Conwy - Snowdonia National Park

4.5 mile hike * fake stone circle

We attended church in a small branch about 15 minutes away.  A struggling small branch, most of the members were 70+ (really!) and there were 15 people in the combined RS/Priesthood meeting.  We met one family with 3 kids ages 16+.  (2 were RMs). This family made up 25% of the branch; their family, their parents, and their 1 married child - 3 generations in 1 branch.  The father served his mission to SLC and spent most of his time in Sandy, the mother served her mission to Scotland so we felt we had lots in common with them.

The meetings were all really great.  Perhaps it was because this was the first time we've heard church in English for 9 weeks.  

Our apartment is a wee bit small and Stewart and Charlie are both sleeping on the couches.  We have to fold up the kitchen table after each meal and put it in the corner and 3 of us have to sit on the couch to eat.  Eric and I keep bumping into each other as we maneuver our bedroom.  It's not as small as Paris - but with 7 people and 1 bathroom, it's close.  Our living conditions are somewhere between camping and living in a winnebago.  Good thing we've had a lot of camping experience so we're managing.

For the afternoon we drove to a nearby National Park, Snowdonia National Park, and found a moderate trail for a 2 1/2 hike/walk. It was beautiful and lush with moss and ferns on the forest floors and tall pine trees everywhere.  I also love that we had to cross several pastures and go up and over and around fun Welsh gates so the livestock won't escape.  Everything is very trekker friendly and I think it's expected to see strangers walking through your pasture.

Bath to Conwy - Harry Potter and Family History

Gloucester Cathedral * Stock-on-Trent * Maccelsfield

Driving around England is gorgeous and green, the distances are further than I expected, partly because the country is large and once we get off the freeway the streets are small and wind through the countryside.  Often times we are only going 30 mph.

We took our time today traveling from Bath to Conwy making a few stops.  Our first was Gloucester Cathedral where we sent the kids on a Harry Potter scavenger hunt (Eric and I waited in the car).  3 Harry Potter movies were filmed here and we gave the kids clues to where some scenes were filmed - their mission was to figure out which scenes were filmed in each place. They did pretty good (scored about 75%) and it was a good diversion from driving.

Out next stop was a small city called Trentham just outside Stoke-on-Trent.  In 1840 Richard Brough was the first Brough to join the church in this city and we visited the church were he is buried and the address (now a police station) where he lived as a married man.  Richard Brough is my G-G-G-G grandfather and his granddaughter Mary Brough married William Rex Jr.  We didn't find his gravesite, but we did find a distant relative of his listed on the outside of the church in a memorial to those killed in WWI.

After Trentham, we stopped by Maccelsfield, a really nice town from where the Maxfield's originated way back in the 1500s.  We visited the church which had a Maxfield coat or arms and a medieval staircase and then wandered around the pedestrian only area of the main town.  I love all the happy walking towns we've visited on this trip.  We need more of that in the USA.

We arrived in Conwy (yes - there is no A in this word) to find our apartment just inside the old city walls (cool).  A short walk and we are up on the ramparts looking down at the entire city (small - today only 4000 people).  Just beyond is a cool castle that we'll visit later.  At the grocery store tonight I had a moment realizing how much I miss the Italian and French food.  There was no fresh baked bread, only about 2 kinds of cheese, very average looking fruits and vegetables, no good chocolate, and no yummy hams or prociuto.  The poor English - I guess it'll just be fish and chips (actually we made omelets).

If I thought Basque was bad in northern Spain or Catalan bad in southern Spain, Welsh is just as bad.  I haven't run into anyone yet that is actually speaking Welsh, but all the sign are first in Welsh and then English and there are no similarities!

Trentham Church where Richard Brough was burried

Maxfield coat of arms

running up the stairs behind Maccelsfied cathedral

Bath - Ancient Stone Circles and Ancient Roman Baths

Stonehenge * Salisbury Cathedral w/Magna Carta * Avebury * Roman Baths

I had heard that Stonehenge could be a let down - however, I really liked it!  It probably helped that there was a brand new visitors center, good crowd control, and it was a beautiful day.  It was amazing to see the huge rocks, especially those used as lintels. This is the only discovered stone circle with lintels.  There's so much mystery with rock circles.  They're all over northern France and England, but no one is certain how they were used.  Most are lined up so that the sun comes through in a precise spot for the Summer and Winter solstices - there is also an inner ring of stones and what could have been an alter stone.  The stones are huge and don't come from the stone in this area.  Matching stone is found in Wales and it would have been a several hundred mile journey over land and sea to get these stones here.  Anyway, we enjoyed wondering & starring at the hippies doing their strange raised arm prayers to the stones, and a lady with a goat headed staff.

