After a brief stopover in Sydney and about 10 hours of flying, PATPAPAS arrived at Narita airport.  Whilst the efficiency of Japan’s public transport system is excellent (everything runs on time and you get a note to provide to your work if a train is ever delayed or cancelled), PATPAPAS quickly discovered that collecting their pre-booked Japan rail passes was unfortunately a much less efficient exercise.  After nearly an hour in queues, they were finally equipped with tickets and en-route to Tokyo.

Arriving at the hotel several hours early for check in, PATPAPAS dumped their bags and headed out to get breakfast/lunch at the “Foodium” in the station, explored the supermarket with it’s anti-ageing drink and $100 melons (box and ribbons included) and saw the sights of Shinagawa. After managing to check in and shower, it was off to Shinjuku for some evening exploration and dinner.

$100 melon

Pablo’s brother and the Pamplemousse were the only ones in the party who had been to Japan before, and since Pablo’s brother had been there more recently and boasted better Japanese language skills, he was immediately appointed our tour-guide. Since he had been to Tokyo before surely he must have directions to all major attractions and have memorised all restaurant menus and train, bus, tram and ferry timetables.  Day 2 put him to the test as he led the national lampoons like mob through Tokyo’s rail system to a flea market, which unfortunately only opened in the afternoon. Unperturbed, he led on to another market and temple no 1 for the trip, Sensoji, incidentally one of Tokyo’s most famous temples.

Sensoji Temple

After lots of silly jump photos and in front of the temple and pagoda, the guide gave everyone 1 hour free time to explore the market, sample some cherry blossom ice-cream, buy tacky Japanese souvenirs and enjoy the gardens and cherry blossoms themselves.

The Lampoons minus the Pamplemousse (someone had to take the pic)

From there it was off to another park to see more cherry blossoms and more temples, as well as traditional Japanese street food, like fish-on-a-stick, fried octopus, hello kitty shaped cakes and doner kebabs, before returning to the now open flea market.

The following morning Pablo’s brother neglected his guiding duties to have  eel with his Japanese teacher while PATPAPAS walked through some of the palace gardens to the Diet, Japan’s parliament, before meeting Pablo’s brother again and heading through the fancy shops of Ginza, much to the delight of the Pamplemousse’s sister.

The male Lampoons with Godzilla – on the way into Ginza

That evening, PATPAS (having ditched the oldies) headed out to find a bar somewhere for a drink and ended up joining the locals for beer and plum wine in a quaint little place before catching the last train back to Shinagawa.

Another 11 hour flight and PATP arrived – tired and sticky – in Sydney.  Despite ticking ‘yes’ to almost every question on the customs card (do you have wood? animal products? food? have you recently been in africa? have you visited any rural areas . . . ) PATP made it through customs and onto a shuttle to the domestic terminal where they were met by their  friend Shelley who took them back to her newly purchased apartment about 20 minutes from Sydney airport. After the real estate inspection, some muffins and a much needed break from airports, they headed back to the domestic terminal for a coffee before PATP boarded their plane to Melbourne.

The trip to Melbourne started with viewing the couple of wedding venues PATP had shortlisted, and walking half way across the city in search of good Melbourne coffee – Brother Bubba Budan.  This was followed by lunch with the Pamplemousse’s grandmother, a visit to Pablo’s parents to pick up the car and time to catch up with the vicious attack beast before heading out to dinner to catch up with some friends and enjoy good Melbourne wine, cuisine and gelato.

The following morning the Pamplemousse was up early to go wedding dress shopping with  her mother and sister, whilst Pablo spent the day training the attack dog.

The attack beast

In the afternoon PATP visited another potential wedding venue and managed to get even more confused with talk of menus, drinks packages, chair covers and the like. That evening it was Mexican night at the Pamplemousse’s parent’s place with tacos and burritos abounding.  Day 3 was Good Friday which was spent catching up with friends and their children prior to the first seder and the beginning of 8 days of no decent carbs.

The weekend was busy catching up with even more friends and organising laundry ready to pack again for the next trip.  On Monday the Pamplemousse went shopping for bridesmaids dresses whilst Pablo conducted some final training session for the ninja dog and visited his old housemate to see how she looked pregnant before PATP caught up with another friend of theirs for a quick drink.

