Codsall Wood to Worthing

We had to struggle down the stairs again this morning. The stairs in Kerry’s cottage are thin, winding, and the doorways are so small you have to duck. Well, I don’t, but Justine and Kerry do. So it was a bit of a task getting our two large and heavy cases down them this morning, all while trying to hurry to get Kerry to work on time. After a goodbye to Presley Peter, Kerry took us to work this morning so we could finally see The Next Door Bar. It has a pretty café style and was quite nice to sit in during the course of the morning, as we were delivered out full English breakfasts. We walked up to the Post Office where I finally sent my postcards, before having a quick peek in the charity shop across the road. Kerry then drove us to Albrighton station and it was time to say goodbye until next time.

We changed trains at Wolverhampton before heading into London Euston. When booking the tickets, we’d decided to pay the extra 11 pound not to have to go into London and change over on the tube. When we booked the tickets, it changed the route. So not only did we have to pay extra, but we still had to go on the tube. It wasn’t too bad from Euston and getting down via elevator and escalator, but London Victoria does not have either to get you up to the National Rail line. And with several bags, it’s not too easy. Luckily, some Good Samaritan young men came to our rescue as we began to struggle up the stairs with our cases. Thank you!

We had lunch at the station before catching our train back down to Worthing where Carol met us at the station, with great hysterics over our increased amount of luggage. She dropped us off at Nicola’s and I promptly started to repack my entire bag, having everything across Nicola’s living room. Although there had been an accident with the Sangria and it ended up in my hand luggage. When Carol came back with Page I decided it was time to clear up, so it was thrown back in the bag and we ate dinner in peace. Nicola had choir practice again tonight so we were left to watch television and relax before eventually making our way to bed. It’s good not having a day sheet to wake us up at ridiculous times of the morning.

Ironbridge

This morning we drove past Boscobel house and the Oak tree where King Charles II hid after a reward was put on his capture. It’s not too far from Kerry’s house which meant that we didn’t go out of our way while on our way to Ironbridge. Ironbridge, as its name suggests, is where the world’s first iron bridge was built and still stands.

Our first stop was into Bears on the Square as Kerry wanted to show us all the different types of Steiff Bears on display and for sale. It’s amazing the different characters and figures we saw, but it’s also amazing how expensive one tiny teddy bear can be. We stopped off at a charity shop before heading over to look at the actual Iron Bridge. We bought sausage rolls in the bakery and also found Irn Bru! So we sipped our Scottish soft drink as we walked around the quirky museum gift shop before making our way to Bridgnorth for a quick photo stop.

Next up we went to visit Joan, who is my Great Great Aunty. The sister of my Great Grandmother, who passed away nearly four years ago, Aunty Joan reminds Kerry of what Gran-nan used to be like. I could see the similarities too, but being younger when Gran-nan was that age, I feel I missed out on a large part of the comparison. It was fantastic to finally meet her, and when we left Aunty Joan gave me chocolates and some much needed socks.

We then met Nick, who is a cousin of some sort but related through my Great Grandmother Rachel. I’m not sure I can really organize the connection, but we had dinner with him, his daughters and the boyfriend of the eldest, at The Crooked House. As the whole pub slants, there’s a trick where you can roll a marble down the inside ledge and it looks like it’s rolling upwards. I was very intrigued.

Eventually it was time to say goodbye so we headed back into Codsall Wood. As we stopped for petrol, Kerry decided it was time I have a turn driving the car. So I drove in the back streets to her house, in another country. I was just glad I haven’t forgotten how to drive considering how long it’s been!

Warwick Castle

We were a little bit better at getting out of bed today and Kerry ushered us into the car for a visit to Warwick Castle, though our first stop was back to The Oaken Arms as my jacket had decided to stay the night. Warwick is the second castle we’ve been to, and probably the first we’ve actually gone inside properly. Fortunately the weather was a lot better than yesterday so we were able to wander through the castle grounds without too much worry. What we were concerned about were the couples, as it was Valentines Day and none of us were too pleased at the thought of suddenly bumping into an exceedingly mushy couple.

