We arrived at Janice and Pete's in Eaton, Tarporley for a three night rest and they treated us royally the whole time (royally as in very generously, not as in chopping off our heads - just thought I'd clear that up). Their two children, Bethan and Sam, were there also and our son, Michael joined us for the weekend. Awesome.
We dined on mince and slices of quince, which we ate with a runcible spoon - well not really, but the food was brilliant - from the Sunday morning fry-up to the roast pork dinner and even the meal out at the Pheasant Inn (oh and yes we have seen pheasants, and seals and red and grey squirrels - but no badgers) we ate like a king, queen and prince.
We also went out a fair bit. Janice took us to Chester on the Saturday, where we were suitably impressed by the architecture. The cathedral was brilliant as was walking the walls of old Chester. Actually, the whole inner city was just a really cool place right out of the English past.
Then on Sunday, thanks to a tip from our good friend Pete Ryan, we returned to Wales for one last treat - a visit to Llangollen where we climbed up to Dinas Bran. This is reputed to be one of the best views in Britain - and hang me for a badger rustler if it wasn't. Stunning day, and stunning 360 views, all from the ruins of an old castle. It was a fair haul up there but we survived to tell the tale and earned the preemptive pint we'd had before we started.
Have I mentioned British beer? Well you know how it's supposed to be warm and pretty much flat - that's true. But what they don't tell you (unless of course they're British) is that it tastes soooo much better than our beer. Reckon I'll have to work these pints off, and not sure how I'll take to our Aussie beer again.
We also went to the Llangollen aqueduct - which is active - and walked across a river at a damn great height. What was even weirder was that a canal boat went passed us while we were up there and I even saw fish swimming by - at least 100 feet in the air - talk about flying fish. If only they knew.
Another highlight was travelling in Peter's Rolls Royce - what a totally cool, outrageous thing to do. Smooth as silk, the genuine greased lightning and total comfort. Reminded me of a joke from teenage school days, that went along the lines of 'What's the difference between a [nearby school of your choice] girl and a Rolls Royce? Answer - Not everyone's been inside a Rolls Royce. Now before you cry out in horror at the sexist nature of this, which it was, it's time for a little honesty. The truth is that all that joke reflected was wishful thinking that would remain unfulfilled from a generation of boys who didn't know anything about [nearby school of your choice] girls and certainly wouldn't know how to handle one even if they did.
Anyway, we had a brilliant three days and Peter and Janice were truly great hosts.
Monday morning we said our farewells and headed off to the Lakes District.
We dined on mince and slices of quince, which we ate with a runcible spoon - well not really, but the food was brilliant - from the Sunday morning fry-up to the roast pork dinner and even the meal out at the Pheasant Inn (oh and yes we have seen pheasants, and seals and red and grey squirrels - but no badgers) we ate like a king, queen and prince.
We also went out a fair bit. Janice took us to Chester on the Saturday, where we were suitably impressed by the architecture. The cathedral was brilliant as was walking the walls of old Chester. Actually, the whole inner city was just a really cool place right out of the English past.
Then on Sunday, thanks to a tip from our good friend Pete Ryan, we returned to Wales for one last treat - a visit to Llangollen where we climbed up to Dinas Bran. This is reputed to be one of the best views in Britain - and hang me for a badger rustler if it wasn't. Stunning day, and stunning 360 views, all from the ruins of an old castle. It was a fair haul up there but we survived to tell the tale and earned the preemptive pint we'd had before we started.
Have I mentioned British beer? Well you know how it's supposed to be warm and pretty much flat - that's true. But what they don't tell you (unless of course they're British) is that it tastes soooo much better than our beer. Reckon I'll have to work these pints off, and not sure how I'll take to our Aussie beer again.
We also went to the Llangollen aqueduct - which is active - and walked across a river at a damn great height. What was even weirder was that a canal boat went passed us while we were up there and I even saw fish swimming by - at least 100 feet in the air - talk about flying fish. If only they knew.
Another highlight was travelling in Peter's Rolls Royce - what a totally cool, outrageous thing to do. Smooth as silk, the genuine greased lightning and total comfort. Reminded me of a joke from teenage school days, that went along the lines of 'What's the difference between a [nearby school of your choice] girl and a Rolls Royce? Answer - Not everyone's been inside a Rolls Royce. Now before you cry out in horror at the sexist nature of this, which it was, it's time for a little honesty. The truth is that all that joke reflected was wishful thinking that would remain unfulfilled from a generation of boys who didn't know anything about [nearby school of your choice] girls and certainly wouldn't know how to handle one even if they did.
Anyway, we had a brilliant three days and Peter and Janice were truly great hosts.
Monday morning we said our farewells and headed off to the Lakes District.
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