Once again we drove for what seemed like hours.. from Spain into Portugal.. dreading the border only to find it was overgrown and unused. No border control... yeehaa!
This days driving was another through the Pyranees with very long suspension bridges and tunnels and stunning scenery which we couldnt capture on camera. Well perhaps if we had a death wish it would have been ok but as we didnt fancy being fined or whatever they do in this neck of the woods.
We arrived in Castello Blanco or Casta de blanco depending on whose memory is correct only to stay the night.
This was, to date, one of our biggest nightmares finding somewhere to stay. We arrive in brilliant weather.. hot as... parked in the main street to ask about hotels only to find in the centre they were astronomical prices and absolutely nowhere to park a Van (or car for that matter) we went slightly out of town and with tempers fraying we finally found somewhere reasonable.
When we took our stuff inside I (Vicki) was to go back outside and close the sunroof.. and with a memory like a sieve I forgot!! Big mistake. The following morning we awoke to, once again, torrential rain and to absolutely soaked front seats! Not good.. I will say no more.
Once again we were on our way towards the Algarve and some, fingers crossed, sunny weather!!
Venice in the Winter
Picture perfect ... even me!
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Spain into Portugal
After a quick change of plans due to the cold weather and rain we opted for a small old walled town on the northern coast just west of Santander.
The weather didnt improve and after arriving late afternoon on a Sunday only to find the town was famous for its caves.. which had closed for the day and were also closed Monday!! Not good planning on our part but I guess thats life for the inexperienced traveller.
The town itself was nice and we did do a walk around the once again, cobbled streets and walled town.. would have been great for pictures IF the weather had improved but alas we were out of luck. We stayed in a hotel which from the outside didn't look the best.. weeds in the garden etc BUT we were pleasantly surprised to find the rooms were meticulously clean and the owner was very friendly AND spoke good English.
We did however try Paella at the local and asked for a glass of red wine only to receive a litre of white.. I ask you!!
The torrential rain continued all night and the following day we left for Portugal.
The weather didnt improve and after arriving late afternoon on a Sunday only to find the town was famous for its caves.. which had closed for the day and were also closed Monday!! Not good planning on our part but I guess thats life for the inexperienced traveller.
The town itself was nice and we did do a walk around the once again, cobbled streets and walled town.. would have been great for pictures IF the weather had improved but alas we were out of luck. We stayed in a hotel which from the outside didn't look the best.. weeds in the garden etc BUT we were pleasantly surprised to find the rooms were meticulously clean and the owner was very friendly AND spoke good English.
We did however try Paella at the local and asked for a glass of red wine only to receive a litre of white.. I ask you!!
The torrential rain continued all night and the following day we left for Portugal.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Driving through the South Western Pyranees
No photos from this leg of the journey except for this silly one Coraleen took from the Passenger seat!! but it definitely deserves a mention. After leaving St Emilion in beautiful sunshine we drove south west towards Spain (dreading the border without a passport) and right into torrential rain, low mist and long long steep grades which seem to go on forever. The Spanish have done amazing things through the South West Pyranees to make the journey (slightly) more comfortable. Tunnel after tunnel after tunnel.. many of them over a kilometer long and of course with this type of infrastructure comes the TOLLS! We paid Euro31 (for those of you unfamiliar with the exchange rate this is NZ$62!!) on one particular stretch with several further on at a much lesser charge. I couldn´t imagine driving this route without them as the low mist meant headlights were a necessity. Actually Spanish law dictates headlights must be on in all tunnels (god knows why cause the tunnels are so brightly lit you could wear sunglasses) but its the high points of the Pyranees where you can´t see more than a few metres in front of you... it was a bit scary at times driving over suspension bridges that appeared to be hundreds of metres high, up steep grades for another couple of kms and then down again... well we all know what goes up must come down after all! AND it was my driving day too! The rain didn´t stop and we by passed some of the towns we had planned. Well who wants to see coastal towns like San Sebastian and Santander in torrential rain.
We did stop to take photos at one stage but the expanse of the mountains were lost in the photo.
We did stop to take photos at one stage but the expanse of the mountains were lost in the photo.