We needn’t have feared as there were quite a few tourists at the castle but none of them were over the top. We walked through the halls and spoke to one of the ‘musicians’ before seeing King Henry VIII and his six wives. Our next stop was the castle dungeon, as entry was free for that specific day. To walk around in the dark isn’t that bad, but some of the performances included being sprayed with a ‘full’ bladder, being sprayed with the blood from a ‘beheading’ and myself being selected to walk into a dark room by myself and walk towards the light at the end. It wasn’t all that pleasant, especially as someone jumped out at me in a later room and I nearly jumped out of my skin! But it was a great experience and really well done.

We passed through the Kingmaker exhibition before having our turn at pulling out Excalibur. Then we spent the next portion of our day climbing up one of the towers and back down to walk on the wall. We missed our first exit out, because then we had to climb up and down two more towers before we were eventually able to escape from the 500+ stairs. My legs hadn’t had such a workout since Notre Dame.

We left the castle and proceeded to head towards Stratford, but as it was getting late, and the Tom Tom decided to confuse the direction it was going in, we decided to have a break for food and go back to the cottage. Kerry thought she’d take us on the scenic route, which the navigator now seemed fine with and we ended up passing through Stratford regardless!

For a romantic Valentines Day evening we ate homemade white chocolate mousse and champagne cheesecakes, as Justine was educated by watching the BBC Pride and Prejudice for the first time. Although we didn’t think we’d make it, Justine and I stayed up and managed to get all six episodes into the one night. And what a night it was.

Codsall Wood and Shrewsbury

It was a lovely feeling this morning not to have to worry about waking up at any time, or having to get out of the house to go anywhere. As a result we weren’t in Shrewsbury until after 3pm and found it a bit hard to find somewhere to eat a late lunch. It didn’t matter though as the town was so picturesque and filled with black and white vintage buildings that it was beautiful just to wander around. Although the whole starving thing came into play eventually, so we sat down at Mad Jack’s to have a proper meal.

On the way back, Kerry took us to her favourite pub The Oaken Arms, previously known as the Foaming Jug. There Justine and I tasted our first cider, which was surprisingly good. We headed back to the cottage where Justine and Kerry made a beautiful fire. It didn’t last very long but it was good while it did!

We sat together and watched ‘Did You Hear About The Morgans?’ and while Kerry and Presley went to bed, Justine and I stayed up to watch ‘Bridget Jones Diary: The Edge of Reason’. I have a feeling that the two of us have missed just sitting down and watching TV.

Day Eight: Liverpool to London

On the last day, we managed not to be last on the bus again, hooray! We cruised out of merry Liverpool and had our first stop off at the Roman town of Chester. It was a pretty town with a lot of old fashioned buildings lining the streets. I had a pasty, we managed to go into the Disney shop without buying anything, and just wandered the streets to see what we could find. We also saw the ruins of the amphitheatre before getting on the bus for the long trip back into London.

After one service stop, we managed to arrive in London just after 4pm. Anna had warned us that depending on traffic, we might not even get in until 7pm so we had booked our train tickets for the evening late. A good thing, as we spent the next hour and a half taking our other baggage out of storage at the Contiki basement and trying to repack it into our bags. I managed to get everything back in, other than my clothes. Justine, having a larger case, had much better luck. We ate dinner at Blooms Pizza below the Royal National Hotel, then took it in turns popping into the London pub to say goodbye to everyone as there was no hope we had of getting our luggage inside. Instead we caught a taxi to Euston station and got ready for our train to Wolverhampton to meet Aunty Kerry.   

We arrived in Wolverhampton at about 10.30pm where Kerry met us and drove us back to her cottage in Codsall Wood. She’d made the bed up beautifully for us, and we finally got to meet Presley Peter. We sat up to watch Shaun of the Dead, again, before heading off to a much needed sleep in on Sunday morning.

