Fat Quarter Swap & Giveaway

This "travel" blogging has really taken up my month of blogging for October although, believe me, I have been doing other things. I have been quilting on Ava, making goodies for my Christmas Swap and getting caught up on my Fat Quarter Swap.

The theme for September was "for the men" and here is what I sent Wendy B at Sugarlane Quilts

And here is what Wendy sent me.  I don't really do "men things" but these are just perfect fabrics for my Millamac applique patterns.

October was "Food Glorious Food" and Vanessa of Whirling Butterfly received this from me

and in return I received this

 I am going to have to keep a close eye on these goodies as I heard Miss M oohing and aahing over them when they arrived!!

Now to some other important business.......who won the October Giveaway draw?

With the help of that darn Random Number Generator, that I still haven't figured out how to copy and paste the results (although I am certain I have at some stage in the past), picked post number 5 but as "Oops, a little late with September Winner" was exempt for being an announcement rather than a post, I picked the next one which was my post on "Leeds Castle"

Push that RNG button again and # 6 came up this time........who is it?

from "Four Miles North of Nowhere".......Yay, you are the winner this month.  I know you have been following my travels with interest so Congratulations! I will send you an email and if you can reply with your snail mail address, I can get your gift off to you asap.

Windsor Castle, Bath & Stonehenge - Part 3

Driving over the Salisbury Plains, I was so excited. Can't wait to see Stonehenge again. The approach to the site has changed a little. One of the intersecting roads has been taken out and a visitors centre is being built quite a way from the circle. This will go a long way to preserve the area and make a better visiting experience for everyone. The new centre should be opening soon.

 Not sure what gives me goosebumps, a racing heart, and some sort of emotional turmoil within. Is it the site itself, said to have been built on a magnetic energy line running across Britain or is it the mystery of how the stones got here. Who were these people, why did they build it, where did these stones come and how did they build it with just their bare hands? What I do find strange is that even though a very busy major road runs past the site, no traffic can be heard and see those birds on the stones......yea, can't hear any bird sounds either. No sound travels here, it is like you are in a bubble of silence.

Wandering around this site, I never want to leave. I just want to lie here on the grass and mull over all the reasoning surrounding what is left here from construction of the circle around 2600BC

How lucky are these sheep that live in the nearby field and get to view the Henge all the time?

and don't you just love this sweet patch of prettiness. Amongst all that grass was this one patch of wild blossoms. I just had to have a photo

 There are also several Neolithic burial sites called Long Barrows here and I would have loved to have strolled up there for a closer look but not enough time so I had to be satisfied with a photo.

Right, it is getting late, everyone back on the bus for the long journey back to London.

My absolute pleasure!

Windsor Castle, Bath & Stonehenge - Part 2

When I visited Stonehenge in 2006, we stayed in Bath. It was the middle of June, stinking hot and I was really not charmed by the city of Bath! Because of this I sort of felt...Yeah, whatever!....about another visit. I was pleasantly surprised. The drive into Bath took us through some of the most beautiful country side imaginable and my first glimpses of Bath creeping up from the valley into the surrounding hills was quite breathtaking.

The town itself is mostly built from a honey coloured sandstone and there are strict regulations for new buildings to lend themselves to fit in with the architecture of the town. This adds to its charm and makes it a very beautiful city.  At the time of our visit, there were flowers everywhere.  Hung from lamp posts, in hanging baskets, in window boxes and planters. I don't remember this on my last visit.

 Of course everyone who visits here makes their way to the Roman Baths which is the very existance of Bath itself. The history here is old and mostly centres around the Roman occupation and use of the city. The city was also very popular in the Georgian and Victorian Eras when people would visit the spa to recouperate from ailments, either real or imagined. No-one uses the baths now to soak away their troubles.....who would want to? They even discourage people from putting their hands in it although you can drink water from the actual spring.  I am told it tastes and smells like rotten eggs.

 After a walk around the plaza where the baths and the Cathedral are, we made our way back to the bus pick up point. We had very strict instructions to not be late for the pick up as the bus had a designated time slot and would be moved on once over that time, with or without us! As we were approaching the bus stop I noticed an Italian Ice Cream shop which I just HAD to sample. It was crowded so keeping an eye on my watch I waited (im)patiently for my turn.

YUM! and I made it to the bus stop in plenty of time.....Phew!

Goodbye Bath, Stonehenge......here we come!

 

Windsor Castle, Bath & Stonehenge - Part 1

This week was really going fast. Only a few more days left of our holiday and one more Day trip planned. Red and I were heading for Stonehenge.

