Goa

Apologies for the lack of blog since our arrival in India.  For the IT capital of the world it seems to have slightly dodgy wi fi services so far.  Anyway, communication issues aside we have been enjoying India most of the time.  Sometimes the heat and the dirt gets to you, but that's just the way it is.  Being the rainy season the humidity is pretty high as well.
We stayed at Colva Beach for 6 nights.  Took a taxi ride to see the Northern beaches and Old Goa and the Fort one day and then another taxi ride the next day to visit a few temples and historic mansion house.  Apart from that we went for walks up and down the beach, dodging rain as we went, not always successfully, but you dry off quite quickly. In amongst all that we had some lovely food and got to know the next door restaurant staff quite well.
Took a train ride to Mangalore, 440 kms for $1.30 each.  No frills, but not uncomfortable. 8 hour trip.  We met a lovely Indian couple and they made suggestions for the rest of our Indian travels.

Arrival in India

Just about to have a sleep, it has been a long day since we arrived at Heathrow and then flew to Mumbai and on to Goa.
We thought we would be clever and get a Tourist on Arrival visa as we are NZ citizens and can do that.  Didn't figure on it taking over 2 hours to complete  the process though.
Still, we have made it to our Colva Beach hotel and will kick back for a few days now.
Photos later when we have done some exploring.

London

Arrived in London late Friday afternoon after train delays and proceeded to find our hotel in Southall. We arrived at the Southall station and were ask by an Indian chap, 'have you been on holiday', we replied by saying that we are in the middle of our travels and that India is next, his response was, 'you have found India right here', he was correct, Southall is predominantly Indian residents.
Saturday morning and after an hours travel on train and tubes, we arrived at the Borough Markets to meet and have breakfast with Caitlin and Gub, friends of Gabe from school, it was great to see them. Next was a walk over London Bridge to the Tower of London where we spent several hours delving into London's history and looking at the Crown Jewels etc.  The Yeoman Guard who took us around should have been on the stage, good value, but also got lots of information across as well.  Unfortunately it was all so interesting that the next destination was closed when we got there, so we had another beer, booked 'Stomp' tickets for Sunday and went home. Somalian for tea.
Day two started with a 1 hour wait to see the changing of the guards, we got sick of wating so we started our sightseeing of the famous 1 sq mile.
Stomp at 3pm (great show) and dinner in Soho.
Day three started with another Cathedral, St Paul's. This place was really impressive but you can't stop thinking of the people all that money could have helped at the time of its construction.  Dave did really well and managed to make it up to the outside viewing platform.  I was impressed!
We had a pint at the Old Swiss Cottage and then off to Abbey Road to walk over the zebra crossing with everybody else. Indian for dinner at Southall and an early night as tomorrow's Heathrow check in is at 8am.
India here we come...

Heading North - Part 2

First stop Melton Mowbray, for a pork pie,  which we found at a car boot sale (in a cafe, not a car boot, I hasten to add). Then on to Newark on Trent where there was a great castle ruin alongside the river.
Next stop, Lincoln, for yet another amazing cathedral, which dated back to the 9th century in some parts.
After that we headed for Edwinstowe (chosen purely for the name- Edwin is a Hopper 'family name'), and close to Sherwood Forest.   When we arrived we discovered that it was Robin Hood's town and the 29th annual Robin Hood Festival was on.  Just to top it all off we were put in the Maid Marian suite!
Unfortunately we were a bit early at Sherwood Forest in the morning, saw a few people already dressed in character, visited the 1000 yr old oak tree, then left to carry on our road trip back up to Upholland (our English home base)
We came across Ashford in the Water (got to love the English names!) which was actually a lovely little village of stone cottages which apparently get snapped up by Londoners for holiday homes.
Next stop was Macclesfield, which wasn't so gorgeous.  It was one of the main towns for work houses and textile mills (especially silk), I guess it's not a coincidence that the two went together. Then we hit the motorway and back home to relax. A few days to unwind, book tickets for India and home and just kick back before London.  Did a trip to Liverpool one day and Southport another but not a lot else, which was great after the road tripping we had just done.

