Old and New England with Scotland.The cripples on tour.

[drron]

So top floor of the Hilton.there is a club lounge and though on the club floor not told we had access.Two waters and a bottle of chocolate peanuts,2 drinks and complimentary breakfast in the restaurant.Good recognition for a gold.The hotel was really quiet and we slept like logs.Only problem I had altered our preferred room to close to the lifts and only 1 room further away.We went to sleep at 2100 and mrsdrron woke at 0900.
We had dinner in the bar as the restaurant was booked out for 2 bus tours but they just had a limited buffet and they kept coming up to the bar to buy their own drinks.We ate in the bar after having our complimentary beverages-Nobilo's SB.Whilst eating mrsdrron had a large glass of the Nobilos-GBP9.80.I had a Stellar Artois Cidre-GBP4.30.Mrsdrron had a char sui pork with egg noodles-OK.I had beef chilli with rice,nachos and aioli sour crème - reasonable.Total cost-GBP29.Though for spending more than GBP25 I got 1000 points bonus.
At check out our drinks were not on the bill.Being the honest fellow I am I pointed out they were missing but the agent assured me the GBP29 included the drinks.Ah well I tried.So a late start and off to the Swindon Fashion outlets.Now these outlets are well set up.I sent mrsdrron into the outlets and I went next door to the Steam Museum.This complex is all part of the old Great Western Railway's workshops.I had fun.Loved my Hornby clockwork trains as a kid.Still have them.
So now a selection of photos from the Steam Museum-

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Wonderful work on the men's work boxes-

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And love the St.Johns outfit-

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And what happened in the war with women taking over a lot of the work-

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And one of the engines that was on the fastest scheduled service in the world in the early part of last century-Swindon to London at an average 71.2mph.

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And you can walk under the engine-

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[drron]

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And yes erkpod I did the steam engine simulator.

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And for any Francophiles-remember Fishguard-

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[drron]

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The steam age was a totally different era-

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And now some of the buildings-

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[RooFlyer]

<snip>

Fellow saw me taking photos so easy to get an upgraded damage report.So 90 minutes after stepping out of the plane door we were in our car on the way to Swindon.The original plan was a southern sweep via Stonehenge to Swindon but that was out the window.Was the slowest car on the M4 at 60mph.I am surprised that less than 2000 motorists die each year on UK roads.

<snip>

Yeah, can anyone tell me how that works? Every time you are on the UK motorways doing 60 or 70 mph you get many cars (usually beemers or the like) zooming past as if you were crawling - must be doing 90 or 100 mph. Are there no radar equipped police or other agency cars on the motorways?

Is it a loophole in law enforcement over there?

 

[jukebox333]

*cough*
Some of us still play with model trains, drron!
*cough*

 

[QF WP]

drron, that view out of the Hilton looks like an unfinished water feature??

You haven't had an easy time with the delays - lets hope the UK serves you better . Those USA meals were huge - no wonder they are so big...

 

[Flashback]

Yeah, can anyone tell me how that works? Every time you are on the UK motorways doing 60 or 70 mph you get many cars (usually beemers or the like) zooming past as if you were crawling - must be doing 90 or 100 mph. Are there no radar equipped police or other agency cars on the motorways?

Is it a loophole in law enforcement over there?

Motorways unless a variable speed limit sign shows otherwise are 70mph. There are no fixed cameras (in general) on motorways either, unless you have a short section that has an average speed check. Yes 70-90mph is pretty common .... long distances and 3-4 hour daily commutes on the road = people go as fast as they can when they can!

 

[drron]

Motorways unless a variable speed limit sign shows otherwise are 70mph. There are no fixed cameras (in general) on motorways either, unless you have a short section that has an average speed check. Yes 70-90mph is pretty common .... long distances and 3-4 hour daily commutes on the road = people go as fast as they can when they can!

Coming in to Warwick yesterday I was passed by a vintage 2 seater cigar shaped silver 2 seater race car with number 160 on it.No idea of the make but it looked impressive.

