Our visit to England was split into four stops: London, the North, the Cotswold’s, and a brief visit to Hereford. The London stay started with a walking tour upon our arrival, followed by several museum visits, city exploration, and a night at the theatre. Also, Suzanne and I made a day trip via train to Canterbury. Canterbury has been a major center of Anglican Christianity for 800 years after Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered by the King Henry II supporters in 1170. It became important destination for Christian pilgrims who came to visit the grave of the martyred Archbishop. It received further fame with the publication of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales – stories of individual pilgrimages. The town and the Cathedral date back to the early 1100’s and provide a glimpse of what the village looked like nearly a 1000 years ago.
The Northern stops included Hadrian’s Wall, the Lake District, and York. Hadrian’s Wall crossed what was the border between Scotland and England. It was erected by the Romans after they gave up on conquering Scotland in the early 100’s. Portions of the 73 mile long wall still stand and we stopped to see a piece of it.
The huge Lake District is centered around the city of Keswick on the Northwest corner of England. It is home to some of the most awesome mountain and lake areas we’ve ever seen. It’s ancient, but sparsely populated. There are 3 million sheep, outnumbering people by 6:1. We spent our time there hiking, sightseeing, and exploring the surrounding villages.
We spent a couple of days in the ancient city of York. York was founded by the Romans in 71AD and is one of the longest continuously inhabited places in all of England. Much of the 600 year old city walls and towers are still intact as well as magnificent buildings such as the York Minster. However, as you walk around the city you can still see a variety of ruins that date back to Roman Empire times. Many of the oldest buildings are very “medieval” – crooked on very narrow streets. One outstanding example is The Shambles – an alley that was allegedly the JK Rowling’s inspiration for Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley.
On our way from Wales to the Cotswolds we stopped in Hereford for Dean to visit his ancestor’s origin and his namesake village. Hereford is a beautiful town with a great cathedral. We spent a couple of hours in the town market and walking the city centre in the pouring rain.
The last week of our trip was spent in the beautiful village of Burton-on-the-Water. We originally chose it because of it’s central location. It turned out to be just gorgeous, with beautiful houses, shops, and restaurants. A scenic river flowed right down the middle of it. The only catch was that it was also a major tourist attraction and there were a lot of visitors roaming the streets during the day. However, that strangely seemed to add to the charm. As planned, Burton was a good base for day trips to Stonehenge, Avebury, Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick, Bath, Glastonbury, and Wells. It was a fabulous finish to a great trip. At the end, we drove to Heathrow Airport and miraculously turned the car in without scratch.
Amazing pictures! What a fabulous trip! You four are “living the dream”! Bill, how soon are you going to start writing your book? Love to you all. ♥️♥️
Thanks, Jane and Joe. If I wrote a book, I’d have to do grammar, Speling, and structure of sentences in a way that is complete and not use two many words for what I have to say. Sounds like a lota work.