On Thursday I headed for Westminster pier, and got onto a river cruise boat. The weather was perfect for a morning on the river, warm and sunny with a bit of a breeze so that it was not too hot.

We headed down-river with one of the crew pointing out interesting things, like Cleopatra’s Needle – gift of the grateful Egyptian people after the British defeated Napoleon’s forces in the Battle of the Nile in 1798.

We got a good view of the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral and although there was a glimpse of the front facade through a break in the buildings, not when I had the camera ready!

We sailed past the Tower of London, getting a good view of the White Tower from the river, and the Traitors Gate.

The Tower Bridge opened for the tall masted boat behind us. We were a bit too close to get the whole thing in focus!

We went back under the Bridge to tie up at the Tower Pier, I took this shot of the Shard, with a contrail and a sliver of the moon.

Several buildings on the waterside were pointed out – Helen Mirren’s apartment, David Lean’s house, and a pub, the Grapes, where Charles Dickens lived for a bit, and wrote Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend.

We sailed past Canary Wharf – lots of tall buildings – and soon arrived at Greenwich.

We all disembarked, but I got back on again almost immediately for the return trip. The tide was fairly low, and the commentary made reference to the Thames Beaches, suggesting them (tongue in cheek) as alternate locations for filming Baywatch or Home and Away.

On the way back there was one place where there appeared to be houseboats tied up, some with sizeable trees on board.

Now just after midday, the skies had become rather busier, and I was interested in the number of contrails crossing the sky, so here is the Shard again – the tallest building in Western Europe.

Blackfriars Bridge has the station on it but I am not sure why the extra supports.

Then we were back at Westminster –lots of other photos, but this is probably enough. I headed for Hammersmith by tube, serenaded by a pair of buskers with violin and mandolin. In Hammersmith I met my second cousin Valerie for lunch, at her apartment. It was lovely to eat in the sun on her roof-top terrace! I didn’t take a photo! I also had to pick up a coat, hoody and scarf left by Luke. My luggage is getting more unwieldy. We took a walk down to Hammersmith Bridge and the Thames – really low tide by then!

Back on the trains, tube to Blackfriars and train to Peckham Rye. Sat, downloaded photos, talked to Brad, quick shower to wash off the sunscreen, and out to audit a new bar. They had bottled cider so I sampled a rather nice one from Devon. Alasdair was working late so rather than him join us at the Bar, we headed home again for a lovely meal of salmon and a chocolate dessert. And wine.

I should also note that a ginger cat decided to adopt us. It walked in and inspected the house, supervised the kitchen for a while – and refused to leave. When gently carried out of the front door, it reappeared at the back meowing and tapping at the glass to be let back in! After dinner, when we repaired to the front room for a little music, the cat was on the window ledge staring in, piteously. I went to bed, leaving Brad and Alasdair to discuss stocking an emergency supply of cat food.

The last two places I needed to visit were two churches, one in Uxbridge and one in Cowley (next suburb). Lucy Franklin was baptised at St Margaret’s, Windsor Rd, Uxbridge in 1814.

The Church has a coffee shop so I was able to get in and look around. The font has been in use since the 17^th century.

Windsor Rd is full of very old buildings. Uxbridge was the main market town for this bit of Middlesex, before London grew and turned it into a dormitory suburb, so there are some old buildings on this street in particular.

I took a taxi to my next stop. Lucy Franklin married William Bartlett – I am not sure where- but their son William Franklin Bartlett was baptised at the Church of St Laurence in Cowley in 1845.This is a rather sweet church, but I couldn’t get inside.

A bus back to Uxbridge, some lunch in the market square and back on the tube to London. I had time to visit Hamleys (the best toy shop in the world) on Regent St. Loved it!

Then to the London Palladium to meet Shirley and see A Chorus Line – which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I then took the tube to London Bridge to get the train home – but trains were delayed and cancelled due to a problem in East Croyden, so I ended up getting the number 40 bus, which got there just as quickly in the end.

Brad had organised faggots for dinner – it is a kind of meatball of minced meat and liver – which is actually quite nice!

