Month: July 2013

Arrivals was almost empty and Nerida though the size of the halls and the train between gate and immigration/baggage was excessive.
Straight through immigration being Australian, and bags appeared pretty quick on the carousel with the other dozen or so passengers. Out the exit and easily found our pickup car from the hotel. A short trip later and we were at the Traders hotel. Checked in straight away and a room swap to a double (separate beds for Nerida and I) instead of a king as the king suite wasn’t ready yet. Showers all round then into bed for a sleep. Set an alarm for noon so we didn’t sleep all day, though Dana still didn’t want to wake.
Went down and had lunch in the hotel restaurant which was very quiet with it being both low season here with the summer heat and we are also in the middle of Ramadan.
We had a look and think about doing a bus tour, but with the 42 degree heat and the fact we are all really tired end up not doing it. Spent the afternoon relaxing in the room.
With Ramadan the restaurant doesn’t open till after sunset, so we got room service in. Nerida thinks that it is the first time she’s ever had that.
Turning in for an early night as we have an 8:50am departure so getting a 6:30 limo to the airport. We are all looking forward to getting home, though not necessarily the long flight ahead. We have between 1 and 2 hour stop in Bangkok for refuel at about 6pm local time, so good leg stretch between the day and night legs of the flight.

Last day in the UK. Let Dana have a sleep in, and first time I’ve managed to sleep in too – managed to doze till nearly 7am.
Late breakfast in the hotel at 9:30 and even got the last food call just before 10 when service stopped.
Checked out and put the bags into storage, then headed out to find the entrance to Paddington station for the tube for the day and to find the Heathrow Express train. First stop was Covent Garden where we had a wander through the various stalls and Nerida and I bought some t-shirts. Had some morning tea, or more precisely drinks and in the case of Dana and I shakes that were more ice cream than liquid.
After a bit more of a wander hopped the tube to Green Park where we sat in the shade for about an hour just enjoying the weather. Decided that we really should do something with the afternoon and having enjoyed the bus tours in Paris and Oxford went to find one for London. A quick google and look with our eyes showed that a couple of the tours stopped on the corner of Green Park, so we headed for their. Bought tickets for the Big Bus Tour, and had a bite to eat while we waited for the next red tour to leave.
The red tour has live commentary and our Scottish guide Sam was a real laugh. As well as lots of interesting information she filled the tour with jokes, quips and the occasionally bit of participation. We went nearly all the way round on the bus, getting off at Victoria station which was one stop before the start again at Green Park.
Caught the tube back to Oxford Circus and walked down Regent Street to Hamleys. Straight to the top to get some drinks and then hit the pick and mix lollies. Worked our way down with Dana getting a Harry Potter locket, and Nerida went to look for the miniature collectible bear she had her eye on from the first visit, but it had gone :(.
Back to the tube and the Novotel to get our bags and a quick change, before heading to the Heathrow Express train. Fast trip out to the airport, quick check in, though the baggage conveyor was broken so we had to leave our bags on a trolley for the handlers to manually move. Up stairs to departures and the mile long, but moving, queue to get to security. Problem seemed to be Qantas tickets weren’t scanning so had to be manually checked by security.
Had a quick bite of food then in Harrods to finish of the pounds we had. Found a special of two teddy bears for £25 which cleared us out of all but shrapnel. Down to the boarding gate and onto the plane slightly late. Dana and I managed a small bit of sleep, but not much. Landed in Dubai at 7:20am on time and 34 degrees.

Today was our day to wander around Oxford. Breakfast at the B&B then pack the car, which we left at the B&B and caught the bus into the centre of Oxford. Got ourselves tickets for the bus tour and then hopped on the next bus for a loop of the Oxford. This took about an hour to go right the way round plus one stop. Commentary had some good information.

The reason for the extra stop was to get us closer to where one of the walking tours started. Joined the midday tour with our guide Stuart and a fairly small group.
Started with a quick walk past the Sheldonian Theatre and Bodleian Library before heading to New College. Unfortunately we could only look at the gardens and outside as they were recording the great hall. From here we walked through thin back alleys to Wadham college where we we able to go into the chapel and see the beautiful stained glass windows, though the dining room was in u for lunch so we didn’t go in.
We then walked back to the Bodleian library and went inside for a short talk from Stuart. We then looked in on a few more colleges before finishing the tour back in the centre of town.

