Carrick-a-Rede, Giant's Causeway and Bushmills

We started off early again and today we are following the “Coastal Road”. This route starts in Belfast and follows the coast all the way to Londonderry and is described as having views of outstanding beauty. Our first stop along the route is the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. The bridge was originally built by fishermen to gain easier access to the island for fishing. Now this bridge is used by tourists. The surrounding area was amazing and you could see many birds flying and nesting along the coastal walls. Crossing the bridge was not as “daring” as it looks in photos. Our next stop along the coastal road is the more famous “Giant’s Causeway”. Formed by lava millions of years ago, the Giant’s Causeway looks like many perfectly shaped hexagon steps that run out into the sea. An island in Scotland also has the same formations. The story goes like this; Finn McCool and a giant in Scotland wanted to do battle so Finn McCool built the causeway to go battle Scotland’s giant. However, upon seeing the much larger Scottish giant he flees back to Ireland, the Scottish giant in turn uses the Causeway to go to Ireland and fight. However, Finn McCool’s wife dresses him up as a baby to trick the much larger giant. He buys the trick and flees in terror at the potential size of Finn McCool and destroyes the causeway as he goes so that Finn can’t follow. Our next stop was the Bushmill’s campsite. It was still fairly early in the day so we decided to walk into town to visit the distillery for a tour. We had just over an hour to wait for the next tour to start so we went into town and had something to eat. The distillery tour was short and very similar to the Famous Grouse, but for some reason this tour was much hotter than that one. We had the choice of 4 different Irish whiskey’s to try, so Julie tried the sweetest one, the Black Bush and I tried the Special reserve that is only sold at the distillery. I didn’t like it very much, but thankfully Julie enjoyed hers. We made our way to the campsite and used the free WiFi that was strangely located in the laundry/dishwashing room. The showers at this campsite were the best we have had in Europe – we might even go as far as to say they were the best we’ve ever had anywhere.

Broughshane

It was dark and foggy when we arrived at the port city of Larne, which didn’t help us navigate towards our stop in Broughshane. We picked up a Northern Ireland Camping guidebook in London and in the inside cover there was an article on their very first “Camping Aires”. Apparently the guy traveled through France and loved the aires there so much that he had one placed in his hometown. This was great news for us, as everything would be closed once we arrived. Finding the town proved to be a little tricky at first, as the fog was so thick, I missed a few turns because I couldn’t see them. Eventually we found the aires and settled for the night.

Stranraer

This small port town was supposed to be where we caught the ferry to Belfast, but a smaller port called Cairnryan just down the road would take us to Larne, a city just north of Belfast. This route is the cheapest and shortest at £136 and 2hours. Since it was our original plan to head to Larne, not Belfast, we chose this route. We watched the 5 o’clock ferry leave the port just was we showed up at the ticket office. So we managed to get on the 8pm one with P&O ferries. The ferry had a movie lounge and was showing an absolutely dreadful movie called “Daddy Day Camp”. With nothing else to do, and it being a 2hr trip, we decided to take in this movie as we both hadn’t seen it. We truly hope a different movie will be played on the return trip. After the movie we saw that in the “kiddies playroom” they were playing “Surfs Up!” , which we both would have preferred watching. The ferry crossing was really smooth which was good for Julie, as she was able to walk around this time and she even managed to eat a little too.

Culzean Castle

Culzean castle gardens cover many acres of land along the coast. The castle itself was nothing spectacular, but Julie did see the grand staircase she would like to have in her future dream home (when we win the lottery), unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take pictures. We could have spent the day exploring the grounds at Culzean, but we decided to check out the aviary and be on our way. The aviary was closed due to construction so we ended up heading off to our next stop, Stranraer.

The Famous Grousse

We had a jam packed day today. First, we were to head to the Famous Grouse to sample some Scottish whiskey, then it was off to Glasgow to explore, if we decided not to visit Glasgow once we arrived, it was off to Culzean Castle. This didn’t happen though, as we never made it passed the Famous Grouse distillery. While we were getting our things together to visit the distillery we realized we were blocking access to a car (A lady and her baby). We promptly apologized and got out of their way then made our way to the distillery for a tour. It turned out that they had a deal on, The Malt whiskey tour for the price of a lesser tour. Naturally I said yes but the lady explained to us that we arrived just after the tour left and would have to wait 1 hour or we could tag onto the tour that had just started. We decided to tag onto the tour that had just started so we didn’t have a chance to get an explanation of what “The Malt Whiskey” tour entailed. During the tour a young lady approached Julie and I, asking if we were Canadians. Julie’s watch strap has a Canadian flag on it and it was this that she had spotted. We ended up chatting with her for the remainder of the tour (when it permitted). The basic tour includes a sample of the Famous Grouse whiskey. They had a scratch and sniff card to help you find the smells in the scotch. Oh, we were also told that the Grouse’s name is Gilbert, after the local team rugby ball. We parted ways with our new friend here, as she was on the basic tour. The Malt whiskey tour includes a video on all the brands of whiskey made by the company and an odd, incomplete, explanation on the “Grouse’s” animation for the video. From here we were escorted to the café where we would sample 4 other scotch’s. There were two that we liked but the only one we remember was Highland Park, as it was our favourite of the two. This was a nice Scotch that is made in the Orkney Islands (we were told that it was a nice scotch from the tour bus driver but didn’t get a chance to sample it at the time). The seven of us sat at the table and had the chance to sample the whiskey at our leisure. Julie and I don’t do so well with that, and managed to have them all down in minutes. I was a little buzzed and decided to have a bite to eat and wait before driving anywhere further. During our tasting, the young lady came up to us and asked if we could give her a ride back to her hostel (she had walked to the distillery and it wasn’t a short or pleasant walk). Of course we said yes and when we were done our small lunch, we took off for her nearby hostel. During our lunch we realized none of us had introduced ourselves (we tend to do this a lot and sometimes end up never learning the names of people we talk to), so we rectified that and quickly got acquainted. Karen’s hostel was only a few km down the road and she invited us to hang out for a bit, and possibly see if we could park the van overnight at the hostel. The people that owned and ran Comrie Croft Hostel had no problems at all with us staying overnight in the parking lot and told us to make ourselves at home. That decided our night. We ended up hanging out inside the lovely hostel and talking with Karen (Toronto), Mel (from London, England) and a German family (from Stuttgart, Germany. Who were in fact the family that were parked next to us when we got to the distillery). Completely random, but Julie and I had a great time. The next morning we talked with Karen a bit more before heading off for Culzean Castle. Karen had told us that Glasgow is a lot like Toronto and well worth the visit. Unfortunately, we ended up skipping it as it didn’t seem to have anything that really interested us. Julie did suggest to me that we visit Glasgow if it means we find a bottle of Tobermory for my Dad. We have been trying to find this particular whiskey for some time with no luck. We passed the Tobermory distillery before we learned it was the scotch to bring home.

Glencoe

Today’s drive was relatively simple, as was the day. The Glencoe campsite is beautifully situated among mountains, has loads of hiking trails and next door is the Glencoe Visitors Centre. Unfortunately, our health hasn’t been the greatest of late so we had to skip on the hiking. So, we set up our lawn chairs and relaxed. Our drive took us passed Ben Nevis, Scotland’s highest peak. There are so many mountains in this area that we couldn’t tell which one was Ben Nevis and most mountains seem to start with the name “Ben”.

Balmacara

Unfortunately this drive was much longer than we both had thought it would be. Our intentions were to visit the Isle of Skye, while using the campsite at Balmacara as a base. It was roughly three in the afternoon when we arrived in Balmacara, we were both exhausted from the drive and decided to skip our driving tour of the Isle of Skye. Gas is expensive and we’re broke, so spending money to drive around an island with beautiful coastlines didn’t really seem all that important. We have seen beautiful coastlines and we are heading to Ireland which is said to have the best. With the decision made we relaxed in the van for the remainder of the day.

