We awoke in our room with an ocean view to heavy rain. It was blowing about 40 MPH and cold. We could hardly get the car door open and settled for our drive. Blackpool is a very interesting beach town with a lot of things to see. But not today. They have a huge 540 foot tower on the beach that resembles the Eifel tower. It was built in the 1880s. It towers over the town. We turned on the wipers and left.

We got on the M6 heading north. We got off and detoured through the Lake Country. By now the rain had stopped and the sun was out. There are storybook looking roads, fields and villages. The roads are very narrow and toss and turn, up and down. There are rock walls right up to the edge of the road on both sides and cars pass each way with mirrors almost touching each other and the walls. I loved it.

We stopped in Ambleroside. A cute little town. There is a house there that is built over a bridge that was built in the 1600s. Jan knew of it because there is a model of it in the miniature museum in Tucson where she is a docent. It was just big enough to hold Jan, a guide and me. We stayed there 30 minutes and learned far more about the house and the area than we will ever remember.

We headed toward Cardiff. In the year 130 BC the Romans built the Hadrian Wall. A wall all the way across the country. It had over 200 forts, was 15 feet high, 9 feet thick and 70 miles long. We wanted to find parts of it that are still standing. They are there somewhere but we didn’t find them. With more time searching I am sure they are there. But looking was fun as we were on little farm roads up in the hill covered with bright green grass and sheep and surrounded by rock walls.

We drove into Scotland toward our hotel. My GPS ran me down an alternative road from the main A road. It wound up into the Scottish mountains. We had 40 miles of fantastic twisty roads. The road just followed the terrain with surprises hid half way around some corners. And no traffic. Wonderful.

We arrived in Stanraer on the Scottish coast. We catch the ferry to Belfast near here in the morning. Our room is in a beautiful B&B with huge window looking out over the bay. Had Scottish beef pie and Ale for dinner. 

It will be another day of off and on sunshine and rain. It is really sort of nice as sometimes it is shining and raining at the same time and everything looks and smells so good when the sun comes out. A good day for a car but it would not be good on a motorcycle.

Our first stop was Ironbridge. It is a small town about 40 miles west of Birmingham. It is real pretty farm country with rolling hills and a river with a deep gorge. In the town is an iron bridge that was the first ach bridge in the world to be made of iron. It is really a unique design. We skipped breakfast at the hotel and had a light breakfast and tea in a small shop here.

We stopped at two other villages today. The first was Shrewsburg and the second was Chester. Both towns have protected their old buildings within old city walls. We walked the narrow streets and took photos.

Tonight we are in Blackpool. It is a beach town on the west shore of northwest England north of Liverpool on the Irish Sea. We are in another Best Western right on the road across from the beach. It is an older hotel but nice and very interesting. We had pub food tonight. 

We awoke in Birmingham with rain. It will come and go all day with short periods onf sunshine. We are staying here two nights. It is a very nice Best Western in the suburbs. These are not like Best Westerns in the states. It is a large brick two story building with a nice restaurant and conference facilities. The room is very nice.

Our first stop was the National Motorcycle Museum. We were here several years ago but in 2003 in burned to the ground. It started on fire one night and we were told that people pulled off the freeway and ran in the building and wheeled bikes out. Over 100 burned. Over 40 could not be recovered. Since then they have rebuilt the building and it is fantastic. They have over 1000 motorcycles. Every one of them is a British bike. Most are original bikes but some restorations. They do their own restoring. We were there for over 3 hours. My photos will be on my website when we return.

We then drove to downtown Birmingham. It is a large city. It is a major producer of silverware; including jewelry. There are dozens of silver stores. Tomorrow is our 38^th anniversary and Jan found some earrings she likes. That saved me.

We then drove around town looking for the canals. They claim to have more canals than Venice. Back in the 19^th century this was, as it is now, a major manufacturing town. They used the canals to move goods around the town and all the way to the ports. Now they are mostly for tourists. They are beautiful with many restaurants and pubs looking over the canal tour boats. We went to a large pub and had our first meal of fish and chips.

Another sunny day. We had a continental breakfast today instead of the full English breakfast. It is a little less food. We usually stick a roll and some cheese in Jan’s purse to eat later in the car.

Our first stop was in Norwich. It is an ancient city with over 30 Norman churches. There is a large square looking castle on a hill in the middle of town. We the headed north looking for two small villages.

My great grandmother was born in the town of St. Faith. Her father was born in Hainford about 5 miles further up the road. They had been converted in Mormonism in 1852 by my great grandfather and later journeyed to Utah she become his sixth wife. My grandfather was the 32th child. We found the churches in both towns. 

They were having a service in one and we talked to the people there. Jan loves to wander throughold cemeterys looking for family names. 

It is real pretty farm country with one lane hedged roads. There were very nice homes there now replacing the farms built behind fences and walls. It appears to be a very affluent area.

