Lily Pad Travels: Our 2023 Review - Part 1

WE WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY AND HEALTHY 2024

and hope your 2023 went well.

Wow, what a year it has been!!! At some time I hope to catch up with the blogs as there is so much to share.

We have seen some wonderful and amazing places and met some great people.

We started off the New Year at Blue Angel RV Park in Pensacola, Florida. You will recognize that name as we have been here many times and it is very relaxing, which was important as we had a busy year coming up.

Mid February we headed back to NAS Jacksonville as guests not camphosts. We had a lot of preparations and medical appointments to do before leaving on our 6 month trip to the UK.

We had a campsite in the lower part of the campground, with a view of the river and saw some magnificent sunsets.

The hardest part of the planning was getting 6 months of prescriptions for both of us, fortunately we managed to get them, and we were set.

The day came when we packed up Lily, after cleaning her and emptying all the cupboards, fridge and freezer of the food, and put her in storage.

We travelled up to Norfolk and left some of our things with Ryan & Christina before heading out to Bayonne, New Jersey and starting our summer adventures.

There are blogs covering some of the cruise, so feel free to look at those for a more in depth review. I will hopefully catch up with the whole year in my down time in the next few months.

We sailed on Anthem of the Seas and were onboard for 11 days from May 1st, stopping at the Azores, Cherbourg and Le Havre before arriving in Southampton on May 12th.

We rented a car for 5 months through Turo. We got a taxi to take us to pick it up and it was a smooth transition. It wasn't long before we were on the road at the start of our UK tour. First stop was Andover for a couple of nights.

Bryan's ancestors came from Upper Wallop in the 1600's and while we were here we managed to find the original Kent Farm that they emigrated from.

The part behind Bryan was the original farm from the 1600's

It's still called by the family name and this is how we found it

There will be more pictures when I write that blog.

Unfortunately the next day Bryan found out he had covid, caught on the ship no doubt. We had to change our plans for the next few days and instead of staying with Ian and the family, we arranged an Air BNB near them. I ended up getting it a couple of days after Bryan.Those days were miserable, but we were grateful that Ian got us food and left it at the door and they all came to visit before we left, and stayed at a distance from us. It was awful as I wanted hugs so bad, but couldn't be helped.

Our next stop was Porth, near Newquay, Cornwall where we had rented an AirBNB on a horse farm in the middle of nowhere. It was idyllic.

We were here for 3 weeks and after resting initially we explored a bit.

Our trips out included the Bedruthun Steps,Davidstowe Airfield and Cornwall at War Museum, Eden Project, Tintagel, Lands End, and the Mimack Theatre.

Bedruthun, Cornwall

King Arthur, Tintagel

Bryan at Tintagel

Mimack Theatre

Eden Project

Next stop was Newton Abbot, Devon. We had an airbnb not far from the town centre. We visited Dunkeswell Heritage Airfield Center which had an amazing amount of exhibits and information.

Then to Slapton Sands, which is one of the places the allied forces practiced the D-Day Beach invasions. There is a very moving memorial to American troops that lost their lives here.

This tank was lost at sea along with American lives during the D-Day practice landings and was recovered in 1984.

Then on to Dartmouth Castle which we both thoroughly enjoyed exploring and learning it's history.

Next we were heading toward Upper Heyford where Bryan was stationed and where we met all those years ago. We stopped and visited our friend Ros on the way and caught up with what has been happening.

We stayed at another AirBNB in Bodicote and visited the Heritage Center that has been setup at Upper Heyford. We looked around the small museum there and did an airfield tour which took us around some of the old buildings that are still there. A real memory lane visit for Bryan and the items he donated were on display in the museum. One of them is below.

The majority of the base is now new housing and so most of the buildings that we knew were no longer there.

We went to dinner with Sean & Caroline, two friends of ours from Kettering, who drove down to meet us. It was great catching up with them as well.

Next stop was a visit with my brother Ray & Julie, who is the nearest to a sister that I have. They put up with us for a week, we visited our parents in the local cemetery, old haunts, and celebrated my 70th birthday with them, which was awesome.

Heading North we spent a week in Edwinstowe, Nottingham which was a lovely small town. We visited Nottingham Castle & cave, the oldest inn in England, Sherwood Forest, the land of Robin Hood and an aircraft museum.

