Leanne & Mark's 2023 European Travels

The forecast was looking OK - overcast but with <10% chance of rain until evening. We left in the drizzle to get me a new rain-proof jacket - in the euphoria of three consecutive days without rain I had managed to leave mine somewhere 🙁🙁. My theory was that if I bought a new one it wouldn't rain.  Hmm, that didn't work! It rained nearly all day 😡😡. The tides were favourable so we headed for St Michaels Mount, which you can walk to at low tide via a causeway. Leanne decided the Mount itself was a bit too steep for her dodgy knee, but a walk over the causeway would be nice. And it was. As it wasn't peak season we could wander around the Harbour without paying. It drizzled a bit, but was basically a pleasant stroll (and Cornwall has sandy beaches⛱️⛱️, which are probably very nice when the sun shines). From Marazion (the lovely village connected to St Michaels Mount) we drove through Penzance to the adjacent village of Newlyn, where my GGF died in 1935. It also has a pre...

Today we had a leisurely start to the day making our own cereal and toast breakfast - no eggs and bacon this morning. We didnt want a big drive today and thought we'd use our English Heritage Tourist Pass we bought before we hit Tintagel Castle, so headed to Pendennis Castle and Falmouth on the south coast. Built by Henry VIII, it has been in nearly continuous use as a fort protecting Falmouth Harbour up until the 1950's - over 400 years! The site has a mix of buildings from Henry's original tower though to the Royal Artillery Baracks completed in 1901. Lots of others gave come and gone in the interim. Just across the River Fal estuary sits St Mawes Castle, built across from Pendennis Castle at the same time to complete protection of the Harbour. We decided to see the pigeon pair.  Had the day been nicer we would have taken the passenger ferry direct from Falmouth to St Mawes. But it was looking very grey, blowing hard and spitting rain (and I'd not brought my rain jack...

We started the day with another really nice breakfast at last night's B&B.  After breakfast we headed out a bit after 9:30 for Tintagel Castle on the Cornish coast (a 2 1/2 hour drive). The castle was built in the 12-1300's and is mainly in ruins but it's in the most spectacular clifftop setting.  There was lots of tramping up hill and down dale to get to and from the castle, which on top of all the stairs we've been dealing with, put a strain on Leanne's knee. I might have to bring out the screens and the shotty soon and put her out of her misery. But she did bravely cross the very high footbridge over a very deep chasm. There is not much left to see of the castle, but it must have been fairly impressive when it was in its heyday. However, the peninsula it sits on and the surrounding coastline is really fantastic. On top of that, at the end of the headland is a really interesting (modern) statue of King Arthur, although I don’t know how good the likeness is 😄...

We have been laughing at some of the interesting names we've seen on maps and road signs in the UK, especially in the Cotswolds. Some examples: Upper & Lower Slaughter Stow-in-the-Wold Clapton-on-the-Hill Limpely Stoke Cold Aston Shipton-under-Wychwood Little & Great Rollright Great Snoring  Old  Sodbury Mudford Sock Marsh Gibbon Bitchfield Compton Scorpion Nether Wasdale Cockermouth Newbiggin-on-Lune Penistone Moreton-in-Marsh We've also seen lots of names that are clearly the originals for many Aussie placenames,  such as  Perth,  Cheltenham and T amworth.

Today was Bath day, but we were also running out of clean clothes,  so needed to find a laundrette as well. Killing two birds with one stone, we found a convenient laundrette in Bath, so spent a fun hour or so doing our laundry. There was a nice park nearby, so we sat there for a while and enjoyed the very pleasant weather.  We then drove around the corner and parked in central Bath and wandered around checking it out.  Bath is quite hilly and looms over the River Avon. Leanne did decide not to dive! We couldn't get into the Roaman Baths as they were booked out for weeks and we weren't that organised. We did check out the Bath Abbey (ex-RC, now Anglican, mostly 1600 & 1700's) and St John's (current RC, 1860's) - both very impressive churches. Bath was a playground for the gentry and it shows in the magnificent residences throughout the town. Prices start from about   £ 2.5 -3.5m ($5-7m). From Bath we made our way to Weston Super Mare for the night - a classic Br...