Torquay, Stonehenge, London: Saturday 30 July

It was our final breakfast together on the tour this morning. Everyone was on the bus and ready to leave early, as we have all been 100% of the time for every deadline we've been given. Michelle has never had a group like ours before!

We left Torquay at 8am and travelled for an hour before a service stop, where Michelle suggested we get early lunches to take and eat later, as Stonehenge only had the one cafe and would be extremely busy (she was right)! I found a salad.

We drove across the Wiltshire plains for about an hour and a half, before reaching Stonehenge. It was busy when we arrived, and four times worse when we left! It was mayhem with so many tour coaches. But we had an awesome view of Stonehenge, and the light rain that started as we exited our bus and queued for a shuttle, dried up quickly and it got sunny and warm. Insight supplies umbrellas when the weather is doubtful and most people had grabbed one, just in case...

A new visitor centre had been built at Stonehenge about four years ago, and Michelle picked up our tickets and audio guides and pointed us to where the shuttle buses were ferrying people from the visitor centre, to the actual site 1.6km up the road. We didn't have to wait long to get on a shuttle and were soon wandering around the site, listening to the interesting commentary and marvelling at this iconic site. It was great to be able to get photos without people blocking the view, or climbing all over what you wanted to get a photo of...

The queues were MUCH bigger when we left and we were so glad we hadn't arrived later. We went back to the bus to eat our lunch, and departed (early) just before 12:45pm.

Two and a quarter hours later (with very bad traffic, and road closures due to a big cycle race through London tomorrow), we arrived at 3pm at our final destination - The Grosvenor Hotel in Victoria, London. It was a rush to get the bags off so the bus could move on, and the narrow footpath was very crowded with lots of other people too. It was hard to say our goodbyes.

It took a while for us to check in because I had two bookings making up our 8 nights staying there - two nights with Insight vouchers, and the rest my private Booking.com arrangement. We didn't want to have to change rooms after two nights, and I'd arranged months ago that we'd also have one of the larger rooms within the grade of room we were paying for - some of their rooms are apparently very small. The room wasn't ready, but after a 20 minute wait we walked almost literally up hill and down dale to find Room 270. And it was a very good size, but we have to take care getting in and out of the steep-sided bath when we shower (not many rooms in the UK seem to have ordinary showers). One of our group had slipped in one of the hotel baths and had had to go and see a doctor.

David and I popped across the road to The Victorian pub for a drink, then went for a walk to another pub, The St George's Tavern where we had an early dinner. Back at the hotel around 7pm after a walk around the block, we flaked out and David was asleep by 8:50pm, while I wrote this post. 

Torquay, Plymouth, Saltash, Looe, and Dartmoor: Friday 29 July

We had a much appreciated lie-in this morning (I had slept at least nine hours but David still woke for the day at 5:20am as his body clock is set on that time for all time-zones). Everyone was looking more refreshed at the 8am breakfast.

It was our turn in the back row of the bus today - 5 seats across the back, all to ourselves, so I could move from side to side to take photos. At 9am we set off through Torquay, for Plymouth. 

  

We enjoyed the rolling hills and green pastures of the Devon countryside on the way.

  

Plymouth was much bigger than we expected, as we discovered when we took a harbour cruise from the Barbican area of the port, that ended at Saltash. So much history here, and so much to see in such a beautiful harbour. First, we saw a replica of the ship used by Magellan to sail around the world 1519-1522. We also saw the location of the memorial Mayflower steps, where the pilgrims had stepped onto their ship to go to America in 1620. There were also memorials to the people who left on the first transport ships to Australia, and to people who had been lost at sea.

  

  

From the water we could see the Plymouth Hoe where Sir Francis Drake is reputed to have been playing bowls in 1588, while waiting for the tide to change before sailing out with the English fleet to fight the Spanish Armada. Smeaton's Tower stood out above other buildings. We sailed past the Royal William Yard, and saw British warships and submarines. Scott's memorial was in the distance. There were islands, including Drake's Island. Much more was described in the commentary as we sailed along.

  

At Saltash we passed under two bridges, one for rail and the other for road vehicles. The Royal Albert Bridge (for rail) spans the River Tamar and was designed by Isambard Brunel, an engineering genius. It was completed in 1859. The adjacent Tamar Bridge was opened in 1962.

