19-day tour of uk




when we landed at heathrow airport, victor and helen were at terminal 3 waiting for us. we took the tube from the airport to oxford circus. victor's family was visiting jeremy, his eldest son, who was studying english at oxford. we paid $240 a night to stay at a guest house on gosfield st.

we spent 3 days touring the landmarks in london before we collected our car. once we got out of london, we headed for brighton. we parted company with the samuels at brighton. after visiting portsmouth, the birth place of charles dickens, we travelled to the salisbury plains to see the stonehenge. stonehenge is a world famous prehistoric monument.

from salisbury, we travelled on a30 and a38 to reach plymouth. plymouth is a historic town associated with sir francis drake and the mayflower. enroute to plymouth, we stopped at bude where we watched two girls using a chunk of meat to catch crabs in a river.

our next stop was covelly where we had our cheapest and most authentic b&b, staying with mrs jeffreys. covelly is a small, picturesque village beside the sea with tiny, steep, cobbled streets and donkey-drawn carts.

the next morning, after thanking mrs jeffreys for her warm hospitality, we set off for bath. it was at bath that we met up with the samuels again. that evening we took a cruise down the avon river.

we would stay in bath for 3 days. the second day in bath, we made a side trip to swindown and oxford to do some shopping. we had planned to go to milton keynes to see the open university campus but changed our mind as it was too much out of way.

on day 10, we were in cotswold country, well-known for its quaint cottages. we stayed at the old stocks hotel at stow-on-the-wold.

from stow we moved to shakespeare's birth place stratford-on-av0n. victor and his family stayed in stratford for 3 days. after an overnight stay, we moved on to llangollen in wales. ivy would be there the following year for an international choir competition.

after a 2-day stay in llangollen, we headed for the lake district. we visited rydal mount, the home of william wordsworth. we also visited his other home - the dove cottage.

we were in windermere for two days before we set off for york. along the way, we got lost and ended at otley, an historic town just outside leeds. we were in york on a sunday and so we attended a church service at york minster.

from york, we drove on the m1 to get back to london. we started at 7a.m. and were in london by early afternoon, covering a distance of 338km.

we stayed another 4 days in london before flying back to singapore on 26 june. while in london, we watched 'miss saigon' and 'beauty and the beast'.