May 21, 2013 - Bridgnorth to London

I woke up early so was packed up & ready to leave by ¼ to 9. My plan was to stop at Stratford upon Avon which is about ½ way between Bridgnorth & Heathrow. I wasn’t sure whether to do the Park & Ride but in the end I drove into the town & there were plenty of places to park. I’ve never been to Stratford & in the past I’ve been put off by stories of it being very commercialised which is understandable as it’s been a tourist destination for hundreds of years. I was pleasantly surprised at how uncommercial it is. Of course there are sites such...

May 20, 2013 - The day before

So roughly 24 hours to go and my bike currently has no chain a flat tyre and one brake. On the plus side I have some lovely comfy new cycle shorts to help ease the pain of the next few weeks. Top tip for anyone thinking of riding more than 20 miles, get some padded shorts. All the other pains can be dealt with, sore-arse is with you till the end. Meanwhile anxiety levels are starting to rise, which is only normal I guess after all there is plenty to go wrong on such a trip. I just keep reminding myself I can fix a tyre, true a wheel and...

May 20, 2013 - Day 20 Inverness to

Up to a big breakfast again, packing and Rob off to try to get the wheel fixed again. We have more stuff to get into the car, old starter motor, more trophies, a leather jacket. Not sure how it is all going to fit. Off this morning at no rush. We made our way to the Colluden battlefield and had a short walk around.

May 19, 2013 - Day 19 Inverness

Tony had to fix our bugeye drizzling, Tony not happy, finally all fixed and off we went to chase the haggis. Got about 10 mile down the road and I lost the car on some diesel on a roundabout and reversed it up the gutter into a soft bank expecting huge damage, but on a few scratches on the passenger sill and a buckled passenger wheel. Pretty shaken up, concerned about driving (didn't know for sure it was diesel on the road until spoke to other people and they had also come off or spun or fishtailed. I had a hard time driving the car because...

May 18, 2013 - Day 18 Inverness

replace starter motor removed distributor went to get spare wheel puncture fixed got front end wheel alignment done car started to run like a dog and tried to fix it, made it all worse cold wet stuck Highland club president gave us contact number of mechanic made things better so we could get to the hotel, but running terribly no washing done, didn't get to beauly pub for Bev and missed out on the drive

May 17, 2013 - London crawling/travel ( also) makes the heart grow fonder

Airports are the same the world over. Places for transport of human kind. Cattle lined up and processed. Distant stares and anxiety abounds. A holding pen, where people hustle and bustle for position and small victories won by guessing the right line. George Orwell's pigs frisk and treat the common animals with disdain and at best a means to an end. The greater good determined by them not us. Human cargo mass around food, toilets and Internet ports- surely a revisit of Maslow's hierarchy is warranted as communication with those outside the...

May 17, 2013 - Day 17 Falkirk to Inverness (Scotland).

This morning is the start of Chasin the Haggis in Scotland Breakfast buttie photo shoot at Airth Castle Route notes to the New Drumossie Hotel via Clackmannan Bridge the Ochil Hills then the Cairngorms National Park saw snow great little roads people hit a lamb might of well of been single roads great hotel, great food went to do washing and starter motor stuffed new one organised for the morning

May 16, 2013 - Day 16 Pooley Bridge to Falkirk (Scotland)

After a photo shoot in the morning of the bugeye's driving over the stone bridge we made our way to Penrith over some more stone and hedge lined great winding roads. On making it to Penrith after one of our driving companions got lost not once, but twice we finally made it to town. Then it was our turn. No parking for us so we made our way up one way streets (the right way, past a castle, through residential streets, past the school and then back in the way we originally came. Finally parking, we didn't get to enjoy much of the city as we...

May 15, 2013 - Day 15 Llandudno to Pooley Bridge near Penrith in The Lakes District

After another hearty breakfast we made our way to The Great Orme Railway in Wales which is a cable car run by cable half way up the mountain, then you change cable cars and proceed up the rest of the mountain. It's high, it's cold, it's breath taking (literally), it's beautiful. I feel that every part of the UK countryside is just that, incredible scenery. After 20 minutes we headed back down the mountain as it was time for us to sample some of the WRC rally stage in Wales along the cliff face heading around the coast. Then it was a short...

May 14, 2013 - Day 14 Norton to Llandudno

On leaving our beautiful pub we headed to the Iron Bridge which is supposedly the first iron bridge to be built in 1794. A very pretty area, but with a few more things to see and do we then headed off to The Royal Air Force Museum at Cosford. It was free entry, but you had to pay for parking. See nothing is for free. It was quite large with at least four hangers with a multitude of planes from many eras. They had quite a few experimental planes as well as missiles. If you asked you were able to take a closer look. We learnt that when steel...

May 13, 2013 - Day 13 Lynmouth to Norton

This morning we arose to a fine day with a blue sky and we started our day with a walk to the rack railway that is operated by water. They have two carriages, one at the top of the hill and one at the bottom. They load water into the one at the top until it counterbalances the one at the bottom and then the brakes are released and the carriages start to move. They meet in the middle where the tracks are slightly wider for both of them to fit and then they continue on there journey. It was a lovely ride even though I had visions of what...

May 13, 2013 - Last few days in the UK

Saturday we had a tea party at my sister Naomi's house where we we met a lot of relatives of various generations. On Sunday we went to visit another relative who was unable to get there on Saturday and had a pleasant visit. Chatting with one of his grandchildren who also came I found out that he went to the same school as I did many years ago! Said school being 400 years old this year! Today is packing day and tomorow, Tuesday, back to Vancouver.