 Stonehenge has always facinated me and after years of longing to visit, I first did so back in 2006. I was blown away then and really wanted to return so I was really looking forward to this day trip. Now you may be saying, right now, "wow, crazy! it's only a bunch of rocks in the middle of a field"! Right! but I find the atmosphere quite electric. Being there makes the hair stand up on my arms. Seriously!, it does! Stonehenge was the highlight of the day but not the only stop.

First things first, this was going to be a long day and I WAS NOT going to let the slightest twinge of a headache spoil it so I popped a paracetomol with my breakfast and packed the rest in my backpack.

Windsor was the first port of call today. If you have ever been there you will know that Windsor is a lovely little town nestled right outside the walls of a looming Windsor Castle which is one of the Queens official residences. She wasn't home for our visit though.

The Railway Station at Windsor was built in the Victorian era.  Previously, Queen Victoria had to travel to Windsor by River (the Thames River reaches here) and so the Railway station was built for her to have a more comfortable and faster journey.

Queen Victoria's Steam Engine.

Because this is one of the current Queen's main residences, security is taken very seriously with airport style searches and due to the crowds, it took us an hour to get into the grounds. We were taken to the State Rooms for a tour around.  No photography allowed inside. Didn't stop me from being snap happy outside.

Due to the security screen taking so long and the heavy traffic getting here (all going to Legoland - TG) we were advised to buy some lunch to eat on the bus.  The Railway Station is also a lovely shopping precinct so after supplying ourselves with sandwiches and drinks, I hurriedly dragged Red around the little shops looking for curios.

Have a look at this phone box with a difference outside the station.:

Tomorrow I will tell you about Bath.

Regents Park

After the morning at Camden Town, I returned to the hotel to drop off my shopping and collect my camera. I decided to spend the afternoon at Regents Park. A quick glance at the map told me that there is a Rose Garden at the Park......sounds lovely!

The one thing I absolutely love about London is the Tube system.  It is so easy to use and makes getting around this huge city an absolute breeze so with a little planning it didn't take very long to get to the nearest Tube Station and a short walk later I was at Regent Park.

Regents Park, although not as big as Hyde Park, is still a very large area and I was initially a bit confused as to where I was.  Not a problem, there are plenty of "you are here" maps which kept me on track.  I was looking for Queen Mary's Rose Garden.

On the way to the Rose Garden, there was still alot to get my camera snapping. This spot is called The Avenue.

At last I found Queen Mary's Rose Garden and although nearing the end of the season, the roses were still spectacular in mass. Here are some of the single shots I took. Quite a few varieties.

Afterwards I found a park bench and sat awhile and mused over what I would do on my next spare day. Maybe the Zoo or Madame Taussards?

a lovely musing spot

Time to walk again and I made my way towards the lake (much, much bigger than the pond above) stopping for an ice-cream on the way.

This lake was enjoyed by people in those funny looking paddle boats and by lots and lots of birds. I was thrilled to catch a shot of this Heron looking for a feed.

I had a lovely afternoon strolling around this magnificent park and so many beautiful things to photograph (believe me, you are only seeing the half of it!) but this was my favourite shot of the day.

For me, this shot totally epitomises an English Summer Day!
 

Camden Town Markets

There was something I really wanted to find while I was in London. When walking down Oxford Street a couple of weeks previously, I saw someone wearing a t-shirt that I thought Ted would love. It said "Keep Calm, the doctor is here" referring of course to Dr Who. The best place to find anything like this is Camden Street Market. Red had plans with someone he had met on his tour so off I went for my own little adventure.

 This is the High street in Camden and it is crowded with little shops. No high street M&S here but you can buy anything from out there goth, punk or burlesque clothes to hemp lollipops and down at the end where you see the green/yellow sign that says Camden Lock are the most amazing markets ever.

The largest part of the markets is called the Stable Market and it was originally stables for the horses that once upon a time pulled barges up and down the Regent Canal, that runs alongside. One of the charming features of this market are the bronze statues of horses that can be found throughout the building among the stalls.

It took me 4 hours of searching and I was just about to give up.  I had asked every t-shirt stall keeper and on my way back to the tube station I decided on one more shop. I was offered help and when I explained what I wanted he directed me to another part of the market that I had been to very early on.and as I was crossing the road, I saw exactly what I wanted. It turned out that when I was there first thing he had not finished hanging out his range of t-shirts. I nearly hugged him and bought a couple more T's that I thought Ted would like.