After Stonehenge we swung by the Salisbury Cathedral to see one of 4 remaining original Magna Cartas.  Written in 1215 it is amazingly preserved.  The handwriting was in Latin and minuscule as the parchment (sheep skin) paper was very expensive.  The ink, made out of the waste a hornet leaves inside an acorn, was clear and dark which makes the document still readable (if I could read Latin).  So cool - this is the equivalent of our Declaration of Independence, just about 500+ years earlier.

On our way back to Bath we stopped at another stone circle, Avebury, which is 16 times bigger (diameter) than stonehenge.  Leading up to the Avebury stone circle is an avenue of paired boulders where one would walk when approaching the stone circle.  The circumference of the stone circle was about 1/2 mile.  We walked the entire circle (through many sheep fields & crossing a couple of roads).  Many of the rocks were missing (apparently destroyed in the 1600/1700 by locals who worried about this Pagan site), but the ones that remained were striking, big, and quite obviously planned in a circle with an inner ring.

We had some time in Bath tonight and went to visit the Roman Baths at the city center (hence the name - Bath).  There is a hot spring right in the middle of town that the Romans used to feed their public baths and temple site.  The water is hot as it bubbles out of the earth (46*c - and still bubbling) and the Roman's channeled the water into public pools, bathing areas, and sauna rooms.  The largest pool still remains in tact 2000 years later with a complete lead sheet covering that prevents the water from seeping into the ground.

Stonehenge

Salisbury Cathedral

Avebury

Roman Baths

Bath - family history, cathedrals, and cheese

Family History * Glastonbury Abbey Ruins * Wells Cathedral

We had quite the driving tour of Somerset County today in southern England.  The scenery was amazing.  In many ways it reminded me of Normandy France.  The homes are all made of a light brick with tall hedge rows lining the streets.  Sometimes the trees and hedges are so tall along the street that they grow together and form a tunnel.  The woods are so thick on either side it's easy to imagine Robin Hood in there ready to jump out and rob the rich.  The hillsides are dotted with farms, cows and sheep.

Today was our family history day as many of my Rex ancestors came from and joined the church in this area. We had fun driving around this area and trying to find land marks that related to them and trying to imagine what their life might have been like in the 1700 and 1800s.  Our first stop was actually a site Eric wanted to visited called Downside Abbey (not to be confused with Downton Abbey) that he read might contain a relic of one of his ancestors who was a martyr in the 1500s (more on Thomas Maxfield later - when we get to London).  Sadly, no such relic was at the Abbey.

Our first successfully stop was Upton Noble where we located the home of Jon Rex and Ann Oseland, my G-G-G-G grandparents, who did not join the church in their lifetime, but their son William Rex did.  We wandered the church yard near their home in hopes of finding a gravesite with the name Rex, but no such luck.

Second stop was Milton Clevedon - we didn't get out of the car, but just drove around as there wasn't a land mark for us to visit - buts Jon Rex was born in Milton Clevendon along with with Grandfather.

Our third stop was Charlton Horethorn where Mary Meade was born.  Mary Mead was the wife of William Rex.  We also visited the church with graveyard and looked for any sign of Meades or Mary's family there, but no luck - the gravestones were hard to read and some were scattered in the back of the church with weeds growing all around them.  

Our fourth family history stop was Sherborne where Mary Meade and William Rex married and lived with their 5 children until they left for the States 2 years after joining the church.  We were able to find the corner of Cheap Street and Half Moon street where they lived and tried to image the Mormon Missionaries arriving in town and preaching the gospel from the town square.  Sherborne was a pretty town and my favorite stop this morning.

In the afternoon we made 3 stops, our first in Glastonbury to visit the ruins of an Abbey built in the 1100s and destroyed under King Henry VIII.  The city itself was full of new age people and shops as this Abbey is a stop for those who like King Arthur and Guinevere - supposedly buried at the Abbey.  It was the annual Goddess Festival and a bunch of hippie women were running around in purple from head to toe festivizing.    

