LET

GLOUCESTER, CARDIFF, TENBY and EBBW VALE

February

Gloucester Cathedral impressive but town isn't ! Stayed at the docks which is nice to walk around.

Newport Transporter bridge which is massive. Intend to go to the Middleborough one as well

Cardiff - stayed at Cardiff Bay - very nice. The building is the Pier Head building next to the Senodd

Had to stop off at Barry Island. The house on the left is where Stacey lived and over the road is Brynn's house. Next is Nessa's slots on the prom and Mario's Cafe

Tenby - again Premier Inn near the front. Nice place. The old lifeboat house has been bought privately. St Catherine's Island featured in an episode of Sherlock and a book I read (can't remember which one !)

21st October 1966 Aberfan disaster. A very moving place which I can remember- in the morning the landslide killed 116 children and 28 adults. Many of the children are buried together and a remembrance garden marks the place where Pantglas Junior school lay.

Stayed at Ebbw Vale - town is not worth visiting really

LET'S GET AWAY
2025

We visited Staithes again - very quaint fishing village north of Whitby. The white building is a rental property, Capt. Cookes Cottage which lies 2 houses up from where he stayed and the house was washed away by the sea

Stayed at the Stables, just outside Whitby - very nice. Had own lodging in a courtyard (stable)

Whitby Beach, Abbey for the Dracula followers and the Abbey from the pier.

Capt. Cooke had big associations with Whitby and this is the Cooke Memorial Museum where Cooke lodged as an apprentice in the late 18th century

Stayed at Premier Inn, North Shore Scarborough. Went into town and walked around Peasholme Park - very pleasant

BATH, TORQUAY &BRISTOL

Bath Cathedral and the Royal Crescent. Bath is nice but expensive (London prices) We stayed at the Travel Lodge - don't bother ! Had a nice drink at Flan 0'Briens

On the way to Torquay went through Cheddar Gorge - Derbyshire on steroids !

Torquay left to right - Marina and the view from our window at Premier Inn. Had a lovely time here

Agatha Christie lived here. The stone marks where her house used to be.

Paignton Beach, the pier and Torquay from the pier

Brixham is a lovely fishing harbour, quite commercialised but nice nevertheless. The ship is a replica of Drake's Golden Hind (no connection other than it's 1st version was on TV in 1963) Torquay, Paignton and Brixham are within Torbay very near each other

Took the ferry over to Dartmouth. A nice place apart from seagulls attacking Vicky !

HEBDEN BRIDGE

August

For those who have seen Happy Valley, I couldn't resist taking photos of 2 locations.Front and back of Catherines house and a screenshot of the TV series

The front of the house is no.29 accompanied with a screenshot of Tommy about to break in.

Hebden Bridge is nice, but you only need 2 hours max. and you've seen it all. BTW Vik, that is not a dog on that 4 trak !

Bristol & Brunel's SS Great Britain, the worlds largest passenger ship from 1845 to 1853 It is now a museum

We stayed at Premier Inn, Alveston just north of Bristol and came home the following day - a lovely 4 days.

Stayed at Premier Inn, Halifax South, with a nice canal walk (bit smelly !)

June / July

WHITBY & SCARBOROUGH

March

Stopped off firstly at Bridlington - nice harbour but forget the rest, then made our way to Bempton Cliffs - bit pricey. The only puffin we saw was at the entrance !

Before coming home we visited the William Wilberforce museum in Old Hull. He was a politician and responsible for stopping the Atlantic slave trade in late 18th Century. There is also a free museum there which was quite good.

Beverley Arms - Dick Turpin stayed here under the name of John Palmer before appearing in front of magistrates there

Beverley Premier Inn - lovely welcome. The Minster is very grand inside and Beverley is quite nice - note the yellow phone boxes which are a feature around Hull.

BURY ST EDMUNDS and MILTON KEYNES

October

Headed East to explore Bury St Edmunds and west to Milton Keynes. We had been to MK before when we visited Bletchley Park and as Vicky liked the Premier Inn setting we returned for a night.

Our 2nd Paddington of 23 !

Bury St Edmunds is nice and has very old history. St Edmundsbury Cathedral is not as big as Beverley and was not given the official title of Cathedral until 1914. It has largely been rebuilt in the 16th century.The ruins are of the Abbet next to the Cathedral and was included in Henry VIII's dissolution in 1539. The quirky houses are part of the Abbets remains.

Another visit to the Lake District. I wanted to visit all 10 of the main lakes but only managed 6 although we visited Coniston last year.

Stayed at Keswick then down to Kendal again. The bus station depicts a mural of the 3 bears orinally written by Robert Southey in 1837 whilst staying nearby at Greta Hall. The statue is of Max, the therapy dog. The lake is Derwent Water and the stones are of Castlerigg Stone Circle.

On the way (around !) to Kendal is Bassenthwaite lake and Thirlmere.Next up is Ullswater, which we went to from Penrith. Finally, Wast Water and Scafeel Pike - the scenery here is amazing - the best. We couldn't get to Buttermere and Crummock Water due to slippy roads again.

We moved on to Milton Keynes Furzon Lake. The walk around the lake is lovely and we explored the Bowl over the road which was being updated.

Premier Inn again

NORTH WALES

BEVERLEY

September (again !)

First off, Rhyl - run down considering it was a bustling seaside resort. The structure on the prom was a dedication to how it was. Again, Premier Inn !

Llandudno --very nice place and will definitely return. Stayed at the Premier Inn which is an impressive building. The town is part owned by the Mostyn family who keeps the buildings as they are, and the statues dotted around the town relate to Lewis Carrols visits to meet Alice Liddell on her regular vacations

On the way to Llandudno we stopped off at Conwy - very nice with it's castle, town and smallest house in the UK ! Well worth a visit.

Next up Aberystwytth - quite nice, and we took the funicular (longest in the UK) up the hill. It's a long time home !

September