Despite their best attempts, PATP did not manage to catch up with all their friends during their jam packed 6 day stint in Melbourne and before they knew it, Tuesday had rolled around and it was off to the airport again. PATPAP (and more parents and siblings – PATPAPAS??) piled into a maxi-taxi with wa-ay too much luggage and commenced their “national lampoons” style trip of Japan.

Out of time with the beauty of Cape Town, PATP dropped off their car and flew back to Jo’burg. After one night at Pablo’s uncle’s “girlfriend” Beatrice, with her 4 schnauzers, PATP got up bright and early and headed to Kruger National Park for a couple of nights in a safari tent – a permanent tent with fridge, fan and electric lights but canvas walls.  PSTP weren’t as lucky with their game spotting as the last time they were in Kruger – partly owing to the lack of elevation offered by a car rather than a truck, the lack of 14 other people looking out for things and the recent floods in Kruger which destroyed large sections of the park, supposedly driving the animals further in.  One day 1 PATP did manage to see giraffes, zebra, warthog and various bok but none of the big 5.

Heading back to camp just before sunset, the Pamplemousse was extremely excited by the sight of a mother and baby hippo frolicking in the stream.  They appeared to be talking to each other and playing together – or perhaps they were just trying to eat one another?  Back at the campsite PATP saw a number of cheeky monkeys as well as a couple of very well behaved hyenas patrolling the other side, then lying down right in front of the fence and having a bit of a rest while the humans watched them.

Mother & baby hippo

The following morning PATP arose early and left the camp at sunrise.  They managed to drive a couple of kilometres before having to stop for 2 lions who had decided to sit in the middle of the road.  After taking some photos and waiting a while the lions (and other stopped vehicles) eventually moved on. 

Lion road block

 The remainder of the day included lots of driving but PATP were rewarded with a vocal herd of bathing elephants, giraffe, zebra, a herd of 200ish Water Buffalo, monkeys, squirrels and most excitingly, mongooses. Or is that mongeese? Mongoosii?  PATP also saw another entertaining hippo with aspirations of joining the South African synchronised swimming team, who, not content with standing upright in the water, decided to flip upside down so that only it’s belly and feet were visible on the water’s surface. 

Upside down hippo

Pablo was also rather excited to see a very rare sight, a Kruger Moose! And, it was in a camp site of all places.

Pablo’s Kruger Moose

Nearly back at camp on day 2, PATP stopped to look at some baboons playing on the road, particularly the baby that the Pamplemousse thought was very cute. While watching the baby, another baboon jumped on to the bonnet of the car. After quickly closing the windows the rest of the way and checking the doors were locked, PATP contemplated what to do. After a few seconds the monkey climbed onto the roof, with just it’s tail visible, while the other vehicles took photo’s of PATP’s predicament. After creeping the car forward a few metres, our new friend decided that actually, the boot would be more comfortable and moved there, looking in the back windscreen. Not content with this, he proceeded to press his face against it and start licking the windscreen, which clearly tastes good if you’re a monkey. A bit more creeping forward, away from his friends and our new pet decided to jump off and return to his mates, fortunately not having damaged the car at all.

French kissing baboon

The last day in the park was rather uneventful as PATP managed to miss the sighting of a leopard which disappeared just before PATP drove around the corner, then miss the lions than had been following the herd of buffalo, and with barely even a giraffe to look at, let alone cheetahs, wild dogs or rhino, PATP had to be content with spotted rare red beaked hornbills, a snake eagle, and watching some entertaining fighting dung beetles. The GPS and African drivers however decided to make up for the lack of excitement in the park, first with a semi-trailer who decided to move across into PATP’s lane while driving at 120 km/h, forcing PATP onto the wrong side of the highway, with the oncoming traffic also going 120 or more, who very politely decided not to kill them, then with the GPS taking them through Hillbrow. For those of you not familiar with South Africa, think South Central LA, or Harlem. Maybe  Belfast circa mid 1970’s. After surviving this, PATP spent the rest of their time in Jo’burg seeing relatives and friends, before jumping on a plane and heading home to Melbourne for just under a week.

