Belated Trip Report - European Escapade

[kookaburra75]

Since joining AFF I have enjoyed the various parts, especially the Trip Reports. Every few years, My Better Half and I have a 3-4 week holiday, somewhere new and special. At the end of 2016 we spent four weeks in UK, Ireland and Southern France and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I realise it was a little while ago, but in the spirit of the other trip reports, I think someone else might get some information or ideas from what we did.

For our big trips, it takes about two years to plan them. We rough out ideas of where in the world we might like to go, special things to see, must sees etc. Many ideas and places get added to the list, and then taken of. We'll see something on TV or at the movies, and add that to the list - along with suggestions and ideas from other people. It's a fluid process. Once the cheap airfares come out, usually nine months out we lock in the flights and then start locking down some of the accommodation. Booking.com is handy, as we can book what we want, and then change it around as time goes on - the same with AirBnB.

So, the European Escapade Planning Process. I am across in the UK a few times a year for work, and had spent some time in different parts of Europe, while the Soon-To-Be-Mrs Kookaburra (STBMrsK) hadn't been to that side of the world. Soon the kitchen door was covered with a mosaic of Google Map printouts, post-it notes and photos. We decided Oct/Nov would be the time to go, when the weather was still ok, crowds would be less and cheap flights. Different ideas were thrown into the mix. I liked the idea of getting back to Morocco - but it didn't make the final cut. Certainly Ireland was top of the list, and we liked the look of the village in The 100 Foot Journey - which we found out was Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val. There was also our "property" in Scotland at Glencoe (Lord and Lady Kookaburra), and Paris. As it was STBMrsK's first trip there, we planned it as a driving holiday, spending some time in different locations, but never more than a few hours of driving so it wouldn't be a rush.

So nine months out, Qantas released the cheap fares and we locked it in - and selected 36J&K on QF9 for our seats. We started to lock down our itinerary, which ended up as: London, Dublin & loop down through southern Ireland, across to Glasgow, up to see our square foot of land near Glencoe, Edinburgh, zigzag down through England, hop down to Toulouse and stay at Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val, zigzag down through the mountains to Arles, wander up the Rhone Valley to Lyon, train to Paris, and then fly home.

Then came the first change to the plan. STBMrsK looked at the map and pointed to a location in southern France - is that Monte Carlo she asked? Yes dear. That's not far is it? No dear. We could go there as well couldn't we? Yes dear. So a bit of a detour, but a night in Monte Carlo was added to the trip.

But anyway, the great day came and we climbed aboard our flight from Canberra to Melbourne, and onto QF9. It was an uneventful flight and we managed a bit of sleep. The arrival into London at 2pm was good, and after a quick run into London on the Heathrow Express, we caught a taxi to our first stay, the Cable Street Inn, down in the East End of London. We then spent the next few days shaking off the jet lag, exploring the tourist sights in London, and a drink or two in different locations. STBMrsK was able to live out scenes from her favourite movie, Mary Poppins, at their actual locations.

Anyway, photos below and I'll start on the next part of the trip

 

[RB]

Looking forward to reading more. I've never done a live trip report and I don't think it impacts the readers enjoyment

 

[BriarFlyer]

I'm on board and agree with RB: I enjoy all trip reports, whether live, soon after or belated.

 

[kookaburra75]

The next step - London and onto Ireland

We picked the Cable Street Inn, as I hadn't explored the East End of London, and the reviews were certainly good. The owner Julian has renovated a 18th century pub into a guest house, with several rooms. The location is good for getting around, with buses and the Dockland Light Rail station just up the road. When we were there, it was the 75th anniversary of the Cable Street Riot, when the locals blocked Mosley and his Backshirts from marching through the area and harassing the mainly jewish residents. They had a large function on the Sunday, and in Julian's apartment on the ground floor they had a get together, including one of the original participants in the riot. Given what the people in that area went through during that and through WW2, it reminds you of how lucky we are.

