It was cool coming back from Dublin to Stansted airport and having someone pick me up. Clare, who I meet in Wellington through a good friend of mine Sal, lives in a little village in the Midlands called Thrapston. It was your quintessential little English village. The first night we were there we went to Clare’s local pub and had deep fried brie!?! My arteries are still recovering.
It was great hanging out in someone’s house as well, especially with an excellent DVD collection and an appreciation for English beer.
One day we went to Milton Keynes which is odd for England because it’s a planned city. That means grid like streets and wide avenues, etc. It just seems wrong for England but it did have a John Lewis store which I just had to do while I was in the UK. It was fun finally getting a chance to walk around a John Lewis store and just look at what it had to sell. The store did have a good selection of Tivoli equipment and also had one of those ultra-portable PCs to play with, although it was quite expensive.
Milton Keynes also had an indoor ski field, something I thought only the Arabs in Dubai were mad enough to build and use.
We also checked out Warwick Castle and made a fly by Stratford-upon-Avon. I had no idea how much of a tourist trap it was so we made a flying visit and got out as soon as we could. I also got driven past Silverstone which was pretty cool.
Above all the coolest thing was driving through the countless number of small English villages all over 500 years old with an ancient church and a pub or two. It was just gorgeous. Thanks for looking after me Clare.
Looking at the inside of the castle from one of the towers.
In the distance (about 40 miles) is Cambridge or Oxford (someone please correct me).
Looking back at the town of Warwick including it’s church.
If you look closely just left of centre you can see an awesome trebuchet. Apparently they use it two or three times a week.
In the distance to the right (about 7 miles) is Stratford-upon-Avon. The river running through the photo is the Avon.
Looking back towards the castle. If you look at the larger version you can see all the different building periods and styles that would’ve gone into the castle.
They also had a number of birds of prey. This one was looking at another bird that was making noise in a nearby tree.
Silverstone F1 raceway.
