Manchester, Dunham Massey, Lymm

The journey back to Manchester was not the route we expected. Our GPS "lady" sent us through the Yorkshire Dales towards Skipton and then back through Nelson and Colne before hitting the motorways just outside Rochdale.  We don't know whether it was a faster or slower route but the countryside was beautiful and we weren't in any great rush.

We sketched out a plan with Debbie and Andrew  for the weekend activities and a couple of days out on their boat ( Roebuck ) sounded like a great idea.

Friday.   

We weren't going out on the boat until Andrew had finished work for the day so we hopped on the Metrolink and went into Manchester. I needed a new pair of shorts as my linen ones were getting decidedly thin - too much driving was my excuse to much fidgeting was Sue's response.

The weather was very un-Manchester like with the sun blazing down and temperatures over 30 degrees. We stopped at the Old Wellington for a pint it was too hot for us Aussies to drink outdoors so we went inside  all the poms were sitting at the outside tables soaking up the rays and topping up their melanomas they're "well hard" these Mancunians !!

The Old Wellington is at the bottom of the photo and Sinclairs Oyster Bar is the black and white pub on the right both of them oozing with character - we don't get pubs like these in OZ 

We moved on from the 'Wellington and had lunch in Weatherspoons the place was heaving but the service was good - pizza and a couple of glasses of red (bloody Merlot) hit the spot.

We got back to "Stretford Heights" mid afternoon and first Debbie and then Andrew got back from work - somebody has to pay taxes so we wrinklies can get a pension.

We loaded up the X5 and set off for the boat - it's only a 5 minute drive and we were under way in no-time.

We stopped for the night in Dunham Massey wine and beer with food accompaniments.

Dunham Massey

Saturday

This morning we headed off for Lymm the weather was beginning to look a little grey so we kept our fingers crossed.  The wind was on the nose and we managed to negotiate the narrows without any drama. A boat coming up the other way with the wind up his clacker had to go into reverse to give us room to get through.

It's a classy little village and there is a bit of money around these parts- Sue, Debbie and myself went into the village to find a place for dinner. After a couple of choices came and went we settled for Elmas which had a warm ambience and an interesting menu. 

Sue even managed to find a charity shop where she bought a couple of "upmarket " tops. It started to rain quite heavily so we sheltered in the shop for a while unfortunately they didn't have any second-hand umbrellas.

We got back to Roebuck without getting too wet which was nice.

Dinner at Elmas was very good and Andrew has the place pencilled in for next weekend when he and Debbie entertain the other half of our family.

Lymm

Sunday

Sue and I had been sleeping in the second bedroom on the boat and to be honest we were a bit cramped so we decided to sleep top and tail Sue had been suffering from the snuffles for a few days so I didn't fancy catching a cold however after sleeping head to toe I did get a dose of foot in mouth !!

We all jumped out of our beds this morning eager to be on our way - ok ok it was about 9:15 when we got up - bloody jet lag !! The weather was not good so we took our time until the weather had settled and got on our way just before midday. The weather improved all the way back to the moorings and a couple of cleansing ales on the way didn't come amiss.

After tidying up the boat we paid a short visit to the Watchhouse Cruising Club to make a donation (or two) behind the bar.

Back at Debs we had burgers for dinner and watched a bit of tv before calling it a day.

Maryport, Windermere,Bowness and Keswick

We decided to slow down our arrival to the Lake District by stopping off in Maryport. It's an old mining town but since the mines have closed fishing and pubs seem to be its main claim to fame.

It's an interesting place and our sightseeing would have been more pleasant if it wasn't raining.

We stopped at one of the Captain Nelson Tavern in the town for a coffee - the local fishermen must be a thirsty bunch as there seemed to be more pubs than houses !!

We then continued on to Windermere and found the Beaumont House Hotel without too much bother and we were mightily relieved to find it had a decent sized car park for guests.

The rooms are really large and there should be no danger of falling out of the bed !!

Windermere is very busy with traffic and pedestrians we have decided to leave the car in the car park and use the bus or shangtse's pony to do our sightseeing. There is plenty of eating establishments in town and for our first nights dinner we chose the local Indian Restaurant - we were not disappointed.

The next morning we were welcomed by a wet and gloomy start to the day. After breakfast we had a mooch round Lakeland looking at all their fancy kitchen stuff before deciding to brave the weather and walk into Bowness which was a couple of miles down the road.

We walked passed lots of hotels and B&B,s the buildings are all very big and well kept with lots of colourful hanging baskets. There must have been a lot of money circulating around these parts.

Bowness was buzzing - lots of tourists - mostly of the Asian variety, I suppose fairs fair we walk on their wall they can boat on our lakes. The lake looked quite moody in the mist and rain.

Us brave souls decided to walk back up the hill to Windermere getting quite wet in the process.

We chose a French Restaurant for our evening meal and it was excellent - I had "pig on a plate" while Sue had guinea fowl.