After enjoying Julian's hospitality and exploring the area, we started on the next leg of your journey to Dublin. I picked London City Airport to fly from, as it was only 20min on the train, rather than traipsing back to Heathrow. BA have flights on the hour, so of we went. The airport is small but does the job. We got there, checked in our bags and looked for somewhere for a snack and a coffee. There were the usual basic offerings downstairs, before security i.e. not great. After going upstairs and clearing security, we found that there were much better offerings, for food, wine and much more relaxed. Something to remember for next time I go through LCY.

The flight to Dublin was quick, and clearing immigration speedy and cheery. The taxi driver, John who took us into Dublin was very friendly (as they all are in Ireland), and insisted on marking up tourist map of Dublin with the best pubs, restaurants, things to see - while driving. It's not a bad drive in from the airport, which up to the north of the city. He dropped us of at our hotel, Ariel House, which is near a train station, buses and lots of good pubs and bars. We discovered that Guinness does really taste better in Ireland - conducting samplings across a range of pubs to be sure . We really liked the centre of Dublin, it's a relaxed place. We wandered through the Temple Bar area, and yes it's touristy, but not too bad. The Ballsbridge area where the hotel is, was also another interesting area to walk around and try out the bars and restaurants. We also did a day trip on the train to Horth, the fishing port which was

Our plans for what we were going to see down south were open, and we got some good suggestions from people about places to see and stay. Kilkenny and Dingle were on the tops of everyone's lists, so off we went. We picked up the Golf from Hertz, fired up the GPS and headed off south. We stuck to the back roads and hugged the coast as we headed south, and then cut across to Kilkenny. We found our place to stay, and walked into town for something to eat. We were told there was no shortage of music, food or hospitality in Kilkenny, and they weren't wrong. The music scene there is great, and we enjoyed a couple of quiet drinks and talking with locals at Langtons. You can see by the photo of Kilkenny streets, there was no shortage of places to eat and drink

From Kilkenny we drove down to Dingle, again sticking to the coast where we could. The drive into Dingle is spectacular, as is Dingle itself. We enjoyed exploring around the area - with great music and food at the pubs. We were also told to check out Foxy Johns, for its particular take on retail trade.

 

[RooFlyer]

Good stuff. I wonder if you'll get to Toulouse in the report before I do on my current trip?

 

[VPS]

It is amazing how much better Guinness tastes there - enjoying the ride - thanks

 

[OZDUCK]

Please keep up the good work and post more of these good photos and commentary. The Irish weather gods seemed to have been smiling on you for these first few days at least.

 

[kookaburra75]

Good stuff. I wonder if you'll get to Toulouse in the report before I do on my current trip?

l'll try and speed ahead. We only spent the one day/night there, to fit in the detour to Monte Carlos.

I have a couple of hours on the Bris VA lounge this afternoon, so I might be able to get a couple more countries done

 

[kookaburra75]

Onto the next stage of our trip. I forgot to mention we stayed an Emlagh House in Dingle, which is on the edge of town. We could walk around to the harbour area, or up the hill to the main part of town.

We left Dingle and cut across to the coast road, The Wild Atlantic Way. It's as you see in the pictures; rugged coast, crashing waves and surprisingly for us, blue skies. The weather has been really good for us, with only a couple of hours rain on the drive down from Kilkenny. It is a spectacular drive, the only thing I found was that on the back roads there aren't any signs warning you about corners. You can be driving along, enjoying the view and then suddenly you're face to face with a stone wall at a 90 deg corner. The mighty Golf got a good workout.


Looking up on the map, we were tossing up whether to drive through to Galway, or maybe stop somewhere else along the way. We had to get back to Dublin the day after, to fly out to Glasgow - having reorganised things along the way to spend the extra day in Ireland. We decided on Ballyvaughan, and picked The Wild Atlantic Lodge, to continue the theme. We stopped to look at the Cliffs of Moher, but there were so many tour buses you couldn't get near the place - so just did our own tour, sticking to the coast road



The room at the pub was nice enough, and it had a large bar/bistro area out the back, but a couple of smaller and cosier bars around the front of the place. We wandered around after arriving there - it is very popular with walkers for the Burren National Park. In the bar that evening we chatted with the locals. There was the elderly couple, where 'she' kept telling 'him' how to properly stoke the peat fire in the open fire place, and the old barman who thought initially we were from the US, and after finding out where were Australians, could then talk openly about he thought about "That Trump fellow". It was a late night.

