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Tokyo Day 2 Thursday 4 May 2023

4 May 2023 / admin

This image taken from https://japanthis.com/2013/05/13/nijubashi-tokyos-most-famous-bridge/ without permission

Our trip today seemed more like ordered mayhem than a managed sightseeing trip. Apparently Tokyo loves rules and the application of those rules meant that we could not partake in seeing the bridges above on the edge of the Imperial Palace. The time for arrival at the drop off point in Ginza is strictly regulated and we were nearly 5 minutes late. The initial consequence was therefore insufficient time to walk from coach to the above viewpoint and return on the only stop between the hotel and Ginza.

In Ginza we were taken to the Kabuki-za theatre and shown the basement of market stalls and then taken upstairs to a little garden and a display in remembrance of a famous actor.

We return to the centre of Ginza where the Wako department store is now very obviously the oldest buildings visible in any direction.

In Ginza 6 we find a Starbucks for some coffee and something to eat. The Starbucks seems to be inside a bookshop, yet on careful observation there is another branch of Starbucks within this branch of Starbucks! Very strange. And busy with all seats occupied, we grab two stools at the counter.

Regaining the coaches is similarly time limited but then I must admit to snoozing most of the way back to the hotel. Time to repack our cases as tomorrow we board our cruise ship and sail away.

Before we do our dinner tonight is a Chinese meal, again in our hotel. This is not as good as the meal the previous evening. The cases are outside the room ready for collection. Let us hope for better sleep or at least more of it.

Tokyo Day 1 Wednesday 3 May 2023

3 May 2023 / admin

Waking in the middle of the night notwithstanding, we are woken by the alarm. We hit peak breakfast time which means waiting for the buffet to be replenished! The interruption at 2am was a text message allegedly from a grandson suggesting that I join “Snapchat” – as if it was likely to be of interest or relevant.

A morning coach trip takes us to the Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa and although not early Tokyo seems much quieter than I had expected until reminded that we are in the middle of Golden Week where holidays happen on alternate days and are then bridged with holiday days allowing a week’s break from work.

Needless to say the Temple is very busy and the walk up through the adjacent street is consequently very slow as we are walking against humanity flooding in through the main gate by the nearest station.

It is, our guide assures us, the best time of year to visit Japan. Warm, but not excessively hot, not raining and a pleasant day all round.

Our return from the Temple is an extended tour through some key Central Tokyo districts. First Ryogoku which contains the headquarters of Sumo and a major stadium which hosts week long competitions six times a year. Then onto Akihabara, once the electronics centre but which has moved with the times and is now the manga comics and games centre. We pass Tokyo Central station before heading towards the Imperial Palace, then seeing the Diet (Parliament building) and both the 1962 and 2021 Olympic stadia.

Our guide implies that Ginza has been overtaken by Shibuya as a shopping area and the latter certainly has many designer name shops. It is more famous for the “Scuttle Crossing” and as we approach we are treated to a demonstration as hundreds of pedestrians walk in every direction possible for 50 seconds.

We return to our hotel in Shinjuku not far from the station of the same name. The station is the busiest in the world with an average of 3.5m passengers a day, which implies something like 12 times the annual numbers passing through Waterloo!

Later we partake of a tenpanyaki dinner in the hotel. Excellent dinner even if a little expensive.

Earlier having completed the tour we were tested for covid. Initially advised that results would return in a hour, later revised to four hours but we are both much relieved to collect two negative results. We can board the cruise ship on Friday.

2023 Starts Here

3 May 2023 / admin

Over five years since the last post and a lot has happened – many holidays took place and quite a few did not. Hardly surprising given the intervention of a pandemic and the consequent disruption to holiday plans.

Long ago in 2020 we booked this trip. Initially to commence in April to see the cherry blossom and with a stop in Russia along the way. The trip was redated to May, the Russian stop expunged in the light of the invasion of Ukraine and another day shaved off the schedule to satisfy the timetable of the ship’s later cruises.

