London - Camden Market

Packed the car up and we took it back to Avis.

Hopped on the tube to Victoria. Dumped all the gear with Robert and Mum in a taxi and left to go to Camden Market.

Got off the tube at Camden and wandered down the street. Full of stalls and stuff but no cheaper than in town.

Bought some 501s for £45 and Dr Martens for £50.

Karen caught up with Cheryl who is working here for a couple of years.

Back to our hotel for the night.

London - The Tower, Hard Rock Cafe

Got on the train into London. Was midday by the time we got there. Hopped on the Big Bus tour and peeked at bits of London.

Information Centre was full of morons and had no information whatsoever. Karen rang up and got us in at Oxford House Hotel for £54 for a triple room. It is in Cambridge St, Pimlico. Handy to the tube and quite nice.

We went to the Tower of London and looked at bits of English history. Didn't seem anywhere near as good as Edinburgh.

Kicked us out of there and we ate at Hard Rock Cafe in Green Park (Piccadilly St). Yummo! Mike was feeling sick with a bad sore throat and grabbed some lozenges.

Left my bag under the table, but remembered as I was buying the souvenir t-shirts out the front. Whew.

Hopped back on the tube to Ashford at 8:30pm.

Oxford to Ashford

Wandered around the Oxford shops and I bought quite a lot.

Hopped into the car at 12:30pm and drove down to Ashford to stay with Robert's Aunt Helen. She's lovely. Cooked us dinner and treated us well.

Hadrian's Wall, Oxford

Left Edinburgh and headed down the A68. Had a pee(k) at Hadrian's wall.

Hooned down the M1 motorway to Oxford and stayed at the Welsh Pony for £13 each. But no shower. [48 George St, now the OXO Bar http://www.closedpubs.co.uk/oxfordshire/oxford_welshpony.html ]

Oxford looks like a great place. Student town and alive and buzzing with young people.

Edinburgh Castle

Went into town and visited Edinburgh Castle. Great place. Saw the crown jewels. Queenie isn't allowed to wear them. She had her photo taken next to them.

Frank came in from Glasgow and wandered around with us.

Went out for dinner to the Station Restaurant in Castle Road. Quite nice although I preferred the Indian food from John and Vivienne's local takeaway the night before.

Edinburgh Shopping (with all the details)

Picked everyone up at 10am and headed into town for some shopping.

Shopped.

Perth, Palace of Scone, Bannockburn, Stirling Castle, Edinburgh

Had a wee look at the abbey before we took off for Edinburgh. Stopped off at Perth to see the Palace of Scone (pronounced 'Scoon'). It was really interesting. Cost £5 to get in and the grounds were beautiful. The palace itself was set out so you wandered around and the information was fascinating. Learned all about the history of Scotland and their monarchs' problems - and there were a few of them.

The grounds had a fake of the Stone of Scone outside the chapel where the kings and queens were crowned. The real stone has been promised back to Scotland by John Major, but suspicions are high that this is due to the election year. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_of_Scone#Return_to_Scotland]

There were quite a few albino peacocks running around the grounds.

Weather was great too.

Drove through Bannockburn and on to Stirling Castle. Looked out from the top across to the Wallace Monument. I later learned that Mike was visiting Wallace Monument that day, looking back at us! Watched a loopy slide show on the history of Stirling.

Went on to Edinburgh and parked in Castle Tce. Wandered up Princes St to the i. Booked into a B&B in Portobello, not far from John & Vivienne's place.

Called Mike to let him know we were there, and he was in!! Expected him to be away til tomorrow visiting Loch Ness. So, I threw all my stuff in the car and went round.

John, Vivienne and wee Benjamin are very nice. They have a 3 bedroom house with a great nursery for Benjamin. Nuisance is a cute wee cat, but extremely shy. I think her rubbing up to me was a mistake.

Slept on a futon bed that is a couch during the day, in the lounge. Very comfortable.

Skye, Plockton, Eilean Donan Castle, Loch Ness, Inverness, Aberdeen, Arbroath

Woke to a dreadful shower - the only bad thing about this B&B. The breakfast was lovely - nice touches.

There was a spot of rain which continued all day off and on.

We paid the £5.20 toll for the bridge over to Skye (and £5.20 back!). Skye was lovely. Misty clouds over the high hills, but glassy waters. We only went as far as Portree, where I called Mike in Edinburgh and had a wee chat. He's off to Loch Ness tomorrow.

We went back to the mainland, and on to Plockton, as Mum has been watching a TV series called Hamish McBeth which is set here in Plockton. Here was a huge mad cow wandering down the main street too. Completely bonkers!