The next day we had to get back to Dublin airport, which only took a hour and a half. The day started with grey skies, which quickly became drizzle. But as we were in the car, that didn't matter. We got there, cleared customs etc. We quickly found there was no One World lounge there, and as we had booked on Aer Lingus, our options were zero. As it was STBMrsK's birthday, we found a nice bar and settled in with celebratory bubbles. Then came the first panic moment of the trip.

As we were now including Monte Carlo in our trip, we had of course brought special outfits to wear. I packed one of my better suits which could handle being squashed into a suit bag and shoved into my suitcase. STBMrsK had selected a special outfit, which we carried around in a separate garment bag. A bit of a hassle getting through security screening etc, but worth it, for peace of mind. So, when settling in with celebratory birthday bubbles, it dawned on STBMrsK that we were short one piece of luggage - "the outfit"! I raced back to security screening, and thankfully there it was waiting for me - I think when they saw me sprinting around the corner towards them, with a slightly panicked/hopeful look on my face, they figured that was what I was after.

So anyway, onto the ATR72 and we winged our way over the Irish Sea to Glasgow - complete with the outfit.

 

[kookaburra75]

Into Glasgow we arrived. As we had put an extra day onto our trip in Ireland we had to trim one day off Scotland - with us dropping off Glasgow. Nothing against Glasgow, and it leaves us somewhere to come back and visit.

Clearing customs was quick and easy - there wasn't any; nice surprise. Then we hit the Avis desk for our car, they said we had an upgrade from a Hyundai i30 or similar to a Fiat 500x (not the little thing that Demali was after), but the sort of SUV thingie. I said "maybe" depending if we could fit our bags into it. I should have said no. It was a diesel 500x, and I've driven better performing and more comfortable tractors. STBMrsK agreed. But anyway, off we toodled and headed off to our first location at Dumbain Farm at Balloch. Their website promised cows wandering around, and there were.

We headed into town for supplies - wine to deaden the vibrations of the 500x - and in the supermarket we came across we found to be a local delicacy, Haggis Chips (and @Denali , you thought I was making it up). We found a nice pub for dinner and had a relaxing evening, lulled to sleep by the cows.


We started the day with a good breakfast and chat to the other guests, and headed north up the west bank of Loch Lomond. It's certainly spectacular countryside.

Our aim was to visit out lands, south of Glencoe. We headed up and cut across to the west coast and enjoyed the drive, stopping along the way at nice cafes and pubs for food and replenishments.

Some years ago we bought into a land regeneration program, Highland Titles which provides the benefit of getting the right to a square foot of their estate - and therefore the rights to use the title of the estate Lord/Laird and Lady Kookaburra. STBMrsK selected Lady for her Qantas flight one day, on the Dash8 from Canberra to Sydney, and got a few odd looks from the crew. I selected 'Lord' as the title for a new credit card, but it didn't make it to the final card.

So, we pulled into the estate, and they provide you with the GPS co-ordinates of your land. Putting them into my phone we set off across through the forest and up the hill to our spot. While walking along, we went past many other plots where people had fenced them, set up little houses etc. It's all for a good cause.

After dallying on our estate, we continued the drive up to Glencoe and settled in at our B&B - Beechwood Cottage. The area around Glencoe is quite stunning, with the waters of Loch Leven on one side, and the mountains behind you. Many climbers use it as a base. We had dinner at the Clachaig Inn just out of Glencoe - which we might use next time we come through this way.