As we are sailing from Yokohama we have to first get to Japan. Once at Heathrow it is to JAL for check in! As a traveller in front has a lot of luggage we get redirected to the first class check in, but regrettably not the first class cabin. Security does not take long and we had for the Qantas Lounge. The quality of the snacks is lacking so we decide to visit the Cathay Pacific lounge. Champagne and samosas gets us off to a good start!

90 minutes to kill is enlivened by an advert for a play at the Donmar Warehouse and after a brief discussion we also book Corrigans for dinner. Waiting time at airports is obviously online shopping time. I am relieved when our flight is announced. We board and pull back from the stand on time. It is about 30 minutes before we take off and start heading east. It soon turns dark outside.

We are heading for a variety of ‘stans plus Mongolia whilst the on board system thinks we are going to overfly Russia. Amusingly like a car sat nav it keeps showing an immediate left turn is needed to achieve the desired route whilst like me the pilot is no doubt saying that he knows he is not lost! Once in the air I sequence a number of radio recordings and podcasts.

So having eaten dinner I have just worked out that it is really about 6am, future time. Somehow I think it is time for some sleep.

Not enough hours later I wake, somewhere “near” Ulan Bator according to the maps, but with about four hours flying time still to go. Looking at the map later as we fly over South Korea it is noticeable that there are lots of small turns as we are presumably following a more tightly defined route and not simply taking a route akin to a great circle. Just past Seoul we turn left and then right again.

I stopped the podcasts but on restarting then realise I am half listening half sleeping through the last item I had sequenced and realised that I have missed large chunks of the various podcasts.

About 40 minutes before landing I manage to destroy the calm as I have lost my passport which I thought was in my jacket but it was in the zip pocket on back pack, but not before absolute panic descends as the JAL 777-300 also commences downwards.

Passport found in zip pocket of backpack and calm returns. In less than an hour from touchdown we are waiting departure in our coach. Much of the coach ride is in tunnel as we head from Haneda to Shinjuku Hilton.

Check in, order room service burger and then some sleep.

Tenerife 20.12.22 – 3.1.23

5 January 2023 / admin

Tui Blue Los Gigantes 22.12.22

The sole intention of this trip is not to be at home at Christmas so we headed out to Tenerife to Los Gigantes in the north west corner of the island. Being here means we can rest in the warm and avoid most of the television.

The hotel is now part of Tui Blue. It was the first hotel in the area and when it opened there were no roads – so all of the early visitors were brought in by boat once they had flown to the island. It is a lot easier these days and a taxi brings us into the place fairly rapidly. It is some years since our last visit to Tenerife and passing the areas we have previously visited it is notable how much more construction there has been. As an example when we stayed at the Costa Adeje Palace the road past it reached a roundabout going nowhere – now it is a major through road.

After taking a few photos of the surroundings area on a walk out of the hotel both of us are unwell during the holiday. We do make one trip out which takes us to see parts of Tenerife we have not previously visited.

Banana Plantation 28.12.22

So one of the stops is at a banana plantation and I can confirm that freshly picked bananas are excellent.

We visit the original capital which is attractive and the proceed around the top of the island which we have not previously visited. The residents inform us that they will be glad when the new motorway opens and given some of the twists and turns we encounter I am not at all surprised.

Tenerife bends

I actually liked being here most of the time. Summoning a doctor was not welcome – but given that at home it would have been A&E as it would not have been possible to get a doctor come to the hotel. issue a prescription and for treatment to have commenced within three hours struck me as an excellent advertisement for the health service in the island.

Entertainment in the hotel was a little repetitive – covering Motown most evenings – however most evenings we joined it at least for a while and it was all a lot warmer than it would have been at home.