We stopped at a castle - Eilean Donan castle - to take some photos, then on to a ruined church. Beautiful day to take photos of castles and whatnot.

Down to Loch Ness, and a potter through Urquart Castle at £3. That was great too.

Up to Inverness, where the landscape changed quite a lot to flat rolling countryside with intensive farming. Hay bales everywhere.

Got in to Aberdeen, which looked nice, then saw a fiery red orb disappear in the west. Amazing deep crimson colour.

Drove down to Arbroath, and found a B&B for £16.

Dunoon, Fort William, Kyle of Lochalsh

Och well, we were supposed to get up and be away by 8am, but we didn't stir until 8:30am. An early start was obviously out of the question.

So we finally got away at 10:30am and we headed up through Hell's Glen out towards Dunoon. At Dunoon, we went right through the town with the Firth of Clyde on our left. We had no address for John Dickinson but we had been told he lived in a house with a goat out the front.

Sure enough, we spotted a huge white goat (bigger than Goatum the goat at Malcolm and Aidan's place in Pahiatua) and found John. He lives opposite (on the other side of the Clyde that is) a huge chimney stack that was built to burn oil to make electricity. But, when the oil shock hit it had only been tested once, and never went again. Just blot on the landscape.

The weather was gorgeous - the Firth of Clyde was a brilliant blue and there were windsurfers on it.

We went to the Park Hotel in Dunoon with John and had lunch. I had chicken curry, but my rice was frozen!!!

John was nice. He was obviously chuffed to see Mum. He was sure he was dreaming. Hey reminisced for a few hours. They rang Aunt Nancy, who sounded tuckered out after our stay.

We left John and headed to Tarbet and up to Fort William. Took a snap of Ben Nevis then took the road to the Kyle of Lochalsh near Skye. Saw deer in the hills. Beautiful sunset on the way there.

We will rise early and head back to Invergarry to travel up Loch Ness to Inverness, then over to the east coast.

Nice B&B here. Mrs Munroe. £16.

Inverary, Loch Awe, Oban

Woke quite late at 8:45am and mucked around until 1pm. Then we took off with Aunt Nancy to Oban.

Wandered down through Inverary then around Loch Awe to Oban and back over to Lochgoilhead by 7pm.

Great countryside, although all my photos were through the window. I suspect I have lots of blurred shots of poles and lupins.

Had dinner at Creelers Cottage in Lochgoilhead.

Glasgow, Burrell Collection, Loch Lomond, Alexandria, Lochgoilhead

Karen got in at 7:10am! Must be good nightclubbing in Glasgow. Sounds like she enjoyed herself, but ended up with 1 hour's sleep. Hey, you get that.

After breakfast we left our luggage at reception and Mum and Robert drove out to Johnstone St to visit Robert's uncle and auntie. They then did a trip to Lambhill to try to find the oak tree where Grandma's ashes are buried. Unfortunately neither of them knew what an oak tree looked like!

Karen and I tried to catch a bus from Byrnes Road to the Burrell Collection, but we didn't have much luck. Consequently we flagged a taxi down and got out to the Burrel Collection for £6.90. It was well worth it too. The collection William Burrell had amassed was truly wonderful. Ancient bronze age object, Greek, Cypriot, and Mycenae objects. Through to Chinese objects, tapestries from UK middle ages, beautiful furniture (oak tables etc), limestone doorways and windows. It was all set out marvelously. We saw Rodin's 'The Thinker'. A lot smaller than I thought it would be.

Caught a taxi onto Sauchiehall St for some shopping after that. The specialty shops are great and seem good value, but the department stores seem to be pretty much the same. Marks & Sparks had a great food hall. Lovely lunches you could grab.

Met Frank Allan for lunch and we wandered around with him for quite a while before we met Robert & mum back at Dalrymple Hall. 

Packed all the stuff in and left for Loch Lomond. First stop - Alexandria Hospital where Margaret was being treated. Alas we overshot the hospital by half an hour, but once we got back to Alexandria we found that she had been transferred to Lochgoilhead. So, we headed to Aunt Nancy's in Lochgoilhead. Great drive in, over a pass with a single track road. Misty clouds hanging over the hilltops.

We actually drove up nearly every street in Lochgoilhead before we found Aunt Nancy's house. She has a great wee house.

Spent quite a lot of time talking then Michael turned up and we wandered over to Carrich to visit Roy & Margaret.

