England trip

On Friday 9th of June we skipped off from work a little early and did a marathon drive all the way from Wiesbaden to Bath, England. It was a long trip through a bit of Germany, all of Belgium, a bit of France, the Chunnel and then across the width of England - finally arriving at around 2am, having gained an hour through the time difference. We had a quick chat to Matt, our English friend who we knew from New Zealand, who has now moved back 'home' and then fell into bed.

Matt had a couple of other kiwi friends staying with him, so I spent the Saturday hanging out with Heidi, while her boyfriend, Matt and Lindsay went to Bristol for Matt's stag do. On Sunday we enjoyed the summer day in Bath and had a bit of a look around the town.

On Monday Lindsay and I headed up to Wales, to stay with his auntie and uncle in Llay (North Wales). They looked after us really well, taking a day off work each and showing us around. We first went to Chester, which has one of the few mostly intact city walls left in England. We walked around half of it and then wandered back through the town and saw the famous two storied shop fronts.

The next day we visited Conwy castle, which is situated halfway across North Wales by the sea. Each evening we ate out in a different cute little country pub, reachable only via the narrow single lane - but two way roads.

Old drover's inn













Conwy castle in Wales












After the far too short stay in Wales, we headed up to the Lakes District, one of the most popular holiday districts in England, right in the far north. Fortunately the peak season hadn't started, despite the weather being really good. So we had the narrow, stone-fence-lined roads to ourselves, when we went on our bike trips. We were staying in a nice bed and breakfast in a little village.


Nice butt!













Phone box in the middle of nowhere













Stepping stones













Ahhh












We then went from tranquil in the Lake District to madness in London, where we went next. It is a great city and we saw quite a few of its sites (e.g. Tower of London, Greenwich, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace), as well as catching up with our Kiwi friends Cynthia (who lives in London), Jo and Steve (who had just arrived in England) and Baz (also living in London). What made it the most hectic was the first night, when due to us not really understanding the public transport system and some of it being closed for repairs, it took us about 4 hours to get back to our camping ground in the North of London, after missing the last subway train and having to take night busses and walk.

Then taking Jo and Steve with us, we headed back out west for another short stop in Bath. Lindsay and I did a day trip to Glastonbury, with its alternative hippy shops, Abbey ruins and proposed burial place of King Arthur and Gwynevere and to Wells (10,500 people), with its huge cathedral and lane of the oldest houses in Europe where the choir members live.

We then headed to Exmoor National Park together with Jo and Steve on a little road trip. We saw the wild coast, looked at the quaint villages and naturally had a good English cream tea (pot of tea with cream scones).

Back in Bath, we had a nice reunion dinner at an Indian Restaurant together with our kiwi friends Alice, Cynthia, Jo and Steve, followed by Matt and Jo's (different Jo!) wedding the next day. The wedding was very nice, with a very personal ceremony, amazing weather, great food, nice speeches, fun games and dancing and lots of chocolate. The event was a very nice end to our holiday and far too soon we had to head back on our long journey home...

The bridal party