Cotswolds 1-3 November 2020

5 November 2020 / admin

Broadway Tower 2.11.20

2020 will be remembered as the year of covid – and we are once again lucky. With some freedoms currently in place we have been able to book a couple of nights at a hotel which has long been on my wish list to visit – The Lords of the Manor in Upper Slaughter. The hotel is one of the bastions of the Country House Hotel movement – with a reputation that was strong in the last century and whilst it might not currently meet the highest heights in those terms it remains a beautiful place to visit.

Bourton on the Water Model Village 2.11.20

Obviously we have the disbenefit of short days and that simply means we can spend more time in the comfort of the hotel. We only have one complete day and we drive over to Bourton-on-the-Water as it is probably half a century since I visited the model village and it is a pleasant way to spend some time wandering around looking at the detail – which includes a model of the model village which also includes a model of the model village.

The other local attraction is Broadway Tower which is open. However visiting numbers are limited and we are asked to wait outside – which would be well and good if it was not a very cold wind blowing. Jackie returns to the car whilst I do go around the Tower.

There are two dining rooms at the hotel – the Dining Room and the Atrium so we use the opportunity to dine in each of them once. Both excellent and our only concern is an individual coughing throughout the evening in the Atrium. But if covid germs were disseminated none reached us and laid us low.

Cumbria 1.10.20

2 October 2020 / admin

Red squirrel 1.10.20

Today is our final day in the Lake District before we return home. So some final experiences. There are some further passes to traverse. Heading via Keswick we then head south past Derwent Water and then over the Honister Pass – negotiating which is made interesting when we encounter a bus service coming from the other direction.

Our road then skirts Buttermere and Crummock Water. After another couple of miles we make a sharp turn to the right taking the B5292 which passes through Whinlatter Forest and the Whinlatter Pass.

It is a devious route to find our luncheon dining spot – the Cottage in the Wood. A well known fact is that whilst the foreign grey squirrels, introduced in 1876 from North America, have largely ousted the native red squirrel in most of the country one of the outposts where the red retain control is the Lake District. Until today, as far as I was concerned, this was unproven.

Squirrel in box 1.10.20

The management of the Cottage in the Wood have taken steps to encourage the local squirrels to entertain diners and there are a number continuously scampering around outside the restaurant and we have an excellent view of events through the window.

Peacock 1.10.20

On return to our lodge some of the local wildlife is wandering around between the lodges and whilst the peacock did not give a demonstration of plumage it remains colourful.

Come 2 October it was time to drive home – the usual progress along the M6 and the M40 to get ourselves home. Something like 300 miles and rather more than 5 hours whichever route we take.

Cumbria 30.9.20

1 October 2020 / admin

The holiday plan for this day indicated that we were going to travel on Lake Windermere and then on the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway. However I have absolutely no photographs of the day at all (and have double checked). After looking carefully I have reached the conclusion that as we had been busy all week we actually stayed in the Lodge during the day only going out in the evening.

In the evening we visited the Lake Road Kitchen which is another excellent restaurant. The only drawback is the relatively long drive back to our lodge at Calthwaite – it is about an hour and marks a slight drawback to this week.

Cumbria 29.9.20

30 September 2020 / admin

Lowther Castle 29.9.20

Having had a day of trains and road passes when I planned this today was intended to be no great drive. All will become clear.

Not that far from where we are staying is Lowther Castle – and from the angle above it may not be immediately obvious that it is a ruined castle. It was finished in 1685 but was closed by the owner in 1935, the contents were sold in 1947 and the roof removed in 1957. Hugh Lowther, the 5th Earl of Lonsdale, had no children and lived a fairly extravagant life selling off other properties to fund it.

The 6th Earl inherited on the death of Hugh in 1944 and this led to the forced sale mentioned of the contents. The next inheritor was faced with £25M in death duties which led to the removal of the roof and a concentration on the farming aspects of the Estate. In recent years a decision has been taken to rewild much of the estate.

