Monday, September 26 we went back to Kensington Gardens for a short walk before going to Westminster Cathedral. The cathedral is very understated but had beautiful mosaics throughout.

I had plans to meet for tea with an acquaintance from my International Travel Group that meets on Zoom. She lives in Minnesota. Jim wasn’t interested in tea, so he went across the street to a pub. I had a very nice visit with Laurie Beth and we discovered we had a lot in common in addition to our love of travel.

We later went to a play, Come From Away. We had tickets to see it in Sacramento in 2020, but of course it was cancelled because of the pandemic. It was excellent and we were lucky enough to get discounted tickets this morning and had good seats. We both loved it.

Sunday, September 25 we took a morning train from Bath to London and arrived at our hotel around noon. The good news was that our room was ready and we could check in early. The bad news was the elevator was out of order and we were on the 3rd floor, or what would be the 4th floor in the U.S. Ugh! Our room faces Bayswater Rd. and Kensington Gardens. We walked around Kensington Gardens and the adjoining Hyde Park, plus the surrounding area.

After many hours of walking we went to the pub next to the hotel, The Swan. After eating, some local guys at the table near us started talking to us and we ended up talking to them for a couple of hours. It was a long day.

Saturday, September 24 Marie, JD and I went on an all day Mad Max Tour of Stonehenge, Avebury, Lacock and Castle Combe. Why didn’t Jim go? There were only 3 tickets available and he didn’t care that much about it. Bonus for him was that he ended up having the time of his life with his own adventure.

The tour departed at 8:30 and the first stop was Stonehenge. We arrived shortly after it opened and I was thankful for that because it got very crowded by the time we left. Stonehenge is a World Heritage site that is over 4500 years old, though it did change over time. There is a rope around the stones to keep people out due to damage over the years. The visitors center had very good exhibits explaining the history of those who were here before. Near the visitors center is a group of Neolithic houses.

On the drive from Stonehenge to Avebury we stopped for a photo op of the Cherhill White Horse, which is carved out of the chalk hills and is dramatic against the green landscape. It is almost 300 years old and is one of 13 in the area. The stop came with real horses that we got to feed.

The Avebury Stone Circles and the village are side by side. People can wander amongst the stones and it is such a different feel than Stonehenge. Two days before we were there was the Autumnal Equinox and there was a large gathering of people there celebrating. Was it that or something else? We’re they Druids or something else. I’ll never know, but it was interesting to watch.

Our next stop was the charming town of Lalock. Our driver/guide told us that he would show us around the town if anyone was interested, but we had 45 minutes or so to explore on our own first. We came across a church that had a sign saying no one was allowed in. We poked around the attached cemetery and listened to the singers inside. We later discovered why the church was closed to visitors.

We saw people streaming into this small town from the car park and they were overdressed for tourists and locals. The women were all in their fancy dresses and the men all wore tails. A wedding! That’s why the church was closed.

Here are a few more pictures from this stop…

This town has been used for a variety of movies and TV shows and it’s easy to see why. If the road is covered with dirt and some signs are removed or obscured it can be transported to other centuries.

Our last stop was the beautiful little village of Castle Combe. We didn’t have much time here, but it’s so small that didn’t matter.

This was such a special day, our last in Bath and the last day with Marie and JD. They fly home tomorrow and we go to London. We had a delicious dinner with them and toasted to our trip together.

What did Jim do that made his day so special? We didn’t get to do the one day trip on the narrowboat for our anniversary that we had planned, but we did do a one hour boat trip to try to make up for it. While the rest of us did the one day tour to Stonehenge, etc. Jim took a long walk along the canal and watched the locks at work and assisted an elderly man by operating a lock for him. He then walked down the canal and operated the next lock for him. It was the next best thing to doing it for himself. A very good day indeed!

Friday, September 23 we went to a street market, an annual event here. Thankfully we went early because apparently it got quite crowded later in the day. It featured foods of the region and beyond, and included hourly cooking demonstrations. I watched the first demonstration of the day, the making of an Eton Mess. I’ve seen it on a couple of dessert menus and had no idea what it was. Now that I know I will try replicating it at home some time.

We continued to wander around town to areas we hadn’t gotten to yet. There was a lot to see. We quite enjoy Bath and I’m glad we have enough time here to really explore. Here are some more random shots from our walk around town.