Bordeaux .. St Emillion the winegrowing Region
St Emilion was just great, not only was it beautiful and scenic we also had our first taste of some reasonable weather. St Emllion itself is Bordeaux main wine growing region and like Marlborough as far as the eye can see there is nothing but vineyards. The difference however is the actual town of St Emilion which is a walled town with so much history, beautiful cobblestoned streets broken up by outside Cafes full of people enjoying the famous red wines. We did try and have a meal there but as we have discovered since, most of Europe closes between 2pm and 5pm! They were clearing away the tables and getting ready for the 5pm sitting. This is something we have encountered many times since!!
We visited a wine cellar in ´caves´under the actually Chateau. The cellars themseves were stone (and very cold!) way underground via a circular staircase made of stone. Much of the wine housed here ws relatively new.. from the 1990´s but I did see one cellar with wine from 1967. After paying Euro20 for one bottle of Red I bought some cheap plonk from the Supermarket for under Euro 1! Well it was only for drinking after all!
All the vineyard ´houses´are known as Chateau´s, many of them are hotels where people can stay and enjoy the fine wines.. at a hefty price!! Our humble abode was a cabin in the camping ground which suited our budget perfectly.Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Its a long way from (Home) Tiperrary
.. and this one has been a long time coming due to unforseen circumstances!
Leaving Norwich and our security blanket behind us (believe me it was nice to be so spoilt and for the first time in our lives we were someone's nieces!!) we trekked off across England, through Wales and on to the Ferry for Ireland.
Less than an hour after we left a huge gust of wind (typical English weather) caught our windscreen wipers and literally blew them away.. honest.. and it continued to rain on and off for most of the day. Picture this.. driving a short distance, stopping and leaning out of the van to clear the windows.. yes funny now but not at the time I can assure you all.
And Nelly (our Navman) kindly took us the quickest route.. and yes I hear you all say they are only as good as they are programmed.. but you should have told us BEFORE we left. Anyway after travelling the M11 and the A11 for god knows how long we traversed England seeing the worst scenery possible; up across Birmingham and miles of Coronation Street houses veering west across Birkenhead from Liverpool into Llandudno and some lovely contryside in Northern Wales. The highlight of the day was arriving at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch and if I was a betting person I bet most of you (Roger aside) can't say that! Spending the night in this little one horse town listening to Gaelic we soon realised we had at last encountered the language problems. I must say the fish and chips were the best food we had on the road (and since).
Being the scrooges we are the following morning we stopped at Holyhead and bought some 'provisions' for the crossings.. water, sandwiches and some fruit. Just as well we had as the cost of food on the Ferry was astronomical AND in Euros!
Arriving in Dublin at 6pm (rush hour traffic AND raining WITHOUT any wipers) was fun NOT!! Forced to park the van and look for somewhere to stay we opted out for a small B & B 15 minutes north of Dublin. It was about 5 degrees, freezing and wet so camping was out of the question.
Our first day in Ireland was spent walking 100 miles from one side of Dublin to the other doing all the touristy things imaginable.. the Guiness Factory, Temple Bar, the River Liffey, train to Malahide and a few drinks in an Irish Pub where we supped a wine or two with some 'locals' (average age 60!!) and had them singing Danny Boy before leaving for our digs, which, thank goodness were within walking distance.
Heading off for Westport on the Westcoast of Ireland we then traversed Ireland stopping briefly to chat up a Mechanic to fix our wipers. He was lovely (and cute) and in the flick of a spanner had them screwed on tightly and working perfectly. A great start for our sojourn around Ireland.
With the rain following us we arrived in Westport to fantastic scenery, good internet, freezing cold and pouring rain. I must say Westport is similar terrain to Westport in the South Island - rugged and exotic. The mist swirled around Croagh Patrick as ventured out to explore.
Drive south through the stunning Delphi Valley and Coonemara National Park passing by an ancient Benedictine Abbey we had several photo stops despite the rapidly dropping temperatures.
As the weather held us up we didn't quite make it to Dingle (in the South) before nightfall and stopped at a godawful place we wish to forget!
Hi, Coraleen here taking over...
Yes, we stayed ( on a Saturday night as well) in some place called Newcastle West and after walking into town, we couldnt even find decent food.