I didn't bother taking my camera with me to Camden as I thought I was on a focused mission but I am really sorry that I didn't. While I was there I got to watch a couple of barge homes make their way through the lock and came across quite a few interesting sights that would have been fun to photograph. Thank goodness for smart phones. Thats how I took all these photos.

shoes with dwarves for heels

This shop was the only "real" high street clothing shop around and the shop window which is twice the height of a normal window and ran the whole frontage was filled top to bottom, side to side with antique sewing machines.  It was really hard to get a decent photo but try to imagine! WOW!

With my mission complete I headed back to our hotel at Euston Station. Wonder what I could do for the rest of the afternoon.
 

Dover and Canterbury Cathedral

I have been to Dover before and even though I don't think much to the town itself, they do have a great castle and a fabulous wartime history tour. Today, however, we were just stopping here for some lunch.   We were quite lucky that because it was a bank holiday, we made really good time travelling there and were taken to the war memorial ontop of the white cliffs ......for a quick look.

 Would of been nice to stop on the cliff tops for a picnic and even a short walk but that was not on the agenda. After lunch in Dover itself, we took the tour guides advice to walk to the "beach" (if that is still what you call it when it is pebbles instead of sand) take our shoes off and paddle in the waves.  I wanted to walk to the waters edge to take a photo and since I was wearing slip ons was forced to take them off because I kept getting pebbles stuck in them. Let me tell you now......never walk barefoot on a pebble beach....OUCH!

 Back on the bus and heading for Cantebury I started to feel really yuck.  A migraine was making itself felt and I really should have taken something there and then but I didn't have anything and I didn't think to ask Red. I probably would have enjoyed the trip to Cantebury more if I didn't feel the need to lie down and have a bit of shut eye.

Gateway to the Cathedral

and the Cathedral itself

This is what I know about Cantebury Cathedral, even before visiting it. In the 6th century, the pope noticed two blonde slaves in a Roman market and he was told they were "Angli" (from Anglia or England). He mistook this as meaning Angels from God and it reminded him that Anglia was a godless country.  He made it his mission to bring them back into the fold and sent an emissary to convert them. The king at the time was called Ethelbert of Kent and although he was no Christian, he dearly loved his Christian wife, Bertha, and would do anything to please her.  It was due to her that he agreed to a church being built at Cantebury which is now Cantebury Cathedral. So, you could say that Cantebury is the birthplace of Christianity in England and also explains why the highest religious order in the land is known as the Archbishop of Cantebury. Of course there is a great deal more to the history of this magnificent building including the scandelous murder of a priest (Thomas Beckett)and the dissolution of the Catholic Church having an effect here as well but I like the story of Ethelbert and Bertha most.

Another interesting fact is that during WW2, the Germans bombed Cantebury as part of a reprisal bombing blitz (the English having bombed Cologne), the Cathedral did not suffer any damage. Astonishing since over 10,000 bombs were dropped in and around the town. That aside, I wasn't really listening to or wanting to explore much here as the migraine was getting worse.  I did find the cloisters which was so serene and cool and that green grass was so inviting. However we were running out of time and as much as I wanted to explore the rest of this area of the town, Red wanted to get a couple of things from the shops.

By this time I knew I needed some headache tablets and it turns out Red had some in his backpack and although I expected them to take effect rather quickly, they didn't make me feel better at all and in fact I became more and more unwell.  He had to prepare some "sick bags" for me out of a couple of shopping bags. Since they have holes in the bottom to prevent suffocation, he had to tie some knots in them. By the time we got off the bus at the last stop, Greenwich, I really wanted my bed and didn't know how I was going to get there without the embarrassing act of throwing up in public.  That's right folks, it happened.  Once on the pavement in Greenwich, once on the ferry heading back into London (knew that was going to be a challenge) and finally, I thought I was well enough to get onto the underground at Embankment but once those doors closed, I knew it was a bad idea.  Fortunately, it is not very far to the next station, Charing Cross, and I motioned to Red that I had to get off here and find a bathroom. The bathroom was just too far and if I thought I had nothing left in my stomach, then I was wrong.  An empty commuter tunnel underground had to do. Red was wonderful. Gently patting me on the back and telling me I will feel better soon. Patiently waiting for me to find a bathroom and get cleaned up. I did feel better after that and EVENTUALLY we got back to the hotel but I tell you, I have never felt so happy to see a bed that wasn't my own.

the beautiful stainglass window

That was our trip to Leeds Castle, Dover and Cantebury.  Started fantastic but did not end so well.