Her house is on the other side of Loch Goil up pasts a MOD base. Tridents often come in up the loch. Huge 10 room house looking out over the loch.

Margaret looks like her mum. Small features, same noes and eyes, her mouth is the same as mum's. It was nice to finally meet her.

Roy is nice. He's into diving and has a copper hard hat he is fixing up. I tried it on. Amazing. The lead weights are 90 pounds [40kg], and the shoes are lead too.

Wandered back to Lochgoilhead about midnight and went to bed not long after.

Glasgow exploring

Oops, slept in. You get that. Got up at 8am, showered and had breakfast. Cereal, croissants, bacon and scrambled eggs, and a bit of black pudding.

Hooned into town and left Mike to wander down to the train station and head to Edinburgh to visit Vivienne. Miss him already.

Then we drove up to Everade Quadrant. There was no answer at no. 28 where Mum grew up, but the women across the road, Alice and Lily (mother and daughter), remembered Mum. We had a cup of tea with them. They were lovely old ladies. Their house was a replica of Mum's.

We talked there for a good wee while, then Mum noticed the lady in no. 28. We walked over and Ma looked through no. 28.

Then we went down the road and met the Pattersons. Mrs Patterson and her son Norman.

We visited Mum's school, Colston school, but it had been pulled down and turned into a lab for water testing.

Next stop was to visit Jackie & Nellie Allan in Barmulloch. They were lovely. We arrived at 2pm and didn't leave until about 6pm.

Mum chatted away like mad. Nellie filled Mum in on a lot of the details about Granddad's family. Nellie and Jackie had 10 children. One had died 4 years previous, but the rest were still around. They ranged in age from about 52 down to 34. Patsy was there, and she is the second youngest.

We were treated really well. It was great to see all these faces and places. The youngest son turned up - Frankie, and he took us to see Hazlitt Street, where Mum's family lived when she was a baby. It had all beeen cleared, wasteland now. Probably awaiting redevelopment in a few years' time. Opposite Ruchill hospital, it was rough or what?!! Phew!

I'm amazed at the close communities people live in here. Everyone knows everyone else and what they're all up to. Considering the timer frame. I couldn't believe all the people that had remaind in Everard Quadrant. Jackie and Nellie have been in their house for 44 years.

Returning from Hazlitt St we dropped off at a pub for a few pints with Frank. He's nice. Works as a psych nurse but is studying at present.

When we wandered back to Dalrymple, he and Karen went out for a beer and I went back with Mum and Robert. I'm sitting writing this watching the dryer spin all our clothes.

Mike will be having a great time. I wish I was there to see him and Vivienne & John with wee Benjamin. Hope they enjoy themselves there. It should be good fun.

Tomorrow looks like a day for a spot of shopping. Then at about 3pm we're off to Loch Lomond. Lochgoilhead to see Aunt Nancy. Great weather again today.

Windemere, Kirkstone Pass, Gretna Green, Coatbridge, Glasgow

9/9/1996 (Monday)

Deidre and Richard rang in to say they'd be late in today. We mucked around getting awaty, but hopped on the M6 pretty quick and we were off.

Hooned up the motorway until we were in Cumbria, and we headed towards Windemere in the Lakes District. Bought some food for a picnic lunch in the supermarket there and drove over Kirkstone Pass. Over the other side we stopped by a lake and had a beautiful lunch. Yummo!

Jumped back in the car and headed for the M6 again. Over the Scottish border and through Gretna Green and on towards Glasgow. Drove through Coatbridge where Robert grew up. Saw his high school (where they nearly burned the town hall down) and his primary school.

When we got out to the estate where his house was, some kids were playing in a burst water main that was shooting water up a good 5 metres. Cheeky wee monkeys. The house Robert was brought up in had been cleared, and a new house had been built on the site.

Drove into Glasgow proper, and parked in Montrose St in a parking building. Found the Tourist Information Bureau and they found us a bed and breakfast in the Halls of Residence at the university of Glasgow (Dalrymple Hall, Great Western Road) for £16 per person.

We headed out there and found our rooms. Good accommodation - twin rooms. We ate at the Stakis Hotel in the restaurant. Nice food.

Hay-on-Wye, Manchester, Bury, Bolton, Ramsbottom, Radcliffe

Up for breakfast downstairs this morning, seated in front of the colonial sytle front windows. Scrambled eggs and bacon, with cornflake starters! But no marmite for the toast.

Another beautiful day. We piled up the stuff in the car, and took off - armed with a 'Touristic Map' of South Wales with instructions on how to get to Hay-on-Wye.