Anyway, we had a nice breakfast and then drove to Dingle which was simply stunning. The drive in and the place once we arrived were amazing. We found a neat B and B and then set off to explore. We travelled the coastline in a circle, arriving back where we started in the most amazing wind. We had 4 layers of clothing on( including thermals) and were still cold but it was well worth it. We walked into town again that night (still decked out like nanok of the North) and had a chinese and a lovely evening in the bar listening to Irish songs from a pretty good Irish Band. I requested Danny Boy (again) but they sang it fast, and it is a song best sung slow...and then home again where we discovered the wind had died down. We woke the next day to sunshine and no wind so the trip back out and onto Killarney and Kenmare was just beautiful. The scenery was simply breathtaking and it took us all day to drive it as we kept stopping every 15 mins for photos. We eventually arrived in Blarney ( we were intending to stop at Bantry but couldnt find a decent place to stay and had decided by now to only stay in nice places as we were paying $70 (NZ$) each per night.)
We got up early the next morning and drove the 5 mins to the Blarney castle. Everybody visits here so getting there early was a good idea. I am not sure how many of you relaise that going backwards to kiss the Blarney stone is done because you are up the equivalent of 5 stories in a decaying castle ( being held together in places by metal bars) anyway when you go over backwards this old man holds on to you (yes, it is almost as bad as it sounds) but I did it even tho I came up dizzy at the end. After spending an hour walking the magnificent grounds ( and making some wishes regarding my children on the wishing steps) we drove on to Cork, where we eventually found parking after figuring out that "Parking with a Disc" simply meant you bought one from any shop!!!. We did the walk recommended by the Ireland book we had purchased at the beginning, which was okay but there was nothing much really to see, although a couple of nice old churches, but you do get to see a few of these and really, the ones in Europe are about 300 years older.
We drove on that night to Waterford (home of crystal) and discovered a lovely B and B on the outskirts. This was the night we truly discovered that Vicki had left her Passports behind in England (under the bed it was finally discovered). We were leaving for France the next day!!! We went to the pub that night and we were given a number of suggestions by the locals on how to get around this problem, but as none were legal, decided against taking their advice.
The next day we drove to Rosslere, where the ferry departed from and managed to board with no problem ( unless of course you count the hour long wait in the queue where we were both busting to go to the loo, so asked if we could go behind some parked cars and they agreed under duress), anyway, our theory was, as long as she got on board, we were safe...I spent 16 of the 18 hour crossing lying in my bunk ( no slumming it here) and was still feeling nauseous several hours after departing the boat. Vicki on the other hand had no such problems and enjoyed the company of a number of blokes, of which one particular Irish lad informed her that when you arrive in France you just drive off and there is no border control, so she wasnt worried at all...She was wrong!! There was border control and there was also a big black man with a machine gun. When asked for our Passports, I cgave mine and then Vicki produced her photo copy and explained the situation (lying thru her teeth as to why it was in England) and eventually he let us thru...his last words were, what else can I do...our thoughts exactely!!
So France at last and the driving needed to be reversed. We have come to grips with it now (sort of) but the first couple of days is hair raising to say the least and Vicki drove as I was still exceptionally seedy. We drove down to St Malo and had our first night camping...and I can honestly say our last at this point in time but we will camp again.....honestly. We went into town and it transpired that St Malo is actually a really old walled city and was lovely to walk around, after spending an hour trying to get a park. All of the parking has height restrictions, so Molly the van couldnt fit in as we have a top box!!.There is also a 17th century fort in the harbour (a bit like Alcatraz) and is pretty impressive. We headed back to camp and awoke to a coldish day so after showers etc headed for Bordeaux and our next stop.....St Emilion. We spent 2 nights here in the camp ground but in a cabin, and the place is pure magic....an absolute must see for anyone in this area of France.
Photos to come.. when we get an internet site that allows us to upload!!
Leaving Norwich and our security blanket behind us (believe me it was nice to be so spoilt and for the first time in our lives we were someone's nieces!!) we trekked off across England, through Wales and on to the Ferry for Ireland.
Less than an hour after we left a huge gust of wind (typical English weather) caught our windscreen wipers and literally blew them away.. honest.. and it continued to rain on and off for most of the day. Picture this.. driving a short distance, stopping and leaning out of the van to clear the windows.. yes funny now but not at the time I can assure you all.
