Great Britain

It’s already our last full day, and as mentioned yesterday, we want to spend it exploring Dover. We start with a walk along the White Cliffs of Dover. We park around 9:30 and turn out to be one of the few with this idea. It’s a beautiful walk of a good two miles to the South Foreland Lighthouse. Along the way, we see the White Cliffs and a plethora of ferries arriving and departing at sea. On the way back, we encounter many more walkers.

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few,” many will recognize this quote from Winston Churchill. He used it to praise the pilots of the Royal Air Force who prevented the German invasion of England by winning the Battle of Britain and thus maintaining control of the Channel. In 1993, Queen Elizabeth opened a memorial to this effect. Many individuals formed The Few, and the monument beautifully reflects this. It is relatively small and consists of individual elements that together create a thought-provoking experience. The focal point is a statue of a seated pilot looking out to sea. The figure is depicted wearing a flying jacket, meaning his rank and nationality are not revealed. He could be an officer or a gunner. British or from elsewhere. Waiting for a colleague’s return or contemplating his next flight. The figure of the airman sits on a pedestal bearing the insignia of all the Allied squadrons and units that participated in the Battle of Britain. The memorial also includes an original Spitfire and Hurricane, two statues of commanders, and a wall with the names of the approximately 3,000 Few. After this impressive experience, we drive on to Hythe, where a narrow-gauge steam train departs for Dungeness. We ride along, stay in Dungeness for a good half hour, and then head back, as there wasn’t much to see there. This is the last of this blog post. We thank everyone who read this, and hope we’ve managed to convey how beautiful Great Britain is.

The temperature was approximately nineteen degrees Celsius, and partly cloudy.

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Despite sleeping above the pub and Leeds United winning, we slept well. We weren’t bothered by much noise, either from the pub or the main road. We left around 9:15 and first visited a charging station. So far, about eighty percent of our charging sessions have been with one company, MFG, Multi Fuel Group, which has nice, clean, and large charging stations with at least 150 kWh of charging capacity per station. Highly recommended. We’re charging to 90 percent because today will be a travel day. We’ve decided to drive straight to Dover and stay there for two nights. This way, on Wednesday, we can still do a few things that we didn’t get around to in the first few days. We’ll also see if we come across anything worth seeing along the way today. But during the second charging session of the day, near Cambridge, we haven’t discovered anything special yet. Then the idea of taking a short detour via London to visit George Michael’s grave comes up. We both quickly agree. So, off to Highgate Cemetery. We took a walk there, paused at his grave, and finally headed to our booked hotel in Dover.

The temperature fluctuated from 13 degrees Celsius in the morning to 22 degrees Celsius in the afternoon. We also encountered some rain on the way in the car (I’d almost say finally 😉).

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We enjoy another delicious breakfast and strike up a conversation with the couple sitting in the breakfast room with us. She was born in Belgium, and he’s Scottish, but he speaks better Dutch and Flemish than many Walloons in Belgium. They’ve lived in Scotland for over 35 years after first living in Belgium. They tell us about the Sycamore Gap tree. This tree features prominently in the 1991 film “Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.” Unfortunately, it was felled by two idiots who cut down the 150-year-old tree. Good news: last July, both men received prison sentences of over four years. This tree, now stump, also stands at Hadrian’s Wall. A 72-mile-long wall, built in 122 AD by order of Emperor Hadrian. The remains can still be seen in various places. We try to combine the two, but unfortunately, the remains of the tree are behind what looks like a huge mountain. We turn back. Our next stop is Beamish Museum. A large open-air museum just south of Newcastle upon Tyne. It showcases the history of daily life in England between the Industrial Revolution and the 1950s. We marvel at the many shops, houses, trams, buses, and even a small farm. It’s a beautiful layout. After wandering around there for over two hours, we continue our journey towards Leeds. Tonight is the Premier League match between Leeds United and Everton. We’re going to see if there are any tickets left. But no, the match is completely sold out. So, we head to our next overnight stay, which is in Morley. It’s a B&B above a pub with a Sky Sports subscription. We’ll watch the match in the pub. It’s also a fun experience.

The average temperature was around 17 degrees Celsius with quite a bit of cloud.