On Monday it was a quick run over to Shirley’s hotel to drop off my suitcases. It was much easier just to take what I needed in a backpack. I had a booked seat on the train to Cardiff at 10:45. The train was packed after Reading, because there was a festival at Reading over the weekend and many people were heading home.

Finola picked me up from Penarth station. She got back from Spain the day before, having had a lovely holiday in the sun, swimming every day and having meals at quaint restaurants. She and Charlotte had their own little apartment on the waterfront and some friends were a little way further up the hill, at a village that is generally only visited by the Spanish. It is not a ‘package resort’, so was not full of other non-Spaniards. Anyway, she certainly seemed to have had a good time. Charlotte had just received her O-level results and did brilliantly, so now goes on to take her A levels. Charlotte headed out to stay with a friend, and Finola and I tried a new-ish tapas bar in Penarth – very nice and quite a reasonable price.

Tuesday was a lovely sunny day and i spent a bit of time sitting at the waterfront at Penarth beach while Finola was at an appointment. The Pier is nearly finished – it was under scaffolding when I was here in May, now that is gone and there was a lovely smell of sawn timber from the open doors – the internal fittings were being put in, or perhaps a floor.

I headed back to London on the early afternoon train. It was good to see Finola again and share holiday stories. Speaking of stories, I got a photo with Paddington Bear on my way through Paddington.

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Back in London, I picked up my bags (Shirley had given me her spare room key) and made my way to Alasdair and Brad’s place. Great to see them and we had a convivial evening.

I woke up to grey skies and the prospect of more rain, so I had a long chat with Ruth and Luke before heading out. Outside, the cloud had thinned and the sun was struggling to break through – by afternoon it was warm and sunny! So it turned into a lovely day.

I started off by taking the tube to see a couple of tourist landmarks, in part to get a photo in company with an icon:

Also found The Monument, commemorating the Fire of London in 1666. My wide angle lens does something to perspective…

From there I headed to Blackfriars as Victoria was closed, the tube and train system was in disarray due to track work and station maintenance, which is why I left the visit to Uxbridge for another day – it was all getting too complicated. So I get to Bromley South and spent a pleasant afternoon with Roger Friend, a descendent of William and Clara Friend – through Frederick, one of the sons that went into boot-making.

Back in London later on, I had dinner with Shirley and heard all about the trip she had just finished, taking in some of the major sites round England. I was very pleased to hear that she liked Salisbury Cathedral best!

All for now — I am off to Wales again on Monday.

I started the day with a test run to the Hotel where Shirley is staying, to make sure that I could get there OK! It is not quite as near to Earls Court Station as the web-site implies, but is quite walkable. I hope the rain stops.

I then headed out to Chislehurst where Gordon met me (Gordon being a second cousin once removed on my father’s side) and kindly drove me to visit Knole House. Knole is a huge old house in Sevenoaks, Kent.

Not all of the house is open to the public, just the main formal rooms – the Great Hall, the Ballroom and some galleries and a few bedrooms. A lot of the furnishings were acquired from the royal palaces after the ascension of William and Mary, who redecorated. The Sackville of the time grabbed most of the unwanted pieces for Knole. It is a National trust property so I couldn’t photograph inside – but I bought the Guide Book. The house is built around courtyards, this is the first, the Green Court

Through the arch is the Stone Court, from where we entered the Great Hall.

Unfortunately it was raining and so we did not explore the grounds. However we had some lunch in a converted barn, around behind the Stable Court

Luckily some of the deer who live in the park were grazing near the road.

One of them appears to be an albino stag

Hever Castle is not far away, we drove there along lovely roads overhung with green trees. Hever Castle is where Ann Boleyn spent her childhood and where Henry VIII came courting. Anne of Cleves also lived here, after her divorce from Henry VIII. The Castle was bought by the Astors, who restored it to its Tudor splendour in the late 19^th century. Again, no photos allowed inside and I bought the Guide Book.

From outside the castle, circled by a moat, appears built of stone. Only the outer walls are stone, the inner buildings are wood and plaster, round the central courtyard.

Back to have a meal with Gordon and Katharine, and talked. I forgot to take a photo!

