Oxford

An easy drive today to Oxford where we said goodbye to the car after 6 weeks of driving around the UK. We caught a cab to our accommodation The Buttery on Broad Street which is the main street in Oxford.

Although it was early we were able to check in and leave our luggage. It was in one of the oldest streets and one of the oldest buildings in Oxford and it showed but at least we had a place to stay. We did a bit of information gathering and decided we would go to Blenheim Palace even though it was after 12. 

We caught the bus there and after about 30 minutes arrived and made our way up the long drive. As we walked through the entrance and into the great court we were gobsmacked by the size of the place. As usual Peter did his thing and I did mine. 

The drive up to the entrance of Blenheim Palace

The palace is a World Heritage Site and was a gift of Queen Anne to the first Duke of Marlborough after his victory at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. Through successive generations the family has managed to hold onto the palace even though at times there had been dukes who had been less than careful with money and at one time Blenheim Palace was almost left to ruin but with determination it became a place where the public could visit and enjoy. 

The family name is Churchill and the famous Winston Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace but due to the way family legacies work in the UK he never became a duke but certainly an icon in British history. There is a Winston Churchill exhibition that we walked through  before you arrive at the guided tour point. Peter is especially interested in this so as the tour is about to begin I leave him and make my way to the meeting point. As part of that exhibition you can see the actual room where Winston Churchill was born, as he was born prematurely when his mother was visiting Blenheim Palace. In the exhibition there is a quote from Churchill saying “At Blenheim I took two very important decisions: to be born and to marry. I am happily content with the decisions I took on both those occasions”

The bedroom where Winston Churchill was born

The velvet siren suit and monogrammed slippers he wore during the long nights on duty during WWII

The tour started in the west and south corridors which are off the Great Hall with portraits of a number of the Duchess’ of Marlborough and moved through to show off collections of ceramics which had been given to one of the Duke of Marlboroughs by a priest who had collected them from his travels in China. There were more ceramics that the family had collected, some with very eclectic designs.

The Great Hall has a beautiful painting on the ceiling which at the time we visited was accentuated by a magnificent chandelier which was part of an art installation by a Chinese artist. Throughout the rest of the tour there were further installations in each room some of them distracting from the nature of the room itself.

The beautiful painted ceiling in the Great Hall

 

Each of the rooms had a number of portraits of the inhabitants of Blenheim Palace and paintings but most impressive of all were the tapestries depicting scenes from the Duke of Marlborough’s victory at the Battle of Blenheim. They have hung in the palace for hundreds of years are quite large. Very difficult to photograph and fit them in one picture and to do them justice. The saloon is one room that the family use every Christmas Day for lunch and I can imagine what the table would look like when set for a lavish meal. This setting is quite sedate apparently.

The saloon

The rooms are lavishly decorated with various objects from all over the world. It would be difficult to describe each one in detail.  One of the largest rooms is the Long Library which is a gallery 56 metres long and 10 metres high. It features beautifully stuccoed ceilings which are just fantastic.

The Long Library

Queen Anne statue

At one end is a large statue of Queen Anne who originally gave the palace to the 1st Duke of Marlborough was very imposing. 

As the tour finished I met Peter outside and then it was time to go as it was getting late. I didn’t get to see as much as I would have liked of the grounds as they are quite extensive but at least got to see part of the palace.  Back on the bus and off to dinner and bed.

Day 2
 We started today with a walk to the railway station to see how we would fare getting all our bags there if we walked as the next leg of our journey is by train into London. It was not far but we would be battling Monday morning crowds with our bags so decided we would take a cab. The streets were deserted which was very pleasant as yesterday we found that Oxford seemed a bit crowded.

As we walked around we came upon Oxford Castle so had a look around the exterior and took a couple of photos and moved on. We walked some more and coffee in a cafe at the Church of St Mary the Virgin. This church has been on the same site for 1000 years. While we didn’t go inside we did enjoy some coffee and cake before we made our way back to Broad Street to meet our walking tour guide.

Oxford Castle

Radcliffe Camera which houses the Radcliffe Library

As we waited we watched the passing parade of people which was very interesting even for a Sunday. 

We met our guide Simon and we were thinking ok what is this guy going to be like because at first he seemed a little bit strange. In fact he was very good, all that stuff about a not judging a book by it’s cover came to mind. 

In fact he was an excellent and very knowledgeable, far too many facts to remember them all but one that stuck was the All Saints College.