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Today we have Edinburgh on the agenda, and when we told both taxi drivers in Liverpool that we were also going there, they both independently said, “A beautiful city.” And they were right. We park near Edinburgh Castle and walk into the city center. It turns out there’s a theater festival going on on the so-called Royal Mile, a long street leading to the castle, and we watch a few performances. We also stroll through the rest of the old town, which also boasts some beautiful buildings. We also take a look at the grounds of Greyfriars Kirk, where some of Scotland’s most influential people are buried. But the show is stolen by Greyfriar Bobby, a Skye Terrier who, according to legend, guarded his owner’s grave in Greyfriars Cemetery for fourteen years in the 19th century. Bobby himself died on January 14, 1872. The story is still very well-known in Scotland. Books and films have been made about it. Finally, we return to the car and drive to our next overnight stay. This is another gem, a B&B about two kilometers outside the equally beautiful village of Jedburgh. The nearest property is a good 500 meters away, and look at that four-poster bed! We have a delicious Italian dinner in Jedburgh.

The temperature is around 22 degrees Celsius, and sunny.

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After a wonderful night’s sleep, we’re back in line for the ferry around 9:15, because although we would have loved to stay longer, the ferry was already booked. We have another uneventful crossing and arrive back on the Scottish mainland around noon. We drive to Oban, where another distillery tour awaits us. This is in one of Scotland’s smallest distilleries. This is because, unlike all the others, the distillery was first founded in 1794, and the town grew up around it. Now they can’t expand in any direction. In front of them is the sea, behind them a steep cliff, and on either side is the town. The guided tour is once again interesting, and the tastings, here during the tour, are also interesting, unlike other distilleries where it always ends at the end. After the tour, we stroll through the town and then head for our next overnight stay in Callander. This is another hour’s drive from Edinburgh. For those of you who think we enjoy driving, I’ve taken some screenshots of what we have to wade through. The first is from Islay, the second somewhere along the way today.

The temperature was 22 degrees and very sunny.

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Today the alarm goes off early, because even though we’re staying a 10-minute drive from the ferry to Islay, we obviously have to be there on time. After a crossing of a good two hours, we drive to the island’s capital, Bowmore, and have lunch there. Then we drive on to the other side of the island, to the Caol Ila distillery. We’ve booked a tour there, and as expected, it’s very interesting. After the accompanying tasting, we return to Port Ellen, the same place where we arrived by ferry, and where our hotel is located. Once again, we have a lovely, spacious room with an ocean view. We eat around the corner and then take a walk along the Three Distilleries Path. To finish, we sit for a while in the hotel bar, where they have all the available whiskeys from all nine distilleries on the island. So, will it stay that way?

The temperature today is 18 to 20 degrees Celsius, and chilly.

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We leave the hotel around nine o’clock this morning to drive towards Glasgow. We’d already found a parking garage in the city center and drove there without any problems. Just as we were standing outside, trying to find our way on our phone, a passerby asked if we were lost. The people here are generally very friendly and helpful. This man also told us that filming for the latest Spider-Man movie was taking place a little further into the city today. We started walking and arrived at the filming location within half an hour. Despite being kept quite far away, it was still a fun experience. But we soon got tired of it and continued walking. After a while, we settled down at a terrace for a drink and a snack. Margreet had bruschetta and Bene Haggis bon-bons with spice mayo. The bon-bons turned out to be a kind of bitterballen, but filled with haggis. Delicious; even Margreet liked them. We walked a bit further and then decided to head north. Tomorrow we’re taking the ferry to Islay, and we currently have a guest house five miles from the ferry. But first, we’re went to Inveraray Castle, a well-preserved 18th-century castle still inhabited by the leader of one of the world’s most famous clans, Clan Campbell, the 13th Duke of Argyll. We’ve chosen another wonderful place to stay overnight: a spacious room overlooking Tarbert Harbor. The ferry to Islay leaves tomorrow at ten o’clock.

The temperature ranges from 18.5 to 23 degrees Celsius during the day. On the way to Glasgow, electronic signs along the highway even show a yellow warning for heavy rain, but we haven’t had any.

