England 1 (Mar 28 - Apr 2)

We arrived in London early on March 28, jumped into our rental car and headed for the white cliffs of Dover. Although jetlagged, we took the 45 minute hike along the cliffs out to the lighthouse and then celebrated Dan’s birthday at the little cafe there by having a cup of tea and scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam (it was delicious!). We continued on to Canterbury for the afternoon where we enjoyed exploring the city, walking the narrow streets, watching people and seeing the large Cathedral.

Celebrating my birthday with tea at the Lighthouse

Canterbury Cathedral

Next morning, we headed towards Stonehenge, choosing to drive along very narrow country backroads lined with thickets for fences and drinking in the English countryside. We felt like we were in a fairytale. The combination of old brick houses with thatched roofs, white and black-headed sheep grazing on the rolling hillsides, bunny rabbits hopping about, daffodils in bloom everywhere, sighting ancient castles every now and then and seeing the spires on the cathedrals in each town all contributed to this sense of wonder and enjoyment.

By noon we realized that what looked like a short distance on the map was actually going to take us all day to drive on the back roads, so we found a connecting larger road and then later a highway so that we arrived at Stonehenge in the late afternoon. Okay, so this is getting into some serious history ...  estimates are that these stones were placed there between 3,000 - 2,400 BC! We arrived at the park entrance gate just at closing time so needed to drive to another parking lot where we could see the stones but not actually walk right up to them. Amazingly, while we were walking through the field, we met up with Erin (a friend of our daughter Christina), who we also met when we were on the Africa Mercy Ship last October - small world!

What a surprise to meet Erin, Chris's friend at Stonehenge

Stonehenge, England

Next morning we drove to Salisbury and attended a Sunday morning church service in the large beautiful cathedral there. It happened to be mother's day in England so in honor of mothers, Olive received a bouquet of flowers. In the afternoon we drove to Bath where we toured the ancient Roman baths, watched the entertainers in the market squares, walked the city streets and then stayed at an old flour mill (converted to a hotel) for night.

Salisbury Cathedral

Roman Baths at Bath, England

From here we made our way to Stratford upon Avon, where you can see Shakespeare's birthplace and the homes of his wife (Anne Hathaway), mother (Mary Arden) and other places of significance related to Shakespeare. We enjoyed walking to these sites through the narrow streets and pathways.

Thatched roof house in Stratford upon Avon

In Stratford upon Avon

Next morning we drove to Warwick to see the castle there. Again, serious history here dating back to 914 AD. There was a lot to see and do at the Warwick Castle including dungeons, towers, ramparts, gardens, a trebuchet (catapult used to hurl fireballs that unfortunately was not working while we were there) and shows. It would be best to visit in summer when they have the gardens in full bloom and more live shows including jousting battles!

Warwick Castle

This bald headed eagle landed on the castle wall about 5 ft from me

River flowing by Warwick Castle

In the afternoon, we continued on to Oxford to check out the university area and the school of business where Olive and I will be attending the Skoll World Forum soon.

At Oxford University

On Apr 2 we drove out to a country farmhouse near to High Wycombe where we plan to house and pet sit for the next 11 days while the owners take a trip to Scotland.