Day 3 Touring The UK, Bodmin Moor, Jamaica Inn, St. Michael's Mount (Part I)

The plan for the day, be on the coach at 8 am, stop around 9:15 at the Jamica Inn, move onto Marazion for a picture stop of St. Michael's Mount, move onto St. Ives and have lunch; and be back at the hotel around 5.  Our tour director generally had this posted somewhere the evening before so we could plan a bit, but sometimes he didn't put it out until we were at breakfast, and sometimes he only had a copy on the bus...which wasn't as helpful.

Our itinerary had a bit more info:  Travel through the unspoiled beauty of Bodmin Moor: stop for photo's at Jamaica Inn, built in 1750 and immortalized in Daphne du Maurier's tale of daring smugglers.  Visit the coastal village of Marazion to see the romantic outline of St. Michael's Mount, an island topped by a spectacular castle.  In the old fishing town of St. Ives, take a walking tour to see it's cobbled streets, quaint cottages, art galleries, and surrounding sandy beaches.  Enjoy time to explore before returning to a free evening in Tavistock.

This was the view from our hotel window,(The Bedford Hotel) you can see how old the buildings are, and how foggy it was off in the distance.  We were staying in Tavistock.  Our hotel was without air conditioning, which is not uncommon in Europe.  It was also without an elevator, also not uncommon in Europe.  Both of those conditions caused several in our group some issues.  In my previous post I mentioned we were without electric our first night there and showed a picture of the hotel.

Our first stop was the Jamaica Inn.  You can see it was indeed old (built in 1750).  The beauty of Bodmin Moor that we were to enjoy on the way was a bust due to the fog and rain off and on.

The Inn had several rooms, folks looked around and some got a coffee, others of us made a bathroom stop and looked around in the gift shop.

Joss was the inkeeper, and the leader of a gang of smugglers who worked the Cornish Coastline.  The author Daphne du Maurier actually stayed at the inn and used it as her inspiration when she wrote the novel, Jamaica Inn in 1936.  Alfred Hitchcock directed a film staring Maureen  O'Hara, a period piece set in the 1815 time frame.  There was also a TV series staring Jane Seymour in 1983.  Apparently the TV series followed the novel more closely.  All I can find is Joss Merlyn was stabbed and found by his niece Mary.

I peered out at our coach before pulling up my hood on my rain coat, as it was raining a bit.  Another cute red phone box.

Before getting back on the coach, I wanted at least one picture of Bodmin Moor; but as you can see with the fog, our views were limited.

Not sure I would describe the view of St. Michael's Mount as "romantic".  But maybe if we could have seen the Castle on top?

From their webpage: what we weren't able to see.  This photo was taken during low tide, when you can walk to the island.  There are things to explore, places to shop and eat.  You need a ticket to tour the castle.

A view at night of the castle lighted.  You can get tickets for boat rides during the day or evening to get to the island during high tide.  The St. Aubyn Family gave the land to the National Trust in 1954, thought they have a 999 year lease to stay and live in the Castle and maintain the visitors business.  Our stop was about 15 minutes, long enough to attempt pictures and a few found time to use the restroom facilities.  People were quickly back on the coach due to the rain.

I'm breaking this day up for 2 posts, due to the number of pictures.  Please pop back in .

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Day 2, Stonehenge and Salisbury

The plan posted for us the evening before.   Our itinerary reads as follows:

Marvel at the prehistoric circle of vast monoliths of Stonehenge and learn about the primitive builders who managed to create such an enduring monument.  Stop in Salisbury, a charming old city where the cathedral boats the tallest spire in England.  Arrive in Tavistock, a market town on the edge of Dartmoor National Park.

Our stop was a quick one.  For one it was raining, not everyone even opted to hope off the coach.  But, my friend Jane and I donned our ball caps and rain coats and walked around the circumference of the circle.  We lucked out in that we were there before other tour groups so it wasn't crowded.  My understanding is it's often quite crowded and hard to get a picture.  You no longer get to walk right up to or among the stones, but it's still quite impressive to see.

If you click the picture to enlarge it, you should be able to see some people on the left hand side of the picture.  This should give you some perspective as to the size.  This is an UNESCO site, one of the first in England.  It's a powerful witness to the people in the Neolithic and Bronze ages.  The building of this site began 5,000 years ago, but why it was built is unknown.  What it was used for is also unknown.  Some of the stones (as they are not all the same type of stone), came from the south of Wales.  How would simple people without modern day tools get stones this large and heavy from one place to another?  It will continue to be studied, and perhaps in years to come more will be learned.

