Cheltenham Regency Hotel

... Plunkett is going to Bermuda, and I'm off to Japan. We are all going to redezvous in Hong Kong, and make it through China flying back from Beijing to London!

I hope to tell as many funny/interesting stories as possible in this travel blog :)

I drag myself up at 8.30 in order to meet the 9am breakfast deadline and force down more thoroughly mediocre scrambled eggs and toast. The Cleeve Hill track again beckons and I decide to charge directly up to the summit without regard for trail or track. This proves fairly easy and I reach the peak in about 10 minutes but slightly short of breath. At the top of the hill is a plateau ...

... Earl of Leicester, transformed Kenilworth from a medieval fortress into one of the greatest Tudor palaces so he could entertain Queen Elizabeth I in style for 19 days in 1575, costing millions of pounds. The Keep was breeched during the Civil War in the 1600s. The Great Hall where they dined was huge. It was so cold ...

... and we had a great view of course over fields and little villages.













We did heaps of mud and stiles and Stephen entertained us with two face plants. We eventually found our way to the village of Weston-sub-Edge. It had a 13th ...

... ticket to London on the National Express Coach for 13 pound 50 for both of us. Got it heaps cheaper because booking 3 days in advance ($31). Went for a hot chocolate at Costa’s in a lovely Tudor building. Changed $200 Aus to 79 pounds, bought a vegetable pastie and then went through Shakespeare’s birthplace 9 pounds ($21). Lovely home from the 1500s ...

... we were quite damp. It was fun though and pretty walking across fields with stone walls and through forests.













Of course, there was a lot of slippery mud. Stephen's shoes didn’t have a lot of grip so there were always expletives coming from ...

... the two, had holes in the walls called murder holes to pour boiling water or shoot from to kill them.








We then climbed up and walked along the Ramparts and Towers along the whole front wall. It was so windy and cold. All day we were freezing and our feet were numb. It was about 2 degrees C.





Stratford-upon-Avon, England, United Kingdom hilaryramsey

... br>





We then went home and went for a drive to Bourton-on-the-Water. We paid 3 pounds to park the car for 3 hours and walked into the village called the Venice of the Cotswolds due to the number of little bridges over the shallow little stream running through the middle. Has lovely pubs and beautiful shops. Stopped for lunch and ...

... 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 ...

... upon-Avon. I warned her that it was nothing more than a crowded tourist trap but she refused to listen. I was not surprised to find that she was as unimpressed as I had been, though she did manage to examine every craft and souvenir shop in town. From Stratford we drove to Stanton where we found the Rose Cottage which had eluded Christopher on my previous visit. Equally fascinating was the village church, 'St Michael and all his Angels' which ignited in Margaret ...