We're back in Banchory after one of the most hectic - and interesting - breaks we've had. It was all go - as Jo said, we were like Japanese tourists, hitting town after town - quick, park the car, then walk, walk, walk, photo, photo, photo, beer, beer, beer - then move on. 7 separate hotels in 9 days and over 100,000 steps to boot.
Our movements and the main sights we saw are pretty well recorded on Facebook, but this was also a bit of a nostalgia tour, revisiting former homes etc. Our first pit stop was Liverpool where we managed to cram in Albert Dock, both cathedrals and a trip to see where Jo's mother's paternal grandmother stayed:
We also spotted my Dad's and my - middle name on a street sign in Liverpool:
We stayed in Liverpool for a few hours on Monday morning as well and went round the Beatles Story, after which we headed south to Winchester - a journey that took a bit longer than planned due to roadworks on the motorway.
We still managed to see round the town and the famous cathedral before darkness fell. It was an unexpected treat to find a Rick Stein restaurant in the High St and we had a lovely meal there. We discovered later that Chris had stayed in Winchester when he worked in Southampton some years before meeting Kelly.
As in Liverpool, we managed to have an extra couple of hours in Winchester on Tuesday morning and we spent most of that time in the Great Hall, where the mythical Round Table hangs.
Tuesday night's bed was the Dover Marina Hotel and Spa but Sat Nav initially directed us back on to the motorways towards London and down from there. We didn't fancy that - in fact, we wanted to drive along the south coast and pay our respects to Eastbourne, which was a favourite holiday spot for my Mum and Dad, and, after a bit of re-programming, we achieved our aim.
After they passed, Dawn, Barry and I spoke about dedicating a memorial bench to our parents along the seafront in Eastbourne. I remember contacting the council and found out all about it, but, in the end, we decided not to do it - mostly because we all felt we would never even see the bench. Goes to show you never can tell.
Dover appears to be a fairly depressed area now, despite all the lorries that still use the ferries to cross the channel, but our hotel was fine. Its current name has only been in existence for a short while, but we knew it as the White Cliffs Hotel - a name now used by another hotel. Apart from a nice meal we had at an adjacent brewpub/restaurant, we didn't really explore the town at all, although we did do a brief drive around the surrounding countryside on Wednesday morning before our relatively short drive north to Broxbourne, our home from 1974 to 1979.
We decided to re-orientate ourselves with the area by driving around. Our first stop was lunch at the Crown (not the George as we've been calling it since!), which was a popular Sunday lunchtime haunt for us back in the 70's, mostly because it had a large beer garden where kids could roam safely. Naturally, it's changed a little since then - both internally and externally, where decking and seating now take up most of the available free space. Compare and contrast 40 years apart:
The Cheshunt Marriott Hotel is technically in Turnford, which is south of Wormley, which is south of Broxbourne - all of them a seamless string of housing developments. It was close enough, however, for us, after checking in, to walk back to see our old home at 44 Caldecot Way and the school that Lucy first went to. That school has now been renamed as Wormley C of E Primary:
Our old house - and virtually all the similar neighbouring houses - has changed a bit. Compare and contrast what it looked like in 1977 and what it looks like now:
The front door and garage are now linked and the long glass windows have been replaced by smaller ones - no doubt assisted by environmental grants. The whole cul-de-sac was much busier - full of cars:
We took a walk along the New River towards the town centre:
Jo and I then had dinner in another favourite old haunt - the Bull.
More to follow
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