Remember that London 1 and 2 were last May, so you haven’t missed anything Time has flown really, here I am with only another week until I go home! I arrived back in London just after 5 pm and took a taxi to my hotel, deciding that was going to be quicker and easier with two suitcases, even small ones, and a backpack.

The hotel is cheap, hence my room small and in the basement! The en-suite takes up a third of the space, obviously added later. I have a 25 cm step up into it because the pipes are laid over the room’s floor level, and the walls don’t reach the ceiling, there is a gap of 20 cm or so. At least there is an exhaust fan!And a window that opens onto a rather dank courtyard.

Naturally, once I had dumped my bags, I got a map from Reception and headed out for a walk. The Hotel is on Sussex gardens, just off Edgware Road. Edgware Road was lined with cafes and grocery shops specifically serving the predominantly middle-eastern background residents of the area. Lots of signs were in Arabic as well as English and lots of women in burqas. I walked down as far as Hyde Park, which was full of people relaxing or kicking balls about. In fact, a fountain on the corner of Bayswater Road was full of frolicking children. Although overcast, it must have been a warm day.

There was also an interesting statue:

As well, there was this one:

They made Marble Arch look rather pedestrian.

My plans for the weekend have been a little disrupted as I wanted to get to Uxbridge, but there is track-work on the underground lines in that direction. I could take the buses laid on as replacement, but will have to think it through. It would be easier to wait until next week, when the Tube will be running again. I need to recharge my Oyster Card!

It looks like a busy weekend in London coming up – I’ll keep you posted!

I headed for Gourock on Wednesday, arriving about midday. Fiona picked me up from the station, took me home and we shared some sandwiches before she returned to work at the Bakery. I spent the afternoon organising photos and catching up with various tasks that needed to be completed on the laptop. On her return, Fiona gave me a quick tour of the area, including a foray up to a lookout to view the Clyde estuary. There was a cruise ship docked at Greenock.

We went to visit Ian, Fiona’s father, and Alan was also there, so it was a good opportunity to catch up, since I hadn’t seen either for over 20 years. Then it was back to Fiona’s for a meal and chat long into the night, probably with rather more wine than was good for us! The up-stairs living room with views over the river is just lovely, and I especially liked the video of a crackling fire just behind my right shoulder – I got to feeling quite warm! Maybe it was the wine…

Up for breakfast with Fiona and a lift into Gourock to the station, from where I got a ferry over to Dunoon. At the Visitor Centre I got a map and a brochure on the history of Dunoon in the form of a walk around the main sights.

The first stop was the old High Kirk, the scene of a slaughter of about 200 Lamont clansmen by Campbell forces. There were 36 of the more notable hung from the ash tree in the churchyard and the remainder dirked and buried, some still alive. The brochure has a long explanation of the motives behind this, and the revenge taken later by a Lamont survivor.

There is a memorial, erected by Clan Lamont members in 1906, down the hill from the Church, seen here from Castle Hill (yes, they think there was an Iron Age fort up there).

The memorial has a rather nice Celtic cross in raised relief and then a list of some of the names, but my photo of these did not turn out very well.

Also beneath the Castle Hill, and looking soul-fully towards Ayr, is a statue of Burn’s Highland Mary, bornnear Dunoon. Unfortunately it is not in a good position to get a good photograph! However, this one is not too bad, on maximum zoom.

My reason for being in Dunoon is that one of my paternal great grandmothers died there on 14 January 1944. I suspect that she was taking a holiday ‘doon the water’ as they say in Glasgow. She passed away following a stroke at Glen Lyon, Edward St, Dunoon (got that information from the death registration). I called in at the Castle House Museum and had a look about – there was a good model of a Celtic round house and an appropriately dressed manikin.

The gentleman on duty at the museum was most helpful, and found a notebook that a postman had drawn up for a new Doctor in the early 20^th century, so that he would know where the various houses were in the town. Thus I was able to sort out on which corner Glen Lyon stood, or still stands – because I then went out and found it.

It is a rather basic building, and facing directly onto the road, and around behind the hill, so a ways from any water view. It was probably one of the cheaper boarding houses. I walked along the premier street, Royal Crescent, lovely big houses with views over the river.

