Scotland
June 22nd
On the cross country train from Bristol Temple meads to Edinburgh.
Departed on time at 10:33am
Full train. Half the coach faces forward and the other half faces backwards.
Something strange at Birmingham. We joined with another train with 4 coaches and at the next stop we had to move to the front for, which had passengers. We had to stand for hours.
We reached York at 3pm.
We arrived in Edinburgh at 5:35.
We took 2 Ubers, once to get the keys and another to the aBNB.
Not the stairs to a dungeon, but to our aBNB.
Spot door 60. That is the entrance to the aBNB.
Across from the aBNB.
England
June 2nd
Ali is mostly packed, I have not even started yet but I did give Gemini (AI) our itinerary and it produced a great looking packing list.
As I work through it, I will post it as an example of AI good/bad.
It was good list.
June 4th
Mostly packed. Getting ready to head of to the airport.
5:35pm.
Checked in and at Elways in terminal A.
Very nice.
Cheers!
6:50pm
Speakeasy at gate A38
Looks like a bookshop but has a hidden door to the bar.
Nice cocktails🍸
7:45
Boarding
June 5th
ENGLAND
Arrive at Heathrow safe and sound.
Now in Eastleigh
66F cloudy
We went to the, Rufus pub, but it was full so we went to an Indian restaurant instead.
Really nice food.
June 6th
60F, cloudy some sun and rain.
Penny, Aiden, Addison and Alex as well as Luke, Sara, Sid and Liam are all at the house with Mavis.
Simon and Andrea put on a great feast for us all.
Weather stayed dry.
June 7th
Off to Painton, Devon, for 3 days
Lovely hotel, Mercure. On the sea front. It has a very nice breakfast buffet.
We went to a pub, The Hyde Deny, Ali and I had their special, which was steak and ale pie. Yum
Mum, Simon and Andrea had the carvery.
It was all very good. 2 pies, kids carvery, bottle of wine and 2 beers was 73.40 UKP
Jet lag kicking in.
Weather, 60F cloudy and some wind.
June 8th
Slept well. Raining.
Breakfast at 9am in the hotel.
Going on a steam train then a ferry to Dartmouth and a river boat harbour tour.
It stopped raining!
Lovely day now.
We had lunch at, The Mad Hatters tea shop.
Ali shared a prawn cocktail sandwich and I had a Coronation chicken sandwich.
Topped off by a Devonshire cream scone for two. So full. Delicious.
Later...
We went the, Boathouse restaurant. We had fish and chips and a side of panco prawns with Rose Marie sauce.
Very tasty.
Lots of walking today.
Fabulous day. Great weather. Great company.
June 9th
The weather today has been very changeable one time it's raining and it's cold and windy and then it's sunny it's been like that for the last day or so.
Today we went to Brixham via the bus and then we walked around had a pasty then we went for a coffee and flapjack.
After we went to Torquay by bus and we walked around and had a cider at, The Docks, coffee shop which is by the water side, with lots of boats moored. People watching was good. 😄
After dinner we walked to Goodrington. Amazing walk. We got the bus back to the hotel.
The weather was very changeable but it was a wonderful day.
June 10th
Sunny day. Spoke to soon. It's pouring down with rain.
Driving back to Eastleigh today. We stopped at, Cockington village. Lovely thatched cottages and a stately home. Beautiful grounds. Old trees. We had coffee and snacks in the coffee shop.
We then stopped at a town that, Prince Charles (at that time), helped to design called Poundbury.
We had a cider there as the garden center stopped serving food minutes before we got there.
We then stopped at a Harvester next to the pub, Ham Farm. Close to where Simon and Andrea live. Great meal.
June 11th
Heading of to Heathrow today to pick up Dani. She will be staying with us at Simon and Andrea's home.
Lots of rain today. Temp 65f.
Back all ok. We all went to eat at, Alma pub and carvery. Very nice.
Ended the day watching, "Later with Jools Holland". Some weird andv some wonderful bands.
Of note, Jessie Ware, Sekou,
June 12th
Heading to Exmouth to meet up with the Bristol crew. We are staying in large home by the beach for three days.