 

[drron]

So after the outlets it was by a number of back roads to Blenheim Palace.Just look at Google maps the night before and write down the road numbers.Unfortunately sometimes no signs or signs obscured by trees but part of the fun!Some quaint villages you pass through.At Blenheim Palace I was able to drop mrsdrron off at the front gate and then go and park.Old Winston certainly came from a privelidged background.We went through the palce then mrsdrron sat whilst I did a very quick explore of the gardens.You could obviously spend many hours here but for us only two.

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And that is the bed young Winston Churchill was born in.Lots of toy soldiers-

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[drron]

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What a good duke wears-

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And the grounds-

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[Flashback]

One thing I think you'll find is that the road signs here are not that great and roundabouts (the mega ones) are so confusing and lanes just disappear .. certainly one country where GPS goes a long way in making life easier!

 

[drron]

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The Daimler society was holding a show there-

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[amaroo]

At Blenheim Palace I was able to drop mrsdrron off at the front gate and then go and park.Old Winston certainly came from a privelidged background.We went through the palce then mrsdrron sat whilst I did a very quick explore of the gardens.You could obviously spend many hours here but for us only two.
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The poms at their best!

A great pity mrsdrron couldn't take a stroll through the gardens....one of many influenced by "landscape architect" Capability Brown Capability Brown - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[drron]

Amaroo we have had to cut back on the previously planned activities.Still a pleasant outing with more time to get lost!

After leaving Blenheim Palace it was a short run to the Bicester outlets.One reason was mrsdrron found a jacket for me in one of the stores however 1 size short of my size.They rang the Bicester store who had that size and put it on hold.One problem we couldn't find the store and it is not on the list of stores or known to the malls management.
We also had lunch from a Jamie Olivers Healthy Ears van.Wouldn't do it again.And a word of advice don't go there on a sunny saturday.The place was a complete zoo with larger crowds than Woodbury Common.We then set off on a longer but more scenic route to the HGI Luton.The major problem with the road numbering system is that through larger towns such as Ayesbury the numbers disappear.However I usually come out on the right numbered road.

Now The HGI is actually called HGI Luton Airport but it is miles from the airport so no plane noise.Unfortunately though they had 3 wedding receptions there that night.The smokers moved outside and there they stayed right under our window getting louder and louder until I guess they passed out ~0200.

We had dinner again at the hotel.Mrsdrron had the steak and ale pie which was fine.I had the Barnsley lamb chops.The poor animal obviously died of old age-as tough as old boots.Again as usual full complimentary brekkie but the bacon had obviously been reheated and was very watery.So the room-

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[drron]

Sunday and a leisurely start.A short trip to Bletchley Park.Mrsdrron stayed in the car and knitted whilst I was in my element as a military history tragic.I could have spent all day as well as museums there are lectures given throughout the day and the main house and gardens are quite beautiful.I will tell the story pictorially-

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The chess was interesting as much later I played one of the gentlemen listed.

 

[drron]

A follow up to the germs thread.this is still good common sense advice-

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And now for the computer nerds.How it all started-

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And here they knew about Pearl Harbour 4 months before it happened.Pity the Americans didn't believe them-

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[drron]

So now the environment.Again I will let the pictures do the talking-

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Not too far from here is Woburn Abbey and on our way to Stratford on Avon we passed Silverstone and the Mercedes AMG F1 Headquarters.
But next the bard.

 

[drron]

Being just out of town Anne Hathaways house was a good place to start-

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No that's not her house.This is her house-

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So the car park is a pay and display.This time only a pound.But then the better side of the English came out.Mrsdrron asked how many stairs there were and the woman at the desk spontaneously offered to let her in at the concessional rate and I could get in free as her carer.Really cant get better than that.The little cottage garden was lovely with spring colours.The sweet peas had a great range of colours-

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And proof mrsdrron went into the garden-

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[drron]

So the interior-

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And the Shakespeare chair-

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[drron]

The Shakespeare Trust bought this house from the Hathaways in 1892.They continued to live here until 1911 but because the house didn't have such niceties as running water or any form of sewerage they were moved into a new house which is now the shop.

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Even the veggies get in on the act.These are broad bean flowers-

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And now some shots from around the town-

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