Dun Edin (Edinburgh)

Most recently we headed up north to Scotland - this time to explore the capital city, Edinburgh. It was a lot of fun exploring the Old City (the area around the Royal Mile), which even meant we got to go under the Council Chambers buildings and down to the original street level of the town. There is a tour that shows you how and where people use to live. Very cool. We also explored the Castle, Calton Hill, and Arthur's Seat. The New Town was also very pretty - believe it or not but the "New" Town is still 300 years old! We walked down streets with familiar names from NZ - Dundas Street, crossed the Leith river, and visited the beautiful Botanic Gardens as well.

We also took the opportunity to hire a car for one of the days we were there and visited Rosslyn Chapel - an incredible architectural feat, Linlithgow Castle - former home of Mary, Queen of Scots, and then crossed the Firth of Forth to drive up the coast to the World Famous St Andrews.

We both really liked Edinburgh and would definitely visit there again. There are a few pics below.

S(c)illy people

In late August/early September, we went down to the South West of England to walk the SW Coast Path from St Ives to Lands End. We then went to the Scilly Isles, a group of Islands about 50km off the SW Coast.
We started by taking the "sleeper" train from London to Newquay - no sleepers for us though - actually just slightly nicer reclining seats. Not too happy as we had expected bunks but never mind...After taking the bus from Newquay to St Ives, we arrived at our hostel and met another couple of people doing the SWCoast Path - one of them a NZer from Taranaki, named Aaron.
We saw Aaron again the next day when walking our first day’s leg to Zennor. It was a great day – fantastic weather and we even saw Dolphins off the cliffs. In Zennor, 6.5 miles from the Tate St Ives, we stayed at the Old Chapel Backpackers and had a pint in the local cosy pub, Tinners Arms.
Day 2 of walking took us to Bottallack..... It had rained heaps overnight and the track was very muddy. Susanna fell down not long in and got completely muddied and (as it appeared later) strained her knee quite badly. Didn't matter much as an hour later it POURED!!!!!! We got soaked! It then dried up again and by the time we got to Pendeen Watch we had dried - only for it to start raining again (you will see this becomes a common theme)! We struggled along to Geevor and then retreated to a cafe at the mine and then a pub. We then walked the short distance to the campsite in Bottallack by road in the mizzle. Chucked almost everything in the huge washing machine and then the dryer and got nice hot showers! YAY. That night had scrummy dessert at campsite bar.
Last day walking – the weather had cleared a lot and we walked to Lands End. Only one short squally rain period so it was quite good weather but we managed to: go up the wrong path, strand ourselves on the mountain, cross a river twice and only lose 1.5 hours walking time.....Glad to see the end of the day and made it to Lands End. Woohoo! Caught a bus back to Penzance that afternoon and stayed at YMCA.
It was then off to the Scilly Isles. We took the morning ferry to St Marys Island. It was a bit choppy and we were forced to retreat to one of the lower decks and sleep for most of it! We looked around St Marys for a couple of hours and then caught the local launch to Bryher in the afternoon.
Bryher is one of the lesser populated out-islands of the Scillies. It is pretty rugged but beautiful all at the same time. We camped there, just up the hill from the local pub (reportedly the smallest in Britain). During our stay we managed to walk around and across most of the island at different times. We also visited another of the islands, Tresco, which is famous for its Abbey Gardens – it rained there as well!
After a few days on the island, it was a bit of a struggle to return back to London and the daily grind but we made it! Here are some pictures from our trip.

Pics from Isles of Scilly

Pics from the SW Coast Path

Carnevale!!! - Notting Hill Styles

Every summer in London there is the Noting Hill Carnival. It's a chance for everyone to basically get out on the streets and party with music, dance, and a Masque Parade. There is a lot of history to the Carnival and it largely celebrates South-American and African-Carribean Culture. We met up with new UK arrivals, Roz and Josh (good friends from back home) to take some of it in.