In the morning we packed up the 'rattling brick', and got on the road to St Andrews

 

[kookaburra75]

When we were first planning the trip, we looked at travelling from Glencoe to Edinburgh and spending two nights there. Later in the planning St Andrews was suggested, not so much for the golf courses, but for the town itself. So we added that into the list and the next stage of the journey was Glencoe to St Andrews, via Perth and Dundee. The weather was a bit chilly - but nothing we hadn't experienced living in Canberra. It's a quite a relaxing drive, lovely countryside. We toodled along, stopping where we felt, taking in the local surrounds, cafes, pubs etc. It was a bit manic getting through Dundee, more to me using my phone as the navigation device, and it had a couple of "moments", but we got over the bridge and on our way to St Andrews.

St Andrews is a remarkable place, with a long history. We walked around the town a few times, including the cathedral on the coast. Being a Uni town I think adds a bit of colour to the place, although every second coffee shop had a sign saying theirs was the place Kate and William met.

But being a student town, of course there are some "deviances" - like Haggis Nachos. The pub the Whey Pat was a great pub - but I'm sorry they just shouldn't exist. And no, I didn't even try them.

We stayed at a hotel/pub in the middle of town, Greyfriars Hotel, which did the job. At least it had a lift to get the bags up to the room. They were a friendly bunch and good service. Although I must admit, the Fairmont where @Denali stayed seems heaps better.

As we were there in late Oct, everything was dressed up for Halloween. Not the cheesy US style, but the more spooky cobwebs, skeletons and witches style. It's bit of a big thing there. In the evening we wandered the streets, and ended up at the St Andrews Wine Company - in search of scotch. Let me explain. STBMrsK's younger son asked us to pick up a bottle of single malt that we wouldn't see in Australia. After a briefish chat with the owner, Peter on price and what he had, we selected a bottle of Benromach 11yo. The only trick was getting it home. Not a problem. Peter brought out the equivalent of an air bag for bottles. We separated the packaging and folded that up and put the bottle in its protective case - and it got home ok

 

[kookaburra75]

When we chatted with the owner of the wine shop in St Andrews, he suggested we take the coastal route, to get down to Edinburgh and to stop in at Queensferry. So after our morning coffee - a must with STBMRsK, we headed down the A917 to Crail, and then along the A921 to get us across the Forth Bridge, and dropped down into Queensferry for lunch. It's a pretty spot on the edge of the water and a clear view of the old Firth of Forth Railway Bridge.

One things about Queensferry though, and something that takes getting used to in a lot of places in the UK, getting a car parking spot can be impossible. You'll notice that when you drive along, cars are parked in either direction on the side of the road. That's because if you're driving along and you spot a place on the opposite side, you don't do a u-turn, you just cut across the road and grab the spot. It can make it interesting when you leave. STBMrsK was just starting to get used to me driving like a local, but still was a bit startled when I grabbed a spot in the middle of Queensferry by almost driving along the footpath. She settled down by the time we left the UK, just in time to go into France and me driving on the wrong side of the road

From there, the drive into Edinburgh should have been easy. We had booked an AirBnB apartment, in Lady Stairs Close, right in the middle of the Royal Mile. As there was no parking, we planned to use a Council Car Park that was about 15 minute walk away. No issue - I loaded up the phone with the details and off we went. Anyway, the mighty Lumia 640XL decided to throw a hissy-fit and I ended up in the bus-only area, somewhere near the Queens Street Gardens (I think). So, I dropped back into tourist mode - smile and wave, just smile and wave, and got out of there scott free - well at least no fines have turned up in the mail.

But we found the car park and trekked up the hill past the castle and to our apartment. Everything was there as expected and we unloaded our meagre possessions for the evening. One good thing about travelling in the car, is you can just pack a smaller bag for the accommodation and leave the rest in the car.

We got out on the streets and checked out the buildings, the closes/alleyways and like many of our trips, tried to match up scenes from favourite authors. Being fans of Ian Rankin, we had a least a beer in the pub on Fleshmarket Close - which I know never appeared in any of his books, but it was a nice connection anyway - I could imagine John Rebus meeting the big Ger there.