Our second stop was the Wells Cathedral where we attended the Evensong - a prayer service.  There was a visiting choir accompanied by the church's organ that was lovely to listen to.

Our final stop (which was not on the itinerary - but when the kids saw the sign wanted to go) was Cheddar England - home of Cheddar Cheese.  We actually drove though an amazing gorge to get there - the steepest gorge in England - and saw several rams climbing on the rocks on the sides of the freeway.  It was a worthwhile detour and while we were there we bought Cheddar Cheese - in the grocery story - just because.

Home of John Rex, Upton Noble

Sherbourne

Glastonbury Abbey Ruins

Sherbourne

Mary Meade and John Rex lived here in Sherbourne

Cheddar Gorge

Bath - Walking tour and Wandering the Cotswolds

Bath * Stow-on-the-Wold * Lower Slaughter *Burton-on-the-water

walked 8 miles today

Back in the 1930's the mayor of Bath himself gave free guided walking tours of the city.  That tradition continues today; except that it's not the Mayor, but the Mayor's official volunteer corps that give the tours.  We had a great 2 hour walking tour of Bath from one such volunteer.  Bath is beautiful because the entire city was developed in about 75 years by the same architect (& his son) using the same limestone.  It's a beautiful, light colored limestone that sparkles in the sun.  A couple of the unique features are the rounded building fronts on The Circus and The Crescent.

Even though Bath was founded by the Romans - it's natural springs provided water for their baths.  Bath was at it's peak during the 1700s as it grew into a place for fancy people from London to see and to be seen.  Our apartment is just on the outside of the main town, between The Circus and The Crescent.  It's beautifully quiet and a nice change from busy Barcelona

After our walking tour we drove to the Cotswold region of England to wander the cute, story book towns.  We learned that thousands of miles of public footpaths crisscross this area and we decided to do a 4 mile walk from Stow-On-The-Wold to Lower Slaughter finishing at Burton-On-The-Water then take the bus back to Stow.  The foot paths run through private property, but it is the law that they have to allow public access.  We found ourselves in horse pastures, cow pastures, walking down driveways past chickens and house cats and farmers at work.  We learned how to follow the path (marked by a round metal marker screwed to a fence post) and how to open and close the gates so the livestock wouldn't escape.  We got lost only once and had to back track when the cow pies and electric fences made it obvious we had made a wrong turn.  It was fun to watch Stewart and Charlie pick up sticks and have sword flights along the way - nothing like having a big brother around again.  It was a lovely way to finish off our day.

We had salmon with potatoes, onions, and asparagus for dinner, mostly prepared by Stewart with help from me and Eric.  I'm amazed at what a good cook Stewart has become - and he's also good at improvising.  It seems like the Spanish missionaries cook just as well as the Italian ones.

Walking tour of Bath

Stow-on-the-wold foot paths

Burton-on-the-Water

Barcelona to Bath - driving in England

I'm SO glad this was our only flight on this trip (well - with the exception of coming and going).  Flying pretty much wipes out the entire day and everything about it is stressful - throwing luggage into the back of a car is easy.  Trekking with a family of 7 to the train station, then to the airport shuttle, then to the airline desk, security, passport check, and finally arriving at the gate 3 hours after we left the apartment is exhausting.  Our flight was late leaving Barcelona due to France - I can only guess that when something bad happens in France as it did today with a shooting in Normandy everything in France shuts done and that effects everyone in the EU.  

Today was the first time we had to adjust our watches for a new time zone.  We picked up our slightly bigger car (almost a mini van, yeah - luggage all fits in the back and Sydney and Charlie don't need to share a seat belt) and arrived in Bath 9 hours after we started our day, tired.  Bath is a nice change of pace from big city Madrid and Barcelona - quiet and cool (we needed our jackets tonight when we went to the grocery store).

The biggest adventure today was leaving the airport driving on the wrong side of the road.  We had been gone only minutes before we hit our first round about, got honked at twice, and Eric let out a *?#^ in front of the kids.  Even Emma from the back seat said she was having anxiety watching Eric drive and thinking that any moment we'd be hit head on as we traveled down the wrong side of the street.  Eric said he'd take driving in Southern Italy over this - hopefully it'll improve.