We went north to the North Sea coast of East Anglia. There are several small fishing villages along the coast. Some are hidden away on narrow roads while others have become tourist towns. It was Sunday and the locals crowd the towns. Parking in almost impossible. We spent 3 or 4 hours driving along the coast and seeing the towns. With the narrow roads and oncoming cars sharing the one lane roads progress was slow.

I like to see what motorcycles and cars they drive. It was Sunday and there were many groups of sport riders out. Most of them are riding adventure bikes or sport bikes. There are many brands but most were Triumphs and a lot of BMWs. You see Harleys in the towns. 

There are many small cars but a lot of expensive cars too. They are mostly English and German with with some French and Italian. Many of the little ones are Japanese but none of the nicer cars. A lot of BMWs and Mercedes. 

We are really pleased with how nice everything is. The roads are all in perfect shape and well signed. All the town are well maintained and clean. We have seldom seen any run down areas. It is amazing how they can keep century old towns and the old buildings and churches in good shape. 

We are about ready for our second tank of gas. At $7 a gallon we put $70 in a not quite empty tank in our little Ford Focus.

Then we were off to Birmingham. This is a large industrial town in the center of England. We are staying in another very nice Best Western hotel for two nights. 

It was foggy when we woke up but it cleared soon and the sun came out. It was to stay that way most of the day. We had another huge breakfast. The traditional English breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs, cooked tomatoes, fry bread. We still don’t understand why they bring the toast standing up in what we call “toast coolers”. It is cold by the time you eat it. The English want their bread cold and drink warm beer.

We stopped at a big supermarket on the way out of town. We like a supply of cookies, bottle of lemonade and some fruit in the car. We have been having big breakfasts and dinners and we snack mid day.

Our first stop was Dover. It is a port city with many ships out in the harbor. We drove up to the top of cliffs with a good view of the castle, the harbor and the white cliffs. It was real pretty place. With the exposure to the English Channel it has a long history of being the first exposure to the continent. It has been fortified and it has also been the entry point to the country. Over 300 ships a day come into the port. The top of the cliffs has in the past had cannons mounted the could shoot to the French coast which you can see 20 miles out to sea. The cliffs are now in the National Trust and are kept very nice. That is  like our National Parks but held in a public trust.

We have now been in the South East of England, first with the seaside resorts and now the commercial and military port towns. After Dover we headed toward London on our way to East Anglia. We have to go west around the large bay that become the Thames River. Then before reaching London go north and east again following the coast north.

We stopped in Canterbury to see the Cathedral. It has been there since the 12^th century. It is a huge walled structure and looks like a castle. We were going to walk the grounds but being a Saturday the place was real crowded. We couldn’t get a parking place. We drove around looking at it and got on the M2 toward London.

We went north under the Thames about 30 miles east of London in a toll tunnel. I have to figure out now how to pay for it on line. I know they will find me and I would get a bill from Hertz.

We were heading for Norwich in East Anglia for the night. On the way we stopped at Dadhan. It is a cute little village. We walked the streets and had a ice cream. It is fun driving the small roads where you always have to slow down and pull to the left to give approaching cars enough room. Some roads are just one lane wide. We drove to two other beautiful small villages for photos and then headed for Norwich and our room for the night. 

We awoke to sunshine today. We had a wonderful dinner the night before in the hotel restaurant and they also served a great breakfast. We can not keep eating like this.

We stopped at an ATM to get money and our bank has us locked out. We went into a bank and they let us use their computer to go on the Well Fargo site. I hope it will work tomorrow.

We drove south to Brighton. We walked along the shore and out on their amusement pier, It must really be a popular beach town on the weekends, The traffic was bad enough on a cool Friday.

We drove east stopping at several small beach towns along the south shore. They include Lewes, Hastings and Rye. We are staying in a large hotel on the shore in Folkstone. We are going to eat in their dining room tonight. It is a lot classier than we are used to.

I love driving here. Driving on the left is a real challenge. I have done it a lot in the past and I am getting comfortable again. That is when it gets dangerous. We drove in traffic on some real Narrow city streets today. We must have done 100 roundabouts.

The flight over went perfect. Everything on time. The seats on the plane were great with individual TVs and lots of new movies. We could have used more leg room however. 10 hours is a long time in one seat.

We got the Haethrow and picked up the car. It is a Ford focus with a stick shift. It wil be perfect. It was cold and raining. It takes a little while to get used to a different car. Even worse when the shift is on the left. We got out on the M25 after several roundabouts and into heavy traffic. After a few miles we were on the A25 heading south on smaller roads. I bought the Garmin England maps for my GPS. It works great. 

The hotel is beautiful. It is a Best Western but here they are upper class hotels.We have a reservation for dinner and have tomorrow all mapped out. Hope to get some photos tomorrow....