{"id":13304,"date":"2018-10-31T16:50:34","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T05:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/?p=13304"},"modified":"2018-10-31T16:50:34","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T05:50:34","slug":"familiar-territory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/?p=13304","title":{"rendered":"Familiar territory"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Nothing is more traditional and familiar in London than a red phone box, this one just off Piccadilly Circus<\/p><\/div>\n

England, and particularly London, is where Julie and I originally set up shop together all those years ago.\u00a0 The city has many great memories for the two of us, living the dream in our 20\u2019s, exploring the world, new adventures and experiences every day.\u00a0 And 40 years later we\u2019re older and wiser but it\u2019s still the same, another chance to see London, catch up with old friends and of course there are new adventures along the way.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Where the heck do we want to go now?<\/p><\/div>\n

We left Snowdonia National Park in northern Wales and drove south through gorgeous green rolling hills, white sheep speckling the hillsides, thick hedges marking boundaries, across the border and back into England.\u00a0 Our target for the day was one of the prettiest parts of England \u2013 the Cotswolds.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The green rolling hills of central Wales are a delight to drive through<\/p><\/div>\n

The Cotswolds, as we learned, is a small area in central England where homes have been built for hundreds of years using limestone from the local quarries which is a beautiful honey colour, unique in all of England.\u00a0 Quaint little villages dot the landscape, each with their own special features but all primarily built with this local golden-hued limestone, steep pitched roofs and colourful well-tended gardens.\u00a0 If you want quintessential English villages, the type you see on TV, come to the Cotswolds.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Many of the country lanes were lined in stone fences or very high hedges, sometimes growing over the road and forming a tunnel<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

More rural scenes from Wales – great fun to explore their back roads<\/p><\/div>\n

And so we did.\u00a0 We stopped first in Cirencester, the self-proclaimed capital of the Cotswolds, and then moved on to the picturesque little village of Bilbury before heading up to the oh-so-English named town of Bourton-on-the-Water.\u00a0 At Bourton we parked in the open public carpark and walked into the village, apparently referred to as the \u2018Venice of the Cotswolds\u2019 because it has a couple little streams with cute stone bridges over them.\u00a0 Venice it was not but we enjoyed a tasting of warm pints and a fish and chips dinner at a highly recommended local pub and spent the night in the carpark.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The cathedral in Cirencester in the middle of the Cotswolds<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The little villages of the Cotswolds provided uncountable Kodak moments<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

One of the many quaint little limestone cottages<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Drinks, dinner and a great car park to spend the night in the town of Bourton-on-the-Water<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

You could live in Upper Slaughter or Lower Swell<\/p><\/div>\n

But the Cotswolds had more to offer and we were keen to soak it in.\u00a0 We followed more desperately narrow country lanes with their high overgrown hedges scraping both sides of Tramp and visited two quaint little villages with the curious names of Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter.\u00a0 Both Slaughters were made almost entirely of this honey-coloured limestone, cute little cottages, colourful flower pots, lace curtains.\u00a0 We walked their quiet narrow lanes and felt we had stepped back in time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Quaint cottages in Lower Slaughter<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The limestone church and headstones in Upper Slaughter<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Luckily we were driving a Ford so it was okay to pass<\/p><\/div>\n

We stopped at the larger Cotswolds town of Burford to see their impressive church and engage in a little retail therapy before hitting the motorway and heading for Essex which is the county east of London.\u00a0 In the superbly English-named village of Tolleshunt Major our friends Gavin and Emma lived on a farm in a charming sun-soaked and stylish converted animal barn (much better than it sounds!).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Little Mermaid in downtown Burford was the go-to place for drinks and food<\/p><\/div>\n

It was in one of the outlying barns that Tramp would be spending the next few months while we high-tailed it back to Sydney for some R&R with family and friends.\u00a0\u00a0 Gavin is introducing the V2 camper into the UK and European market and we were keen to support him in any way.\u00a0 He had a spare barn that Tramp could stay in over the cold English winter so it worked out great for both parties.\u00a0 That night the four of us walked down to the local pub, celebrated Gavin\u2019s birthday and raised our glasses to success in his new venture.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Gavin, Emma and I with Tramp on their lovely farm in Essex<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Tramp comfortably parked away in his own private barn, all the better to survive the English winter while we take a break in sunny Australia<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Hey wait for us! The London Tube is the best way to get around and if you miss one you only wait a couple of minutes for another.<\/p><\/div>\n