Durness

Our drive for today was another long one so we woke early to give ourselves enough time to reach Durness and fit in a brief stop. It must be the wrong time of year for wildlife watching because everywhere they claim is a great location for it has nothing new to offer. Duncansby Head is said to have Puffins and seals, what it did have was a stunning coastal view. We were a little disappointed but the coast was beautiful and on the way out Julie managed to get a picture of a Highland Cow. Our drive from John O’Groats took us through Dunnet Head (the most northerly point in the UK) and through the most desolate and beautiful countryside. The majority of the road was one lane with occasional places to pull over. We found everyone extremely nice on these particular roads, as they would wave and almost always stop for us and let us pass rather than forcing us to stop. To get an idea of how narrow these roads are, we would have to worry about smaking a biker on their head with our mirror when we went to overtake them. Our vehicle is wider than most, but even small cars look large on these roads. Occasionally we would pass by a house here or there, and signs pointing to the nearest gas station, which would be about 30km off the main road, in a small village. Durness is famous for being one of John Lennon’s favourite holiday retreat spots. Once again the coast is beautiful here. The only site other than the coast is a cave along the coast called Smoo cave. Since the campsite was 5km passed this cave we decided to visit it first. The entrance to this cave is massive. On the inside was a bench with hard hats and a note saying that the guide was just outside the cave entrance if we wanted a tour of the inner cave. We decided to check this out along with 3 other people. The guide briefly explained how and when the cave was formed and handed out the hard hats. One lady hits her head and now everyone needs to wear one of these (Julie and I both smacked our heads off the ceiling, but we think it was the hard hats fault). The tour was extremely short only lasting 3 minutes but we got to ride in a raft, see the guide feed some very hungry fish and explore a small inner chamber. That was it and was not worth the time or money. Having spent £3 each for the tour we felt extremely ripped off. The campsite was located right on the coast and we had an extremely nice view. The wind however, never stopped and was pretty strong.

Orkney Islands

We had a very early start today to get ready for the ferry crossing. At 7:45am we were up and getting ready for the day ahead of us. By 9 o’clock the ferry was well underway and Julie and I were outside, sitting on the upper level. Needless to say, we got pretty cold and gave up after 30 minutes. The only reason we wanted to be outside was to see any sign of wildlife. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to see any on the way to the Orkney Islands, hopefully our luck will change. The crossing took all of 45 minutes and was pretty smooth going. We also met another traveling Canadian onboard. Once we docked in Burwick we met our tour guide/bus driver and climbed onboard. The bus driver then took us towards Stromness, all the while following Scapa Flow on our left. Along the way we also crossed a few Churchill barriers. Apparently during the First World War ships were floated up and sunk at key areas around the Orkney islands to prevent the enemy from passing through and gaining a huge staging point. It worked, but over the years the ships moved apart and during the Second World War a submarine managed to navigate past the ships into Scapa Flow and destroy The Royal Oak, the largest ship in Britains fleet. Churchill then decided to construct solid barriers to prevent any further access. As a result, the fishing villages located in Scapa Flow couldn’t fish any more and had to turn to other means of income. Of all things, they decided to become Chicken farmers and they did an extremely good job of it for a many years. Until one day a storm came in and blew all the chickens away, so now they tend to cattle and sheep. The winds are so strong in the Orkney Islands that very few trees grow, most are found in towns being sheltered by buildings or in valleys. TV antennas are built on the inside of roofs. We had a 1 hour break in Stromness and Julie and I decided to use the time to get some lunch. We ended up eating at The Ferry Inn. Julie had potato wedges and sticky toffee pudding while I had a plate of local cheeses with hand made oak cakes and ½ pint of the local brew. The next stop was probably what Julie and I were looking forward to the most, Skara Brae. Skara Brae is a 5000 year old Stone Age village; it is older than the pyramids and Stonehenge. Skara Brae was found by a farmer after a huge storm. Apparently he thought nothing of it but one day mentioned it over dinner to a visiting friend (who happened to be an archeologist). Needless to say when the friend had a look at what the farmer had found he didn’t return home for quite some time afterwards. Thankfully, admission for us was 50% off again as we are EH members, so it was only £6.70 to get in. It was pretty cool to see the replica stone house they had constructed, however, the village itself is very small and we didn’t get the chance to walk in it, but around and above it. The Skara house was not worth visiting though. It was included in the admission for Skara Brae so Julie and I decided to check out the mansion. Afterwards we made our way back to the main entrance to Skara Brae and I had a coffee while we waited for the tour to start again. We boarded the bus again, stopping for two short stops. The first being the Standing Stones of Stenness and the second being the Ring of Brodgar. Like Stonehenge but less in tact, these stone circles were nice enough to see. Apparently a farmer that owned the land that the Ring of Brodgar was located on was fed up with all the people showing up to view the stones that he started to destroy them. He was stopped but managed to destroy a few of them, including the Odin stone. Along the tour the guide provided us with many stories of the Orkney Islands, one of which was of Odin’s stone. This stone had a whole in it and it was said that all binding agreements were made through the circle (marriage, business etc). The stone went missing though and apparently a farmer was using it for farming, but he no longer needed it so he left it in his shed. His son was doing some clean up and found the stone, since he couldn’t move it in one piece, he smashed it into smaller pieces to carry out. Then we had a two hour stop off in the Orkney Islands capital, Kirkwall. We visited a few stores, bought some local cheese and made our way to a pub for some dinner. Our options were pretty limited though, as most of the restaurants weren’t open until 6pm (it was 5pm). Up to this point Julie and I have been able to get back to the bus with plenty of time to spare, so it’s fitting that on our second to last stop for the day we were late. On our way back to the Burwick, we stopped at the Italian chapel. The barriers I mentioned before were built by Italian POW’s and while they were here they also built an Italain chapel and a statue (the statue was made of barbed wire and cement, and represented goods triumph over evil).
The ferry ride on the way back was very similar to the way there, only this time Julie managed to spot a lone seal swimming near the ferry. The tour was worth it and I really enjoyed not worrying about driving or parking for one whole day (Julie was also thankful that she didn’t have to navigate for a whole day).

Loch Ness and John O'Groats

Today we made our way to the Loch Ness visitor centre. We stopped along the way for some photos of the famous loch, hoping to catch Nessie and left feeling ripped off. We have seen many TV shows on the Loch Ness monster and felt that the visitor centre would provide us with no new information, so we turned around and started our long drive north to John O’Groats. This would be our longest drive to date in the UK, 254km. Our route hugged the coast pretty much all the way north. We gassed up in Wick along the way and eventually the towns and cities started to become less frequent. When we finally arrived in John O’Groats, it was much, much smaller than we thought it would be. John O’Groats consisted of one street, a harbour, a restaurant/gift shop, tourist information, the campsite and a very small building that housed the ferry terminal. After we checked in at the campsite we took the ten steps over to the ferry terminal to purchase our tour tickets for the Orkney Islands. The tour cost us £40 each, which included the ferry there and back, and a guided bus tour. Since the ferry alone costs £26 round trip, this isn’t such a bad deal. The campsite is right on the water and given our location, Julie and I were hoping to get great sunset pictures. This didn’t happen though, as every single night the sun went to set, a set of clouds would cover it up. Oh, and we took this picture at 11:30pm.

Inverness

Sterling is said to be the gateway to the highlands and we have no doubt that it is. Our drive from Sterling to Inverness has been an exciting one, visually anyway. Although we know most of the west coast is famous for its rugged looks we can’t help but enjoy what the central and east coast offer. The campsite we chose to stay at is near the town centre of Inverness. We never got the chance to visit the town centre, but if there was more to do than just shop, we might have done so. At the campsite we managed to find a free wireless connection. This might have played a small part in us not venturing out. Julie and I managed to speak to friends and family for a bit and we also managed to post more blogs and pictures. We actually thought that it would be easier to keep up with this in the UK, but internet isn’t as easy to come by as it was on the continent.

