Here is my travel blog for my holiday in Kent in October 2010. Don't worry if there are no photos - I'll get aroudn to putting them in eventually! In the meantime, you're welsome to click on my photo gallery at thetop to see photos from all my travel blogs :o)
Oh and the blog reads from top to bottom :o)
Enjoy!
Siobhan xx
Saturday, 23 October 2010
Holiday in Kent, October 2010
Saturday October 9th
We left Markfield at around 9am, although we were planning on leaving a little earlier, but we had to re-pack the food because the base of the crate broke when Mathew lifted it to put it in the boot!! Fortunately it wasn’t far off the floor when it happened, there was a loud crash as everything fell to the tiled kitchen floor, but nothing broke! It didn’t take too long to re-pack it in bags though!
After we checked we had everything, we set off. We’re so used to returning home 10 minutes later because we (or rather I…!) usually forget something, but this time we headed straight off to the M25, then onto the M20 southbound. The traffic was fairly light and the weather was very misty which was not exactly forecast! Where was the sun?!
We reached Down House - Charles Darwin’s home - at around 11:30. We started the tour of the house upstairs, which was a series of rooms which told Charles Darwin’s story, laid out like a museum with exhibits of his notebooks, and photographs of his family and people who were important to him. The last room was full of fun interactive exhibits which were great fun to play with! I particularly liked the flick-books of the evolution of the whale!
Our stomachs couldn’t wait any longer for food, so we headed back downstairs to get some lunch. At first we thought the tearooms were only serving cake, but we soon discovered soups and sandwiches were also on the menu so we sat down and both ordered a Ploughmans platter - I went for the cheese and Mathew went for the pate. It was very delicious and I traded in my coleslaw for Mathew’s pickled onions and the bread was so soft and delicious, it was obviously fresh! Of course we had to follow our lunch up with a slice of cake - they were displayed very nicely so Mathew went for carrot cake while I went for coffee and walnut. MmmMm MMmMm!!
We continued the tour of the house on the ground floor with an audio guide - but this wasn’t one those dodgy audio guides, this was David Attenborough telling us about Darwin’s house and with each room there was a choice to listen to more information about the furniture, pictures, and carpets. My favourite room was the study of course, I could just imagine him in there with books strewn about the place in some sort of orderly chaos! I also loved the photo of Darwin in the Billiards room on which he had written how he really liked the photo and he thought it was the best photo which had ever been taken of him! I also liked how the audio guide revealed more personal things about Darwin, for example, if he was reading a book which was too heavy for him to hold, he would snap it in half and read the two parts separately!!
It was time to go out into the garden, for which we still have the audio guide, but this time Andrew Marr was talking to us, and after each segment we had the choice - like before - to listen to more information, and this time we got to play a cute little game using the touch screen each time too! It was great fun!
We ended our tour with a trip around the shop of course, and I bought a couple of souvenirs including the guide book which I was told was “a very good one, especially as there are a lot of rubbish ones out there”…!! By the time we left it was around 3:45pm and the tearoom and the car park were very busy indeed, lots of people obviously having late lunches and afternoon tea! We got back into the car and set off to Bodsham to our holiday cottage.
We arrived around 4:40pm to “The Smithy” which is a converted Blacksmiths building! We got in and explored the place - which looked much nicer than it did on the website. There was a very helpful book with information on places to eat and even recommendations on places to eat nearby in the visitors book - including a place where diners are advised to “keep an eye out for the greedy cat…”…interesting! we’ll be eating out at least twice during this holiday so we’ll have to find out where the tastiest sounding food is!
We settled down, unpacked and as Mathew read his book I enjoyed Strictly on BBC2!
We left Markfield at around 9am, although we were planning on leaving a little earlier, but we had to re-pack the food because the base of the crate broke when Mathew lifted it to put it in the boot!! Fortunately it wasn’t far off the floor when it happened, there was a loud crash as everything fell to the tiled kitchen floor, but nothing broke! It didn’t take too long to re-pack it in bags though!
After we checked we had everything, we set off. We’re so used to returning home 10 minutes later because we (or rather I…!) usually forget something, but this time we headed straight off to the M25, then onto the M20 southbound. The traffic was fairly light and the weather was very misty which was not exactly forecast! Where was the sun?!
We reached Down House - Charles Darwin’s home - at around 11:30. We started the tour of the house upstairs, which was a series of rooms which told Charles Darwin’s story, laid out like a museum with exhibits of his notebooks, and photographs of his family and people who were important to him. The last room was full of fun interactive exhibits which were great fun to play with! I particularly liked the flick-books of the evolution of the whale!
Our stomachs couldn’t wait any longer for food, so we headed back downstairs to get some lunch. At first we thought the tearooms were only serving cake, but we soon discovered soups and sandwiches were also on the menu so we sat down and both ordered a Ploughmans platter - I went for the cheese and Mathew went for the pate. It was very delicious and I traded in my coleslaw for Mathew’s pickled onions and the bread was so soft and delicious, it was obviously fresh! Of course we had to follow our lunch up with a slice of cake - they were displayed very nicely so Mathew went for carrot cake while I went for coffee and walnut. MmmMm MMmMm!!
We continued the tour of the house on the ground floor with an audio guide - but this wasn’t one those dodgy audio guides, this was David Attenborough telling us about Darwin’s house and with each room there was a choice to listen to more information about the furniture, pictures, and carpets. My favourite room was the study of course, I could just imagine him in there with books strewn about the place in some sort of orderly chaos! I also loved the photo of Darwin in the Billiards room on which he had written how he really liked the photo and he thought it was the best photo which had ever been taken of him! I also liked how the audio guide revealed more personal things about Darwin, for example, if he was reading a book which was too heavy for him to hold, he would snap it in half and read the two parts separately!!
It was time to go out into the garden, for which we still have the audio guide, but this time Andrew Marr was talking to us, and after each segment we had the choice - like before - to listen to more information, and this time we got to play a cute little game using the touch screen each time too! It was great fun!
We ended our tour with a trip around the shop of course, and I bought a couple of souvenirs including the guide book which I was told was “a very good one, especially as there are a lot of rubbish ones out there”…!! By the time we left it was around 3:45pm and the tearoom and the car park were very busy indeed, lots of people obviously having late lunches and afternoon tea! We got back into the car and set off to Bodsham to our holiday cottage.
We arrived around 4:40pm to “The Smithy” which is a converted Blacksmiths building! We got in and explored the place - which looked much nicer than it did on the website. There was a very helpful book with information on places to eat and even recommendations on places to eat nearby in the visitors book - including a place where diners are advised to “keep an eye out for the greedy cat…”…interesting! we’ll be eating out at least twice during this holiday so we’ll have to find out where the tastiest sounding food is!
We settled down, unpacked and as Mathew read his book I enjoyed Strictly on BBC2!
Sunday October 10th
This morning we awoke to the sun coming through the bedroom window - we face east! The sky was cloudless and it looked like it was going to be a nice day. As we were eating breakfast, we had the TV on looking out for a weather forecast, and what we were told was today would be warm and sunny at 20 degrees C, tomorrow would be the same at around 19 degrees C, the rest of the week being cloudy but dry.
My first task was to figure out what I wanted to do on my Birthday - on Friday - as we had a nice long list of places to visit, and Mathew had already chosen where he wanted to go. It was a little difficult to decide because the place where I really wanted to go for my Birthday was the place I wanted to go straight away because it looked so enjoyable. Eventually I decided that I would be able to wait a whole week, and we decided that today we would go to Scotney Castle and Sissinghurst Castle Gardens.
As it was the furthest of the two, we went to Scotney Castle first. Here there were two houses to see, although we could only go into one of them, as the second house was closed to the public after the end of September, which is unfortunate because we really would have liked to go inside! Still, there was enough to see in the morning at least. We first went into the new house which was designed by Anthony Salvin in Elizabethan style and built in 1837 for Edward Hussey III, who took the “Picturesque” style as his inspiration. Inside the house, it was very nice, lots of wood and not too ornate ceilings (they always irritate me, they’re so fussy!), and I always like the libraries - I was told that there were around 6000 books in the house, which sounds a lot but doesn’t look much (apparently…!), but I often wonder how many of those books would have actually been looked at by the family who lived there. I reckon at least half weren’t even touched, and were just there for show….
Upstairs was quite different. A series of quite small bedrooms which looked as they were when the last family lived there in the 1930s. Everything looked so modern and the rooms were filled with things anyone nowadays would have probably seen belonging to their grandparents, or great grandparents. It was a very odd mix of 1930s décor upstairs and 1840s décor downstairs. I have to say I think I preferred downstairs, because the rest of the house seemed like a very modern, abandoned house!
We left the house and explored the gardens which were full of lots of flowers, and late flowering Dahlias - which must mean that the weather MUST have been mild just lately, because my Dahlias at home are still flowering. The first week of October saw mine with 10 buds each (I have two plants) and both had flowered very successfully since mid August this year. I had no idea these plants flowered quite so much! Plus, these flowers gave me lots of reasons to take photos - I have been making use of my “macro” setting when taking close ups, and I like taking very close photos of interesting and unusual flowers. If a bee happens to be rummaging around in there then it’s a bonus!
Onward around the garden and we came across the very romantic overgrown ruins of the medieval castle and moat, which is the focal point of these gardens. If we had come earlier we would have seen more in the way of rhododendrons and azaleas but the season for those had come and gone. Still, the gardens were nice and it was VERY warm! The ruins were very picturesque and one viewpoint showed them with an almost complete reflection in the water.
We had lunch here, and I was very thankful for mayonnaise not being in every single sandwich, as I went for cheese and home made red onion chutney, which was quite nice, although it was nothing compared to yesterday’s delicious Ploughman’s platter! However, for dessert we both had a scone with jam and clotted cream, which was DIVINE! But so far, English Heritage vs. National Trust catering is currently 1 - 0.5 to English Heritage!
We had a look around the shop in which there were a handful of Christmas items, and I really wanted one of the decorations in the box of 8, but sadly I could not buy just one of the reindeers! We then left to go to Sissinghurst Castle Gardens.
There was no Castle as such, but there was a cute little tower in which we could go to climb to the top and get a good view of the cute looking library and private buildings, and of course the oast houses which were currently being used as a stash for wheelchairs and a temporary exhibition of paintings of the garden by artist John Doyle.
We walked around the garden where more interesting and unusual flowers were on show. Not only that, but there were several small gardens which made up the entire place, including a rose garden, a cottage garden, a “white” garden (yes, you guessed right - white flowers everywhere!), and there was a small moat, a herb garden, and an orchard. There was a lot to see but it was all within a relatively small space - I have been to gardens much larger than this one, but there were just as many flowers in this one.
There was also a “food and beer” fair which we had a quick look around, although we - or rather, Mathew - saw no beer, and I suggested he get some local honey but he didn’t seem interested, which is quite unusual for him! We popped into the national Trust shop where Mathew bought some local ale, and we both had some of their lovely Elderflower Sorbet and sat outside in the sun eating it as the wind slowly picked up a little. We then went back home for a nice cup of tea and a slice of fruit loaf, and later on we had our Sunday roast. MMmMm MMmMm!
My first task was to figure out what I wanted to do on my Birthday - on Friday - as we had a nice long list of places to visit, and Mathew had already chosen where he wanted to go. It was a little difficult to decide because the place where I really wanted to go for my Birthday was the place I wanted to go straight away because it looked so enjoyable. Eventually I decided that I would be able to wait a whole week, and we decided that today we would go to Scotney Castle and Sissinghurst Castle Gardens.
As it was the furthest of the two, we went to Scotney Castle first. Here there were two houses to see, although we could only go into one of them, as the second house was closed to the public after the end of September, which is unfortunate because we really would have liked to go inside! Still, there was enough to see in the morning at least. We first went into the new house which was designed by Anthony Salvin in Elizabethan style and built in 1837 for Edward Hussey III, who took the “Picturesque” style as his inspiration. Inside the house, it was very nice, lots of wood and not too ornate ceilings (they always irritate me, they’re so fussy!), and I always like the libraries - I was told that there were around 6000 books in the house, which sounds a lot but doesn’t look much (apparently…!), but I often wonder how many of those books would have actually been looked at by the family who lived there. I reckon at least half weren’t even touched, and were just there for show….
Upstairs was quite different. A series of quite small bedrooms which looked as they were when the last family lived there in the 1930s. Everything looked so modern and the rooms were filled with things anyone nowadays would have probably seen belonging to their grandparents, or great grandparents. It was a very odd mix of 1930s décor upstairs and 1840s décor downstairs. I have to say I think I preferred downstairs, because the rest of the house seemed like a very modern, abandoned house!
We left the house and explored the gardens which were full of lots of flowers, and late flowering Dahlias - which must mean that the weather MUST have been mild just lately, because my Dahlias at home are still flowering. The first week of October saw mine with 10 buds each (I have two plants) and both had flowered very successfully since mid August this year. I had no idea these plants flowered quite so much! Plus, these flowers gave me lots of reasons to take photos - I have been making use of my “macro” setting when taking close ups, and I like taking very close photos of interesting and unusual flowers. If a bee happens to be rummaging around in there then it’s a bonus!
Onward around the garden and we came across the very romantic overgrown ruins of the medieval castle and moat, which is the focal point of these gardens. If we had come earlier we would have seen more in the way of rhododendrons and azaleas but the season for those had come and gone. Still, the gardens were nice and it was VERY warm! The ruins were very picturesque and one viewpoint showed them with an almost complete reflection in the water.
We had lunch here, and I was very thankful for mayonnaise not being in every single sandwich, as I went for cheese and home made red onion chutney, which was quite nice, although it was nothing compared to yesterday’s delicious Ploughman’s platter! However, for dessert we both had a scone with jam and clotted cream, which was DIVINE! But so far, English Heritage vs. National Trust catering is currently 1 - 0.5 to English Heritage!
We had a look around the shop in which there were a handful of Christmas items, and I really wanted one of the decorations in the box of 8, but sadly I could not buy just one of the reindeers! We then left to go to Sissinghurst Castle Gardens.
There was no Castle as such, but there was a cute little tower in which we could go to climb to the top and get a good view of the cute looking library and private buildings, and of course the oast houses which were currently being used as a stash for wheelchairs and a temporary exhibition of paintings of the garden by artist John Doyle.
We walked around the garden where more interesting and unusual flowers were on show. Not only that, but there were several small gardens which made up the entire place, including a rose garden, a cottage garden, a “white” garden (yes, you guessed right - white flowers everywhere!), and there was a small moat, a herb garden, and an orchard. There was a lot to see but it was all within a relatively small space - I have been to gardens much larger than this one, but there were just as many flowers in this one.