We only had a couple of days before we flew back to Australia and had a long list of things we wanted to do before then.\u00a0 With consummate ease we drove, shuttle bus, train, tube and walked to downtown London for a refresher look at some of the famous landmarks that make this city so compelling.\u00a0 We explored Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abby and the Houses of Parliament, all standard fare in the central part of town.\u00a0 We also revisited our former home in the suburb of Ravenscourt Park and had a beer in the 17th<\/sup> century pub The Dove on the banks of the Thames where I used to work all those years ago.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The London double decker buses are still a feature all over town but most of them have been upgraded to these sleek modern beasts<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Piccadilly Circus in the heart of London<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

One of the fabulous lions guarding the huge obelisk and statue in the middle of Trafalgar Square with the Modern History Museum in the background<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The English know how to do tradition and pageantry, such as the daily changing of the horse guards<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Westminster Abby, site of many famous weddings and burials<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

My old stomping ground, Earl’s Court and their landmark tube station<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Talk about nostalgia! This is the communal home of many travellers I lived in back in the late 70’s and early 80’s and which Julie also moved in<\/p><\/div>\n

That night we caught up with Nick and Fiona, old friends from Sydney who had moved to London, had a few beers and dinner at the local pub and shared stories of our respective travels, children, careers and future plans.\u00a0 Great fun.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Nick and Fiona were old friends of ours from Sydney, now living in London<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

My great old mate Andrew, never forgotten<\/p><\/div>\n

The next day we visited Andrew, a great old friend of mine from Sydney who had relocated back to his native London with his beautiful family, only to be struck down by Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS, also known as Motor Neuron Disease, MND, or Lou Gehrig\u2019s Disease.\u00a0 After four years of fighting this horrific and incurable disease Andrew\u2019s brave journey was coming to an end and it was a crushingly sad moment to have my last words with him, give him a hug and tell him how inspirational he had become to hundreds, if not thousands of people.<\/p>\n

To give you an idea of the strength and extraordinary capacity of Andrew, as his body cruelly deteriorated while his mind stayed strong he learned to use his last functioning bodily feature \u2013 his eyes \u2013 and the latest eye gaze technology to write books in both English and German as well as share his painful journey with ALS through an insightful and endearing blog. \u00a0Sadly, only a couple of days after our visit Andrew’s long battle with ALS was lost and he peacefully passed away.\u00a0 He will be dearly and deeply missed by all those he touched in his all-too-short life.\u00a0 You can read more about Andrew and ALS at his blog\u00a0www.stopforamomentpeople.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We returned to Gavin and Emma\u2019s farm, packed our travel bags, gave Tramp a final pat on the flank and headed off to Gatwick airport.\u00a0 We had a huge dose of mixed emotions, leaving our ever-faithful friend Tramp behind but knowing he was in good hands while we went home without him.\u00a0 Our plan is to spend a southern summer in Sydney with family and friends before resuming our travel in southern Africa and across Asia to the Pacific Ocean.\u00a0 That\u2019s the plan, subject to change, as everything about Follow the Sun has been.\u00a0 We wouldn\u2019t want it any other way!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A quick snappie of our Scoot plane in Singapore airport on our way back to Oz<\/p><\/div>\n

In all we spent about three and a half months \u2013 108 days \u2013 in Europe, used up our Schengen Visa down to its last day, drove almost 14,000 miles (22,600 kilometres), visited 25 countries, had no flat tires, no traffic fines and no accidents (except a couple of scratches and gently backing into a couple of poles).\u00a0 As we have found in North America and then in Central America and South America, every day was a wonderful adventure, full of new surprises, new experiences, new memories.\u00a0 We\u2019ve finished three continents of our Follow the Sun journey and only have two to go.\u00a0 Can\u2019t wait!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A last shot of Tramp with Julie and Gavin before we left the UK and headed home<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

England, and particularly London, is where Julie and I originally set up shop together all those years ago.\u00a0 The city has many great memories for the two of us, living the dream in our 20\u2019s, exploring the world, new adventures and experiences every day.\u00a0 And 40 years later we\u2019re older and wiser but it\u2019s still the same, another chance to see London, catch up with old friends and of course …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-united-kingdom"],"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/DSC09941.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13304"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13349,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13304\/revisions\/13349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}