Back in London for a single night, PATP broke in to their friend’s place (with the key she had left for them) to exchange luggage contents and repack for the next flight.  Then it was off to the airport with fingers crossed that the set of Bohemia crystal wine glasses Pablo insisted on buying in Prague, the Scotch whisky glasses we acquired in Edinburgh and the various other fragile souvenirs survived the long haul flight to Johannesburg.

Whilst PATP were unable to manage an upgrade to business class, they were fortunate in having a fairly empty plane and so had an entire row of seat to themselves for the 11 hour flight – not that it helped them sleep much but the extra leg room was most welcome.  Upon arriving in Johannesburg, PATP met Pablo’s parents, aunt, uncle and cousin for coffee in the airport before all boarding their connecting flights to Cape Town for Pablo‘s cousins wedding.

No problems with illegal parking in Cape Town

Pamplemousse, along with Pablo’s mother, cousin and aunt joined the bride and her family for a hen’s night at “Beefcakes” for some drag queen entertainment, cocktails and topless waiters, while Pablo joined his cousin for “the night before the bucks night” dinner in Camps Bay. The following day, after visit number one to the waterfront, Pablo and various male relatives and friends went to the bucks night, while the Pamplemousse had a quiet dinner with her future mother in law.

Another trip to the waterfront, along with an aborted attempt to catch the cable car up table mountain (not operating due to high winds) filled another day, while another included a trip to the Cape Castle, including the viewing of firing the “noon cannon“, after which the cannon was then carried away – under one arm by the firer, making it appear somewhat less threatening. This was followed by the ubiquitous visit to the waterfront, to search for a replacement stone kissing giraffe statue to replace the Pamplemousse’s one that broke en route to London the previous time.

Not convinced the mighty midday cannon would scare off many invaders!

One more day required a visit to the waterfront, to catch the Robbin Island ferry, where PATP and parents (PATPAP in case you’ve forgotten from the Iceland Blog) saw Penguins, the leper church and Nelson Mandella’s cell as well as the best views of Cape Town.

View from Robben Island

The day prior to the wedding, PATPAP piled into the car, not quite knowing where they were going and followed the GPS as it took them to Kirstenboch – the Cape Town Botanic Gardens which just happen to be conveniently nowhere near the Garden Synagogue they were supposed to be at. Correcting this, they still managed to make it to the end of the service and enjoy the delicious lunch which followed.
The big day rolled around, sunny and cloudless, and Pablo headed off to join the other pole holders at his cousin’s place while everyone else had a quiet afternoon, before heading back to the Garden Synagogue, Pablo by limo, everyone else by Honda. After a beautiful though hot ceremony inside, it was in to the marquee in the gardens behind, with a sunset view of table mountain, an enormous buffet entrée, the ubiquitous hora and normal dancing, lamb shank mains and a ridiculous, but incredible, dessert buffet that easily foiled Pablo’s attempt to try one of every option.  The photo-booth provided endless entertainment as guests disguised themselves with glittery hats, feather boas and moustaches and the marquee twinkled with fairy lights as all enjoyed the dancing, wine and delectable delights.

Happy couple and parents

A fairy tale wedding

Having recovered from the night before, Paddy and the Potato (as they shall be known for 1 blog only) decided to head to the 1 thing Blarney is famous for – Blarney Castle, home of the Blarney Stone.

Blarney Castle

While certainly one of the best Irish castles going around, the admission charge had nothing to do with the size of the castle, the druid stones and manicured gardens on the grounds, or the tunnels below, and everything to do with a damp rock covered with the saliva of millions of other people that you need to hang up-side down to kiss on the top of the tower.

Kissing the Blarney Stone

Having acquired for themselves “the gift of the gab” as promised to those who kiss the blarney stone, PATP hit the road again to discover if it really is such a long way to Tipperary. After a brief stop in Cahir, to have a look at another, slightly less impressive castle, it was on to a town still living off the fame of 1 war time song 100 years old. In the 21st century it isn’t actually that long a way to Tipperary, so PATP headed to the next stop – Cashel.

Not such a long way!