There was also a “food and beer” fair which we had a quick look around, although we - or rather, Mathew - saw no beer, and I suggested he get some local honey but he didn’t seem interested, which is quite unusual for him! We popped into the national Trust shop where Mathew bought some local ale, and we both had some of their lovely Elderflower Sorbet and sat outside in the sun eating it as the wind slowly picked up a little. We then went back home for a nice cup of tea and a slice of fruit loaf, and later on we had our Sunday roast. MMmMm MMmMm!
Monday October 11th
Today we decided to go to Canterbury. We used the park and ride to get there, and we walked straight to the cathedral which I would describe as long and narrow, and fairly plain inside save for the stained glass windows of course! This surprised me a little as it was quite ornate on the outside, but it was very grand inside without going over the top with the decoration. Inside there were various tombs including those of King Henry IV and “The Black Prince”, and I never know with these tombs whether the people depicted on the top are just inside said tomb or buried in the crypt…..
We came outside and walked around the cloister before walking around to the Canterbury Roman Museum. Before we went in there, we popped into a cosy little café to have some lunch. I had a Ploughmans Lunch which was very nice, and Mathew had practically the same thing but all put into a sandwich! I was glad that the face did decaffeinated coffees so I had a nice cappucino as it was a little chilly outside, the wind was picking up although the sky was sunny and clear of clouds.
We left the café for the Roman Museum for which we had a “2 for 1” given to us when we went into the cathedral earlier. It was quite a small Museum, not a lot inside, but it was quite fun. The first part involved a little set up of an archaeologist in his office. His monitor was a huge chunky one of course, and for some reason there was a huge brick of a TV in one corner of his “office” along with various books and journals….well I guess it’s half right, we do tend to hang on to random things for no reason….! Actually, the last part which we saw was even more amusing - basically we were looking at the ACTUAL remains - tessellated pavements and nice mosaic floor surfaces - but there were two mannequins which were both dressed in smart trousers, shoes, tweed jackets with a shirt and tie, both supposedly “working on site”…!! I know this was probably set up a good few years ago but nowadays…..Ha! As if!!
We left the Roman Museum and walked around Canterbury a little. I was hoping to see some nice shops to pop into but I didn’t see many which I hadn’t seen in other towns and cities before. Either that or we were on the wrong streets, but it was still a very nice town to walk around. I would describe it as a much smaller yet more dispersed version of York. It is quite a touristy sort of town, but there are also many students around, and there are lots and lots of café’s, perhaps even more than or just as many as there are shops which I find quite unusual as we’re often trying to find a nice little place to have some lunch which doesn’t just serve bog standard disappointing sandwiches made with stale bread! Oh and there was a Starbucks but Mathew didn’t let me go in! Hmph!
There are plenty of pretty, interesting old buildings in Canterbury too, I love these buildings and I have noticed in some of the local villages near where we are staying in Bodsham, there seems to be a trend of having either square or really fancy-cut tiles decorating the FRONT of the building, which is very unusual but it looks so good and to me, it makes some buildings look quite old. I have no idea if some of the private houses are old on the inside, but many of the buildings in Canterbury are clearly very old and historic, and the tiles on the façade and of course slumped tiles on the roof give the place so much character.
We left Canterbury and went back to the car via the park and ride. I felt a little disappointed that I didn’t come away from the town with any souvenirs, but at the same time I felt very good about the fact that I didn’t buy any old thing - I like to try and justify my purchases - do I need it? Or do I just want it? Where would I put it? What would I do with it? Would it just gather dust at home? All these sorts of things. So I guess I was being good really!
We headed for Hearne Bay which is right on the coast. I had spotted a walk which I thought we could do on the same day as Canterbury, which is what we decided to do. It was VERY windy and the sea was very choppy, and unfortunately the walk was incredibly boring - Mathew doesn’t mind walking on a field but when there is nothing on it, I find it totally boring and my determination to complete a walk often diminishes with my interest of the surroundings!! It wasn’t too bad though, we walked a fair way and my pedometer told me I had walked 3,400 steps there and back which I felt was a decent amount for a boring walk! While Mathew went to look at Reculver Abbey, I stayed by the car next to the sea and took some photos of the waves crashing into the rocks. I stood by the little telescope taking photos, and when Mathew returned to the car, I stood up …….and yes, I hit my head on the end of the telescope VERY hard….!!!
I felt fine, and we got back to The Smithy at around 5:30pm to have tea and a slice of cake. I seem to be injuring myself in some sort of freak accident on each holiday just lately, so we thought that hopefully, this would be my accident for THIS holiday over and done with!!
We came outside and walked around the cloister before walking around to the Canterbury Roman Museum. Before we went in there, we popped into a cosy little café to have some lunch. I had a Ploughmans Lunch which was very nice, and Mathew had practically the same thing but all put into a sandwich! I was glad that the face did decaffeinated coffees so I had a nice cappucino as it was a little chilly outside, the wind was picking up although the sky was sunny and clear of clouds.
We left the café for the Roman Museum for which we had a “2 for 1” given to us when we went into the cathedral earlier. It was quite a small Museum, not a lot inside, but it was quite fun. The first part involved a little set up of an archaeologist in his office. His monitor was a huge chunky one of course, and for some reason there was a huge brick of a TV in one corner of his “office” along with various books and journals….well I guess it’s half right, we do tend to hang on to random things for no reason….! Actually, the last part which we saw was even more amusing - basically we were looking at the ACTUAL remains - tessellated pavements and nice mosaic floor surfaces - but there were two mannequins which were both dressed in smart trousers, shoes, tweed jackets with a shirt and tie, both supposedly “working on site”…!! I know this was probably set up a good few years ago but nowadays…..Ha! As if!!
We left the Roman Museum and walked around Canterbury a little. I was hoping to see some nice shops to pop into but I didn’t see many which I hadn’t seen in other towns and cities before. Either that or we were on the wrong streets, but it was still a very nice town to walk around. I would describe it as a much smaller yet more dispersed version of York. It is quite a touristy sort of town, but there are also many students around, and there are lots and lots of café’s, perhaps even more than or just as many as there are shops which I find quite unusual as we’re often trying to find a nice little place to have some lunch which doesn’t just serve bog standard disappointing sandwiches made with stale bread! Oh and there was a Starbucks but Mathew didn’t let me go in! Hmph!
There are plenty of pretty, interesting old buildings in Canterbury too, I love these buildings and I have noticed in some of the local villages near where we are staying in Bodsham, there seems to be a trend of having either square or really fancy-cut tiles decorating the FRONT of the building, which is very unusual but it looks so good and to me, it makes some buildings look quite old. I have no idea if some of the private houses are old on the inside, but many of the buildings in Canterbury are clearly very old and historic, and the tiles on the façade and of course slumped tiles on the roof give the place so much character.
We left Canterbury and went back to the car via the park and ride. I felt a little disappointed that I didn’t come away from the town with any souvenirs, but at the same time I felt very good about the fact that I didn’t buy any old thing - I like to try and justify my purchases - do I need it? Or do I just want it? Where would I put it? What would I do with it? Would it just gather dust at home? All these sorts of things. So I guess I was being good really!
We headed for Hearne Bay which is right on the coast. I had spotted a walk which I thought we could do on the same day as Canterbury, which is what we decided to do. It was VERY windy and the sea was very choppy, and unfortunately the walk was incredibly boring - Mathew doesn’t mind walking on a field but when there is nothing on it, I find it totally boring and my determination to complete a walk often diminishes with my interest of the surroundings!! It wasn’t too bad though, we walked a fair way and my pedometer told me I had walked 3,400 steps there and back which I felt was a decent amount for a boring walk! While Mathew went to look at Reculver Abbey, I stayed by the car next to the sea and took some photos of the waves crashing into the rocks. I stood by the little telescope taking photos, and when Mathew returned to the car, I stood up …….and yes, I hit my head on the end of the telescope VERY hard….!!!
I felt fine, and we got back to The Smithy at around 5:30pm to have tea and a slice of cake. I seem to be injuring myself in some sort of freak accident on each holiday just lately, so we thought that hopefully, this would be my accident for THIS holiday over and done with!!
Tuesday October 12th
Mathew’s 30th Birthday today! Yey! First thing in the morning I got all his presents so he could open them all in bed with a nice cup of tea. After spending an hour opening presents (well, why not?!) we got up And had breakfast. We set out for Chatham Historic Dockyards for the day. When we got our tickets we were told a couple of things would be closed by a certain time so it was best to go see those things first so we wouldn’t miss out on them. We went to “SLIP 3” which was like a hangar with the largest things in - like bits of machinery, tractors and of course boats. Adjoined to this was an exhibit of lifeboats through the ages, and Mathew even had a go on one of them - it was made for kids of course, but anyone could have a go really. A boat the three oars was available to walk onto, and if you wanted, you could sit at the middle oar and have a go at rowing. Evidently it was very difficult as the elderly lady failed to do anything with it before Mathew had a go and managed to do a bit which impressed her! He did say it was very heavy though. Also one of the other lifeboats was accessible so we could go in and see all the way to the front right inside - I love these kinds of boats!
Outside, HMS Gannet was unfortunately unavailable to explore as it was being renovated, but we were able to go onto HMS Cavalier and the Submarine Ocelot later on. We had tickets to go to the Ropery and have a little tour there at midday, so we went there first. Out tour guide spoke as if she came out of the Victorian era, and I think she may have been from London but she put on the accent a little thicker when she was speaking to us in character as I remember it not being quite so prominent before the tour started! She took us through the entire rope making process which was actually more interesting than it sounds! When we went onto the second floor of the building, a couple of bits of equipment had been prepared and she said that we were going to make some rope.
She eyed us up and who did she choose first? Mathew of course!! He had to turn one wheel while another guy turned another wheel at the other end to twist the yarns taught, and there were two other “volunteers” who were also helping with the process. The tour guide stopped them before she put in this simple contraption which she put between the three yarns so it would make a nice piece of rope after turning a second time. They turned their wheels again and ended up with a piece of rope which she described as “Not good at all - it’s excellent!” And as she continued talking she cut the rope they had made into pieces of equal length and gave all the participants a piece of rope to keep before we walked into the main part of the ropery building which is still in use AND still uses much of the old equipment used 200 years ago! The building was SO long….we could hardly see the end of it!
We came out of the ropery and it was time to have our tour on the Submarine Ocelot. Now there was a sign outside the timed ticket kiosk for this which I had not actually take ANY notice of whatsoever, so those little circular hatches which we had to go through came as a complete surprise to me! I found it as one of those things which looks quite hard to do, yet when I came to do it, it seemed quite easy. A couple of the people on the tour decided not to go ahead with it because they had difficulty getting through the hatches, as one of the ladies said about her husband “He’s recently had two new knees and he can’t bent them very well”. So the rest of the tour group continued, and it was SO incredibly cramped and there would have been so many people in such a tiny space, and nobody would have seen daylight - they only had a red light to go on which indicated night time. I certainly wouldn’t have liked living in there for 12 weeks at a time with about 39 other people. Wouldn’t it get stuffy? And smelly too - each man was allowed one change of clothes and one pail of water a day to do what he wished with - except drink, as they could drink as much water as they wished, so I don’t know how often they washed or washed their clothes. Also, the log books of this submarine are top secret for 50 years. So it’s only got 31 more years to go until anyone can find out where that submarine was and what it was up to…!
So now it was time for lunch in the ONLY eatery……well….I know it was around 2pm, but there was barely anything left to eat. There was a shelf only half full of sandwiches, a handful of cakes, and no soup whatsoever, never mind the bread rolls which weren’t even present. The place was spacious enough of course, but I have to say that the eatery at Chatham’s Historic Dockyard is absolutely terrible, and people would be better off packing their own lunch and taking some tea in a flask. Really - this place needs some serious work done to it! Still, I took my chances with a gammon and tomato sandwich which I thought was probably better than the two cheese and spring onion sandwich, as experience with said two cheese and spring onion sandwiches in general often means that it’s actually two cheese, spring onion and a heapful of mayonnaise, and I absolutely cannot stand mayonnaise. Seriously - it’s devil’s work!!
Anyway, we consoled ourselves by splitting a little iced bun in half for dessert before continuing exploring the Dockyard. Our route wasn’t the most economical as we has been walking around various places due to having timed tickets. So we walked past the ropery to the Museum, then onto a new building in the area (the only place who asked to see our tickets before we continued……how would we have got into the Dockyard without our ticket? There is only one entrance, and they won’t let you in without having to buy a ticket first…so why did we have to show it here?? This one really puzzled me…!), it was all shiny and new, and we went into the main gallery which is what we were interested in. The main thing worth mentioning here is the Stanley Spencer paintings. I have to say I really like his style. It reminded me of cubism, but these paintings made sense! They were all fairly complicated and busy, and there was much going on in each painting. It seemed to start off with the raw materials at one end and the finished product at the other end. I just really liked the use of colour here, and how he could well have done these paintings in drab grey and brown colours, but no. These were bursting with colour, movement and life, without getting gaudy with the colour. I also loved the detail in the clothes that all the workers were wearing - tweed and thick woollen jumpers and tartan trousers. They were really nice paintings and I recommend going to see them. It’s a shame the shop didn’t have them in postcard format, otherwise I would have bought them.
That was the last stop we made before the gift shop which - like the “restaurant” was VERY disappointing. They could have been selling much more interesting things and I don’t know why they weren’t because there was a LOT of space which could have been used much better, if they’d had nice and not tacky merchandise to sell. Such a shame, but at least I was able to take some photos and Mathew came away with a piece of rope which he had created himself.
We got back to The Smithy for our cup of tea and slice of cake, before heading out to eat at one of the local pubs for dinner. Mathew’s choice was “The Compasses Inn” and our meals were with us by 8pm - I had slow cooked pork and Mathew had rabbit pie. Dessert was strawberry cheesecake for both of us which was absolutely DIVINE, of course if anybody asks me, Cheesecake is the king of dessert! On the way out, we paid for our meal at the bar, and I was asked the most oddest question ever. Obviously the barmaid thought that we were with a group of other people - although I don’t know why because we were seated right at the other end of the building…! While I keyed in my pin number, she asked us “So, have you been milking cows as well then?”
!!!!!
Milking cows? Huh? She explained that this is what the people who paid before us has told her about their day so for some reason she thought we had done the same. No! We all laughed and thought it very amusing, and I decided the incident was worth tweeting before we got back to The Smithy and relaxed for the evening before going to sleep ….. ZZZZzzzzzzz ……..
