Quarr Abbey and home

On the last day of my holiday, I got the ferry at 1pm so had a few hours in the morning to kill. Quarr Abbey was near the ferry terminal. I am not a fan of monks but the area was nice. They have a lot of pigs, a nice walk in the woods and a tea rooms.

The new abbey

Walk in the woods

The ferry on the way back was delayed a little. We left a few minutes early to try to beat a destroyer across the channel. We failed. The channel between the island and mainland is actually controlled by the Navy so if a destroyer comes along, the channel shuts until it is finished.

The trip back was easy, sailing through.
On Wednesday I was supposed to get a new fridge. My landlord ordered the wrong one. I finally got one today, only to be informed that the fridge was probably fine (once they had installed the new one and trashed the old). The issue is the electrics. Which are dodgy and built into the wall. Woohoo! So my fridge is plugged in across the kitchen and I am left praying it doesn't spark and burn the place down. I love renting. :(

Devil's Punchbowl and Waverley Abbey

Despite the weather forecast, the weather yesterday was amazing. So I went for a walk with a friend to the Devil's punchbowl in the Surry hills. The forecast also lied about the temperature which was a lot higher than I expected. So a hike probably was not my best idea. I melted more than a few times. But the scenery was lovely and very quiet.

Looking out across the punch bowl

Apparently the depression was created by Thor who get annoyed at the Devil and scooped up a handful of dirt to throw at him, creating the bowl.

From the trail

Looking back across the bowl

When we got back to the cafe, we cooled down with a drink and ice-cream in the shade.

Chilling.

On the way back we stopped at Waverley Abbey near Tilford. The original plan was to go there first but we did not do our research; there was a village fete at Tilford and the place was packed earlier.

Pond

Main abbey ruins.

The Abbey ruins are from some Cistercian monks, built in the 12th Century I think. And ruined by Henry VIII in the 16th, like so many religious buildings. Looking at the plaques, it must have been very impressive. There is nothing left of the main church and most of the buildings.

Battle of Hastings

This weekend I was supposed to spend 3 nights in Camber Sands near Hastings. I had a Sun holiday down there. I went down there latest-ish Friday night (it was my boss's last day so we went out after and I ended up leaving later than planned) and when I got there, it was mayhem. It took 2 hour to check in and had been like this for hours apparently. When I finally got to my apartment (with some illegal parking and driving as there was not nearly enough parking), it was nasty. The bedroom lights didn't work. Neither did there shower. The oven was from the 50s. It was dirty. And the curtains were so thread-bare, I was awake at 5am with the sunrise.

I stayed one night. The next day, it actually looked even more grim. 

I left. I couldn't take the thought of spending my precious time off there. And given the size of the queue at reception waiting to complain, I was not the only one unhappy.

Still I managed to get the main things that I wanted to do done. 

So I headed to the site of the Battle of Hastings. 

Battle site entrance.

The site is actually in a lovely little town called Battle. (Wonder where they got that from.) I took the long walk around the field with the audio guide.

If you don't know, the Battle of Hastings is the site for the 1066 battle between the English Harold and Norman Duke William the Conquerer. (Edward the Confessor had promised them both the crown of England when he died.) William won. But historians are not sure why as for most of it Harold and the English were winning. And then just kind of lost it! 

Once Harold was killed, William overtook England (with a population of ~8 million) with his 10,000 soldiers.

To the field.

 The field is now basically exactly that, just a field. And home to a large flock of sheep.

The battle field.  

Around the walk are chainsaw sculptures of English and Norman soldiers. They are incredibly detailed, given they were sculpted with a chainsaw!

Looking up from the Norman position (England would have been at the top of the hill)

And the sheep are obviously used to the attention, even the little guys.

The abbey

It didn't rain while I was out, though I left the apartment a little later than planned due to a downpour so it was a little muddy.

Abbey ruins

The Pope had endorsed William. However when Harold was killed, his body was mutilated. And the Pope was not happy with that. So he ordered a church and abbey to be built on the site where the destruction happened. It became the home to Benedictine monks for a long time but is mostly a ruin now. Though some section remains as a school and the cloisters remain beneath. Most of the destruction of the Abbey was due to Henry VIII when he dissolved the abbeys. 

Abbey ruins.

