Next stop, Czech Republic!

My older sister Elaine, was the correct one to guess Czech Republic yesterday. And no, she didn't have any hints. Other than the fact that she knows I like to do family history research, and that our paternal grandmother was born in that area.

Went to Bath and had a shower

My uncle and some of his family are having a vacation in England just now, and it turned out that we were getting fairly close to each other. So we drove up to Bath to have lunch with them!

Scrumpy Cider

Spent the morning on the internet researching our next destination, and in the afternoon went for a walk and then had a look at some British motorhomes.

Finally, a nice relaxing day!

As much as we've enjoyed touring London, Leeds, and Bristol over the last two and a half weeks, we were due for a break. Pretty much all we did yesterday was to go for a two hour walk in the country.

June expenses

June came in at $1,570.10. About $250 over budget, and a big chunk of that came from eating out. We include eating out under the "Entertainment" column because it is somewhat discretionary, and we did that far more than normal in the month of June.

The S.S. Great Britain in Bristol

We said goodbye yesterday morning to our couchsurfing hosts (thanks Cynthia and Nigel!) and took the bus from there into town. We dropped our bags at a hostel near the bus station where they looked after them for a cost of £2.00 ($3.28) each.

Chairs are more dangerous than sharks.

Hmm. That title's a little different. I'll explain in a moment. We had such a busy day that we didn't get everything done that we wanted to. But it was a beautiful day. In fact the locals were saying that yesterday was the best day they've had so far this summer.

Bristol!

I've never been to Bristol, and Ruth was there many years ago as a child so it's pretty much all new for us. There's quite a lot to see here, so it's going to be a busy two days!

Haworth and Saltaire

Yesterday we visited the villages of Haworth and Saltaire. Two distinctly different villages, each famous for entirely different reasons. Yet they are only about 8 miles (13 kms) apart.

Moving day and a visit with special friends

Yesterday morning we said goodbye and thanks to our couchsurfing host Isabel. Our friends Glen and Steve are currently living in the town of Keighley and we definitely wanted to visit them so we decided to move to their place for two nights before we head to Bristol.

Visiting with my great great grandfather!

Well our timing started a little “off” yesterday morning. First, we slept in…something we hardly ever do. It was 8:20am when we woke up! And even though we didn’t really have anything that we HAD to get up early for, we were just trying to get an early start to the day.

Soaking wet!

But we enjoyed our day anyhow! The sun was trying to peak through yesterday morning, so we changed our schedule a bit and decided to walk to the ruins at Kirkstall Abbey. I love castles and ruins and there are quite a few of them surrounding the Leeds area here in West Yorkshire.

A surprise trip to the theatre!

Yesterday morning, we sat down with Wendy from the Leeds Tourism office. The city of Leeds itself is not really a tourist destination, however three things attract people to the area. First, Leeds is a big University town, with a huge student population during the school term. This brings lots of parents and relatives to visit. Next, Leeds is around the halfway point between London and Edinburgh, Scotland so people driving will often use Leeds as a stopover. And third, while Leeds itself is not a tourist destination, there is a lot to see and do in the surrounding area of West Yorkshire, and this makes Leeds an excellent place to use as home base.

Arrived in Leeds!

Our bus left London at 1:30pm yesterday afternoon, so when we set off for Victoria Station at 11:30am, we thought we had lots of time. We had to walk to the overground railway and take one train with a connection to the underground train. No problem, and we got there about 12:30pm. Except we wanted to get the £5.00 each refund for our Oyster transportation cards.

The chair police

The chair police? Yes, we almost had a run in with the chair police yesterday. We'll explain in a moment.