Outside, HMS Gannet was unfortunately unavailable to explore as it was being renovated, but we were able to go onto HMS Cavalier and the Submarine Ocelot later on. We had tickets to go to the Ropery and have a little tour there at midday, so we went there first. Out tour guide spoke as if she came out of the Victorian era, and I think she may have been from London but she put on the accent a little thicker when she was speaking to us in character as I remember it not being quite so prominent before the tour started! She took us through the entire rope making process which was actually more interesting than it sounds! When we went onto the second floor of the building, a couple of bits of equipment had been prepared and she said that we were going to make some rope.
She eyed us up and who did she choose first? Mathew of course!! He had to turn one wheel while another guy turned another wheel at the other end to twist the yarns taught, and there were two other “volunteers” who were also helping with the process. The tour guide stopped them before she put in this simple contraption which she put between the three yarns so it would make a nice piece of rope after turning a second time. They turned their wheels again and ended up with a piece of rope which she described as “Not good at all - it’s excellent!” And as she continued talking she cut the rope they had made into pieces of equal length and gave all the participants a piece of rope to keep before we walked into the main part of the ropery building which is still in use AND still uses much of the old equipment used 200 years ago! The building was SO long….we could hardly see the end of it!
We came out of the ropery and it was time to have our tour on the Submarine Ocelot. Now there was a sign outside the timed ticket kiosk for this which I had not actually take ANY notice of whatsoever, so those little circular hatches which we had to go through came as a complete surprise to me! I found it as one of those things which looks quite hard to do, yet when I came to do it, it seemed quite easy. A couple of the people on the tour decided not to go ahead with it because they had difficulty getting through the hatches, as one of the ladies said about her husband “He’s recently had two new knees and he can’t bent them very well”. So the rest of the tour group continued, and it was SO incredibly cramped and there would have been so many people in such a tiny space, and nobody would have seen daylight - they only had a red light to go on which indicated night time. I certainly wouldn’t have liked living in there for 12 weeks at a time with about 39 other people. Wouldn’t it get stuffy? And smelly too - each man was allowed one change of clothes and one pail of water a day to do what he wished with - except drink, as they could drink as much water as they wished, so I don’t know how often they washed or washed their clothes. Also, the log books of this submarine are top secret for 50 years. So it’s only got 31 more years to go until anyone can find out where that submarine was and what it was up to…!
So now it was time for lunch in the ONLY eatery……well….I know it was around 2pm, but there was barely anything left to eat. There was a shelf only half full of sandwiches, a handful of cakes, and no soup whatsoever, never mind the bread rolls which weren’t even present. The place was spacious enough of course, but I have to say that the eatery at Chatham’s Historic Dockyard is absolutely terrible, and people would be better off packing their own lunch and taking some tea in a flask. Really - this place needs some serious work done to it! Still, I took my chances with a gammon and tomato sandwich which I thought was probably better than the two cheese and spring onion sandwich, as experience with said two cheese and spring onion sandwiches in general often means that it’s actually two cheese, spring onion and a heapful of mayonnaise, and I absolutely cannot stand mayonnaise. Seriously - it’s devil’s work!!
Anyway, we consoled ourselves by splitting a little iced bun in half for dessert before continuing exploring the Dockyard. Our route wasn’t the most economical as we has been walking around various places due to having timed tickets. So we walked past the ropery to the Museum, then onto a new building in the area (the only place who asked to see our tickets before we continued……how would we have got into the Dockyard without our ticket? There is only one entrance, and they won’t let you in without having to buy a ticket first…so why did we have to show it here?? This one really puzzled me…!), it was all shiny and new, and we went into the main gallery which is what we were interested in. The main thing worth mentioning here is the Stanley Spencer paintings. I have to say I really like his style. It reminded me of cubism, but these paintings made sense! They were all fairly complicated and busy, and there was much going on in each painting. It seemed to start off with the raw materials at one end and the finished product at the other end. I just really liked the use of colour here, and how he could well have done these paintings in drab grey and brown colours, but no. These were bursting with colour, movement and life, without getting gaudy with the colour. I also loved the detail in the clothes that all the workers were wearing - tweed and thick woollen jumpers and tartan trousers. They were really nice paintings and I recommend going to see them. It’s a shame the shop didn’t have them in postcard format, otherwise I would have bought them.
That was the last stop we made before the gift shop which - like the “restaurant” was VERY disappointing. They could have been selling much more interesting things and I don’t know why they weren’t because there was a LOT of space which could have been used much better, if they’d had nice and not tacky merchandise to sell. Such a shame, but at least I was able to take some photos and Mathew came away with a piece of rope which he had created himself.
We got back to The Smithy for our cup of tea and slice of cake, before heading out to eat at one of the local pubs for dinner. Mathew’s choice was “The Compasses Inn” and our meals were with us by 8pm - I had slow cooked pork and Mathew had rabbit pie. Dessert was strawberry cheesecake for both of us which was absolutely DIVINE, of course if anybody asks me, Cheesecake is the king of dessert! On the way out, we paid for our meal at the bar, and I was asked the most oddest question ever. Obviously the barmaid thought that we were with a group of other people - although I don’t know why because we were seated right at the other end of the building…! While I keyed in my pin number, she asked us “So, have you been milking cows as well then?”
!!!!!
Milking cows? Huh? She explained that this is what the people who paid before us has told her about their day so for some reason she thought we had done the same. No! We all laughed and thought it very amusing, and I decided the incident was worth tweeting before we got back to The Smithy and relaxed for the evening before going to sleep ….. ZZZZzzzzzzz ……..
Wednesday October 13th
This morning we couldn’t decide what to do at first. We were relying on the weather forecast to make our decision for us. If it was going to be quite a nice day, we would go to the Dover cliffs and do some walking followed by Dover Museum. If not, then we would have a day out doing odd little things, or something which we hadn’t quite planned and it would be a bit of an ad hoc sort of a day.
After the weather forecast told us that it would be more or less the same today and tomorrow, we decided on going to the white cliffs to do some walking. We set off for Dover, although we went “the scenic route” as is the case sometimes…! We eventually got to Dover but we had to drive around the Castle to get there as a lorry was blocking the route we were initially going to take. We got there in the end, and I got my walking sticks out - I love them! We set off from the visitors centre and headed to the lighthouse which we knew was closed today - which is a shame because we would have liked to have gone inside. Unfortunately, it was the end of the tourist season so it was no longer open to the public. But we thought that they could have made the grounds accessible, as there were lots of benches there and it would have made an ideal picnic spot if it had been a really nice day.
It was chilly and windy, but this made me walk faster, and I warmed up nicely. It took us an hour to get to the lighthouse, where we stopped for a few moments - fortunately, Mathew’s sister decided to call him at this point to wish him a Happy Birthday for yesterday as she had not been able to get through as we were on a submarine at the time…! After the call, we had some water and a little snack before heading back. We decided to take the same route back as we did there. Mathew took all the photos this morning as my hands were full with the walking sticks and I was feeling determined!
Just before we got back to the visitors centre, we stopped to go down a steep pathway which led onto the beach. This was an official route which people could walk, although it was very challenging - steep, very uneven all over the place, with stones and rocks frequent obstacles! I wasn’t looking forward to going back up there, so I warned Mathew that I may become grumpy on the way back up! We eventually got down to a platform on which there was a steel step-ladder attached, leading to the actual beach. It was a very steep ladder of steps, and it looked quite far down to me. Mathew started going down and he said it was okay, but I was unsure. VERY unsure. I attempted to go down, but as soon as I was on the first step I felt completely uncomfortable and I told Mathew I couldn’t do it, and I stayed up there while he went down onto the beach. If the ladder had been half as long I probably would have been okay, but it was a long way down and I had already hit my head on a beach telescope earlier this week, I didn’t want to add to my injuries. I can be very accident prone sometimes, and although I came down to the platform without incident, I thought it best not to risk going backwards down some steep steel steps, even though there were two sets of hand rails. I just decided it wasn’t a good idea. I already conquered my fear of ladders but I think it was the height aspect which made it worse because I do not like heights unless I am 100% secure inside something like a plane. I still have issues with cable cars and I absolutely HATE ski lifts!!
It was a shame that I couldn’t go down onto the beach, because the reason for going there was the remains of an old shipwreck. Mathew went over and took lots of photos though - he told me it was full of sea anenomes, and he brought me back a pebble. Now it was time to go back up the cliff!! Now, I was expecting to get all unnecessarily grumpy but on this occasion this did not happen. Perhaps it had something to do with my determination, and the fact that this pathway up the cliff was far from boring (as was the walk at Hearne Bay!). But I think I realised the difference between Mathew and I when it comes to walking - Mathew loves to climb up mountains, and enjoys the feeling of achievement when he reaches the top. I like to walk down into canyons and explore what’s inside because I can’t see it from the top, and I like to feel the canyon edges looming high above me, and it helps me to understand the scale. I think because I want to go down into a canyon - or in this case down the cliff and onto the beach - I know there is only one way back up and I HAVE to do it as there is no other option. If I were to climb a mountain I have to be VERY determined to do it, otherwise I’m happy to stay at the foot of a mountain and feel it looming high above me.
Anyway, slowly but surely we made our way back up the cliff and we eventually got back to the visitors centre where we both had a sandwich and a slice of “Kentish Apple Cake” which was very nice indeed! We bought some postcards in the shop along with a couple of edible souvenirs for my family, and headed into Dover itself.
We parked and visited Dover Museum and Bronze Age Boat Gallery. There were three floors to the museum - the ground floor seemed quite dated with its dressed mannequins and yellowing information tags, but the little models were quite good, showing the development of Dover in general. The ground floor was all about the Romans and the Anglo - Saxons, and I noticed the “celtic” man standing next to the Roman general seemed to be growing a rather bad mullet….!
The hallways where the stairs were had lots of cabinets of memorabilia of the girl guides as the Museum was celebrating a landmark year in 2010. Up the stairs onto the first floor, and we were in the “Special Exhibitions Gallery” where I assume temporary exhibitions are usually displayed. It seemed a little off this one, and again a little dated - this gallery had a room which had been created to show the average Roman, Medieval, and Victorian household (which has a very disturbing painting of three children - two boys and a girl - all with the same face - a young man’s face. It was seriously disturbing!!) along with a few paintings, pictures, and cabinets of artefacts from the same time periods. There was a random one at the end with WW2 memorabilia inside, but the strangest thing about this gallery was that there were no information cards or anything telling the visitor what things were. I appreciate this may have been an exhibit in the making, but I did find it quite strange how NOTHING was labelled at all.
Back in the hallways with more girl guide memorabilia, and up the stairs to the second floor. Two galleries lived here - the history of Dover gallery and the Bronze Age Boat gallery. We decided to look at Dover first, which took us from the very beginnings with the Anglo Saxons to WW2. Again there were more of those models showing the development of Dover through the ages, and there was yet another model boat made from bone by prisoners of prison ships - we saw a couple in the Museum at Chatham Dockyard, and there was another one here, along with a box and a little mechanical working toy which, when you wound the wheel, it made the lady up to look like she was spinning wool. Very intricate and clever these things were, all made from animal bone by prisoners. There was even a box made from straw which I found quite impressive.
Across the hallway we went, into the Bronze Age boat gallery and this gallery looked pretty much brand new, with the exception of worn buttons and levers, but still, this gallery looked like it was created yesterday. It was cool and the lighting was very low. Artefacts were on show from an excavation in the centre of Dover, of a Bronze Age wooden boat, along with information about how it would have been made, how it would have been used, and there in the centre was the boat itself. Only the base, but it was still an impressive sight. Nobody mentioned anything about taking photos so I took some! There was also a reconstruction of part of the boat which had been made by archaeologists using tools and methods of the time. It was a very impressive - and the best - gallery on the top floor, and the last thing we did before leaving was sit down to watch a short film on the excavation of the boat, it’s reconstruction, preservation and display.
We left the Museum and headed back to Bodsham, but this time I was paying attention to the map and managed to direct Mathew back with no trouble at all! My next task on Friday will be to get him out of Bodsham and back to Dover with much less hassle than this morning….!!
After the weather forecast told us that it would be more or less the same today and tomorrow, we decided on going to the white cliffs to do some walking. We set off for Dover, although we went “the scenic route” as is the case sometimes…! We eventually got to Dover but we had to drive around the Castle to get there as a lorry was blocking the route we were initially going to take. We got there in the end, and I got my walking sticks out - I love them! We set off from the visitors centre and headed to the lighthouse which we knew was closed today - which is a shame because we would have liked to have gone inside. Unfortunately, it was the end of the tourist season so it was no longer open to the public. But we thought that they could have made the grounds accessible, as there were lots of benches there and it would have made an ideal picnic spot if it had been a really nice day.
It was chilly and windy, but this made me walk faster, and I warmed up nicely. It took us an hour to get to the lighthouse, where we stopped for a few moments - fortunately, Mathew’s sister decided to call him at this point to wish him a Happy Birthday for yesterday as she had not been able to get through as we were on a submarine at the time…! After the call, we had some water and a little snack before heading back. We decided to take the same route back as we did there. Mathew took all the photos this morning as my hands were full with the walking sticks and I was feeling determined!
Just before we got back to the visitors centre, we stopped to go down a steep pathway which led onto the beach. This was an official route which people could walk, although it was very challenging - steep, very uneven all over the place, with stones and rocks frequent obstacles! I wasn’t looking forward to going back up there, so I warned Mathew that I may become grumpy on the way back up! We eventually got down to a platform on which there was a steel step-ladder attached, leading to the actual beach. It was a very steep ladder of steps, and it looked quite far down to me. Mathew started going down and he said it was okay, but I was unsure. VERY unsure. I attempted to go down, but as soon as I was on the first step I felt completely uncomfortable and I told Mathew I couldn’t do it, and I stayed up there while he went down onto the beach. If the ladder had been half as long I probably would have been okay, but it was a long way down and I had already hit my head on a beach telescope earlier this week, I didn’t want to add to my injuries. I can be very accident prone sometimes, and although I came down to the platform without incident, I thought it best not to risk going backwards down some steep steel steps, even though there were two sets of hand rails. I just decided it wasn’t a good idea. I already conquered my fear of ladders but I think it was the height aspect which made it worse because I do not like heights unless I am 100% secure inside something like a plane. I still have issues with cable cars and I absolutely HATE ski lifts!!
