Chester to Stratford-Upon-Avon, England

Monday, June 23

With the sun shining, we departed Chester via Sat Nav's "fastest route". Of course, this meant toll roads and motorways and therefore not a lot of scenery but we were keen to get to Shakespeare's birth place to do some exploring. We were surprised at how much traffic was on the motorways for a Monday morning but we still made good time and arrived at 12.30 pm.

After a quick check-in, we were off to lunch at The Crown, just down the road. It really was a funny lunch because there were two old boys at another table and we could have sworn we were on the set of "The Vicar of Dibley" with the chap that stammers "no, no, yes" all the time. It was difficult to concentrate on our meals because the very loud conversation going on was hysterical. Thankfully, they left so we could finish our meals.

When we left, the sky had clouded over and it was threatening to rain - definitely not forecast. We toyed with the idea of returning for brollies but decided to head the mile and a half into town without them. This proved a good choice because the sun came out again and it was really quite hot. The walk into town was great. The road we are on is in a very well to do area so we passed some amazing houses including one currently being renovated for James Bond - Daniel Craig (the B&B manager told us this).

The house Daniel Craig is having renovated for himself

Because the weather was so gorgeous, we decided to do a boat trip on the Avon - us and nearly everyone else in town! The first company we approached did not have a boat leaving for an hour or so, so we continued on. Finally we selected a boat that was leaving in 15 minutes so we got on board to wait in the shade and have a leisurely look around at what was going on beside the river. Deck chairs were available for £2 an hour and many had been hired. Again, there was a predominance of oldies around. Next thing there was a thud and an elderly man had tripped on a step in our boat and hit his face on another man's knee so was very dazed and bleeding. This caused a flurry of activity but also meant that our boat wasn't going anywhere in 15 minutes. An ambulance was called and the elderly man was helped off and attended to on one of the deck chairs - hopefully at no charge! (It certainly brought back memories for me of times with Dad and I felt very sorry for the two women whose Dad it was). We were finally away about 20 minutes late but the beauty of being on hols is that time doesn't really matter. It was a really pleasant, relaxing trip and we were pleased that it took us along the river running behind some of the lovely homes we had walked past - how the other half live!

Al on the bridge over the Avon River

The tranquility of the Avon River

Noelle waiting for the boat trip to begin

After our boat trip we walked around Stratford's pretty town centre. There were lots of buildings like Chester has with striking black and white top storeys above intricate red brick ground floors. So many buildings had flower baskets filled to overflowing with bright Spring blooms so the streetscape was really picturesque. We stopped for a coffee in a quaint coffee shop and picked up a brochure there advertising an upcoming concert featuring Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Searchers, PJ Proby and a number of other 60's bands but, sadly, not happening until well after our departure - how we would have loved to go to that.

Al outside one of the pubs in Stratford

Noelle outside supposedly the most haunted house in Britain

Everything around Stratford has a very "Shakespeare" flavour about it - buildings featuring his portrait, food and beer featuring his name, etc. but tourism is so important to many English towns so if they have some important history or a famous personality, they have to flaunt it.

One of the "Shakespeare" signs

The HSBC Bank featuring a portrait of Will

And is that Henry Vlll?

Before heading "home", we stopped for dinner at a local pub and as we ate, watched Australia play Spain in their last game of the World Cup. Australia lost 0:3 but it didn't spoil our delicious meal. We are looking forward to an early night and a lot more exploring tomorrow.

 

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