Aviemore/Glenmore

There is a very scenic drive north starting near Sterling and St. Andrews that takes you through the mountains known as the Cairngorms. This was a very lovely area to drive through. The campsite we stayed at in Glenmore (in the Cairngorms) is what is called a Forest Holiday site, which is closer to nature and focuses on hiking, boating and biking excursions. This area is indeed a place we would love to come back to explore by other means. Unfortunately we are not prepared for any of the excursions this time round. Our campsite sits on a lovely lake and it really was a nice spot to rest for the night.

St. Andrews

We arrived in St. Andrews later than planned and this meant that I wouldn’t get the chance to explore the small town or its golf museum. You would figure since golf was created in St. Andrews that you might see some golf courses, but I only managed to spot one. If I do come back to St. Andrews though, it will be to play golf.

Sterling

The internet still wasn’t working, so this morning we ended up returning the cards to get a full refund. The van is still overheating now and again, and today is no different. Sterling isn’t a far drive from Edinburgh but we managed to stop 3 times to top up the water in the coolant reservoir. This procedure is pretty frustrating as we need to remove Julie’s seat before we can lift the lid to access the engine compartment. So when we eventually arrived in Sterling and we started to pass by many dealerships we made the decision to see about getting the van fixed, or at least looked at. We were sent to two shops, the last shop providing us with honest help. We were told that the head gasket is probably blown and the water is leaking into the piston heads. We were also told that the engine would need to be rebuilt or replaced to fix the problem (this mechanic was an engine specialist and he said he wouldn’t touch our van). Since we don’t have the kind of money needed for that kind of repair anyway, he gave us some stuff to put in the coolant tank in hopes that it would seal any leaks we have. After that we continued on to Sterling castle. The castle is not extremely impressive. Actually, for the price they charge (we paid half price because we are EH members) it’s not worth visiting. The views you get from the castle are nice enough, but you can get better ones at the nearby Wallace monument. We visited the Wallace monument after the castle. It was late in the day and we ended up having to cut our tour of the William Wallace monument short. Fortunately, we managed to see the more important things, the view from the top and Wallace’s huge sword, before they closed. From here we drove to St. Andrews.

Edinburgh

New Europe tours offers free tours in Edinburgh, but they start at 10am, thus making it impossible for Julie and I to stay only one night in Edinburgh. We spent two nights at a campsite recommended in our European camping guide. When we arrived we were extremely happy to learn they had WiFi since it was mother’s day and this would be a perfect way to communicate with our mothers. We purchased two 24hr cards for £5 each. Unfortunately the internet was down and we could not use it. We ended up getting a full refund when we left. Since it was mother’s day, we tried to call using the phone outside the campsite. We were told later that the phone does not accept calling cards which would explain why we couldn’t call home. The campsite office had an internet terminal, £1/30minutes so we used this to send emails to our mothers. Being in no mood to cook and there being a pub located on the site of the campground, we decided to go to The Stable Bar for dinner and a pint. The next morning we managed to catch the bus into town but due to construction it let us off later than expected, which resulted in us having to rush to the meeting point. This really sucked because it was outside of a Starbucks, and I was hoping for a coffee to go along with the tour. We arrived, apparently with time to spare as it was 10 and nothing was going on. It turned out one of the guides was attacked by a shark and wouldn’t make it in (Our guide Andy made the story up for a laugh, it worked.) To our surprise the group is the largest we have seen since Berlin (the weather was horrible). The announcement was made that they were waiting for another tour guide for 10 minutes, thus giving us time to get a coffee. Julie was pleasantly surprised when she ordered her Chai Latte with no water to be told that they do it only if you ask them to and that she shouldn’t be shy about asking. Every Starbucks serves their Chai’s with water, not sure why, but it was the first Chai Julie liked from Starbucks. A small victory, but if you’re spending $10 Canadian on a drink you might as well enjoy it. The other guide showed up during the introduction and we went off with Andy who turned out to be one of our favourite guides from New Europe tours (www.neweuropetours.eu.co). So far we have done all the tours available with the exception of Amsterdam, as we didn’t know of it then. We continued along High Street heading towards Edinburgh Castle, occasionally taking a detour down a side street to be shown particular buildings. We saw where the guy who wrote “Auld Lang Sine” (the New Years Eve song) lived. Where taxes used to be collected and public correction took place (they used to nail wrong doers’ ears to a door). We stopped at one point in front of a door and before Andy could get started a couple came out the door. Andy said to the man “Happy Birthday” and instructed us to sing the birthday song. We did, the guy’s name was Fred, from Canada on vacation. All in good fun, however that first song turned out to be a warm up. Apparently Andy always exchanges greetings with an elderly fellow along the route but today when Andy said hi the elderly fellow replied “Hello, it’s my birthday”. It being his birthday, and wearing full Scottish attire, the group gladly sung “Happy Birthday” once again. Outside Edinburgh castle, on a wall, sits a tiny flower basket with an equally small plaque commemorating all the women killed during the witch hunt. Besides the plaque indicating that all the women were indeed witches, more humor can be found in knowing that the plaque was put up in the 70’s. We then proceeded to where all the executions took place, stopping briefly to point out the school that inspired JK Rowling’s Hogwarts. We ate at Biddy Muligans which was next to “The Last Drop”, the actual pub people would go for a drink before they were hung. We sat with two couples from Holland for lunch and chatted with them and Andy. Afterwards we made our way to the cemetery to see some famous graves. Julie and I can’t remember what the first sets of tombs were but we do remember they are now locked off because of some Goth kids playing a midnight soccer game with a skull. We were also shown a “grave cage” which was a giant metal cage that would surround the grave site to prevent body snatchers from breaking in and stealing the recently deceased. The story we remember the most though, was of a dog that stayed at its master’s grave for 17 years. They put up a statue in memory of this dog and the loyalty that it showed. The statue is apparently Scotland’s most photographed object. Apparently the William Wallace statue was the most photographed before it was sold to Donald Trump and moved to one of his golf courses, which is why the dog holds the #1 spot now (or so we were told). We continued along the street to a café called “the elephant house” where JK Rowling sat each day writing Harry Potter on napkins. She did this because it was cheaper to buy a cup of coffee than to heat her apartment for the day(She is now richer than the Queen, so don’t feel too bad for her). Andy then finished off the tour in a garden just below the castle. After the tour Julie and I went for yet another free tour, this time of Edinburgh Castle. This one was short though, only ½ hour but it was good enough. We explored what we could of the castle before moving on. The natural formation called “Arthur’s Seat” was next on our list, but my knee was starting to hurt much more so half way through the walk we called it quits. Making our way back to the town centre proved to be more difficult than we first thought. We managed to walk for about an hour before we figured out where we were and where we needed to go. Everything was closing and Julie didn’t want a tea in the famous elephant house so we decided to take some pictures of the monument to Sir Walter Scott (largest monument to a writer in the world) and catch the bus home. On the way back Julie and I managed to get seats on the second floor of the double-decker bus. It was pretty cool riding that high up.