Cashel is best known for it’s rock, upon which stands the ruins of a cathedral, and where prior to about the year 1000, the kings of Munster ruled from. Once satisfied with the ruins at the Rock of Cashel, it was on to the Rock of Dunamase for some more ruins, even more ruined than the previous ruins which the Potato found on a map near the highway to Dublin.

Rock of Dunamase

Despite leaving plenty of time to reach Dublin, and hitting the outskirts by 4pm, the combination of Friday afternoon traffic, at the start of a long weekend, in a big city meant PATP reached their hotel at ten to six in the evening, when the car was due back at six, at a location unknown to PATP.  Just to add to their stress levels, PATP’s mobile service provider had a service outage which meant they were unable to use 3G or GPS, or even call the rental company until they arrived at the hotel.  Fortunately Paddy phoned the car rental company from the hotel, who in good laid back Irish style said “we’re closing in 10 minutes, so just bring it back tomorrow”, so PATP were able to take a deep breath and set about acquiring costumes and determining their plans for St Patrick’s day in Dublin.

Saturday morning, St Patrick’s day arrived and after finding and dropping off the car with minimal fuss, PATP walked into town, replete in silly hats, Paddy adorned with a green scarf, the Potato with a feather boa in green, orange and white. They staked themselves a place to watch the parade and waited.

Dublin on St Patrick's day

After a slightly late Irish start, possibly because someone couldn’t find the car keys, the parade came, with plenty of green, people in fish costumes, rainbow dancers, a Russian marching band, American college bands, strange floats and all manner of other things. Once the parade was over, PATP headed through town, being stopped themselves a few times by people wanting to take pictures of them. After a Guinness or two for Paddy, a green St Patrick’s day cookie and watching Ireland play in the final 6 nations match (they lost to England, but it didn’t matter) it was back to THE Temple Bar. After an overpriced pint in the best known pub in Ireland, PATP decided to move out of the area before it became too messy and went to another pub for some further liver punishment in a slightly more sedate area.

Temple Bar, Dublin

On the Sunday, PATP headed through Dublin, doing some sightseeing and checking out the St Paddy’s carnival before heading to the most important part of Dublin – the Guinness storehouse, for Paddy to have just a little more Guinness, including his and the Potato’s free included pints. Monday morning PATP did a free walking tour for a bit of Irish history, then headed to the airport to fly back for one night in London.

Getting out of Galway as fast as possible given both the previous night and that their free parking expired at 8.00am, PATP hit the road to the Cliffs of Moher, passing through the small town of Lisdoonvarna – famous for its matchmaking festival – along the way.

Lisdoonvarna

The Cliffs of Moher, though smaller than Slieve League, are much more famous, and hence have a visitor centre, parking and require payment for admission, rather than just driving up a steep county lane and walking a bit like Slieve League. Despite not having crystal clear conditions, the views of the cliffs were quire awesome, even without ignoring the warning signs and climbing over the fence and walking to the edge of the precipice as many other people did until the officials told them off.

After exploring the cliffs and taking the best photos the weather conditions permitted, PATP headed to the small seaside village of Lehinch to meet Kate, an old friend of Pablo’s for lunch, who had previously lived in Oz.  Following the brief reunion and toasted sandwiches, PATP bid their farewells and headed South via the scenic route to Killimer, giving a wide berth to both Shannon and Limerick as all reports were that these are both rubbish towns with nothing to see.  From Killimer, PATP put the car on the ferry for a brief trip across the water, then headed to Killarney for a better nights sleep in their very own private room – luxury!

Cliffs of Moher

The following morning PATP set off early with plans of heading straight to the Ring of Kerry.  Having heard of “The Gap of Dunloe” but knowing nothing about it, when they saw a sign to said gap, they decided to turn down the road and find out about it. A short way along on the small, quiet road, they noticed an elderly man gesturing to them and running after their vehicle.  Despite the possibility of him being a random nutter, they stopped the car and were soon convinced that a horse and carriage ride through the Gap of Dunloe was a must. Having been relieved of their money, PATP boarded their horse drawn chariot with the Random Nutter and were underway to see the 5 lakes (including the one St Patrick supposedly drove all the Irish snakes into) along the path to the gap, with the hills on either side providing wonderful views along the way.

