Babes In Britain, 2004 . . . hold on I haven't heard about the first few days yet!
When
I got up in the morning and went for a walk, I had to pass through the dining
room to get outside. I just chuckled when I saw our table, complete with
5 chairs and an American flag. Really pretty little lane, with a ton of
houses that I'd be happy to own. We took off for a drive through Dartmoor
on our way to Land's End. Had to first get past the ponies.
We had quite an adventure in some portions, with the tiny roads and all,
but it was fun. Stopped at Buckland the town (hamlet), thinking it might be where Buckland Abbey was. Silly us. It wasn't, but we visited their little church as long as we were there. We did find Buckland Abbey, and Mom & Sara braved the cold to go see it (although it was closed -- seemed to be a running theme for this trip). Julie, Katie and I sought refuge in the van.
We
decided after such a long day of driving that Land's End wasn't really
necessary; Penzance would do just fine. And since there were gale force
winds driving the rain into the side of the van, I suspect it all looked
pretty similar anyway. Penzance would be a great town to visit on a nicer
day. We drove around the coastline, and then over towards St. Michael's
Mount. We didn't head out there, but given the weather, we're probably
just as glad.
We'd learned our lesson from the night before, and had made lodging arrangements at the Penzance information bureau. They set us up in a "cottage" near Bodmin - fabulous! We got ourselves a bit lost along the way (trying to avoid what looked to be a pretty heinous traffic jam on the A30), but eventually found our way to the "cottage". It was actually just half of someone's house. It was clean enough, but there has never been a better candidate for "Changing Rooms" than this place. Burlap wallpaper on the bottom, and nasty old floral wallpaper above, coupled with mis-matched pictures, lamps, gaudy furniture, tacky knick-knacks….made me feel much better about my own decorating skills. We drove to a pub in nearby St. Mabyn for dinner, then headed back for an early turn-in.
After
breakfast in the dining room of nice-but-uncomfortable-talking-to-strangers
hostess lady, we loaded up and drove to Tintagel.
Really fabulous ruins, and amazing location. Mom, Julie & Katie opted
to not face the steep, wet, rickety steps down the hill (wonder why not?),
and went into town for shopping instead. Sara and I grabbed the handrail
and descended doooown one side and waaay up the other. I wasn't so sure
my knees would really forgive me, but I'm glad I did it. The coastline
was fantastic!
We grabbed some souvenirs and headed off toward Stratford, I'll bet the countryside was really pretty, but we couldn't see much of it because of the 8-foot hedgerows that divide the countryside up. Those things also make it a bit tricky to see when other vehicles are coming 'round the bend at you, so I think I frightened the back seat more than they would have preferred. We stopped for lunch in Launceston and had our first introduction to a true Devonshire cream tea. Yummy!
Even
at pretty decent speeds on the M5, it took us about 3 hours to get to
Stratford. We checked in to the Falcon
Hotel. Since there were no twin rooms in the
old section of the hotel, Mom & Julie and Sara & Katie took those
rooms in the new section. I felt guilty at once again taking the single,
but since I was the only one under 5'6", it was just as well. When they
say "old", they mean old. I don't know exact dates, but I'll wager
Kit Marlowe could very well have stayed in this room.
We strolled down the street and had a bite of dinner, then found our seats at the RSC for Macbeth. Fabulous show - although we'd have enjoyed it more had we realized that there would be no intermission (could have hit the loos first). Great set -- a single, oversized wall that they pivoted for a scene here and there, and some great lighting effects. Really allowed you to concentrate on the acting and the storyline. Sara and I had a couple of pints of cider in the Falcoln's pub afterward, then off to bed.