Today our last day in the Lakes and after breakfast at Lakeland we caught the bus to Keswick. We managed to get pensioner tickets even though we didn't have UK documentation - nice people these Cumbrians.  The bus journey takes about an hour and the scenery is magnificent. We had come this way in the car but yours truly had to keep his eye on the road and my passenger kept her eye on the driver !!

Keswick is quite a large town that has good shops and eating establishments. We had a walk down to the Lake through some really pretty gardens I saw a red squirrel but wasn't quick enough with the camera.

Here's a photo of Sue looking for poppy seeds to smuggle back to Australia.

There were some interesting statues outside the shops.

Castle Douglas

We left Dunoon this morning and went on a mini cruise on the Dunoon to Gourock car ferry - it was ferry civilised and took about 30 minutes to cross the Firth of Clyde.

After a bit of a search we found the Old Station House B&B. It's a lovely quiet place built alongside the railway line that used to run by here. They still have one of the old railway carriages that they rent out for self caterers.

The place was spotless and we had a wonderful breakfast to send us on our way to the Lake District.

Dunoon

The weather has changed and we had a wet and misty drive through the glens to Dunoon. The weather here is slightly better than when we set off but perhaps the improvement is due to us being at sea level. You could still see the mist on the mountains though.

We are now staying at the Esplanade Hotel and the place seems ok - however the parking space is bloody awful which seems to be the norm in GB. Our room is clean and bright and we have a view overlooking the car park where I can watch the latecomers try to find a space.

The place has a Fawlty Towers feel to it which was endorsed by our dinner waitress,  English was definitely not her first language I was tempted to ask her if she came from Barcelona !! Dinner was served with military  precision between 7 and 8 o'clock and it was surprisingly good.

This morning we decided to take a look at the ferry terminal as we will be using the car ferry from Dunoon to Gourock - it's about a 30 minute "cruise" and knocks off over a 100 miles of road travel.

It was a good walk and on the way back we called in at Morrissons to buy some red wine, coffee and a pasta salad for Sue. I got myself a Scotch pie at the local butchers. We slunk back to our room and had a secret lunch with the stuff we had bought.

We did another walk in the afternoon looking at the houses that had great views across the water. 

We came across a gaggle of geese sunning themselves by the waterside. I don't know if they are resident there and we wondered what they ate - and also we wondered what they would taste like after a good roast.

Tonight there is an entertainer performing in the hotel - the theme is Dirty Dancing !! 

How a lady can put on a show on her own without Patrick Swayze I don't know unless the show title is just a play on words and Payrick Swayze has been substituted by a pole !!

I think we might stick to watching the golf highlights on BBC 2.

Kirkmichael

We left the Winnock Hotel which by sheer coincidence Debbie and Andrew had stayed there earlier this year. They must have behaved themselves as there was no wanted posters behind the bar !! I chose the "scenic route" to Kirkmichael and we passed through some beautiful countryside. We travelled through Killin snd Kenmore where we had spent a weekend on some time share gig in the 90's there had been a road accident on the way to Aberfeldy so we had to backtrack a bit and detour along some narrow windy lanes. After driving across the moors we finally came cross the Strathardle Inn - it's quite rustic but It has a couple of recent Michelin awards which lifted our expectations. The staff at the Inn were very accomodating and we had a couple of drinks and booked a table for dinner.

We had haddock and chips for dinner with mushy peas and they were very good.

The next morning we were off at sparrows fart to go and see the first day of the Open Championship - it was a bit of a drive but when we got to the outskirts of  Carnoustie the signposting and organisation was first class. The weather was fantastic and we got to see all our favourite golfers.

Tommy Fleetwood

Rory Mcilroy 

 Tiger Woods

We called it a day just after 5:00pm as we were beginning to wilt - we got back to the Srrathardle Inn just before 7:00pm and grabbed a couple of drinks. We had dinner Sue had salmon I had macaroni cheese we washed the food down with a couple of glasses of Chardonnay and called it a night.

Loch Lomond

From Kippford we drove up to Drymen which is on the east side of Loch Lomond. The hotel we are staying is the Winnock hotel and very popular with walkers.

It's a traditional Scottish hostelry where even the men wear "skirts".

We had a drive down to the lochside and I took a few photographs.

We had our evening meal at a local pub/restaurant and it was heaving with customers.

Next stop Kirkmichael !!

Kippford

After a wet trip up the motorway we entered into Scotland and the weather improved quite dramatically. We found Kippford OK - finding the Anchor Hotel was a bit more problematic. We did find our hotel and the place is a typical village pub which is very popular with locals and travellers.

The hotel is right on the water side and there is a lot of sailing activity.

Ocal

We had a walk through the village and looked at some of the really nice cottages.

We had an evening meal at the pub and it was scrumptious- I had a simple ribeye steK while Sue had a chicken, bacon and haggis combo.

North Wales

After Llangollen we hit on Geoffs place once again - we stayed for a day which was enough for Sue to do a wash.

Next day we were off to Tony and Mary to inflict our presence on them. Tony took us down to his boat and we went out for another jaunt on El Condor.