Gap of Dunloe tour with random nutter

An hour or so later, PATP returned to their car and headed off back to the Ring of Kerry – “an area of spectacular beauty and breathtaking views”. The further along the ring they got, the cloudier and mistier it became, with less and less visibility and increasing dirzzle.  While fantastic visibility was not necessary for the circular forts they visited, the fog and clouds somewhat obscured the “spectacular views” and it was barely possible to see the road a metre in front of the car.  Whilst the lack of visible scenery was somewhat disheartening, the afternoon was not a complete failure as PATP stumbled into a pancake restaurant, found a Leprechaun’s crossing and managed to see Irelands only beach bar – deserted on a cold, rainy, cloudy day. The evening was spent catching up with an old work mate of the Pamplemousse in the town of Blarney, just outside Cork, drinking wine and beer and eating pizza and chips and drinking more beer and more wine.

Leprechaun's Crossing

The next day PATP skipped town nice and early to go to Rosses Point for a pic with a statue, to Strandhill, a surf town with sand dunes and a golf course, and then headed to Carrowmore, a megalithic cemetery.

Rosses Point

As the visitor centre was closed for the winter, PATP walked through the gate to look at the piles of old rocks without anyone being available to relieve them of their money. Having satiated their hunger for megalithic tombs, it was back on the scenic road, past a few more castles, Kylemore Abbey, the only Fjord in Ireland and on to Galway.

Carrowmore - old rock tombs

Kylemore Abbey

Once in Galway, the familiar issue of trying to find somewhere to sleep, combined with maps that failed to mention which streets where one way, which where pedestrian malls and didn’t bother to name half the streets anyway led to some running around but eventually the cheap option of a 12 bed dorm in a hostel was sorted. Now organised, PATP explored town, which was much more lively than Sligo, with no shortage of bars, restaurants, buskers and many, many students.

After dinner and a drink or two in a pub, PATP returned to their room to find the 70ish year old asleep and snoring. One of the other denizens of the room said that was nothing, wait ’till one of the others came in. After failing to sleep for a while, someone in the room woke the old codger, who denied snoring, as he wasn’t even asleep, despite all evidence to the contrary. This was repeated 3 or 4 times. About 1.30am, the other issue arose. Our alcoholic Canadian roommate staggered in, fell into bed, and immediately commenced snoring. Well, it may have been him, otherwise someone had started a jet engine or monster truck at that end of the room. This was regularly interspersed with our “friend” swearing, either at other people in the room, or the world at large, clearing his throat, saying excuse me, then returning to swearing and snoring as well as thrashing his arms and legs around. Additionally, somewhere in the early hours of the morning, someone from a different room tried to get in, found their card didn’t open our door and so started knocking, to be greeted with about 5 people shouting “F#@! off, this isn’t your room”. Both PATP, and probably everyone else in the room had various thoughts through the night like “maybe I should sleep in the car”, “maybe I should sleep in the dining room” and “maybe I should suffocate that arsehole with a pillow and do everyone a favour”. Somewhere around 6.00am Pablo managed to finally get some sleep, while the Pamplemousse managed a few minutes somewhere through the night. On getting up, PATP managed to get half their money back, but would still have preferred to have had some sleep instead.

Having wandered around Derry, PATP decided it was time to skip town and cross the border. After choosing a road based on a map Pablo had briefly glanced at previously and crossing their fingers, PATP did make it to The Republic of Ireland, where they were greeted not with a “Welcome to Ireland” sign, but instead one telling you that kilometers were now in use, not miles. Ah, the metric system! Having no idea where they were now going, PATP decided to follow signs to Letterkenny, because it seemed like the right direction. Once there, they discovered Letterkenny had little to offer beyond a tourist info office, which provided maps and brochures offering route suggestions for the remainder of their journey. Suitably equipped, PATP headed on down the road to Slieve League.

