We will soon be home!

Nothing on the London page today and no photos. Had a relaxing day yesterday with a couple of hours spent with a second cousin once removed who lives out in Buckinghamshire, in Chesham, a pretty village.

This morning we leave the flat and I wil head to the British Library to do some research while Maree will wander around doing touristy things. We will then take our last tube out to Heathrow.

So today is the last blog post. We are on the plane tonight and arrive into Brisbane early Thursday morning.

Maree and I want to thank all of you for reading the blog and for the wonderful comments we received. It was so good to know that it was being read.

See you all soon.

A retail therapy day

No new photos today as it we did some shopping so thought that I would post some more from the Chelsea Flower Show.

This was a small garden which won a Gold medal

A mass of rhododendrons

Just the sort of table every home should have

These sculptures were completely made out of driftwood

Back in London

You can check out these last few days on the London page. Today was the Chelsea Flower Show and it was fine and reasonably warm though there were some showers about 2pm.

Maree in front of one of the show gardens - note the almost summer clothes

 

This was the People's Choice garden - see above with Maree too

The fire pit section of the Australian garden

Best in show garden

One of the sculptures you could buy

Love the colours of these

The bonsai weren't interesting - I think that Kirby's are better

One of the artisan gardens 

The sun is no longer out in Edinburgh!

No photos today because of the rain, except for the one of the Glencorse Kirk so I have put up some from other parts of the trip.

Glencorse Kirk

Those McGimpsey girls get around! This was taken in Belfast - sorry Col, none for you.

Queen Mary's bath house

The sun is out in Edinburgh

A very good day today - the sun was out, I had some success with old records and we had a great meal tonight, plus we are in a lovely city - what more could you ask for?

Aren't these just the most gorgeous pigs?

Maree at the entrance to Edinburgh Castle

Stranraer

Don't rent a car from Hertz!

You can read about today's issues on the Scotland page. Maree and I didn't get around to putting photos on my iPad so today's selection are from Northern Ireland but there will be lovely Scottish ones tomorrow.

 

The Giant's Causeway

A beautiful building in Belfast, now derelict, opposite Crumlin Road Jail

Believe it or not, this is in the centre of a roundabout near Larne

A prison, castle & family

Did the whole gamut today as you do on holiday and for the time we were outside, the weather stayed fine. A lovely day all round.

Belfast Castle

 View from the Castle across to Belfast harbour

Me with Bill and Rosemary

A wonderful day

What more could you ask for in a day? The sun was out for most of the day, we could see the ocean and the countryside was lovely as you can see.

Me at the Giant's Causeway - it was cold and very windy here

Sheep Island along the coast road

A house along the way

Titanic and PRONI

As you will read, today was not the best day all round but more positive than Dublin. It has been raining so I hope that the trip into the countryside will be fine tomorrow.

This is looking at the front of the Titanic Centre. You can see how grey the sky is.

One of the major buildings in Belfast

.

We are in Belfast

Well as you will see,on the Northern Ireland page, it rained again today in Dublin and spoilt our tour around the city. I took two photos and these are below so you can see just how wet it was.

This is the Duke of Wellington testimonial built to celebrate his victory at Waterloo

These are the front gates of Kilmainham Gaol, built in 1796, a massive complex which the Irish see as a symbol of British repression, now a government building and museum

The weather has improved!!!

Given how much I write about the weather, I'm sure you will all be pleased to hear that it was quite lovely today. The sun was out and the wind was gone, though there was still a nip in the air. I wish we had longer in Dublin but I need to do some research on the Ruddells so to the north we must go.

Dublin Castle - the bit in the middle is called the Record Tower and it is the oldest part - built in 1228

In the middle of St Stephen's Green

The Huguenot Cemetery - one of Dublin's oldest and probably one of the smallest

OK now it's freezing

Today looked like it might be a good day - sunny, until we stepped outside into the wind which was bitterly cold. I really wasn't keen on leaving the car to take photos but as you will see, we managed to get some taken. I hope you are all reading what is on the pages for Ireland etc as well as the posts. Thank you also to the wonderful people who post comments (and the lurkers too, of course).

Duckett's Grove

 The entrance to Duckett's Grove - not the best shot

Another view

Ballinkillin, Slyguff and graveyards

A lovely day with much driving up and along and down country roads. Our GPS seems to favour us travelling off the straighter and wider roads, along the meandering narrow country lanes, taking much longer to reach our destination but seeing wonderful countryside.

Borris Castle - we were a bit cheeky and just drove in the gates to get this shot

Lorum Church - in the middle of nowhere

This headstone, in Ballinkilln cemetery, is for our gg aunt, (sister to our great grandmother), her husband and their son.

Now it's wet again

We can't win - great yesterday, terrible today and the Irish just keep smiling and saying, "Welcome to Ireland".

The Church of Ireland church in Bansha, now used as a cultural centre

The cliffs of Moher

 The trees were full of crow's nests in Killeshin 

A sunny day (well almost)!!!

A lovely day yesterday as the sun came out for most of the day.

Lemeneagh castle near Kilfenora

The Burren

Prague House - our B & B in Galway

Galway

No photos today - too wet plus we were on a plane and driving for a good part of the day.

Last night in London

Maree and I both had a good day and the weather was almost sunny. Must be because today is Election Day here but no sausage sizzles. We are off to Dublin tomorrow and heading straight out into the countryside as we will come back to it later in the week so I can do my research in the National Library of Ireland.

The interior of st Paul's Cathedral

Towards the front of the National Archives. The swan had a mate who seemed to spend her time sleeping so she was obviously sitting on eggs.

Some days are diamonds, some days are stones!

Yesterday was a great day for Maree, except for the cold, but not so great for me. Hopefully today will be better. Brits go to the polls today and they are predicting a labour win in a coalition. Who votes on a Thursday! Just think of the money our schools would lose without their sausage sizzles if our voting day was changed.

Tomorrow we fly to Dublin, hire a car and head off our the Emerald Isle.

Notice that the polling station is inside the public baths for women!,,

Westminster Abbey