We arrive in the historic town, yes another historic town, of Chester on the river Dee.
Chester is a mile from the welsh border and was once a thriving town in the 1080's. It has some remnants of a roman amphitheatre, and walls of defense. The medieveal cathedral has been added onto several times , recently in the 19th century. ( I used to think that the 19 th century was such a long time ago, but over here in historical times it's recent!)
To encourage trade in Chester the shops were developed into "rows", which are split level. This was very unique for medieveal times. Today the shops remain intact as black and white half timbered buildings, and two tiered arcades. The shopping area is massive, and time limits the desire to check out the shops, so we settle for a walk and coffee.
From Chester we drive over the Welsh border to the town of Llangollen for a quick lunch break.
Wales is the smallest country in the UK. It has a degree of self rule, a separate culture and language . Welsh is still spoken by 2/3 rd's of the population, but English is the predominate language .
Welsh is the oldest european language, and has a similar alphabet ( no Q V K Z ) and has double constenants and vowels ( ff Ll ie ou ae) they are pronounced as a single letter.
Llangollen, is a small town on the river Dee, famous for coal, slate, and love spoons. On the river banks is an old corn mill and railway station.
It has a castle above the town which was destroyed in the 1280's, fragmented ruins only remain and are hidden by the mist.
The symbols for Wales are the red dragon, daffodil, leek and harp.
We have soup in the Bull Pub, the only diners, and it was lovely chatting to the chef.
This afternoon we head for Stratford-upon-Avon, where William Shakespeare was born in 1564.
Along the way we pass zzzzzzzzzzzz land. Commonly refered to as, we both fell asleep land.
William shakespeare moved to London in his early 20's as an actor and progressively became involved in all aspects of theatre and finally concentrated on his writing, which he became famous for. He married Anne Hathaway, who remained in Stratford with their children, and he returned home several times a year.
He retired in 1611 to Stratford, and died on 23/4/1616 at 52 yrs. ( same day and month as his birth) His birthplace remains, but his retirement home does not. It is a lovely town, and worth seeing with or without the Shakespeare experience.
We then pass through the Cotswold hills, through many unique villages with furtile land, grazing sheep, fields of corn, veggies and fruit.
The houses in this area are made of a honey colored sandstone, the color comes from the iron component in the stone. Broadway is a beautiful town of sandstone homes, and we take a leisurely stroll down the main street until it starts to rain.
Bristol is our next visit, it is situated on the Avon river, which links up with the Irish sea. It has been a prosperous town over many hundreds of years due to it's port and trade in wine, chocolate, sugar, tobacco and rum. Bristol glass blowers were the first to make bottles for cask wine.
An engineering genius, Brunel, in the 1800's built the Clifton suspension bridge over the river, which is still in use today . He also built the lock system in the river which controls the tides in the Avon. In his spare time he engineered the Great Western Railway, a train from Bristol to London. This train took 7 hrs to get to London, rather than 7 days! He also built the worlds largest and only steam turbine boat for it's time, the SS Great Britain, which now rests in the Bristol dock.
We arrive at our hotel at 6pm, looking forward to our buffet tea at 730. It's been a long day.
Hope all is well in your world
Love Leanne and Greg xx
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Location:Liverpool - Bristol
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