St Albans Visit

On a spur of the moment kind of decision, we decided to visit St Albans, where Susanna’s Mum and Dad lived 40 years ago when they were first married and on their big OE. We got Mum and Dad’s old addy and walked down their old street. There’s a photo of Susanna outside their old place below. Apparently things have changed a lot in 40 years and there place is now an even more enviable address in St Albans.
From there, we walked down into town and the amazing Cathedral with its beautiful rose window and restored decorative nave. After lunch we pottered around the local markets and shops and then headed across the park. St Albans is an old Roman town and there is a preserved Roman Town house and hypocaust that has been excavated at the bottom end of the park. Across the park there is the Verulamium Museum, which tells the story of Roman Verulamium and the subsequent development of the town on the site where Alban was martyred. The museum was set up in a way that gave a really good impression of what life might have been like in Roman times.
On our way back to the train, we stopped again in town at the reputedly oldest pub in Britain, Ye Olde Fighting Cocks. No fighting Cocks now but there were a couple of resident fluffy dogs.....

St Albans

Bridge-on-the-Cam

They say that summer is one of the worst times to visit the University town of Cambridge because of all the tourists. And “they” are right! But we still really enjoyed it. Cambridge is only about a 45 minute train ride from London Kings’ Cross. Once you get to Cambridge station, it is only about a 15 minute walk in to the centre of town so it was really accessible.
Almost as soon as you arrive, you see it’s a university town. People walking round with their college sweatshirts or scarves, and there were bikes chained to every possible pole, fence, wall – some were even lifted off the pavement to sit on top of a wall and then chained to the railings. The other reason that you could tell was that there were a number of graduation ceremonies going on. This was great as we got to see all these people in all their regalia- the only disadvantage was that this meant that some of the colleges were closed – including the famous Magdalene college. Still there is not enough time in a day to see all of the colleges anyway so it made our decisions about which to visit a lot easier. We went to Trinity, St Johns, and Kings – the extra money you pay here is well worth being able to see the famous chapel and, as we did, getting to hear Choir or Orchestra rehearsals. We also walked round the grounds of some of the lesser known colleges, which were equally as pleasant, and cost us nothing!
Earlier we had had a massive lunch at one of the locals and then took to the Cam where we were punted down the river by a fantastic guide who told all sorts of stories and anecdotes about the colleges and landmarks that we passed down the “backs” of. Here are some of the photos...

St John's from the Backs
Punting (or being punted?!!!?) along the Cam

Chariots of Fire, anyone?? Chapel at King's

Plymouth-Banjul Rally Reunion

Now that we have been in London for over 6 months, the rally seems in some ways so long ago and yet, also a bit like it just happened yesterday.... We went down for the launch of the 08-09 rally, which was being held in a paddock in the middle of Devon. The launch party was also a chance for people who had already done the rally to meet up, swap stories, reminisce and just hang out. So that’s what we did. We hitched a ride with a couple of the other guys from the rally and camped out with all the others.

bRIGHT-ON

After having a bit of a break from gallivanting about, we decided to enter again in to the fray with a day in Brighton. We took the train down in the late morning on the last Saturday in June. It was, for once, a lovely day, if a little windy. We spent the better part of the day walking up and down the “beach” along the promenade, and out on to the Pier. Apparently, there is a fundamental difference between going to the beach and going to the “seaside.” Visiting Brighton falls in to the latter category as there are the mandatory tacky shops and a pier, which is lined with stalls selling cheap and nasty sweet things and a funfair at the end, complete with miniature rollercoaster and bucking bull. Also, there is no sand – only pebbles. It was nice though, checking out the wee museum, the art galleries, and all the odd shops in the Lanes around town. In the evening, we met up with some mates for dinner. One of them, Simon, was turning 30 so there were drinks all round and a great meal. Managed to get the last train back to London (left Brighton around 11.30pm) and, what’s more, managed to get a seat. Brighton was definitely different, but a nice jaunt nonetheless. Here are some of the pictures....