Jedburgh (Alnwick Castle and Belsay Hall)

The garage was closed. The van needs constant top ups, but it is still driving, so we decided to head back to Belsay Hall. Alnwick castle was also on the list for the day and Julie decided that she wanted to visit it before heading to Belsay. It is a good thing too, because the drive from Belsay to Jedburgh brings us nowhere near Alnwick (contrary to what I thought). We managed to find a place to park in Alnwick not too far from the castle itself. Alnwick castle is the second largest inhabited castle in the UK, Windsor being the largest. It has also been a film site for many movies, most notably the Harry Potter films. Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood Prince of Thieves also filmed some scenes here. The castle is extremely nice and the interior is the best we have seen, probably because normal people live there. Alnwick castle was a staggering £21 for us to get in, and even though it was a steep price, it was worth it.
Belsay Hall itself wasn’t worth walking around. The mansion was done in a Greek style and was badly damaged and not properly restored. The mansion had 4 large wine cellars which I thought was a great idea. Julie found the library to be perfect, as it was the closest thing she has seen that looks like what she has envisioned for her own library. The mansion was built of stone excavated nearby and the area that was excavated was turned into a garden. The gardens were really beautiful, in particular the high stone walls surrounding them added to the effect. There is an arch way in the garden that Julie found most lovely as pictured in the EH guide and to her dismay, it was under renovations when we were there. I took a picture anyway, but it really took away the appeal of the arch. There was also a ruined castle on site, which we explored before heading back and making the long drive north to Jedburgh. The entrance fee for Belsay Hall was £7.50 each, free for EH members. When we arrived in Jeburgh, the campsite warden told us that it might get a bit loud as a rugby game was going on next to the campsite, and access to the field passed through the campsite. He was right, the music didn’t stop until 11:30pm.

Durham, Prudhoe and Dunstan Hill

Barnard Castle has a ruined castle which we saw on our way out. The campsite attendants suggested that we get the van fixed in Dunstan Hill, since there is a campsite there and a mechanic that they recommend, so that is our intended stop for tonight. We stopped off in Durham on the way north. Instead of seeking a parking spot, I decided to take advantage of the park and ride. Within minutes of parking we were in the downtown area. Once off in the main strip, we made our way to the Durham Cathedral. This cathedral was occasionally used as a stand in for Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films. The church was free to visit and we explored what we could. It was a shame they didn’t allow photos in the church as the inside was very nice. We only stayed in Durham for an hour before moving on to Prudhoe Castle. This ruined castle was just alright. It wasn’t impressive, but it wasn’t a total disappointment either. We went to it because it sounded interesting in our EH guidebook. It was free for us, and usually would run you £3.50 to get in. This was another short stop. On our way out the GPS tried to take us across a narrow bridge. I thought our van was less than 3 meters wide, but it turns out it isn’t. I started to climb up the lower part of the walls and decided to bail. I’m not sure if we could have made it across or not, but we both thought, why risk it? It was really getting late in the afternoon and we managed to arrive at Belsay Hall at 4:30pm. This however, turned out to be too late. They would allow us to visit part of the site, but officially they stop letting people in at 4. Since the gardens were the main reason for visiting Belsay Hall, and the gardens are near the end of the site, we regrettably skipped it and moved on to Dunstan Hill. Dunstan hill campsite was another very small site and we arrived too late to get a pitch with electrical. They explained how to get to the garage and they assured us it would be open on Saturday (tomorrow).

Barnard Castle (visited Fountains Abbey)

We left York this morning to visit Fountains Abbey on our way north. We also planned on visiting, Durham, Prudhoe Castle and to stop and camp in Jedburgh, Scotland. Our drive to the Fountains Abbey was delayed, as our GPS took us right by it. Sometimes when we create routes it doesn’t actually bring us to the stops, but near them. Well, Julie realized this after we had passed it. Our second attempt to the Fountains Abbey brought us down a very small road, it almost seemed like someone’s driveway. Sure enough, not 5 minutes on the road we were greeted by a herd of cows. Usually animals run in fear of our blue van, but these cows didn’t even budge. Well, I just kept the van moving closer, and closer until finally it was close enough that they decided it was better if they moved. Our second obstacle on this road was a gate. Julie, being a season pro by now (every campsite so far has a gate to open manually) hopped out of the van swung the gate open and made sure it was properly shut behind us. When we finally arrived at Fountains Abbey, I realized just as we parked that the car was starting to seriously overheat, again. Completely dismayed about springing yet another leak, we decided to visit the site before attempting to fix the van again. This also would give it, and ourselves, time to cool down. The old Abbey ruins were absolutely stunning. I could not believe that we could walk amongst them like we did. They are probably the most impressive ruins I have seen on this trip. The gardens we walked through were nice enough, all were extremely manicured, even the large lakes were in order and in patterns. It was extremely worth the visit, it was free for us, but for none EH members, it would have cost £15.80 to get in. When we returned to the van I decided to cut the rubber coolant hose to make a new cleaner piece and reattach it as I did before. The rip occurred in the same section of tube as previously. After fixing it we thought, for a while, that we had more than one leak. Thankfully, we didn’t and we managed to top up the coolant tank and move on. We considered staying at a campground nearby, Boroughbridge, but in the end we decided to keep heading in the direction we needed to, despite the kilometers. However, we cut out the remainder of our stops for the day and stayed in Barnard Castle, near our next stop.

York

We woke this morning with the best weather we have had since we arrived in England. It was sunny. Although we have seen the sun pretty much everyday, it usually isn’t until 2 or 3 in the afternoon and doesn’t usually stick around for too long. It has rained on us every single day since we arrived in England as well. So for us to wake with such gorgeous weather, it ended up taking us longer to get going. We ended up leaving for the city of York around noon. It seems that most of the campsites in England play host to various animals. Rabbits and ducks are pretty much the norm, and once in awhile a new creature we haven’t seen before. The drive to York was uneventful, but it was through the remainder of the Peak district. This section was the most barren of them all. I have to admit, if we had more time, it would have been a great place to go for hikes. The campground we intended on staying at had a bogus address. We ended up in a very posh neighborhood just outside the ring road surrounding York. I made the decision to go to a Caravan Club site (mentioned in our European Camping Guide book) despite the fact that we would pay a non membership fee of £7. The location of this campsite couldn’t be better. It is right on the river and only a 20 minute walk to the tourist office. It took us no time to walk around York’s city centre, as it is so small. We learned of a free tour and decided to take it the following morning at 10. We had also planned on visiting Scarborough via the Hogwarts express steam engine train. Once again, traveling off season has its downsides. This old train only does the run in the summer months. With this off of our schedule we had much more time to explore York at a leisured pace. Maybe this is why we actually missed the morning tour by 10 minutes. We had already seen the York Minster the previous day and decided it was a good place to start our walk today before the 2 pm tour. I spotted a market on the way to the tour meeting point and decided to bring Julie there in hopes that she would find something to buy. To our luck, she was able to purchase a skirt, shirt and light jacket to wear on warm days such as today. Today was another bright sunny day, with lots of warmth. Many people walked around town proudly showing their sun burns. After the market we made our way to the Jorvik Viking center. Underneath York’s streets a Viking village was discovered and now they have a tour to simulate the village’s way of life. This is a slow ride through the village streets as they assume they would have been, complete with sounds and smells. This was a discounted tour because of our EH membership. It was interesting to view the Viking skeleton with all its battle scars but even discounted, it wasn’t really worth it. Julie told me it was more for kids. We packed our lunch today and had a picnic of sorts in a park just outside the York Minster. We laid in the sun for about an hour before making our way to the tour meeting point. While we were waiting a lady started a conversation with us, turns out she was from Halliburton and visits England every year. She joined us, along with two young women for the tour. Our guide was a retired history teacher and had volunteered to do these tours for the past few years. There are over 60 volunteers that do these tours. For a walking tour, we managed to walk only one small section of York’s centre, but the areas we did walk were all the old areas. It was extremely informative and history packed (For example; Mel Gibson, a.k.a.William Wallace, never sacked York although our guide only used the actors name). The tour ran the length it said it would, but for some reason, it felt like it was dragging on. I guess I wasn’t the only one who felt this, as the other people in the tour bolted as soon as it was over. We did enjoy the tour. I guess we are just used to more energetic people doing the tour and much more walking. York is a beautiful city and we really enjoyed visiting it, although we think the weather played a small part.