I wandered around a bit longer, and had some lunch, then decided to get a different ferry back across the river, one which ended up nearer to Fiona’s house than Gourock. This meant a rather long walk along the Esplanade from Dunoon to Hunter’s Quay. Along the way, attention was drawn to Jim Crow – a large rock left behind by a glacier tens of thousands of years ago. You can estimate the size of the rock from the seagull standing on it.

I got a good idea of the surroundings of Fiona’s house from the ferry, tucked under a wooded hill with the Golf Club above. She is the low grey-blue roofed house, four houses to the left of the blue slate roofed house directly below the Golf Club.

OK, here is a better look, with Steve’s new Land Rover out the front. He had just arrived from Wales, and we had a long natter over several cups of tea before Fiona got home.

We had a lovely meal, and then I had a lesson on how to make tablet, Fiona having learned the skill from her great aunt. However, it really requires a confectioner’s thermometer to get the temperature right (take off the heat at 240 degrees F). It also takes a strong right arm to ‘beat’ the mixture.

During the evening we were called up to the upper windows to admire the Waverley, the largest remaining paddle steamer on the Clyde, as she headed back to Glasgow after an excursion downriver.

The next morning (Friday) Fiona was off early and Steve gave me a lift in to Gourock for my train to Glasgow, and after a bit I was off to London. I had a first class seat, so lunch (sandwich) and drinks were provided. It was a rather grey day, and we sped along through impossibly green fields with sheep or cows grazing, barley or wheat growing, occasionally a farmer cutting hay, and now and again, a city. The train stopped a few times, Carlisle, somewhere to pick up Lake District passengers, Preston, Wigan and Warrington. Then it was straight through to London Euston. 

When writing up yesterday’s excursion to Govan, I realised that I had missed a few photographs, so today I headed off there again. I took photos of the back of the Old Fire Station, in an attempt to answer the question ‘How many rooms did each tenement house have?’ It is interesting that the plumbing for the flats above where the engines were kept is external, while no plumbing is visible for the tenements at 8 and 10 Russell Rd. Thus it is harder to tell where the bathrooms are/were! I didn’t actually get a photo of the back of Number 8, just number 10. It looks like the end flats have two windows at the back, while the middle flats have only one. The arched windows light the stairwell. Thus, I would say that the current flats at Number 8 are one bedroom, and that they were 3 room tenements. The current flats offered for sale and let are advertised as two-bed, but these are the end flats at Number 10, I think. They would have been four room tenement houses.

I also wandered down to Elder Park to photograph the statue of Mrs Isabella Elder as she organised the park. While Mr Elder is off to one side of the Park, Mrs Elder is in the middle surrounded by flowers and a rose garden. However, I was somewhat disappointed to see that she was identified as Mrs John Elder rather than Mrs Isabella Elder, even though by the time her statue was unveiled Mr Elder had been dead for 20 years. Cultural norm of the time, I suppose.

Backtracking, I had started off photographing the remaining tenements on Southcroft St, as I think this used to be Copeland Rd, where the Carricks (Catherine McNabb Carrick and three children, John, Angus and Mary Carrick) lived in 1901.

Note the two different colours of sandstone. They come from different quarries, but I forget which comes from where.

I identified a section of Lindgard St behind the Govan shops as the former James Place where the Carrick family (Robert Carrick, Catherine McNabb Carrick and their children) lived in 1881. It is now the back of the shops and a car park.

The Rennie family lived on Mathieson St and later on Caledonia Road, and I cannot find either in Govan, using Google, on modern maps or on the historic maps I have found.

On my way out in the bus I saw an old primary school, so I went back to take a closer look. Just down the road from the Old Fire Station, it may have been where the Carrick boys started school. It declares itself the Broomloan Public School, established 1875, and is on the corner with Summerland Rd.

There are two buildings, this is the other one.

Close up of the inscription:

The tall buildings in the background are 1960’s housing blocks that are being pulled down.

I walked further along the road, to find the bus stop, behind which were some gates with crosses on – I wonder if that is all that is left of the Summerland Church that the Carricks attended. I found out from a website that the Church had been demolished some time ago.

Incidentally, it looks like there is individual occupancy houses back there.

