Great Britain Canal and Road Trip 2009
Brooks Cottage">
Great Britain Canal and Road Trip 2009
Brooks Cottage, Camp Hill Road, Broughty Ferry, Scotland (right outside Dundee). RTB in front of my mother's and her three siblings birthplace as well as my grandmother's and her eight sibling's birthplace....I'm not sure that they would have all fit by today' standards!
From what we understand, the cottage was far more basic in the 1800's. It is very attractive today.
The fellows at the local pub (The Fort) who helped us find Camp Hill Road and the cottage.
The guys insisted that we have our picture taken behind the pub's bar.
Oxford during eight's rowing week. Narrow boats (term for converted barges now house boats) tied all along the Thames. Our not so narrow boat is at the head of the line.
More eights practicing during an early morning.
Amy with an appropriately named narrow boat.
Christ Church College property along the Thames in Oxford.
Many British men had crew cuts so I thought I'd do as the natives.
The fields along the Thames were loaded with Mustard plants.
We saw many liveaboards camped out along the Thames.
Old brick arched bridges were common
Each day we usually navigated 4-6 locks.
Most only could accommodate a single file of boats.
All along the river when you came to a town there were mooring rings provided at most parks for easy tie up.
More mustard
Amy's father taking a picture of us taking a picture of him on our not so narrow narrow boat.
I really liked this "raised salon" narrow boat.
A very modern sun room along the river.
One of our favorite towns, Goring. We stopped twice on our trip.
Amy's father and his wife walking back to the boat after dinner in Goring.
Two narrow boats in front of us in a lock.
Our townhouse in London. Very artistic owners.
Our backyard in London with the owner's very friendly cat, Pumpkin Pudding. He stays to keep the renters on their best behavior.
More artistic touches.
Reviewing life's important issues after a day of sightseeing.
Right at the entrance to the Victoria and Albert museum is a huge piece of Dale Chihuly glass, one of Amy's favorite glass artists.
New and Old. The view of London and Queen Charlotte's House from the Greenwich Observatory.
The Greenwich Observatory, site of the prime meridian. This ball has risen and fallen at 1:05 pm every day since the early 1800's so that boats leaving London can synchronize their clocks with Greenwich Mean Time. Less important today than in year's past....true of much of poor old England!!
Very interesting factoid....the thickness of the arrows symbolizes the numbers of immigrants to America. I had no idea that the number of slaves dwarfed the number of European immigrants to America.
Lunch at our favorite art museum in London, the Tate Modern.
St. Paul's Cathedral. Second largest domed structure in the world after the Vatican. We were good tourists and walked to the top.
The Lakes District for four days of much needed exercise.
Our Hotel (The Dungeon Ghyll) and our room with the twin windowed bay to the left. The hotel had 13 rooms for hikers.
For Lorraine, our room had rabbit wallpaper
Our hotel's version of a biker's bar.
Off Amy goes out the back door for our first day's hike. We're headed over the top of the hills in the distance for lunch and then back.
Typical hiking path along the valley to the hills.
Many, many, sheep.
Still heading toward our destination
We've
now started climbing. Our Inn is back around the corner by the arrow.
Our lunch spot. We have climbed over the hills seen previously and are looking over the other side. Miles and miles of hiking and camping options.
Heading back down after lunch.
The route we came up from the inn.
Our inn's garden......
Great place to relax with a beer after a day's hike.
Aaaaaah.....
The next day's destination.
Looking down to the previous picture.
Our lunch spot.
Pretty steep
even for the sheep
Edinburgh, Scotland. Our apartment was in the building immediately below and to the left of the spire. We had a nice view.
It's hard to believe that men would climb this hill and attack the castle dwellers. Chances for a safe ascent were pretty small.
The home of another of Amy's arts and crafts favorites, William Morris. We only spent 4 hours trying to find the museum and when we got there it was closed. We did peek in the windows and I must say that the furniture, rugs, and drapes all designed by him were beautiful.