Bridges & Churches of English counties – 11 December 2010

Everywhere we visit in England is steeped in history. This weekend we kept meeting references to Hereward the Wake and also King John. There are names like these that we have heard of, but would be hard pushed to give a synopsis of their lives.

We took the scenic route on our way to Stamford for the weekend. Stamford is a delightful stone town at the northern end of the Cotswold Stone seam and is much loved by period film directors. The route we took passed through several similar styles of towns, although on a smaller scale. First, Titchmarch, with it's stylish church surrounded by a ha-ha, normally seen around a country home. Then Oudle, a lovely town with a prestigious boys school owed by the Worshipful Company of Grocers, many cafes and today a street market selling country delights like rabbit or game bird pies.

The final town in this series before we arrived at Stamford, was Wansford. A curving stone bridge unites the two halves of this picturesque town.

From Stamford we drove a circular tour along the edge of the fens (large flat areas, where the frequent church spires stand out like beacons), to Crowland. We have previously enjoyed visiting this lovely old town with two special items of interest; the remains of a triangular medieval bridge, and the abbey. The current church is in one isle of the old ruined abbey. It is this church that had the first peal of bells installed in about 986, the ropes are the longest in the country and these bells were the first to be broadcast on radio in 1923.

We really enjoyed our delicious lunch in the 'Old Copper Kettle' tearooms in Crowland where they quote an airman who met his girlfriend there during WWII and said it was a “place where we both felt secure and could be ourselves”.

Not far from here is another abbey incorporated into the present church at Thorney. The town has the main street lined with model workers cottages built by the Duke of Bedford to house his workers.

We finished the day in Stamford, enjoying exploring the narrow streets and shops decorated for Christmas, and were inspired by the sunset to rework the old saying – red vapour trails at night; motorists delight.

Christmas Country House – 5 December 2010

After the heavy snowfalls for much of the week (heaviest snowfall in southern London for 120 years), the weekend was milder, and Sunday absolutely glorious in the sunshine. It was just the day to visit a grand country residence, decorated for Christmas.

Basildon Park is a beautifully restored country house. It gave an idea of what it would be like to be invited to a country Christmas houseparty.

We drove home through the Chilterns, stopping for lunch in Pangbourne, besides the Thames. From here we went over the private toll bridge, costing a whole 40p, to meander home through Thames-side towns.

Chiltern Run – 28 November 2010

One of our MG Club friends organised his own Chiltern's run, ending up at Windsor. We think we know the Chilterns quite well, so were amazed to find all sorts of new back roads, we have never discovered before. Fortunately the ice hadn't reached this part of the country yet, and we had no worries negotiating the narrow roads.

Enroute we stopped at the Bishop Shopping Centre, and were very tempted in a beautiful furniture shop, by a brilliant array of wall plaques. We were seriously thinking of buying one, when the shop assistant said in a sales clinching fashion - “Yes, they are imported all the way from New Zealand”. We still admired the plaque just was much, but it actually seemed silly to pay twice to freight it around the world!!

We ended the day in Windsor, just as the daylight ended, and it was the perfect time to end our outing with a meal at a pub on the High Street.

A Record Day – 27 November 2010

When we realised today was the All Black's test match against Wales, we decided this was one of those “101 things to do before we retire”. By checking online, we found a company who offered a day return bus trip to Cardiff, with tickets for the game.

We were not sure how it would work out, as the closer we got to the weekend, the more pessimistic the weather reports became. So we set out from London with plenty of extra warm clothing, and as predicted by the BBC weather report, we hit snow before we had got 50 miles from London. Fortunately it was not heavy like the north half of the country, and we made it safely to Wales. It was obvious that Cardiff had had a substantial snowfall the previous day, and although it was cold, the sun was making it reasonably pleasant.

“German” Christmas markets had invaded the town centre, which was great, as all the pubs, restaurants and cafes were chocka with queues out the door for some! So we enjoyed a takeaway duckburger with a mug of hot mulled wine, with the pleasant company of a local couple who had come to town for the game too.

The Millennium stadium is impressive, in fact, we read that the NZ coach thinks it the best stadium in the world. We went in to enjoy the pre-game singing, as the temperatures were dropping outside. Fortunately we didn't need all the warm clothing we'd brought, as the roof was closed for the game. No one seemed to know if the roof would be open or closed, as we were told this decision is made by the participating teams. We were glad they choose to close it, as it was still fairly cold even so, and we sat through the match wearing scarves, hats and gloves.

The game was great, even though the All Blacks didn't seem in best form for the first half. At one stage it got quite tense as it seemed we may not walk away the the records we were hoping to witness. But all was well, and Dan Carter broke the world record for the most points scored, and the All Blacks made their record of a 75% winning average, which is better than any team in any sporting discipline.

The amazingly lovely thing about a rugby game in the UK is the friendly rivalry between spectators of the opposing teams, unlike Football, where the stands are segregated with barriers and police are required to break up fights and keep opposing supporters separated outside the stadia to avoid violence.

The bus trip back also got rather tense towards the end, as our last train left the drop-off point at 11.51pm. Fortunately we made it with five minutes to spare. The alternative route home using three busses had very little appeal on a freezing cold winter's night!

