Sailing the British Virgin Islands

We flew from Philadelphia to San Juan and then flew on a 9 seat plane from San Juan to Beef Island airport on Tortola.  We are traveling with our friend of many years, Carolyn, who owns the boat.  We will spend two weeks sailing her 46' Beneteau.

Carolyn keeps the boat at the Marina in Nanny Cay on Tortola, so that was our starting point.  From there we went to Norman, Cooper, Marina Cay, Virgin Gorda, Jost van Dyke and Peter Islands.  There are mooring balls in all the popular anchorages to minimize damage to the sea floor.

Carolyn at the helm as we leave Tortola

Approximately 24,000 people live on the island of Tortola.  Norman Island, our first stop is a privately owned uninhabited island.  It is famous for having been the site where a pirate stashed his booty.  There is a restaurant and some nice snorkeling.









Some days the wind had us heeling a bit, but most days we were able to sail quite comfortably.

Our dinghy was dragging behind us and was necessary to reach the snorkeling areas and restaurants and bars on shore.  Our charcoal grill on our back rail was used to cook several of our dinners.







We did stop to fill up with water once, though we had been quite conservative in our use.  Here at Leverick's we got free water and ice with our mooring fee.  Quite the deal.











There weren't a lot of animals to be seen.  We did see some dogs and cats on the populated islands.  This goat was browsing along the trail to the Bubbly Pool on Jost van Dyke.











The Bubbly Pool was a little pool on the beach which bubbles when the the waves come crashing in over the rocks.  It is a natural jacuzzi.  Unfortunately the waves were quite meek when we were there, so it was like a jacuzzi with a few jets plugged.






The thrill of this trip was sailing in warm water that you can actually swim in.  In several of the bays we spotted turtles swimming and while snorkeling we saw a big school of the most beautiful black fish with bright blue around their edges.  It was amazing to watch them move in unison as they grazed on the coral.  The trip afforded plenty of relaxation and reading time.  Who can argue with paradise?






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Hiking, England, The Lake District

Point A is Watford where we visited Anya and family, points B, C & D  mark the area of our Narrow boat trip, points E, F & G mark Tewkesbury, the Cotswold area, and Malvern Hills.  Point H is Cannock Chase, the area we hiked on our way to the Lake Districk.  Finally, points I, J, K, & L mark our Lake District hikes.  We were treated to a variety of different geographies, and weathers as we moved around the UK.

Cotswold Homes

We returned to England  from Budapest to visit our friends Neil and Pat in Tewkesbury.  We spent a few days at their home.  Our first outing was to the Cotswold area where the yellow Cotswold stone houses reminded me of a fairy tale villages.

Malvern Hills

A hike in the Malvern Hills introduced us to another beautiful area with panoramic views of the Severn river valley.  Generally we hiked for a while, stopped for tea and maybe a scone or lemon sponge cake.  We hiked some more and then stopped for lunch.  That might be followed with some village sightseeing and then we would head home for dinner.

Cannock Chase

Neil and Pat arranged for long weekend  approximately 3 hrs north in the Lake District.  On the way north, we stopped for a hike in the Cannock Chase area.  This is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.  We were now hiking in the heath.

Whitborrow Village

We arrived at Neil and Pat's 2 bedroom timeshare in Whitborrow Village, between Penrith and Keswick.
Our accommodations served as a base for our hiking around the Lake District.  We experienced weather from rain to hail to sun, but it didn't stop us.  At times it was windy, but the weather changed constantly.  You will see us in our rain jackets (waterproofs) most of the time.

One of our wetter hikes outside Keswick

The Lake District is a beautiful area with lakes and "mountains".  It is the home to many outdoor activities, mountain biking, hiking, climbing, boating, etc.  There are lush green pastures separated by magnificent dry stone walls.  The pastures are usually dotted with sheep and lambs, occasionally cows.

Derwent Water

When in the Lake District, one must hike around a lake.  We enjoyed a hike along Derwent Water.
The sky cleared for a while and the views were wonderful.

Castlerigg Stone Circle

One of the highlights of the Keswick area is the Castlerigg Stone Circle.  To be in the presence of something built approximately 4500 years ago is quite moving.  How much of what we build today will last even 100 years?

