Chapter 34

Final month, festivities and farewells - Part Two

We continued north on our journey, with our next stop Rhyl in North Wales, to visit some more friends (Chris & Sal) for a couple of days. We were actually all together this time last year in Singapore, so it was nice to meet up again in a different part of the world.  We popped into Liverpool for the day, an hour away, for some Beatles nostalgia.  It is 50 years since they shot to fame.
Firstly we took a private tour of places such as Strawberry Field, the homes where each of the Fab Four lived, with Paul's home on the posh side of town, Penny Lane, Eleanor Rigby's grave and learnt the meaning behind many of the early lyrics. We were then dropped at Albert Dock on the waterfront to go on a magical history tour of the "Beatles Story", a large exhibition taking us back to the sixties to how those four young lads created "Beatlemania".  It was fun and we were singing their songs for the rest of the day.  Who knows which country we'll see Chris and Sal next?

North Wales to Cambridgeshire next, to a cute village called Ely, (pronounced Eelee).  Our B & B was right on the River Ouse, full of long boats, a familiar sight here and one we would have loved to have experienced. 
The imposing cathedral is the centre of attention here.  Built in the 12C it is a beautiful creation of stone, wood and stained glass, and deemed to be one of the most magnificent in England - which is saying something.
A famous resident of this village was Oliver Cromwell.  We visited his home and learnt all about the man that had the Kings head lopped off to become Lord Protector, and that Christmas was banned under his watch!  It was his mission to cleanse the people of decadence apparently (wouldn't be popular in our house!)........it lead to drunkenness, promiscuity, gambling and other forms of excess! 

View from B & B room

Ollie's house

Ely Cathedral

Our next overnight stop was Sandwich, in Kent.  The name is of Saxon origin meaning sandy place - the word sandwich as an item of food came into being centuries later, and is associated with Lord Sandwich (the 4th Earl).  It was one of the Cinque Ports (military and trade ports), but because of the evolving coastline, is now two miles from the sea! 
We stayed at the Bell Hotel, which has been on the same site in some form since the 14C.

Bell Hotel, Sandwich

There is a nearby hamlet to the south called Ham.  A signpost some miles away in the village of Worth points towards both Ham and Sandwich, thus reading "Ham Sandwich".  The sign has subsequently been removed due to repeated theft. 

What was the greatest thing before sliced bread we asked ourselves!

We drove through many quaint villages on our way back to London, including Broadstairs, Deal and then Dover to catch a glimpse of the White Cliffs.  The weather was rotten, and the sea was a boiling grey mass. 

Not-so-white cliffs on this day.

The last of the festivities was of course New Years Eve.  Unfortunately, the weather was not feeling festive and was chucking it down.  This time of year can be a bit of a coin flip with Pip and me, some years we feel like partying and other years, we wind our clocks forward and go to bed at 10pm.  This year was a relaxed dinner with family, then we watched the traditionally impressive fireworks with Big Ben and the London Wheel as the backdrop, on the TV.  Not forever flowing bubbles, but we did stay up long enough to pop a cork, so the old and the new years shared one thing in common.
We spoke to our girls and Tim, who were a day, a month and a year ahead.......how bizarre.

Polo, or the "sport of kings", is synonymous with the elite of society and just a short canter from Henley-on-Thames and set on 260 hectares are the grounds of the Black Bear Polo team.  We were fortunate to be invited to visit a friend (Jo), who together with a huge team, has an amazing job of looking after the polo stud, some 300 or so horses.
What an experience seeing this place, especially getting muddy with the one year olds!  And got to use my new wellies again!

Entrance to the stud farm 

Surrounded by 1-year olds

We then popped into a cute village called Hambleden, for lunch. The whole village is owned by the same guy who owns the stud!  According to Wikepedia he purchased it a few years ago for a meagre £38 million! 

Our last hurrah here in London, and our Christmas present to each other, was dinner, bed and breakfast at the Savoy! (Again an internet deal).  How posh we felt walking in, not as a sightseer but as a guest.  Located on The Strand, it was the first luxury hotel in Britain, and established an unprecedented standard of elegance and luxury.  Refurbished in 2010, it was just amazing or "Brill" as they say here!  Many famous guests too numerous to list have stayed here, as well as film locations including Notting Hill and Entrapment.  The Savoy Court is the only named street in the UK where the vehicles drive on the right hand side of the road!  It was so special and a wonderful memory.  Another bucket list item ticked! 
While we were in London for 24 hours, we did a bit of sightseeing.  We visited the Victoria and Albert Museum to see an exhibition about Pearls - their beauty and allure across the centuries and cultures.  Really good. 
Another bucket list item was to visit Abbey Road. Tick. I walked across "that" zebra crossing, how weird that felt. I did keep my shoes on though. 

Boy, you're gonna carry that weight!

And of course a last stop at Harrods, for a browse.  We looked at the posh watches (one cost £19,060) and then headed to the food section to buy four cakes which were more in keeping with our budget (£6.50).

Our last day was madly packing and lots of weighing!  Oh bugger, how did we accumulate so much?  I am sure I wore all the same clothes for months!
So another farewell, this time to Valerie and Derek, who have been wonderful to us for opening their home and allowing us to feel grounded in London.  Our adventure would not have been realised without them.
Big, big thank you!

Off to Heathrow, to catch our flight and we were going home! 
How nice that sounded.
We have had an absolutely amazing 15 months, but time now to play Mum and Dad, and friend!

Hope you have all enjoyed my ramblings.......I have enjoyed writing them.

Till our next adventure.
Annie
Xxxxx