Off to the UK w/o Howie pt 2

On Monday, May 19th, we rented a car and left London. Driving on the wrong side of the road is hard! But Harris managed beautifully. Judy got better as the week went on...at not squeaking every time we turned a corner, or had to go through the millions of roundabouts. (Look right!) We were very grateful (mostly) for our little sat navigator, tom-tom. Sometimes it told us the shortest way to a destination was via VERY small roads, instead of the major roads that were much easier to drive on. After we figured this out, and looked for a few alternative routes, we did much better.

Our first stop was at Salisbury Cathedral. Gorgeous, as all these cathedrals are.

Stonehenge was nearby. A shuttle bus takes you from the visitor center to the actual site, and a roped off area keeps you from getting too close, but it was still worth the visit. This is the only stone circle with horizontal stones still there.

We parked outside of the city of Bath, and walked about 10 minutes into the actual city.

Bath Abbey, next to the Roman Baths. When it started to pour, we went in for a short evening service.

The Royal Crescent that is seen in many British Jane Austen movies.

After a large `pub' lunch, we weren't that hungry for dinner, so we found this little Crepe place (three tables) and had a wonderful light dinner.

The Royal Theater in Bath sells cheap tickets at noon, so we got £6 tickets to the show Jersey Nights. It wasn't Jersey Boys, but more of a concert highlighting the songs of the Four Seasons. It was fun to hear the lads sing in American accents, then talk in their usual Brit accents in between numbers. The £6 tickets let you sit way in the back of the third balcony, but since the show wasn't sold out, we were moved to the third row from the front!

On Wednesday we drove from Trowbridge (where we were staying outside of Bath) to Port Isaac on the Cornish coast where the series Doc Martin is filmed.

The roads got smaller and smaller and smaller....difficult to navigate, but everyone does it. People pull over to let oncoming traffic by, since these roads get down to one narrow lane.
We parked at a lot at the top of the hill...good thing! The roads into the town seem less than one lane wide to us, but cars managed. People walking on the road duck into doorways to let the cars pass. When we were eating our pasties by the bay, we saw a Fed Ex truck try to go up the hill and out of town. He backed down the lane 5 times to let other cars in, and finally, he just blew his horn and gunned it up the hill. He didn't come back down this time, so it must have worked!

We walked through the small town, saw some of the places where exterior shots are done, then walked on the other side of the bay to climb a hill for more lovely views.

The beach where fishermen still come to bring their daily catch. The smaller brown house on the hill below the big brown house is Doc Martin's house.