Tiki Tour: part 2

The last Monday in May is also a Bank Holiday so you guessed it, long weekend = more tiki touring. The Lakes District comes with high recommendations so that's where we thought we would head. Some lazy folk (a.k.a. Sharyn, Mark and Rachel) took the Friday off. Mark G and I showed our dedication and went to work as usual.

Early on Saturday morning we headed off to Heathrow to collect our rental car. Rachel and Mark M the desginated drivers chose a wee Peugot. It had a beautiful sun roof but not a lot of room in the back for 3 adult passengers. See the pictures below which highlight the poor French design!

Backseat of the peugot - hat for perspective.

As is tradition when hiring a car we stop off somewhere on the way. Obviously for food - the ASDA carpark in Wigan for a picnic. Then a major stop in the tacky, tourist town of Blackpool. You can't miss the array of rollercoasters on the skyline at Pleasure Beach. We had to check it out. Maybe it is possible to buy a single ticket and have just one ride on a rollercoaster. The three girls were getting quite excited while the thought of a ride was draining the colour from the lads faces. We were in luck, Pleasure Beach sell tickets for single rides. So, we handed over our 8 quid and headed off in search of the tallest, fastest rollercoaster in the park. At least 4 of us did. Mark M couldn't be persuaded so kindly offered to look after our belongings. At 235 feet Pepsi Max Big One is the tallest rollercoaster in England and also Europe. I can also confirm that it goes pretty fast but disappointingly there are no upside down bits. To check out a simulation go to http://www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com/rides/pepsi-max-big-one/1/1/. Sensibly we waited til after our rollercoaster ride for ice-creams.

Hold on to your hats.

Around 8pm we arrived at Sedbergh where Mark M had found a lovely cottage for us. One slight problem was the extremely narrow driveway. It spooked Rach so Mark had to do the honours and squeeze the wee Peugot in the drive. It took two people to direct and ensure that the paint work on our rental car remained in tact.

Our hosts had recommended a local pub for dinner, maybe 100 m walk along from the house. Good time to test out my new high heels. Unfortunately as it was getting close to 9pm and they were busy we coudn't get a table there. They gave us another couple of options slightly further down the street. We enjoyed lovely meals in a quiet restaurant attached to a deserted pub. You know that you are in a country village when some bloke pulls out a table and plonks a TV down on it, wires up an aerial and turns on the boxing.

A haven for outdoor lovers the Lakes beckoned. The weather was particularly windy which made me feel at home. The locals said when or if the wind stopped it would rain. We had aspirations to do a water activity on one of the lakes - kayaking or windsurfing. However the windy weather meant nippy temperatures. After making inquiries at the Windermere Tourist Information Centre and a conference over brunch we settled on a lake cruise incorporating a walk. Due to the immense number of people visiting Windermere this bank holiday weekend we spent so long trying to get a park that we missed the ferry we hoped to get to Ambleside. On a whim, we decided to drive to Ambleside and hope it was less busy so that we could do our ferry cruise in reverse. This just meant going for the walk at the end rather than in the middle of our cruise.

Ferry cruise - Mark M & Rach

Shazz & Mark G

It is usually on Sunday when I miss being in NZ the most. Why, I hear you ask. Well because the shops are open for such short hours. Like 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. So, by the time you have done anything fun the shops are shut and it is difficult to purchase ingredients for a nice Sunday dinner. We fell in to this trap again. The local co-op in Sedbergh just did not have the right ingredients for our desired dinner so we had to settle on Indian takeaway.

With a longish drive home on Monday we resolved to get away early. I think we left about half an hour after our scheduled departure time. One of the problems with hiring a car is having too much freedom. Which way should we travel home? Where should we stop off? I don't remember why but York was chosen as the main stop en route home. Harrogate was floated as an option, something to do with Mark M's obsession with Mackintosh lollies.

Along the back roads to York I noticed a sign for Wensleydale Creamery. A hasty decision was made and we took an unscheduled stop at Hawes. It turns out that the creamery was established by one Kit Calvert. I'm not sure if he's any relation. We all enjoyed an early morning cheese tasting and purchased some of our favourites including papaya and blueberries. Yummy!

The wedges of Wensleydale

It seemed the thing to do in York if you only have a couple of hours is visit York Minster. I don't really know how we decide what to see or do on these trips. Mostly we seem to wander around, eat some food and see what interesting things we stumble on. No-one seems particularly keen or inclined to do any research before we go. Partly becasue we don't seem to decide where we are going until the last minute. This suits us fine but I guess one day we will come back from such a trip and be told by someone that we missed something we would have quite liked to see. I would love to hear from anyone who could recommend places either in England or Europe so I can put them on my list!