It was a shame that I couldn’t go down onto the beach, because the reason for going there was the remains of an old shipwreck. Mathew went over and took lots of photos though - he told me it was full of sea anenomes, and he brought me back a pebble. Now it was time to go back up the cliff!! Now, I was expecting to get all unnecessarily grumpy but on this occasion this did not happen. Perhaps it had something to do with my determination, and the fact that this pathway up the cliff was far from boring (as was the walk at Hearne Bay!). But I think I realised the difference between Mathew and I when it comes to walking - Mathew loves to climb up mountains, and enjoys the feeling of achievement when he reaches the top. I like to walk down into canyons and explore what’s inside because I can’t see it from the top, and I like to feel the canyon edges looming high above me, and it helps me to understand the scale. I think because I want to go down into a canyon - or in this case down the cliff and onto the beach - I know there is only one way back up and I HAVE to do it as there is no other option. If I were to climb a mountain I have to be VERY determined to do it, otherwise I’m happy to stay at the foot of a mountain and feel it looming high above me.
Anyway, slowly but surely we made our way back up the cliff and we eventually got back to the visitors centre where we both had a sandwich and a slice of “Kentish Apple Cake” which was very nice indeed! We bought some postcards in the shop along with a couple of edible souvenirs for my family, and headed into Dover itself.
We parked and visited Dover Museum and Bronze Age Boat Gallery. There were three floors to the museum - the ground floor seemed quite dated with its dressed mannequins and yellowing information tags, but the little models were quite good, showing the development of Dover in general. The ground floor was all about the Romans and the Anglo - Saxons, and I noticed the “celtic” man standing next to the Roman general seemed to be growing a rather bad mullet….!
The hallways where the stairs were had lots of cabinets of memorabilia of the girl guides as the Museum was celebrating a landmark year in 2010. Up the stairs onto the first floor, and we were in the “Special Exhibitions Gallery” where I assume temporary exhibitions are usually displayed. It seemed a little off this one, and again a little dated - this gallery had a room which had been created to show the average Roman, Medieval, and Victorian household (which has a very disturbing painting of three children - two boys and a girl - all with the same face - a young man’s face. It was seriously disturbing!!) along with a few paintings, pictures, and cabinets of artefacts from the same time periods. There was a random one at the end with WW2 memorabilia inside, but the strangest thing about this gallery was that there were no information cards or anything telling the visitor what things were. I appreciate this may have been an exhibit in the making, but I did find it quite strange how NOTHING was labelled at all.
Back in the hallways with more girl guide memorabilia, and up the stairs to the second floor. Two galleries lived here - the history of Dover gallery and the Bronze Age Boat gallery. We decided to look at Dover first, which took us from the very beginnings with the Anglo Saxons to WW2. Again there were more of those models showing the development of Dover through the ages, and there was yet another model boat made from bone by prisoners of prison ships - we saw a couple in the Museum at Chatham Dockyard, and there was another one here, along with a box and a little mechanical working toy which, when you wound the wheel, it made the lady up to look like she was spinning wool. Very intricate and clever these things were, all made from animal bone by prisoners. There was even a box made from straw which I found quite impressive.
Across the hallway we went, into the Bronze Age boat gallery and this gallery looked pretty much brand new, with the exception of worn buttons and levers, but still, this gallery looked like it was created yesterday. It was cool and the lighting was very low. Artefacts were on show from an excavation in the centre of Dover, of a Bronze Age wooden boat, along with information about how it would have been made, how it would have been used, and there in the centre was the boat itself. Only the base, but it was still an impressive sight. Nobody mentioned anything about taking photos so I took some! There was also a reconstruction of part of the boat which had been made by archaeologists using tools and methods of the time. It was a very impressive - and the best - gallery on the top floor, and the last thing we did before leaving was sit down to watch a short film on the excavation of the boat, it’s reconstruction, preservation and display.
We left the Museum and headed back to Bodsham, but this time I was paying attention to the map and managed to direct Mathew back with no trouble at all! My next task on Friday will be to get him out of Bodsham and back to Dover with much less hassle than this morning….!!
Thursday October 14th
Today we went to Lullingstone Roman Villa followed by a visit to Ightham Mote which were both on our list of places to visit, but we just decided to do these two together today, we thought it was a good idea.
Last night we wrote our postcards, but the post box right outside The Smithy had a collection time of 4pm on it so we took the cards with us as we were on the search for a post box with an earlier collection time. We ended up going the “scenic route” to Lullingstone Roman Villa, as the easier route we had chosen was clearly not that obvious or easy so we ended up going through various villages. Otherwise, we would have actually ended up in London!!
Various post boxes along the way had much later times than ours, and we figured that the postman must go around one way in a circular route, and ours much have been the first collection of the day. We didn’t post them just yet though, as we may as well have held on to them until we were on our way back to the cottage.
Eventually we ended up at Lullingstone Roman Villa, the oddest thing about it being a parking fee for an English Heritage site. We have never known English Heritage to charge £2.50 for the parking, but as we were English Heritage Mambers we got free parking, which consisted of a token to put in the machine to raise the barrier.
The remains of the Roman Villa were house indoors, with displays around each side, detailing Roman life, what the rooms in the house would have been used for and so on. It was a large, open plan use of space, and there was a projector screen hanging from the ceiling on which a short film was played. I quite liked how throughout the film, various parts of the remains of the villa were lit up to show what the narrator was talking about, and there were also planson the walls of the phases of the Villa which were also lit up in sequence as the film went on. It was a very clever and good use of space and lighting, I thought.
This place had a very nice mosaic which was best viewed from the second or balcony floor, and the Villa is mostly well known for having a church within the house which had paintings of people worshipping - one of the earliest depictions of Roman Christianity in Britain. It was quite a fun place to go and see, despite there being lots of school parties….! I was also quite surprised to see a baby skeleton on display - I have never seen one on display anywhere before, usually they have an adult (which they also had on display here), but never a baby.
We left Lullingstone to go to Ightham Mote which is the place I first decided I wanted to visit on my Birthday, but for some reason I decided to change my mind in favour of Dover Castle instead. Anyway, off to Ightham Mote we went, which was much simpler to get to, especially from Lullingstone Roman Villa. Of course, we went the wrong way a couple of times, but then again the road atlas doesn’t always have every country road on it, does it? Well ours didn’t anyway…!
Ightham Mote is one of the oldest medieval manor houses in England which is still standing. Being 650 years old, it is in remarkably good condition, and I wouldn’t have thought it was quite as old as it really is just from looking at it. It is a fantastic looking building on the outside, and its quite fun in the inside too. It is surrounded by water - much like a moat - and there is a bridge to get across to get inside - and a central courtyard which is wonderfully cobbly with a listed building inside - the dog kennel! Once inside the house, there were several rooms to explore, all with it’s own character and history, lots and lots of dark wood, carved wood, painted wallpaper (of which the Chinese one was a favourite), and the ceilings had been taken off so we could see the structure of the roof. Just looking at these beams alone would not have told you how old the building was, it is in SUCH good condition. I particularly liked the New Chapel which has a painted wooden barrel domed ceiling, the images are a little feint, but the National Trust had to undo all the work the Victorians did on it to cover it up, as they used oil based painted which were ruining the Medieval paint underneath. It doesn’t look to bad though to be honest, you can see enough of it to be able to imagine that, when just finished, the paint would have been bright and new, and the ceiling would have been SO colourful.
We popped into the shop and bought some goodies (edible, of course!) and said hello to the shop cat who was snoozing with content on the National Trust throws. I almost picked it up thinking it was a displaced cuddly toy - until I saw the ears twitch and the breathing was real!
We got back into the car, and we thought we would try and find a couple of dolmen-like structures which were on the map, but they didn’t seem to be signposted or easy to get to. We tried twice and missed whatever turning it would have been BOTH times, so we decided to head home. We popped into Sainsbury’s on the way to top up with milk, orange juice and to get a couple of pizzas in for dinner, posted our cards on the way back, and got back to The Smithy for our daily dose of cake and tea!
….And tomorrow I get to open presents!!! Finally!!
Last night we wrote our postcards, but the post box right outside The Smithy had a collection time of 4pm on it so we took the cards with us as we were on the search for a post box with an earlier collection time. We ended up going the “scenic route” to Lullingstone Roman Villa, as the easier route we had chosen was clearly not that obvious or easy so we ended up going through various villages. Otherwise, we would have actually ended up in London!!
Various post boxes along the way had much later times than ours, and we figured that the postman must go around one way in a circular route, and ours much have been the first collection of the day. We didn’t post them just yet though, as we may as well have held on to them until we were on our way back to the cottage.
Eventually we ended up at Lullingstone Roman Villa, the oddest thing about it being a parking fee for an English Heritage site. We have never known English Heritage to charge £2.50 for the parking, but as we were English Heritage Mambers we got free parking, which consisted of a token to put in the machine to raise the barrier.
The remains of the Roman Villa were house indoors, with displays around each side, detailing Roman life, what the rooms in the house would have been used for and so on. It was a large, open plan use of space, and there was a projector screen hanging from the ceiling on which a short film was played. I quite liked how throughout the film, various parts of the remains of the villa were lit up to show what the narrator was talking about, and there were also planson the walls of the phases of the Villa which were also lit up in sequence as the film went on. It was a very clever and good use of space and lighting, I thought.
This place had a very nice mosaic which was best viewed from the second or balcony floor, and the Villa is mostly well known for having a church within the house which had paintings of people worshipping - one of the earliest depictions of Roman Christianity in Britain. It was quite a fun place to go and see, despite there being lots of school parties….! I was also quite surprised to see a baby skeleton on display - I have never seen one on display anywhere before, usually they have an adult (which they also had on display here), but never a baby.
We left Lullingstone to go to Ightham Mote which is the place I first decided I wanted to visit on my Birthday, but for some reason I decided to change my mind in favour of Dover Castle instead. Anyway, off to Ightham Mote we went, which was much simpler to get to, especially from Lullingstone Roman Villa. Of course, we went the wrong way a couple of times, but then again the road atlas doesn’t always have every country road on it, does it? Well ours didn’t anyway…!
Ightham Mote is one of the oldest medieval manor houses in England which is still standing. Being 650 years old, it is in remarkably good condition, and I wouldn’t have thought it was quite as old as it really is just from looking at it. It is a fantastic looking building on the outside, and its quite fun in the inside too. It is surrounded by water - much like a moat - and there is a bridge to get across to get inside - and a central courtyard which is wonderfully cobbly with a listed building inside - the dog kennel! Once inside the house, there were several rooms to explore, all with it’s own character and history, lots and lots of dark wood, carved wood, painted wallpaper (of which the Chinese one was a favourite), and the ceilings had been taken off so we could see the structure of the roof. Just looking at these beams alone would not have told you how old the building was, it is in SUCH good condition. I particularly liked the New Chapel which has a painted wooden barrel domed ceiling, the images are a little feint, but the National Trust had to undo all the work the Victorians did on it to cover it up, as they used oil based painted which were ruining the Medieval paint underneath. It doesn’t look to bad though to be honest, you can see enough of it to be able to imagine that, when just finished, the paint would have been bright and new, and the ceiling would have been SO colourful.
We popped into the shop and bought some goodies (edible, of course!) and said hello to the shop cat who was snoozing with content on the National Trust throws. I almost picked it up thinking it was a displaced cuddly toy - until I saw the ears twitch and the breathing was real!
We got back into the car, and we thought we would try and find a couple of dolmen-like structures which were on the map, but they didn’t seem to be signposted or easy to get to. We tried twice and missed whatever turning it would have been BOTH times, so we decided to head home. We popped into Sainsbury’s on the way to top up with milk, orange juice and to get a couple of pizzas in for dinner, posted our cards on the way back, and got back to The Smithy for our daily dose of cake and tea!
….And tomorrow I get to open presents!!! Finally!!
Friday October 15th
My Birthday today! My turn to open presents! Yey! I opened them in bed just as Mathew did with his presents. He bought me Balloo the bear, a green amber pendant, an apron with “I *heart* bears” on it, and a DVD among other things. His parents bought me a beading book which I don’t already have!! His sister bought me chocolates and a bear stamp from Germany and a crazy book no baking horror style (or Halloween style” cupcakes, which I may try next week as it’s Halloween and Mathew is going to visit Amy over that weekend. Mum and Dad bought me lots of things too, £40 to spend at Amazon.co.uk, socks, and two pashminas among other things.
So, after having waffles for breakfast, it was time to leave for Dover for the second time - to the Castle which we were thinking would probably take up the entire day, and we hoped we managed to save the best till last. And indeed we did! First off, remember I said that I was going to pay close attention to which roads we were travelling along so to make the journey simpler? Well Mathew said “It’s okay, I know the way,” so I put the map down. Then about 3 minutes later .. “I think I took the wrong turn…!” Of course I didn’t know where we were!! But it didn’t take to long to get on the right road and onward to Dover Castle.
The place is so big that parking is INSIDE the Castle grounds! The first thing we did was actually what should have came last - or historically, anyway. We went for a guided tour around the underground tunnels, including the hospital. We sat down to watch a short film before having the actual tour. The tour itself was very good, and through speakers hidden in alcoves, we stood in each room and listened to a scenario. The tunnels were lit, but they flickered every now and then as they would have done during war time, and we heard bombing and sirens too, as if we had actually stepped back in time. The tunnels had been made to look like people were still working there, with desks, maps, and all sorts of equipment all over the place. The hospital was like this too, nothing gory though, but there were cabinets full of lots of medical equipment, and there were rooms or wards where the patients would have recovered.
After the tour we went around the Castle grounds, and headed for lunch before going into the Keep. There was a café just outside the Keep which we were going to go into, but it was closed - at 12:30 in the afternoon…?!?? That was a bit strange…! We headed down to the restaurant - which was open - and got ourselves some nice food. I went with macaroni cheese (I wasn’t planning on having pasta tonight!) and Mathew had a quiche. We had a naughty scone after that, but we did share it!! Then we went back to the Keep, which was the other best part of the Castle. I don’t think I have ever visited a Castle where they have done what they have in Dover - basically, they have decorated the main large rooms how they would have been decorated when the place was in use. It looks very toy box like, but bright garish colours really would have been used - blue, green, red, gold - on the walls, the beds, the chairs, the footstools. EVERYTHING was brightly coloured and sort of unbelievable really, but it just looked SO good! Now I’m going to watch all those films where they have used Castles and decorated them with dull colours or left the walls blank and wonder what colours really would have been used back in the day?
