Ireland and UK friends (page 3)

KateWild

No one has suggested Liverpool. It's famous for the Beatles and football has lovely beaches, and fabulous architecture. Kate xx

Berengaria

Hehe ok Frazzled, I have a very very loose general idea of what I want to see.

London, Bath, Glastonbury, Stonehenge, Stratford, Cornwall, The Cotswolds, York, Edinburgh, Inverness, Belfast, Dublin, Dingle Peninsula.

I'm also wondering about distances, if I want to see......Inverness and Glasgow, how much time would I lose if I stayed in Edinburgh and did day trips. Would it be reasonable to stay in Winchester and day trip to London, Cornwall, Bath, etc.

I do have until June of next year to plan..........

Simon

"Slough", LOL:

Slough

by John Betjeman (1906 - 1984)

John Betjeman published his poem about Slough in 1937 in the collected works Continual Dew. Slough was becoming increasingly industrial and some housing conditions were very cramped. In willing the destruction of Slough, Betjeman urges the bombs to pick out the vulgar profiteers but to spare the bald young clerks. He really was very fond of his fellow human beings. Slough is much improved nowadays and he might be pleasantly surprised by a stroll there.

Slough

Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!
It isn't fit for humans now,
There isn't grass to graze a cow.
Swarm over, Death!

Come, bombs and blow to smithereens
Those air -conditioned, bright canteens,
Tinned fruit, tinned meat, tinned milk, tinned beans,
Tinned minds, tinned breath.

Mess up the mess they call a town-
A house for ninety-seven down
And once a week a half a crown
For twenty years.

And get that man with double chin
Who'll always cheat and always win,
Who washes his repulsive skin
In women's tears:

And smash his desk of polished oak
And smash his hands so used to stroke
And stop his boring dirty joke
And make him yell.

But spare the bald young clerks who add
The profits of the stinking cad;
It's not their fault that they are mad,
They've tasted Hell.

It's not their fault they do not know
The birdsong from the radio,
It's not their fault they often go
To Maidenhead

And talk of sport and makes of cars
In various bogus-Tudor bars
And daren't look up and see the stars
But belch instead.

In labour-saving homes, with care
Their wives frizz out peroxide hair
And dry it in synthetic air
And paint their nails.

Come, friendly bombs and fall on Slough
To get it ready for the plough.
The cabbages are coming now;
The earth exhales.

http://www-cdr.stanford.edu/intuition/Slough.html

Simon

No one has suggested Liverpool. It's famous for the Beatles and football has lovely beaches, and fabulous architecture

It's also full of scousers

(plus they haven't won at footy for a while now - yay, go Mancs !)

It does have some impressive buildings though (leftovers from it's days as a capital of the Slave Trade)

cofty

Hi Berengeria - Edinburgh to Inverness is not really a day trip. It is 4 hours on the train both ways. Its not a city I would put high on my list personally.

If you have time you could explore the West of Scotland (more scenic than the east IMO) - Glasgow, Trossachs, Fort William, Glen Coe, Aviemore as time permits, and be sure to see Edinburgh before you head south again. Perthshire is beautiful. If you can visit Loch Earn, Loch Tay etc you will love it.

Let me know when and I will buy you a pint somwhere around Edinburgh or the eastern borders.

Simon

So I'm interested in what people who live there think are must sees. I'm reading a variety of travel books and of course I have had several spots on my personal list for years. Love history.

It's tough ... in my experience you tend not to go to the tourist places on your doorstep so locals often know less about places than visitors do.

There are lots of historical places in the UK depending on the 'era' that you're really interested in from Ancient, Romans, Nordic / Viking onward to modern / WWII etc... Maybe good to look for a few close together or pick what you are interested in.