We figured it out and it has been over two and a half years since we were last here in the UK. In one sense it feels like last month and in another (when I see how much the kids have grown) seems too long!
After realizing that I had my driving license where Kim had left his home in his wallet, we picked up the rental car with me as the driver. At least it was a cute Fiat 500 verses the behemoth we once had while touring Scotland! So I got to drive on the 'wrong' side with the stick shift on the left and steering wheel on the right. Even after 10 days I still walked to the wrong door to get in the car. It was a challenge and never got relaxing, but there were no mishaps and only a couple of times did I miss the proper exit and twice I had to do a second circuit of a roundabout to get off at the right place. Of course I made Kim terribly tense at times but he behaved and was a fantastic co-pilot/navigator for about 800 miles worth of UK roads.
Our first stop in the family visits was luckily very close to Gatwick. Google said that our trip to Nicky and Steve's house should take 14 minutes and a half hour later we pulled up in Crawley Down. This disparity of time became a humorous and familiar sensation throughout the next 9 days. I'm fairly certain that I just don't drive as fast as the local British.
It was delightful to get to visit with them, see their lovely home and get caught up after such a long time. We even got to facetime with Ronny and Michael as they would be off caravaning (motorhome) about during our time in the UK.
Kim and I both felt like our visit there was too short and yet we knew we had quite a long drive and wanted to visit with Trevellyan before he'd have to leave for his workweek in London. With promises from Nicky and Steve to start planning a US trip in the next few years we headed out to Cornwall in the very South.
After realizing that I had my driving license where Kim had left his home in his wallet, we picked up the rental car with me as the driver. At least it was a cute Fiat 500 verses the behemoth we once had while touring Scotland! So I got to drive on the 'wrong' side with the stick shift on the left and steering wheel on the right. Even after 10 days I still walked to the wrong door to get in the car. It was a challenge and never got relaxing, but there were no mishaps and only a couple of times did I miss the proper exit and twice I had to do a second circuit of a roundabout to get off at the right place. Of course I made Kim terribly tense at times but he behaved and was a fantastic co-pilot/navigator for about 800 miles worth of UK roads.
Our first stop in the family visits was luckily very close to Gatwick. Google said that our trip to Nicky and Steve's house should take 14 minutes and a half hour later we pulled up in Crawley Down. This disparity of time became a humorous and familiar sensation throughout the next 9 days. I'm fairly certain that I just don't drive as fast as the local British.
It was delightful to get to visit with them, see their lovely home and get caught up after such a long time. We even got to facetime with Ronny and Michael as they would be off caravaning (motorhome) about during our time in the UK.
Kim and I both felt like our visit there was too short and yet we knew we had quite a long drive and wanted to visit with Trevellyan before he'd have to leave for his workweek in London. With promises from Nicky and Steve to start planning a US trip in the next few years we headed out to Cornwall in the very South.
Anthea, Trevellyan, Talana and Taryn live in a fantastic spot in Mawla not far from St Ives. We were delighted by the beauty and charm of Cornwall. The landscape was so similar to home we imagined the Cornish must have felt right at home when they transplanted to Northern California. We hiked about the ruins of the tin mines, despite the cold North wind. We were lucky that Trevellyan was able to work from home that Monday so he met us for lunch in Porth Towan. The next day had much a mellower weather day in St Ives at the Barbara Hepworth museum. Then had a lovely lunch of fish and chips overlooking the bay out to the Atlantic Ocean. It was a great visit and although Talana said she liked having us there 'because we get to have pudding' we really had a blast. We played lots of games, taught the whole family Citadels and left the Star Realms for them after the kids got the hang of it. We are glad we got to see them before they are all grown up. Although at 9 and 12 I can see it's already happening quite quickly.
On Wednesday morning we hit the road again to retrace part of the 300+miles from Sunday's drive and headed to Bath.
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