We had planned our Britain trip long in advance and had decided to wing accommodation on the road as we were going to camp as we headed from London up to Edinburgh, not included in our plan was the fact that I would be 8 weeks pregnant.

Heathrow to Frome (Somerset District)
After an all nighter on the plane (my first overseas trip) we arrived at Heathrow, picked up our hired car and headed off into the distance. We only got lost once and did one of the epic traffic circles a few times to get our direction right and we headed for Camberely. We were amazed by the “old” houses and the doors that opened straight onto the street as well as the fact that all the roads are paved and “fenced” with cute trimmed hedges that ranged from knee high to tree high before wending our way to Avebury. Our main aim was to get a close up view of the stone circle having heard that you have to stand km’s away from the Stonehenge circle. We arrived in a little parking lot and set off to find the circle in the rain, it did not take me long to become extremely grumpy as we had headed off in the wrong direction across cow paddocks and IN THE RAIN! By now I was tired, we had not slept properly in hours and I was feeling sick – luckily we stumbled across the Avebury Church and as we were giving up and going home we found the circle. I must have built myself up for an amazing thing – it was just a little pile of standing up stones in the rain. Could be my experience was a little jaded? We also saw Silbury Hill, the long barrows and the white horse in passing.

We had also decided to wing the accommodation as all the guide books spoke extensively of tourist information centers in each town that had available camping etc. This was not as easy as it was supposed to be, a few that we did actually find were closed but we eventually found an open one where the people where exceptionally helpful and they pointed us to the Frome Campsite. We were the only people there and it was near a beautiful stream, after a night of rain the campsite was also under water but at least the hot water was free. The first 5 days of our trip we also had cold food as we had not found benzine for our cookers yet.

Frome (Somerset District) to Breacon Beacon National Park (Wales)
We took little one lane roads to Glastonbury and stopped to look at the ruined abbey which was mind boggling (dates back to the 1600′s). The size was also stupendous, this picture is only of the church and not the buildings that surround it on the 39 Acres of grounds, it is also supposedly the first Christian Sanctuary on the British Isles (this was all built by hand!). The town itself was bizarre and very esoteric with lots of crystal and alternative shops – even a huge weed/dube shop, there shopping line is “A little harmony with Nature”. There was also an Art Africa shop that boasted exported curios at 10 or 20 times the SA price. We scooted up one of the alleys for lunch and then set off for Wales. On our way we found out how they keep the hedges so uniformly neat – a huge tractor type machine with large clipper sides, very breakable by SA standards.

On our way up to Wales we drove past Cheddar gorge which Vaughn refused to stop at as it was a tourist spot, not that we were tourists or anything. It was apparently here that they discovered Cheddar cheese while storing cheese in the natural caves in the area. As we drove North the hedges slowly gave way to stone walls which are amazingly sturdy considering they are dry walls.On the road we managed to buy the most amazing strawberries – now these are the real thing!

We drove over the huge Severn Bridge and paid our 2 pounds to enter Wales (bridge toll). The welsh roads were fantastic and tree lined making arches over the roads, the hedges had completely given way to stone walls. A complication of a diversion due to road works meant a bit of brain work to reach the Brynich Caravan Park in the Breacon Beacon National Park. Here we were able to track down cooker fluid from a man that traveled to SA every year and actually knew where Johannesburg was. We were also able to stock up on Beer, cider and the campsite included hot water? (we would only learn about that later).

Breacon Beacon National Park (Wales) to Thresfield (Yorkshire Dales National Park)
We drove to Llandovery and explored the Llandovery Castle remains which had seen many battles being on an important trade route. The Welsh was a very pretty area with hills and tons of ‘shorns’ (sheep). We had very slow driving on the little, narrow roads often having to use one lane bridges. A cow warning sign is a big MOO.

Yorkshire Dales was very pretty but wet! We eventually camped at Wood Nook Caravan Park which was in the park, we are still getting used to the idea of people and farming activities happening in the National Parks. The Caravan Park was very well fenced, we surmised this was due to the killer slugs, rabbits and sheep. The tent was sopping an needed to be dried out along with everything else after days of rain and being packed wet. The local cat made friends with us and slept in comfort on the down sleeping bags, it was totally disgusted when we tossed it out into the cold, luckily Vaughn had his Yorkshire Dales beanie to keep him warm. WE HAD TO PAY TO HAVE A HOT SHOWER – 20P FOR 2 MINS! Shock and horror! Were we come from hot water is free! To add insult to injury the hot water money machines were outside the ablutions so you had your two minutes and then had to stand outside and put in another coin (all soaped up) to be able to complete your shower, this was too much for me, I did the cold water option.