Thursday, September 22 I had rented a narrowboat for the day so we could all spend the day on the Kennet-Avon Canal. Jim has been following some people who live on their narrow boats on YouTube and has been intrigued by it, so this was my anniversary gift to him. In light of current health conditions we decided it wasn’t a good idea to be in such close quarters so it was cancelled. Instead Jim and I did a very interesting walking tour of Bath. On the tour we learned there’s a boat we could take on the River Avon, so later in the afternoon we did just that. Fun fact, England has several rivers called Avon, which means river in Welsh. Very original.

We walked around some more after the one hour cruise. It wasn’t the day we had planned, but it was thoroughly enjoyable.

Wednesday, September 21 Jim and I celebrated our 37th wedding anniversary. He was feeling a little under the weather so he stayed in Oxford while Marie, JD and I took a taxi to Blenheim Palace. We saved over an hour each way in transportation time by not taking the bus. We decided we will celebrate our anniversary together in London.

Blenheim Palace is enormous, both the palace and the grounds, which stretched as far as the eye could see. Winston Churchill was born there and they have a nice museum about his life.

We met up with Jim in Oxford and took the train to Bath, our home for the next 4 nights.

Tuesday, September 20 we took the train to Oxford. This is a one night stop, which I try to avoid. Our original plan was to spend 3 nights in the Cotswolds, basing ourselves in Chipping Campden. While there we were going to go to Blenheim Palace, then follow that with 2 nights in Bath. When I discovered how expensive a car would be for the Cotswolds, and a car is definitely desirable there, we changed the plan to one night in Oxford to see Blenheim and 4 nights in Bath.

We checked into our hotel, which was actually a restaurant with some rooms above. Very nice. We then set out to walk around Oxford to see as much as possible. It’s a very nice university town. Of course everyone has heard of Oxford, but it is actually made up of 39 colleges. We went on the grounds of one of them, Christ Church College.

We quite enjoyed our afternoon of exploration. We ate dinner at our hotel and called it a night.

Sunday, September 18 we took the train from Edinburgh to Liverpool. Because our second train was cancelled we were told to get off the first train at the stop past where we were supposed to change, then take a different train to Liverpool from there. That second train was standing room only for the one hour trip. Great. Or should I say miserable? Our hotel was only a 3 minute walk from the train station and sadly that’s all I saw of Liverpool. We spent 2 nights there and on Monday most things were closed. Due to Monday being Queen Elizabeth’s funeral it was a Bank Holiday, or what we would call a national holiday. I did watch the funeral because I didn’t have anything else to do. I was very disappointed because I’ve wanted to go there for a long time.

Next up, Oxford!

Wednesday, September 14 we took the train to Edinburgh. We arrived at our spacious Airbnb apartment and went to the store to pick up some breakfast foods. My throat started getting scratchy the day before, so I thought it was prudent to not go out to dinner. Instead I raided the breakfast food stash and had a crumpet and yogurt for dinner. I may have enjoyed my dinner more than the others, because when they returned they said it was the worst food on the trip. I took a Covid test in the morning and unfortunately tested positive. I’ve been dilengent about always masking indoors and outdoors in crowded situations. We ate outdoors at every opportunity. Thankfully everyone else was negative and went on to enjoy Edinburgh. I was confined to the bedroom for the duration, but at least Jim had a sofa to sleep on in the living room. The timing actually couldn’t have been better because we no longer had a car (I was the driver) and we had 4 days here for me to hunker down. I’ve been here before so I don’t feel like I totally missed out on everything. I took a walk around the neighborhood on Friday while the others were out sightseeing. I feel pretty good, but was fatigued by the walk and took a nap. Really my only symptoms are my slightly sore throat, which affected my voice, a little congestion and fatigue. Today, Saturday, Jim and I took a walk and went part of the way up the Royal Mile up to the castle entrance. I walked over 3 miles, and it sure tired me out. I was able to take a few pictures while we were out and about.

It was getting crowded and that was our sign to leave. Edinburgh has been a bust for me and tomorrow we move on to Liverpool. I checked the Covid protocols here and since 5 days will have passed since my first symptoms I can do what I want. Of course I will continue to wear a mask.

Tuesday, September 12 is our last day in Inverness. Jim and I went to the Culloden Battlefield, where we started with a guided tour of the battlefield before seeing the inside exhibits. The battle at Culloden in 1746, when the Jacobites lost badly to the English Army, changed and shaped the lives of the Scots both then and to this day. Going to such a historic place and seeing it real life makes me understand and appreciate what the people experienced. I felt that way when we went to Gettysburg and other historical places I’ve seen. Photos weren’t allowed inside, but I got some of the battlefield.

We later returned the rental car. After driving 11 days in Ireland and a week in Scotland I think I have it down. We had a delicious dinner at Mustard Seed on the river.

More photos of things we saw in Inverness.