When we first open the curtains I was dismayed . The weather was horrific. We got on our taxi and headed off . With great trepidation we meet at the Trafalgar centre to commence our 20 day Britain grandeur tour. We have never done a group tour before we are a little unsure. We kind of wonder if the other guests will all be in their 80s.

As we slowly gathered together we soon realised that this was not the case. Whilst there are definitely some older, there are equal amounts of younger ones.

We timely get out of London and are soon at our first stop in Salisbury (a great little town Roger and Sue). Our stop here was to see the magna carta. This is housed in a huge church, the Salisbury cathedral. This cathedral has the highest steeple in England. Beautiful stop and the whole magna carta thing was really interesting. The magna carta was signed in 1215 by king John n the barons of medieval England. These were the rules that initially governed the country.

Our tour guide, Peter Lewis ,is full of knowledge and has such an appropriate welsh accent and humour to go with it.

As the day progresses, we start to meet our fellow Travellers, 3 there kiwis, a few Australians and a mix of others including, Chinese, Canadians and a couple of Americans. 48 of us.

Then next stop is Stonehenge. I cant really put down words to explain this. We get told all the history and the archaeological explanations, but it doesn't make it any easy to explain why or how this was formed. They have determined where the rocks have come from. The blue stones from one location and that larger stones from another, some 200 miles away. Which would have involved dragging them for miles and moving across hill ranges and water ways. A group recently tried to replicate that journey with a similar sized rock and the boat they used, was sunk!

The positioning of the rocks is so precise, and the rocks have been placed using a complex knuckle and socket locking them in place, so whoever placed these certainly had a high level of understanding.

Very mystifying.

Just before arriving into Plymouth our coach calls into a small tavern, and we all pile out for our first nights reception and dinner. Great socialising. The room certainly got noisy as we all started to form relationships and find out where we all came from. Great meal and good wine, all included. The sun totally screws us here as its so light until late, so I have no idea what time we got to our hotel room. But it obviously wasn't late as I woke at 11.51pm, feeling like I had slept for hours. Unfortunately, I woke to start a great night of vomiting and diarrhoea, thank goodness for Imodium. Was pretty shattered the next day and basically just put one foot in front of the other and smiled at the right times.

But summing up our first day of our tour, it left us feeling pleased with our decision and looking forward to the remaining 19 days ahead of us