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Trip to the UK Part 1 -
Spending time with Chris and Vivian
25th July - 11th August 2007
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The timing of our trip to the UK was determined
by two factors. The departure date was set following our encounter
with an unfriendly border guard in Detroit, who determined the date we
should leave the United States, which of course coincided with the high
priced summer airfares. Our return date to Anju was
selected based on the fact that Jo-Ann, Phil's daughter, was expecting her
first child, Phil's fourth grandchild, on September
3rd. To be sure of not missing the great event, our
return was booked for the 12th of September, giving us a total of seven
weeks in the UK. By good fortune our dates matched
those of a UK visit by our great friends and fishing rivals from North
Carolina.
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Chris and Vivian arrived in Crickhowell, Wales,
aboard their huge BMW motorbike, on which they would be touring Europe
through the summer. Our first priority was to introduce
them to our favourite haunt in the village, The Bear Hotel, where we were
joined by Phil's sister Rae, for a Bahamas 2006 reunion dinner.
Next day we whisked them down to Cardiff Bay,
to see the impressive redevelopment of the area, including the Welsh
Assembly Building and Millenium Arts Centre. It really was
a flying visit to Wales but we did manage to fit in another trip to The Bear
for the famous Sunday Lunch before we all hit the road north.
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Bahamas Reunion Dinner at
The Bear.
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Sight-seeing in Crickhowell
and Cardiff, Wales & convoy eyeball at motorway services in the Lake
District, England.
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After an overnight stop at Christine's Dad's
house in Cheshire, we headed straight for Edinburgh in convoy, or at least
as much in convoy as you can be with a motorbike and a car on the
M6. We stayed a few days at Chris' flat in the city to get
the flavour of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which was in full swing.
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Flavours of The Fringe
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Non-traditional Canadian
style Scottish Dancing
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Welshman under attack from
a Scottish Thistle
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Edinburgh's Streets
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and the Castle
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During the Edinburgh visit, Christine realised
that her school buddy Fiona had recently moved to Scotland and now lived
only about 80 miles north of Edinburgh. Bearing in mind the
usual frequency of visits by Team Anju to cold, northerly places like
Scotland, we felt we should make the most of the opportunity call in and
visit, whilst we were "in the neighbourhood". We set
off under the guidance of Matilda, Chris' new GPS system which we borrowed
from his motorbike, our first taste of using GPS on the road instead of at
sea. By the time we finally tracked down Fiona's new home,
relations with Matilda had become a little strained as she would keep
insisting that we take the second exit at roundabouts which only existed in
her imagination!
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It was great to have the chance to catch up with
Fiona and her family and see their new home, even if our visit was only
brief.
Back in Edinburgh, we enjoyed lunch with
Chris and Vivian at a lovely restaurant with views right over the Forth
Railway Bridge. In the UK, the Forth Bridge's claim to
fame was that it was the only British structure which took more painting
than Anju! Pity we didn't take along our chipping hammers!
Whilst in Edinburgh it would have been rude
not to pop by and see the Queen's yacht, Britannia, in her new
home. Besides it gave us the chance to see how she compared to
Anju and Second Chance! We discovered that Britannia's tenders
put our own to shame!
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Tender to Britannia, bigger
than our yachts!
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Why don't we have one of
those aboard Anju?
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Vivian and Chris look at
home in the Officers' Mess Bar
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Phil tries out the Queen's
sun lounger.
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After an action-packed week it was time for us
to drift our separate ways, Chris and Vivian were off to Gatwick to collect
their grandsons and we were overdue in Cheshire for a spot of wall-papering.
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