Inside Lowther Castle 29.9.20The house opened to public visits following some restoration in 2011 – at a cost of £9m on conversation. That work continues and it is a fascinating site with much of interest in the gardens.

Rose Garden 29.9.20

There are various summerhouses, a Japanese Garden and a rose garden which has a huge number of roses – September is not a good time for seeing this but the area covered is hard to believe.

The Lost Castle 29.9.20

Deep in the Castle Grounds there is the largest wooden playground in the Country in the form of The Lost Castle which was added in 2016. it is a hand built playground and the timber was sourced from within 11 miles – and whilst not intended for adults it is an amazing walk.

Lunch today is at the Punchbowl Inn. And here is where my careful plans fell apart. It seems that there are two Punchbowl Inns. The famous one (and the one where we are booked for lunch is at Crosthwaite near Kendal. There is also one in Askham which is actually close to Lowther Hall. So when doing final checks I realise that we have to go something like 42 miles each way – much of it motorway. I was very grateful when my wife kindly offered to do some driving today.

Cumbria 28.9.20

29 September 2020 / admin

Northern Rock R&ER 28.9.20

There are other attractions in the Lake District – today we head along the main road through the Northern end of the Lakes – the hills are beautifully lit making it a very pleasant drive. Our first destination is Ravenglass as we shall be travelling on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway. However the station at the far end of the line is Dalegarth (not Eskdale).

The railway opened in 1875 and was the first narrow gauge public railway carrying passengers from 1876. Formally it became preserved in 1959 when a preservation society took ownership part funded by the Wakefield family, local landowners who remain involved). The line runs for seven miles and the journey takes 40 minutes.

Northern Rock in action 28.9.20

Northern Rock provided the motive power. Northern Rock was built in 1976 a 2-6-2 and is painted in Highland Railway livery (apparently known as Muscat Green). It is the newest of the locomotives operating on the railway.

To return to our base means taking to the hills again and this time we visit the Hardknott and Wrynose Passes. Some years ago I took a Previa over this route – in excellent weather and today it is slightly damp for the TT but it is a lot easier with a smaller vehicle. Given the way the roads run it is impossible to do one without the other but I find Hardknott harder – there are some very interesting twists and turns on the climb. As I am concentrating on the opportunity to enjoy the scenery is a little limited. However apparently it is the last time Jackie is going over these two passes.

In the evening we go to 1863 a restaurant in Pooley Bridge which is at the northern end of Ullswater. Parking was a little difficult for some reason and sometimes when things get disjointed by a little thing like parking then it is more difficult to concentrate on the meal. As I recall this was the least liked dining destination – but others may feel completely different – perhaps we were tired after the earlier exertions.

Cumbria 27.9.20

28 September 2020 / admin

Aira Waterfall Ullswater 27.9.20

There are (of course) more reasons for visiting the Lake District apart from the excellent food which is available. So today we seek to combine some of these. Our first destination is the Aira Waterfall on the edge of Ullswater. We wander up and over the bridge and back down the other side – not the sunniest day possible.

The Struggle 27.9.20 Copyright J Whitbread

One of my personal reasons for visiting the area is to take the TT over some of the “challenging” passes which exist. So heading south from Ullswater we head up and over the Kirkstone Pass – a gradient of 1 in 4 reaching an altitude of 1489ft. It is a major A road (unlike some of the other passes we will be seeing) and is therefore relatively easy. Heading towards our intended destination we descend into Ambleside using the “Struggle”. In all honesty doing it all southbound is probably too easy – but it happens to fit our journey today. This is definitely one of the less scary passes to cover.

Drunken Duck Menu 27.9.20 Copyright J Whitbread

Our dining destination is not quite as fancy as yesterday as we are heading to the Drunken Duck at Barngates, Ambleside. As with most of dining destinations this can be recommended – after the driving this morning a decent lunch is most welcome. Being a Sunday we naturally have the Sunday roast.

And once back at the lodge there is a nice hot tub to use.