Cheltenham Regency Hotel

... of days to say goodbye to all my new friends out there, and on to Mexico City to meet up with my old friend Kim. Again, my inability to drag myself away from Antigua had left me with not enough time in Mexico, but I managed to see a bit of the city and also the Aztec ruins of Teotihuacan, and more importantly to rekindle an old friendship that had been too long neglected. But sorry Mum, sorry Laura - Kim and I are still not getting married! A brief ...

... live and work. It overlooks the plains where the Civil War was fought and was built after the war in 1750. It had a lovely lounge in which we had a drink and then drove back and did our packing.







We walked around to the local for a drink by the fire and then ordered Thai food.

Stephen drove us to Chipping Campden (20 min. away) for our 4 hour walk. It was bitterly cold as a wind was blowing but the sun was out. It was a lovely village and had a lovely open stone market hall from 1627 with an uneven stone floor.









We ...

... back to the river. We went and did a brass rubbing for 7 pounds 50p ($17) of the Earl of Warwick from 1406. We were so cold when we got home that I had to put my feet on the central heating pipes for ages. Called Lavinia in London and arranged to have dinner Monday night. Went to the local for a drink and then home for Coq au Vin.

Woke up early again and it started to snow & was 0 degrees! Had a lazy start to the day. Nathan had a huge breakfast – 3 pain au chocolat, 1 apple, 1 mandarin, 1 piece of toast with an egg!








Today was our hiking day and we drove 1 hour to the village of Bibury ...

... was used to create electricity. We then walked down to the boathouse on the River Avon. We had a great time and really enjoyed it all.













Afterwards we wandered around the town and found a tearoom because Nathan was dying of cold and needed a hot chocolate. It's a pretty town – some ...

... Stow-on-the-Wold and saw the Royalist pub 976AD – oldest pub in England and then to Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter – 2 lovely little villages around a stream and then on to Broadway.










Went out to dinner at Margaret’s in the village of Radway. She lives in the old school house next to the church

... Castle is huge and imposing. We walked around cute little streets and went to a tearoom and had tea with scones and jam. Nathan had a hot chocolate with whipped cream. Took a photo of this really crooked shop. Drove the 1-1/2 hours to Stratford. Nathan fell asleep the last ½ hour. Stratford looks very cute in the dark. Stephen is walking distance to the river Avon and town centre and lives at 22 ...

So this is it, after at least 6 months of planning, saving & working, the day of departure has arrived at last. Its now 15.30 and we are about to set off to Heathrow and onto Rio from there. Don't know how long it'll be till we post the first photo's and stuff, feel free to send some abusive emails if we forget!

August 13, 2000 – Sunday

London to Stratford to Oxford

We arrived in Stratford and took a tour of Anne Hathaway's house (the wife of William Shakespeare). Very short people must have lived here, because there is no head room for me in this house. (BevNote: There are SOME advantages to being short!) There are ...