There were also some holographic sequences which we didn’t HAVE to watch, and they weren’t tacky - basically you heard voices in a room and you found the holograph later - it was quite subtle and because they have only just really completed decorating the Keep, it didn’t look dated. That’s not to say that it will in time, perhaps….but I have been to quite a few where the people look dated and nothing has obviously been done since the early 1980s! This was up to date and pretty brand new, and it looked great.
After the Keep we explored some more of the grounds and the medieval tunnels which were quite fun. We did a lot of walking today, lots of ups and downs! My pedometer at the end of the day read 4,935 steps which apparently equated to about 241 calories. Hmmm…..not sure about that! It doesn’t take into account steepness or strenuousness so…all I know is that I have had a fairly good workout with the legs today!!
We popped into the shop which was very samey as most English Heritage shops seem to be, and a large proportion of the shop is targeted to children. Nothing wrong with that of course, but it leaves very little choice for the adults. If you want a postcard of something in particular you can always be sure it won’t exist! Plus there doesn’t seem to be anything unique with any of the English Heritage shops either - they’re all pretty much clones. National Trust shops are slightly different, they’re not quite as clone like as English Heritage, but you can bet on some things being in all their shops. There weren’t many people in this shop at Dover Castle, and there was a guy who was trying to flog the food at us, telling us the chutney is “very tasty” and there were some fudge cookie things which they had been given about 400 boxes off to sell off cheap because the order was a mistake……!! But then he started to get just a liiiiiitle bit irritating because I looked at something and he told me about it in more detail, then explained something else, Mathew was looking at the postcards and he told him it was “buy three for £1”….were they desperate for a sale?? Anyway, he seemed to vanish at some point, much to the relief of everyone else in the shop! We didn’t buy anything unfortunately - this is why I am so disappointed with places like this. Here is this fantastic building, and the shop has the same things inside it as every other, with nothing new or unique. This means that in most places like this, I come away with nothing but photographs and maybe the odd guidebook. It’s a shame, but on the other hand at least I haven’t collected meaningless clutter!!
After the shop we headed to the church which is “St. Mary de Castro”, which was very nicely decorated inside. Mathew told me that the mosaic like decoration on the walls would have been something used to decorate the interiors of many Castles around the country. Next to the church was a tall tower - which used to be a lighthouse. It is the tallest Roman structure still surviving today, in the country, which is quite impressive. There used to be another one on the other side of Dover, but I think the footings only remain of that one now.
We headed back to the car, and as I have no mobile reception in The Smithy, I decided to call my parents and thank them for all the presents they gave me. Then we headed on home to The Smithy where we had a nice cup of tea, but we missed the cake out this time, as we had booked a table at “Froggies” which as a French restaurant just down the road which meant we just had to walk there. So no cake in the afternoon was eaten because we wanted our stomachs to be as empty as possible so we would enjoy the meal later on tonight.
We went to Froggie’s for my Birthday meal – I had steak while Mathew had mussels. We both had Crème Brulee for dessert which was delicious! And yes, the place was covered in toy frogs!
So, after having waffles for breakfast, it was time to leave for Dover for the second time - to the Castle which we were thinking would probably take up the entire day, and we hoped we managed to save the best till last. And indeed we did! First off, remember I said that I was going to pay close attention to which roads we were travelling along so to make the journey simpler? Well Mathew said “It’s okay, I know the way,” so I put the map down. Then about 3 minutes later .. “I think I took the wrong turn…!” Of course I didn’t know where we were!! But it didn’t take to long to get on the right road and onward to Dover Castle.
The place is so big that parking is INSIDE the Castle grounds! The first thing we did was actually what should have came last - or historically, anyway. We went for a guided tour around the underground tunnels, including the hospital. We sat down to watch a short film before having the actual tour. The tour itself was very good, and through speakers hidden in alcoves, we stood in each room and listened to a scenario. The tunnels were lit, but they flickered every now and then as they would have done during war time, and we heard bombing and sirens too, as if we had actually stepped back in time. The tunnels had been made to look like people were still working there, with desks, maps, and all sorts of equipment all over the place. The hospital was like this too, nothing gory though, but there were cabinets full of lots of medical equipment, and there were rooms or wards where the patients would have recovered.
After the tour we went around the Castle grounds, and headed for lunch before going into the Keep. There was a café just outside the Keep which we were going to go into, but it was closed - at 12:30 in the afternoon…?!?? That was a bit strange…! We headed down to the restaurant - which was open - and got ourselves some nice food. I went with macaroni cheese (I wasn’t planning on having pasta tonight!) and Mathew had a quiche. We had a naughty scone after that, but we did share it!! Then we went back to the Keep, which was the other best part of the Castle. I don’t think I have ever visited a Castle where they have done what they have in Dover - basically, they have decorated the main large rooms how they would have been decorated when the place was in use. It looks very toy box like, but bright garish colours really would have been used - blue, green, red, gold - on the walls, the beds, the chairs, the footstools. EVERYTHING was brightly coloured and sort of unbelievable really, but it just looked SO good! Now I’m going to watch all those films where they have used Castles and decorated them with dull colours or left the walls blank and wonder what colours really would have been used back in the day?
There were also some holographic sequences which we didn’t HAVE to watch, and they weren’t tacky - basically you heard voices in a room and you found the holograph later - it was quite subtle and because they have only just really completed decorating the Keep, it didn’t look dated. That’s not to say that it will in time, perhaps….but I have been to quite a few where the people look dated and nothing has obviously been done since the early 1980s! This was up to date and pretty brand new, and it looked great.
After the Keep we explored some more of the grounds and the medieval tunnels which were quite fun. We did a lot of walking today, lots of ups and downs! My pedometer at the end of the day read 4,935 steps which apparently equated to about 241 calories. Hmmm…..not sure about that! It doesn’t take into account steepness or strenuousness so…all I know is that I have had a fairly good workout with the legs today!!
We popped into the shop which was very samey as most English Heritage shops seem to be, and a large proportion of the shop is targeted to children. Nothing wrong with that of course, but it leaves very little choice for the adults. If you want a postcard of something in particular you can always be sure it won’t exist! Plus there doesn’t seem to be anything unique with any of the English Heritage shops either - they’re all pretty much clones. National Trust shops are slightly different, they’re not quite as clone like as English Heritage, but you can bet on some things being in all their shops. There weren’t many people in this shop at Dover Castle, and there was a guy who was trying to flog the food at us, telling us the chutney is “very tasty” and there were some fudge cookie things which they had been given about 400 boxes off to sell off cheap because the order was a mistake……!! But then he started to get just a liiiiiitle bit irritating because I looked at something and he told me about it in more detail, then explained something else, Mathew was looking at the postcards and he told him it was “buy three for £1”….were they desperate for a sale?? Anyway, he seemed to vanish at some point, much to the relief of everyone else in the shop! We didn’t buy anything unfortunately - this is why I am so disappointed with places like this. Here is this fantastic building, and the shop has the same things inside it as every other, with nothing new or unique. This means that in most places like this, I come away with nothing but photographs and maybe the odd guidebook. It’s a shame, but on the other hand at least I haven’t collected meaningless clutter!!
After the shop we headed to the church which is “St. Mary de Castro”, which was very nicely decorated inside. Mathew told me that the mosaic like decoration on the walls would have been something used to decorate the interiors of many Castles around the country. Next to the church was a tall tower - which used to be a lighthouse. It is the tallest Roman structure still surviving today, in the country, which is quite impressive. There used to be another one on the other side of Dover, but I think the footings only remain of that one now.
We headed back to the car, and as I have no mobile reception in The Smithy, I decided to call my parents and thank them for all the presents they gave me. Then we headed on home to The Smithy where we had a nice cup of tea, but we missed the cake out this time, as we had booked a table at “Froggies” which as a French restaurant just down the road which meant we just had to walk there. So no cake in the afternoon was eaten because we wanted our stomachs to be as empty as possible so we would enjoy the meal later on tonight.
We went to Froggie’s for my Birthday meal – I had steak while Mathew had mussels. We both had Crème Brulee for dessert which was delicious! And yes, the place was covered in toy frogs!
Saturday October 16th
All packed and ready to go, it was time to go home today. We had originally decided to visit Lullingstone Roman Villa on the way back home, but the idea behind Mathew’s cunning thinking on Thursday was that if we did it during the week, not only would we have avoided having to choose between that and Ightham Mote on the way, but we could actually go straight back home and we would have a slightly longer weekend than originally anticipated. I’m all for longer weekends so this was the plan today. We stopped off a couple / once on the way to stretch our legs, but we eventually got back after around 4 hours, and still had the rest of the say to sit back and relax!
Thursday, 17 June 2010
Holiday in Ireland!
Hello everyone
Below are my bloggings of our holiday in the Republic of Ireland which we have recently returned from. This time I typed everything up on the laptop when we got home every day so it took less time to upload this one.
There may be some spelling mistakes but I am going to go through these periodically over the next few days to iron those out as well as adding a few photos here and there too. If you go to the top of the blog, you will see a slideshow of photos which you can click on to enjoy on their own, or go here: https://picasaweb.google.com/brocklehurst79/Ireland2010
Also, I have redecorated my blog - do you like it? :o) Oh yes, and the posts read from top to bottom as I prefer them to. Enjoy! :o)
Siobhan xxx
Below are my bloggings of our holiday in the Republic of Ireland which we have recently returned from. This time I typed everything up on the laptop when we got home every day so it took less time to upload this one.
There may be some spelling mistakes but I am going to go through these periodically over the next few days to iron those out as well as adding a few photos here and there too. If you go to the top of the blog, you will see a slideshow of photos which you can click on to enjoy on their own, or go here: https://picasaweb.google.com/brocklehurst79/Ireland2010
Also, I have redecorated my blog - do you like it? :o) Oh yes, and the posts read from top to bottom as I prefer them to. Enjoy! :o)
Siobhan xxx
Holiday in Ireland!
Saturday 29th May
I was glad I had packed thoroughly the night before, as I was suffering from hay fever and waiting for my anti-histamines to kick in! All packed and ready to go, we filled the car and headed out at 8:15am. The weather wasn’t too good, this time the weather forecasts had been right! It rained pretty much all the way to Holyhead.
We made good time, reaching Bangor in north Wales by 11:45, stopping off at a service station. I thought we would take about an hour to reach Holyhead, but we got to the ferry terminal by 12:30 at which point I ate my lunch in the car whilst waiting to board the ferry.
Finally we boarded and we had plenty of time to find a seat - if we could find one, that is….! We ended up parking in lane 6 on the far right which turned out to be the lane for large people carriers. We weren’t actually supposed to be in that lane, but the man telling us where to go was standing in lane 4 at the time and we heard his yelp of desperation as we decided NOT to run him over..!
We got out the car and headed up the stairs to investigate the ferry and its facilities. First off (and I didn’t manage to get a photo of this because I thought the abundance of people as we entered AND exited the ferry would think me very strange indeed, PLUS lots of moving around to get from A to B meant it would have been difficult to pause long enough for a photo), was a sign on the door which stated “Crew Only”….but the graffiti “of doom” between these two words made me laugh. I doubt anyone else saw it though. I know I should have taken a photo, but it was hard to stop with all the commotion!
So, it turned out that only two decks of the ferry were worth being on, unless you had booked a room for your 3 hour journey. Hmmm. It seems to me there were an awful lot of rooms on that ferry just for a 3 hour journey. More seating could have easily fitted up there….but hey, perhaps these ferries don’t just sail between Holyhead and Dublin. I have no idea.
The main deck where everybody seemed to be, was a hub of activity, from screaming children to most people wanting to order and eat their lunch (late lunch, as it was around 1:30 at this point) as soon as possible. There were enough places to get food, but it was the seating which was the issue, we thought. Most people seemed to rush in and order their late lunch straight away which meant that, by the time most people were on the ferry, there was very little seating available.
And this didn’t just apply to the seating near the food places. On this deck there was a “lounge” which must have consisted of about 50 comfy seats in total, and the “Stenna Plus” seating area which you had to pay extra for had around 150 plush seats. Of course. This is how they make their money. We then decided to go down one deck, and suddenly it was very quiet. Hardly anyone was around on this deck, and a very large redundant area in the centre used to be an eatery with lots of seating for diners was totally empty. What’s more was another “Stenna Plus” lounge which had a poster stating that “Stenna Plus is now located on deck 8”. Nobody was checking tickets here like they were on deck 8, so we went in and found the entire area pretty much empty and wonderfully quiet.
After we cleaned my first clumsy incident of the holiday up, we settled back down in our comfy seats and “Magic Matthew’s” act lasted half an hour, but some children decided to extend his entertainment until around 4pm when it began to turn quiet again and I could finally concentrate on reading my book until it was time to get back into the car and arrive in Dublin.
After getting onto the main motorway, we thought it was very strange that it was so incredibly quiet, there were only 3 cars within the space of a mile. The roads were easy to use of course, driving on the left hand side as we do in England, although it did feel like we were actually in a different country. The layout seemed very continental, having seen roads in France and Germany, it was more similar to that than English roads.
After driving around some of the smaller roads around our destination of Ardcath, we eventually found the right road to go THROUGH the place and found our accommodation for the week. The owner greeted us and showed us around the quirky little converted barn, it was small, only enough room for two people and not a great deal in the way of storage space! BUT it was cosy, with a log fire, stone walls with little recesses in which there were books, DVDs, CDs, mirrors were leaning against the walls in the corners, and every little space was pretty much utilised by something useful like a wine rack or a clock.
We unpacked, called home to say we’d arrived safely, had some salad and finished off our late dinner with a fresh home made scone and jam which the owner had left for us to enjoy. I thought he reminded me of Louis Walsh, he had a very similar face! He lent Mathew a decent road map of Ireland so we wouldn’t get lost again, and we settled in and unpacked.
No curtains in the roof-windows - or rather, sky lights - in the ceiling above the bed….I hoped we wouldn’t be woken too early by the sun and the birds the next morning!
I was glad I had packed thoroughly the night before, as I was suffering from hay fever and waiting for my anti-histamines to kick in! All packed and ready to go, we filled the car and headed out at 8:15am. The weather wasn’t too good, this time the weather forecasts had been right! It rained pretty much all the way to Holyhead.
We made good time, reaching Bangor in north Wales by 11:45, stopping off at a service station. I thought we would take about an hour to reach Holyhead, but we got to the ferry terminal by 12:30 at which point I ate my lunch in the car whilst waiting to board the ferry.
Finally we boarded and we had plenty of time to find a seat - if we could find one, that is….! We ended up parking in lane 6 on the far right which turned out to be the lane for large people carriers. We weren’t actually supposed to be in that lane, but the man telling us where to go was standing in lane 4 at the time and we heard his yelp of desperation as we decided NOT to run him over..!
We got out the car and headed up the stairs to investigate the ferry and its facilities. First off (and I didn’t manage to get a photo of this because I thought the abundance of people as we entered AND exited the ferry would think me very strange indeed, PLUS lots of moving around to get from A to B meant it would have been difficult to pause long enough for a photo), was a sign on the door which stated “Crew Only”….but the graffiti “of doom” between these two words made me laugh. I doubt anyone else saw it though. I know I should have taken a photo, but it was hard to stop with all the commotion!
So, it turned out that only two decks of the ferry were worth being on, unless you had booked a room for your 3 hour journey. Hmmm. It seems to me there were an awful lot of rooms on that ferry just for a 3 hour journey. More seating could have easily fitted up there….but hey, perhaps these ferries don’t just sail between Holyhead and Dublin. I have no idea.
The main deck where everybody seemed to be, was a hub of activity, from screaming children to most people wanting to order and eat their lunch (late lunch, as it was around 1:30 at this point) as soon as possible. There were enough places to get food, but it was the seating which was the issue, we thought. Most people seemed to rush in and order their late lunch straight away which meant that, by the time most people were on the ferry, there was very little seating available.
And this didn’t just apply to the seating near the food places. On this deck there was a “lounge” which must have consisted of about 50 comfy seats in total, and the “Stenna Plus” seating area which you had to pay extra for had around 150 plush seats. Of course. This is how they make their money. We then decided to go down one deck, and suddenly it was very quiet. Hardly anyone was around on this deck, and a very large redundant area in the centre used to be an eatery with lots of seating for diners was totally empty. What’s more was another “Stenna Plus” lounge which had a poster stating that “Stenna Plus is now located on deck 8”. Nobody was checking tickets here like they were on deck 8, so we went in and found the entire area pretty much empty and wonderfully quiet.So we took our seats by the window and gradually the area started to fill up with more passengers as they stumbled upon the secret quiet deck 7. At 1:50pm we sailed off, and the rain had stopped but it was considerably foggy. Not a thing could be seen. We usually always go outside on the deck for the majority of ferry journeys, but today it was wet and foggy so we sat inside. The sea - thankfully - was very calm with the odd gentle swell, and I felt my eyelids drooping as I dozed on and off.
Until 3pm when it was announced that “Magic Matthew” would be performing on deck 7 in the lounge. Lots of children came to visit and take part of course, and he was a huge hit. It was a little noisy but it wasn’t too bad. I decided to get a hot chocolate for myself as I usually do on ferries, and a tea for Mathew. I was concerned about dropping it on the stairs as I had to go up to deck 8 to get them, but I was fine. Until I got back to Mathew and set down the tea on the table, only for it to slip and tumble on its side and spill all over everywhere!! Fortunately it missed his brand new book reader and he thought it quite amusing which was a relief for me, because it basically looked like I’d said “here you go!“ and thrown it down on purpose!
After we cleaned my first clumsy incident of the holiday up, we settled back down in our comfy seats and “Magic Matthew’s” act lasted half an hour, but some children decided to extend his entertainment until around 4pm when it began to turn quiet again and I could finally concentrate on reading my book until it was time to get back into the car and arrive in Dublin.
After getting onto the main motorway, we thought it was very strange that it was so incredibly quiet, there were only 3 cars within the space of a mile. The roads were easy to use of course, driving on the left hand side as we do in England, although it did feel like we were actually in a different country. The layout seemed very continental, having seen roads in France and Germany, it was more similar to that than English roads.
After driving around some of the smaller roads around our destination of Ardcath, we eventually found the right road to go THROUGH the place and found our accommodation for the week. The owner greeted us and showed us around the quirky little converted barn, it was small, only enough room for two people and not a great deal in the way of storage space! BUT it was cosy, with a log fire, stone walls with little recesses in which there were books, DVDs, CDs, mirrors were leaning against the walls in the corners, and every little space was pretty much utilised by something useful like a wine rack or a clock.We unpacked, called home to say we’d arrived safely, had some salad and finished off our late dinner with a fresh home made scone and jam which the owner had left for us to enjoy. I thought he reminded me of Louis Walsh, he had a very similar face! He lent Mathew a decent road map of Ireland so we wouldn’t get lost again, and we settled in and unpacked.
No curtains in the roof-windows - or rather, sky lights - in the ceiling above the bed….I hoped we wouldn’t be woken too early by the sun and the birds the next morning!
Sunday 30th May
After having a good night’s sleep, the daylight woke us up at 5:30am but we continued to doze until just after 7am. We like getting up early, but not THAT early!! It was chilly in our little house, but it wasn’t too bad. There was no central heating, just a heater for hot water and a stove in the living room to make a fire - we used the latter last night and again this morning until it was time to leave at around 8:50am. Today we were going to visit Newgrange and Knowth, and the information stated that it was best to arrive early to avoid the disappointment of not being able to go on the tours.
Back onto the minibus we got, to the visitors centre again, and our next visit was to Newgrange. We got there in the end - there were two buses going there, and it turned out that two people had either got on the wrong bus or at the wrong time. Mathew and I were split on the journey there but we were fine going back. We got to Newgrange and we had a tour guide who spoke to both bus-loads of people, and while one group roamed around outside first, the others got to go into the tomb and we switched over afterwards. Of course, we were in the group to go inside first!
Inside, the corridor was low and narrow, but once in the main chamber it was fine. There was a lot of artwork - the same spirals and zig-zags as before - only in this tomb we weren’t allowed to take photos, which is fair enough. The only new pattern we hadn’t seen before was a fern leaf, which was really quite nice! Once we were inside the tomb, our tour guide organised us so we could all see the floor and she gave us a demonstration of what it would be like in the tomb when the sun rose on the solstice. She turned out the lights and switched on another light (mimicing the sunlight) which came through gradually as she spoke, and then gradually left. It was quite a nice demonstration and left us all feeling we had experienced the magical moment these monuments had been made for!
After this, we went outside and roamed around and then awaited the bus back to the visitors centre. Going on the different theories set by different people, it was clear that whoever studied Knowth thought that the white quartz and large rounded stones were used as a pavement, while at Newgrange it had been incorporated into the outside walls of the mound. Either way, both are great places to visit, and Knowth is good to visit before Newgrange, because the latter is the best one of course!
Back at the visitors centre, we had lunch in the café which came with generous side salads and was really delicious! “Tasty food and snacks” is what the brochure says and it’s not a lie! We then strolled into the shop, bought some postcards (Mathew to send, me to use for jewellery inspiration…!) and had a look at the exhibit which was really nicely laid out with colourful drapes, patterns from the tombs, dioramas and a few exhibits of replicas, such as the flint mace head I already mentioned. We forgot to enter the “solstice lottery” to win a chance to go back and experience the real thing at Newgrange! Damn! Ah well.
So, after lunch we continued. Monastaboice was our first visit, which boasted a HUGE tower (and it was really very very tall - I have no idea how it’s still standing..!), although it is missing its conical roof and the ground around it has risen over the years so its not even as tall as it used to be. Still, its very impressive. In the cemetery were other ruins (which you would think the tower would have fallen down to the same height, but no), and two very large crosses. The first was the widest and chunkiest celtic cross I have ever seen, and the workmanship on it is eroded, but fabulous. Just imagine what it would have looked like when brand new! The second cross was in front of the massive tower (built by the Irish as a response to the Viking invasions, there are apparently lots of these towers all over Ireland), and this one was similar to the first, only more taller and narrower.
Old Millefont Abbey was next up, which seemed more ruined that most Abbeys in England; barely anything remained although they did have a nice collection of architectural stone and what was left standing here was really quite nice. The only bad thing about this place was not being able to take a photo because a family tour group decided to stand in the same spot for about half an hour, right in front of the most photogenic standing ruin! But, we are used to this happening, they moved eventually and we got our photos in before the French tour group got their hands on it..!
The final trip of the day was a little bit of an adventure. The owner of the place we were renting for the week, suggested that we might like to go see a place called “Fourknocks” which was only down the road from where we were staying, in Ardcath. Earlier in the day we had seen the familiar brown tourist signs for it, and thought we’d do it at the end of our day out. So we got back to Ardcath and found the sign…but could we find this place? We kept driving round and round in what we thought were probably large circles, and we did keep seeing signs for Fourknocks, only each time we passed the “kilometres to go” were gradually doing down - as they should do - although I am sure we weren’t going in the most direct route. It didn’t help that the map of Ireland didn’t have it on there.
After a little while, we eventually found it and Mathew got out to read the sign at the path entrance. Now, we had already been told that we would have to go to the landowner’s house to collect the key and investigate the tomb ourselves. But after today we have learnt a few of things about Irish road signs and their language:
2. When a road sign states something like “Kilmoon” with no distance, the name on the sign is the name of the road, not where it leads to.
3. When you see or hear directions of “at the cross turn left” - this can also mean t-junction as well as cross-road.
Now, the directions were to “turn left at the first cross down Kilmoon Road and it’s the 5th house on the right”, we went down said road (the sign just said “Kilmoon” no “road”), and found the 5th house on the right. Bit it seemed a little odd to Mathew because there were so many houses on the left. We went back to the sign and read the name of the person was “Mr.White”, and as said 5th house said “WHITE” on its wall, that must have been it. Down Kilmoon Road we went again to collect the key from the right person with a fully refundable deposit should we happen to run off with it, and back up Kilmoon Road back to Fourknocks, almost definitely totally confusing the locals having been up and down this road 4 times already!
Eventually we had the location and the key, and we took a torch from the car just incase. It was a small mound, with a little information board near the entrance, which was closed with a locked metal door. When we got inside, we discovered that the effort of finding it and the key was definitely worth it! The ceiling was false but holes had been put into it to let natural light in, in a very clever fashion to make it look like spotlights. The torch wasn’t needed, although we used it in the dark recesses, of which there were three. There was even more art work on the stones which we could touch and photograph, and there was on slab of stone which is said to have the only depiction of a possible human portrait on it. I can see a human resemblance, if a little abstract, but its there! So, after all that effort we were finally rewarded with a really good treat, and to see the artwork up close and to touch it - it’s just not the normal thing we are used to, so it was nice.
We locked up, took the key back to Mr. White on Kilmoon Road, got our deposit back, and finally got back home to Ardcath to have a nice cup of tea and a slice of Mum’s fruit loaf. Yum!
It was a chilly start to the day outside, but by lunchtime it was really quite nice and warm. We went to the Bru na Boinne visitors centre where we bought tickets to go on the tour of both Knowth and Newgrange. A mini-bus took us there and back to both sites, and Knowth was first. Our tour guide showed us around, explaining that the artwork on the stones has no definite explanation, just theories as to what they might be, what they may symbolise. It was the story which we - as archaeologists - are used to hearing; theories about the sun and the moon, celebrations of the equinoxes and solstices. Usually we think that when people start saying things about ritual practice, it's because they can't think of any other explanation and it just sounds good. But in these cases it was very, very believable. The artwork could easily be seen as records of moon phases, spirals as depictions of the sun, zig-zags an illustration of the oscillating pattern of the sun or moon orbits. Personally I don’t think it’s by any mistake that the sun enters these tombs on the equinoxes or solstices. It’s just all really very believable, at least, to me anyway. The thing I’m not quite sure about is ley lines and dowsing - and yes, there were two guys wandering around the site with dowsing rods. Hmmm. I’m really not quite sure about that….! Most archaeologists would call it “pretend archaeology”.
We weren’t able to go into the main mound at Knowth, but we were able to look down one of the passages. I always like how they light these things to make the place look eerie and mystical! We finished off the tour with our guide telling us about the star find of the place - a flint mace head. And, having seen flint and knowing that this material is incredibly hard to shape, it is really quite remarkable. Whoever created this piece of flint with that much smooth decoration on it AND a large perforation used to put a handle into, must have been incredibly patient and it must have taken absolutely forever to create! Later on we saw a replica of it in the exhibition at the visitors centre - but we were really hoping that it was going to be in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin when we go. We really want to see the real thing! I’d also like to compare the real to the fake, just to see how real it looks!
After the tour ended, we were free to roam around and take as many photos as we liked. Ten minutes was just about enough really, there were large stones around the edges of the main mound which had lots of spirals, coils, half moon shapes, zig-zags. I had my jewellery designs in mind, of course! The other great thing here was that we could actually go up and touch them. I really liked this.
Back onto the minibus we got, to the visitors centre again, and our next visit was to Newgrange. We got there in the end - there were two buses going there, and it turned out that two people had either got on the wrong bus or at the wrong time. Mathew and I were split on the journey there but we were fine going back. We got to Newgrange and we had a tour guide who spoke to both bus-loads of people, and while one group roamed around outside first, the others got to go into the tomb and we switched over afterwards. Of course, we were in the group to go inside first!
Inside, the corridor was low and narrow, but once in the main chamber it was fine. There was a lot of artwork - the same spirals and zig-zags as before - only in this tomb we weren’t allowed to take photos, which is fair enough. The only new pattern we hadn’t seen before was a fern leaf, which was really quite nice! Once we were inside the tomb, our tour guide organised us so we could all see the floor and she gave us a demonstration of what it would be like in the tomb when the sun rose on the solstice. She turned out the lights and switched on another light (mimicing the sunlight) which came through gradually as she spoke, and then gradually left. It was quite a nice demonstration and left us all feeling we had experienced the magical moment these monuments had been made for!
After this, we went outside and roamed around and then awaited the bus back to the visitors centre. Going on the different theories set by different people, it was clear that whoever studied Knowth thought that the white quartz and large rounded stones were used as a pavement, while at Newgrange it had been incorporated into the outside walls of the mound. Either way, both are great places to visit, and Knowth is good to visit before Newgrange, because the latter is the best one of course!
Back at the visitors centre, we had lunch in the café which came with generous side salads and was really delicious! “Tasty food and snacks” is what the brochure says and it’s not a lie! We then strolled into the shop, bought some postcards (Mathew to send, me to use for jewellery inspiration…!) and had a look at the exhibit which was really nicely laid out with colourful drapes, patterns from the tombs, dioramas and a few exhibits of replicas, such as the flint mace head I already mentioned. We forgot to enter the “solstice lottery” to win a chance to go back and experience the real thing at Newgrange! Damn! Ah well.
The final trip of the day was a little bit of an adventure. The owner of the place we were renting for the week, suggested that we might like to go see a place called “Fourknocks” which was only down the road from where we were staying, in Ardcath. Earlier in the day we had seen the familiar brown tourist signs for it, and thought we’d do it at the end of our day out. So we got back to Ardcath and found the sign…but could we find this place? We kept driving round and round in what we thought were probably large circles, and we did keep seeing signs for Fourknocks, only each time we passed the “kilometres to go” were gradually doing down - as they should do - although I am sure we weren’t going in the most direct route. It didn’t help that the map of Ireland didn’t have it on there.
After a little while, we eventually found it and Mathew got out to read the sign at the path entrance. Now, we had already been told that we would have to go to the landowner’s house to collect the key and investigate the tomb ourselves. But after today we have learnt a few of things about Irish road signs and their language:
1. There are a few road signs which have been stolen, we presume for scrap metal, but we kept seeing bare posts at junctions where they should have been
2. When a road sign states something like “Kilmoon” with no distance, the name on the sign is the name of the road, not where it leads to.
3. When you see or hear directions of “at the cross turn left” - this can also mean t-junction as well as cross-road.Now, the directions were to “turn left at the first cross down Kilmoon Road and it’s the 5th house on the right”, we went down said road (the sign just said “Kilmoon” no “road”), and found the 5th house on the right. Bit it seemed a little odd to Mathew because there were so many houses on the left. We went back to the sign and read the name of the person was “Mr.White”, and as said 5th house said “WHITE” on its wall, that must have been it. Down Kilmoon Road we went again to collect the key from the right person with a fully refundable deposit should we happen to run off with it, and back up Kilmoon Road back to Fourknocks, almost definitely totally confusing the locals having been up and down this road 4 times already!
We locked up, took the key back to Mr. White on Kilmoon Road, got our deposit back, and finally got back home to Ardcath to have a nice cup of tea and a slice of Mum’s fruit loaf. Yum!
Monday 31st May
First off this morning we decided to go to Dalkey. There was a castle there which was a “living history” museum as well, and the leaflet made it look really quite interesting. We arrived at around 10:30am and strolled in, only to find out that a bus tour had only just gone in - 52 people!! We were told the next tour would take place at 11:45 which left us with just over an hour to play with. We walked around and found a café called “Idlewild Café”, Mathew had a large pot of tea while I had a hot chocolate - which I must add, was really very nice!
So, 11:30 came round and we strolled around back to Dalkey Castle, only this time we were told that they were running late and the next tour would actually be at 12:15. The lady was very apologetic and polite about it, and she gave us a leaflet for a little walk along the coast where we could go to see Dalkey Island. Why she hadn’t given us this the first time around, I have no idea…! But still, we thanked her and strolled off to the coast, the first part of which was dominated by posh houses with massive gates, obviously owned by very rich people who were greedy enough to want a view of the Island to themselves, and probably - I would imagine - a path at the bottom of the garden onto a secluded beach or a cliff or something similar. We continued onward until we found a little seating area and a viewpoint, where we finally saw Dalkey Island which looked quite nice. There were “ferries” or rather, small boats you could get from the mainland to the island, as we saw local posters and a boat already coming from the Island itself. We went on further down to a little park where we were rewarded with a very nice view of the Island and part of the wild looking coastline where we were. Whilst admiring the island, I said to Mathew that perhaps we could go to the Island if we couldn’t get onto the next tour at the Castle.Looking at my watch it was just before 12noon and the next tour was in 15 minutes! I didn’t think we were going to get there in time, so we really power-walked it! This was one of the rare occasions that I walk as fast as I can to get somewhere in time for something, and I ignore the protests my legs make. This does not happen very often, usually when I am very determined to do something can I do this. Mathew was trailing behind me, despite having a longer stride and walking pretty fast himself he remained at least 10 metres behind me as I powered off past the viewpoint, the posh houses, up the hill, round the corner.
We arrived at Dalkey Castle at exactly 12:15 and third time lucky we managed to get tickets. Mathew had to top up the car parking ticket while I paid and went to sit in the area where the introductory DVD was being shown. Mathew joined me just before the DVD started, and we were told a brief Medieval History of the Castle. Then we awaited the arrival of our first Tudor character in costume which was a ghost. She asked where we were from and other questions like if we were attending the King’s Feast that evening. She took us through the graveyard and told us about the Yew tree and its use as a poison, and showed us her gravestone, and asked if we could figure out who killed her because she couldn’t remember. Everyone seemed to think her own husband killed her, especially after she told us that he married her sister soon after her death!
She then introduced us to her husband, the second costumed character who spoke to us in the same manner. He took us up to the second level of the Castle where he told us about the practice of medicine. There was a chair in which he said the patient would sit, and he started showing us some of the equipment used and what it was used for. Mathew ended up being the victim for a “urine sample” - of course he didn’t give a real one, to which out turn guide responded with “You don’t have much Sir, do you?”And he moved on to me, asking me to show him my teeth. Of course, he thought I needed a tooth taking out, so I had to sit in the chair! Various instruments were waved at my face as he demonstrated which tools would have been used to take out a tooth, scrape out the bits in the gum, cauterise the wound and waved a bottle of cloves under my nose and said I would have had them to rub on my gums to relieve the pain. When he asked me for a couple of coins to pay for “two burly men to take me out of the chair”, I would have given him some loose change but I had none on me, so like everyone else I pretended to give some money to him to which he responded with “Hmm. You’re not a very profitable customer!”. He then asked another guy to sit in the chair as he demonstrated blood letting, addressing the guy as “Lord Evil Monkey” as he had exactly those words on his T-shirt (Those who know the TV series Family Guy will recognise this!)
Our last character was a bowman who spoke to us about the Tudor dining experience, the food which would have been eaten, where fleas were living on his body, how plates were cleaned with spit because the water was tainted with raw sewage, how clothes were cleaned with urine, and he passed his long-bow around, Mathew volunteering to draw it and impressing the tour guide who said he wouldn’t want to be in his way if he got angry! He took us up onto the tower and showed us how bowmen would have shot their arrows, and the difference of the power of an arrow if it were used on a long bow or a cross bow.
He took us all back down and asked us if we had figured out how the lady had been killed - we all still thought it was the husband, and it tuned out the bowman had accidentally shot her with an arrow when fighting invaders, and her husband, in giving her a potion made of yew bark or leaf to make her feel better, ended up killing her instead! All in all this was a very enjoyable place to visit, unfortunately we had to hang around a little, but if anyone else is thinking of visiting and has to wait for an hour, ask about the coastal walk and you’ll get a leaflet with a map and an hour will be plenty of time to go on the walk - which is very pleasant - and come back in time without having to rush. If the tour is delayed again like ours, go for a coffee nearby!
Next up we went to Powerscourt Gardens. We had a late lunch in the café before heading out to the gardens, which turned out to be very Italian in style and were really quite extensive. The place must have taken considerable landscaping skills, as there were walled gardens, a Japanese garden, and a very very large pond (among several small ones). There was even a little “Pepperpot Tower” which was said to have been built by the owner as a tribute to his actual pepper pot. Yes, he had a pepper pot he loved so much, he decided to build himself his own tower in the same shape. Hmmm. What’s going on there?!
The shops at Powerscourt were very small and cute, boutique in style and in the clothes department, very expensive. 120 Euros for a waterproof coat which wasn't from an outdoor specialist company - I don’t think so! It was nice…..but not THAT nice….! Included in this little arcade of shops was a clothes shop, book shop, an Irish souvenir shop, children’s toys and clothes shop, food shop and a perfume and soap shop. Before we left I decided to buy some Irish made soaps as souvenirs for a couple of family members and a friend, and we drove back home. We drove through Garristown to see if there were any nice looking place to eat, but it was a small place and had 2 pubs, one of which had a place for a menu outside, but there was nothing in it. There was a little supermarket however, so it was useful to know that was there. The went back to Ardcath for a nice cup of tea!
The same evening, I ended up falling down the staircase at our cottage - I just lost my footing, possibly because of smooth socks, smooth wood and long trousers. These steps - if I haven’t already explained - are unusual because they are half-steps and one-sided, they look a little like paddles. It’s a quirk of the cottage and if they had been normal steps, the entire staircase would not have fit into the room. These stairs are quite steep, so I suddenly stumbled a couple of steps down and fell the rest of the way, seeing the floor coming towards me as I missed the last 6 steps and landing at the bottom on my front. I was winded so I couldn’t speak properly as I landed, and Mathew was immediately over me asking me questions which I couldn’t answer until I got my breath back! I felt a stinging sensation in my right knee and hip, otherwise everything seemed fine. Mathew checked me over everywhere else until I was happy to turn onto my back, at which point Mathew helped me stand. My hip felt very sore, and there was a deep graze on it, probably from a small cable which I was coming down the stairs with, which promptly got dropped the minute I knew I was about to fall. The rest of the evening, Mathew and I were checking over everything making sure I wasn’t swelling up too badly.
Miraculously, my leg was moving absolutely fine, whilst the sorest part of me was up in the ribs on the right hand side, front and back. My right arm felt strange, but that was because I had landed more heavily on my right, arms outstretched to break the fall. I did not hit my head or anything else, it seemed I landed fairly flat on my front, and I think my arms may have taken the full force of it, which meant my ribs took in a lot of the shockwave. Pretty much straight away I was walking around just fine, although with a sore hip, sore knee and very sore ribs.
That night I slept on my back and partly on my left side which was more comfortable than I thought it was going to be, considering. I didn’t get much sleep possibly because I was still in shock about the fall and worrying about any swelling and possibly having to go to hospital the next morning. The rain didn’t help either - I usually like rain falling on the window at night, but it was raining pretty hard out there! I got some sleep but I have no idea how much I got.
Tuesday 1st June
This morning I felt sore but okay. I hadn’t swelled up anywhere significantly, but the bruise on my knee had come out nicely and the graze on my hip had scabbed over. I was expecting at some point for a bruise to come out there eventually as well, because the hip is really quite sore, although not when walking. My right ribs were the most painful part, fortunately not when I was just sitting breathing, but when I straightened my posture, when I leant over in a funny way, if I used my right arm to push, pull or lift. The right arm was stiff, my knee was sore and my hip was sore. That, I could deal with. But my ribs were really very uncomfortable but I decided that if anything had been damaged that badly, I would have known it by now. So I got dressed and I decided - from now on, go up and down the stairs BAREFOOT!! It seemed to do the trick, and I felt safer…although I have to admit that I kept looking at those stairs for the rest of the week feeling quite scared of coming down on them. As a consequence each time I came down the stairs I took it EXTRA slowly!!
So, today we were planning to go to Dublin, and I was feeling fine so that’s where we went. We used our pop-out map of Dublin all day which was very handy to get to where we wanted.
We then went up into “The Long Room” which was basically a huge library of many very very old books which were in the process of being preserved or had finished the restoration process. Two levels of books, from floor to ceiling and in the centre there was a small exhibit of “The Irish in India” which was quite interesting.
We were then taken back downstairs into the shop which was really quite good, although I didn’t buy a great deal. I bought a couple of “Thank You” cards for the owners of the places we were renting during this holiday, as I had forgotten to create my own to take. I bought a souvenir for my brother - a mouse mat with a celtic pattern - and we went on towards the National Museum of Ireland.
The Museum - like most Museums - was free to get into, and surprisingly, there was no fee for the lockers to put bags and coats into. The first thing we did was go to the café - I hadn’t realised that it was 12noon and I hadn’t had anything to eat since Breakfast. That and not getting much sleep last night probably didn’t help how I was feeling - I was fine, but I was feeling a little like a zombie, as you do when you don’t get much sleep the night before!
We both had a “twice backed potato” which was really very nice as it had been mixed with ham and cheese, and baked again, and it came with two side salads. A large meal for the middle of the day, so we though we might have a light meal for dinner!
This Museum was really very very good. Apart from what seemed like random exhibits on the Ancient Egyptians, Ancient Cyprus, and a Roman exhibit, pretty much everything was either Irish, from Ireland, or had Irish connections. Irish archaeology spanning from the Palaeolithic (stone age) right up to Medieval archaeology was displayed, and I have to say, the Irish have some pretty impressive archaeology. The prehistoric pottery was very different from English pottery - ours is plain with occasionally some decoration, while Irish pottery is FULL of patterns, filling the entire surfaces. Some pots even came with lids - which we don’t see in England - and the patterns went from rim to base.
The Irish seem to have quite a lot in the way of textiles and leather, and also wood - a wooden cauldron was quite an impressive piece - probably because Ireland had a lot of natural peat bogs in which this stuff was found. The waterlogged conditions preserve things like wood, leather, and any textile really, so these things barely perish in places like this. We saw a lot of shoes and leather capes, and scabbards and sheaths for swords, some of which were intricately decorated with the typical celtic pattern we associate with Irish Iron Age archaeology.
Something else which was exhibited in an interesting way, I thought, were bog bodies. They had all been found in peat bogs, so the skin and hair had been preserved, which was quite amazing to see. The interesting thing was how they were displayed. The entire exhibit showed other things which had been discovered in bogs due to the amazing preservation conditions, but the bodies were hidden away in the middle of circular walls which you had to walk around to get into, to see the bodies. I thought this was a good way of displaying them, because not only were they lit dimly to preserve them, but it shielded them from eyes which did not wish to see them, and allowed people to enjoy the rest of exhibit without seeing them if they didn’t wish to. I think this also gave the bodies an enormous amount of respect too, especially as all the bog bodies here were killed in such unpleasant ways. It was a really good way of exhibiting them.
The Viking archaeology and all the jewellery was also very impressive, and the entire Museum was well laid out and took you in chronological order from beginning to end. By the time we had finished, it was around 3:15pm and we thought of going to the “Dublinia” experience but our feet were aching and we were both quite tired. We walked around to see the Liffey (the Irish river), and I was on the lookout for Irish tourist shops so I could browse postcards and other crafty little things. I saw one as we came into Dublin but it must have been quite a way out from where we were. To be honest, we didn’t really see much in the way of tourist shops, like you do in London, Edinburgh or even Paris - you get quite a few tourist shops, but we were struggling to find even one. The other thing about Dublin is that it didn’t really disappoint me as such, it’s just that it seemed like a normal city. It didn’t have anything to define it really as the capital city of Ireland, in the same way London is English, Paris is French, and Rome is Italian. I just didn’t find Dublin distinctly Irish, just as a city centre.
So, we made our way back home to enjoy a nice cup of tea, relax and hopefully have a better night’s sleep than last night, and being EXTRA careful with those stairs. All this time I have been worrying about Mathew falling down them, and I ended up being the one to do it instead!
