26 July 2012

It was a rare perfect day in London and we considered doing a few laps in the 90 metre Tooting Bec pool. Changed our mind when we discovered more Poms at the pool than there are flies at an aussie picnic.





We did a day trip to Windsor to do a ticket swap with rowing supporters.

There are thousands of swans on the Thames and they all belong to the queen. In centuries past the monarchs would have them fattened to provide a delicacy at royal banquets. It's now all about conservation.

29th July 2012

Olympic rowing underway. I thought private schools in Australia were rich in assets until I discovered that the Olympic rowing course belongs to Eton College.

The Aussie W8, in foreground, rowed a good race in their heat and came 2nd to gold medal favourite USA.

A happy Sally Kehoe after the race and looking forward to the repechage on Tuesday.

23 - 24 July 2012

The highlight of the day was a tour of the Guiness Storehouse, a truly world class attraction. This visit later prompted another limerick.

It's time to hit the hay,
And have sweet dreams if we may,
Today we tasted the Guiness,
With a passion from withinus,
And came away feeling merry and gay.

The Gravity Bar, atop the Guiness Strorehouse, has 360 degree views of Dublin.

Dublin has no Underground but does have very flash trams.

The inner city was buzzing with thousands of young people on holidays. We think they were mainly Europeans on summer vacation.

We had a wonderful time in Ireland but it was time to pack up and return to London for some R&R before the Olympics start.

22 July 2012

"The Curragh", on the 5000 Acre Curragh Plain in County Kildare, is the home of thoroughbred racing in Ireland. All five of the Group 1 Irish Classics are run there. One of those classics is the Irish Oaks and today was Irish Oaks Day.

Parading before the big race.

Pictured is Dermond Weld, who trained Vintage Crop and Media Puzzle to Melbourne Cup victories in 1993 and 2002. He had a horse in the Oaks and Ireland's other top trainer A.P.O'Brien had three entries.

We bet against Weld and O'Brien and put our money on "Great Heavens" because it had proven heavy track form. It won and our winnings managed to negate our earlier losses. It was time to leave for Dublin.

After checking into our hotel, we headed for a drink at the famous Kehoe's pub. Despite telling them that Robyn had travelled all the way from Australia to have a drink there, they didn't offer to shout her a drink. Perhaps a sign of the recession.

20 - 21 July 2012
Crossed into the Rebublic of Ireland en route to Limerick. This church, like many throughout Ireland, was destroyed by Cromwell's forces after he had ruthlessly retaken Ireland in 1649, all of course in the name of the King.

There are thousands of uncompleted or unoccupied homes throughout Ireland as a result of the financial crisis. Sir Boyle Roche, a famous Irish politican said back in the late 1700s  "The cup of Ireland's misery has been overflowing for centuries and is not yet half full"   I think he was right.

Another castle, this one at Limerick. Our visit to Limerick started a spate of Limerick writing.

Dodging tractors tearing up and down the main street was a common occurence everywhere we went. This was in Kildare where we stayed overnight on a dairy farm B&B.

The Irish National Stud at Kildare is where some of the best stayers in the world are bred. Pictured is Vintage Crop who is enjoying his retirement at the Stud. Vintage Crop won the Melbourne Cup in 1993 and was the first foreign horse (other than NZ) to win the Cup.

I've never met a young colt who didn't enjoy a bum scratch.

18 - 19 July 2012

We headed off southwards to County Fermanagh and stayed two nights in Enniskillen.  With limited time available, we began following up on some family ancestry as two lines in my ancestry, the Elliotts and the Armstrongs, both came from this region.

With a lot of searching and a little bit of luck, we came across the Magheracross Cemetery on top of a hill just outside Ballinamallard. A church once stood here back in the 17th century. Nearly all of the headstones are eroded away and totally illegible.

One of the newer headstones was that of my Great Great Grandparents, Alexander and Jane Elliott. Their headstone had been upgraded sometime after 1936. I have often wondered about the gravity of the moment when my GG Grandparents had to say goodbye to their son Andrew, possibly never to see him again.

An old Irish blessing may give a clue. "May the road rise up to meet you, May the wind be always at your back, May the rain fall soft upon your fields, And the sun shine warm upon your face, Until we meet again"

The Irish equivalent of a TAB. This was in Belleck at the western end of Lower Lough Erne. Belleck is best known for its world famous Pottery factory.

Upper Lough Erne at dusk.

A picture of a picture of a large pike caught from the lough.

16 - 18 July 2012

Flew into Northern Ireland and welcomed ourselves to Belfast with a drink at the famous Crown Bar.

After a day in Belfast we ventured northwards around the Antrim Coast. Pictured is our mighty Fiat 500.

The fertile fields roll from the mountains all the way down to the rugged cliffs facing the North Channel.

From here we could see the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland.

OH - WHAT A FEELING !!

(Getting too old to jump)











 

We got off the main track to visit an ancient castle/fort. It was nice to have the whole place to ourselves without all those pesky tourists around.

 One of many small fishing villages along the way.

15 July 2012

No visit to London would be complete without a visit to St. Paul's Cathedral.

14 July 2012

We saw some of the World's best athletes at the Grand Prix Meet at Crystal Palace. We were all shocked when we witnessed Sally Pearson fall and hit the track heavily in her warmup immediately prior to her heat. She won the heat by 1/100th sec but the American who came second turned it around in the final, beating Sally by 2/100ths of a second.

At the end of the day the skies had opened up once again but that didn't stop the GB athletics team doing a pre Olympic lap of honour.

13 July 2012

Waiting for the curtain to rise at the Lyceum Theatre for their production of The Lion King. It was a fabulous show.

The London Eye and Big Ben from the Waterloo Bridge.

9 July 2012

Travelled by train to the Lakes District and settled into Jerichos, a B&B/Restaurant in Windemere. It was owned and run by Chris Blaydes and his wife Jo. Chris just happened to be a masterchef and needless to say the dining was spectacular. Headed off next morning on a Lake Windemere cruise to Ambleside and from there hiked backed to Windemere.

Nearly every building and fence in the district is made from local stone. There are hundreds of stone boathouses along the shoreline.

We saw countless boats on the lake, from the tiny row boats to large motor cruisers.

We visited the Beatrix Potter centre in Windemere and came across a very angry Jemima Puddleduck. We also hiked up to Hill Top Farm which was Beatrix Potter's home and the inspiration for many of her stories.

On Thursday, we enjoyed a great walk through the Elleray Forest to Orrist Head

and enjoyed chatting to some of the local residents along the way. Fast trained back to London in the afternoon.

7 July 2012

Had an early start to Winchester which was once the captital of England. King Arthur's table is mounted on the wall of the Great Hall.

Winchester is best known today for its famous cathedral, the longest cathedral in Europe. It is another example of incredible architecture and construction.

Despite the rainy weather, there was a street festival on in Winchester and the little town centre was buzzing.

We continued on the train to Portsmouth to catch up with John & Audrey Duncan. They took us to visit Broadhalfpenny Down which was once the home of the Hambledon Cricket Club. This club is where the modern game of cricket evolved in the late 1700s and the club was at that time the head of cricket in England before the Marylebone Cricket Club assumed the role in the early 1800s.

 Across the road is a pub not surprisingly called the Bat and Ball which abounded with cricket memorabilia.

We enjoyed dinner there before heading back to London. Arrived home way past our normal bedtime.