Sherwood Forest, Bolsovar Castle and Hayfield

We left the Nottingham campsite early enough as we had a long day ahead of us. Our first stop of the day was Sherwood Forest Visitors Centre. We did the recommended walk, passing by the “Great Oak”. It wasn’t what we expected, so we moved along to our next stop of the day, Bolsovar Castle. Once we arrived at the castle we were redirected to alternate parking as it was full. A few kilometers away we parked in a field and followed the small crowd to the Castle. This was supposed to be a free visit for us today, as it is part of the English Heritage sites. Today is a Bank Holiday though and the Castle was hosting a Jousting Tournament. Because we are EH members, we paid half price (£10) to get in. Once inside the castle’s entrance there were many families scattered about watching the various entertainment. The main stage, was by far the largest and had the most viewers. Here, the knights would perform various tasks to gain points, including sword fights etc. Nothing was going on at the moment though, as it was a musical intermission. The 3 piece band was walking around the square stage amongst the audience. We sat down knowing an event was about to take place but only managed to stay for 10 minutes before deciding to leave and visit the castle before the hoards of spectators did so as well. Julie’s highlight was getting up close to various birds of prey they had on display and were using in an upcoming falconry event. The castle was decent, although needed plenty of work. What we enjoyed most about the castle was the room layout. We wandered around the site a bit more, enjoying the splendid panoramic view of the surrounding countryside before calling it quits and making our way back to the van. We passed by a grocery store and decided to pick up some much needed supplies. After buying my beer and Julie’s Smirnoff, and a few hamburger toppings we continued our journey north. This leg of the drive was the longest we have done since being in England. This drive is through what is considered to be England’s “wild land”, the Peak District. The name of this area is deceiving, or just plain wrong. There are many hills, and sometimes they might be jagged enough to make a peak (we think we saw one). Despite the obvious lack of mountains, the area is beautiful. It is mostly farm land and there are areas that have been left unclaimed. The small town we stayed at for the night was Hayfield, near the top of the Peak District.

Nottingham

We originally planned on staying at a Certified site while visiting Nottingham, but we couldn’t find it so we ended up spending two days at a campsite just outside a major water park. It is also a bank holiday weekend (long weekend), making it harder to stay in popular campsites. However, this campsite was massive. It only had 20 pitches with electrical and every other “pitch” was located in a large field (about 300 pitches). Julie and I decided to park close to the toilet buildings, but further away from the tenters and in a somewhat level spot. Our intention was to head into town today, but the bus that comes by every 10 minutes didn’t show even after 30 minutes so we decided to go on tomorrow (Sunday May 4th) instead.

Once again the campsite staff were incorrect about the bus schedule. The bus itself only came by once every 30 minutes, rather than every ten like they informed us. They were however, right about it making stops in front of the campsite today. The first 15 minutes on the bus were awkward though. We got on, we sat, then the bus driver pulled over, shut off the bus and started to read the newspaper. We did ask him if he was driving into the town centre, to which he simply replied “yes”. After his break, we were on our way into town. Nottingham is much larger than Julie and I expected. We also thought it to be very modern. Once we visited the tourist information office, we learnt that what we had come to Nottingham for, was actually located a fair distance away. We decided to visit Nottingham’s Castle, the castle grounds were okay, but the remainder of the self guided tour was a waste of time. We then made our way to the oldest pub in England, hopping for a seat and a pint. “Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem” is said to be the oldest pub in England, opening its doors in 1189AD. We walked in, saw how much a half pint was (£6) and left. With out much more to do, we decided to do some window shopping in a mall and have lunch before heading back to the van. We came across a game store in the mall and purchased the British edition, travel pack version of Monopoly (it was only £4.99).

Cambridge

The campsite is located a fair distance from Cambridge which forced us to use the bus. It didn’t take us long to get into the town centre. The weather was fabulous today, which made it a great time walking around. We made our way to the tourist office, passing a market along the way. We decided to visit the market after we got what information we needed at the tourist office. A town map was 30 pence, which you don’t really need. It did help out, but what it really showed you is that there is not much in Cambridge. Touring the colleges is the main attraction here, as well as in Oxford. But, it being exam week, touring was impossible. The colleges were closed to tourists. This was sort of disappointing, so we made the best of the weather and walked around town before stopping on a bridge watching people go by on punting tours. I suggested to Julie for us to go out on one, but it was too expensive so we just ended up taking the bus home. What we did by mistake though, was take the bus in the wrong direction. It wasn’t a total loss though, as we managed to find a very cheap grocery store along the way. So we had groceries, finally, from a store that wasn’t too expensive. The grocery store in Oxford was prohibitively expensive and we ended up leaving without much food. It took us under 20 minutes to get into town and closer to 2 hours to get back to the campsite (without the stop for groceries). We were both exhausted by the time we arrived at the campsite. My knee was particularly bad today, which always makes matters worse.

Oxford

We spent two nights at this campsite due to our late check in the day before. There is really only one reason we came to Oxford. It was for Christ Church College’s dinning hall. This hall was used in the Harry Potter films, as was the staircase outside the hall. It was much smaller than we both imagined, and we wondered if it was based off of the hall, and not filmed in it. After seeing the college we went back to our van before we went to visit Cambridge, another popular university town.

Old Sarum, Stonehenge and Avebury

Old Sarum turned out to be located just a few kilometers from our campsite and was on route to Stonehenge. The aerial photo we saw made the place look awesome. Before we could find a ticket booth, there was a man who worked for English Heritage blocking our way further into the site. He asked us if we knew anything about English Heritage, obviously we don’t, so he went on to explain everything. He also asked us where we were heading in order to further promote his sale. Julie wanted nothing to do with the guy (her usual reaction towards sales people) but what I learnt was valuable, at least I deemed it so. If we were to join up with English Heritage, all English Heritage sites would be free for us, in addition we would receive discounts on participating English attractions, 50% off on Scottish Heritage sites (like Edinburgh castle which we intend on visiting) and half off of some sites in Wales. It also came with a guide book and map which allows us to plan day trips along the way to our already planned stops. The cost to join was steep though, £73 for a two person membership. I decided it was worth the expense and purchased the membership. With this membership, Old Sarum was free, as well as Stonehenge and Avebury as they are English Heritage sites. Julie was still doubtful after I purchased the tickets, so we have ourselves a contest now. She believes I will not be able to make up the £73, and will have spent more money on the membership than if I just paid each time at the attractions themselves. I think the opposite.

Old Sarum is a very ruined castle. Actually, it just looks like small stone walls on a hill. It wasn’t overly exciting; Julie was more interested in the small bunnies living on the side of the hill. It did offer great views, and from the hill top we could see Salisbury’s Cathedral. Old Sarum is probably best viewed from the sky, the many small airplanes flying by the site attests to that. It would have been £3.50 each to get in.

Stonehenge was another short drive and parking was surprisingly easy. The wind has picked up considerably making it feel much colder than it is. Our membership got us onto the Stonehenge site with an audio guide for free, it would have been £7.50 each without. Julie and I learnt nothing new with the audio guides, as we have both watched TV shows on Stonehenge. The site itself was nice although the stones were not as large as they make them out to be on TV. It was cold, windy and threatening to rain but it didn’t stop us from doing a complete circuit of the stone circle while listening to our audio guides. I would have liked to have been able to walk amongst the stones, but I am glad I couldn’t at the same time. There were so many people there it would have ruined the experience. The entire site is an open field, making it feel solitary. If I was bumping shoulders and waiting to take a photo without anyone in it, it wouldn’t have felt as it did. It was worth stopping at, and even walking around. If I had to pay for it, I would only do it once, because its just one of those things you got to do.

Avebury has another set of stone circles, one of which surrounds the entire town. The site is free to visit, but the car park is £5.00 for the day, but free for EH members. The stones were located in a nearby field and just as Julie and I started to walk towards them it started to pour. Because it was raining so much and still cold, we didn’t spend too much time here. We left shortly after for our next stop, Oxford.

Salisbury

The drive from Winchester was rather long, due to some traffic and an accident we encountered along the way. Rain was the main factor for the accident as it was a sudden down pour. It appeared no one was hurt, but it looked like 3 cars were involved. We found the campsite with little difficulty and since the day was getting late and we were tired from the drive and our short stop in Winchester we decided to just hang out in the van and do some research and play some games.