The Major Oak in Sherwood Forest(Robin Hood land)

From Edwinstowe we headed North East to Alnwick, Northumberland which is the home of one of the castles used for the Harry Potter films. Our week long stay was in a apartment down an alleyway from the town centre. The apartment itself wasn't that great but the location was superb. There were small alleyways into town(very Harry Potter like). We visited Alnwick Castle where the scenes of Quidditch games in the movies were filmed.

Alnwick Castle

Holy Island was another visit where we saw Lindisfarne Castle & Priory. St Cuthbert was buried here in 687. It was an amazing place that can only be accessed at low tide across a causeway.

Next we headed to Alness, near Inverness in Scotland. On the way we stopped in Edinburgh for a couple of nights. We revisited Dalhousie Castle, which many of you may remember was where we got married many, many years ago. They were very welcoming and let us walk around all of the rooms and outside. It has been modernized and we were worried it might have lost its charm but its still as beautiful as we remembered.

We also toured the Royal Yacht Britannia that is now a museum. Brittania was celebrating its 70th birthday this year, the same as me!!

Next was a quick stop at St.Andrews Golf Course. Bryan has stayed in the hotel here when he was sent to fix an airplane at the nearby base.

and an overnight stop in Dundee, where we saw this old ship.

We left Dundee for Alness, just north of Inverness. It was a very pretty drive although the weather kept changing. The heather alongside the road and the mountains were beautiful.

We had a month at our AirBNB in Alness, which was centrally located for us to visit North and North Western Scotland.

Near Tarbet Ness Lighthouse

We booked a day coach tour from Inverness to Isle of Skye. This enabled Bryan to have a break from driving and it was a long drive.

We drove alongside Loch Ness and stopped at Urquhart Castle. We had been to this area many years ago and it is as beautiful as we remember.

Next stop was Eilean Donan Castle where a bagpiper welcomed us. We would have liked to visit inside but we really didn't have enough time. The outside was beautiful though and it was nice just to relax there.

Waterfall on the Isle of Skye.

Our guide was amazing and had us all laughing. It was a minivan so only about 8 of us.

We also decided to drive a 4 day trip to John O'Groats, visited the Orkney Islands and did part of the NC500, which is a scenic route around the North and West Scotland.

Castle Sinclair Girnigoe

Duncasby Stacks

Sunset from our AirBNB at John O'Groats

Skara Brae, Orkney Islands

Ring Of Brodgar, Orkney Islands

Puffins at Dunnet Head, although you can't see them in this picture they are there

Driving along the North Coast, they have a zipline!! That's a person, not a bird!!

Smoo Cave

We left the NC500 at Laxford Bridge and took the A838 to Lairg. This turned out to be the best decision of our whole trip I think. It was a small road that basically cuts across Scotland from the West coast to the East. We didn't realize it but it runs alongside lochs for most of the way. It was a beautiful day and I think we only saw a couple of cars along this part of the journey. The pictures capture some of it.

The clouds and mountains mirrored themselves in the loch. I have never seen anything more beautiful. We were both mesmerized.

Clouds and mountains mirrored in loch.

who wouldn't want to live here, although it is very remote

Mirroring again, it's difficult to tell where the loch starts!!

We finally reached the East Coast. Still a beautiful view.

After that amazing ride we still had places to see in Scotland. Would we be able to better those pictures.......

Corrieshalloch Gorge

Hairy Coo

Ardvreck Castle

Chanonry Point Lighthouse

Beauly Priory

Glenfinnian Viaduct

The original "Harry Potter" train goes over the viaduct daily. Unfortunately it had been stopped due to some safety issues with the doors. There were concerns that people were hanging out the windows, and also that the latches on the doors didn't meet safety requirements. This is an ongoing issue as the owners don't want to update the locks that are required for safety regulations due to cost.

Bryan at Glenfinnian Viaduct

Sue mailing a card in Andy Murray's Gold Postbox in Dunblane

We booked a trip on the Falkirk Wheel. This is an amazing feat of engineering. I believe it replaces several locks that were here and makes the trip on the canal boats much smoother. It connects the Forth & Clyde Canal with the Union Canal.