Rhys on Traveling and Musing

 RHYS BOWEN: As I write this I’m sitting at a hotel in York, England, coming to the end of a delightful trip. I started in London, with my daughter Jane and her husband Tom, then we took the train to Cornwall, picked up a rental car and drove to my sister-in-law‘s lovely 14th century Manor house.

It’s always like stepping out of the world stepping back in time there’s no pressure nothing to do at any time and we just relax. The weather was perfect all week. We went to Little fishing villages. We ate a lot of crab and fish. We saw loads of family members and it was perfect.

After this we flew from Newquay in Cornwall to Edinburgh, Scotland I had no idea you could do that until we until Jane found it out. I won’t say it’s the most comfortable flight. It was Ryan and we were only allowed a tiny under seat bag, but it got us there. After a night in Edinburgh Jane and I took the train up to Fort William in the Highlands while Tom went off to the golf tournament at Saint Andrews.  We had an Airbnb that was right on the loch and every day we went somewhere different. Of course we had to see the Harry Potter viaduct and the town of Mallaig where the ferry goes across to Skye everywhere we went was the same route that my characters had taken in the castle in the Glen so it was fun to point everything out to Jane. We also stopped at Rannoch Moor supposed home to Lady Georgie in my books. I chose it because it was the most bleak and inaccessible place in the UK that I could think of and it really is.

The weather was not very kind to us rain most days. But but it didn’t stop us. Tom loves driving on little narrow lanes and some of them were very little and very narrow, and you felt like you were at the end of the Earth. We returned to Edinburgh via two castles,  castle Doune that was the site for Winter Castle in Game of Thrones and for the castle in Monty Python and the holy Grail so that was fun. And then Stirling Castle, which was impressive and majestic

Back in Edinburgh we did some sightseeing and then I caught a train down to York to spend a few days with my college friends. We’ve been getting together once a year for the past several years. It’s always amazing to see them. I’m going to conclude the trip with a couple of days in London when I have to meet with some TV people and we hope to take in a show.

Some thoughts on this trip: English train journeys were delightful. I did pay extra to go first class, but it really wasn’t expensive and on the last trip from Edinburgh down to York they served a hot meal of choice cooked on the train plus they kept coming around every few minutes with hot and cold drinks cookies anything else you might want. I felt very pampered. I also have to say that English hotel beds have been amazing. Very comfortable everywhere I can’t say the same for English hotel bathrooms. It’s always slightly iffy when I step into that shower.Knobs are various sizes and directions. If I turn this knob to the right, am I going to get scalded with hot water or doused in freezing water, hit from a shower above my head or straight at my face or middle . Every single hotel has had a different shower configuration and one with which I’m not familiar today it was one in which you turned the bar one way and a stream comes out of the wall at your face. You turned the bar another way stream comes out  at your middle and the third way gives you the option of the shower you can hold. One thing they all had in common was the hot water could cook a turkey in 10 minutes. I’ve no idea why everybody needs hot water. It is so scalding  that you have to jump out of the way, but it was a challenge . As my son-in-law said throughout Scotland, it’s an adventure.

Suddenly facing life is a single lady. I’m facing the fact that I’m now a plus one and didn’t want to interfere with my kids vacation. But they have been so warm and loving and made me feel pampered. It’s been a bit strange I’m used to traveling with John and asking him what he wants to do today and fitting in with his request and now suddenly I can do exactly what I want to. It feels a bit scary but also rather freeing. I’m determined not to give up adventures.