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Post by juju on Apr 13, 2016 17:34:50 GMT
If you're into trains, there are plenty of steam railways still in existence if you come to Wales. The Vale of Rheidol and the Talyllyn are superbly picturesque. I remember George (Erekose) used to make a pilgrimage there. www.rheidolrailway.co.uk/Actually I was lucky enough to see the Rheidol train arrive in Aberystwyth this afternoon.
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Post by Moose on Apr 13, 2016 18:34:10 GMT
You're welcome to use us as a basis for the Lakes . Anyone else want to come too?
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 13, 2016 19:14:39 GMT
I'm not really 'into trains'. I'm more 'in to airplanes'.
But I've found that specialty train rides tend to be good sources of seeing the countryside and getting some local geography and history.
I've also found that if I'm not particularly familiar with an area in the UK, if there is a double-decker 'local tour' bus, they can be great sources for tourista familiarization. Do the loop, find what interests you and go back to that....
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Post by tangent on Apr 14, 2016 7:02:32 GMT
Are you going to hire a car?
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 14, 2016 12:24:18 GMT
Are you going to hire a car? I don't intend to do so.
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 15, 2016 1:52:10 GMT
You're welcome to use us as a basis for the Lakes . Anyone else want to come too? I'll take you up on that, but I don't have a timetable yet, so don't even ask. Carlisle is the transit switching center that serves northern Cumbria, right? If and when I get there, I'll be interested in how to get to Man. My sources tell me I'll have to go to Morecombe Bay, at minimum, to snag a ferry to Douglas.
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Post by tangent on Apr 15, 2016 9:16:32 GMT
If and when I get there, I'll be interested in how to get to Man. My sources tell me I'll have to go to Morecombe Bay, at minimum, to snag a ferry to Douglas. Or you can fly from Manchester, Liverpool or Blackpool for about ÂŁ55 return.
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Post by juju on Apr 15, 2016 10:22:30 GMT
If and when I get there, I'll be interested in how to get to Man. My sources tell me I'll have to go to Morecombe Bay, at minimum, to snag a ferry to Douglas. Or you can fly from Manchester, Liverpool or Blackpool for about ÂŁ55 return. My husband flew to Man a few years ago. The plane is an ATP - quite an experience, he said.
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 15, 2016 16:05:33 GMT
Or you can fly from Manchester, Liverpool or Blackpool for about ÂŁ55 return. My husband flew to Man a few years ago. The plane is an ATP - quite an experience, he said. Oooo....Or Cardiff? What are they flying? I wouldn't need a return. ETA: Ooo...ooo..ooo....it's called Citywings...aka Van Air Europe. And they fly twin-engine turboprop regional airliners like this one: (I don't know what it is, but I'll find out....) Citywings includes not only Cardiff, but Belfast, Jersey, and Anglesey, as well as the Midlands and London. That would be THE BEST. I love those small passenger liners...plus, they often tend to be STOL craft (if not used that way on a regional airliner). THANK YOU TANGENT AND JUJU!!! This is 'bucket-list' stuff. (For example, I found out that de Havilland Canada sold the licenses on all their designs to Victoria-based Viking and they are now building the Twin Otter again. A local air service which operates out of Victoria's Inner Harbour flys Otters, Twin Otters, and Beavers...a flight on a Twin Otter is on my bucket list.)
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Post by juju on Apr 15, 2016 16:09:59 GMT
Don't think Cardiff fly to Man. My husband flew from Liverpool.
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Post by tangent on Apr 15, 2016 16:11:59 GMT
You can fly to the Isle of Man from Bristol. Flights are available from the Isle of Man to the following destinations: Belfast City Birmingham Blackpool Bristol Dublin Geneva Glasgow Gloucester Liverpool London City London Gatwick Manchester Newcastle See Isle of Man Airport.
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 15, 2016 16:35:48 GMT
Yeah...Jumping around produces slightly variant lists of destinations. Each list has produced an acceptable destination for me, be it Anglesey, Bristol, or Cardiff. Jersey sounded cool, too...but a major diversion.
The craft Citywings uses is a LET L-410 Turbolet, a Czech-made passenger liner. I thought it looked familiar; I have a scale kit.
A flight on a L-410 just made my list of 'to-do'.
