This morning we woke up and again had breakfast served to us with whatever food and drink we wanted. Then our personal chauffeur (the owner of the hotel) drove us to an old celtic cross. Then we went to Pembroke Castle where Dana gave us it's great history which included multiple attacks by the Welsh. The castle was bordered by a river and offered many more towers to climb along with a staircase into the cavern, which was fun to explore. Then we went to Lamphey Bishop's Palace where the Welsh bishops went during the summer to live. Next up was the Manorbier Castle where Gerald of Wales was born. (We are reading his book while we are here.) When we got back to Tenby, we spent alot of time on the beach since this was the warmest and sunniest day we've had yet. Tonight, the owners of the hotel have offered to cook us a special meal: Shepherd's Pie (a meat and potato dish native to Britain) and Fruit Crumble with ice cream made in Pembroke. We certainly are being spoiled here.
Tomorrow, we will spend our day in Tenby and hopefully take a boat to Caldey Island.
--Stephanie and Emily
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
White beaches
Yeserday we woke up super early and hauled our packs to the bus station in Caernarfon, then we went to the rail station in Bangor. From there, we spent about 7 hours on 3 different trains, traveling to southern Wales. We finally arrived in Tenby and walked to the Southcliff Hotel, a gorgeous hotel a block from the white, sandy beach. Four of us are sharing a family suite with our own bathroom, the other 2 girls have a room with a bathroom and Dr. Lindgren has her very own room. The hotel is four stories and we all have flat screen TVs. We're here four nights and are being spoiled. This morning we were served a huge breakfast, whatever we wanted and as much as we wanted. The hotel owner cooks all the food and the owners have borrowed a van from their church to drive us around in. They've volunteered to drive us to our destinations the next few days, cutting our travel time in half compared with taking buses and trains. Last night, we all had fish and chips at a local restaurant.
Today, we went to Saint David's Cathedral, Bishop's Palace and St. Non's Chapel, all courtesy of our gracious driver. He's allowing us to use the hotel's computer to write this blog, which they've been reading since we arrived in England. Tonight, we walked on the beach and found a few seashells. It was nice to relax and feel the sand between our toes.
Emily and Stephanie
Today, we went to Saint David's Cathedral, Bishop's Palace and St. Non's Chapel, all courtesy of our gracious driver. He's allowing us to use the hotel's computer to write this blog, which they've been reading since we arrived in England. Tonight, we walked on the beach and found a few seashells. It was nice to relax and feel the sand between our toes.
Emily and Stephanie
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Castles and more castles
Yesterday (Tuesday) we rode the buses and trains to Harlech, where I gave the group my tour of Harlech Castle, built right on the water. We looked around the castle and then took an old steam engine train up the mountains of Snowdonia National Park, a huge mountain range right behind the castle. It was really foggy, which made it hard to see much, but we still enjoyed the ride. After we got back to the hostel, the six of us girls made frozen pizzas and garlic bread.
Mishaps, but still a great day
Today we caught a bus to Conwy to check out Conwy Castle. We got there before the castle was open, so we walked around on the castle walls for a while and checked out the town.
The castle is located in a bay-like area and so it offered a beautiful view of the city. It was one of the most intact castles we have seen so far. There were many towers for us to climb and look down onto the city below.
Next, we went to the Aberconwy House, the oldest building in Conwy which dates back to the 1300s. It had many things present in it from that time period and had some pretty slanted floors.
Next we took a bus hoping to go to Beaumaris Casle on the island of Anglesey, but never made it there. This is because an older man tripped when entering the bus and fell onto the floor. People on the bus had to call an ambulance and we had to wait awhile before we could leave again. Needless to say, we missed our connecting train to the next city for Beaumaris. The older guy was able to get up, and through the whole thing, we never saw an ambulance. Sarah was a good Samaritan and offered up her tissues to the gentleman because he had a cut on his face. What an experience!
Instead, we took the bus back to Caernarvon and went to the castle where Sarah gave us a tour. The castle is shaped like a figure 8 and sits near the edge of the city by the water. It was a beautiful view, again if you were brave enough to climb up to the top of one of the 8 towers. You could see over most of the city and out into the water some.
Tonight we are going to get some food from the grocery store and then explore Caernarvon some more before we have to leave tomorrow for South Wales. We have to take a 7 hour train ride to make it down to Tenby.
--Stephanie
PS. Count this as the second nice day we have had so far. NO rain at all. :)
The castle is located in a bay-like area and so it offered a beautiful view of the city. It was one of the most intact castles we have seen so far. There were many towers for us to climb and look down onto the city below.
Next, we went to the Aberconwy House, the oldest building in Conwy which dates back to the 1300s. It had many things present in it from that time period and had some pretty slanted floors.