Winchester

We have our route planned out all the way until we take the ferry over from Scotland to Ireland. This made our morning much easier and the drive very pleasant. It was cool today but I still managed to wear shorts and since we weren’t doing much walking today, I wore my sandals too. Once we found a place to park for the hour we ventured into the small downtown area of Winchester in search of the great hall that holds King Arthur’s round table. The hall was located away from the main strip and up on a hill. The table was not what we expected. It looked very childish and it was hung up on a wall. The hall itself was empty except for a set of chairs. Julie really liked the ceiling in the great hall, but I was rather disappointed with the whole venture. What I did like was walking in the pedestrian zone and listening to two young busker’s sing a Green Day song.

Windsor Castle

Julie and I were both exhausted when we woke up so it was no surprise to us that we ended up leaving for the Castle much after lunch. The train ride from the campsite was a short one and it was very easy to find the front entrance to Windsor Castle. There was no lineup as we were just arriving for last admission, just before they shut the wickets down. The castle itself isn’t all that impressive, it’s still nice, but what makes it famous though, is that it’s the largest inhabited castle in the UK and one of the Queens official Royal residences. Based on the wonderful location and the traffic gardens it’s no wonder she uses it as a retreat. The inside is like any other castle we have been in. Rooms are themed and you would have to be daft not to figure out what the “themes” are. The dinning hall was our favourite room out of all that we saw. We also managed to squeeze in a very quick walk around the doll house. This doll house is huge, took over 3 years to make and even has hot and cold running water in its sinks, toilets etc. The day was nice so we decided not to hang around too long. We did enter the visitor gift shops and found a set of China ware we both felt my Mom would love. Since the one plate we looked at was just £150, we decided that it would remain a nice idea. Our penchant for missing trains in London continued today and made what could have been a 3 hour tour, more like 5 hours.

London Day 2

With my knee being sore we missed the train once again heading into London. However, the day before I spoke with a train guard and he told us if we headed in the opposite direction we would get to London Waterloo station faster. So we decided to try this today after missing the train. To our luck it worked and we managed to be early. Today’s free tour is focused on Old London and it started off (late) in front of the Tower of London. Our tour guide was the same guy we had yesterday so this time we got his name, Dave and learnt he is from Australia, went to college in Canada and is now living in London. His accent was a mix of all these. We then walked over to a great viewing point along the Thames to see the Tower Bridge. To our luck while Dave tried to give us some history on it, it was opening to let a boat pass. This apparently only happens once or twice a day. He also pointed out that someone should have told Fergie that she was dancing (ridiculously) on the wrong bridge for her song London Bridge. From here we walked under the London Bridge (it actually had the name on it so you wouldn’t be confused). He also pointed out Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre across the River. He then took us to the City of London, dubbed “the city”. In this small area inside London you can find government buildings that handle the currency and welfare of London and is completely separate from London. We also saw the courthouse that recently held McCartney’s divorce, this courthouse only handles high profile cases. From here we went into what he considered another city inside the City of London. The area is set aside for lawyers to study and work. The area was so quiet and peaceful it was hard to believe you were still in London. We then passed by a church that was once of the Knights Templar. More walking and we came across St Paul’s Cathedral before we crossed the famous wobbly bridge (it isn’t wobbly anymore, and its official name is the Millennium Bridge). He finished off the tour outside a church that still had WWII damage on its exterior. From here Julie and I decided to head to Convent Garden to a bar/restaurant Phil had suggested to us, called the Maple Leaf. Julie and I indulged ourselves with poutine and nachos and washed it all down with a pint of Sleeman’s IPA. While Julie had a Belgian waffle covered in Maple Syrup, I had another pint, this time Labatts. I’m not sure which Labatts, but I was told it was similar to Blue and it turns out it wasn’t. Covent Garden is absolutely packed with people and show performers. You could probably hang out in this area all day and not become bored. As it is, we took off for a tour of the Tower Of London and to our dismay we missed the last admission by 30 minutes. So that left only one thing left to do. Visit platform 9 ¾. Julie and I did the photo opt while others waited for their turn. While we were in the station someone was pick pocketed. It was sort of funny, because the guy started yelling after the man that snitched it, a police officer was nearby and walked over to the yelling man, when the man turned he bluntly said, “Get him!”, and the cop took off in an instant. We didn’t stick around to see what would happen. We headed back to the van to rest, as we needed to visit Windsor castle the following morning.

London Day 1

I glanced at a local map to see where the train station was located the previous night. I had hoped to have enough time in the morning to get a better idea of how to get there from the campsite. I didn’t, so we ended up walking in the general direction. It did take us longer than planned. We anticipated a 30 minute walk, and it took nearly 45 minutes. This made us miss the train into London, which in turn would make us late for the free tour. The train was more expensive than any other we have used to date on our trip. £28.60 for the both of us, this included all forms of transport for the day including the train there and back. Luckily while we were on the train heading into London we learnt of a faster train we could switch to. We did the switch and managed to arrive just before the tour left its meeting point. We missed the intro, but managed to understand what the arch was for and the nearby mansion. This tour was focused on the Royal area and new parts of London. The tour we will take tomorrow focuses on Old London. Today’s tour started us off at the Wellington Arch and from there we made our way in front of Buckingham palace to watch the Changing of the Guards ceremony. During the off season they only do the ceremony on odd days, this is why we needed to meet this tour today. The crowds of people were impressive for being out of season and the guide said it was mainly due to the fabulous weather they were having (best he has had this time of year). We then cut across a park to walk down a famous street that has many Gentlemen’s clubs. We also passed by the old Royal residence which was mainly red brick and looked to blend into the buildings on either side. After seeing it you can understand why they switched to Buckingham palace (Buckingham palace was built for the duke of Buckingham but he was forced to sell it to the king who had grown quite fond of it). We then walked through another arch that led onto Mall street, which is the official gateway for the queen to enter Buckingham Palace. The street itself is painted red so it resembles a red carpet. The interesting thing about the arch is that the builder had a nose placed high enough for a man on horseback to touch as they rode by, strange, but nevertheless interesting. Then it was off to Trafalgar square, what is considered the center of London. In the square there were two large fountains with funny looking lions. We then walked over to the horse grounds across from St James Park. Here, we learnt that the pelicans in the park have been eating pigeons (video). We could also see a bunker from WWII which is still in use and not open to the public, as was the street where the government homes are located. The Horse Parade area is going to be used in the upcoming Olympics for beach volleyball. It was awful, but we took the guides advice (along with everyone else) to enter another set of gates to take photos of guards. These guards are of the horse division and stand guard of the entry through the gates. To see so many people snapping photos and posing with them was just awful. Out of the 4 guards, only one seemed to enjoy it. We pressed on from here to the very impressive Westminster Abbey and “Big Ben”. This is where the tour finished. Julie and I walked from here to see the famous London eye but not ride it. We decided to head back towards Piccadilly Circus, as there was a very large book store with over 7 floors (Whitestones) and the tourist office was also nearby. We stopped at a Pizza hut for their buffet, as it was only £5.99 all you can eat. We then walked back to Trafalgar square to check out the national portrait gallery before I threw in the towel again. My knee is even worse today after such a long walk and I couldn’t bear to continue any longer.

Chertsey

Our London campsite is actually located in the outskirts of one of the cities suburbs. We had major difficulty locating the Canterbury campsite and hoped this one would go smoother. It did, but we managed to pass it 3 times before spotting the sign. Today we also gassed up the van, £1.195/L making it around $100 Canadian to fill the tank. That is only slightly higher than in Europe, where it was costing on average $80 Canadian. Still, it’s expensive. We decided to take it easy today and head into London the following morning for one of the free tours offered.

