The day I had been waiting for, for months had finally
arrived 28th June 2012. I was on my way home, to see the family. It would also
me by first long distance flight on my own. After an uneventful 25 hours
flight. I was met in Manchester by a tearful Mum.
29th June 2012 – 6th July 2012
My first week in the United Kingdom (UK) was spent at home
with the family. The first weekend we celebrated my parent’s 30th wedding anniversary.
The rest of the week was spent reading books, going for long works and
relaxing.
Pictures from the top of my parents lane.
A little owl, sat just outside my parents kitchen window
Ravens on the headland
Wedding Anniversary
6th July 2012 – 8th July 2012
My second weekend in the UK was spent with some great
friends in Wigan. Where we had a great house party and chilled out together.
Laura
Laura and Alan
Abby and Harry - seem settled in their new home
9th July 2012
The following week Mark and I started our road trip. We
started off in Bourne to pay our last respects to my grandmother, who sadly
passed away in May 2011.
At Granny's
10th July 2012 -13th July 2012
A day late we head down to London via Benchley Park and
National Trust Calydon House.
On our arrival to London we spent the night completing Mark’s
tube pub crawl. On our tub crawl we found some great pubs that sold the old UK favourites
of fish and chips, pork pies and scotch eggs.
The first ever computer at Blechley Park
Claydon House
Pub crawl dinner
Our first day in London was spent with my school friend Kim.
We went around the National War Museum and The Science Museum. In the evening
Carys, Colin, Jane and Terry joined us for tea in China Town.
Greoge drives to the rescue
I take a lay down in a shelter
Kim and Claire
Mark and Jane
Claire, Mark, Jane and Terry
Claire, Carys, Colin and Kim
Our second day in London we walked from Westminster Abbey to
Tower Bridge along the Thames. Our walk alongside the Thames made us feel like
being in a scene out of Spooks, with all the helicopters and policeman. The
only thing missing was Harry. On the way
to Tower Bridge we stopped off at St Paul’s cathedral, walked across the
millennium bridge, passing the Tate modern and the Globe theatre,
before heading to Greenwich to see the Cutty Sark. The evening was spent in Leicester
Square with Liam.
Our finally morning in London was spent in the RAF Museum in
Hendon, which I fully recommend if anyone loves aeroplanes. It was fantastic. I
even got to pretend to fly a plane. In the afternoon we headed to Frome to spend
the weekend with my gap year friends. On our way we stopped off at Stonehenge.
13th July 2012 – 15th July 2012
We had a great time with Vera, Adrian, Trisha and her
parents. On arrival we were welcome with homemade scones with jam and cream.
Saturday Vera and Adrian arrived and we spent the day visiting Bath. In the
evening we relaxed in the hot tub, fantastic. Sunday morning began with another
amazing meal, cooked by Rose. We then head to Warsaw to see Caroline and James.
Once at James and Caroline’s we were introduced to their new
arrival, and Rowan showed me how to play The Hungry Caterpillar game.
16th July 2012
We went to Great Malvern for lunch, so I could show Mark
were I spent my gap year. I hope that next time we are in the UK we can spend
more time around here so I can go walking in the Malvern Hills. In the
afternoon Mark took me to another aeroplane museum (Cosford), where we saw the
aeroplane that James May built in his TV programme.
In the evening we visited Mark and Sarah and visited a
fantastic pub in Shrewsbury called The Armoury. Which has won every award going
it seems, but I fully recommend it.
17th July 2012
We headed to Powys Castle for lunch with Shaun, who kindly
gave us a tour of the castle. On our tour we met some great people and we even
found some lovely ladies who were cooking in the old kitchen of the castle. We
timed our visit to the kitchens fantastically because they were serving up some
amazing apple and rhubarb crumble. THANK YOU LADIES.
18th July 2012
We headed up to Mark’s beloved Lake District for a few days.
During our stay we stayed at the Masons Arms in Strawberry Bank. A lovely place
with some well decorated rooms, great food and beer, but the service left something
to be desired, though welcoming.
The walks were fantastic
19th July 2012
After experiencing a sheep blockage on the road to the
Dales, we arrived at our meeting point and spent a lovely day walking the dales
with my friend Badger (Mark). The day was finished off in the Green Dragon Pub
in Hardraw.
Mark and Claire
The dales
The Green Dagron - a true English Pub
20th July 2012
The morning was spent rowing and walking around Windermere,
before heading to Bolton for tea with a group of my OT course mates from
Lancaster and meeting Ian from Berlin.
George makes a friend
21st and 22nd July 2012
The weekend was spent catching up with Mark’s family and
rounded off with an Indian with Pete and Kim in Blackrod.
The view from the Pike ( the hill behind Mark's Parents house)
23rd July 2012
The day was spent walking around the Forest of Bowland.
After an eventful walk and 6 miles later we had a well-earned beer at the Inn
at White Well. Where Mark and I had our first night of honeymoon and the first episode
of The Trip was filmed. In the evening we had a lovely Italian meal with,
Danny, Alan, Gaz, Laura, Paul and Pete.
Pete and Kim
24th July to 26th July 2012
The day began at Manchester airport. We got on a plane to
the Isle of Man, arrived at the Isle of Man and spent an hour circling the
Island, because the tower was unable to land us, as they were unable to see the
runway. So they sent us back to Manchester. Where we spent two hours waiting to
hear when the next flight would be. To finally be told 3 hours later that there
would not be any more flights that day.
I was very upset that I would be unable to see friends and
their new family, but was determined not to waste the next few days. So we
hired another car and headed to Anglesey. The trip there ended up being
entertaining because there had been an accident on the M56. Which meant it was
closed and Liverpool, Runcorn, Elsmere Port and Chester became grid locked with
traffic trying to find alternative routes. The situation was not helped by the
fact that we had no road map in the car (as we thought we knew the route to
North Wales) and Mark’s phone with its google maps ap was quickly running out
of battery and the hire car had no way of charging it. So a trip that would
have taken 2.5 hours took 5.5 hours. However we finally got to my parents were
my family and a lovely meal was waiting. The rest of the evening was spent
eating, drinking and chatting till the early hours of the evening, bliss.
We learnt later on that we may have made the best choice, as
it appears we would not have got to Liverpool to catch the ferry to the Isle of
Man due to the accident on M56 and the wide scale grid lock around the area.
The M56 reminded closed until the early hours of the 25th July 2012.
We hope that we will be able to catch up with Claire and Damien and their
children on our next trip home. We are so sorry we didn’t make it, but we hope
you are all well.
Our time in Anglesey was spent walking around the cliffs of Rhoscolyn
in the sun, reading books and catching up with the family.
We met an Adder on our walk around the headland
26th -28th July 2012
We’re off to Gurney for Ant and Angie’s wedding. Once again
it was lovely to catch up with people, meet new friends and be involved with friend’s
special day.
Jo and Matt
On return to the UK on 29th July 2012, we did one
more last run trip to Anglesey to have lunch with the family, where I met Ben's girlfriend Evie.Then on to Bolton
to have dinner with Mark’s parents before getting on the plane home on 30th
July 2012.
I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who made
this holiday for us. It was fantastic to see people in person. We apologise to
those we were unable to see, but we hope we can catch up next time.
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