Next we took a bus hoping to go to Beaumaris Casle on the island of Anglesey, but never made it there. This is because an older man tripped when entering the bus and fell onto the floor. People on the bus had to call an ambulance and we had to wait awhile before we could leave again. Needless to say, we missed our connecting train to the next city for Beaumaris. The older guy was able to get up, and through the whole thing, we never saw an ambulance. Sarah was a good Samaritan and offered up her tissues to the gentleman because he had a cut on his face. What an experience!
Instead, we took the bus back to Caernarvon and went to the castle where Sarah gave us a tour. The castle is shaped like a figure 8 and sits near the edge of the city by the water. It was a beautiful view, again if you were brave enough to climb up to the top of one of the 8 towers. You could see over most of the city and out into the water some.
Tonight we are going to get some food from the grocery store and then explore Caernarvon some more before we have to leave tomorrow for South Wales. We have to take a 7 hour train ride to make it down to Tenby.
--Stephanie
PS. Count this as the second nice day we have had so far. NO rain at all. :)
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Rain, rain go away...
On Saturday the 2nd, we went to the Roman Army Museum. Since the buses don't run very often, we were stuck there for several hours. We had our packs with use since we had left Newcastle that morning, but we were lucky that the museum let us leave our packs in the corner of their cafe. After the museum, we walked to the top of a hill where the most well-preserved part of Hadrian's Wall is. I just put up a photo of us at the top. Then we took the bus to Lancerost Priory, which is still a church today!We checked in at Once Brewed, a hostel in the middle of nowhere, the only building around was Twice Brewed Pub.
On Sunday, we walked to Vindolanda, the site of a Roman fort. They've found letters and documents and even a birthday invite there! After that, we took a bus a little ways to Housesteads, another Roman fort built along Hadrian's Wall. There wasn't another bus for 2 hours, so the 6 of us girls decided to walk the 2.5 miles back to the hostel instead of waiting. What we found out is that the path follows the wall, which was built along the biggest hills and cliffs around. Therefore, we spent 1 hour 23 minutes walking back. At least it didn't rain too much on us. We even took the easy paths, although Cassady and Sarah did brave one hill. We made it back to our beds for a nap just when the hail started and before Dr. Lindgren even got on the bus!
On Monday, we went to Chester's Roman Fort and Museum, then took a bus to Hexham Abbey. Before we went back to the hostel, we bought pizza ingredients and made a delicious cheese pizza that night. We also sampled the Once Brewed lauger, made down the road.
Tuesday (today) we spent the majority of our day on trains and buses, heading to Wales. We stopped at Flint castle along the way. We just settled into our hostel, and we can see the water from our window!
More blogging to come,
Emily Schmitt
On Sunday, we walked to Vindolanda, the site of a Roman fort. They've found letters and documents and even a birthday invite there! After that, we took a bus a little ways to Housesteads, another Roman fort built along Hadrian's Wall. There wasn't another bus for 2 hours, so the 6 of us girls decided to walk the 2.5 miles back to the hostel instead of waiting. What we found out is that the path follows the wall, which was built along the biggest hills and cliffs around. Therefore, we spent 1 hour 23 minutes walking back. At least it didn't rain too much on us. We even took the easy paths, although Cassady and Sarah did brave one hill. We made it back to our beds for a nap just when the hail started and before Dr. Lindgren even got on the bus!
On Monday, we went to Chester's Roman Fort and Museum, then took a bus to Hexham Abbey. Before we went back to the hostel, we bought pizza ingredients and made a delicious cheese pizza that night. We also sampled the Once Brewed lauger, made down the road.
Tuesday (today) we spent the majority of our day on trains and buses, heading to Wales. We stopped at Flint castle along the way. We just settled into our hostel, and we can see the water from our window!
More blogging to come,
Emily Schmitt
Photos of our journey
This is Leah giving her tour of Fountains Abbey, the first cathedral we visited.
his is Clifford's Tower.
Here's some of us learning how flying buttresses work at York Minster.
Here's the six of us in front of the most well-preserved portion of Hadrian's Wall, a 73 mile long wall built to keep the Scotts out of England.
And here's us waiting for the bus, which happened alot while we were staying near Hadrian's Wall, which seems to be in teh middle of
nowhere.
Fun Times in York
We apologize for the long time in between the blogs. We were able to get internet access at Hadrian's Wall, but they had many firewalls which didn't allow us to get to the blogging website. Emily and I will try to catch you up on our adventures of the past couple days. Again, we are very sorry it has taken so long.
4-30-09
We ate breakfast early and then rode our own private bus to Mount Grace Priory. It was a Carthusian Abbey where each monk who lived there had their own private quarters complete with a bedroom, study, living room, garden and corridor. At Mount Grace, we even saw early examples of a drainage system complete with latrines. Exciting! Most of the priory was in ruins, but it was our first example of a Carthusian Abbey.