Day Seven: Glasgow to Liverpool

Today, we weren’t only the last ones on the bus, but we were late too. Anna hurried us onto the coach as we began the journey out of Scotland and back into England. But not before visiting Greta Green, where under 21’s ran to marry in the 17^th century after the British marriage laws changed. Half a mile away from the border of England, it is also where, as we later realized, Lydia and Wickham are heading to elope after their stint in Brighton. But our couple to be married was Adwin and Irene, with Geordie as the father with the shotgun and Anna as the sobbing mother. The rest of the group was the wedding party, and so our group photo is immortalized to be sent to us back home.

We had a look at the museum, then one last look at the different types of tartan, hairy cows and grabbed one last Irn Bru before hopping on the coach and making our way out of Scotland. We passed the fringes of Lake Country before having a service stop, and then arriving in Liverpool that afternoon. We said goodbye to Ben who was leaving the tour early and had a quick look in the Beatles Story shop before Jacqui hopped on the coach to give us our driven tour of Liverpool, Beatles style.

We passed the Liverpool One complex, not far from where we were staying, Cavern Club,

Penny Lane

, Strawberry Field and John Lennon’s house while being treated to trivia and the music of the Beatles. We even learnt about the conflict between the Liverpool (red) and Everton (blue) football clubs, thus making the garbage bins purple. We had drinks in our room after the tour, making Cam, Ash, James and Anna (not the tour manager) try some of the Viennese rocket fuel. It’s still going strong, and they thought so too. We walked to a pub and had a last meal before James also had to leave the tour early as well. Then it was off to the Cavern Club for the rest of us to enjoy our last night.

The atmosphere was amazing, with a John Lennon and Paul McCartney tribute band filling the cavern with the music like the 296 shows the Beatles once played there. The sound engineer looked at me like I was an idiot when I requested the Ringo Star song “Yellow Submarine”, but they got another tribute group up and five of them played the song together, as had never been done before, dedicating it to Contiki. It was a pretty amazing night as we saw the Beatles faces on the wall and stood in their red phone booth. But eventually it was time to return to the hotel, so passing the John Lennon memorial in Liverpool One we headed back to the hotel and crashed exhausted into our beds. It was a good way to finish the tour.

Day Six: Aviemore to Glasgow

It was our first really sunny day of the tour today, and Justine and I were last on the bus. But Nessie was in her element as we were heading towards Loch Ness for a cruise on the vast mass of land. Nessie’s were everywhere in the shop, and we couldn’t go out without getting her some more friends. Next up was our cruise as we drifted through the wind across the glorious loch. We saw the ruins of Urquhart castle but didn’t manage to see a larger Nessie than the ones we had. We didn’t even catch a glimmer of her on the giant fish/Loch Ness Monster finder!

It was a spectacular drive through the loch district. Every ten or so minutes we’d stop for a photo opportunity from the amazing scenery. As the lochs run low and flat, there were fighter jets training above us and roaring so much it sounded like we were going to get bombed. We stopped at Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK and Anna told us it was the first time in the last three tours she’d done that she had actually been able to see the top of the mountain. We were very lucky.

We had a lunch stop at Fort William, where I raided the supermarket and definitely got value for money, before we continued heading towards Glasgow. We passed Glen Coe where the infamous slaughter of the MacDonald family took place and passed some more spectacular mountains I definitely plan to return to and hike up. Eventually we got into Glasgow for the night and were treated to our first free internet since beginning the England and Scotland tour.

We were dropped off for a walkabout dinner tonight, and coincidentally ate at the Walkabout chain with Rosa and Graham. I was able to have a Chicken Parmigiana. Although it did have tomato salsa instead of tomato paste it was close enough to the real thing. The rest of the group joined us as we had booked the VIP room, but before leaving Anna insisted we try a Gas Chamber shot. This consisted of setting fire to Sambuca, catching the smoke in a glass, taking a shot of the Sambuca, breathing in the fumes, then snorting the rest of the shot for good measure. I’ve found a good way to clear my nose out if I get another cold!

A small group of us then headed to a club called The Garage. At first it was a bit strange seeing people in pajamas walking around, but we then saw the advertisements of pajama night and understood a bit better. The capes I still don’t get. It was quite a good dance club, but as the two of us are turning into nanas we didn’t stay out too long and opted to go back to the hotel and spend the rest of the night on the internet. Remember, it was free!