Four jolly hikers

Our longest hike (about 7 miles)  was from Glenridding to Howtown along Ullswater.  We had great views of the lake, but plenty of up hill and downhill and over the pass.  We did pass some mountain bikers and wondered, "did they really ride up these trails"?  The sheep seemed to have no problems on the steep hillsides.








We hiked Little Langdale Tarn and that took us over the Slater Bridge.  I realized after the fact, that I didn't take many photos of the stone walls.  This Slater Bridge photo shows not only the bridge, but the stone wall behind it.  I spent much of my hiking time pondering who built the walls?  How long did it take?  How did they move all the rocks?  Why did they build so many walls?  How have the walls managed to survive so well?  Do the farmer's constantly repair them?



Don't you just love these little lambs?










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Budapest, Hungary

Budapest, Hungary is a city of 2 million residents.  Home of the Hungarian Parliament the city was badly damaged in WWII.  The city is the result of the unification in 1873 of Buda, Obuda and Pest.  Buda and Obuda are on the hilly side of the Danube and Pest is on the plains side.  We stayed in the Bristol Hotel on the Pest side not far from the Keleti train station.    We found the hotel to be very comfortable and the breakfast was plentiful and delicious.

David in front of the Elizabeth Bridge

There are several bridges across the Danube connecting Buda to Pest.  During WWII the Germans blew up all the bridges to hamper the progress of the Soviet army.   The Soviets and Communist party were in power until 1989 when revolutions brought the end of Soviet occupation.

 



We spent two days using the Hop-on Hop-off tourist bus to get around the city.  The bus took us past all the main sites of interest to tourists.  It even allowed us to take a boat ride on the Danube (twice).











In spite of the destruction there are many historic buildings and wonderful architecture to be seen in Budapest.  Many sites have been reconstructed.  The Hungarian Parliament was particularly photogenic.   We found the city full of tourists from all over the world.

Budapest is known for its thermal “baths”.  We enjoyed some time at the Szechenyi bath past Hero Square.  There were several inside pools varying in temperature from 19 deg C, 28 deg C, and 34 deg C.  There were also three outside pools also warmed with thermal waters.   There was even a chess table in the water so the "good old boys" could play chess while they soaked.  I must say I have been feeling particularly healthy since visiting the baths.

We enjoyed eating Hungarian goulash, but then discovered Turkish gyros which were delicious and inexpensive.  There were ice cream shops everywhere, so we had to check them out.  On our last day we did have lunch at Jack’s Burgers where the hamburgers were wonderful!

Now it is back to England we go to visit our friends from Tewkesbury.

If you would like to see more Budapest photos visit the link below.  If you view as a slideshow, you will see captions.
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Austrian Countryside

From Birmingham, England we flew via Frankfurt to Vienna where we were met by our friend Emil and taken approximately 1.5 hrs to Emil and Christine’s home in Krumau, Austria.  They live there with their dog, Moritz and two cats, Max and Minnie.  They live along the lower of three reservoirs.  The finger is pointing to a place where we visited a castle ruins Dobra.

What a colourful bunch we are as we get our photo taken at the ruins Dobra.  Emil is a friend from my ASIS professional meeting days.  He met and married Christine when working with the IAEA in Vienna.









 Moritz loved the chance to walk around with us and especially loved it when we threw sticks into the lake for him to retrieve.

The Austrian countryside offers beautiful scenery.  Green hills, yellow rape seed fields, and then the vines in the wine country. 

We enjoyed two meals at local Heurigers.  These are local vintners/farmers who offer their wines and simple food in a simple setting.  All the locals show up and have a great time.

Austria is home to many castles and castle ruins.  Some are private homes, some are tourist sites.  Here we are walking around the Dobra ruins.  

We were lucky enough to be in Austria for May Day.  We participated in the Idolsberg May pole raising.  Once the pole was up we all enjoyed sausages and wine or beer.   In most communities the event raises money for the volunteer fire company.  The May poles are left up for the month of May.  As we drove the countryside after May 1st you would see each village's May pole standing tall over the village.

The following day we joined friends of Emil and Christine for a walk through the countryside.  There were 8 stops with wine and food along the way.  There was a band following on a hay wagon.  For our efforts we received a commemorative wine glass.

We enjoyed a bird of prey show at a restored castle in the area.  We were early in the season so the crowd was small, but the birds performed just as well.  They flew from one handler to another and demonstrated how they could catch a prey in the air, on the ground or in the water.  