That night we found a good restaurant and ending up chatting to a pilot from the US who had brought a charter over and was having a quiet night off. A few night caps and we headed back to our apartment. The next day we explored more in the area, including looking through the castle.

After looking through the area - which is an amazing feat of building, we climbed into the 500x and started peddling our way into England, for our next stop at Durham.

 

[kookaburra75]

After wandering around the Castle at Edinburgh, we climbed into the beast and started the trek down to Durham. There were two options; down the coast on the A1 or down the middle on the A68. As we wanted to stop at one of the old Roman forts on Hadrians Wall, we went the inland route. The rolling hills were what we wanted to see, and you get a lot of them on that route. We made the usual detours where something looked interesting, including pulling into Jedburgh for lunch. Judging by the buildings and architecture, you can see the the old wealth that used to be in those towns.

We made Chesters Roman Fort and Museum on Hadrian's Wall and spent quite a lot of time wandering around - imagining what the bustling town would have been like in its day.


We pushed on to Durham, as the weather started to close in. We arrived at our hotel, Farnley Tower. Now, the hotels and apartments so far had been excellent to very good. This place was a bit different - not bad as other places with the same initials though. The room was ok, however the receptionist was getting over emphysema and couldn't show us to the room as it was up a few flights of stairs, the restaurant was shut and the heaters were stuck on full. We had to open windows just to get the room temperature down to a habitable level.

But Durham is a pretty place. From the hotel we walked into the centre of Durham and enjoyed the sights at night. I had stayed in Durham some years before, but was able to use the student accommodation during the uni break in July. We found a couple of nice pubs and had dinner.


We woke the next day to start our trek down to Lincoln. As we had the flight locked in from London to Toulouse, and we wanted a couple of days in Bath it meant a couple of longer days in the car - 3 hours or so. But to get the most out of it, we took a meandering route, through Whitby and York.

The drive to Whitby goes through a lot of different countryside. You go down and skirt around Middlesbrough with its industrial feel, and then get across to the coast for some spectacular views out along the coast. Whitby is an interesting place, and for us Australian we have a connection, with it being where James Cook did his training. The abbey up on the headland overlooking Whitby is where Bram Stoker got his inspiration for Dracula. I've stayed there in the past; it can be super busy during tourist season with parking and accommodation hard to find. And then there are the seagulls - lots of seagulls - that go on forever. I'm sure the Council has loudspeakers playing seagull sounds 24 hours a day.

From Whitby we pushed south to York going through the Yorkshire Moors, which are bleak but also interesting. I can imagine them covered in snow during the winter, but you would want to be somewhere every warm to experience it.



York is another of those places in the UK which is very typical of what you think they should look like - which is how it should be. It had been recommended as a place to stay, but we had to drop it off our list of places to stay, but did visit. It's a place we would go back to, to explore more. The old part of the town, with York Minster, the gate houses and the city wall you can walk around provided us with an opportunity for a break, stretch the legs, and of course lunch.


After a break at York, we head further south down to Lincoln

 

[Geegeela]

The drive to Whitby goes through a lot of different countryside. You go down and skirt around Middlesbrough with its industrial feel, and then get across to the coast for some spectacular views out along the coast. Whitby is an interesting place, and for us Australian we have a connection, with it being where James Cook did his training. The abbey up on the headland overlooking Whitby is where Bram Stoker got his inspiration for Dracula. I've stayed there in the past; it can be super busy during tourist season with parking and accommodation hard to find. And then there are the seagulls - lots of seagulls - that go on forever. I'm sure the Council has loudspeakers playing seagull sounds 24 hours a day.

Thank you for your report I am enjoying it very much.

Understandably I think your memory is playing tricks with you as it was Slains Castle at Cruden Bay where it is believed Bram Stoker was inspired to write Dracula.

