English Countryside & the Journey of King Arthur

Well, we've finally arrived at our last 2 days of the trip. It's hard to believe that the trip we've been planning for months is nearing its end. From the rainy, dreary days in Paris to the beautiful French countryside to the bustling city streets of London to the peaceful but windy British countryside, we saw such a myriad of castles, cathedrals, lifestyles, and cultures. Overall, it's been a fantastic trip which included an itinerary that I recommend for anyone wanting a good sampling of both countries within a two week time slot. But on to our last two days.

As I mentioned in my last post, the day we left London was spend inadvertently learning about the life and birth of Anne Boleyn. These last two days headed out toward England's West Coast shifted from the historical figure of a British Queen to the mythical figure of a legendary king: King Arthur. But we'll get to that in a minute.

Our first stop of the day was Stonehenge, easily one of England's most famous sights. This isn't the first time we saw standing stones. If you ever visit Scotland, you can see the Ring of Brodgar in the northern most isle of the country called Orkney. Unlike Stonehenge, the Ring of Brodgar is a simple circle of standing stones. I was surprised and impressed to see that Stonehenge was much more sophisticated than a circle of straight stones. Getting to the stone circle was pretty neat. You pull into the parking lot and go through the main ticket counter. Then you actually walk underground across the road to the path that takes you back up and around the stones. For their own protection, they keep tourists a good distance away from the stones and you can't even get within a stone's throw of them. (Pun absolutely intended! Haha!) (This is very different from the Ring of Brodgar where you can literally hug the stones.) It wasn't terribly crowded when we were there. Why? Because we got there when it opened. There was one bus tour there already and the driver of the bus tour graciously took our picture. We walked around the stone circle maybe twice before browsing the gift shop and heading out.

Sunny but windy day at Stonehenge 

From Stonehenge, we drove just over an hour to the town of Glastonbury. (If you've ever driven rt 84 through Connecticut from Boston to New York, you will pass lots of exits for towns with "bury" in them like Danbury, Southbury, Middlebury, Waterbury, etc. Going from Canterbury to Salisbury to Glastonbury, made us chuckle and remember our many drives through Connecticut.)

Glastonbury has the reputation for being the mystical town of King Arthur's later life and burial. We visited the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey which has an ancient grave site that supposedly belongs to King Arthur. Near the abbey is a little tourist trap called the Chalice Well. Not terribly expensive, we were having fun embracing the mythology that surrounded the town and King Arthur. The Chalice Well was a lovely little garden tucked behind the abbey. There was a little spring that they claimed was the Chalice Well with cups for sampling. My husband thought I was nuts for tasting the water. In hindsight, maybe it was stupid, but I didn't get sick. The water tasted very metallic, and I spit most of it out. Even if you're not a fan of the legend of Arthur and his knights of the round table, the Glastonbury Abbey was clearly a very real structure and the ruins are pretty magnificent. If you're headed out to Cornwall, it's definitely worth your time to stop for a few hours and enjoy this place.

Glastonbury Abbey & the burial site of King Arthur

Near the abbey is also the famed Glastonbury Tor. This giant hill is fabled to have mystical powers associated with it. We just saw it as an opportunity to climb a big hill and see the neat ancient tower that stood atop of it. It was already a windy enough day, but we were nearly blown over when we got to the top. The tower was just that: a tower. There was a walkway through the middle with a high ceiling but no stairs or way to reach the top. It evoked lots of curiosity for how and why it was built and what purpose it served as an active tower; those curiosities unfortunately went unsatisfied. 

After making the steep walk back down the Glastonbury Tor, we found our way back to our car (that we just parked on the street) and continued to head west for Cornwall. Only having one day left in the trip we decided to forgo seeing Cornwall itself and instead continued our King Arthur journey. We chose the small town of Tintagel instead of Cornwall so that we could see Tintagel Castle, the legendary birthplace of Arthur Pendragon. What we didn't realize, was just how enchanting this quaint village was, and how much we would fall in love with it.