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Post by tangent on Apr 23, 2016 0:56:31 GMT
Duxford seems to be it...the 'definitive'. I checked with the curator of the Avro Heritage Museum and he agrees, Duxford is the definitive museum. His is a very small one. Cosford is also worth a visit if you're interested in the Memphis Belle.
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 23, 2016 2:27:31 GMT
Duxford seems to be it...the 'definitive'. I checked with the curator of the Avro Heritage Museum and he agrees, Duxford is the definitive museum. His is a very small one. Cosford is also worth a visit if you're interested in the Memphis Belle. Cosford has crossed my radar. It seems a worthy secondary museum. I'll have to look it up to see if it matches a possible trajectory. ETA: Between Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury, close to Telford....and the Midlands Wellington. Is Cosford on some kind of rail line?
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Post by tangent on Apr 23, 2016 7:19:28 GMT
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 23, 2016 13:43:39 GMT
Thanks, Steve. Most interesting how there is no coastal line from Holyhead to Fishguard Harbour. Is this some kind of Imperial tactical measure to keep the northern Cymri from easily conspiring with the southern Cymri against their Saxon overlords?
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Post by Sarah W. on Apr 23, 2016 15:10:36 GMT
The lack of rail lines in Wales surprised me, too. It looks like you'll have a great trip whichever places you go. This is one of my favorite stages of planning a trip. :-) Then I discover that I've got about 8 months worth of destinations and have to start painfully cutting down the list. As far as rail travel goes, I recommend the search engine on thetrainline.com/ since it's easy to navigate. But I don't buy tickets from them because they charge a fee to use credit cards and perhaps (it's been a while since I tried) have a hard time dealing with my American address. I get tickets from the Southern Railway website. Because of National Rail, you can buy any tickets from any company's website, and Southern Rail don't charge a fee and don't have a problem with my address, so I use them. Unless you enjoy spending an arm and a leg on train tickets, advance tickets are the way to go. But they are restricted to a particular train, so if you go that route, don't plan on cutting anything too close.
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 23, 2016 17:39:49 GMT
So...I'm Google Mapping through the Midlands, looking at Duxford and Cosford, checking out the rail stations (at the right elevation, in 'Nature' mode', the stations are shown with red Britrail logos). I goggled around the Cosford site and the airfield and, as I was goggling out....there....just south of the Cosford airfield...David Austin Roses nursery. (One of several, I assume.) None the less, such a reason to book in to Cosford....having just left Duxford, or vice versa.
Hmmm....Looking at the maps provided, it looks as the Duxford to Cosford is outta the question. It is not straightforward. Whittlesford Parkway station, on what I'm guessing is the Greater Anglia line, out of Liverpool Street station in London, seems to be the closest to Duxford. It is two stops south of Cambridge. There is no direct means to Cosford from there. It's back to London, shuttle over to the St. Pancras/Euston station to catch a Shrewsbury bound train of either Arriva Wales or London Midlands lines. Does the Arriva carry more touristas, while the London Midlands is the 'commuter' route?
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 23, 2016 20:13:44 GMT
Thanks, Sarah...I'll check them out.
I have basically set myself the following objectives: the Orkney Islands, specifically to visit the Skara Brae site. I have found a guide out of Inverness which provides a six-day package tour that suits my needs. That's one destination, and, it is the most 'set' of any...the remainder can move around after this part is established.
My second objective is to visit the Isle of Man. I don't know what I'm expecting or even looking for...it's just there enticing me.
Third objective is to visit Wales. I knew of Snodownia, but that is about it. I'm open to all sorts of Welsh suggestions and I'm sorting through them.
I like aviation museums. I'm a modeling hobbyist, so I like to get up-close looks at the real thing aka 'walk-arounds'. I'm a bit of a WWII Coastal Command buff, so I'll be 'in-country' for some great viewing....I just don't know where they all are. Duxford and Cosford are great suggestions.
Shrewsbury has a bit of a 'romantic' aura, thanks to the novels and video presentations of the Cadfael novels of Ellis Peters (which I'm sure it is nothing like, say, Yorvik)...and, it seems a bit of a stepping stone, transportation-wise in to the 'regions' of Wales.
With all that, getting from one to the next offers the opportunity to visit something along the way. It'll be an opportunity to revisit Castlerigg and Peter Rabbit's haunts, and visit friends in Cumbria and just moose around.
