Farewell England........

Some final images captured as we ventured the highways & byways of Devon & Cornwell......

Lovely London - some familiar & not so familiar images.........

Bloomsbury Square - the heart of the artists & artisans district..

Leicester Square - the theatre district......

Big Ben - standing tall and sparkling clean for 'London 2012' - the Jubilee celebrations & the Olympics

The dome of St Paul's Cathedral, so much in the news in recent days with the Queen's Jubilee Celebrations

Note the cloudless blue sky.....

So long London - until the next time....










Thank you for joining us on our travels, may the travelling spirits be with you...............

At this stage no more grand travel sojourns are planned but stay posted for an update on the craft adventures - next stop weaving!  Nameste........

Home again.............Au Revoir France

Greetings from School Lane........... Robyn & I arrived home safe & sound from London via Hong Kong. We both agreed it was a wonderful trip, very refreshing - good food for body & soul!
While travelling is great it's always good to be home again surrounded by family, friends & familiarity!

Two of my lovely nieces with one of the latest additions to our family - my great nephew. He is much loved & cherished and....... greatly photographed!!

Some final images to bid au revoir to glorious France. I'll let the pictures tell their own story.......

Nantes & Pour l'Amour du Fil where we were treated to a glorious array of quilts & other textile art projects ranging from the traditional to the wild & wondrous and even some art quilts with a serious message.....

Chateau de Chenonceau



Monet's Garden

 

Paris...........

Au revoir until our next sojourn in France........................Stay posted for the farewell post to England - coming soon...............

Thank you for joining us on our grand adventure & may the travelling spirit be with you!!

London & surrounds.....

Our great travel adventure is drawing to a close but before we depart a little about our visits to areas surrounding London.

Oxford one of the world's great university towns with a rich history dating back 750 years...

Hampton Court Palace the one time home of King Henry V111 & located on the River Thames.....

The Palace houses an amazing collection of tapestries, many from the time of Henry V111. How talented the artisans & weavers were who designed & woven these works - just look at some of the amazing detail in these pieces......

We went to the Theatre to see the wonderful musical Jersey Boys. It was fabulous.......it put a real "spring in the step"....  My niece Merran joined us and before the show we had dinner at a local mexican restaurant where Mez works..........

It's been a wonderful trip but after 6 weeks we depart London today for our homeward journey via Hong Kong. Stay posted - the next blog will be coming from School Lane...........

London - where the sun does shine!!

We have been in London for nearly 2 weeks & I must say it is as entertaining as ever. We have enjoyed the sights & sound and spent time with my lovely niece Merran who is currently living & working in London. In particular she introduced us to the Borough Markets, well known London fresh food markets offering an amazing selection of fresh foods and wines...... We lunched on some delicious delights, along with hundreds of Londoners & other travellers!

But..........today, dear Reader, I'm delighted to report that coats, scarves & boots have been cast aside because, at long last, warm weather & sun shine has arrived................. To celebrate we spent much of yesterday out & about enjoying the sun. The afternoon was spent roaming around the north London suburb of Hampstead - an area I lived in when I worked in London in my youth!! We finished the day with a lovely walk on Hampstead Heath and joined many others napping on the grass around the heath's pond......

The view sky ward from our resting spot on the grass..............

St Paul's Cathedral under a glorious blue sky!

Our roaming also took us to Westminster Cathedral with its glorious collection of mosaics. This is a recently added mosaic of St Paul.....

Finally on a sunny day the locals doing what Londoners do well - sitting in the midday sun enjoying their lunch.....

Earlier in the week we joined English friends for a long lunch at Kettners Restaurant in Soho. These are friends from past travel adventures to the Wonderful Workshops in Jaipur India so their was much talk & catching up! We enjoyed a wonderful afternoon celebrating joy of friendship....

For a wonderful 360 degree bird's eye view of London I recommend a ride on the London Eye....

One familiar view from The Eye on a somewhat overcast day......

We've had a few day trips outside London including to Oxford & Hampton Court Palace, so stay posted for more about that later. Tonight we are off to the West End to see the Jersey Boys....
Until the next post, K & R......  

We are

Cornwell & Devon....

Blogging has been a bit slow on this trip as it's been hard to find internet access that enabled easy uploading of photos & what is a blog entry without photos????
Initially we arrived in London, hired a car & travelled to Cornwell via Somerset. We spent a week based in the quaint town of Fowey on Cornwell's south coast. In spite of almost constant rain we enjoyed our travels around Cornwell & Devon.

Fowey is an old fishing village with steep narrow streets leading from the cliff top down to the fishing cove. The streets are barely wide enough for a single car, so it was a case of pedestrians jumping into door ways or any available space to allow cars to pass

Our cottage was located on the cliff top, so.......depending on our daily perspective / mood the steep streets provided good exercise or a real challenge!!

In its early days Fowey was a fishing village but these days it has reinvented itself as a popular holiday destination.

You can probably appreciate the steep walk from the water front to the cliff top!

These are the steps leading from the road to our cottage. There are numerous steeps around the village & these are called as "Steep Steps" - and, how appropriate!!

The streets, houses & gardens of Fowey.....................

We also spent some time exploring Devon, specifically the Dartmoor area which was home to ancestors of mine who came to Australia in the 1850's. Buckfastleigh was the birth place of my great, great grandparents - these are the ruins of Holy Trinity Church where my ancestors would no doubt have worshipped & the surrounding cemetry is the final resting place of some....

My great grandmother, Kathleen Chaffe, was born in Princeton which is located in the middle of the inhospitable Dartmoor moors. This town is also home to the infamous Dartmoor Prison which still operates as a corrective centre to this day.

On a lighter note, we visited Port Isaac, a quaint village on Cornwell's north coast. It's claim to fame is that it was location for the filming of Doc Martin. Fans of this delightful program will recognised Doc's home, the school & the harbour..........

We bid farewell to Fowey & Cornwell & headed for London via Salisbury.

More about London soon, so stay posted!! Until the next post, K & R........

PS: The last few days in London have provided fine weather & some promise of sunshine!!