Slieve League

The road there wound through a very cool valley past Irish countryside and on seemingly ever narrowing roads. Suddenly, after a couple of sharp bends and steep hills there was a sign to Slieve league up a small country lane. After parking the car, PATP started climbing up and around the hill to get to ever more scenic views over the cliffs and mountains with scrub and colourfully painted sheep abounding.  Rounding a final bend, the views over “the highest sea cliffs in Europe” suddenly appeared, though the very tops were covered in cloud. After a few hundred photos, Pablo decided it was necessary to climb higher up the cliffs, because it was obviously going to have different view. The Pamplemousse meanwhile decided that the views were perfectly good from where she was, and so didn’t bother. Having satisfied himself with the same views of the cliffs but from higher, Pablo descended the mountain and they returned to the car to head for lunch and then on to Donegal. After looking around Donegal and it’s castle, as well as a few others along the route, PATP headed to Sligo for their stop for the night.

Donegal Castle

After struggling to find accommodation for the night (our preferred hostel couldn’t be located and option two was closed for the winter) PATP finally stumbled across the “Railway Hostel”. In desperation, PATP rang the doorbell whereupon they were met with a less than welcoming voice over the intercom asking what they wanted.  When PATP asked about a room for the night the voice gruffly told them to read the sign out the front – which listed the prices and read – “rooms vacant”.  Once PATP managed to convince the man that they had indeed read the sign and room rates and yes it was ok that there was no cooker, he finally came to the door and let them in. Inside he enquired what made PATP come to Sligo, since it’s dying and everyone is leaving, and that there are no jobs and nothing to do there. Thus encouraged by the excitement that is Sligo, PATP went out in search of dinner in the deserted streets of Sligo. The choices were horribly overpriced Italian or a few pubs. Pub number one – not doing food. Pub number 2 – had been doing food but stopped at 7.00pm. Pub number 3 – filled with dodgy old men, didn’t even bother asking. Pub number 4 – apparently the best restaurant in Sligo – score! Plus a friendlier and more helpful local than the guy in the hostel.

After a frantic last week or so in London, catching up with people, tidying up loose ends at work, packing up the house, taking things to a friend for storage and squeezing in a day trip to Colchester (it rained and snowed, PATP had lunch in a pub and saw an Abbey and a castle) PATP became officially homeless and unemployed! Taking advantage of their newfound freedom, they ditched Pablo’s car, shoes and work shirt at Stansted airport and jumped on a plane to Belfast.

The next morning PATP decided to do a Black Cabs tour of Belfast to get some background on “The Troubles” with all the different angles, stories and background as to why people spent 40 years shooting and blowing each other up. The professionally impartial guide drove around to view the murals, peace wall and memorials to both sides.  He provided some of the history of hunger strikes, massacres and assassinations, and showed PATP “The most bombed hotel in Europe”.

Belfast

Once the tour had finished, PATP did a self guided walking tour of the remainder of Belfast, starting at the Cathedral. After looking at a big fish, they went up to the top of the shopping centre for a view over the city, and to the Beacon of Hope statue – a woman holding a hula hoop.  After that they had a quick look in the the town hall, and Pablo had a Hammerhead coffee – a double espresso topped up with filter coffee – guaranteed no sleep for a week! PATP then went to the Crown Bar – a famous old pub with booths, designed so that the women can stay there rather than crowding the bar where they were traditionally not allowed.  Nowdays both men and women frequent the bar but the booths provide a supposedly private area for conversation. PATP managed to score their own “private” booth for all of about 5 seconds before they were approached by a couple of random Irish women who could obviously sense they were in the presence of brilliance when they asked to join them in their booth. They then made up for crashing the booth by buying both Pablo and the Pamplemousse drinks and entertaining them with good conversation, so all was good.

Lady of Hope statue, Belfast

The next morning PATP bid farewell to Belfast and commenced their roadtrip around Ireland.  The trip began with a quick visit to the Carrickfergus Castle – the castle was not yet open for the day but that didn’t stop us taking a few hundred photos of the facade.  Next stop was the Glenariff waterfalls for a quick 4km walk before continuing on to the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge over a gorge separating an island from the mainland with stunning views as far as Scotland.

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge

Then it was on to Dunseverick Castle -  according to the Northern Ireland Tourist guide “a small and unimpressive wall on top of a precipice that faces the ocean.” After checking that they hadn’t accidentally missed the castle hiding behind the crumbling wall, it was on to the Giant’s Causeway.

The underwhelming Dunseverick Castle

The Giant’s Causeway was significantly more impressive with it’s thousands of hexagonal columns formed by an ancient volcanic eruption.  Or, if you prefer to believe the local legends – built by a giant Irish warrior to walk to Scotland for battle.