We took a wonderful road through some hills and over a pass. It was wonderful scenery - wind-swept looking though. But it all looked glorious in the sunshine.

Karen wasn't too keen on the driving as it was really a lane she was driving on for a good part of the trip. There wasn't enough space for two cars to pass, so one or the other has to reverse to a wee layby and let the other pass.

We wandered down the other side of the hill to Hey-on-Wye. It was funny seeing the people prepare for a 'tramp' over these hills. There'd be a carpark at the start of the walk, and for most of the walk I don't think you'd lose sight of your car! Yet it was all taken seriously. At least these people were walkign on tracks - many trampers just walk the back lanes. Odd. Happy little trampers, walking along geting buzzed by cars.

Hay-on-Wye was nice. We arrived at about 10:30am and wandered around for a couple of hours. There was a bookshop hidden in the ruins of Hay Castle. And for 50p you could take a photo inside! Yeah, right.

Hay-on-Wye would make a nice place to stop for a couple of days. Just browsing each wee shop.

We had lunch there and then left for Manchester - Bury, Bolton and Ramsbottom.

We skirted around Manchester and hit Bury. Mum had spent some time here as a child. Aunt Nancy and Aunt Rita used to live here. After some confusion Mum couldn't recognise some parts, what with no railway station any more, the shopping road ("The Rock") blocked off and motorways criss-crossing the place.

We found Bolton Road, which is where Mum's house used to be. It is gone now and replaced with a taxi company.

We then headed to Ramsbottom, about 15 min north of Bury. This is where Mum was told Michael Dickinson lived and worked as a driving instructor. We accosted some local in his garden and looked up all the Dickinsons in the phone book. There were heaps (about 20) and no M Dickinsons. Rang a D Dickinson in Ramsbottom but that was no good. Called in at the Police Station, but that was shut. Finally, Mum called Aunt Nancy and she gave us Michael's number. Turns out he had never lived in Ramsbottom, and lived 15 min away in Radcliffe.

We drove down there and met him and his family. Deidre was at home with two of the boys, Andy and Richard. The oldest boy, Matthew, was at a friend's house. We wandered to their local - the Beer Engine [now The Unicorn, 351 Bolton Rd, Radcliffe M26 3QQ] - and had a few drinks. Michael turned uip and it was lovely to see how he and mum greeted each other. Mum and Deidre talked for hours. We then walked back the 5min back to their house and ordered a 'dough bag' which was takeaway Indian food delivered to your door.

Mike and I fell asleep on the lounge room floor (as did Robert on the couch). Everyone else went to bed around 2:30am. We slept until 7:30am with a blanket over us and a beanbag as a pillow. Comfy night's sleep too it was!

Sennen Cove, Lands End, Redruth, Lanjeth, Tintern Abbey, Abergarveny

Woke to beautiful sunny day with birds chirping. Shorts and t-shirt day today. Drove down to Lands End through the Cornish coast road. It was a great wee drive, through narrow lanes, past great looking villages and farmyards. St Just was pretty, and we ate berakfast with goodies from their hot bread shop. Mike said his chocolate eclair was the best he's ever tasted. I shared a vegetable cornish pastie with Karen. Yummy.

At a town called Sennen Cove we headed down to the harbour. From there we walked up to the headland and had a great view of Lands End. Here was a magnificent looking lighthouse on a rocky island quite a wee distance off the point. It would look quite dramatic in stormy conditions.

We then wandered into Redruth in search of Mike's ancestral roots, the house his great-grandmother was raised in - Trepenty, Cornish for farmhouse.

In Redruth, the tourist information centre (well, one of their customers anyway) said to look it up in the Cornish Studies building. So Mike hurtled off. The rest of us wandered up the steep pedestrian road of Redruth's main shopping street and bought some fruit.

Mike turned up again, armed with maps and directions. So, at about 1pm we hooned off to Lanjeth [Trepenty, Lanjeth, PL26 7TN] near St Austell. As you come into Lanjeth, you take the first right turn, down a steepish steet. Follow the road around, until you see a lane off to the left. This has the bridge near the top, and Trepenty is immediately on the left.

We rang the doorbell, and a woman called Yanah Glenn-Hill welcomed us in. She had been in the house for 13 years, and showed us a photo of what it was like then. There were no trees around it at all back then. She took us all around the beautiful gardens, then we had a tour around the house. She said it was orignally two cottages. The last tenants were Mr Hart (born thereabouts) in the left cottage, and Ms Cox in the right. The rent was £7.50 a year for the left cottage, and £5 for the other. The current owners renovated, and the builders found a hidden, walled-up room in the main bedroom. Apparently they found some coloured glass in there, and a gold ring. There would have been stairs giving access to this hidden room, but they no longer existed.