The Austrian countryside is definitely a great place to relax.  If you would like to see more or larger photos follow the link below.  Watching as a slideshow will give you captions.

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Narrow boat on the Llangollen Canal

Watford Junction Station

European trains run like clocks, but UK trains, not so much.  Our train from Watford to Birmingham was delayed due to mechanical problems.  Hence we missed the connection in Birmingham to Gobowen.  Fortunately there are many trains and we were able to make a new connection and arrived less than 2 hrs later than planned.

The crew of Jubilee Bridge

We met our boating colleagues from Anacortes, David & Elaine, in Ellesmere and boarded our narrow boat, Jubilee Bridge.  The boat is 46' by 8'.  The boat has a nice galley,but is a bit shy of storage space.  We ended up storing our suitcases in the shower/tub.

David feeling good about making it under his 1st bridge

Our first day was spent getting used to the feel of the boat and enjoying the slow pace and views of the country side.  We were blessed with a sunny day.  Three weeks earlier this area had 3' of snow.








An old and stately oak tree stood beside the canal.  There were many trees which had dropped branches or the whole tree into the canal creating navigational hazards.  Fortunately most had been cut back.







As we moved along the canal we saw lots of sheep and cows, an occasional duck with ducklings, geese, swans and in the fields pheasants.  It kept us alert to see what we could see.

Our canal challenges included bridges, tunnels, aquaducts, and of course locks.  We had to wait for another boat at the Chirk tunnel.  It was dark inside the tunnel and is said to be haunted.  Fortunately the boats have a head light just for tunnels.

                                                                  Meeting boats head on looks like a challenge, but actually there is room if both pilots are steady on the tiller.  One day when it was windy we had a boat in front of us lose control of the bow and end up crosswise in the canal.  We were thankful to have 4 hands on our boat to help with lines and all.  

We enjoyed a nice walk through a cow pasture up to Chirk Castle.  They had beautiful grounds and many families were enjoying the weekend there. 

The countryside offered up neat farms with flocks of sheep or herds of cows (or both).  We loved the rolling hills and green pastures. 

The lambs were so cute, especially the twins.  We hated to think about them as we had nice lamb meals in the pubs.

                                                                                                                   I won't lie to you, it was cold at night (low 40's). The days were pretty nice, except when the wind blew.  Then it was cold.  We enjoyed the warmth of the fire places in the pubs we visited.  The highlight of the trip was pubs and the good food.  It was surprisingly inexpensive.  Most meals cost 10 GBP per person and that included drinks.

A highlight of the trip was the Pontcysylite Aquaduct on the way into Llangollen, Wales.  The aqueduct, is 1,007 ft (307 m) long, 11 ft (3.4 m) wide and 5.25 ft (1.60 m) deep. It consists of a cast iron trough supported 126 ft (38 m) above the river on iron arched ribs carried on nineteen hollow masonry piers (pillars).  We found the crossing exciting.  Others apparently find it terrifying.  

                                                                                        The aqueduct support structure was truly amazing.  We trusted that it would support us with no problems.

                                                                                                                                                           We enjoyed several signs from the "Houses slow down" to "Heavy plant crossing" to the one in the ladies room with a toilet that had a high water tank with a pull to flush where the sign read "Patrons wishing to hair wash, please reach up and depress ball-valve for approximately 30 seconds".

David Y moving up in a Grindley Brook lock

                                                                                                                           Between Whitchurch and Wrenbury we experienced most of our locks.  First we went through the Grindley Brooks set of three "stair case" locks.  These were followed by another three individual locks.  In all we probably descended about 50 ft.  We were lucky to pass through at a time the canals are not so busy.  We heard that in the summer one could wait a long time to pass through.




You know we ate well in the pubs.  One of my favorites was steak and ale pie with chips.  David ate a lot of lamb and things like liver and kidneys.  Of course the ales were enjoyed as well.

Steak and ale pie

Lamb shank

As you can tell we had a great time on the boat.  Canal boating is a slow paced relaxing way to see the countryside.  After moving along the canal during the day, sightseeing and visiting pubs we managed to get in some good Wizard card games.








All good things must come to an end and so we bid farewell to the Yorks and Jubilee Bridge #73 and head on to Austria (May 29, 2013).  

The end!

If you would like to see more photos or bigger photos follow the link below.  View as a slideshow and you will see the captions.

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