bill and cathy travels: 2013

A last look back towards the Forth.

Border country.

The Scottish / English border. This time in fine weather.

Complete with German tourist bus.

To St. Albans, north of London, to visit Cathys mums youngest brother, Robert 82 and wife Jean.

To Fleet, west of London, where we met her youngest relative Annabel, about five months, who is the daughter of Katie who is, in turn, the daughter of Cathys cousin Heather.

Katie, Heather and Cathy.

Cathy, Annabel and the proud Grandparents, Heather and Clem.

Heather took us to see her father, Arthur, Cathys oldest uncle, 88, and former church minister, who was soon to be released from hospital.

Next day we took my cousin John Hardwick and wife Chris who we were staying with at Gerrards Cross North West of London, across to Bristol for a quick visit to Sue before heading off to Australia. Since we were with her a couple of months ago they have opened a supermarket, Morrisons, under her block of units.

We went out for lunch at a nearby pub constructed from shipping containers. With us was John Adams an old friend of Sue and Tony who was visiting. John is the nephew of my Godmother Phyliss Adams but I had never met him until now.

A little bit of humour in one of the containers!

John, Chris and John with Sues daughter Sarah outside of her shop.

Sarah Tynan Flowers!

We went along to St Johns church to visit Tonys resting place.

Portishead High Street. The flower committee take a lot of trouble with their displays each year. Sarah is not involved.

Back for a cup of tea and cake at Sues.

The only pictures we have from Gerrards Cross are these of a young Robin impatiently waiting to be fed outside their back door!

Crowded Terminal at Abu Dhabi.

Desert airport.

Sunrise over Sydney.

Front lawn not too bad after 3 months!

Oranges look good.

Spring wildflowers are out.

Mother and joey wallabys on back lawn.

Coach Glenn trying to extract an extra bit of effort in Finns final game of the rugby season. Win this to get into the finals!

Finn in blue headgear

Not the result they wanted! The opposition awarded a try in the dying minutes even though the ball was 300mm short of the line, to win by 1 point!

Glenn at work inspecting the site for a housing development! I could think of worse jobs!

The coastal fringe is Federal property and protected. The development is set back away from the waters edge.

On 31st July 2013 we embarked on a journey I'm sure Mary Queen of Scots would have loved to have been able to do.

We left Guemene in Brittany at 9.00am

and arrived at the Port of Calais at 4.00pm two hours before our P&O ferry crossing to Dover.

The ferry was crowded and the only open air section available to regular passengers was at the rear of the boat and half of that for smokers.

The white cliffs of Dover.

We then headed for Deal about 12Km along the coast to stay at Rosabel's cottage. Rosabel is a childhood friend of Cathy's. The view above is the beach looking East from the pier.

This is a view to the West towards Dover. The sea was obviously warm enough to paddle.

Fisher folk were all along the pier and at the end shown here.

...and they were having a lot of success catching...

Mackerel? Sardines?

English Seaside amusements.

Friends of ours own the yellow fronted building and have been having trouble selling it partly because of the potential development next door.

This hoarding might help to cheer them up!!

Next day Rosabel took us to Canterbury where we have not been. Part of the Cathedral is visible at the end of this street.

Canterbury Cathedral has a very rich History. The Archbishop of Canterbury who is head of the English Church does not in fact spend much time here.

This is reputed to be the spot where Thomas Becket was murdered in 1170.

Thomas was the Archbishop of Canterbury appointed thus by his former great friend Henry 2nd. The two fell out however because Henry wanted the Royal Court to hand out sentences for crimes tried by the church court. He thought the church was too soft and crime was rampant. Becket refused to agree and an upset Henry was heard to say "Will no-one rid me of this troublesome Priest". Four of his knights took this to mean he wanted him dead (he swears he didn't - too late!)

Becket was made a Saint by the Pope and for many years valuables were left here by pilgrims and were untouched until Henry 8th stole them.

A quoir from Texas, USA were performing and made a great sound.

Shots around Canterbury. We next headed for Chalgrove near Oxford, North of London.

We laid a wreath at Ian's grave. Ian, Cathys sister Elsies husband died Nov 2011.

We got together with Elsie and her daughter Kirsty at Kirsty's home in nearby Watlington.

Blasts from the past right outside Kirstys house.

Kirsty occupies the end of the house nearest us.

After leaving Watlington we stopped at the Ibis Hotel in Rugby. Next day we called in at Liz Adams in Chesterfield. Liz is Steve Yorkes younger sister and we haven't seen each other for about 60 years. I recognized her straight away due to family resemblances. She and husband Ian looked well and are happy living where they are. We lived in the same Avenue in Hanham, Bristol until I was 14. The wonders of the internet and Sat Nav - scary!!

Next the long haul to the Scottish border, shrouded in mist.

They had been having a lot of rain recently in the Scottish Border country evident in the fast flowing river at Roxburgh. Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned here for a while as she was in quite a few places in Scotland poor soul.

Part of a windfarm on the Hills South of Edinburgh.

Our bedroom at Wilma and Jimmys. Sign proves it!

Jimmy drove four of us to Pitlochry to see a performance of "Hello Dolly" at the theatre there. It was supposedly 1.5 hours drive to the North West of Edinburgh but took a lot longer because of roadworks. Nevertheless we had a thoroughly enjoyable trip with excellent meal included. The Theatre started off as a tent but became so popular they eventually built the theatre which seats 300 plus audience.

This is the gang who enjoyed the day. Julie Douglas, second from the right, next to Jimmy is a director of the Pitlochry theatre and, although she has nothing to do with programming offered to put before the board a proposal to somehow get violinist Solenne Paidassi (See the Post: SOLENNE PAIDASSI - VIOLINIST) to perform there. I'm sure no-one would be dissapointed.

Stirling Castle sighted off the Port bow on the return journey.

Alastair Baptie in his element at White Kirk golf course looking East towards Dunbar where he lives.

Looking North West towards Berwick Law.

Bass Rock to the North. This is an island and a bird sanctuary. The white appearance comes from actual birds and their droppings.

An evening at Dunbar. Magic light shining on Bass Rock

The Volunteer Arms at Dunbar where we went for a meal.

Bill, Cathy, Helen and Alastair.

THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL

Festival week was in full swing. Here people queue to buy tickets for any of an enormous range of shows in and around the city.

Edinburgh as always very photogenic. Note: swarms of people heading towards the Castle and Royal Mile.

Tourist traps everywhere!

The inimitable piper!

Getting ready for the "Ginger" march, a sort of protest against the discrimination against red headed people in society. Lots of them in Scotland of course and made us think for a moment of our recently displaced Prime Minister in Australia, Julia Gillard!