England 2017 - part 1

Mum and I left for our trip to England Monday September 25th.  We flew Westjet into Gatwick for the first but probably not the last time.

We arrived Tuesday morning and picked up our rental car. After a quick stop at Clackett services we arrived at our Airbnb in Ramsden Bellhouse. What a great find. We had a self contained unit in someone's garden. One bedroom, large living room with queen size hide a bed, full kitchen and bathroom. We also had a patio and small summer house where we could sit outside.  

Although we were only there a few days it would have worked great for a longer stay too, it even had a washing machine and the local pub down the lane. 

Tuesday evening we went over to Kim's to catch up with some of the Scott family. We were trying to stay up to get onto English time quickly. 

Wednesday we slept late but were up in time to go for lunch at The Forge in Queens Park with cousin Wendy Rafferty and her husband Alan.  We were happy to catch up with them before they headed off on their six week travels to LA, Cook Islands and New Zealand. 

Steak and ale pie. 

Wednesday afternoon we made a quick stop at a newsagents so I could pay my Dart Charge. It was much easier for us foreigners when you paid the toll in cash, but I can see this is an advantage for any locals crossing many times.  We then went for a visit with Shirley White. Shirley is the mum of a girl I went to junior school with and a long time friend of Mark s.  In the evening we had been invited by Dan to go to the wedding rehearsal so of course we took advantage of the family time.  It was also great to find out where the church was and arrive late that day rather than for the wedding. 

We were happy to meet Carlie's family before the wedding and then we joined them for a Chinese meal at Aroma in Basildon.  We finished up the evening back at Dan and Carlie's and met the rest of their family - Chip and Jet their dogs.

Thursday September 28.

We started out with a visit to Barleyland Farm Shop - to pick up some flowers and some more groceries.  

We then continued to our old street - Outwood Farm Road where we found some blackberries to pick.  We went back to our home away from home and had lunch on the patio followed by Blackberry and apple crumble for dessert.

For our evening meal we decided to walk down the lane to the Fox and Hounds.  We came to find out Thursday night is Thai night - they don't do meals other evenings so that is what we had. I was a good meal.

Friday September 29th

This morning we packed up as we are moving house.  We headed to Frinton to visit mums friend Mary Rose Gray.  Unfortunately Mary wasn't feeling too good so we stopped for a cup of tea and cake but then headed back towards Billericay.  On the way we detoured through Maldon where we picnicked in the car for lunch and then had a walk along path.

Note the special dog menu.

Not sure if the bird thought it was a duck or a swan but it was enjoying their food for free!

Wednesday June 8, 2016

I caught a bus to the airport the Flybussen. Bergen is not a huge airport so they have much shorter check in times than most in North America. Mostly self-serve everything. I did have to see a rep to check my passport was valid but that was about all.  

A few pictures as I was leaving Bergen. 

You know you are on a Norwegian plane was lefse is offered as a snack!

 Waiting for my second plane. Oh no there are delays. My. 2 and a half hours in Toronto was getting shorter and shorter. 

By the time I landed in Toronto they had already booked me on a later plane as I couldn't make the connection. So I ended with an extra 5 hours in Toronto eventually arriving home to Weyburn about 1 am. 

Tuesday June 7, 2016

 WEather wasn't great today it was overcast and cooler and trying to rain.  We started off in a coffee shop to find breakfast.  I had a very tasty hazelnut scone. 

Then we caught the bus to go to Old Bergen.  We were both watching for the bus stop but somehow missed our stop so had much more of a tour of Bergen than we might have.  It was quite interesting. However we realized we were off course and headed back in the direction we had come.  

Old Bergen is an outdoor museum here there is a collection of old houses and buildings set up in the period. Actors and actresses were very good at staying in role for the time period. 

Sunday June 5 2016

Over the next two days we are doing Norway in a Nutshell. 

We had an early morning start the first train left Oslo at 6:25am. Luckily they have 7-11's in Norwegian stations too so we could get coffee for the train. 

We travelled through some beautiful countryside.

We soon started seeing more snow as we climbed into the mountains. 

A couple of stations we had a short break so could get off the train. 

FInse one of our stops at 1222 metres was the highest point on the Bergen Railway.  

Here a fellow got off the train with his cross country skis and headed out across the snow.  

Once we arrived in Myrdal it was time to change trains. We switched over to the Flam Railway. This is a 20 km train ride between Myrdal(865m) and Flam(2 m) and takes about an hour. We travelled through amazing scenery with many waterfalls. 

We chose to stay overnight here in Flam rather than continue and complete in one day.  Our hostel was a little way out of town so we had some lunch first. A little tough to find as it seems some places only serve breakfast and dinner - no lunch. However we got a very tasty lunch at a cafe.

Our room for the night was in a 300 year old Norwegian farm house. It was part of a hostel that used older houses converted to accommodate people. We had a large room on the first floor that was huge compared to our previous nights "smart" room. 

Other houses at the hostel. 

Behind our farm house was a beautiful waterfall that we went to look at. 

The path led through rocky meadows with sheep.

Across streams. 

And up steep hillsides

And that is where I flaked out and say on a rock while Leila continued up more steep and rocky path to get closer to the waterfall. 

From a distance.

And the stream at the bottom rushing by. 

We had access to a full kitchen here to so made our own supper.