Hello everyone
Set off this morning to visit St Ives, the road to there was very busy and when we got there we were directed to a large car park above the town, the cars just poured in after us. We walked down steep paths into town, it's a pretty place but so crowded with people that you could hardly walk along the streets. It was a very warm day and after a while we decided we had seen enough and headed out of town again and back to Newquay. Had a bit of a rest before going for a walk, the coast in town consists of high cliffs with small beaches in between and is quite picturesque. Finished up in a pub for tea sitting overlooking the cliffs. Tomorrow we set off to head towards London, stopping overnight in Southampton.
Sabine and Sam
Thursday, 28 July 2011
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
Wednesday 27th July Bath to Newquay
Hello everyone,
This morning at breakfast our B&B host suggested that we should report our fraud situation to Police, so that is what we did, we headed to the Bath police station and made a report. Once that was done we set off in lovely warm sunshine for Wells where there is a very large cathedral, however when we got there we faced the perpetual problem of finding a car park so we drove past the cathedral slowly and had a good look at the magnficent exterior. We then set out towards Cornwall, but our next stop was to the heritage fishing village of Clovelly, a village perched on a cliff edge with a small harbour 600 years old, and a favoured spot for smugglers in the old days. The streets are just very steep pathways with rough cobbles, walking is a bit difficult but the effort was worthwhile. Next stop was Port Isaac which is best known at the fictional village of Port Wenn in the TV series Doc Martin. We drove right through the centre of the town, past the school, the pub,the harbour, and looked across to Doc Martin's home. The street at times was only about six feet wide, a bit hairy at times but the whole place was very pretty. It was only a short drive from there to Newquay where our B&B is, arrived about 6.30pm and headed off to the pub for tea followed by a short walk along the foreshore.
Sabine and Sam
This morning at breakfast our B&B host suggested that we should report our fraud situation to Police, so that is what we did, we headed to the Bath police station and made a report. Once that was done we set off in lovely warm sunshine for Wells where there is a very large cathedral, however when we got there we faced the perpetual problem of finding a car park so we drove past the cathedral slowly and had a good look at the magnficent exterior. We then set out towards Cornwall, but our next stop was to the heritage fishing village of Clovelly, a village perched on a cliff edge with a small harbour 600 years old, and a favoured spot for smugglers in the old days. The streets are just very steep pathways with rough cobbles, walking is a bit difficult but the effort was worthwhile. Next stop was Port Isaac which is best known at the fictional village of Port Wenn in the TV series Doc Martin. We drove right through the centre of the town, past the school, the pub,the harbour, and looked across to Doc Martin's home. The street at times was only about six feet wide, a bit hairy at times but the whole place was very pretty. It was only a short drive from there to Newquay where our B&B is, arrived about 6.30pm and headed off to the pub for tea followed by a short walk along the foreshore.
Sabine and Sam
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Tuesday, 26th July, 2011
Hello to all
It is Tuesday morning and after brekky we headed off to do a city walk. They do these each morning. The guides are volunteers, our chap Terry,it was his 944th walk today, a very interesting chap, born in Bath and knew his city very well. It took about 2 1/4 hrs and then we headed off to the Abbey what an amazing place, we went in about 1.00 and there was to be a organ recital at 1.10 by a chap called Ian Ball,he is actually a lawyer specialising in employment law, before studying law he enjoyed a successful career as a musician. He taught at Cheltham's School of Music and other places and he held the position of Acting Director of Music at Gloucester Cathedral. An amazing fellow, and we actually got to hear him as a lunchtime recital, an amazing experience. The Abbey was incredible as well. I do have a history and will put this in later.