The walls between the original cottage and the rooms behind were 3 feet thick. There was a hole in the lounge that we were told was originally the doorway into the cowshed - the original function of the building. Then Yanah's husband, Capt Mark Glenn-Hill, joined us. We had a cup of tea and some cake with them. Their daughter was a genealogist in London, and we exchanged addresses.

Mum's foot was heaps better, but starting to aggravate her again. We hopped (haha) into the car and drove up to Wales. We looked at an old map, and missed the road to Tintern Abbey, as a new, impressive bridge had gone up over the Severn. We entered Wales, paying £3.50 toll for the bridge.

We drove through Monmouth to Abergarveny to stay the night. We played three awful games of pool and then toddled off to bed.

The people here seem extremely friendly. The food is lovely and the weather great. We are under the impression that we may not be in the UK at all. I'd love to go back and visit Wales again. The castles and Tintern Abbey look great.

From Heathrow to Salisbury, St Ives

6/9/1996

Arrived Heathrow at 5:35am local (daylight savings) time. Wondered about how we'd catch up with Mum, Robert and Karen, and who should be in the queue ahead of us but Karen. After 5 min, Mum called us to the UK queue (which was empty) and we cruised through. Picked up our bags and found the Avis desk. They took us in a courtesy bus to their office. We ended up all piling into a Mitsubishi Space Wagon.

Headed out on the M4, then got off at the Newbury Turnoff. The traffic hoons along at 80-90 mph. Robert described it as car racing. I nearly crashed into the back of a car that had stopped in the middle of the road as I looked at a sign. Slammed all the pedals to the floor! Talented move. The wee engine revved well, but stopped with cm to spare.

We wandered around Salisbury Cathedral, which was an impressive sight, built around 1250AD. Mum couldn't walk too far as her ankles had played up in a big way on the flight over. They were round wee things and she couldn't put any weight on the left one. After Salisbury we checked out Stonehenge from the road. Looked good, but not as imposing as it should be.

Actually, some of that was probably due to the gorgeous day we had for our first day here. Hot enough for shorts and T-shirts. Driving with the sunroof back, windows down,... Hunters on the tape deck! Way cool.

We decided, on the way to Lands End, to head for St Ives instead. Got there around 4ish and found (after a ragged run through the narrow lanes that compromise the city centre) [because of some signage confusion!!] a hotel at the top of the hill on the way to Lands End to stay the night for £12 each.

Mum needed a rest. Robert, Karen, Mike and I wandered into town after four very welcome showers. It was nice to have a shower after all that travelling.

St Ives is a gorgeous wee place. Some of the terrace houses were selling for £90k to £200k, not bad at all.

Robert took a Cornish Pastie back to mum for dinner. Karen, Mike and I had a meal at an Indian restaurant.

Back home at 9:20pm. Everybody is asleep! Me too!

Wellington to Heathrow

I recently found the diary I kept of our first UK trip, with my parents and with Karen, in September 1996. With being locked down with COVID-19 and all, Mike went through and typed it all in (with more than a few queries about my handwriting!).

Finished packing the night before. Caught Ansett flight from Wellington to Auckland. Mike was bored and wanted to know, "are we there yet?" even as we were still climbing out of wellington.

We arrived in Auckland at midday and walked over to the International Lounge (follow the blue line) that takes 8 minutes (900m).

We checked in to the Singapore Airlines counter. Got our packs into plastic bags again. Left Auckland at 2:15pm for the 10 hour journey to Changi Airport, Singapore. The food was great. Roast meat and vegetables, perfectly done. The plane was cool. A 747-400 and everyone had a personal TV screen with about 30 channels to choose from.

We arrived in Changi Airport and crossed the Sky Bridge. The airport was spanking new - although that may not actually be the case. It was impressively well looked after. We hopped on a travelator and walked through the shopping area of the Transit lounge. Our packs were going straight through and we had from 8:30pm to 11:15pm to wander around.

Mike bought a new watch and a rechargable battery for his Discman. We then boarded the flight to London.

We sat next to some man called Malcolm that sat on the Melbourne City Council. And boy could he talk.

This leg was 12 hours long. The food wasn't quite as nice on this part, but was still pretty good. The stewardess spilt wine on me though - but hey! you get that.

I slept reasonably well, about 3 hours, and later another 3 hours.