 

[ellen10]

Enjoying your trip report. We visited southern Ireland for 10 days 6 years ago and are planning to go back next year. We also loved Scotland and hope to add it to the list next year also.
I love all your photos too, brings back lots of great memories.

 

[kookaburra75]

Thank you for your report I am enjoying it very much.

Understandably I think your memory is playing tricks with you as it was Slains Castle at Cruden Bay where it is believed Bram Stoker was inspired to write Dracula.

I was just going on what the locals told me (How Dracula Came to Whitby | English Heritage) It wouldn't surprise me if they were spinning a yarn for tourists.

 

[Geegeela]

I was just going on what the locals told me (How Dracula Came to Whitby | English Heritage) It wouldn't surprise me if they were spinning a yarn for tourists.

Yes I think that was a common opinion.

Maybe it is just Scottish-Sassenach in-fighting.

The village that brought Dracula to life

 

[kookaburra75]

We arrived into Lincoln in the afternoon, and made our way to the Lincoln Hotel. It's a standard hotel, but comfortable, has parking and in a great location right in the middle of town. When you walk out the front, you have the cathedral to your left and the main part of the old town straight in front of you. We spent the evening wandering around town, around the cathedral and the old streets and visited a few pubs. It was a Saturday night and everyone was out an about. We found a good pub that had tapas type meals and good ales. It was nice to sit there and just people watch.

The next day we explored more of the centre of Lincoln, and the narrow back streets in the area. It was certainly a place we would come back to.


Mid morning we set sail for Bath, cutting across the country side through Stratford-upon-Avon, Stow-on-Wold and zigzaged through backroads in the Cotswolds to get down to Bath. It was a pleasant enough drive, although a bit of a longish day in the car. STBMrsK liked the scenery. She is a big fan of Escape to the Country on tv, and now she could see, despite the UK having so many people, why there was so much open space between the main centres.

We stopped in Stratford-upon-Avon for lunch, and it was packed with tourists. We managed to snag a table at a bistro for lunch - as everywhere was full as. And like London, the queues to get into anywhere were at least an hour long. Given we were out of season, I thought it might have been better.

We finally pulled into Bath, and got to our hotel, The County Hotel Bath. I had been to Bath a couple of times for work related activities, and knew how hard it is to get a hotel in Bath for a reasonable price and location, and get a place to park your car. So we picked this place, as it had car parking and we could easily walk into the centre of Bath. It was a bit quiet being a Sunday night - and the poor receptionist was the only person in the place; so she had to show you to your room, look after the bar and requests from the other guests. The room was nice enough, but right at the top of the building and their are only stairs - the last flight being a bit narrow. It was only three trips for me, as STBMrsK's knees were playing up again. But we settled in, as we had two nights to look forward to in Bath.

 

[kookaburra75]

We had a two day break in Bath, so we were able to explore the town, visit the laundromat etc. Bath is an interesting place in itself, with the Roman Baths, Spa, the buildings and the great little pubs scattered around. Knowing one of the locals he had taken me around his favourite pubs a year ago, and we went back to check them out. He also told me tales of when he was a student at the university, late on a Sat night they would climb on top of the covered bridge and jump into the river.

We walked around and stayed for quite a while at The Old Green Tree - chatting with locals in the front bar. One was living on a narrow boat on the river, and his girlfriend who was working behind the bar also had her own narrow boat. Something we have been thinking about for a future trip. We also stopped in at The Raven. A lot of these pubs are tiny by our standards, think a room 3m x 3m as comfy. We also stopped in at Coeur De Lion, so we could say we'd been there.

And you can get a decent coffee. Try Chandos Deli on George Street - good food as well, bread, cakes - all the good things. We had a fantastic lunch at Aio, a great Sardinian restaurant with lots of good food and wines. But, I've noticed it closed - so you can't go there, which is a great pity. After a couple of days of resting, we set off on the next leg of our journey, which was to go via Oxford and stay in Watlington - and then the next day to Heathrow.

 

[kermatu]

Enjoying this. Thanks for posting.