After this we did some more sightseeing, came back had a bit of a rest did a few emails etc and then went out again had some dinner at a lovely place called Browns and came home and watched 'Love Actually' we decided we needed to see something we both liked. We are both OK now Sam said he has the situation in a box and wants to totally forget it, but will support me in my quest for some justice not only for us but for all the other people who get scammed on a regular basis, he just does not want to have to get involved in it. We head off to Newquay, Cornwall, we had booked a place in St Ives but they cancelled us, they got an email from me I can tell you, anyway we have somewhere else to stay, main thing. We have two days there, then one day Southhampton and one day in Ashford in Kent and then on to London for 8 days and then home. Bath is a lovely place, the town gets 5 million visitors per year and there is no industry here just tourism. We have just seen on the news that there was a fire in the tunnel we used yesterday to get to Wales. Our B&B here is lovely and the lady who runs it is also. Close to everything, walking distance etc. The city does have a very interestin history. It has really warmed up in the last day or so. Sam and Sabine
It is Tuesday morning and after brekky we headed off to do a city walk. They do these each morning. The guides are volunteers, our chap Terry,it was his 944th walk today, a very interesting chap, born in Bath and knew his city very well. It took about 2 1/4 hrs and then we headed off to the Abbey what an amazing place, we went in about 1.00 and there was to be a organ recital at 1.10 by a chap called Ian Ball,he is actually a lawyer specialising in employment law, before studying law he enjoyed a successful career as a musician. He taught at Cheltham's School of Music and other places and he held the position of Acting Director of Music at Gloucester Cathedral. An amazing fellow, and we actually got to hear him as a lunchtime recital, an amazing experience. The Abbey was incredible as well. I do have a history and will put this in later.
After this we did some more sightseeing, came back had a bit of a rest did a few emails etc and then went out again had some dinner at a lovely place called Browns and came home and watched 'Love Actually' we decided we needed to see something we both liked. We are both OK now Sam said he has the situation in a box and wants to totally forget it, but will support me in my quest for some justice not only for us but for all the other people who get scammed on a regular basis, he just does not want to have to get involved in it. We head off to Newquay, Cornwall, we had booked a place in St Ives but they cancelled us, they got an email from me I can tell you, anyway we have somewhere else to stay, main thing. We have two days there, then one day Southhampton and one day in Ashford in Kent and then on to London for 8 days and then home. Bath is a lovely place, the town gets 5 million visitors per year and there is no industry here just tourism. We have just seen on the news that there was a fire in the tunnel we used yesterday to get to Wales. Our B&B here is lovely and the lady who runs it is also. Close to everything, walking distance etc. The city does have a very interestin history. It has really warmed up in the last day or so. Sam and Sabine
Monday, 25 July 2011
Monday 25th July 2011
Hello to all
It is Monday morning. Quite an eventful last 24 hours. We arrived in Pembroke Saturday evening after 7.00 settled ourselves into our B&B and headed out for dinner. Sam decided to call his cousin first so used the local phone box, when he came back to the car he looked ashen,he decided to check the balance of our savings account, he handed it to me, dear me, we had all but been cleaned out. We went back to the B&B to get my bag to check with my card same result. We made a phone call to the bank from our mobile while we were collecting my bag, but could not get thru, so headed out again checked the balance, no different then tried to call the bank from the phone box, absolutely impossible, we sat in the car for a few minutes to calm ourselves and then I said lets go and take whatever we can before the rest is taken in the morning or tonight. We had been left with £701.00. They had taken over £4,000.00 so we are looking at about $7,000.00 if you add in the fees probably £300.00 worth of fees. They took the maximum they could take each day. It is very difficult getting a balance as there is only one bank which gives a balance at all, none of the others give one so you are really stuck between a rock and a hard place. We had done all the right things, been careful, I always check for the card readers etc. but you know they are way smarter than us. Sam was beyond upset so I said we need to be practial, I did an email to my neighbour Phil and Elissa and did a copy letter to the bank as well and Elissa very kindly was at the bank with my letter as soon as they opened Monday morning. When we woke up this morning (being Monday afternoon your time) there was the email telling us the very bad news. I had asked for the cards to be stopped as we use this for everything. All has been taken care of now, the crime dept had been alerted to a concern on our account of Saturday but knew we were in the UK could not make contact with us, thought it was possibly OK. They think there is probably more than we think has gone so when their forensic team has gone through everything we will no doubt get the entire story. You know you can take care of everything, be as careful as you can be but if they are going to get you they will I'm afraid.
We have composed ourselves, I said they have taken our cash lets not let them ruin the next two weeks. We headed off to Bath today arrived at about 1.00 our B&B owner lovely lady gave us all the info so we have just done a full day,had some dinner and are now home.