In the evening we met up with Geoff and went for a meal at the  Dinorben Arms in Bodfari. It's been many years since we've been there and the place has changed beyond recognition. The food and company was excellent and we had a really good time.

Next day we had lunch st Tony and Mary's before heading off to Geoffs to prepare for the  next stage to our trip to Scotland.

Llangollen

Well here we are in Wales and staying at the Royal Hotel !! The name doesn't seem quite right to us as the place seems to be run by "Europeans" whose place of birth we can't quite put our finger on. There'll be no Welsh singing in the Royal Hotel tonight - perhaps we will have a Eurovision karaoke competition instead !!

The hotel like the town is getting to be a bit ragged round the edges. There still seems to be a lot of visitors and the local shops are quite busy.

Try saying that after a few drinks !!

It's still a pretty spot with the River Dee running through the town - Llangollen also boasts a steam rail attraction doing runs into the Welsh countryside. I had a trip on this train many Christmases ago with Sue, Stuart, Tracey, Rhiannon and Melanie I was not feeling very well, the aftermath of a works Christmas party.

Lynton, Linmouth, Brent Knoll and Much Marcle

Day 1.   We decided to have a look at Lynton and Linmouth on the way to our next stopover. Lynton is at the top of a hill - quelle surprise so we walked down a very steep hill to the Harbour and had an iced coffee as the weather was really hot.

The tides must be big here to allow the boats out to sea.

It was time to bite the bullet and face the "north face" back to the car - but as luck would have it there is an ingenious funicular that takes passengers up to the top of the hill. It's all water driven with the two carriages (one at the top, one at the bottom) emptying and filling water tanks to provide weight to drive the carriages.

Sue reckoned it was £3 well spent.

Our digs for the night was Rookery Manor and what a splendid place it was. 

Our rooms were in the Old Manor house and overlooked the beautiful gardens. It was easy to understand why this place was a big favourite for wedding celebrations.

Day 2.  Much Marcle

Why Much Marcle ? Good question. We thought our next strategic stop would be Ross-on-Wye but during a phone conversation with Geoff he mentioned John Weston's cider farm which was a few miles on from Ross-on-Wye so I googled the place and found it was in Much Marcle - so here we are !!

Our journey took us through some interesting terrain starting off with Cheddar Gorge 

After the Gorge we ran the gauntlet through Bristol before getting on to the motorway to cross into Wales. We got a nasty shock paying the toll on the Severn Bridge £5:60 to enter Wales or leave England still a bloody lot whichever way you look at it.

We stopped at Tintern Abbey for a cream tea and I took some photos of the Abbey - it needs some work !!

Next stop was John Weston's Cider Farm - we couldn't be bovvered to do the tour but we did buy 3 flagons of scrumpy. It should come in handy later on when we have our family get-together in Wales.

Port Isaac / Bideford

 Today we left Newquay for the next part of our Devon and Cornwall odyssey. We wanted to have a look at the place where they film Doc Martin and as per usual in this neck of the woods the car park is at the top of the village and you have to walk downhill to the port. No problems going down - coming back up is another matter.

Port Isaac is quite small and very picturesque - once again sailors cottages are the majority of properties dating back to the 1700's.

 I did manage to get a picture of the Doc's house - here it is.

Our bed for the night was provided by The Hoops Inn and Country Hotel - it's a 13 century grade ll listed thatched inn and it was magnificent - full of small rooms, mind yer head doorways and creaking floorboards - we loved it.

There were quite extensive gardens and we enjoyed a wine in the sun.

We had a wonderful meal for dinner - yours truly struggled to clear his plate - Sue managed to uphold the Ingham tradition !!

I took this photo of the bar before breakfast when it was quiet.

This is just one of the many little rooms in and around the bar.

Newquay

We were warned that Newquay was a bit of a "kiss me quick" sort of a place so we were pleasantly surprised when we came upon the Esplanade Hotel st Fistral Beach. This was our next stop on our lightening tour of Devon and Cornwall and you could quite easily mistake the area for one of the beaches off Sydney.

Newquay is a popular surfing spot and there are lots of surfing schools operating from out of here.

We had a walk in to town and it had all the necessary outlets - it didn't have the charm or quaintness of Polperro or Fowey - that said it does cater for resident holidaymakers as opposed to day trippers . 

There are some great views and interesting homes.

At dinnertime we witnessed a fantastic sunset ......

Darwin eat yer heart out !!

Day 2 saw us out and about looking for a breakfast venue. We found a Rick Stein restaurant that did breakfasts so we had orange juice, coffee and a bacon roll  - really good.

We then had a stroll up to the Headland which boasts a fine looking hotel

The interior is quite lavish and I can vouch for the cleanliness of their rest rooms.

There is a white monument up on the point so we set that as our walk objective - we got there after a bit of puffing and panting.

It was then a quick walk through town - back to the hotel for a couple of beers and cheer on England in the World Cup.

England 2.  Sweden 0.  🏆🏆🏆