And Nelly (our Navman) kindly took us the quickest route.. and yes I hear you all say they are only as good as they are programmed.. but you should have told us BEFORE we left. Anyway after travelling the M11 and the A11 for god knows how long we traversed England seeing the worst scenery possible; up across Birmingham and miles of Coronation Street houses veering west across Birkenhead from Liverpool into Llandudno and some lovely contryside in Northern Wales. The highlight of the day was arriving at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch and if I was a betting person I bet most of you (Roger aside) can't say that! Spending the night in this little one horse town listening to Gaelic we soon realised we had at last encountered the language problems. I must say the fish and chips were the best food we had on the road (and since).
Being the scrooges we are the following morning we stopped at Holyhead and bought some 'provisions' for the crossings.. water, sandwiches and some fruit. Just as well we had as the cost of food on the Ferry was astronomical AND in Euros!
Arriving in Dublin at 6pm (rush hour traffic AND raining WITHOUT any wipers) was fun NOT!! Forced to park the van and look for somewhere to stay we opted out for a small B & B 15 minutes north of Dublin. It was about 5 degrees, freezing and wet so camping was out of the question.
Our first day in Ireland was spent walking 100 miles from one side of Dublin to the other doing all the touristy things imaginable.. the Guiness Factory, Temple Bar, the River Liffey, train to Malahide and a few drinks in an Irish Pub where we supped a wine or two with some 'locals' (average age 60!!) and had them singing Danny Boy before leaving for our digs, which, thank goodness were within walking distance.
Heading off for Westport on the Westcoast of Ireland we then traversed Ireland stopping briefly to chat up a Mechanic to fix our wipers. He was lovely (and cute) and in the flick of a spanner had them screwed on tightly and working perfectly. A great start for our sojourn around Ireland.
With the rain following us we arrived in Westport to fantastic scenery, good internet, freezing cold and pouring rain. I must say Westport is similar terrain to Westport in the South Island - rugged and exotic. The mist swirled around Croagh Patrick as ventured out to explore.
Drive south through the stunning Delphi Valley and Coonemara National Park passing by an ancient Benedictine Abbey we had several photo stops despite the rapidly dropping temperatures.
As the weather held us up we didn't quite make it to Dingle (in the South) before nightfall and stopped at a godawful place we wish to forget!
Hi, Coraleen here taking over...
Yes, we stayed ( on a Saturday night as well) in some place called Newcastle West and after walking into town, we couldnt even find decent food.
Anyway, we had a nice breakfast and then drove to Dingle which was simply stunning. The drive in and the place once we arrived were amazing. We found a neat B and B and then set off to explore. We travelled the coastline in a circle, arriving back where we started in the most amazing wind. We had 4 layers of clothing on( including thermals) and were still cold but it was well worth it. We walked into town again that night (still decked out like nanok of the North) and had a chinese and a lovely evening in the bar listening to Irish songs from a pretty good Irish Band. I requested Danny Boy (again) but they sang it fast, and it is a song best sung slow...and then home again where we discovered the wind had died down. We woke the next day to sunshine and no wind so the trip back out and onto Killarney and Kenmare was just beautiful. The scenery was simply breathtaking and it took us all day to drive it as we kept stopping every 15 mins for photos. We eventually arrived in Blarney ( we were intending to stop at Bantry but couldnt find a decent place to stay and had decided by now to only stay in nice places as we were paying $70 (NZ$) each per night.)
We got up early the next morning and drove the 5 mins to the Blarney castle. Everybody visits here so getting there early was a good idea. I am not sure how many of you relaise that going backwards to kiss the Blarney stone is done because you are up the equivalent of 5 stories in a decaying castle ( being held together in places by metal bars) anyway when you go over backwards this old man holds on to you (yes, it is almost as bad as it sounds) but I did it even tho I came up dizzy at the end. After spending an hour walking the magnificent grounds ( and making some wishes regarding my children on the wishing steps) we drove on to Cork, where we eventually found parking after figuring out that "Parking with a Disc" simply meant you bought one from any shop!!!. We did the walk recommended by the Ireland book we had purchased at the beginning, which was okay but there was nothing much really to see, although a couple of nice old churches, but you do get to see a few of these and really, the ones in Europe are about 300 years older.
We drove on that night to Waterford (home of crystal) and discovered a lovely B and B on the outskirts. This was the night we truly discovered that Vicki had left her Passports behind in England (under the bed it was finally discovered). We were leaving for France the next day!!! We went to the pub that night and we were given a number of suggestions by the locals on how to get around this problem, but as none were legal, decided against taking their advice.