I think we have done remarkably well all things considered, worse things happen, when we were in St David a little girl literally ran in front of us, Sam had slowed down because it was so busy and her Mum literally
grabbed her arm, we would have killed her if we had not been driving slowly and her Mum not on the ball, so I said if we had killed that little girl that would have been a tragedy, this we will get past, we have already drawn a line under it, I do not think we have any redress because we are out of the 5 day reporting a situation only by a day but we will see, we do not expect to get it back so as Julia would say moving forward, we just have to watch the little cash we have left along with our credit card. One never knows what a day will bring. It was very nice to have Elissa and Phil who we could ask to do what they did for us, and our branch manager is a terrific girl as well and our two girls got straight back to us as well. Candice rang us and it was lovely to talk to her I felt much better then as did Sam. Cheers Sabine and Sam, Sam said good news follows. We are ok now.
It is Monday morning. Quite an eventful last 24 hours. We arrived in Pembroke Saturday evening after 7.00 settled ourselves into our B&B and headed out for dinner. Sam decided to call his cousin first so used the local phone box, when he came back to the car he looked ashen,he decided to check the balance of our savings account, he handed it to me, dear me, we had all but been cleaned out. We went back to the B&B to get my bag to check with my card same result. We made a phone call to the bank from our mobile while we were collecting my bag, but could not get thru, so headed out again checked the balance, no different then tried to call the bank from the phone box, absolutely impossible, we sat in the car for a few minutes to calm ourselves and then I said lets go and take whatever we can before the rest is taken in the morning or tonight. We had been left with £701.00. They had taken over £4,000.00 so we are looking at about $7,000.00 if you add in the fees probably £300.00 worth of fees. They took the maximum they could take each day. It is very difficult getting a balance as there is only one bank which gives a balance at all, none of the others give one so you are really stuck between a rock and a hard place. We had done all the right things, been careful, I always check for the card readers etc. but you know they are way smarter than us. Sam was beyond upset so I said we need to be practial, I did an email to my neighbour Phil and Elissa and did a copy letter to the bank as well and Elissa very kindly was at the bank with my letter as soon as they opened Monday morning. When we woke up this morning (being Monday afternoon your time) there was the email telling us the very bad news. I had asked for the cards to be stopped as we use this for everything. All has been taken care of now, the crime dept had been alerted to a concern on our account of Saturday but knew we were in the UK could not make contact with us, thought it was possibly OK. They think there is probably more than we think has gone so when their forensic team has gone through everything we will no doubt get the entire story. You know you can take care of everything, be as careful as you can be but if they are going to get you they will I'm afraid.
We have composed ourselves, I said they have taken our cash lets not let them ruin the next two weeks. We headed off to Bath today arrived at about 1.00 our B&B owner lovely lady gave us all the info so we have just done a full day,had some dinner and are now home.
I think we have done remarkably well all things considered, worse things happen, when we were in St David a little girl literally ran in front of us, Sam had slowed down because it was so busy and her Mum literally
grabbed her arm, we would have killed her if we had not been driving slowly and her Mum not on the ball, so I said if we had killed that little girl that would have been a tragedy, this we will get past, we have already drawn a line under it, I do not think we have any redress because we are out of the 5 day reporting a situation only by a day but we will see, we do not expect to get it back so as Julia would say moving forward, we just have to watch the little cash we have left along with our credit card. One never knows what a day will bring. It was very nice to have Elissa and Phil who we could ask to do what they did for us, and our branch manager is a terrific girl as well and our two girls got straight back to us as well. Candice rang us and it was lovely to talk to her I felt much better then as did Sam. Cheers Sabine and Sam, Sam said good news follows. We are ok now.
Sunday, 24th July, 2011
Hello to all
I am doing this on Monday evening. Quite a traumatic day Sunday but am keeping my days ordered.
Our B&B is lovely. We did our laundromat duties this morning and then set off to see Gordon's cousin Margaret who lives very close by to where we are staying. We then went out for dinner, she knew of a lovely place she likes to go on special occasions etc. just opposite Carew Castle. We had a good night, Margaret enjoyed it too, we dropped her home and we went home ourselves and I did my ironing ready to move on Monday morning as we had quite a distance to travel. Lovely countryside once again, the drive from Shrewsbury to Pembroke was too lovely, we only stopped in St David to have a look at the cathedral, we could only see the outside as there was a concert at 7.30 that evening. Very flash affair by the looks of it, would have been lovely to stay but we knew our B&B owners would be wondering where we were and as it turned out luckily we did not stay. Talk soon. Sam and Sabine.
I am doing this on Monday evening. Quite a traumatic day Sunday but am keeping my days ordered.
