Following London, the remainder of our time in the Great Britain was spent catching up with family, going on day trips and revisiting some of my childhood haunts. Our first stop was Birmingham where we stayed with a cousin of my mums. Earle and his wife Toni made us very welcome and after dinner at their pub 'The Fiddle and Bone' and a good nights sleep, we headed out to explore Birmingham for a few hours. It was lovely walking around the 'canal walk' and visiting the new library that has a 'secret garden' which has great views over the city. We had a late lunch on 'The George', a permanently moored, canal boat cafe, before bidding Birmingham farewell.

Heading further north we stayed with my cousin Jonny, his wife Lindsay and girls Holly and Sophia in their beautiful new home in Mellor, near Stockport. Jonny was only about two when my family emigrated to New Zealand, I was nine, so until becoming friends on Facebook a couple of years ago we really didn't know each other. We were made to feel extremely welcome and although it was great to get to know them all, I felt I already did. During our stay we were also able to catch up with my cousin Guy and his lovely little girl Millie and my Auntie Margaret and Uncle Brian. The last time we had seen them was thirteen years ago but it felt like it had only been a few months. Unfortunately my other cousin Nigel was away with his family enjoying their summer holidays in Spain, we'll have to catch up with them next time. During our stay in Mellor it was lovely spending time with family, going on a walk through the English countryside to the Roman Lakes, having a relaxing drink in an old English pub (more than once), brunch in local village cafe and a family dinner organised by my auntie and uncle.


Liverpool

We spent a couple of days exploring Liverpool. The first day Tony and I spent the best part of the day looking around the Albert Dock area and going on a 'Magical Mystery (Beatles) Tour' of Liverpool. As well as visiting 'Penny Lane' and 'Strawberry Field', both the titles of famous Beatles songs, we also went past the McCartney and Lennon family homes, to name just a few places, ending the tour at the very famous 'Cavern Club' for a drink and some live music. We had a very informative and entertaining tour guide and driver but not as entertaining as two fellow passengers who were locals. Although travelling together, they had chosen to sit at the front of the bus, not together, but one on either side each by the window and yes we ended up next to them. Tony wasn't convinced they were actually speaking English, however periodically they would literally lean across us and call out to each other with very strong 'scouse' (Liverpool) accents then sing along loudly, with less than desirable singing voices, to Beatles songs that were being played between the commentary, they certainly made it a tour we won't forget. On our second visit to Liverpool we had lunch at the Liverpool cathedral, this very grand building took 74 years to build, interrupted by World War II and suffering some minor damage from a bombing nearby. The cathedral is enormous inside and out and photos just don't do this magnificent red sandstone building justice. We also visited Greasby on the Wirral peninsula, where I was born and lived until I was nine. As a child we used to visit Thurstaston Common near our home and will the assistance of the GPS we took a short walk and found Thors Rock, a big red sandstone rock I can remember climbing when I was young. I have a photo of myself when I was about eight standing tucked in a vertical channel in the side of the rock, I found the channel, but this time the photo was of me sitting at the top.

Manchester

Heading into Manchester to have lunch with an ex work colleague of Tony's, we stopped at the home of the Manchester United football club, 'Old Trafford', much to the disgust of cousin Jonny who is a staunch Liverpool supporter. Not football fans ourselves we had promised to buy Farhaad a 'Man U' scarf. The shop was enormous and there must have been close to a hundred checkouts, not all open by far and not busy when we were there but I guess on game days the place would be crazy. After lunch and a catch up with Heidi at a Caribbean restaurant we headed into the centre of Manchester to explore. There was some sort of a festival going on, 'dig the city', with street stalls and entertainment based around what appeared to be a gardening theme.

Chester

We had a great day out in Chester with Lindsay and the girls. Chester is a lovely city with a very Roman history. Many of the buildings are black and white tudor style and surrounding the centre of the city the ancient city walls still stand. We were able to complete the 'wall walk' popping on and off the wall to visit the cathedral which had an Alice in Wonderland trail running for the school holidays, Chester's famous clock, which is built on the walls, the ruins of a ancient Roman amphitheatre and to go on a half hour cruise on the River Dee.

South Yorkshire

Crossing the Pennines to South Yorkshire we visited my mum's cousin Cynthia, in Wickersley, near Sheffield. She had invited her brother Kenneth around to have lunch with us and her daughter Alison also popped in to say hello. The last time we saw Alison was when their family travelled to New Zealand for our wedding almost thirty years ago, gee time flies. In the mid afternoon we headed into Sheffield and had a look around the Kelham Island steel museum, it was near to closing time so they let us in for free, a bonus as we still had enough time to quickly look at all the displays. We headed back to Mellor over the Snake Pass, stopping for coffee at the pub and cafe at the top.


Anglesey and North Wales

Leaving early from Mellor we headed to Anglesey. Driving in through North Wales I started recognising place names from childhood visits to my grandparents cottage and holidays in Anglesey as a child. As we crossed the bridge onto the Isle of Anglesey the heavens opened and it began to pour with rain. Lindsay had suggested some places of interest to visit so we decided to head to South Stack lighthouse, the sky looked brighter in that direction so it was worth a try. Good decision, we drove out of the rain and the sun started to peep out from behind the Welsh clouds. It was really windy at South Stack, however being from Wellington that didn't bother us one bit, unfortunately so windy though that the foot bridge to the island lighthouse was closed as it was too dangerous to cross. We were however able to walk the path and steep steps leading to the bridge to get a closer view. It was wild and beautiful at South Stack, the fresh sea breeze was blowing, the sea birds soaring above in the air currents and the heather all in flower on the steep hillsides above the cliffs. There was a bird watching area in a small building that looked a bit like a castle turret. With telescopes already set up and zoomed in, we were lucky enough to see a nesting puffin. Next stop was RAF Valley, the Welsh Air Force base where Prince William was based for three years and worked as a search and rescue pilot. There is a visitors car park and observation area just before the 'secure' area, so we parked up with about ten or fifteen other cars and were lucky enough to see two hawk fighter jets take off and land as well as about eight red arrows. Next we headed to Beaumaris making a very quick photo stop at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch this little town has a very long place name and I did think the longest place name in the world, but that award actually goes to New Zealand, pretty impressive all the same. Beaumaris is a very small pretty fishing village and a place I'd previously visited as a child. Tony and I had a look through the castle ruins before heading over the Menai suspension bridge and back into North Wales. Prior to heading back to Mellor we had a brief photo stop at Conwy castle and an even briefer drive by of the cottage where my grandparents lived in the seventies. Their cottage was in the Welsh countryside and I have great memories of weekend visits there, learning to horse ride at a local riding school and of a bridge we called the 'humpty back bridge' due to its curved stone sides and humped road way, well they've either flattened the 'humpty back bridge' since then or we had a great imagination.