Amsterdam, North Sea to the Hague

We left early Saturday morning to get through Amsterdam to the North Sea by night. It was cold and misty and overcast most of the day. Had to keep scrubbing the decks to stay warm.

The sun came out for a bit downtown Amsterdam and we had a nice view of the waterfront and ferries everywhere.

Had a fun time with Andrew and Rebecca on their beautiful boat. Went through many locks and bridges.  We did do a little sailing but not much wind.

Going under, over and through waterways. We were powering through and looked right than there was a four lane highway going under us.   Crazy, yes we are below sea level. Hope the dams do their job!

Had a fantastic dinner at the port of Amsterdam and prepared for an early start the next day to get out on the North Sea. Thought there was going to be wind but it was flat as a pancake. Baby cat puffs from time to time, slow going, powering most of the time.

Rebecca and Andrew

 We got to the Port of Rotterdam and there were gigantic coming in and out every ten minutes. Had to hustle to get through the freighter lanes and not be freighter bait!

We got the boat almost to the ship yard for the winter but could not make it all the way. Seems that there are low bridges and locks that need to be sorted out before the trip could complete. So we left the boat and headed back to Amsterdam via taxi and train. 

We went to the Hague the next day and saw some wonderful art 

Cotswalds

The Cotswald is an area between Bath and Stratford. The English are quite enamored to walking. This is their national past time. You would ask an English men what they are going to do for the weekend and many would say we are going walking. Sounds a bit strange to an American but so goes it here in England. Now the Cotswold are the epitome of walking. You can go from Bath to Stratford on walking paths though the most beautiful old English country side. Many people hire the sherpas of the Cotswold and they transport your luggage from cute little English village as you walk the trails. Quite popular. 

Walking! then you run when the dog escapes!

The area was a thriving wool producer and went into decline where none of the area was kept up until the walking thing became popular and the Cotswold turned into a major tourist attraction because the old English buildings and cottages were still intact. 

The Cotswolds are also know for their antique shops and tea houses. This did not get by me. We were not even in the middle of the first town and I found the perfect Tea Table for my new house. ( oh yea did I tell you we are buying a house? Will maybe, or maybe not, this system is strange but that is another story)  I found the perfect tea table that will actual be our new dinning table because the new dinning room is smaller than my current dinning room table. England is small, in many ways.

The antique stores are also fun, they are stacked full of treasures beyond belief and I do not mean shells, that is what I use to collect, now it is tea cups, pins and sterling display spoons , no better place to find these. Yes, now I am an official collector. 

Now for cream tea. This is trickier than "who's on first". I got it right and had a tea with milk, scone with clouted cream! Success!

Yorkshire

                                                                       Yorkshire

Headed north for a wire bond workshop and ended up in York. We thought because it was not in season, whatever that means, that it would not be crowded, wrong again it was Christmas Market. York was all dressed up for Christmas and there were masses of people.

Shambles Street,   Diagon Alley Inspiration

The old medieval all surrounded the central village shopping area. We walked the city walls and viewed the cathedral.  Toured the Roman museum.  And saw again the serial killer ( Henry the 8th) handy work. Henry ran out of money so went and took down the guys with money which were the monks and their monastery to fill his fat life style and left on beautiful wall standing of the monastery but took everything.

Seems to me a recurring theme. If you have money beware the powers that be will take you down.  Now if you have power and money no worries. Rich get richer poor get poorer. Way of the world.

Cathedral at York

Next day headed out to the Yorkshire country side and visited Saltaire. This little town was a utopia idea, Ann Ryan for real.  Salt a business man in the alpaca wool business saw the problems the mills in Bedford and tragic life of the people and set out to do something about it. Built a wool mill and named it Saltaire.  Salt built the mill, homes, the whole town and gave people a better life. The church architect was a Lockwood. Really strange shape.

Church at Saltaire

Gallery

Over the years it changed and now the mill is a mall and art gallery. Spent the day then headed home.

Leeds Castle to Dover

 

Another adventure on the highways and by ways and byways of England. We rented a car for the weekend and headed east. More highway construction and traffic making the direct route impossible, so a lot of redirection and back roads to get to east. 

The black swam is the coat of arms for Leeds castle which was a fairly recent addition. The last owner brought some black swans from Australia and they are in the moat. The castle has been around in all sizes shapes and reconfiguration throughout the centuries. What makes this a little different is that it is surrounded by a lake type moat. The grounds are far ranging and we saw birds of prey demonstration.

Leeds Castle

Boots and Kirk enjoying the falconry show.

Dover

Then it was off to find the cliffs of dover.  Now you would think they would stand out but not being on the water they are a little tricky. We left Leeds a little late and the sun was heading down. Dover is not much of a tourist sight as you approach the line of semis it endless waiting outside the city to board and travel across the channel. Fortunately we were not in that cue. As you approach the city you descend a long hill and then the side profile of the cliffs come in to view. And they are bigger than life. 

On Top of the Cliffs of Dover

So then we wind our way up to the top and progressively get on smaller and smaller tracks until one lady final stopped us and told us we were on a walking trail. Funniest thing walking trails and English country side roads do not have much of a difference. 

We were on the top by the light house and hiked the ridge of the cliffs. You could see out over the channel forever. The sun was setting so we hurried back to the car, not a place you want to be in the dark, the cliffs have a sever drop. 

Next time we will come earlier and take a ferry ride to see the cliffs properly from the water.