The next day we drove to Rosslere, where the ferry departed from and managed to board with no problem ( unless of course you count the hour long wait in the queue where we were both busting to go to the loo, so asked if we could go behind some parked cars and they agreed under duress), anyway, our theory was, as long as she got on board, we were safe...I spent 16 of the 18 hour crossing lying in my bunk ( no slumming it here) and was still feeling nauseous several hours after departing the boat. Vicki on the other hand had no such problems and enjoyed the company of a number of blokes, of which one particular Irish lad informed her that when you arrive in France you just drive off and there is no border control, so she wasnt worried at all...She was wrong!! There was border control and there was also a big black man with a machine gun. When asked for our Passports, I cgave mine and then Vicki produced her photo copy and explained the situation (lying thru her teeth as to why it was in England) and eventually he let us thru...his last words were, what else can I do...our thoughts exactely!!
So France at last and the driving needed to be reversed. We have come to grips with it now (sort of) but the first couple of days is hair raising to say the least and Vicki drove as I was still exceptionally seedy. We drove down to St Malo and had our first night camping...and I can honestly say our last at this point in time but we will camp again.....honestly. We went into town and it transpired that St Malo is actually a really old walled city and was lovely to walk around, after spending an hour trying to get a park. All of the parking has height restrictions, so Molly the van couldnt fit in as we have a top box!!.There is also a 17th century fort in the harbour (a bit like Alcatraz) and is pretty impressive. We headed back to camp and awoke to a coldish day so after showers etc headed for Bordeaux and our next stop.....St Emilion. We spent 2 nights here in the camp ground but in a cabin, and the place is pure magic....an absolute must see for anyone in this area of France.
Photos to come.. when we get an internet site that allows us to upload!!
Friday, May 11, 2007
Norwich and the Broads.. and shopping.. and drinking..
Coraleen in Long Stratton where I was born.
Our first night in Norwich was spent over a wine or two or three and catching up with family - telephone conversations never give you enough time to gossip for hours, finally gettting to bed about 2am!! Family re-unions!!
With amazingly warm weather on the Sunday we went to Ray's (my Uncle) golf club for a Carvery Lunch and had the most beautiful Yorkshire Pudding! Brought back memories of Mum's cooking. And we ended up sitting outside in the sun - believe it or not they were still enjoying the heat and sunshine we had first encountered in London .
England has not yet brought in the whole 'smoking outside' thing - not for another couple of months although a lot of the private clubs have enforced it early. Sitting outside in the sun was really hot and looking over the Golf Course one could almost imagine summer at home.
We went out to Sheringham (a National Heritage Trust) and walked around woodlands and down to the Norfolk Coast only to be interupted by the occasional steam train chugging along the Coast from Cromer to Sheringham and back. It was really beautiful although after walking almsot 100 steps up to the lookout I felt I had spent an hour in the Gym! Calvin (another Uncle) took us out there and then on to the Coast to Cromer which is famous for its crabs - and of course I had a Cromer Crab Salad - almost to die for! We then bought some take away dressed crabs for dinner - believe me you can't get too much of it!
Friday night was Greyhound Racing at Gt Yarmouth. It's like we have at the Trots back home - a nice meal and a few drinks .. although they went one better as they came to your table to take bets. On the 2nd Race I won a 'reverse forecast' ( a quinella to you Kiwi's) at £16 but by the end of the evening I was £8.50 down. I had to be careful betting in pounds and not dollars. Coraleen was the only one who ended the evening being ahead.. and even then it wasn't a lot.
Jenny (my Aunty) who had to put up with the two of us and all our luggage scattered all over the bedroom floor took a few days off - and of course what do girls do when they are out - shopping! But not just any old Mall - we went out to the Wroxham on the Norfolk Broads and another Pub Lunch.. the pub lunches over here are great AND you can smoke inside:-) But at NZ$18 a packet considering giving up is definitely looking more and more likely each day.
In the UK the 'no smoking in workplaces' comes into force in July but they have gone one better. If you are a Sales Rep then the car is designated as your 'workplace' and legally you aren't allowed to smoke in it. Also, if you employ a Cleaner in your home that becomes his/her workplace so legally you can't smoke in your OWN HOME! Not sure if anyone will be taken to task over it .. time will tell.