Thresfield (Yorkshire Dales National Park) to Keswick (Lake District)
The day started off with walk in the Yorkshire Dales were Vaughn did a few Hobbit shots, we are still marveling at the use of the National Parks for working farms – can you imagine the effect if they tried this in SA? It was off to Bolton Priary (a restored 12 century Priory) were we watched a couple have there wedding photo’s taken in the priary ruins (mud and all). We went into the Abbey and have decided that we prefer the broken down abbeys and churches to the working ones. Thorp Arboretum was fascinating with huge trees and apparently a collection of crocodiles (of course). For those who are wondering what an Arboretum is like we were, it is a collection of trees that have been planted by hand in this case in 85 acres of land, kind of like a botanical garden of flowering plants but only for trees.

Then it was off to the Lakes. The sun shone for a record time of 13 hours of no rain so we used this opportunity to dry ourselves and all our possessions out. The area is very mountainous and seemed to be colder than the other areas that we had visited. There were lots of busy Brits walking, cycling, fishing etc. Another spot that charges 20p for 4 mins of shower. To compensate for paying for hot water we headed to the local pub called the Crag Pub (3 meters from the campsite) for a drink, here I opted for an amazing sticky toffee pudding. We also got a taste of local life as we had a power outage (which apparently happens often), the candles were soon on the table and life carried on as normal for 2 hours until the lights came on again, during this time we discovered that even though you sit at your own table you all take part in other peoples conversations as if you all know each other and are best mates, different.

Keswick (Lake Districts) to Kielder Forest Reserve (Northumberland National Park)
We started the day with a campers breakfast at the bar/restaurant, the eggs and bacon arrived floating in oil and was rather tasteless, English food is a different kettle of fish! We were delighted to pack away a dry tent and headed north.

We drove along Hadrian’s wall which was amazing and made the little stone walls look very flimsy. The wall is nearly 2000 years old, built in about 600AD, and was mostly complete within 2 years of beginning construction (coast to coast).

We reached more open country which was a relief as we were getting annoyed with the constant sight of people and houses, used to Africa where you can drive for a few hours and see no-one and no houses – here there is only a person or house every km or so. Decided to camp in the Kielder Forest Reserve were we had luckily missed the bank holidays so we were the only campers (except for the gay couple who decided to pitch their tent in our view and fondle each other in public) and Hooray the hot water was free! Nice to have a hot shower for a change! Took a walk in the forest which was planted by the resident duke so that he could hunt on the estate and had a good look at some real christmas trees, makes our christmas trees back home seem very ugly.

Kielder Forest Reserves (Northumberland National Park) to Morningside, Edinburgh (Scotland)
The day started with Vaughn trying out one of the local pay phones to call Pam and tell her of our impending arrival. This was the plan, he spent the first 10 minutes kill all the mosquitoes who had also decided to make phone calls. We arrived in Edinburgh and were delighted to be warmly welcomed by the Theo’s as well as getting time to catch up with the Grannys. As we still had the car we headed off to the Edinburgh Crystal factory (by passing the Aquarium – boo hoo). We were given a fantastic tour at the Crystal factory – they almost made it seem to easy but one wrong etch and you land up will glass fragments instead of glasses.

We also spent a few days traipsing around Edinburgh, we explored the Edinburgh Castle, we did a bit of shopping (came home with a hot air popcorn machine), we walked up to Arthur’s Seat – scrambling up to it in the rain only to discover a car park right at the top. We spent a day exploring Scotland with Pam and Dave’s help – we went to Melrose Abbey to see the Green Man who was based on Robin Hood and got to walk on St Andrews Beach (famous for Chariots of Fire) it was completely bizarre to be on the beach with boots, jerseys and jackets, we also explored the cemetery for names (Euphemia was Pam’s vote). We had a fantastic time but all too soon we had to leave for the last leg of our trip.

Edinburgh (Scotland) to London (England)
Our trip started with a taxi to the station and then a train ride to London, from there it was quick lesson on the underground with out luggage (always fun). Then we were trekking to Ascot to stay with Barbara and Clive, here Vaughn caught up on his music channel watching while the girls caught up over a bottle of SA wine. We had organized it well so Barbara went into London with us to explore the Natural History Museum which was really awesome – each column is carved to relate to the area/section that it is in. We also had a really London Lunch and got dragged off to a pub to meet up with Angela, here everyone caught up with there news and drinks, when it turned 11pm (or was it 10pm) we all got chucked out of the pub literally – how rude!!!! We landed up running to the station to catch the last tube (very Londonish) and we all got to blow black stuff out our noses (not one of London’s selling points). We caught buses and got lost having to do complete loops on the bus were explored out in 2 days. The London ratings were not great in our eyes (no wonder they pay you so much to work there!) but the company made all the difference. Then we were shoving all our goodies into various bags and trekking down to the bus station to begin our trip to the airport – did I mention that going on the tube with all your luggage is not cool!