Next we got back on the bus and went to Rievaulx Abbey. En route, we ate our packed lunch from the hostel. Once at Rievaulx Abbey, where Sarah gave us a wonderful tour of this quite well preserved Cistercian Abbey. There were many buildings still standing, most obviously and predominantly the chapel area.
Next we boarded the bus again and went to Helmsley castle. This castle sat high on a hill with a "moat" surrounding it and then another ditch to ward off intruders. Not very many of the buildings remained, but it was still a pretty neat site complete with an extensive garden. The main tower and west tower still remained along with the guest houses and gardens. Here though sadly, it started raining and became really windy, so we quickly left back to the bus.
Next we went to Pickering Castle, which I thought had the least amount of surviving material thus far. Only some of the outer wall along with one or two towers was left. It was still raining and becoming more windy, which made this castle even more dreary.
We then boarded the bus back to York where some of us went to a pub and other bought dinner at a local grocery store.
We then played some cards and completely packed up our bags because we would be moving out of York completely the next day.
5-1-09
We ate breakfast early at 7:30 and then finished our last minute packing and got ready to travel all day with our packs. We completely moved out of the York hostel and then walked along the river back to the railway station. We made it to the train station and took a train to Newcastle. Once in Newcastle, we got on the subway to get closer to the hostel. The people at the hostel were very kind and let us leave our packs at the hostel so we didn't have to travel all day with them. Then we made our way towards Durham where we visited Durham Cathedral and Cassady gave us a tour of this awesome building. Durham Cathedral sits atop a hill overlooking the city and a river. We also went into the basement of the cathedral where there were many artifacts of the Roman period. We walked back to the Metro station to Durham and took the Metro quite a ways to the coast and visited Tynemouth Priory. It was a Benedictine Abbey that was on the coast. Here it was very windy, rainy and cold, so we tried to make our way through quickly. There were alot of graves present at this Abbey and a wall surrounded the priory. Most of this abbey and castles were in ruins as well.
Then we took the metro back to Newcastle and walked around for a while to find food and eventually ate at a fast food chicken restaurant that turned out to be really good. We took the metro back to our hostel and played some cards again. Some of us met Irish folk at the hostel and were able to hang out with them a bit before bedtime. Again, we had to pack because we were leaving the next morning for Hadrian's wall.
--Stephanie
4-30-09
We ate breakfast early and then rode our own private bus to Mount Grace Priory. It was a Carthusian Abbey where each monk who lived there had their own private quarters complete with a bedroom, study, living room, garden and corridor. At Mount Grace, we even saw early examples of a drainage system complete with latrines. Exciting! Most of the priory was in ruins, but it was our first example of a Carthusian Abbey.
Next we got back on the bus and went to Rievaulx Abbey. En route, we ate our packed lunch from the hostel. Once at Rievaulx Abbey, where Sarah gave us a wonderful tour of this quite well preserved Cistercian Abbey. There were many buildings still standing, most obviously and predominantly the chapel area.
Next we boarded the bus again and went to Helmsley castle. This castle sat high on a hill with a "moat" surrounding it and then another ditch to ward off intruders. Not very many of the buildings remained, but it was still a pretty neat site complete with an extensive garden. The main tower and west tower still remained along with the guest houses and gardens. Here though sadly, it started raining and became really windy, so we quickly left back to the bus.
Next we went to Pickering Castle, which I thought had the least amount of surviving material thus far. Only some of the outer wall along with one or two towers was left. It was still raining and becoming more windy, which made this castle even more dreary.
We then boarded the bus back to York where some of us went to a pub and other bought dinner at a local grocery store.
We then played some cards and completely packed up our bags because we would be moving out of York completely the next day.
5-1-09
We ate breakfast early at 7:30 and then finished our last minute packing and got ready to travel all day with our packs. We completely moved out of the York hostel and then walked along the river back to the railway station. We made it to the train station and took a train to Newcastle. Once in Newcastle, we got on the subway to get closer to the hostel. The people at the hostel were very kind and let us leave our packs at the hostel so we didn't have to travel all day with them. Then we made our way towards Durham where we visited Durham Cathedral and Cassady gave us a tour of this awesome building. Durham Cathedral sits atop a hill overlooking the city and a river. We also went into the basement of the cathedral where there were many artifacts of the Roman period. We walked back to the Metro station to Durham and took the Metro quite a ways to the coast and visited Tynemouth Priory. It was a Benedictine Abbey that was on the coast. Here it was very windy, rainy and cold, so we tried to make our way through quickly. There were alot of graves present at this Abbey and a wall surrounded the priory. Most of this abbey and castles were in ruins as well.
Then we took the metro back to Newcastle and walked around for a while to find food and eventually ate at a fast food chicken restaurant that turned out to be really good. We took the metro back to our hostel and played some cards again. Some of us met Irish folk at the hostel and were able to hang out with them a bit before bedtime. Again, we had to pack because we were leaving the next morning for Hadrian's wall.
--Stephanie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)