Worsley Park & Kirkham, England 5-27 thru 28-09

This is Kirkham, Lancashire. I believe that this is the ancestoral home of the Kirkham branch of my family. Ted and I spent about an hour and a half in the town library reading the history of the place. We discovered that it was a Briton settlement and then the site of a Roman fort. A "kirk" is a church. The Doomsday Book in 1086 recorded a church in Kirkham. In 1296 King Henry III granted Kirkham the right to have a market and a 5-day fair. We found Kirkhams listed as vicars, teachers, clerks, and Henry Kirkham was the constable. I can't prove my lineage came from here, but it seems likely.
The town is well maintained, but not very remarkable. It is located just east of Blackpool. It was once known for growing flax. It is still quite agricultural. We saw a farm tractor pulling a cart through town.
The Roman fort was built here probably because of the hill that gave the conquerors a good view of the area.

The day after I wrote about this saying in our blog, I saw this. That is a train at the curb.

The countryside between Chepstow and Manchester was rolling and pretty.

The Stoke-on-Trent train station was getting a once over. Mid-size towns have glass covers like this one. Little towns like Walkden, our current nearest train station, are bare bones with a platform and a small shelter.

The train station in Manchester was busy and had many shops and eateries. We took a moving escalator that slanted to an upper level to get to our connection.

Now this Marriott outdid itself in terms of signage. We learned that it was cheaper to take a cab rather than the bus between the train station and this country club hotel. That is because you have to pay individually for the bus. The bus also let us off across a very busy road without an electronic cross walk signal.

This Marriott is really nice. We had the best meal here that we have had since arriving in England, we both had scallops with locally grown asparagus. There was a man reading his Kindle here. He had to be an American because there is no connection to Amazon available from Great Britain or Europe.

This was the view from our room window.

Chepstow & Cardiff, Wales 5-26-2009

This is the St. Pierre Marriott Hotel and Country Club south of Chepstow, Wales. The oldest sections were part of a medieval town. The view out our window was of the golf course and the indoor pool. The church and cemetery are beside the entrance to the hotel. Ted went inside and even bought a couple of used books at the sale going on to raise money to replace the church roof.
We went into Chepstow to check it out and were very surprised to see two of these being hauled through narrow, winding roads. We really appreciated the drivers' abilities as they turned tight corners.
This was the sign on the escort vehicle.

This ruin abuts a much more modern building. Wonder what the story is. We had a train to catch so didn't take the time to find out.

Our goal before catching the train was to see this castle ruin on the edge of the centre of Chepstow. This is only part of a much larger set of buildings. The first construction here was during the 11th century and the last during the 17th.

Cars drove up and down this street in Chepstow.

Here is one set of homes along the narrow road above. This is a really cute town.

Everytime I see chimneys like these, I think of Mary Poppins.

The train station in Chepstow has a cafe and one agent.

The rural areas have these walk ways over the tracks to allow riders to get to the train running in the direction they need to go. The steps going up and down are a bear when you have heavy luggage.

Cardiff was about 45 minutes south by train. The Cardiff Castle is huge and only a few blocks from the station. Cardiff is dirty and not appealing.

The wall around the Cardiff Castle has animal sculptures at intervals around it.

The street in front of the castle was cleaner and more attractive than the others we saw.

The Millenium Stadium is new and proudly advertised in town. The area around it is very tight and near the center of the city.

This street was one of the more attractive ones.

Here is a cross country train. The single car train below (the engine is under the floor) is used for local runs. Trains are quite dependable and reasonably priced. We are finding them easy to use. Ted has been fascinated by the diversity of railroad equipment.

There are repeated warnings on all the trains to "Mind the Gap". This refers to the gap between the train and the platform. There are even t-shirts with that slogan on them. Another favorite of ours is the warning "not to alight here".

Cheshunt, England to Chepstow, Wales 5-25-09

This is the base of a light pole at a train station. These poles are hinged. Light bulbs can be changed without climbing a ladder. Seems like a good idea to us.
Photos through the windows of the train were difficult even with Ted's filters, but we wanted to show a little of the beautiful Cotwolds.

A steam engine was moving on another track. Ted managed to get this even thought there were lots of obstructions. We learned that these engines are used for scenic trips just as they are in the USA.