It was mid-afternoon when we left Glastonbury, and we settled into our car for a good 2.5 hour drive. When doing research of this area, there were a few different choices we considered for lodging. We looked at three different places. 1. The Lewtrenchard Manor, 2. The Camelot Castle Hotel, and 3. the Avalon Bed and Breakfast. The Lewtrenchard Manor really seemed like an amazing place to stay. Unfortunately, it was around $250/night (over budget) and a good 45 min drive from Tintagel Castle where we wanted to go the next morning. Already faced with a very long drive the next day, we decided against a magical night in a 17th Century manor house. The Camelot Castle Hotel reminded me of a bad Vegas hotel. Built like a castle and only $100/night, it had amazing views of the coast and the castle, but there were too many bad reviews for us to consider it too much further. This left us with the Avalon B&B which out of all three options had, by far, the best reviews. Having never stayed at a true B&B before, we were actually a little nervous. The website had rooms with ocean views, though the website stated (at the time at least) that they had a 2-night minimum stay. Owned by a lovely couple, I figured there was no harm in emailing them to see if they could accommodate us for just one night seeing as it was the middle of May and not a very busy time for them. Fortune of fortunes, they graciously offered to let us stay for just one night with a water view for only $125. (Remember this was back in 2009 in case you consider going there and the rates are now higher.)

We got there in the early evening. Tintagel is a lovely, quaint town. We parked in the guesthouse lot, and asked for a recommendation for dinner. A little pub was just a short walk down the street, so we dined and then took a walk around the area. They were just steps from the coast which was breathtaking even if there weren't castle ruins nearby. I think my husband and I were both ready to pack everything we owned and move to this little village. Unfortunately, we couldn't quite figure out the logistics for where we would work and earn money. Maybe someday, we'll find ourselves here again.

Coast of England in Tintagel

The next morning, we had a little trouble with the shower in our room, but the owner came up and fixed it right away. They served us a delicious, homemade breakfast, and we set off for our morning at Tintagel Castle...or what's left of it. Another great thing about the Avalon Bed and Breakfast, was that it was within walking distance of the castle ruins. We walked off our hearty breakfast in no time by walking down to the entrance and then enjoying the ruins.

Tintagel Castle ruins

Before too long, we set off for the very very long drive back to London. Our plane departed early the next morning, so our goal was to drive to the airport and stay in an airport hotel. It was nearly a 6 hour drive from Cornwall back to London. We broke up the drive just a little bit by stopping after about 45 mins at one more destination. Although one might suggest that we've seen enough castles and manor houses to last a lifetime, (especially considering that we're still on the same trip where we saw all of those French chateaus) but it was a lovely day, and it gave us a brief respite where we could stretch our legs.

I don't remember too much about the inside of the Lanhydrock Manor House where we stopped that afternoon, but I do remember that the grounds were lovely. They also had a little snack shop where we were able to get lunch. We walked around the gardens and then set out for another 5 hours in the car.

Entrance to the Lanhydrock Manor House

A 5 hour car ride on the last day of vacation isn't exactly the funnest thing to do, but we had to get back to London for our flight home, and this just seemed to be the best way to do it. Having seen everything we wanted to see, we resigned ourselves to the fact that the trip was over. The 5 hour drive was just the precursor to the 6 hour flight we would take the next morning.

That night we stayed at the Sheraton Skyline Hotel and Conference Center just outside of the London Heathrow Airport. There were lots of airport hotels to choose from, but at $130/night, this one was the cheapest one that fit all of our requirements. Before checking in, we dropped off our rental car, and took a cab to the hotel. With a 6AM flight home the next morning, the last thing we wanted to do was having worry about returning our rental car at 4:00 in the morning.

Alas, our two week extravaganza has finally come to an end. With a $10,000 budget, we spent just under $8,700 for absolutely everything from the flights, cars, and hotels, to our souvenirs, entrance fees, and foreign transaction fees. Even though this trip was almost exactly 6 years ago, I still hold true to my $10k for 2 week budget. In 2013, we traveled for over 2 weeks to Austria, Denmark, and Germany for under $10,000, and I'm currently planning a 2 week trip to Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Singapore where I have every intention of spending under $10,000.

If you're a timid traveler like me, save your pennies and let my blog help you overcome your fears. France and England are great countries to visit for those of you who are new to traveling especially in Europe. There is little risk, little danger, and amazing adventures to be had.

My next blog segments will spend some time in the United States. I'll cover our trips to the San Francisco area and our cruise to Alaska. Stay tuned for how you can have some incredible experiences right in the grand 'ole US of A. Thanks for reading friends! Until next time....

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler