I have to have an editorial rant about this trip to let off some steam. We had a great time, and visited all sorts of relatives and friends, but I couldn't get away from the feeling that while some things are still just great, much was not right in the UK. I composed a little rant here.

OK, got that off my chest. So, we arrived at Heathrow after a terrible night's sleep, despite being in Business Class on United. For about 10 minutes things were really impressive - walked through an empty customs hall (it was still only 7.30am) and our bags were already out for us to pick up. I made a bad error in choosing a car rental company. I'd prebooked a Hertz car (Ford Focus) in the US - $315 for 15 days, which is not too bad. However the stinger came when I found that none of my credit cards, nor my California car insurance would cover me for insurance. Through Hertz this cost a whopping £21/day which meant that the insurance was more than the cost of renting a car - yikes. Total UK charges came to £419.62 which was really outrageous. Two sources for a better deal: Easy Rent-a-Car offers Mercedes A class cars for £9/day including insurance - with 75 mile/day limit, as long as you're prepared to pick it up from one of two locations in London, rather than Heathrow. Also, my old UK neighbor in London Gary, who runs a travel agency and usually knows the best deals. His Website is www.goldenwings.co.uk. On previous trips I'd used my Corporate Amex card which had covered me. Since quitting my job full time I no longer have this privilege.

It takes only a few minutes for me to remember how to drive in the UK. Being on the wrong side is not everything. There's also the small matter of the streets not being wide enough for cars to pass and how people have learnt to deal with it. I already wrote some stuff about this so go here to read about it.

Our trip was to take us in a long counter-clockwise loop via London, Suffolk, Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, then to Wales, then back east to Heathrow. We drove 1568 miles. By the end of the trip, by which time we'd slept in 8 different beds, we'd started to compile a mental league table rating all our various accommodations....extra points for comfy duvets and good coffee. Points deducted for creaky floorboards or saggy beds.

First stop was to cousin Sarah's in Putney, south west London for two nights. In our rather jetlagged state, we decided for nostalgia's sake to go for a walk on Wimbledon Common - where I grew up. We also walked to the house in which I was born and which was our family home until 1998. We saw neighbor Ray Flint who gave us an update on our tortoise Hannibal, which has passed to the new owners of the house. Hannibal is 40 years old. He was apparently suffering a bit from the cold (I wouldn't know how you would tell). On taking it to a vet, it turns out he had pneumonia. Aside from prescribing an expensive heater to help it get better which the new owners duly purchased, the vet revealed that Hannibal is really a girl - so she is now christened Hannabelle. We shouldn't feel too bad however, the identical thing happened on a BBC children's show called Blue Peter we all watched as kids. I remember the episode where the Blue Peter tortoise with FRED painted on its shell, was given an extra "A" to spell FREDA on discovering the same gender mix-up.

We took a walk down Putney High St too and got caught in the rain. Every other shop seems to be a mobile phone shop! Brits are crazy for them, and the way they pay for them is totally different to here in the US. They don't have prepaid plans as such, rather, they "pay as they go" with vouchers which buy them minutes of air time. This works out very cheap for the occasional user who might use it for emergencies only. Text messaging between phones with tiny keyboards is very big too. Our evening was spent trying to help out with homework for Sarah & Kieron's children Fiona, Fergus and Charlie.

On our first whole day, we took the train into central London to see the sites that had changed since we were last there. I was keen to see the London Eye (aka Millenium Wheel) which really is pretty spectacular,even if it did open 3 months late. There seemed to be plenty of takers - we had to wait in line about 15 minutes only. It takes about 25 minutes to do a whole lap, and you step on and off it rather like a ski gondola. It runs continuously. Movement is almost impercible once in the pod, but seems quite brisk when you step on and off. The whole thing is huge and dominates the skyline around South Bank. There's a webcam site of the wheel here. We walked along the southbank and stopped in at the new Tate Modern art gallery, which has been made in an old power station building. We also saw the site of the Globe Theater, which has been lovingly preserved. This is where Shakespeare's plays were first performed in London. There've been many good improvements for pedestrians along the south and north bank of the Thames allowing you to walk quite a distance next to the river. That evening we visited my old room-mates Daph and Steve in Clapham, who've since had a baby called Ela. Eve managed to catch Ela just before she stuck a red chilly in her mouth! Then we went over to up and coming East Dulwich where I used to live, and went out for a curry with ex-neighbors Gary and Helen. ...Delicious. Coincidentally, a report in the UK papers that came out while we were there found that curry is in fact officially addictive.

London pictures

Our next destination was my uncle's, in Suffolk. We actually took a long way round, going via a place called Leeds Castle in Kent, to the south east of London. I had felt like seeing this place again and being Friday, I didn't want to be trying to get out of London in the afternoon in the crazy London traffic.

Kent Pictures

After an 80 mile drive, we arrived in Suffolk on the Friday night, to find everything in the tiny village of Chelsworth to be just as I'd last seen it 8 years ago. Change in these tiny well-preserved corners of Britain happens at glacial speed. My uncle Jeremy's house is listed in all sorts of books about architecture in this part of the world. The original parts of the house are 15th Century. This was our first encounter with really creaky floorboards!

Suffolk Pictures

We spent two nights here, and enjoyed some great food, including pheasant. On the Sunday, we took off in the afternoon and headed a little way north to visit more relatives: Christopher and Hester, for afternoon tea (in the best British tradition!). From there we drove another 30 minutes or so and stayed Sunday night with friends Mark and Liz, and met young William for the first time. Another fabulous house stuffed with original beams. I saw their place in 1997 when it was a real mess before much modernization. Now it looks great.

Mark & Liz's Pictures (still in Suffolk)

Next day was the long drive up to Edinburgh where Eve took to the wheel for the first time. Everything was going just fine until the first roundabout when we had to have a bit of an ABS moment..... It took around 7 hours to reach Edinburgh up the A1(M) and A68. The latter road is wonderfully scenic in the borders area. We stopped and took a walk around Jedburgh, bought a street map of Edinburgh and found our way to sister Josephine's flat there where we stayed for the next 3 nights. She had a cold which we've since both got!

We climbed up a substantial granite pile called Arthur's Seat from where you get commanding views of the city. We also took a drive out to Tantallon Castle, a few miles to the east, and climbed a thing called North Berwick Law (Law = Hill).

Edinburgh Pictures

While we were in Edinburgh we also visited my cousin Angus, wife Trish and children Caitlin and Rachel. We also saw Josephine's lab at the University of Edinburgh and one night went out to see the excellent movie "Billy Elliot". On our last night we went out for a really decent meal on top of the Edinburgh museum (my 40th birthday treat) - thanks for that Josephine. Then, with J with us, we drove west towards Glasgow passing by Stirling Castle and ending up at the eastern side of Loch Lomond where we did a monster hike up 3000ft or so climbing Ben Lomond (Ben = another word for hill). We had a taste of just about every kind of weather on this hike - even hail at one point. It made for spectacular views of Loch Lomond and the surrounding areas.

Loch Lomond pictures

It was a truly spectacular hike and the drive back around the loch was pretty too. Our next stop was to go to Kilmacolm, to stay a night with my Aunt Elaine. This is a bit to the west of Glasgow.

Kilmacolm (near Glasgow) pictures

Next morning in the village of Kilmacolm we stocked up on Oatcakes and Haggis (I had to try this again after all this time) and headed south - our next destination being near Usk, Gwent, in south Wales. A long drive taking us past industrial areas like Manchester and Birmingham. We got there around 6pm and were to stay here for the next three nights with my Dad and stepmother Frances. They have an aging Jack Russell terrier called Dizzy who's turning rather endearingly grey, and a boisterous lurcher called Lupin.

We visited another castle called White Castle and went on several muddy walks along the riverbank. Even rescued a dopey sheep entangled in brambles while Eve had to keep the boisterous Lupin at bay.

One of the important missions on this trip, was to drive into the middle of Wales to pay a visit to an area we used to go as a family years ago. We had the use of a cottage which we used to take for a couple of weeks each year or so. Together with my brother Andrew's family, we climbed a mountain called Alt-y-Main behind this cottage,and placed a memorial stone in memory of my mother who died in 1998. Her ashes had been previously scattered up here some months ago. We were blessed with glorious weather and clear views on this afternoon from the top of the mountain.

Wales pictures

Thanks to Francis for producing delicious meals while we stayed in Wales. We even ate goat one night - same as what the queen was eating in Italy (but no garlic for her!). The next morning (Monday) we got up early and did the short 50 mile drive north east to my brother's place in the small village of North Woodchester, near Stroud, Gloucestershire. We took a walk into nearby Westonbirt Arboretum, full of great fall colors. Edward, Clare and Robert all growing up like crazy.

Gloucestershire pictures

And so we'd come to the end of our trip. On the last full day, we did some shopping in Stroud, stocking up on a few uniquely British goodies we felt like importing - Bendicks Bittermints, Jaffa Cakes etc.

For our last night we headed for Newbury, where we stayed with friends Annie and Bernard in the village of Ecchinswell. This is only about 50 miles west of London, and is prime commuter belt country. Hunting and shooting are alive and well in these parts. Annie suggested we take a walk on Watership Down (yes, as in the Rabbity book). We came across loads of pheasants in the roads, being bred for people to shoot at.

Next morning, got up early and drove the 35 miles or so east back to Heathrow. Thank you to all our kind hosts who accommodated us. Next time we're going to stay put and have you come to us!