TETBURY & BATH

Our accommodation in the village of Tetbury was very comfortable - the staff were extremely friendly & the pub had lots of games to play - we spent our first night drinking sangria (obviously beer for Doug & Cliff) & playing dominos & Uno - lots of fun.

the next day we spent wandering streets dating back to medieval times - such as the cobbled Chipping steps

 the covered market house - constructed in 1655

this building was also constructed in the 1600's

We met some locals in the street who invited us to share a drink with them in their local club. They had lots of gossip on the area, apparently Charles & Camilla live only 10 minutes from town, Charles owns a dairy & also the Highgrove shop in the centre of town - all profits from the sale of Highgrove products go to his charities.

Next day we were off to Bath

Now this was not what I was expecting to see!!!

We walked from top to bottom

tried out lots of pubs

had lots of fun

Decided to take our Ferrari for a spin

walked through some local galleries

Met up with Rob & Doug to finish off our night before our final week in London.

This has been quite an experience.

COTSWOLDS

We caught up with Rob & Doug in Coventry, then set off to explore the Cotswolds.

The house where Shakespeare was born "To be or not to be, that is the question" 

I wish I knew the answer.

This looked like a fun pub to visit - The Dirty Duck

Canadian geese seem to have moved in & they appear quite at home

Some of the houses were straight out of the story of Gulliver's travels.

We caught up with Deb (Cliff & Rob's cousin) in Kenilworth

Dinner at one of the local pubs - we were so busy talking we forgot to take a happy snap of the night.

It was great catching up with Deb, Andy, Callum & Finley the french poodle (Bec- don't show Jedda, she may get jealous :-) a bit of a blurry photo

Finley saying goodbye - what a personality

A driving tour through the Cotswolds on our way to our next destination of Tetbury.

The village of Stanton was extremely picturesque.

Thatched roof houses in the main street 

Imagining I'm back in Picton

Miss you all xxx

WALES

It was great catching up with Marilyn & Richard - our first night we talked & laughed until 1am. Next day a visit to the beach & the mouth of the Ogmore River.

Rich took Cliff for a coastal walk after lunch. Cliff was surprised to find guys surfing & Rich pointed out some human bones protruding from the cliff side (they are apparently from an old cemetery)  Marilyn cooked up a tasty feast for dinner & then off to visit a little village

over stepping stones to Ogmore Castle which was constructed over 900 years ago

Rich & Cliff

Cliff said I belonged in the dungeon - nasty man

After a great couple of days we farewelled Marilyn, Richard & Wales to catch up with Rob & Doug in Coventry. 

ON THE WAY TO WALES

On the way to visit our friends Marilyn & Richard who live in Ogmore by Sea & Sandy & Pat who live in Cardiff - our Welsh opponents for quoits & all round great company from our cruise. Unfortunately Julie & Steve (part of the Aussie quoits team) were unable to join us - they were busy enjoying Spain.

We travelled through beautiful Welsh countryside

Time for a break in this cute little pub in the village of Llanuwchlyn 

Passed through Snowdonia national park.

We stayed overnight in the Buckley Arms Hotel in Dinas Mawddwy. It was owned and run by a lovely English couple, Gay & Keith. It was an unexpected surprise  - Cliff enjoyed it so much he sat up until 2am drinking & talking to Keith about high voltage testing (Keith was an electrical engineer)

a quick stop to look at the beach

lunch in the pretty seaside town of Aberystwith - great fish & chips

We were surprised to find a full size talking dialect on the promenade

On the road again - time for a rest break in the little village of Crickhowell

We finally made it to Ogmore by Sea - it was a little chilly when we arrived

Lunch was at the Watermill Inn with our Welsh friends

Sandy, Pat, Marilyn, mwah, Cliffy & Richard

A great day was had by all - would have been a complete team if Julie & Steve had been able to make it.

LAKES DISTRICT PUBS

Yes!! Finally a day of rain  - well, enough rain for Cliff to agree to no walking. Time for a drive to check out some of the pubs around the Lakes District. Almost all of the pubs were white rather than stone like most of the buildings. 

We had a great ploughmans lunch at this pub "The Wild Boar" and this time I didn't eat all the ham :-)

The Unicorn pub - 400 years old and the oldest pub in Ambleside.

"Golden Rule" this pub only 195 years old

Another white pub - not sure I can keep up this pace & with Cliff sampling 2 pints in each pub it was time to wander the streets

We discovered some beautiful buildings

Our street

our final night we spent back at the Unicorn pub listening to one of the local guys playing guitar & singing - it was a great way to farewell Ambleside.