Jun 17, 2012 - Chester, England

Chester, a Roman town on the River Dee, still has 2 miles of its fortified city walls in tact. Within the walls are half-timbered houses and shops, some from the Tudor Days Considered unusual, some of the buildings were black and white timbered fascades even during the more recent Georgian and Victoria eras (rather than brown and beige). There is the very impressive Chester Cathedral dating from 1250. A lovely ornate clock was erected over the wall in 1897 to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Our group got to see this lovely old...

Jun 15, 2012 - Last day in Scotland

Woke up to rain and very windy weather, darn it. We took showers in the excellent washrooms so that helped lift our spirits a little. Long day of driving, first along Loch Lomond, then into heavy Glasgow traffic that was again nerve-wracking. Later I counted 28 traffic circles (roundabouts), 4 with traffic lights in them! So many Y situations and turns; we missed one but we were able to turn around and quickly get back on track. When we reached our diesel/grocery stop we were ready to get off the road! Because of the rain and our being in...

Apr 1, 2012 - Delamere Forest

It was a fine, chilly day and David was keen to finish the book he had while I went for a walk around the lake in Delamere Forest. It was very scenic and at one part I saw a man whizzing past in the trees and realised that I was walking through an Overhead Adventure course! The end was a long flying fox, but before that the participants had to traverse several aerial “bridges”. Just before 5pm we walked about 200 yards along the road to the train station, where we were met by Tim (Sue’s 4th cousin – we share Great Great Great Grandparents...

Mar 31, 2012 - Delamere Forest

Today dawned cold and overcast again. It seems the lovely taste of summer we have had recently was just that, a taste! After saying our goodbyes to Bob and Jean we set off for the Delamere Forest camp ground where we will be close to Tim Hull who Sue is distantly related to and has been chatting with on the internet. We got to the camp ground to find it pretty full because unbeknownst to us the school holidays started yesterday. Luckily they fitted us in and we got settled, did some washing, walked down the road to a shop (1.5 miles each...

Mar 8, 2012 - Chester and Stockport

We left Betws-y-Coed about 11am heading for Chester through some beautiful country, some of which reminded us of the South Island of NZ. We parked Homer at the Wrexham Road Park and Ride and caught the bus into Chester (for £1.70 each return – very good value). Spent the afternoon wandering the streets and shops – this town has a lovely feel about it, lots of buskers and the ruins of a 2000 year old Roman Amphitheatre. Walking down one street, we passed Roly’s Fudge, where a girl was stirring a batch and the smell was so good we had to stop...

Sep 13, 2009 - Day Trip to Chester

Sunday morning and a time for somewhat of a lie in this morning. I finally got Anne out of bed around 9am and then it was on to Ma’s house for our traditional bacon butties. Ma had a different type of bacon this morning, she called it the smoked type. We all seemed to agree that this type of bacon is not as good as the regular type. After breakfast we all bundled into the car and are heading to Chester for the day. Chester is a walled city from Roman days, with old world buildings and stores. We had a walk around the downtown core and a...

Sep 28, 2007 - Dublin on a dime!

Haha... the true blokes trip to Dublin. We haven't been too impressed by this place so far. Anyway, we have decided to do the top deck again. This time the woman guide was excellent. Oh! let me tell you about the lady that sold us the tickets. I was standing on the side of the road outside the sightseeing bus in the main street in Dublin, trying to get a handle on the times and fares. Got the price, and then proceeded to pull out my wallet when suddenly I was pushed onto the bus by the lady. "Fa God's sake mon dinna get ya minny oot on the...

Jun 3, 2007 - Edinburgh to Chester

Got going this morning after a good continental breakfast at the hotel (and filled a go box with buns, cheese and fruit for the train ride). Upon arrival at the train station we checked with the agent and found that we could get to Chester by going thru York and Manchester and getting there in only five and a half hours instead of 9 hours.......good thing we double checked.....Upon our arrival in Chester we again felt the comfort of the small town and quickly found a great place to stay......close to the train and an easy walk into...