Our B&B is lovely. We did our laundromat duties this morning and then set off to see Gordon's cousin Margaret who lives very close by to where we are staying. We then went out for dinner, she knew of a lovely place she likes to go on special occasions etc. just opposite Carew Castle. We had a good night, Margaret enjoyed it too, we dropped her home and we went home ourselves and I did my ironing ready to move on Monday morning as we had quite a distance to travel. Lovely countryside once again, the drive from Shrewsbury to Pembroke was too lovely, we only stopped in St David to have a look at the cathedral, we could only see the outside as there was a concert at 7.30 that evening. Very flash affair by the looks of it, would have been lovely to stay but we knew our B&B owners would be wondering where we were and as it turned out luckily we did not stay. Talk soon. Sam and Sabine.
Sunday, 24 July 2011
July 23 Shrewsbury to Pembroke
Hello everyone,
This morning as we were having breakfast in our Shrewsbury B&B our hostess Jo told us about some of the Shrewsbury sights that we should not miss, so we set off for a walk along the beautiful river bank and visited a stunning garden in the centre of town called Dingle Gardens with fantastic displays of seasonal flowers, blossoms and foliage, and manicured lawns, well worth the visit. On the way back to the car we visited two churches, St Chad's Church, a lovely church with the body of the church built in the round, then Shrewsbury Cathedral. Sabine can elaborate a bit further on this Roman Catholic cathedral which was begun in 1853. After this we got back to the car and headed off to a village called Much Wenlock which is a very lovely old English village with narrow streets and a busy marketplace in the centre. The place was very busy and there was a long queue at the bakery as it is famous for its products. We then continued on towards Ironbridge which is beautifully set within a steep valley, but is most famous for its bridge which was the first iron bridge ever built (hence the name of the town) and then came to the Victorian village of Blists Hill which in the 19th century was a busy coal mining town and which also was a major iron manufacturing centre with blast furnaces, wrought iron manufacturing, and clay mining and brick manufacturing. All these activities had pretty well ceased by early 20th century and much of the buildings and equipment were removed or demolished. Since the 1970's the village has been recreated and now is a working museum where life is lived and demonstrated as it was in Victorian times. The weather was beautiful and we stayed for a couple of hours. We then set off for Pembroke in Wales, we drove westward through mid Wales and the countryside was stunning, each corner revealed even more beauty. We reached the Welsh coast ay Aberystwyth and the headed south along the beautiful coastline towards St David's which is Britain's smallest city with a large Cathedral. The cathedral was being readied for a concert that evening so we could not see inside. We finally arrived in Pembroke just after 7.30 and found our B&B. There was also the Bishop's Palace which lay in ruins not sure when it was built probably 1000 or so years ago. Sabine will add in the info re Shrewsbury Cathedral in the next blog.
This morning as we were having breakfast in our Shrewsbury B&B our hostess Jo told us about some of the Shrewsbury sights that we should not miss, so we set off for a walk along the beautiful river bank and visited a stunning garden in the centre of town called Dingle Gardens with fantastic displays of seasonal flowers, blossoms and foliage, and manicured lawns, well worth the visit. On the way back to the car we visited two churches, St Chad's Church, a lovely church with the body of the church built in the round, then Shrewsbury Cathedral. Sabine can elaborate a bit further on this Roman Catholic cathedral which was begun in 1853. After this we got back to the car and headed off to a village called Much Wenlock which is a very lovely old English village with narrow streets and a busy marketplace in the centre. The place was very busy and there was a long queue at the bakery as it is famous for its products. We then continued on towards Ironbridge which is beautifully set within a steep valley, but is most famous for its bridge which was the first iron bridge ever built (hence the name of the town) and then came to the Victorian village of Blists Hill which in the 19th century was a busy coal mining town and which also was a major iron manufacturing centre with blast furnaces, wrought iron manufacturing, and clay mining and brick manufacturing. All these activities had pretty well ceased by early 20th century and much of the buildings and equipment were removed or demolished. Since the 1970's the village has been recreated and now is a working museum where life is lived and demonstrated as it was in Victorian times. The weather was beautiful and we stayed for a couple of hours. We then set off for Pembroke in Wales, we drove westward through mid Wales and the countryside was stunning, each corner revealed even more beauty. We reached the Welsh coast ay Aberystwyth and the headed south along the beautiful coastline towards St David's which is Britain's smallest city with a large Cathedral. The cathedral was being readied for a concert that evening so we could not see inside. We finally arrived in Pembroke just after 7.30 and found our B&B. There was also the Bishop's Palace which lay in ruins not sure when it was built probably 1000 or so years ago. Sabine will add in the info re Shrewsbury Cathedral in the next blog.
