Sam headed back to Exeter on the train the next day – it was very sad to say goodbye to him after five days of travelling with him.
All we had to do that day was travel two hours to the Cotswolds, but by the time we finally got packed up, and then returned twice to Bramley to pick up stuff we’d forgotten, we didn’t get to Stow-on-the-Wold until around 8pm.
We checked into the B&B and the four of us had chip butties and a bottle of wine for tea/supper. Erin & Ryan, camped out on a farm they used to work on – naturally it started to rain just as we were setting up their tent. Our bed was a very high four poster bed, really only a double in size, but we needed a step stool to get into it. Seriously, it would have to have safety rails in NZ to pass H&S standards – we now know where the phrase “climbing into bed’ comes from. We survived without falling out! In the morning we had a full cooked English breakfast – it certainly set us up for the day.
It was still raining on and off most the next day, but in true Dunedin style we didn’t let it spoil our plans. We took the short drive to Stratford-on-Avon, checked out Shakespeare’s birth place, and had a leisurely wander around the city centre. Whilst there were still a lot of tourists there (we’re not tourists – we’re adventurers!), it was much more pleasant than in Oxford.
After that we toured around a lot of places with hyphenated names in the area where Ryan and Erin worked for several months last English summer. Places like Morten-in-Marsh (went to the street markets), Bourton-on-the-Water (nice river running through it), Lower Slaughter (looked through the church). We also visited the farm where Erin & Ryan lived and were appalled at the condition of the “hut” they were expected to survive in. It made the average scarfy flat in Dunedin look like a palace. Driving around the area was quite an experience. The roads are really just small lanes (all 2-way), with hedges growing right up to the edge of the row, and in most places joining up over the top as well. You have to pull over whenever another vehicle comes your way (hoping like hell it’s not a big tractor).
That evening we had dinner at the pub called The Plough in Cold Aston which is where Erin and Ryan worked when they first came to the Cotswolds. We had a lovely dinner and met up with Annette & Phillip (owners) and also met several of the locals who were real characters – and of course their accent was something else. They’re farrrmerrrs you see, with tractorrrrrs and combine harrrrvesterrrrrs! Deb even had a go behind the Bar, pulling pints of Guinness.
Next morning was an early start as we had a two hour drive to Birmingham, and needed to drop the car off in time to catch the 10.15am train to Holyhead in Wales. The experience on Virgin Trains was something else indeed. Everyone appeared to have reserved seats but there were too many people for the seats. And one woman made a real scene. No one dared make eye contact with her, although Erin did tell another woman with small children that she had every right to the seat she had reserved. Even though we also had reserved seats, we just fitted in where we could – our bags had to sit in the aisle for the entire trip to the ferry. But the trip… even though these countries are beside one and other they are so different. Once in Wales all signs had double languages (Welsh and English) and the houses hmmmm, miles of terrace housing. Also lots of caravan parks by the coast with massive trailer homes permanently set up, which are apparently used as holiday homes by their owners from other parts of the UK. The time passed quickly, Hamish played cards with Erin, Debbie listened to the soundtrack from Wicked, and Ryan slept.
Once in Holyhead we had plenty of time to get a bite to eat and then go through the necessary formalities to get on the ferry, which was more like a cruise ship than what we thought a ferry would be like. As we were nearly last getting on, the only place with a few seats was what appeared to be the nursery. Bloody kids screaming everywhere, and a couple of them even throwing up. Oh great!! What a wonderful trip this would be. But they did settle down and the trip wasn’t so bad. However Deb had only just got her sea legs as we were docking in Dublin several hours later.
What is amazing us so far is that these countries really don’t do any major checks at their Borders. You and your bags go through metal dectectors, and there are signs about declaring food, but most people walk through eating it and nobody does anything.
Safely through Immigration once again, we hopped on the bus and headed towards the Irish chapter of our big adventure………..
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