The bus met us where we disembarked in Saltash, and now we found ourselves suddenly in Cornwall instead of Devon, and on our way to Looe for lunch.

  

Michelle alerted us that the change from Devon to Cornwall also meant a change in the way we put the jam and clotted cream on our scones! In Cornwall the clotted cream (average fat content of 64%) gets put on top of the jam, whereas in Devon the cream goes on first!

  

Looe was a quaint seaside town, swarming with tourists, and we had 1 hour 45 to get lunch and look around. It was 'interesting', to say the least, when our bus came down the narrow road into the town, and met a local bus coming up the opposite way! Kevin, our amazing driver, gently eased past, a millimetre at a time - no bus was damaged in the process! Michelle's lunch recommendation was to have a traditional Cornish pasty, and to have cream tea with scones for "dessert". I came upon a recommended GF cafe, Cafe Fleur, and that is where we enjoyed our lunch with Murray and Lorraine. I gave the cream tea a miss, but enjoyed the other recommendations! In fact, there was so much that I couldn't eat it all!

  

  

Next we walked briskly (for me) through the narrow, bustling streets, to the beachfront, where lots of families were enjoying the sand, but very few were in the water! 

  

Soon after, we were off again, travelling towards Dartmoor over the moor of the same name. We were up high on the moor, driving along the tops, sometimes between very steep hedgerows (in the bus we could see over the tops) and looking across a very different landscape, with sheep and Dartmoor horses. Yet, in the distance and lower down, we could see the patchwork of farms of Cornwall and Devon. We passed through hamlets, and also got to see the Dartmoor Prison buildings nearby. We had a restroom break in Postbridge, to also look at an ancient stone bridge (the Clapper Bridge), the only one of its type still standing, and dating back to the 12th century. The newer bridge next to it was built in the 17th century.

  

  

Off we went again, gradually making our way back towards Plymouth, Michelle treating us on the way to a piece of clotted cream fudge each - oh the calories! We finally arrived back at our hotel at 5:30pm.

An hour later we were all in the dining room, drinking glasses of bubbly and toasting Michelle and Kevin - it was the final night of our tour and we were having a final celebration dinner. We had all pre-ordered our dinners the night before, but they could find no record of my GF request even though I'd noted it clearly... Luckily they were able to sort it out, and I certainly enjoyed my dinner, along with the great group of people we were dining with!

  

David was knackered (like I'd been the night before) and we headed to bed at 8:30pm, David to sleep, and me to write this post!

Cardiff, Bath, Glastonbury to Torquay: Thursday 28 July

We left Cardiff at 8am this morning, and soon skirted around Bristol and drove over the Severn Bridge.



Before long we were driving through the beautiful Somerset landscape, often quite high up, driving through small villages and looking out over the farmland below.

We arrived in Bath around an hour and a half later. Somehow I'd always envisaged the town being on flat ground, but much of it was built on quite steep hillsides. We had an orientation tour around the famed Georgian building areas of the Circus and the Royal Crescent, locations for filming many TV series or movies from that era.

We soon pulled up near the Bath Abbey and walked the short distance to the Roman Baths.

  

We spent a fascinating hour and a half walking through the different levels of the baths, looking at the amazing exhibits on display, and learning about life at the baths during Roman times. It was a bit like Pompeii, on steroids!

We needed to find an early lunch, so had a short wander around some of the narrow streets until we found a cafe that had been recommended by Michelle - also the oldest remaining home in Bath - Sally Lunn's Eating House, home of the Sally Lunn Bun, which had been recommended as something different to try. David had half a bun (they're huge) of what was described as a club sandwich. I had two warm GF scones with jam and clotted cream - I was in GF heaven! Then we wandered along the river - actually the River Avon - and had a look at a rather unique bridge, built with shops on it just like the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. At this point, it started raining and we were caught without jackets or umbrellas. We spent an uncomfortable 20 minutes sheltering in a book shop and then under a tree, before Kevin arrived to pick everyone up at the allotted time of 12:30pm. The rain soon cleared.

  

  

Our next stop was in Glastonbury, but for only 45 minutes. The place was packed with people, many of them dressed in long purple skirts (there was some kind of gathering on). There were shops for everything related to King Arthur and his Knights, as well as spiritual crystals etc. We ducked in to the entrance to the Glastonbury Abbey ruins, but decided not to actually go in (a regret I now have) because it cost £7 each and we'd only have 20 minutes in which to have a look.