York Minster

As we had found Windermere busy on Sunday, York Minster was on bank holiday Monday. With limited time we opted for a look around the Minster. There was quite a long queue for the Tower! Rach and I joined on the back of a tour and learnt some of the history of the Minster while Mark, Mark and Sharyn wandered and took photos. We particularly liked the carving of a guy with two right feet. Turns out the master carver took an early lunch one day and instructed his apprentice to "do exactly the same for the other foot". It just goes to show how important it is to think before you give instructions!

The man with 2 right feet.

The 2 Mark's & Me

farewell from "the North"

Tiki tour: part 1

Over a month has passed since my last update. The only excuse I have is that I have been busy seeing more of the English countryside.

The first Monday in May is a bank holiday here in England. Our destination for the long weekend was the Bath/Bristol area. We didn't have much of a plan. It wasn't until the Thursday before we left that we finalised accommodation in Clevedon on the coast west of Bristol. This was at a Holiday Park in a pre-fab type thingee. Bascially one large living room that adjoined the kitchen and dining area, 2 bedrooms and a wee bathroom. Ample space for the 4 of us. The central heating made it like an oven. We quickly turned it off and opened all the windows and doors. It took about 24 hours before we got the temperature to a comfortable level!

En route to Clevedon we stopped off at Winchester for a picnic lunch outside the Cathedral.

Winchester Cathedral

Next stop en route was Stonehenge. I have to admit not quite as impressive as I had imagined. It was slightly strange approaching Stonehenge to see hundreds of people walking slowly around the perimetre, many looked like they were talking on cell phones. I later discovered these were the audioguides that inform you about the history and theories surrounding Stonehenge.

Stonehenge, a photographer's paradise

M & M @ Stonehenge, (Mark G and Mark M)

Final stop for the day was at Clevedon. Phew, we arrived just in time to have dinner at the holiday park restaurant. Oh, and sample a fine NZ Sauvignon Blanc - if it has been flown half way around the world it must be good!

With a full day at our disposal we decided to head off to Bath to explore. After a slowish start in the morning we made it to Bath in time for brunch. No point seeing the sights on an empty stomach. We spent a couple of hours exploring the Roman Baths.

Roman Baths, Bath

As the rain had subsided in the middle of the afternoon we parked the car and enjoyed a walk along the river. Also took in a little women's cricket that was being played at the Bath Cricket Ground. This was followed by a bit of a drive around the streets of Bath. In particular to find a special circular street, that is round, like a circle, you know, it's round. Mark G had been particularly intrigued by this street on his last visit to Bath and was very keen that we saw it. So, we did find it and drove around "The Circus" in a circle.

The Circus, Bath (Mark G)

"The round street, that is like a circle, it's you know, like round!"

A pre-requisite of going to Bath surely has to be a visit to the mineral pools. That is if you can find them! We drove around in circles for bit, around the one way streets in the centre of town, trying to follow the signs, even asked people for directions. After 20 minutes of this I was a little bored so jumped out of the car at some lights and set off on foot. The trouble was the signs were really directing pedestrian traffic so they were difficult to follow in a car. Soon enough I found them hidden away in some back streets. I headed in and got information on prices, times etc. By this stage it was about 7pm so as food is always on my mind I voted that we leave it for the following day. I won!

We are getting a bit more organised on these excursions now and managing to fit in a bit of cooking in the evening instead of always going out. It is my sneaky way of increasing the two Mark's cooking repertoire. Hopefully it will pay dividends in the future. You have to plan ahead on Sunday because shops here close around 4pm. We had picked up all the necessary ingredients for pasta with bacon and creamy white wine sauce. Very yummy and pretty quick and easy too!

On Monday we had an earlier start as we wanted to go back to Bath to pay our visit to the mineral pools. I was slightly nervous about this as my body tends not to respond well to hot baths. I needn't have worried though. The New Royal Bath and open-air rooftop pool were both pleasant temperatures. We also tested out the aromatic steam rooms. They were almost intolerable - very hot and quite strong aromas. Not recommended if you are wearing contact lens'.

The open-air rooftop pool, Thermae Bath Spa, Bath

After a relaxing morning it was time for the longish drive home. It is difficult for us foreigners to know what bank holiday traffic is going to be like. Partly by accident we stuck to smaller roads for a while and stumbled across a sign for New Zealand. This couldn't be ignored so we took a detour half a mile off our path to check it out. Didn't actually find anything of note. The only evidence that this place exists is the photo's we took under the road sign.

Home away from home.