After a quick bite of lunch, on a bus back to the car and on the road to London. We got about half way before the fuel light came on and not knowing the car we put £10 in to get us back. Hit London soon enough and e A501 we were following back to Euston came to a grinding halt with signs about an accident. Decided to head cross country into the back streets and the let the GPS work it out for a route to the car return. Got there eventually after some interesting back streets including going through Camden Town and past the markets.
Grabbed a Taxi for the trip to our hotel at Paddington. After a slow crawl through the London traffic checked in quickly and a shower later went down to check out the menu in house. Ended up have a few drinks and some good food over a couple of hours.

Driving,driving and more driving. Our longest time in the car to get from Cornwall to Oxford. Left about 10am, stopped for lunch at Circencester about 1pm – tried to find the roman amphitheatre but failed. Then onto towards Oxford taking a sideways excursion to try and find afternoon tea around Uffington, but failed – nothing open during the week.

Got to Oxford about 4pm, dropped bags off into the B&B then caught a bus into the centre of town as the temperature was about 28 degrees. Had a wander round, some iced drinks and some shopping before returning home.

Went for dinner and the Duke of Monmouth pub about 20 meters down the road and it wasactually really good food. Dana had a half rack of ribs, slow cooked and falling off the bone. Nerida had chicken skewers and I had fajitas. I went through 2 pints of cider and Nerida 3 gin and tonics.

Back to the B&B and slowly backing in the heat. Nearest obs site is reporting 28 at 9pm, while London is reporting 26. Damn hot summer they are having. Forecast is for 28/29 the next couple of days we have left in the UK, better than the 44 it looks like for Dubai on Thursday. A bit worried about the forecast for Sydney for the weekend with a cold outbreak on the cards. Could be quite a shock to the system.

Got away for our day about 10am and it was already about 24 degrees, though it dropped back to near 20 just north of Bude where we could see sea fog clinging to the coast. Plan for the day was to head into the northwest corner of Devon and look around the Hartland area. Got off the main road and onto some very minor roads looking for the Docton Mill gardens for some morning tea. Nerida and Dana had cream tea and thought the scones were very good, while I had lemon drizzle cake which was very light and lemony.
From here headed towards Hartland itself and thought about looking at the abbey, but at over £15 for the three of us we decided not to for something we weren’t that interested in. So we continued winding through minor back roads and when we saw a sign to Hartland Point lighthouse, decided that would be our next stop. Some very thin roads again with lots of grass growing in the middle.
A short walk out to the lighthouse.

Views would be amazing in clear conditions, but between the haze we’ve had all week and the sea fog to the south the horizon was rather blurred. Could just make Lundy Island out in the distance, about 12 mile offshore. Nerida noticed something i the water near the lighthouse and after a lot of looking through the 300mm lens of the camera and blowing up images we worked out that there were a couple of seals in the water. A couple of kayakers came along and the seals went to investigate them.

From here we headed east along the north Devon coast towards Clovelly, which ended up being busier than normal as they had a festival on, though it meant there were stalls and entertainment down at the harbour. The walk down the cobbled streets was certainly interesting with how steep it was. There were even donkey rides, so Bob would have been happy if he was here.
In the harbour itself they had some caracal’s that people were mostly falling out of rather than moving about in. Some photos from Clovelly. Rather than walk back up we took the Land Rover service which was well worth the £5 for the three of us.

Back in the car and headed back south for a stop at Sandymouth beach which we’d worked out was meant to be a proper sand beach, at low tide at least. When we got there, while the car park was in sun, the beach itself was shrouded in sea fog. Very eerie.

Water was damn cold too once we found it and had a paddle. It was surreal the number of Brits sunbathing and swimming in the fog.
Had a coffee at the National Trust cafe at the car park, then back home.

Long drive tomorrow as we head back east to Oxford.