pictures you see it and it just as weird as the first time.

 

 

 

Day 17-18 (Oban / To Glasgow)

So first day in Oban we took a ferry over to the Isle of Mull.  Very large island off the coast of Scotland. Once on the island we took a tour bus.  We saw a lot of nice landscapes, we saw an otter

swimming around, some more of the highland cattle, that's the hairy cows.  After e bus ride we hopped on a boat to go see the isle of Lunga and Staffa.  Landing on Lunga we had to hook up to a pontoon platform and then float with it to the island to get off.  Very rocky coast leads you to green grass, up the grassy hill and on the edge leading to the see where hundreds of puffins.

 They have holes in the dirt near the cliff edge and would fly down to the water to fish.  You could literally sit down next to the puffins and themed look at you then go about their business.  It was amazing.

Next stop was the isle of Staffa.  I have never seen anything like it. Made from erupting volcanos.  The only way to explain it is one nail pin things at when you press into they make patterns.  The rocks looked like all isle needles.  Also the isle had a few caves as well.  I guess the lava created three layers the lower ones softer than the other so dark spooky caves were created.

 

Next day we drove to Glasgow.  On the way we stopped at two castles.  The first one was a walk out to a peninsula where the castle had a great vantage point on a big Loch.  The other was built on an old volcano, a bit of a walk but nice views even if it was raining.

Finally we stopped and were able to learn about the Scottish Collies and sheep on the highlands.  Guess some sheep have hair others wool and some a combo.  Also wool isn't worth much, they get much more for lamb meat.  So you'd think wool products would be cheaper guess the profits are not shared with the Shepard. The dog they showed herding ducks.  He was even able to make the ducks go over a bridge and thru a tube.  The commands the Shepard used were available verbally and as whistles.  But they were phrases versus right it was "away", stop i think was "lay down"

Day 15 & 16 - Inverness / Isle of Skye

So yesterday we did the tourist thing and went shopping.  The boutique shops have great people that are so friendly it's great.  The touristy shops have younger people that have no interest in you.  Anyway we picked up some trinkets then went over to a castle near by.  This was a unique castle cause some one lives there over half the year.  So you see period furniture but also newer stuff.  They had a new and old kitchen.  The gardens were very nice, but I think I'm a sucker for color.

Today we decided to get a car.  After planning the train we found a few of the legs we had not booked yet were 6x more expensive than before.  So Joe was comfortable if he got an automatic he could handle the wrong side of the road.  So anyway we picked up the car and drove to the Isle of Sky.  The scenery was very nice but the most impressive thing I saw was a water fall.  So imagine a standard smaller waterfall, then dark rocks contrasted with a nice green grass and moss covering 50% of them. Then the water flowing over the rocks and around them.  The water with the other colors seemed like this vibrant white. It was great.  Tonight we are in Oban.  Tomorrow we see puffins!

Day 14 - UK 2013 ( Northern Scotland)

Today was another long day but well worth the trip.  We drove up to the tippy top lands end of Scotland.  The only part farther north are some islands.  The road signs around here are rather unique. We ran into one section that said watch for otters.  Other signs show some towns in parenthesis, basically meaning your gonna turn off is road to get there but here is the distance.

 

On our way up we first stopped at DunRobin castle.  Very impressive castle built in the 1200s.  But the best part of this place was the falconry.  They had about an hour show where the falconer talked about his hawks.  He has 30 birds he exercises daily thru games like catch the fake rabbit or the fake bird he swings.  Then he says every evening he takes them hunting and they catch enough food for him and all the birds.  The whole training process was very impressive, he does it thru games and rewards.

From here we drove up a way and took a stroll on a rocky beach.  It was suppose to be a good place for fossils but it was very rocky and tide pooly.  So we found more squishy red things, crabs and other colorful things.

From here we went all the way up to John O'Groats.  here we ran into an army of tents for bicyclists.  it was a huge field, and dang cold and cloudy.  Tuff run for those guys.  On our way to the next stop we found a big sandy beach.  What's cool about this is we were on a beach that was a few steps from the road but if you look off one way there's a huge cliff

going into the sea, and you could see the Scottish isles with the same landscape. Quinn also found this cool looking guy relaxing in the sand. 

Next stop Thurso, here we had dinner in a nice restaurant, Scottish food has been fine.  We had lamb chops and beef burgers.  It's all local so was real good.  On our way to the restaurant a lorrie (small truck open back) drove down the street, on the back there was a guy without his shirt that had black stuff and what looked like wood chips all over.  We asked the waitress what that was about she said for good luck the groom has everything grown at him, for example eggs so stuff sticks, flour, coffee, basically anything.  Then he is paraded around town.  Interesting custom.
 

Next stop was home but on the way we saw the most spectacular view.  The sun was setting behind this mountain that had clouds running over it like water.  Finally when we found a place to park for a picture there was one sole deer silhouette at the top of the hill before the rolling clouds.  It was amazing.

 

 

 

Day 13 - UK 2013 (Jacobite train)

We got up super early, at least for being on vacation.  We hit the road a little after 7.  Although the sun seems to come up about 3:30 around here 7 is still too early.  Anyway, small road trip down to a town called Fort Williams.  To get here we had to drive down a lot of single track road with small passing pull outs.  We also gotta see the full setup for the RockNess concert weekend starting Friday.  Camp spots, mini store,  concert stage, Ferris wheel.  Seems like they got it all.  Anyway at fort Williams we hopped on a train that took us to the west coast of Scotland.  Real nice two hour ride over great scenery. The train and its path was used in a number of the Harry potter movies.  We saw the fancy bridge as well as walked thru all the cars and got to see the closet cars.  Although we were not cool enough to sit in those seats.

When the train stopped we had 2 hours to see the town of Mallaig.  We walked around a bit but mostly went and grabbed lunch.  For lunch we took the plunge And ordered some haggis. Surprise surprise it's actually pretty good, or at least what they served was..

On our way back we stopped at a castle, it still had its outer walls and you can see the remnant's of the old moat which used the river water diverted to get filled in.  It would have been very impressive in its day.

The only other exciting thing for the day was back at the apartment.  Across from the apartments there's a field and it had a horse and her new calf.  The calf was 3 days old and very curious.  It came up to meet us with no issue and then ran around playing while it looked at us.