We had a great day with traditional Sunday lunch at village house .Not home killed lamb though that is not allowed. Nor is skipping at school in case someone should fall over and skin their knees. When we left them we wenr to see the roman stepping stones that cross ogmore river nearly 2000yrs ago worn very smooth by much passage. Hop showed us a new 2000 house development that has recently been completed. The developer has to have it all planted all the services in shops and schools built to get permission to build it .So there is an example of proper planning .In the Uk you can sell any field that you want in almost any size but it never can be built on ,it always has to remain rural ,which means that there is a huge difference in price between rural and urban and the farm land more or less reflects its earning capacity. This has also had the effect of any stone dwelling short of the dog kennel has been turned into dwellings.

Marg came home from a very heavy weekend in South Hampton ,it was great seeing her in the flesh for the first time.

So onward with the journey on Monday and after farewells to wales we set tomtom for bath.

The river Severn bridge is pretty impressive and that is the boundary between england .On arriving in bath we got on the hop on bus for tour but the weather started misbehaving again and after some lovely fuel in a cafe( served by a girl who she said had had 3 drunken years running a night club in Queenstown ) .We wandered about .bath is all made out of a certain stone ,so on initial viewing it all looks the same but it has been designed in a manner after the Palladium effect which gives the houses a very grand look about them. The real purpose is to visit the Roman bath site of which the original design with the water flow is still functioning after nearly 2000 yrs. The scale of the site is remarkable.

We then pushed on in the rain to Wills place Stratford .We found a b&b near the centre and collapsed into bed.

After a great breakfast ,this place is a goody,we set out to explore Stratford .The confusion with all the avon rivers is when the romans asked the Celts what the name of the river was they said Avon which was the name for river. Stratford upon avon has been a tourist destination since the 17 century and famous writers like Dickens (in fact he started the fund to restore the birth place)Walt Whitman Tennessee Williams and many others have scratched their name on a glass in the house .It s not surprising therefore that the place looks a little touristy they have had a lot of practice. I thought that that would offend Will but it turns out he was not a struggling writer for long and that he bought many houses for investment in the town. Not bad after starting off marrying your pregnant 26 yo girlfriend at 18 and having almost no prospects. The house that his father bought for them reflected their state. The amount of work he produced till his early death at 52 ( I think thats bloody early) is really remarkable .

C was keen to have a look at a canal boat ,and so chatted a bloke up to have a look at his one , it was beautiful with a lovingly restored 1949 Gardiner diesel in it. My thoughts are that it might be OK in Europe ,but in Brits lousy weather it would do my head in chugging along at 3kn or stuck in a tiny prison on rainy day.

From there we were having castle withdrawal ,so spent the rest of the afternoon at Warwick castle a beautiful one it is to. Again built in that 1200-1300 period god someone was very busy. Especially as they brought the stone was brought all the way from mid wales this not a small distance .The reason apparently that the local stone is quite a strong red colour OK in a house but not the thing in a castle,you can imagine it can't you “the earl of of Warwick has built a bloody great red castle it looks absolute dogs bollox”. Talking about castles I didn't realise that they had toilet systems and also complicated chimney systems woven into the walls ,we could see that clearly in the Harlech castle ruins. I 'm not sure what I thought they were doing crapping in the corner or something. The stair systems up the tower turrets are fantastic always running clockwise ,and with 300ml risers you go up very quickly. The clockwise twist means its hard for an attacking right handed swordsman to swing his blade .apparently they used to left handed to attack the towers. I could feel my thighs were tight after going up and down those steps. It is pretty dear to go to these things but much better value than at home because there is enough for a whole days looking. Unfortunately we never have time for that .

Onward to see Gaynor and Ian at Nottingham .Gaynor was very excited to see C and we had a pretty heavy night that night on the fizz. Ian confessed that since he had been to NZ he only had drank kiwi wine and proudly showed us his chocker wine fridge ,a sight to gladden Price's eyes. Speaking of Pricey he sent me a text to say Winny has finally been sacked. Also Pricey I found a relation of yours Richard Price an eminent philosopher sent America a draft for the declaration of Independence and it was adopted word for word. God I am all over the place today.

The next day we set off for a day look at the city of York ( Ian is a Yorkshire man with that lovely dry wit only available to the English) .I am writing this in London listening to the revoltingly insincere drivel of John McCain on BBC news.

York is another beautiful city again. Famous for more Roman baths and its magnificent Minster .A giant or a cathedral ,built yes, 1200s.Also lots of very interesting shops ,an ancient street called the Shambles. We finished with a visit to Betty Tearooms very famous in Britain . Had a traditional Yorkshire tea and cake in lovely surroundings .There is a mirror there with over 600 signatures scratched on from airman stationed there during the war .Some kiwis , it said .

Ian didn't disappoint the male species by getting lost on the way home and pretending that he wasn't. Tomtom was waiting expectantly in the boot .

It was a teary farewell to Gaynor and off to Oxford .This was the first tiny wrinkle in the itinerary as we were dropping the car there but discovered that hertz is about 13kms away and the railway station has no left luggage facility. That meant our visit to Oxford was a little limited .To a drive around then a small walk .Enough to see the University covers a huge area and will visit for longer another time