Canterbury

We finally made our way into England and the customs agent was kind enough to tell us there was a lot of smoke coming from our exhaust and that we might be burning oil. It wasn’t a complaint so we weren’t offended. Driving on the left side of the road is rather easy, especially when you start off on the highway. However, our GPS figured it would be faster to get to Canterbury if we took a few back roads as well as the highway. The first left and right were weird but I quickly adapted. The speed and distance is another story, so I drove what I felt was a comfortable speed. Thankfully the van is large and slow and I ended up driving too slowly most of the time (but not by much). We signed up for a 3 month membership (available to foreigners only) for £20 at the campsite. If we didn’t join it would be an extra £7 at each location (free camping is illegal and not recommended in the UK). The other camping chain is £40 to join for the year, and again saves you a £7 non-member fee on each stay. The day was starting to clear up and since it was still early we decided to head into town and go explore. But before we did this we used the internet a bit over lunch (10 sites offer WiFi). The walk into town was a short one and when we arrived at the town wall, we couldn’t find a way in. We had to walk for a short distance before we came across a street entering the town centre. Our first stop was the cathedral, however we only saw it briefly from the street as it was surrounded by walls of its own and it was £7.50 to enter them. Since this was really all we came to see, we ended up walking around the town, stopping in a few shops, some book stores and then eventually at a Pizza Hut. They had a new stuffed crust pizza, this time with cheese and pepperoni. I highly recommend it. We have only been in England for 2 hours and we already appreciate the ability to speak and understand others. After lunch we wandered a bit more before heading back to the van.

Calais

The wind here is so strong that our clothes dried in minutes after hanging them. It is also so windy that any heat from the sun is blown away. It was nice enough for me to wear shorts though. From our van we could see the huge ferries docking and taking off every 1 hour or so. As Julie pointed out, we could also hear them sound their horn during the night too. We ended up getting an 8am ferry for 70 euros on Sea France. So instead of staying another night in the campsite we stayed in a parking area for a small fee.

Forges-les-Eaux

We slept in this morning and it did help to recuperate us. The spot we slept in was free for one night only, so we pressed on to Calais. Since we aren’t sure of the ferry times or prices, and we have laundry to do, we decided to spend two days in Calais only campsite.

Chateaux Versaille

As you may have noticed, Paris took us 3 days, not our planned 2. So we are spending another night in the campground so we can go visit Chateaux Versaille. The Chateaux is only 2 km from the campsite so we decided to walk it. My knee is still as sore (if not worse) as before. Usually a 2km walk would take us 30 – 45 minutes, this time it took us 1 ½ hours, again attesting to how tired we are (and how sore I am). When we walked along the main street leading up to the castle we saw numerous places to park our van, thus making our walk shorter, but since we were already 1 km into the walk we decided to just leave the van and get this over and done with. The chateaux itself is rather unimpressive from the exterior. Where its glamour lies is in the interior state rooms, where the rooms are lavishly decorated to the point of absurdity. The gardens are supposed to be very impressive as well, though they cost extra to visit so we skipped them. When we were in the famous “Room of Mirrors” I was half way through the giant hall before realizing it was the room of mirrors. It was not what I expected. Like everything in Paris (and Versaille) the place was crowded with tourists which made it hard to enjoy properly and at times impossible to take a photo. Chateaux Versaille cost us 27 euros to get in and it was hardly worth the fee.

Paris Day 3 (26,201 steps, 20.3km)

Once again we found ourselves getting off at St Michel’s square. This time we are heading to Centre Pompidou. This stop can be skipped, in our opinion. The building is supposed to be radical and amazing (the inside is on the out). We found it to be very ugly and not impressing. I’m not sure what I did, but I am now walking with a limp. My knee is so badly hurt that now I have to fight to keep the wince off my face. That being said, we have a huge day in front of us. The walk to Pompidou did prove to be not totally wasted, as we stopped at a Starbucks for a pick-me-up. We then walked to the Conciergerie and Ste-Chapelle. The conciergerie was the prison during the Reign of Terror and where Marie Antonette had stayed (not worth it). Ste-Chapelle was said to be an impressive gothic church, it took us more than 20 minutes to get in and only 2 minutes to leave, nuff’ said. From here we continued south on our journey to pass by the Pantheon and then finally the Catacombs. I guess if you have seen a bone chapel, then this won’t impress you either. It was said to be a maze made of bones underneath the city. It was under the city, and there were bones lining the walkway, but when there is only one route to walk, it can hardly be called a maze. We then caught the subway to the Arc de Triomphe to have a better view of it, and then we walked down the Champs Elysees and headed toward the Louvre. It’s Friday, and Julie gets in for free after 6pm. We figured we would have to wait in line, but as it turns out, everything moves rather quickly. Once inside we decided our path and it wasn’t before long that I called a halt. My knee was bothering me so much that I could only justify visiting the main areas. These being the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the wedding at Cana and on the way up the stairs we passed the winged victory at Samothrace statue (Luke recommended it). Everyone says the Mona Lisa is small, so naturally I found it to be bigger than expected. The Venus de Milo was nice as well. The Louvre is huge, and I would suggest visiting it first when you have the energy and the health to do it justice. In Paris we walked a total of 78,024 steps which according to Julie’s pedometer is roughly 60.4km. Maybe that’s why I have a busted knee.

Paris Day 2 (19,905 steps, 15.4km)

It was very hard to get up this morning. We were so tired that we opted on buying our breakfast instead of making it. So we stopped at a bakery/pastry shop. We both had a croissant, a pain au chocolat, and a chocolate éclair. Not the breakfast of champions, but we both felt more Parisian for buying it (being tired and grumpy added to the feeling). We started our day at the same stop as yesterday, the St Michel plaza. Only this time we crossed the Pont de Notre Dame. The Cathedrale de Notre Dame de Paris is famous due to Victor Hugo’s novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Touring the inside of the church took no time at all. It was pretty remarkable, but I felt jipped, as I expected the church to be bigger. Julie however, found it to be the exact size she pictured (liar). Once we did our walk around the inside of the church it was time to see the roof (Julie couldn’t believe how loud everyone was inside the church). We then realized that we had to exit the church in order to go to the roof. So we stood in a very long line to climb up to the top of the church. It would have been a very boring wait if it wasn’t for a street performer. A guy wore an ugly mask and would walk around the crowds of people bustling by and try to scare them. He was very good at what he did. A group of girls actually sprinted off screaming, most women though just screamed, then laughed. It was very entertaining. On fresh legs the climb to the top would be a cinch, but because we were walked out it was a very long climb up. It was however worth it. The gargoyles are amazing up close and the views are nice as well. We were lucky enough to be up there when the church bells rang and before long we were on our way to our next stop, The Paris Opera house. The Paris Opera House is the setting for Julie’s favourite play “The Phantom of the Opera” and Gaston Leroux novel. The inside is pretty elegant and I asked Julie about 30 times if she was sure she didn’t want to see a play that night. We found the box seat that the “phantom” always reserved for himself, then took some photos and were off. On the way to the Opera House I managed to loose a piece of the camera, thus making our makeshift button practically useless. We then switched to Julie’s key ring. It was easier to use and I was actually enjoying taking photos again. After the Opera house we went to find the tourist office to pick up some info and a map. I unfortunately left the new button for the camera on a seat in the tourist office and only realized this after we got off the subway. Julie and I were very tired from the previous day and our day wasn’t working out right. My left knee is also causing me some pain and I felt that resting it would do it some good. The day was taking too long and I had already lost two things. We therefore made the decision to make the Rodin museum the last stop for the day. The Rodin museum has sculptures outside in a garden, one of them being the “thinker”. This museum was thankfully cheap, only 1 euro each. The line up was ridiculous and according to a lady that Julie was talking to it was not the norm for there to be a line up here at all. We left quickly after viewing the “Thinker” and made our way back home on the train. That night we rested and posted all our pictures and updated our blog.