The spires were designed to commemorate the architect Christopher Wren. They are shaped like telescopes, (another fact that we were not aware of is that Christopher Wren was was actually an Astronomer by training). They are also arranged such that if you draw a line from peak to peak it forms a “W” for Wren.

All Saints College and the spires

We walked past all of the major colleges including the one where J.R.R Tolkein was a Don and the Bodelian Library, and learnt a little about each. The Bodelian Library courtyard was a perfect square and when you looked at it it looked exactly right. We took a couple of photos underneath the discipline which we thought was most like us or what we would have studied even though when first set up you had to do all the disciplines. Such a wealth of knowledge. Simon was also very good at nominating additional activities and places for us to visit in the afternoon, which we dually did.

 

One of the attractions Simon pointed out was the Turf Inn, famous for Bob Hawke breaking the record for downing a yard of ale in under 11secs. We had a few pints under the sign commemorating his feat, very enjoyable. We would never had known about this as it is down a narrow alleyway and then hidden further down another one. 

 

On a Sunday a lot of the colleges are open to the public for a fee as paid admission helps provide funds for them. There were a couple with lines out the door so obviously some people were interested but we weren’t. 

Off to forage for dinner which was at the King’s Arms which has stood on the same corner for 400 years. Home again to get ready for another day of travel this time by train.

Cambridge

Driving today was a bit different as we were diverted because of roadworks and for awhile we weren’t sure we were going the right way. The diversion was a long way out of the way we had anticipated but we followed the signs for most of the way and then put our faith in Doris and she didn’t steer us wrong. It added quite a bit of time to our journey but we got to see some lovely countryside. We finally arrived and found our accommodation where we left the car and went for a walk to find some lunch. This was in a pub as it was getting late and we needed something quickly.

As is our custom we walked the streets getting our bearings which wasn’t hard as Cambridge itself isn’t too big and with only a 2 night stay we weren’t venturing far out of the immediate area. The town is full of people on bicycles weaving in and out of traffic and we found that if you didn’t get out of their way they would almost run you over. Mind you no bell to warn they are approaching so you can get out of their way. 

The Common across from our hotel

 

The River Cam and some of the punting boats.

We walked along the river and watched some of the punting boats going by and it was very pleasant as it was a lovely sunny day. There were lots of people touting the punt rides but we thought we would leave that until the next day. As we walked back to the hotel we walked across one of the many open spaces in Cambridge called commons and on the bike path there is a counter of the bikes that pass each day. A very interesting way of seeing the impact of how many people pass by one spot every day.

Day 2  

Decided to take some photos of the counter just to show how many cyclists actually go past this one point. This wouldn't by any means be every cyclist in the city but just those that go past this one point.

In the morning

After we came back in the afternoon

After dinner

Our first task for the day was to send some of the guide books home that I had bought throughout our trip so far as we didn’t have room for them in our bags and they would also weigh them down. Well two post pack envelopes and 5 kg later they were gone. I wonder if they will beat us home.

We decided like in many other places to do a walking tour of Cambridge with one of the free ones available. As were early we did a bit of a look around near King’s College. When we were waiting a young girl approached Peter and asked if she could take a photo of him and his hat! She was doing a photography assignment on unusual hats! Well wasn’t Peter chuffed at that! I will never hear the end of it! Peter insists that it was an assignment on classic hats!

King's College

We started our walking tour with Richard which was very entertaining with lots of stories along the way but they all escaped me after a lady on the tour fell and severely broke her arm and wasn’t in a good state. So after waiting with the tour until the ambulance arrived, the tour was then abandoned. 

Pembroke College

We found some lunch and then decided on a punting tour. It was a nice way to finish an eventful day. The young man who was doing the punting was very interesting with stories about the colleges and the way Cambridge developed. The college system is quite different to the way we do things I think. There were quite a lot of boats on the river and when I asked him what it was like in summer he said that sometimes there were so many that it took a lot of manoeuvring to get them all around.

Loved the colour of the ivy on this building

Back of King's College

Mathematical Bridge

Bridge of Sighs not in Venice though

We had decided to have dinner at Jamie’s again so went to find out where it was in the city and it wasn’t hard to find.

Back to the hotel a bit of blogging and then dinner. Another day finished and we are on the downhill run to home.

Peak District

We were sad to leave York as we thought it still had a lot to offer but that’s the nature of a holiday like this there is only so much you can do if you want to see as much as possible.