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From Liverpool, we drive to Manchester in an hour. The plan is a stadium tour at Manchester United, then another Uber to the city center, a walk, and in the late afternoon, a drive towards Glasgow. The tour was a success (more on that later), the Uber too, but then things went awry. But as I said, the tour. Just to find the right parking spot, we had to go around the nearby roundabout at least four times, but we make it there on time and join the tour led by John (at least that’s his name in our tour; on the next tour, he’s called Chris, and on the 4:00 tour, he’s called Peter). This gives you a sense of the humor with which he leads the tour. He’s undeniably a true football fan, because somewhere along the line, he casually mentions, “Virgil van Dijk started in Groningen, didn’t he?” Although, football fan, he also mentioned that he supported Willem II as a Dutch club. 😜. After this wonderful tour, although if I had to compare it to Liverpool, they win because they’re more of a working-class club, meaning cheaper prices for both the tour and the shirts, more compelling football history, contrary to a very good tour guide (Liverpool was self-guided), and the fact that Man recently sacrificed about two thousand seats in the stadium to create many more wheelchair spaces, which earns them bonus points. Afterward, as mentioned, we took an Uber to the city center, where we had lunch at one of the two other Hard Rock Café restaurants in Great Britain outside London. The other is Edinburgh. Afterwards, we were going to go for a walk, but it’s very hot today, over 30 degrees, and what we initially see doesn’t really appeal to us, so we decide to head back to the car after about an hour and drive further north. So, we’re now in Carlisle, where we’re taking it easy, partly because of the weather, and tomorrow and the day after will be busy enough.

Temperature over 30 degrees and very sunny.

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We start the day with a stadium tour at 9:45. It’s a bonus if you’re staying a five-minute walk from the stadium. It’s an impressive tour of one of the biggest clubs. We tour the entire stadium, from the stands to the home dressing room, and even the dugouts on the pitch. Of course, we also have to stop by the gift shop where Bene picks up a nice t-shirt. After that, we walk back to the apartment to pick up a few things, and then order an Uber to the city center. We get dropped off near the Beatles statue and from there, walk through Liverpool’s city center, a seven-kilometer walk. Afterward, we take a boat trip on the Mersey, because being in Liverpool and not crossing the Mersey on a ferry is simply not an option. After that, we order another Uber to the apartment, from where we walk to a supermarket for some groceries.

The temperature was around 28 degrees today, with some drizzle in the morning, and sunny otherwise, so the

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We decided last night to drive to Liverpool today so we’d have two nights there. This way, we could do some laundry and have clean clothes for the second half of the trip. It does mean a long drive, but that won’t stop us. We’ll first drive about twenty miles to charge the car from 40% to 90%. Then we’ll continue north. A colleague of M.’s had seen on “3 op Reis”, Dutch that they make laverbread in Wales. It’s a traditional Welsh dish made from boiled seaweed. It’s often called “Welshman’s caviar” and is known for its unique flavor. The seaweed is gathered from the rocky Welsh coastlines, boiled for several hours until it reaches a soft, purée-like consistency, and is then traditionally eaten baked with oatmeal or served with bacon and eggs.Would we take some with us? So, today is a beautiful day to look for it. At the second shop we try, we’re immediately successful. Naturally, Bene takes some for herself too. Margreet gets behind the wheel for the upcoming three-hour trip. It takes us to the town with the longest place name in Europe, at 58 letters. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Pronounced: klan·vai·uh·puhth·gwin·guhth·guh·geuh·uh·thwuhn·dro·buhth·luhn·tuh·si·lee·ow·go·gok. You have to go there at least once. The original plan was to stay overnight, but that wouldn’t have fit the title of this blog post 😉. We take some photos and do some shopping. Then we charge a second time, from 38% to 80%, and head to Liverpool. The house we booked turns out to be just a stone’s throw from Liverpool’s Anfield stadium. So, we take a walk around the stadium that evening and book a tour for tomorrow morning. But we’re already impressed by the Hillsborough Monument and the enormous sea of flowers for Diego Jota, a Liverpool player who died last month in a car accident along with his brother.

Temperature today around 23 degrees, still little cloudy, and we saw some raindops.

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