Paris Day 1 (32,918 steps, 25.5km)

It wasn’t a particularly early morning for us (around 9), but we moved like it was. We needed to be in town to meet the free tour at 11am in St Michael’s square. The train ride in took only about 30 minutes. Although Julie and I couldn’t help but think that we could have purchased an unlimited daily trip ticket, rather than the one way with return tickets we bought. We aren’t planning on using the subways or busses in Paris so we weren’t too concerned. The market square we entered was very busy and lined with streets and restaurants. Once up the steps we could easily spot the free tour guides, as they were amongst the very large group, but that didn’t stop people from being friendly. We met two guys from the US. Luke, our guide, was pretty good at summing up all of France’s often bloody history and how Paris itself fit into it. We started the tour off in St Michael’s square which had a huge fountain for the Saint, but we were also shown how Napoleon placed his mark on it. We would see this on many of the buildings in Paris. We then crossed over to the Ile de la Cite that Notre Dame and the Louvre are on, amongst other attractions, using the Pont au Change. The Ile de la Cite is where the first settlement of Paris was, in the 3rd century BC. From the bridge we could see the Cathedrale de Notre Dame de Paris and we were also shown the building that held Marie Antoinette before she lost her head. Apparently she was treated so poorly during her imprisonment that her hair turned white and she looked to have aged 10 years. One torment that stuck out to me was when they placed her best friends head on a stake outside her cell so that was all she could see when she looked outside. We then walked along the Seine River and from this vantage point we got a great look at the Pont Neuf (oldest bridge in Paris, 1607). As the story goes, Henry the III dedicated this bridge to his friends and nobles, but he wanted it funny so he threw a party for all his friends where they proceeded to get sloshed. Then he had all the artists and stone sculptures come into the party and sketch portraits of all his inebriated friends. One of the faces looks like he wouldn’t make it to the bathroom in time. We then made our way over to the Louvre and entered the Jardin du Carrousel. From here we went north to the Jardin du Palais Royal where the French Revolution started. After a quick bite to eat at what Luke referred to as a “traditional” French restaurant (they served sandwiches on baguettes) we made our way through the Jardin des Tuileries. The gardens are large and beautiful so it was nice to walk through them rather than along a city street. From here we then went to Place de la Concorde where all the beheadings took place during the French revolution. Apparently they had two platforms in this large open area (it also happens to be in the middle of a very large roundabout) and when Napoleon came into power he had the area cleaned (because over 38 beheadings took place each day during the Revolution and no one cleaned up, could you imagine the smell?). In place of the platforms he stuck to very large and beautiful fountains which are unique because they shoot water into the centre of the fountain, rather than the water coming from the centre. He also placed the gift he received from Egypt here, an Obelisk. We then heard a story about a safe sex promotion and how they made a huge condom to go over the Obelisk. We were also told that one of the two buildings on the north side of the plaza was the most expensive hotels in Paris (both buildings looked alike; the other was a government building). On a side note, the campsite we are staying at offers WiFi and since we arrived we had been trying to download NOFX’s Champs-Elysees song and have had no luck. Alas, Julie and I didn’t get to listen to the song before or after we took our stroll on the 2km road called the Champs-Elysees. Our first stroll was just after the Place de la Concorde. The section we walked along was wide and “park” like. Our guide told us that when we were to cross the road, if we stopped in the middle we could see the Arc de Triomphe and have a great photo opportunity. It did offer just what he said. But with the street being as busy as it is, all 30 of us were crammed like sardines at the middle of a small crosswalk, avoiding the passing cars (the Parisian drivers didn’t seem to mind if they hit us or not). It’s a shame we couldn’t get a photo of the tour group stuck in the middle of the Champs-Eylsees. From here we stopped in front of the Petit Palais which sat directly across from the Grand Palais (both have exhibitions, though the Petit Palais has permanent collection too) and also provided us with a view of Hotel des Invalides where Napoleon is buried for the end of our tour. From here we had an option, either to head to the grave site of Napoleon and see how he designed his own grave or visit the Eiffel tower. We chose the Eiffel tower (during the tour we were able to see it the entire time, almost), as we decided to meet another free tour provided by the same company.
The extremely long climb (700 steps) was very strenuous for us but that was probably because we had already walked for a good portion of the day. The views from on top of the tower are worth it though, but Julie and I wished they had more ticket booths open, as we wouldn’t have had to queue for so long. The Eiffel tower is really worth while to see and spend the 4 euros to climb the steps, but don’t expect to be blown away by it. With everything we had just done, you would figure the day to be finished. But we are hoping to finish Paris in just 2 days, and that includes the Louvre. So we had a quick bite to eat from a snack shop at the Eiffel tower (where Julie lost 40 euros, we didn’t find out until much later) and figured out where exactly we were and how to get to where we needed to be. The tour started at 6 and was of the areas known as Montmartre and Pigalle. Pigalle is a red light district, and is where the Moulin rouge is located. Montmartre is home to many artists and was home to Picasso. It is also where the Basillique du Sacre Coeur is. The tour was interesting, but not at all like the first tour of the day. We started off in front of the Moulin Rouge and then proceeded to walk up the hill towards Montmartre. We saw where Picasso lived, clarified the ear story and then proceeded to the Basilica. When we arrived at the main entrance we could hear music playing. On the steps below the basilica’s main entrance was a guy playing in front of an audience of bystanders. The music was good, the view of the city was fantastic, and the sun was just starting to set. The tour ended a little further down the hill but still in front of the Basilica. During the tour I had been talking to a couple of Canadian guys (one from Calgary, the other from Quebec) and I had hoped to join them for a few drinks, but with us loosing the 40 euros earlier, and it being such a long day, Julie made the decision to call it a night. For whatever reason, we decided not to take the subway back to St Michels, but to walk. This was the longest walk of the day yet. We did however get the train back to the campsite only remembering on the way that we did not know the punch code for the gate into the campsite (we didn’t know it because we weren’t checked in the proper way earlier so nothing was explained to us). Luckily two other couples were heading towards the campsite as well, but as we were so tired from the walk, we couldn’t keep up with the older couples. It didn’t matter though, the gates weren’t closed up and we were able to just walk right in. Tomorrow we have a huge day, and then we have to see the Louvre too.

Versaille

We intended to visit the city of Rouen today. This city is mostly famous for its cathedral and it is where they burned Joan of Arc on the stake. However, the city was crazy to drive around and we were running out of gas. We could not find a place to park and when we started to look for gas stations they were all underground and thus, had a height restriction of 2 meters. Julie was not up to spending the money to stay at the campsite in Rouen after spending a half hour driving around the modern city. So we headed off to our next stop. Les Andelys is a small town with a ruined castle. The castle was nice enough to walk around, but it was closed because it was a Tuesday. So we saved some money, because I didn’t think going inside the castle would have been worth the 3 euros entry. It being closed convinced Julie.

The drive to Versaille was a long one. We originally wanted to split up this long drive, but since we didn’t stay in Rouen, we needed to move on to the campsite in Versaille. We intend to use this campsite as a base for exploring Paris. When we arrived at the campsite, one of the employees was really excited that we were from Canada. Apparently the chain of campgrounds has a few sites in Quebec. On our way back to the van we saw street signs pointing to what they considered “Canadien” style lodges. They had wooden floors with waterproof canvas sides and ceiling. You can have a look at them online. We had already put our Canadian flag on the front window and before we even had a chance to sit down a boy came by to say high. He is on exchange for two months and had come to Versaille to see Paris with his host family. He said he was from Barrie and that the host family told him he shouldn’t go over to the van to say “Hi”. His response to them, was “Canadian’s are the nicest people in the world and not to worry about it.” Once he was off, one of our new neighbors returned and the lady asked us if we were really Canadians or American’s pretending to be Canadians. Peggy and Bruce are from Nevada on tour for the summer. They purchased their van from a dealer in Amsterdam, and strange as it is, they were driving a Volkswagen LT28. We chatted for quite some time before calling it a night. Julie said to me later, that the flag had already paid for itself.