England heading back north (1)

Left Weymouth heading north again.  First stop was Old Sarum a site that had been occupied since BC.  All the civilisations seemed to  have taken a turn there. Romans, Normans, Saxons.  There wasn't a lot left to see, mainly outlines on the grounds.  You could look across the Salisbury Plains though and see the Cathedral that was built in opposition to the existing one at Sarum.
Continuing north, we had been recommended a visit to Avebury Stone Circles as an alternative to the usually packed Stonehenge.  As it turned out, we drove past Stonehenge on our way, so I took a couple of photos out the window.  Avebury is reportedly the largest stone circle area in Britain.  Mind boggling imagining how, and why, they manoeuvred all those stones without the benefit of modern technology.  Lunch at a lovely thatch rooved pub next to the stones, then on up to Witney, just out of Oxford, for the night.
Oxford the next morning.  We wanted to visit the Pitt River museum and some pubs I had read about, so we didn't really explore the old university halls.  Also it is the summer break, and the town is full of tourists rather students. Pitt River museum defies description really.  You could lose yourself in there for days and still not see everything.  It was started from one man's (archaeologist / anthropologist) collection of 20, 000 items, and has continued to grow with other people's donations.   Anything from old toys to shrunken heads to feather and bead work to hunting and fishing gear to snuff boxes..... you get the idea! After that we found the Eagle and Child- where Tolkien and CS Lewis used to hang out, then The White Horse, a medieval pub dating back to early 1600s,  we had a pint there and then headed off for Stratford Upon Avon - Shakespeare's home town.
S U A had a lot of lovely old buildings, plenty of photo ops,  and we managed to locate his birthplace, then visited his grave in the church as well. After a pleasant couple of hours wandering around we drove to Earl Shilton, nothing remarkable there.

England and Wales going south

Taking advice from Chris, the first stop was Chester an historic walled city with yet another amazing cathedral. After that we headed on to Llangollen for our first night in Wales.  Old country pub with another Cistercian abbey ruin from the 1200s nearby.

Heading south the next morning we discovered an amazing aquaduct for canal boats, it was pretty high up, Dave wasn't comfortable going more than a few steps onto it.  I was fractionally more brave, actually managing to step out and take some photos.  Drove down through the middle of Wales and made our way to Chris' sister's house for the night. We added ourselves into their local pub quiz team, but that didn't do anything for their results! Not last, but definitely not first either.

Next morning we saw Caerphilly Castle then headed on to Bath. £5.60 for parking! Lots of  lovely sandstone buildings and the Roman Baths of course. Not overly impressed. Carried on our road trip heading for Wellington.  Stopped in a country pub for lunch and caught a bit of the Somerset drawl.

Next day we back tracked up to see Dunster Castle. Well 'preserved', it was more of a stately home than a castle.  The snooker table played very true as Dave discovered when invited to have a hit. The village alongside the castle was very quaint, plus there was a delicious fudge shop.  Left here and headed off down the coast road towards Cornwall. Seriously underestimated the amount of time required to wind through all  the country roads so we didn't get as far into Cornwall as we were hoping to, only got to Wadebridge then started heading across Devon towards Weymouth.

Arrived in Weymouth and found our hotel.  Thought we had been time warped back into the 50's.  Penny arcades, amusement parlours and even donkey rides on the beach.  The place was packed with holidaymakers though, UK is having its best summer for years apparently.

Scottish road trip (part 2)

Leaving Inverness travelling south the first stop was Culloden, an insight into how men got themselves killed on the battlefield. The Jacovites charged through swamp and thick heather towards a well equiped and organised English army, they didn't stand a chance.
Just down the road to Aberdeen we stumbled across an abbey ay Kinloss where we found some NZ airmen graves (2nd WW stuff).
Stayed the night in Aberdeen at the Thistle, what a treat with swimming pool and a good breakfast.
The next morning we visited Dunnottar Castle, neat old ruins on a cliff top dating from 1100s but mostly from 15/1600s.
Mist was rolling in from the sea as we arrived (see photos). Next stop was Carnoustie golf course to see an Open venue, looks hard enough to play when placid, let alone when the wind is howling in off the North sea.
Edinburgh the next morning and walked the royal mile up to the castle. The outside grounds were all set up ready for the military tattoo. Edinburgh is a lovely city but a bit "brown". Went across the border the next morning and spent some time meandering through the Lakes District.