We arrived in Gloucester, England to change trains to Chepstow. A freight train had problems and blocked the track our train needed to get us to Chepstow. Everyone but us changed to a different train and went on their merry way. We were the only ones going to Chepstow. The engineer was absolutely wonderful. He entertained us while the station manager arranged for a taxi to take us to Chepstow. We rode with two others going to the town right before Chepstow. One of the riders was a downhill biker who had been to Gulfport, MS and loved it. The other was the cousin of the football coach for Duke. The biker gave us a running commentary of what we were seeing on the ride and made lots of suggestions about what to do and see in Wales. We have met other people who have added so much to our trip. The fellow on the train from Cheshunt to London was going to a huge soccer game. The last time he saw his favorite team was 30 years ago. Talking with him made us interested in the outcome of that game. His team lost 1-0.

We were on the train to Wales when we saw this poster. Many signs were in English and Welsh. Opposite was another one about anti-social behavior!! We have since seen more like it. They ask people to report drunks or people who push others! What would happen if we did that in the USA?

Cambridge, England 5-24-2009

This photo was taken from the train between Cheshunt and Cambridge, England. There were several of these housebarges along this canal. Looks like a fun alternative to RVing.
Punts on the River Cam. They looked like fun. Ted had wanted a photo of me on a bicycle here, but we were concentrating so hard on getting to where we wanted to go that we forgot. There were some bike lanes, but not enough. It was nerve wracking, but we made it and were glad we did it. There were a few tense moments when we had trouble finding where we had chained our bikes.
This is King's College Chapel. Each college is its own community arranged around a courtyard.

We were very surprised by how crowded it was. There was a Bank Holiday on Monday and the weather was beautiful. I am sure that these things added to the crowds. This is the entrance to Trinity College. Of the 82 Nobel Prize winners, half came from this college.

It was exam time so the colleges were closed to visitors, although we saw lots of people ignore the signs. This is the courtyard for Trinity College. Students live and go to classes in these buildings.

The architecture of St. John's College Chapel was so beautiful.

This ancient church is now a museum.

There is shopping all over the place, including a supermarket. Some stores have the typical fare that would appeal to college students and others are after the tourists. Our favorites were the scads of bookstores, none of them chains.

Note the garbage truck on this road, one of the main ones. This town is from medieval times and the roads reflect that.

Christ College is the alma mater of Charles Darwin, one of Ted's heroes.

Due to exams, we could only get this peek at the courtyard of Christ College.

It was very humbling to walk/ride where Wordsworth, Isaac Newton, Tennyson, Darwin, and Stephen Hawking had trod.

Bournemouth, Dorset, England 5-22-09

At the bottom of the hill from The Marriott is this area of fast food and fun. To the left is the entrance to the Lower Garden of Bournemouth. This town has over 2000 acres of parks.
We came across this very understated put-put golf course - no silly scenery here.

The Bournemouth Eye is a huge balloon that takes passengers for tethered rides above the city. On a clear day visitors are reported to see for 20 miles. It wasn't running today.

All we needed was a lady with a big bustle feeding a monkey and we could have replicated Mattisse's painting in the park. Monday is a Banking Holiday so I suppose that people have taken Friday off to have a long weekend.

The heart of Bournemouth is a shopping area centered around a circle. That is a four story department store in the background. It was a lot like the former Meier and Frank in Portland.

This is part of a very large mosaic made of pebbles and rocks. It is in center of the shopping area.

Somehow I don't think an American would name his/her restaurant The Slug and Lettuce, but think it reflects British humor pretty well.

Riding public transportation gives me lots of time to observe others. The twenty-somethings are all wearing shoes like these. Many of them seem less substantial than those pictured. I don't know how they walk on cobble stones and for long distances without pain, but then I remember when style was far more import than comfort.

The World is Flat. That is Burger King and Build a Bear in Bournemouth, Dorset, England! KFC is not far, nor is Starbucks.

In the USA this would be Payless Shoes.

We walked back to the hotel a different way. Learning more about a place than the obvious is always our goal. These are mostly hotels and B and Bs. We saw one that looked very nice from the outside for about $37.00/night with free WiFi. Wouldn't have a view of the sea and might have to share a bath. Ummm. Worth it or not?