Visiting the Neighbours Part I – 6 April 2012

For the first time in the eleven years in the UK, we had no plans for the Easter Bank Holiday, but planned to take a 'staycation' anywhere sunny in the UK.

Unfortunately, apart from Friday morning, there was no sun forecast for the Easter break, instead it was to be cold, showery with heavy rain on Monday. So we refined the 'staycation' to actually staying at home.

Now that we live in the countryside, this was actually a pleasant option, and Friday morning saw us out starting a circular walk from nearby Old Beaconsfield, making the most of the sunshine.

The drive to Beaconsfield took us through Old Amersham, so we took a few photos on a better day than our last visit, and on to explore Old Beaconsfield. West of Chorleywood are many lovely market towns, which were busy

coaching inn stops on the days of horse and carriages. The towns are full of old coach entrance-ways, into the courtyards of the old inns. Although many entrance ways survive, only a few of these buildings are still inns today.   

Watts Gallery & Chapel – 1 April 2012

A recent TV programme reminded us to visit Watts Chapel in Surrey. This was a life's work for Mary Watt, the wife of artist George Watts. It is a stunning terracotta building, made with clay found by their home, and every surface inside decorated. This is definitely a place to spend some time for reflection.

From here, we did an eight mile circular walk to Guildford and back. The walk joined the Wey canal for the last part of the walk. Along the canal in Guildford are several lovely pubs, so we were spoilt for choice for an relaxing lunch.

Suitably fortified, we climbed the hill to see the modern cathedral, started before WWII, and completed afterwards. Although plain stone, it nevertheless gives an idea what the major cathedrals must have looked like when fresh and new.

The return walk finished at the Watts Gallery. This gallery was built to exhibit his work, and after a recent makeover, it houses permanent and temporary exhibitions of the art of GF Watt.

Our favourite was 'The Hall of Fame'. This is a collection of Watts portraits of contemporaries. Many had photos beside them, which highlighted his skill as a portrait painter.

Amersham – 31 March 2012

The town of Old Amersham is a real visual treat. Just a few miles from Chorleywood, it has a feel of stepping back in time, with not a single building in the High Street, out of keeping with bygone eras. Much of it is instantly recognisable to addicts of TV dramas.

We did an eight mile circular walk, starting in the centre of town. The walk took us through a number of other smaller towns, apart from the lovely town of Little Missenden, none of the other towns came close to the appeal of Old Amersham.

Spring daffodils are nearly over in London, but out here, spring started later, and the daffodils are still at their peak. English countryside walking is nothing to do with a destination, just the enjoyment of the fresh air, the seasons and walking through appealing villages, and of course a pub lunch.

A real English day – 25 March 2012

Sunday was spent in a timeless fashion, enjoying a medley of very English pursuits. First up, a walk across the Common in the warm spring sunshine, to Christ Church Chorleywood. It is a beautiful church, with a warm friendly atmosphere.

From church to lunch at the nearby White Horse Pub. The food was fresh and delicious and afterwards, it was time for a Sunday afternoon walk around the Chorleywood House Estate.

The final walk back over the Common took us past the Rose & Crown, so we were practically forced to stop and follow up our earlier meal with desert!

London Parks – 24 March 2012

London Royal parks look wonderful in the spring, with blossom trees and daffodils. This year there was the added bonus of Faberge Easter Eggs to spot.

End of our pilgrimage – 21 March 2012

After a leisurely start and a delicious hotel breakfast we set off to explore the eastern side of the town, where the markets are situated, then climbed up to a viewpoint where there used to be an old cemetery.

It is in the traditional Spanish style of vertically stacked repositories and was obviously quite old but curiously every identifying feature had been removed and/or plastered over. One was left wondering what had happened to all the "occupants".

After checking out there was time for one last slow amble through town to catch the airport bus.

One last special treat awaited us at Stansted: We were among the first off the plane and found that there was absolutely no one in the immigration queues for either the EU citizens or the “Rest of the World”. This is simply unheard of in our many, many Stansted arrivals over the past 11 years and since it was probably our very last Stansted arrival it was a wonderful way to finish our European odyssey.

Santiago de Compostela - 20 March 2012

We had a couple of hours to further explore this morning, so went to the garden at the peninsula end which contains the tomb of General Moore.

Our accommodation was very near the Plaza de Maria Pita and the gardens were just beyond the plaza. The plaza is famous as the departure point of the Spanish Armada. It is quite attractive as it is surrounded by buildings of similar design with the distinctive glassed in verandas on the top floor.

Finally it was time to take the train on the final leg of our journey to Santiago de Compostela. We had definitely moved up a few generations in rail transport from where we started as our train sped along at up to 150kph, a significant increase over the little Feve train we began with.

Arriving in Santiago de Compostela we wandered up to and through the historic centre to our hotel on the far side, where we discovered that they were offering an upgraded room with a fabulous view to the west. Given a balcony room with floor to ceiling windows a la A Coruna style it was hard to resist the offer. Later, as we sat and watched the sun set, we were pleased with our choice.

Free of our backpacks, we set off to explore Santiago de Compostela. Wandering around the historical centre it is not difficult to imagine the bustle and commerce of a bygone era when the pilgrimage was in its heyday.

The whole pilgrimage thing is an amazing ecclesiastical con based upon some very dubious situations, such as a 7 day sailing from Joppa to Santiago de Compostela with the body of James; some wild oxen that allowed themselves to be harnessed to pull the cart carrying his body; an angelic escape from jail; and the chance discovery by a hermit, many centuries later, of some bones that were, without the benefits of modern DNA tests, pronounced to be those of James. The political expediency of having a Christian reason to rally the faithful and throw out the Moors was completely incidental.

Nevertheless the "pilgrims" continue to arrive on foot, by bicycle, bus, train and plane; ranging from those with genuine devotion to simple tourists keen to add another sight or site to their list.
As befits any area with a high visitor concentration, there is an abundance of eateries to enjoy.