Travels in Europe
Prologue Blog
It is mid-day, July 1 2012. The carbon tax has only been in force for about 12 hours, and already the temperature has dropped here in an outer suburb of Melbourne to the average July low of 6 C. Great stuff, Julia. Keep it up and we shall soon have another ice age.
But before that happens, we are off to Europe for a three-month spell of some northern hemisphere summer weather. We have nearly got ourselves organised—-just a few minor details such as finances and a few accommodations to get sorted in the next few days.
In an attempt to avoid the London Olympics, in which we have not the slightest interest, we are flying to Manchester, even though our destination is Portsmouth! We pick up a hire car (actually booked already) at Manchester airport and drive north to Ambleside in the Lakes District for a four night stop-over. We have been to this glorious part of England several times before, and love it. Then we head further north to St Andrews in Scotland for a further 4 nights. Here we shall catch up with Ann’s brother John, and hopefully a few of his family there. Despite the proximity to the Old Course, and the enjoyment I get from losing a few golf balls, I shall not be playing, as I should have booked a tee-off time some 12 months ago—before we had even thought of going there. So be it.
From Scotland we sneak down the east coast, stopping on the way near the Yorkshire Dales to catch up with a nephew and his wife, before moving down to East Kent, where we shall spend some time between my sister, Ann’s other brother and various friends—not staying with any one long enough to become a nuisance. Whilst in that part of the world, there are a few places we specially want to visit, such as the Coach and Horses pub in Whitstable, owned in the 1870s by my great grandfather—a fact that we have only very recently discovered. It appears that my grandfather was actually born and raised in the pub, which may go some way to explaining why he eventually died an alcoholic. We also want to visit Rochester Cathedral, reckoned to be one of the most beautiful in England, which we have passed many times en-route to London, but never stopped to go inside.
From Kent we sneak along the south coast to Portsmouth, leaving the hire car there. In this rather round-about way, we catch up with most of our relatives and many old friends, without the inconvenience of going anywhere near London and the Olympics. The reason for going to England in general, and Portsmouth in particular, at this very inconvenient time is simply because the Annual International Dickens Conference happens to be in Portsmouth in August 2012. Otherwise, we should have gone a bit more ‘out-of-season’ as it were.
Following the Portsmouth Conference, we cross the channel to Cherbourg (yet to be booked), and pick up another hire cat there (again, yet to be booked). We drive to a small market town about three hours away, where we shall spend the first of our French weeks in a self-catering gite (actually booked!). Whilst here, we shall visit the Bayeux Tapestry and Chartres Cathedral, being two things on the ‘must do’ list. What else we do remains to be seen—but probably very little. Then we spend a couple of days driving across France to Strasbourg, where we shall stay with an old friend for a couple of nights, before moving on to Freiburg in the Black Forest to stay with another friend for a few days. Then we have a week still to be arranged, before we arrive at Argeles on the Mediterranean coast near the Spanish border, where we shall spend the next three weeks. From here it is easy to visit such places as Carcassonne and other historic towns. Then, a few days, maybe two or three, travelling through the Pyrenees, and on to Bordeaux, where we shall leave the hire car, and travel by TGV to Paris. A few days there, and then back to Kent for a few days before leaving in Mid-October for Melbourne.
Well, that is the over-all plan. Hopefully we will have time as we go around to keep you up to date with how it all works out in practice. I realise, of course, that you might not have the slightest interest in our travels, but if you do read the blogs, I hope you enjoy them.
Slingsby's Miscellany 