Under the ruins.

After the Battle field, I got lunch at a serious cute little cafe in a 900-yr old building. It was built to house the builders for the abbey after the battle.

The Nook cafe.

The other two places I wanted to go were repeat trips to Chapel Down vineyard and Biddenden Vineyard and Winery. I went to both before when I visited Dover and loved them. This time, I took the walk around Chapel Down and found their Herb Garden. (You are allowed; I didn't just decide to trespass!) 

Of course I also did a tasting and got a bottle of wine and case of cider. I tried to buy the cider last time and picked up the wrong box. :( My brother-in-law ended up with a free case of IPA. 

It's only a short drive to Biddenden, which is in my top 3 UK vineyards. They happily let me taste (very small samples as driving) practically everything. And their apple and pear juices are amazing! I brought a lot. (Thought in my defence, I brought a lot of juice.) 

Connemara, Kylemore and Cong

My holiday didn't start brilliantly. I had the day off on Wednesday to sort things out but ended up spending the morning in A&E. Not so fun. But thankfully they released me so I could get my packing done and was ready to fly on Thursday.

I hired a car at Shannon Airport. The drive to Galway was not fun. As soon as I turned the radio on, I heard, "Today's been one of the worse days on the N19 to Galway with 5 cars crashing due to bad weather." And the weather sucked. Rain. Sleet. Hail storms. And I am used to driving my car (created when power steering was just a dream) not a new one with power steering that beeps and yells at me and requires a series off buttons and levels to do anything. I was very happy to get to my hotel in one piece.
On Friday I did my first tour of the holiday, to Connemara (a national park), Kylemore Abbey and Cong.

Not great weather

The weather was hit and miss, with hail and rain and some sunny patches. Still driving through the Connemara National Park was very impressive no matter what the weather. The first stop, a lake where they cut peat/tuft for the fires, was very quick, cut short by the hail and freezing temperatures.

At the bog

The main stop for the day (and lunch!) was Kylemore Abbey. The Abbey is now in the hands of Benedictine Nuns.

Kylemore Abbey

There is thankfully a shuttle bus up to the walled gardens and back.

Sheep!

From the top of the gardens

Gardeners house

Veg patch

Greenhouse

Looking out over the mountains

It used to be the family home of Henry and Margaret Mitchell. They went to county Galway/Mayo for their honeymoon, and loved it so much that when they received some family money, they moved there and built the house. Unfortunately she died (aged 45) while they were on  holiday in Egypt. Henry was heart broken. He had a mausoleum and gothic church built for her. (Unfortunately they were not finished by the time they brought the body home. So he kept her in the coffin under the stairs and would bring her out and put her in the dining room when he had parties. Some say sweet. I think creepy!)

Gothic church

inside

Windows

Path back to the house.

The house passed through various people (it it huge and most couldn't afford the up-keep) until it came to the nuns. They made it into a posh prep school until a few years ago (as there are not that many nuns left). You can look around the ground floor.

Margaret Mitchell

Dining room

Outside the house

Out over the lake

On the road again

We stopped overlooking one of the loughs (same as loch or lake). And a fairy tree. It's a hawthorn I think. People tie bits of cloth on the branches (the colour depending on the wish, i.e pink when getting married, blue for kids etc). You go back a week later and if it is on the ground, withered, it means the magickal folk have granted your wish.

Fairy tree

The views over the lough were pretty awesome too.

We also stopped in Cong. It is a lovely little village and a set of my favourite books is set there. It was also used as the film set of "The Quiet Man" starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. 

Statue of John and Maureen

There is also the ruins of a pretty little abbey. I had a wonder around and ended up in the coffee shop with a really nice hot chocolate. (I was so cold and wet and it was getting dark.)

Into the Abbey

Colourful Cong

We also stopped on the way back at Ross Errily Friary. But it was pretty much dark by then. (It got dark really quickly and Mick, our guide and driver, said he wouldn't have bothered but he was already on the way there.) 

Friary in the dark

Mick dropped me off at the couch/bus station. It took me some time to find my way to the centre of town (my phone wasn't working and I forgot to pick up a map at the hotel). But I found my way to MacDonaghs for apparently Galway's best fish and chips and the best chips in Ireland. They were very nice and worth the walk.