So, today we were planning to go to Dublin, and I was feeling fine so that’s where we went. We used our pop-out map of Dublin all day which was very handy to get to where we wanted.
First off we went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. The entire thing was an exhibition of many illuminated manuscripts, about their history and how they were made. There were numerous exhibits such as “pocket books” which were thick, small and just as pretty as the larger books. The ink was bright and the gold leaf was very shiny. All the books were in very good condition, considering their age - the first couple of books we saw were about 600 years old, whereas the actual Book of Kells is just over 1000 years old. I became particularly mesmerised by a little video in the exhibition, showing how a book would have been made - the pages being sewn together, then the front and back, then covering the front with leather or vellum, sticking it on, sewing it to secure it…. I don’t think I reached the end of the video but I had to tear myself away from it because of school groups and I had lost track of how long I had been standing there with my mouth gaping open at the video….!
Throughout the exhibit, like many I suppose, there were enlarged poster-sized copies of many of the books, mostly the totally illuminated pages with no text. The light behind them showed up the colours and the shapes, but when it came to see the Book of Kells, the colours were much darker, and duller. I was still impressed by them of course, what with all the detail put into the tiniest of spaces, the work was really quite exquisite. But this book is over 1000 years old, you can’t really expect the pages not to fade can you? The pages with text were a little brighter, but then again the only illuminated parts were the first letters of each paragraph - still, with exquisite detail in the patterns.
We were then taken back downstairs into the shop which was really quite good, although I didn’t buy a great deal. I bought a couple of “Thank You” cards for the owners of the places we were renting during this holiday, as I had forgotten to create my own to take. I bought a souvenir for my brother - a mouse mat with a celtic pattern - and we went on towards the National Museum of Ireland.
The Museum - like most Museums - was free to get into, and surprisingly, there was no fee for the lockers to put bags and coats into. The first thing we did was go to the café - I hadn’t realised that it was 12noon and I hadn’t had anything to eat since Breakfast. That and not getting much sleep last night probably didn’t help how I was feeling - I was fine, but I was feeling a little like a zombie, as you do when you don’t get much sleep the night before!
We both had a “twice backed potato” which was really very nice as it had been mixed with ham and cheese, and baked again, and it came with two side salads. A large meal for the middle of the day, so we though we might have a light meal for dinner!
This Museum was really very very good. Apart from what seemed like random exhibits on the Ancient Egyptians, Ancient Cyprus, and a Roman exhibit, pretty much everything was either Irish, from Ireland, or had Irish connections. Irish archaeology spanning from the Palaeolithic (stone age) right up to Medieval archaeology was displayed, and I have to say, the Irish have some pretty impressive archaeology. The prehistoric pottery was very different from English pottery - ours is plain with occasionally some decoration, while Irish pottery is FULL of patterns, filling the entire surfaces. Some pots even came with lids - which we don’t see in England - and the patterns went from rim to base.
The Irish seem to have quite a lot in the way of textiles and leather, and also wood - a wooden cauldron was quite an impressive piece - probably because Ireland had a lot of natural peat bogs in which this stuff was found. The waterlogged conditions preserve things like wood, leather, and any textile really, so these things barely perish in places like this. We saw a lot of shoes and leather capes, and scabbards and sheaths for swords, some of which were intricately decorated with the typical celtic pattern we associate with Irish Iron Age archaeology.
Something else which was exhibited in an interesting way, I thought, were bog bodies. They had all been found in peat bogs, so the skin and hair had been preserved, which was quite amazing to see. The interesting thing was how they were displayed. The entire exhibit showed other things which had been discovered in bogs due to the amazing preservation conditions, but the bodies were hidden away in the middle of circular walls which you had to walk around to get into, to see the bodies. I thought this was a good way of displaying them, because not only were they lit dimly to preserve them, but it shielded them from eyes which did not wish to see them, and allowed people to enjoy the rest of exhibit without seeing them if they didn’t wish to. I think this also gave the bodies an enormous amount of respect too, especially as all the bog bodies here were killed in such unpleasant ways. It was a really good way of exhibiting them.
So, we made our way back home to enjoy a nice cup of tea, relax and hopefully have a better night’s sleep than last night, and being EXTRA careful with those stairs. All this time I have been worrying about Mathew falling down them, and I ended up being the one to do it instead!
Wednesday 2nd June
Last night I slept much better than the night before! Still stiff in the right shoulder and ribs area, but I felt it was improving.
Today we were off to the Wicklow Mountains, and we took the scenic route, of course. As we entered the Wicklow Mountain National Park, the landscape turned into peat bog, and at some points we could see how think the peat was. I remember from the Museum yesterday that 98% of Ireland’s natural peat bogs are gone due to fuel extraction, so this being a National Park, is protected. The cotton grass was out which was how I could tell it was a bog.
The landscape changed from peat bog to heath land to forest, reminding us of the road to Tofino in Canada, Scotland, Yorkshire and the Derbyshire Peak District all in one go! The roads were rough and windy, and we stopped off at several viewpoints along the way, and eventually we got to the Heritage/Visitors Centre in Glendalough, which we didn’t go in with the exception to ask for a map of walks and some information about the park. It looked pretty empty though…
First, we strolled around the historic ruins. We walked through “The Gateway” to the “Monastic City” of Glendalough which took us into the old graveyard with its old old gravestones. There was a round tower in the graveyard, very much like the one we saw at Monastaboice just the other day, only this one was complete. Like all or most of these round towers in Ireland, this was built of solid granite and mica-slate, standing at 30 metres in height with the doorway 3.5 metres from the base. It had a complete conical roof although it had been rebuilt from the original stones. They were bell towers but were also used as store houses and places of refuge in times of attack.
There was a small church of “St.Kevin” which we couldn’t enter, but it too had a little round tower at the end, as its spire, and the “Priest’s House” which as in ruins, but almost totally reconstructed from the original stones based on a 1779 sketch, we could walk around and explore. along with the Cathedral. There are more monuments and ruins like these nearer the water.
We decided that it was really quite hot and layers and thick socks were removed before continuing. We did two walks combined into one. The first was the pink route called “Poulanass” which from the Irish imeans “Hole of the waterfall” and we stopped when we got to the Upper Lake for lunch just 20 minutes into the walk. Afterward, we followed the route up hill and this was where I got my walking sticks out - which I found out today, are REALLY very good! I was having trouble breathing at points because of my bruised ribs on one side, but I soon discovered a position to take in order to take a big breath. I went at my own pace, but the sticks made it better, made me go faster, and I really felt I was getting a full body work out and not just using my legs. I think if I hadn’t had them, I almost definitely would have been moaning all the way.
We soon got to the junction where the second walk called “The Spic” began. It was basically ALL uphill. Now, I don’t usually go for these, but I had my sticks and I was in the mood for achieving something today, and although we didn’t complete the entire walk of “The Spic”, we got to the very top where we were rewarded with a great view which we enjoyed for a little while before going back down. The entire walk here had been on wooden board walks, basically large chunks of wood which were built as a staircase. I actually felt scared coming down them, mainly because of my fear of falling which arose from what happened on Monday, but all the wood was covered with chicken wire and had lots of these metal stud things in to prevent slipping. AND I had my sticks. I had to stop a couple of times because my legs were feeling wobbly, otherwise I made it just fine back to the beginning of “The Spic”. My right knee was just starting to hurt as I bent it so I had to change my stride to come down with a straight right leg. This was the bruised knee….! Everything else was fine, I just think I burned quite a few calories today! The total distance we walked today was 7km (4.5miles), and the total ascent was 250metres which I have to say, is pretty damn good going for me, not being an experienced walker! The sticks definitely helped, and I don’t care whether or not its real or psychological! They’re great!
We celebrated by going back to the main hub of the Glendalough where Mathew got some strawberry sorbet and I decided to get an ice cream “99” with a flake, the ice cream flavoured with butterscotch sauce. MmmMmm! Just what you need after a good long “up” walk! So much for "99" these days, this one was E2.50! While we were there, we noticed there seemed to be a randomly ad hoc “market” there selling souvenirs and such like. I had a look, but I couldn’t find anything I liked. You know you get good souvenir shops and bad souvenir shops? Well, this wasn’t really either, it was a souvenir shop in limbo selling nothing particularly special. I checked out the postcards and I couldn’t find anything I liked at all, that I wanted to send home. I was hoping to send some tomorrow but I just couldn’t find some really nice ones. Perhaps I was being too picky? I have noticed there seems to be a distinct lack of Irish souvenir shops where we have been so far. Not even the Visitors Centre had anything - and it was more like an information desk, as you had to pay to get in and see an exhibition, and there wasn’t even a shop there. I found this lack of shops very strange, and I just wanted there to be something, as so far I hadn’t bought any sort of souvenir for myself, save a small book for the National Museum of Ireland which I bought yesterday. I was looking for something like a cross stitch kit or something - and I hadn’t seen anything like that so far. I don’t want a bright green furry hat with a Guinness logo on it or a t-shirt with a shamrock on - I want interesting, unusual things. I ‘m pretty sure they do exist though, as I am sure we have driven past a few shops which may have sold something more interesting but we couldn’t stop in the middle of the street now, could we?!
We started off on our long journey back - this would be the furthest we were going to travel this week, with the exception of driving to our second holiday cottage on Saturday. We stopped off at Aldi in Ashbourne to get a few bits and pieces and finally made it home at 7:15pm, which is the latest we’d come back that week. Hopefully a really good night’s sleep would follow.
Today we were off to the Wicklow Mountains, and we took the scenic route, of course. As we entered the Wicklow Mountain National Park, the landscape turned into peat bog, and at some points we could see how think the peat was. I remember from the Museum yesterday that 98% of Ireland’s natural peat bogs are gone due to fuel extraction, so this being a National Park, is protected. The cotton grass was out which was how I could tell it was a bog.
The landscape changed from peat bog to heath land to forest, reminding us of the road to Tofino in Canada, Scotland, Yorkshire and the Derbyshire Peak District all in one go! The roads were rough and windy, and we stopped off at several viewpoints along the way, and eventually we got to the Heritage/Visitors Centre in Glendalough, which we didn’t go in with the exception to ask for a map of walks and some information about the park. It looked pretty empty though…
First, we strolled around the historic ruins. We walked through “The Gateway” to the “Monastic City” of Glendalough which took us into the old graveyard with its old old gravestones. There was a round tower in the graveyard, very much like the one we saw at Monastaboice just the other day, only this one was complete. Like all or most of these round towers in Ireland, this was built of solid granite and mica-slate, standing at 30 metres in height with the doorway 3.5 metres from the base. It had a complete conical roof although it had been rebuilt from the original stones. They were bell towers but were also used as store houses and places of refuge in times of attack.
There was a small church of “St.Kevin” which we couldn’t enter, but it too had a little round tower at the end, as its spire, and the “Priest’s House” which as in ruins, but almost totally reconstructed from the original stones based on a 1779 sketch, we could walk around and explore. along with the Cathedral. There are more monuments and ruins like these nearer the water.
We decided that it was really quite hot and layers and thick socks were removed before continuing. We did two walks combined into one. The first was the pink route called “Poulanass” which from the Irish imeans “Hole of the waterfall” and we stopped when we got to the Upper Lake for lunch just 20 minutes into the walk. Afterward, we followed the route up hill and this was where I got my walking sticks out - which I found out today, are REALLY very good! I was having trouble breathing at points because of my bruised ribs on one side, but I soon discovered a position to take in order to take a big breath. I went at my own pace, but the sticks made it better, made me go faster, and I really felt I was getting a full body work out and not just using my legs. I think if I hadn’t had them, I almost definitely would have been moaning all the way.
We soon got to the junction where the second walk called “The Spic” began. It was basically ALL uphill. Now, I don’t usually go for these, but I had my sticks and I was in the mood for achieving something today, and although we didn’t complete the entire walk of “The Spic”, we got to the very top where we were rewarded with a great view which we enjoyed for a little while before going back down. The entire walk here had been on wooden board walks, basically large chunks of wood which were built as a staircase. I actually felt scared coming down them, mainly because of my fear of falling which arose from what happened on Monday, but all the wood was covered with chicken wire and had lots of these metal stud things in to prevent slipping. AND I had my sticks. I had to stop a couple of times because my legs were feeling wobbly, otherwise I made it just fine back to the beginning of “The Spic”. My right knee was just starting to hurt as I bent it so I had to change my stride to come down with a straight right leg. This was the bruised knee….! Everything else was fine, I just think I burned quite a few calories today! The total distance we walked today was 7km (4.5miles), and the total ascent was 250metres which I have to say, is pretty damn good going for me, not being an experienced walker! The sticks definitely helped, and I don’t care whether or not its real or psychological! They’re great!
We celebrated by going back to the main hub of the Glendalough where Mathew got some strawberry sorbet and I decided to get an ice cream “99” with a flake, the ice cream flavoured with butterscotch sauce. MmmMmm! Just what you need after a good long “up” walk! So much for "99" these days, this one was E2.50! While we were there, we noticed there seemed to be a randomly ad hoc “market” there selling souvenirs and such like. I had a look, but I couldn’t find anything I liked. You know you get good souvenir shops and bad souvenir shops? Well, this wasn’t really either, it was a souvenir shop in limbo selling nothing particularly special. I checked out the postcards and I couldn’t find anything I liked at all, that I wanted to send home. I was hoping to send some tomorrow but I just couldn’t find some really nice ones. Perhaps I was being too picky? I have noticed there seems to be a distinct lack of Irish souvenir shops where we have been so far. Not even the Visitors Centre had anything - and it was more like an information desk, as you had to pay to get in and see an exhibition, and there wasn’t even a shop there. I found this lack of shops very strange, and I just wanted there to be something, as so far I hadn’t bought any sort of souvenir for myself, save a small book for the National Museum of Ireland which I bought yesterday. I was looking for something like a cross stitch kit or something - and I hadn’t seen anything like that so far. I don’t want a bright green furry hat with a Guinness logo on it or a t-shirt with a shamrock on - I want interesting, unusual things. I ‘m pretty sure they do exist though, as I am sure we have driven past a few shops which may have sold something more interesting but we couldn’t stop in the middle of the street now, could we?!We started off on our long journey back - this would be the furthest we were going to travel this week, with the exception of driving to our second holiday cottage on Saturday. We stopped off at Aldi in Ashbourne to get a few bits and pieces and finally made it home at 7:15pm, which is the latest we’d come back that week. Hopefully a really good night’s sleep would follow.
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