A couple of times we went out for long walks along the 'old railway line' which, in the 70's went from Norwich out to the Coast. The scenery was beautiful and we saw the occasional rabbit and squirrel - we did look for Bagers but they were nowhere to be seen although apparently they only come out at night anyway - so searching was fruitless.
9 Days later we packed up Molly (our VW Transporter - pictures to come) and drove North West towards Holyhead and the Ferry to Ireland. For some unfathonable reason I thought the Ferry for Ireland went from Liverpool but it didn't - it went from Wales. Unfortunately our GPS Unit (now known as Nelly) took us across horrid motorways (Birmingham and Coro St type scenery) instead of the beautiful scenery in Wales. Back to the instruction manual on programming her - but being a female I suspect she will have a mind of her own and continue to take us the quickest route :-)
Next update.. a night in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch on the way to Holyhead....
With amazingly warm weather on the Sunday we went to Ray's (my Uncle) golf club for a Carvery Lunch and had the most beautiful Yorkshire Pudding! Brought back memories of Mum's cooking. And we ended up sitting outside in the sun - believe it or not they were still enjoying the heat and sunshine we had first encountered in London .
England has not yet brought in the whole 'smoking outside' thing - not for another couple of months although a lot of the private clubs have enforced it early. Sitting outside in the sun was really hot and looking over the Golf Course one could almost imagine summer at home.
We went out to Sheringham (a National Heritage Trust) and walked around woodlands and down to the Norfolk Coast only to be interupted by the occasional steam train chugging along the Coast from Cromer to Sheringham and back. It was really beautiful although after walking almsot 100 steps up to the lookout I felt I had spent an hour in the Gym! Calvin (another Uncle) took us out there and then on to the Coast to Cromer which is famous for its crabs - and of course I had a Cromer Crab Salad - almost to die for! We then bought some take away dressed crabs for dinner - believe me you can't get too much of it!
Friday night was Greyhound Racing at Gt Yarmouth. It's like we have at the Trots back home - a nice meal and a few drinks .. although they went one better as they came to your table to take bets. On the 2nd Race I won a 'reverse forecast' ( a quinella to you Kiwi's) at £16 but by the end of the evening I was £8.50 down. I had to be careful betting in pounds and not dollars. Coraleen was the only one who ended the evening being ahead.. and even then it wasn't a lot.
Jenny (my Aunty) who had to put up with the two of us and all our luggage scattered all over the bedroom floor took a few days off - and of course what do girls do when they are out - shopping! But not just any old Mall - we went out to the Wroxham on the Norfolk Broads and another Pub Lunch.. the pub lunches over here are great AND you can smoke inside:-) But at NZ$18 a packet considering giving up is definitely looking more and more likely each day.
In the UK the 'no smoking in workplaces' comes into force in July but they have gone one better. If you are a Sales Rep then the car is designated as your 'workplace' and legally you aren't allowed to smoke in it. Also, if you employ a Cleaner in your home that becomes his/her workplace so legally you can't smoke in your OWN HOME! Not sure if anyone will be taken to task over it .. time will tell.
A couple of times we went out for long walks along the 'old railway line' which, in the 70's went from Norwich out to the Coast. The scenery was beautiful and we saw the occasional rabbit and squirrel - we did look for Bagers but they were nowhere to be seen although apparently they only come out at night anyway - so searching was fruitless.
9 Days later we packed up Molly (our VW Transporter - pictures to come) and drove North West towards Holyhead and the Ferry to Ireland. For some unfathonable reason I thought the Ferry for Ireland went from Liverpool but it didn't - it went from Wales. Unfortunately our GPS Unit (now known as Nelly) took us across horrid motorways (Birmingham and Coro St type scenery) instead of the beautiful scenery in Wales. Back to the instruction manual on programming her - but being a female I suspect she will have a mind of her own and continue to take us the quickest route :-)
Next update.. a night in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch on the way to Holyhead....
Sunday, May 06, 2007
London and buying MOLLY!!
Coraleen and Vicki with Molly
Coraleen, Aunty Jenny and Vicki with Molly
Coraleen at Buck HouseNow London was an experience in itself.
