Archive for October, 2019

EnglandFamilyTravel

October 27, 2019

A Sunday in St Ives

Sunday was my day of reckoning for all the cake in my system. In the morning we drove into St Ives, Wendy parked in the car park and we rode the shuttle bus into the heart of town. The car park/shuttle is really the only solution for these villages with narrow streets never meant for  Read the Rest…

EnglandFamilyHolidaysTravel

October 22, 2019

Entering Kernow

Wendy, Sue and I set out for Cornwall early afternoon and I got a feel for the pattern of the days. Everything is a reason to stop for a cup of tea and probably a slice of cake. (The English have a real gift of the cake.) I think our first stop was to celebrate  Read the Rest…

EnglandFamilyScotlandTravel

October 17, 2019

Revisiting Butleigh

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Castle Cary is a market town in southern Somerset but I only know it as the train stop for Butleigh where my cousins live in a stone house with five cats and a rabbit hutch used now for pegging up the washing. Sue met me at Castle Cary; David, her neighbor had driven her. I  Read the Rest…

ScotlandTravel

October 14, 2019

Adventures on Boats and Trains

My last night on Islay brought a doozy of a storm. I wouldn’t have minded being stranded another day but the next morning, ferries were running. However they were only running from Port Askaig, which is more sheltered than Port Ellen. We were taxied up the high road and rushed unceremoniously onto the car deck  Read the Rest…

ScotlandTravel

October 11, 2019

At Large on Islay

It rained hard my third night on Islay. I looked out the window early morning and thought it was yet another reason I would miss Rachel. I had to get around on my own for the next two days. But by the time I came down to the breakfast room at The Grange, it was  Read the Rest…

ScotlandTravel

October 9, 2019

Of Scotch, Tablet and Word Games

My second morning on Islay Rachel drove us to the west part of the island to Kilchoman distillery. This was to be my only official distillery tour although I called in at the gift shops of nearly all of them. I’m glad Kilchoman was to be the distillery I toured because I like their Scotch  Read the Rest…

ScotlandSongsTravel

October 7, 2019

Of Corryvrecken, Stramache and Tartan Drawers

Corryvrecken is the name of a famously fierce whirlpool off the coast of Jura, the island north of Islay in the Hebrides. George Orwell and his small son were lucky to escape it drenched, but with their lives. I submit that there’s another corryvrecken on Islay and her name is Rachel.  She was my guide  Read the Rest…