Friday, 22 July 2011
Friday, 22nd July, 2011
Hello to all
We set off this morning to do something as basic as a load of washing, the laundromat was packed and the street it was in was closed to any type of parking, after a drive around, parking is something one does not do easily in these small towns and even with Masie's assistance we went around the one way streets on a number of occasions, past a funeral at least five times, after driving up a bus lane I suggested to Sam we get out of there and do something more interesting than a load of washing. Found a car park near the tourist info picked up some brochures and found one that we thought would be good. We set out to see Attingham Hall, it was built for the 1st Lord Berwick in 1785 and owned by the same family for more than 160 years. It has an amazingly interesting history, our guide was a lady who was an actress and opera singer probably in her 70s and she was fabulous. She brought the entire place to life for us all, she knew the history down to the last detail and really had everyone enthrawled. It took about an hour an half and when she was finished everyone applauded her, on the way out I shook her hand and said that was just amazing, everyone following did the same, so to say the least and Sam and I have said this all the way thru the person you have as your guide makes or breaks the experience you have.
We then went on to have a quick look at Haughmond Abbey ruins,the extensive remains of an Augustinian Abbey, which include spectacular stone carvings and a roofed Chapter House, there is a connection to Attingham Hall.
We headed home and then went for a walk into town to see Shrewsbury Abbey, the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter and St Paul founded in 1083 by Roger de Montgomery and built on the site of a wooden Saxon Church. As a Benedictine Abbey it was one of the most influential foundations in England. Its Chapter House saw one of the first democratic parliaments in the land and one of its Abbots pleaded for long hours with Henry IV and Harry Hotspur to try to avoid the bloody Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403.
Unfortunately time was of the essence and it had to close but just before this the heavens opened and it was torrential, we sheltered in the doorway until they closed then sheltered in the pub across the street. It let up a little so we decided to head off to our pub we had been to the previous evening, we made it without getting too wet, had a lovely dinner and a bottle of Hardy's wine and wandered home. We set off tomorrow for Pembrokeshire and will catch up with anor cousin of Sams who lives in Pembroke Dock. All the best Sam and Sabine
We set off this morning to do something as basic as a load of washing, the laundromat was packed and the street it was in was closed to any type of parking, after a drive around, parking is something one does not do easily in these small towns and even with Masie's assistance we went around the one way streets on a number of occasions, past a funeral at least five times, after driving up a bus lane I suggested to Sam we get out of there and do something more interesting than a load of washing. Found a car park near the tourist info picked up some brochures and found one that we thought would be good. We set out to see Attingham Hall, it was built for the 1st Lord Berwick in 1785 and owned by the same family for more than 160 years. It has an amazingly interesting history, our guide was a lady who was an actress and opera singer probably in her 70s and she was fabulous. She brought the entire place to life for us all, she knew the history down to the last detail and really had everyone enthrawled. It took about an hour an half and when she was finished everyone applauded her, on the way out I shook her hand and said that was just amazing, everyone following did the same, so to say the least and Sam and I have said this all the way thru the person you have as your guide makes or breaks the experience you have.
We then went on to have a quick look at Haughmond Abbey ruins,the extensive remains of an Augustinian Abbey, which include spectacular stone carvings and a roofed Chapter House, there is a connection to Attingham Hall.
We headed home and then went for a walk into town to see Shrewsbury Abbey, the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter and St Paul founded in 1083 by Roger de Montgomery and built on the site of a wooden Saxon Church. As a Benedictine Abbey it was one of the most influential foundations in England. Its Chapter House saw one of the first democratic parliaments in the land and one of its Abbots pleaded for long hours with Henry IV and Harry Hotspur to try to avoid the bloody Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403.
Unfortunately time was of the essence and it had to close but just before this the heavens opened and it was torrential, we sheltered in the doorway until they closed then sheltered in the pub across the street. It let up a little so we decided to head off to our pub we had been to the previous evening, we made it without getting too wet, had a lovely dinner and a bottle of Hardy's wine and wandered home. We set off tomorrow for Pembrokeshire and will catch up with anor cousin of Sams who lives in Pembroke Dock. All the best Sam and Sabine
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