  

On the two hour drive to Torquay (home of Faulty Towers), I fell asleep for at least 20 minutes, but still wasn't feeling great when I woke up - not getting enough sleep at night and also a lack of protein today, I suspect. We reached Torquay around 4:30pm and were taken to a bar right on the waterfront and Michelle shouted each of us a drink while Kevin delivered the bags to our hotel. It was lovely sitting in the warm sunshine (23C) and talking to others on the tour. Then, Kevin was back to pick us up.

  

We were staying two nights at the Imperial Hotel Torquay and found our room was a huge one with a balcony and spectacular view overlooking the bay - wow! Our room also has a separate foyer, with access from there to the small bathroom. I sat on the balcony for a while and, like several on the tour, we decided to eat dinner in the hotel. It seemed I wasn't the only one with sore, swollen feet!

We went downstairs to the bar and sat at a lovely table in the sun by the window, having a drink. We were soon joined by Murray and Lorraine who stayed and had dinner with us. After that, I returned to our room to write this blog post, while David headed out with Murray for a brisk walk down the hill to the town and back.

Waterford to Cardiff: Wednesday 27 July

This tour is called 'Romantic Britain and Ireland' but, as everyone on the bus would tell you, there was nothing romantic about this morning's 5am alarm, with bags to be in the hall for the porters by 6am, and breakfast at 6am, with a 7am departure for the port at Rosslare (in County Wexford) to catch our Sena ferry across the Irish Sea to the port of Fishguard in Wales.

On the journey to Rosslare, we heard about JF Kennedy's family links with Ireland, and passed through New Ross on the Barrow River - home to the Dunbrody replica famine ship (one of the better ships that didn't lose close to 50% of its passengers who were headed to America to escape the potato famine in the mid-1800s).

  

It was a fine day, even sunny with only high cloud, and we had a smooth three and a half hour crossing, sitting in the Barista Cafe with Murray and Lorraine. Later we went up to the cafe on Deck 8 for lunch, where David had fish and chips, and I had a GF beef casserole with brown rice. There's a bit of a saga with that - 15 minutes after we ordered, our food had still not arrived, so I went over to ask about it. I got the impression that mine had been forgotten, and the woman rushed away to find out. She still came back without the meal, and said it had been dropped on the floor as it was being taken out the oven, and they had to put another meal on for me. I asked if David could have his fish and chips as other customers had been served theirs up immediately upon ordering, and here we were now, 20 minutes later with both of us still waiting. So, he got that, and she kindly delivered my meal a few minutes later. Nothing seems to be simple when you're GF!

After docking at Fishguard, we drove through the beautiful Pembrokeshire countryside. Michelle gave us a potted version of early Welsh history. After an hour and a half we had a service break, then Michelle played us a selection of songs sung by well-known Welsh singers - I was disappointed that Harry Secombe wasn't amongst them.

An hour and a quarter later we were in Cardiff and had passed the Millennium Stadium, and then 12 of us were dropped off for our optional tour at Cardiff Castle. This was an excellent tour of the medieval castle and Victorian Gothic revival mansion, entering rooms that people can't always see. The rooms were spectacular, with huge attention to detail. In the mid-18th century, the castle had passed into the hands of the Marquesses of Bute, who had begun many years of renovations and the results were amazing. After the tour, David climbed up the original old motte and bailey castle that was built in the late 11th century by Norman invaders on top of a 3rd-century Roman fort. 

  

  

  

  

  

Michelle and Kevin picked us up an hour and a half later, at 5:15pm, and we were driven the very short distance to our hotel, Jury's Inn.

  

  

At 7:30pm we headed out again, this time to the Millennium Centre for a night celebrating Welsh food and culture and being entertained by Welsh stories, music and Welsh singers.

  

We had a lovely meal, including (for me) the best GF bread rolls I've ever had, a goat cheese terrine, hake on caponata and veges, and a really nice orange and almond cake. The entertainment took place between courses and involved humour, audience participation, and beautiful singing by two sopranos and two tenors (operatic as well as popular music). There was also flute, harp and piano accompaniment.

  

We were all very raucous on the way back to the hotel on the bus!