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 23, 2016 20:31:30 GMT
Ooo...Standing stones. I love good prehistoric monuments.
Which reminds me...Between the Orkneys and Cumbria is 'the Wall'. I will be crossing its transit of the isle. Somewhere near Carlisle, right? I'm open to suggestions of good viewing spots on Hadrian's Wall. (Which we know did such a bang-up job of keeping the screaming half-animal barbarians to the north in the north and not down rustling livestock in Northumbria.)
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 23, 2016 20:53:15 GMT
It's a bit far afield, but has anyone here visited Carnac, in Brittany?
Juju...Any of that in the Pembroke region? Y'know, notable monuments to human endeavors undertaken before accurate record-keeping? Or, is it mostly natural beauty? I'm curious to see Milford Haven harbour, because I had a line, as a Shakespearean Roman captain, reputedly spoken from a bluff overlooking the port where Roman troop ships were moored, having just disgorged a Roman army to subdue Britain. I know that Anglesey had a notorious reputation as the "last stand of the Druids" against the Roman campaign to stamp out Druidism...but I'm unaware of any notorious monuments there.
Then...Anybody...What are the best castles in Wales to visit?
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Post by Moose on Apr 23, 2016 20:59:21 GMT
At peak season they run ferries from Whitehaven over to Man but there's no regular service .. depends what month you come
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 23, 2016 21:03:05 GMT
"Peak season"? Is it possible to put a date on that?
And, Jo...There are reputedly two more stone circles in nearby Cumbria: Long Meg and Her Daughters and Swinside. Do you know them?
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 23, 2016 21:18:30 GMT
At peak season they run ferries from Whitehaven over to Man but there's no regular service .. depends what month you come "Peak season"? Is it possible to put a date on that? That would be most excellent, if it happens. Otherwise, to Haysham Port, or Blackpool, doesn't seem to be too difficult from Whitehaven....Carlisle and Hadrian's Wall being the other direction. Another thing is that if I take my Orkney jaunt to and from Inverness, I'll be there and can use it as a base to venture in to the Speyside, in search of the nesting ground of wild malt whiskys. Glenlivet and Glenfiddich distilleries beckon.
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Post by Moose on Apr 24, 2016 2:24:53 GMT
I've seen all of the stone circles in Cumbria But can't really put a name to them. Long Meg and her daughters ring a bell but I dunno which it is. There's a number of very small ones too, often in unlikely places.
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Post by Moose on Apr 24, 2016 2:25:09 GMT
Peak season in this case would be sometime in June
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Post by JoeP on Apr 24, 2016 14:58:58 GMT
It's a bit far afield, but has anyone here visited Carnac, in Brittany? Yes, and I think you would enjoy Brittany. But it's not that convenient for the rest of your itinerary (except by sea in the ancient way, before good roads let alone rail and air).
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 24, 2016 18:57:13 GMT
It's a bit far afield, but has anyone here visited Carnac, in Brittany? Yes, and I think you would enjoy Brittany. No doubt. Yeah...It ain't gonna happen. Sad but true.
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Post by tangent on Apr 24, 2016 19:42:28 GMT
Hmmm....Looking at the maps provided, it looks as the Duxford to Cosford is outta the question. There's a good train service from Cambridge to Birmingham New Street and a regular service from Birmingham New Street to Cosford. Most interesting how there is no coastal line from Holyhead to Fishguard Harbour. Is this some kind of Imperial tactical measure to keep the northern Cymri from easily conspiring with the southern Cymri against their Saxon overlords? It's more likely people in North Wales don't want to go to Fishguard. There used to be a railway from Aberystwyth to Carmarthen (near Fishguard) but it was axed by the infamous Dr Beaching in 1965. What are the best castles in Wales to visit? Caernarfon Castle is probably the best but there are so many to choose from, see Welsh Castles.
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Post by Sarah W. on Apr 25, 2016 19:02:15 GMT
I'm open to suggestions of good viewing spots on Hadrian's Wall. I went to Housesteads Roman Fort - easy to get to by bus and had lots of information plaques as well as lovely views. Right next to the fort is the only bit on of the wall you're actually allowed to walk on, which was pretty cool. In the area is also the "Robin Hood" tree in Sycamore Gap which is quite picturesque (you can find lots of pictures on Google, which, depending on the weather, might be nicer than actually being there).
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