Our last post had us in the quaint village of Broadway in The idyllic Cotswolds.
Since then we stayed in 2 more AirBnb's and are currently in a Hotel a mile or so from the dock where we will board the QM2 tomorrow. The map below will show the travels from our last post up to now.
Starting with our last post...
Our 2-weeks having come to a close, we moved south to the Atlantic Coast to the small town of West Bay.
Our time on this side of the Atlantic is drawing quickly to a close and I had scheduled 6 nights at a very nice condo next to a marina and just steps from the Ocean. Unfortunately, the weather was quite uncooperative with rain and really strong winds. This and a recovering dog kept us mostly close to home.
The view from our condo
The winds reached up to 70 mph while here.
along the seawall in West Bay
From West Bay - we moved to a really nice barn conversion outside of Melksham, UK.
On the way we made a slight detour to visit the Caen Hill locks.
There are 29 locks in total, divided into 3 groups, the largest of which contains 16 and is the one that we visited.
Caen Hill Locks
Caen Hill Locks - view from the top
Barge Boats above the Caen Hill Locks
Our home for the next 5 nights - our final AirBnb of the trip was a really nice barn conversion. Surrounded by gardens, fruit trees and fields, it was a nice restful place to get regrouped and ship shape for our transition from shoreside life to getting on board.
Our home in Melksham, UK
While here we visited the nearby picture postcard village of Lacock.
The town has been the filming location for many films, the most notable being the Harry Potter Series.
Lacock, UK
As soon as we arrived here, we realized that we'd been here back in 2018 with our friends from Switzerland.
Lacock, UK
Lacock, UK
We had previously had lunch in the Red Lion Pub.
The Red Lion - Lacock, UK
We took a stroll around the grounds of Lacock Abbey.
Lacock Abbey
And finally a stroll around the grounds at home.
Grounds around our home in Melksham
Grounds around our home in Melksham
Soon it was time to move on to our final stop of the trip. A hotel in Southampton for 2 nights about a mile from the dock. Haveing a couple of hours to kill, we made a detour to Bournemouth, UK to get our last UK seashore fix.
Bournemouth UK
With a huge sandy beach - we could see that this place must be hopping in the summer. Being a mid week day in the fall, it was nice and quiet.
Bournemouth UK
Riding the range inBournemouth UK
Finally it was time to check into the hotel. We unloaded the luggage, and then I took the car back to Volkswagen. It was hard to belived that I'd picked it up there over 5 months earlier!
Hotel in Southampton
Hotel in Southampton
Today being our final day on shore, we took a walk thru town.
Southampton, UK
There is an old defensive wall around the town. The current one dates to the 1300's. It's not as complete or ancient as the one in Chester, but still is an interesting structure.
Defensive Wall in Southampton
Finally came boarding day....
Time to shift gears and say goodbye to Europe and reset our sights westward.
Our Ubers came right on time and we took the 5 minute drive to the terminal.
The great thing about having dogs is that they always wave you right to the front of the line.
We checked in and waited about 15 min for Olliver & John the Kennelmasters to come down to escourt us onto the ship.
Then we passed thru security and waited for the rest of the pack to clear thru.
Our Queens Grill Suite
Then we made the mad dash thru the ship up to the kennels on deck 12 where we went over procedures for the "newbies" and soon it was time to tuck the dogs into bed till we go back up at 5 pm.
Normal visiting hours will be 8a-12p. 3p-6p abd 7:30 to 8:30. As you can see - with the exeption of the 12-3pm shift, most of the day will be kennel time or rushing to and from feedings,
After dropping of the dogs we went down to our stateroom to check on luggage and get our key cards so that we could check into our muster stations.
Our Queens Grill Suite
After taking care of business we went down to the Queens Grill Restaurant for lunch.
On Cunard there are 3 basic levels of service. Think coach, coach premium, business, and first class on an airline. Queens Grill is first class with it's own resturant, lounge, outdoor area etc. Sort of an old left over from the Titanic days. The rooms are much larger and have a butler, but the real draw is the Queens Grill Resturant. The daily menu is extensive and you are not limited to what is on the menu... If they have the ingredients on the ship, they will make whatever you ask for.
Having sailed QG a number of times before we have gotten to know Osman, the matre d quite well. This time he reserved us a great window table right overlooking the stern of the ship! One of the nicest tables in the whole restaurant. This table is ours for the entire trip - breakfast, lunch, dinner.
Lunch at our great table
QG Restaurant seen from our table looking forward
We both opted for the Soup (vegetable) and Sandwich (Roast beef hoagie with horseradish mayo)
Kate washed it all down with a brownie and vanilla ice cream and I had the strawberry crumble with a vanilla sauce.
Then I took a couple of laps on the promenade deck and went to check out the aqua spa,
I like to sign up for the weekly pass and go take advantage of the hot pools, steam rooms saunas etc. We usually squeeze that in each day during the 12-3 kennel break and mix in some deck laps followed by lunch and return to the kennel at 3.
I discovered that I forgot a bathing suit... When the shops open I'll have to see if they have something for me.
Lastly - I checked the marine weather maps for the week. It looks like we might have a bit of weather Sunday into Monday, but then later thursday there appears to be some sort of tropical event coming up the coast and right into our path. Should be an interesting ride.
Just as I was finishing up this post, the Queen Anne - Cunards newest ship was departing Southampton. We will be leaving in an hour or so. Anytime these ships get together, horns start blowing and people start cheering.
We've shifted gears a bit due to unavoidable circumstances which I'll go over in a bit, but first, to continue on where we left off....
Our last couple of days in Chester was spent visiting a few more of the sights in this interesting city.
Walking the wall each day took us past the riverfront and a restaurant there that was giving off these delightfully smoky aromas. So we took a walk along the wall and made a detour for an early supper. The ribs, while tender and tasty, just can't hold a candle to real US barbeque.
Leaving there we stopped by St Johns the Baptist Church. Built in the 8th century, and once a proud cathedral, it suffered under Henry VIII and the oldest part of the church is now a ruin.
We walked along the vibrant waterfront.
And finally visited Chester Cathedral. Most Cathedrals are built in the shape of a crucifix but this one has a large added area with courtyards and passageways.
One wall had paintings & mosaics depicting the lives of various figures in religious history.
This is the 250th anniversary of English Railroads and a large model train display was being held in a section of the cathedral. It was not your average train set. Probably a couple of hundred rail cars of all types, automated switching gear with a central control. It was a pretty impressive and hi-tech set up.
A quilt of Chester Center
The cathedral was dog friendly as are many in the UK.
The Choir
Finally, we swung by the old Roman Amphitheater.
Our departure from Chester was Saturday, and after our long walk Thursday, Phoebe had developed a limp. Touching her "knee area" was giving her discomfort. So I went into my traveling dog pharmacy and broke out the Metacam. The dog version of Meloxicam - an NSAID.
That combined with a mild doggie downer, we kept her mellowed out for Friday to give her some rest.
By Saturday morning we was walking limp free, but was still tender in the joint area so we continued the protocol and decided to wait on a vet to see how things developed.
We moved on to our next stop, a lovely home on a hill overlooking the town of Bakewell in the Peak District.
Doggies in the window
Meanwhile, news from Arizona arrived that we'd had a bad Monsoon Storm and I had a tree down in the front yard. Chatting with our neighbors I was able to find a landscaper who could get out there quickly to cut it up and remove it. Our next door neighbor also had a water leak in their roof so our friend Deanie went inside to check for us and lo and behold there was water on the floor as well!
Tree Down
View from our Ring Cam of the tree being removed
Within a few hours the damage was all cleared up.
So, trying to get to the bottom of the water leak in the house... We narrowed it down to inside a linnen closet. More searching was coming up fruitless as there was no water stain on the closed ceiling, but as Deanie moved some towels she found the culprit.... Kate had put a box of "damp rid" in the closet, but never bothered to read the instructions. The box has a type of desiccant inside and it released moisture captured into a metal pan in the box. Since the box was laying on its side, the desiccant was dripping the moisture captured onto the floor.
At least there was no roof leak to deal with and by the end of the day over here all the problems had been solved.... Except for Phoebe...
Almost a week had gone by and while she was 80% better, she would still let out a yelp once a day and so it was time to find a vet to take a look at her.
The long and short of it is the vet said to continue what I was doing for another fortnight as she thought it was a soft tissue injury and could take some time to heal.
At the vet
So, for the last 2.5 weeks or so, we've had her on limited duty which also means we are on limited duty.
No long walks. I carry her up and down the stairs each morning and night.
A week gone by in Bakewell and I did almost nothing. It was a very cute town and I got to see it going for groceries but that was about it. I never did get any photos of the town either.
Saturday - we moved onward, heading south to the town of Broadway in The Cotswolds area of the UK.
Long time followers might remember The Cotswolds as we've been here several times. Last trip we were here for 3 weeks. The prior times we stayed in Winchcombe, and this time we decided to stay in this quaint village of Broadway.
We did take the dogs to Sunday Roast to a nice country pub.
This young girl came over and fell in love with the dogs. Her parents were so trusting that they went out into the garden and left the girl with us. I was getting worried that perhaps Kate had picked up another "stray".
Our place here in Broadway is a nice, compact 1 bedroom apartment in a quiet neighborhood just a 2 minute walk to the high street.
We also have a nice "garden". We call it a "backyard". They call it a 'Garden" here.
Broadway is the quintessential Cotswold Village.
High Street Broadway
High Street Broadway
There are even some Thatched Roof buildings along the High St.
Thatched roof High Street Broadway
And pretty side alleys that run off of the High St.
We took a run down to Winchcombe to see our old haunting grounds.
High St Winchcombe
There are some really pretty Almshouses in the town center.
They are housing created for the poor and their origin goes back to the middle ages.
Almshouses Winchcombe
The photo below is the place we stayed at last time for 3 weeks. Just off of the High St.
And below - the Sudeley Castle Gatehouse. We stayed here in 2018. A truly unique property located on the castle grounds.
They got onto my shitlist however in 2020 when I had to cancel our trip due to covid and they turned out to be the only accomodation who would not refund my rent, nor even agree to some sort of partial credit toward a future stay.
Sudeley Castle Gatehouse
A view across the fields towards Winchcombe.
Well we are down to 16 days till we board the Queen Mary2 for our crossing to NYC.
It's hard to believe that we landed in Paris 5 1/2 months ago!
Phoebe seems to be getting better. We'll go 1 or 2 days with no yelp and then (today) she jumps off the couch (like she does many times) and she'll let out a quick yelp.
So I'll just keep an eye on it and keep waiting to see if we get 3... then 4... then more days with no complaints. I think right now its enough of a non issue to wait and if it continues when we get back to the states I'll take her to our old vet in Saratoga Springs for a look see. Hopefully by then we'll have it all behind us.
Till then, we are all on limited duty.
Saturday we head down to the coast. A condo on the waterfront for 6 nights, then a place near Bath for 5 nights.... then 2 nights in a hotel in Southampton where I'll turn the car back in and 2 weeks from this Friday we'll be back onboard.
See you down the road.
PS
If you receive email notifications for new blog posts - you noticed this time the email looked different and came from a different email address: talesfromthehighway@gmail.com
I've decided to take over the job of managing the email list and sending out the notifications myself.
Intuit bought out MailChimp who was handling the automations for me and they have really jacked up the price.
The good thing is that you can now reply to that email and I will get it and can easily reply back to you. It will greatly enhance our ability to engage back and forth.
The bad thing is that there is no longer an automated "unsubscribe" function. If you want to stop receiving these emails, just reply to one of them and ask me to take you off the list and I will do so.