4 Foxholes Hill, Exmouth EX8 2DF, UK. Amazing!!
We stopped at Lyme Regis, had a walk around. Very pretty views.
We ate at the, Rock Point pub, for fish and chips. It was really good. Came with curry and tartar sauces.
The house we are renting is amazing
This really is where we are staying.
It's a family reunion.
June 13th
Ali's birthday.
Ali, Sally and Mishy went shopping while Tim and I went looking for a coffee shop.
Somehow we ended up in the Queen Vic and the then the Grape Vine pubs. Coffee was great.
June 14th
Sunny day.
The force is strong with the Queen Victoria and Grapevine pubs, as Tim and I found our selves there again today.
The world has been set to rights.
The youngens had fun on the beach and in the pool and hot tub.
Ali, Sally, Tim and I went to the Grove pub for dinner.
Roast beef dinner and a lemon sole a delicious.
Weather glorious. So lucky.
June 15th
Heading back to Eastleigh. Brent kindly drove us. It was about 3 hours.
Lovely sunny day. We have been so lucky with the weather.
Stopped at a really nice town called, Beer. Really, who knew such a town existed?
We had a lovely full breakfast at Bay View, where we stretched our legs.
Then on to Eastleigh.
Later we went to the, Cricketers, pub. 9 adults and 5 children. Great pub with good food.
Simon, Dani and me walked to pub and back.
Weather has been very good, cloudy but dry, low 70s F.
June 16th
We did a lot of walking today.
First to a park with a slide swings and paddling pool.
Then on to the Lakeside park. The have a miniature railway you can ride on. We were lucky today as it was running.
We rode it to the station for a coffee, but the shop was closed so we had an ice cream instead. Worked for me!
We ended up going to the Cricketers again, as everywhere else was closed.
We are outside. And it rained a bit, we still had a great time.
I had the Sheppard pie, made with lamb. Maybe a bit too lamby for me. But still good. Ali had the chicken and ham hock pie which was very good.
June 17th
Mums 90th birthday!
Shopping in Eastleigh for vitals, before going to Romsey with mum for a walk around the park and a cup of tea.
At 6pm we all met athe Harvester Harm farm.
They looked after us well.
History was made as this is the first time we have all ben together!
Lovely day.
England 4 Croacia 2 in Dallas, World cup first round.
June 18th
We drove into Southampton to shop for Dani's birthday present.
Sunny day 72F
Do you like it with or without the bus?
Simon and I went our own way around John Lewis , TKMax, and a sports shop.
We had lunch in John Lewis. I had Steak and ale pie and minted peas and a flat white. Simon had a tuna and cucumber sandwich and an pot of tea.
Later we went to the country side. A quaint pub called the Tichborne Arms.
Very nice location with great food.
We had fish and chips and minted peas, and dessert was sticky toffee pudding and plum crumble with custard and ice cream.
June 19th
Sunny in the 70s. UK is expecting a great wave next week.
We went to Eastleigh a couple of times today. Groceries and coffee. Then a few points in the Wagon pub.
Later we met with my mum at the Masala lounge. Very nice Indian food and later we went to the King Rufus pub for a night cap.
Very hard saying goodbye to mum.
June 20th
Heading for Bristol for phase two of the trip.
Bristol.
Royal York Crescent, where we are staying for a few days.
Sally and Tim's backyard.
Sally made us paella. Very nice.
Earlier Tim and I went exploring
Clifton suspension bridge as seen from the White Lion pub.
July 20th
Happy Fathers day everybody.
Sally and Ali are going shopping into Bristol.
Tim is prepping for a BBQ.
While Dani and I go for a walk for a sausage roll and a ham doughnut. Yum.
Then we walked to the Clifton suspension bridge.
Walking back through the crescent...
Packing now, getting ready for 6 to 7 hour train ride to Edinburgh.
Bristol and the South are expecting a heat wave.
Scotland will be cooler.
June 25th
Off to Scotland.
Heading to Temple Meads station. Train leaves at 10:30am
Goto the Scotland tab for more travel blogs.