It was another longish drive during which I decided to write some of a blog post as a lot of the driving was on an A or M road which are like our highways. And it worked as that night I could post the blog! Time well spent I say.

We arrived too early to check into our B&B so we left the car and went to explore this lovely little town.

The Peak district is an area not just one place. Some of the principal towns are Castleton, Bakewell, Buxton and Ashford. We stayed in Castleton a lovely little town settled in the 1100s. Castleton is the most popular of the villages. We made our way to the information centre to see what there was to do in and around the place. This area is known for it’s beautiful scenery and walking trails and as we look around there were a lot of walkers doing their thing. There was also a whole heap of high school students on an excursion looking at the traffic flow and doing a survey about the town and the impact of a cement plant being built nearby. I happily obliged answering some questions from two different groups of students about two separate areas of their study.

We found a little cafe to have lunch in and to see what we wanted to do in the area. At this stage we were a bit jaded after nearly 6 weeks of travelling so we weren’t going to bust a gut to do too much. 

As we walked around to familiarise ourselves we counted 6 pubs and 5 jewellery stores, which for a small town is unbelievable. The jewellery stores all sold a stone called Blue John which comes from the local area as there are lots of caves and caverns in the area.

Peverill Castle

It is a pretty little place and as we look around we see that there is Peverill Castle but it is at the top of a very steep climb and we decided there and then that we would give this one a miss.

We walked up to the Peak Cavern a local tourist attraction but decided we would leave that for tomorrow as we wanted to get settled into our accommodation. We took some photos of the area and of the wonderful stone walls which criss cross the countryside in all the fields and go up the mountains as well. They are just laid one on top of the other with no mortar between the stones and look great in the vast fields that are in the countryside of the UK. 

The stone walls criss crossing the fields

On the way back we have a drink at one of the 6 pubs Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Inn which is just across the road from our accommodation. It has the names of all of the inn keepers of the inn on the beams as you walk into the bar. Very interesting.

The Inn Keepers Beams

We decided that we weren’t going to take our suitcases to our room as it was up 3 flights of very narrow stairs so only took what was necessary for the next 2 days. 

We get ourselves organised and have dinner at the  The Old Nag’s Head Pub which has a great selection of cask ales. I took a couple of photos to send to Ben with the description as he would be very jealous.

A nice dinner and then back to our accommodation ready for tomorrow.

Day 2

One thing about staying in B&Bs is that the breakfasts are generally served between 8.15 and 9am so it gives you a great start to the day and today is no different. Our first stop for the day was the Peak Cavern guided tour. The walk up to the cavern was very pretty, walking beside the Peakshole Water, which is the stream which flows from the cavern and past the cottages that the workers around the area lived in and which now house a lot of B&Bs. 

The Peakshole Water

We made our way into the cavern and started our tour with James showing how the rope makers made ropes in the caves for the local lead mining industry dating back to the 17th century. Peter helped with the demonstration so was given the piece of rope that he and James made. It was very interesting. This is a place where a whole community lived and worked making these ropes. The tour takes you through the cavern and into spaces that are part of a whole section of the underground system of caves. There is one part which is called Lumbago Walk where you have to bend quite a lot to get through to the next area. I know why they called it that!!! 

The rope makers tools

The opening into the cavern

 The tour is very interesting and in the cavern at different times during the year they have events which would be great to attend. The Devil’s Arse was the original name of the Peak Cavern and it is said that Queen Victoria had previously visited the cavern but once she became Queen couldn’t possibly be going into anywhere that was called the Devil’s Arse so bypassed visiting the cavern at that time.

After we left the cavern we had a coffee at the Three Roofs cafe this goes well with the Three Chimneys dinner on the Isle of Skye but can I say the experience wasn’t quite the same.

The Three Roofs Cafe

We decided we would do part of the Cave Dale walk as it was another beautiful day, lovely and sunny with a slight breeze. This walk goes up from the village  and as you go through the gate the sides are almost straight up. As we start the walk it rises gently but we both realised it was much steeper than we thought the more we went on and we weren’t really equipped to go the whole way but even in the short part we did the scenery of the cliff faces was fantastic.

Cave Dale

 

A short walk home and we spend some of the afternoon at the Peak Inn where we sat in the beer garden and had some lunch and I tried to catch up with some of the blog. 

This is another place we will put on the come back to list as we really haven’t touched the surface of how beautiful the scenery is and how much there is to do. 

Dinner was at one of the other pubs The Bull’s Head which wasn’t very busy so it was good for us.