We had booked a 'cheap' hotel which was NZ$200 a night just '3 minutes walk from Paddingotn Station' which sounded great as the Heathrow Express is direct into Paddington. But.. isn't there always a but? Being close to Paddington Underground meant while we were in our basement room (with a view of four dirty walls) beneath the road it shook everytime a train went passed.. and for those of you don't know that is every 4 minutes from 5.30 am through until midnight. Fun!! And the coffee is nowhere near as nice as NZ (in my opinion) and about NZ$12 a cup at Paddington Station. We soon learnt not to buy anything in the Stations.
We spent most of our time on the underground going from West London to East London and then to Docklands - South London looking at vans. Believe me I think we went through or stopped at every bloody underground station in London. We even managed to get on one train going the opposite direction and wasted another hour as there was work being done on the tracks but we soon learned how to change trains and tracks and lines.. an experience all on it's own.
We did spend a short time walking around the Mall, Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park but that was the only sightseeing we did manage.
I did get a fright when I bought a packet of cigarettes.. NZ$18 a packet in London but they were relatively cheap in Norwich at NZ$16 a packet!! Watch this space I could be giving up :-) yeah right.. and pigs might fly!!
And finally bought Molly - our VW Transporter which will take us about 5,000 miles over the next five months. As we had to buy it relatively quickly to enable us to escape the 'fun' of London we made a decision far too hastily and had to have it serviced in Norwich - new brakes, cam belt, steering, water pump and battery. An expensive lesson but at least we now know it's safe and ready for our 'adventure'.
On the bright side we still haven't seen rain! We had a picnic in the park outside our hotel. Seriously.. I kid you not. The temperatures were up in the high 20's - as high as it is over in NZ and were wearing summer clothes.. not too dissimilar to Dubai.. well maybe not quite but almost. And our picnic in the park was fish and chips..with lots of Vinegar.. and we didn't even have to ask for Vinegar .. mind you tomato sauce lovers would have had a considerable amount of difficulty sourcing that!!
The tosser who sold us Molly (at that stage a potential death trap - thank goodness unknown to us at the time) sold it to us on Empty. And there were no Petrol Stations or 'Services' as they are known to locals. We got off the A11 to buy Diesel only to be told you couldn't get back on from that exit. We thanked our lucky stars that a very kind man got us to follow him all the way back through Epping Forest and directed us back to the Motorway going in the right direction. Another problem averted!
We drove straight through to Norwich from there arriving in the dark at 9.30pm on Saturday.. never before did that wine look to inviting :-)
We spent most of our time on the underground going from West London to East London and then to Docklands - South London looking at vans. Believe me I think we went through or stopped at every bloody underground station in London. We even managed to get on one train going the opposite direction and wasted another hour as there was work being done on the tracks but we soon learned how to change trains and tracks and lines.. an experience all on it's own.
We did spend a short time walking around the Mall, Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park but that was the only sightseeing we did manage.
I did get a fright when I bought a packet of cigarettes.. NZ$18 a packet in London but they were relatively cheap in Norwich at NZ$16 a packet!! Watch this space I could be giving up :-) yeah right.. and pigs might fly!!
And finally bought Molly - our VW Transporter which will take us about 5,000 miles over the next five months. As we had to buy it relatively quickly to enable us to escape the 'fun' of London we made a decision far too hastily and had to have it serviced in Norwich - new brakes, cam belt, steering, water pump and battery. An expensive lesson but at least we now know it's safe and ready for our 'adventure'.
On the bright side we still haven't seen rain! We had a picnic in the park outside our hotel. Seriously.. I kid you not. The temperatures were up in the high 20's - as high as it is over in NZ and were wearing summer clothes.. not too dissimilar to Dubai.. well maybe not quite but almost. And our picnic in the park was fish and chips..with lots of Vinegar.. and we didn't even have to ask for Vinegar .. mind you tomato sauce lovers would have had a considerable amount of difficulty sourcing that!!
The tosser who sold us Molly (at that stage a potential death trap - thank goodness unknown to us at the time) sold it to us on Empty. And there were no Petrol Stations or 'Services' as they are known to locals. We got off the A11 to buy Diesel only to be told you couldn't get back on from that exit. We thanked our lucky stars that a very kind man got us to follow him all the way back through Epping Forest and directed us back to the Motorway going in the right direction. Another problem averted!
We drove straight through to Norwich from there arriving in the dark at 9.30pm on Saturday.. never before did that wine look to inviting :-)
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