Again, look at the size.  This is stone laying down tethered to a sled of sorts
See the people on the left.

Examples of grass huts can be toured behind the circle.  You get a feel for what a village would have looked like.

A launderette outside a rest stop.  Rest stops in Europe are nothing like rest stops here in the US.  The ones we saw in England had gas, public toilets and a large facility with 2 coffee shops, some fast food options, and grocery items; as well as gift items to purchase.  The launderette is a combined washer and dryer.  We watched a man put his laundry in, add the money and then went inside to eat and shower possibly.  The soap is also already in the machine.  As you can see you select which size load you have.

The Salisbury Cathedral, the tallest spire in England at 123 meters, a little over 400 feet!!  As you can see some work is being done.  No doubt that's a perpetual situation given the age of the cathedral.  The building began in 1220, and took 38 years to build.  It houses The Magna Carte among other artifacts.  Half a million visitors tour the cathedral annually.

A few of the many gorgeous stained windows.

This is an embroidered copy of the Magna Carte.  We did see the original, but you are not permitted to photograph it.  It's kept in a tent to keep light off it and only 3 people are permitted in the tent at one time with a docent controlling the entrance and exit of the tent.

Remember to click to enlarge so you can read the explanation.

A very detailed model of the cathedral.

A hot Cappauccino and shot of whiskey (can't remember what we had), was just what the doctor ordered.  Was a pretty cool, damp day and we needed a pick me up as we were walking around the town a bit.

In the pub where we enjoyed our whiskey and Cappuccino.  Forgot to make a note about the name of the pub, it was quite old.  Might have been named Ye Olde Pub or something like that.

Not a photo I took, but one from their website.  It looked like a castle, and was quite old.  Many older hotels in Europe do not have AC or elevators.  This hotel fell into that category.  We ran into trouble on night one there, as we were without electric.  3 different staff members came up to our 3rd floor room to see if they could fix it.  Something to do with the breakers.  Each plug had their own.  We lucked out in that one light did work, so we weren't in the dark; but were unable to charge our phones.  They didn't have a room they could move us too, as they were full.  They did get it fixed for us the next day.  A rather charming hotel with a warm and very nice staff.

PLEASE leave me a comment when you come visit, so I know you were here. Your visits and comments are very special to me. AND remember, leave your name and url and not your profile link. Name and url takes me right to your blog post so I can reciprocate the visit.

The UK in Fourteen Days

I am recently back from a 14 day 13 night tour of The UK with CIE Tour Company.  CIE Tour Company has it's office in Cedarknolls, NJ and has been in business for 90 years.  I've taken tours before with Insight Vacations and would rate their tours (Ireland and Scotland, and Italy) over CIE.  The accommodations and meals were substandard, IMHO.  I did a review of the tour on yelp, and wish I had seen the reviews before booking.  There are 22 reviews counting mine and the average rating is only a 2.5 out of 5.  There were 7 people who gave the company a rating of 5, and 10 people who gave it a rating of 1.  My rating was a 2.  Interestingly CIE's webpage indicates they have a 95% satisfaction rate which seems not to match the reviews on yelp.

My friend and I choose this tour, as it's one of a few that included Wales.  We choose the month of August in order to attend the Military Tattoo in Edinburgh.  We covered a lot of miles as you can see.  One of the pluses of the tour was only having a single night once, and the bulk of the time spending two consecutive nights in the same lodging.  

The tour started in Windsor, which I really enjoyed.  The tour ended in London.

We added an extra night at the front of the tour to give us time to adjust a bit to the 5 hour difference, and to give us a buffer should there be any problems with flights etc.  You really just never know.  Travel nowadays can present some difficulties.

Here I am with my Prosecco on board Delta in business class.

AND my friend, Jane.  The flight was very nice, with excellent meal service and we managed to get a few hours sleep once the meal service was over and we were able to lay our seats flat.

PLEASE leave me a comment when you come visit, so I know you were here. Your visits and comments are very special to me. AND remember, leave your name and url and not your profile link. Name and url takes me right to your blog post so I can reciprocate the visit.