Giant's Causeway

After a quick drive by the Old Bushmills Whiskey distillery which was already closed for the day, PATP headed on to Dunluce Castle – a stunning medieval castle right on the coast which is reportedly one of the most romantic places in Northern Ireland.  From there they headed down to Londonderry or Derry depending on your religious/ political views, to find the world’s first “pay what you want” hostel where you can quite literally pay whatever you like for bed and breakfast.

Dunluce Castle

The following morning, PATP explored the wonderfully named Bogside with murals from the Troubles relating to “Bloody Sunday” and “The Battle of Bogside” before walking around the walls of the last remaining walled city in Ireland.  After that it was time to leave Northern Ireland and head south into “Catholic country”.

Despite having been warned that a bunch of strangely placed rocks wasn’t worth the 2 hour drive, PATP decided that Stonehenge was a famous UK tourist attraction that could not be missed. Taking heed of the warnings however, they decided to incorporate a weekend trip to see some nearby attractions in Bristol and Bath to ensure the trip would not be an anticlimax. After fighting their way out of London with all its usual traffic chaos, PATP finally hit the highway heading west to Bristol. PATP eventually found the hostel which looked less than ordinary from the outside but boasted individual ‘pod’ beds offering sleepers relative privacy, complete with little pull across curtains. After a quick dinner at the local fish and chip shop – and one with awards for being the best fish and chips in Bristol (we settled on haddock and chips and passed on the faggots!)

Fish & Chip shop menu

PATP headed into the centre of town for a drink. Armed with info from Pablo’s workmate who hails from Bristol, they headed to Clifton where they inadvertently crashed a random party. Realising they didn’t quite fit in with all the other groups of people there who all knew each other, they finished their drinks and headed out into the night. The following morning was dedicated to a few hours of exploring Bristol, including finding the streets paved with gold, a new Banksy, as shown us by the homeless guy hanging around the waterfront.

"The roads they have travelled are paved with gold"

Once satisfied with Bristol city, they headed up to the suspension bridge across the river Avon for a few last pics before heading off to Bath. After again driving up and down a road without finding their accommodation, they eventually gave up on the GPS and tried a map instead, whereupon they found the GPS had them on entirely the wrong street. Not that it mattered, since the hostel was closed for another few hours anyway. Therefore PATP headed into town, to explore the Roman Baths, go into the Thermae Spa and wander the UNESCO listed streets, eating bath buns and scones, drinking tea and being generally civilised. Whilst the Roman Baths were extremely impressive, PATP were a bit disappointed by the Thermae Spa which consisted of a hydrotherapy pool and some scented steam rooms – nothing compared to the Blue Lagoon in Reykjavic! The rooftop pool was quite impressive however and offered a nice view of the city and PATP enjoyed watching the sunset from there.

Bath

Once satisfied they’d spent enough time in town, PATP headed back to their now opened hostel in an old mansion, with zero atmosphere and single sex dorm rooms (no wonder we generally avoid YHI). After a little bit of time there they were going stir crazy, so headed back into town to search out dinner, and listen to the pub quiz they wouldn’t have won even if they had entered. Once back at the hostel there was little to do except have an early night so PATP said goodnight and adjourned to their separate rooms. The following morning it was off to Stonehenge. Unfortunately, after a weekend of sunshine and bright blue skies, PATP were met with a gloomy grey day for their Stonehenge visit, however at least the rain held off. Getting there early to beat the mass of tour buses, PATP took a number of silly jump photos and walked around the site listening to the rather underwhelming free audio guide which provided information about the site. “This large pile of strategically arranged rocks has been here for centuries. We don’t know exactly who brought them here. Maybe it was _____ or maybe it was _______ and we don’t know exactly why they brought them here. Maybe . . “ – well you get the idea. After Stonehenge, PATP ventured to the nearby site of Old Sarsen – the initial location of Salisbury before the town moved slightly down hill. While fun to explore for a few minutes, it would not be a place worth paying to see, however fortunately PATP had invested in passes that made it free! Once this was done, it was back to London and reality – at least until the next trip.

Stonehenge