Titanic Exhibition - 21 November 2010

The highlight of today was the excellent Titanic Exhibition at the O2. Rather than go directly there, we took the Tube to Surrey Docks, and enjoyed a walk along the south bank of the Thames, around the Greenland Dock area. Unlike the Chilterns walk yesterday, this part of London is full of closed pubs. We did find a little gem for lunch, and enjoyed an excellent value pub lunch at the Dog & Bell.

When we reached Greenwich, we decided to complete the last part of the Thames by boat, and this took us directly to the O2. This is a great place to sit in an “outdoors” cafe without actually being outside. The exhibition was fascinating. The range of artefacts recovered from the ocean floor is amazing, even non-durable items like playing cards and bank-notes have survived 88 years on the sea floor.

The entrance to the exhibition is with a 'boarding pass' in the name of one of the passengers. We were then able to check the passenger list to see if 'we' survived or not. Christine was a Second Class woman passenger who survived, but Murray was a Colonel travelling First Class who, very properly, went down with the ship.

Country Walking - 20 November 2010

Today was our last chance to take an autumn colours walk, before winter. The leaves were still hanging onto the beech trees in the Chilterns, and although cold, it was a surprisingly pleasant day for a walk.

The walk from Cholesbury Common took us through seven villages, most with a pub, so no shortage of lunch venues. The high number of pubs closing does not appear to effect the Chilterns, as this is a well-heeled commuter belt west of London.

The evening mist was forming in the valleys when we realised the instructions in our walk were not particularly clear. Fortunately the only walkers we had seen all day appeared as we were trying to decide which was the correct direction to head in. Amazingly we had met up with an expert walker who has published a book of walks in Southern England. He naturally was equipped with proper maps, and was able to point us in the right direction. We only just completed the walk before sunset.

Steaming to York - 13 November 2010

After watching the 'Railway Children' this summer, with a real steam train on stage, we were inspired to take a steam train ride ourselves. For less than a first class return ticket to York on a modern train, we were able to take a steam train, seated at a table for two, enjoy a full English breakfast after departure, lunch before arrival in York, and a four course dinner during the return trip.

It sounded good value, but would it live up to our expectations? The original date was postponed, due to a fault with the steam engine, and we wondered if the postponement date in November would prove to be less pleasant weather-wise. But after 80mph winds on Thursday, Saturday was an almost perfect day, with sunshine along the entire trip. The start was early – 8am from Kings Cross, but the instant we pulled out of the station, we were served breakfast of a mixed melon starter, croissants and toast, followed by an excellent cooked breakfast. After sampling many different varieties for “Full English” during our time here from hotels and B&B's, this was as good as the best we've had.

The countryside rolled past in the wonderful winter sunshine, and after a light sandwich lunch, we pulled into York nearly five hours later. York is a wonderful city, and with four hours there, we had just enough time to fill in the gaps from a previous visit about six years ago.

A must in York is walking around the city walls. These encircle the city centre, with gate-houses at regular intervals. On a sunny day, this is really pleasant. The other must is the medieval York Minster. Completed in 1472 (after taking 250 years to build), this enormous cathedral, has Europe's largest stained glass window on it's eastern wall. We were most disappointed to find it covered up for restoration, but one positive side to this was there were two windows on display, so we could see close up the amazing mixtures of glass that goes into a window of this type. All manner of old pieces have been used (or replaced) in some panes, but the overall whole effect from ground level, is still harmonious.

The Shambles is a famous shopping street of old buildings. No sign of the recession in central York, and it was easy to see why these appealing streets of shops are so popular. Christmas decorations were out, and everything felt quite festive.

We still had time to visit Fairfax House. This is a Georgian townhouse, and it is the ability to step back in time, which made it appealing to visit. The dining table was set with a fantasy sweet concoction, which was fashionable in that era.

We retraced our way to the train station. This in itself is an interesting building; when completed in 1877 it was said to be the largest train station in Europe. Our train steamed in, and we left exactly on time.

After departing York, dinner was served. It was dark by this time, so easy to overlook the fact that we were beginning our dinner at 5.15pm. The courses came slowly, filling in several hours of the journey. The starter we choose was salmon and prawns, quite delicious, followed by fillet steak. As they hadn't asked how we liked our steak, we expected thin overdone steaks, after all they were catering for a large number of diners in a mobile kitchen. We were delighted to be proved wrong when thick tender pink steaks appeared, absolutely perfectly cooked, with great vegetable selection. Lemon desert and a cheese board followed. All in all a really memorable meal.

But during dinner, we noticed the train appeared to be getting slower. Eventually a manager appeared to inform us there was a problem. In York, they had the coal replenished, but had been given the wrong sort of coal. This made us laugh, as now we feel we've heard it all! In London we've been told the trains are late due to the wrong sort of leaves on the line, the wrong sort of rain, the wrong sort of snow, even the wrong sort of clouds and now the wrong sort of coal.

Eventually the train stopped altogether, and after a delay (I assume getting a head of steam), we limped into the next station. We were encouraged to take the regular service to London, from that station, our tickets would be honoured on the train. So we finally got back into Kings Cross about two hours late. It was an unfortunate ending to the day, but still a brilliant day out.