Heading back into Glasgow, I found the Lighthouse, a building designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh that now houses design studios and various exhibitions. The one I wanted to see on the history of Glasgow was closed. I did look at a display of designs for past, current and future Antarctic stations – the latter have a very space age look.

 I headed back to the hotel early to repack my bags, ready to leave tomorrow.

It was a miserable wet day at first, but cleared up about 3 pm. My raincoat was a good investment!

I took a couple of buses to get to Govan, alighting right by the Old Govan Fire Station.

When Angus  Carrick Snr died, the family were living at number 8, Russell St, now called Orkney Place.

There would have been at least 8 tenement houses leading off the staircase at number 8, each with two, or possibly three rooms. Some of the tenements above the actual fire station may have been slightly bigger.

I snuck up to the door and got a shot of the ‘close’ through a window.

Then took a medium distance shot to get a better idea of the building.

I then walked westwards towards Elder Park, to go to the Library. I thus walked past the Pearce Institute. This is an interesting building. Mrs Pearce setup the Institute in 1906 as somewhere (other than a pub or church) for people to congregate, read, exercise (there was a gym) and eat (there is still a cafe), all in commemoration of her husband. There are separate entries for a Women’s Club and a Men’s Club.

The Women’s Club entry is in a side street, the Men’s is at the front.

Next came the Old Govan Parish Church, so I went in for a look around.

There were parishioners coming out who encouraged me to go and look at the Govan Stones. These are various very old grave markers, five being ‘hogback’ stones, actually probably of a ‘house’ shape, used for important Viking burials and dating from the 10^th and 11^th centuries(AD). There are also a number of other carved stones.

It is quite a big church, built in the 19^th century and later enlarged a bit – so despite being called the Old Parish Church it is actually quite new, but is on the site of older churches, and hence the very old stones that used to be in the Churchyard. They were brought inside for protection only in the last 20 years or so.

Eventually, I got to Elder Park. The park was established as a gift to the people of Govan by Mrs Isabella Elder, in 1885, in memory of her husband who co-owned what became Fairfield shipbuilders. The Park includes a Library (also funded by Mrs Elder). It has a local history section –locked up unlike other Libraries I’ve dropped into. However, I browsed and photographed some of the interesting pages, such as a copy of an 1858 map that clearly shows some streets that I had not been able to find, like Copeland Rd (Carrick family in 1901) and Alma St (the Carrick family in 1871).

Victoria St is where the Carrick and McNabb families lived after they arrived in Govan in the 1860’s. It was roughly where Neptune St is now, with new-ish flats on one side and a primary school on the other. It is blocked from Govan Rd by a wing of the (new) Fire Station.

I caught another bus, to Cardonald Cemetery, where Angus Carrick Snr was interred in 1929. I found an area where there seemed to be burials of about the right era. It looked rather pleasant, with lots of green trees.

I headed back to Glasgow at this point, as I need to consult some maps again, online. In Glasgow, I bought a cabin bag size case to tow about in addition to the one I already have. I have accumulated a lot of stuff. I walked ‘home’ from the city, again. Mistake, sore knees!!

Today I went to the History Festival at Chatelherault – variously pronounced, approximately Shat-le-row. Just getting there was an adventure, as there was track-work, so it was a bus for the last bit. I left about 9 am and didn’t get there until about 11 am. The Festival was a hoot, a bit like the Spring Fair that Deb and I took the boys to about 10 years ago, but bigger and better! The costumed people covered Romans to WW1 troops, so a good 2000 years of history, and included some American Civil War re-enactors and a contingent of German WW1troops. There was a group of pirates and the Glasgow Vikings. A group of falconers also showed their birds – the one below is a barn owl.

There were many tents of traders and craft demonstrations (very interesting), as well as a Tavern and food stalls: unfortunately the later were not ‘in period’.

Of course the main point for the re-enactors was to have battles. The Glasgow Vikings probably had the most fun.

The Romans just marched about –they tried to fight some Picts, who ran away – to the amusement of all.

The Centurion gave all his instructions in Latin,obviously concerned about authenticity! He did switch to English when organising the march past later on.

There was a demonstration of firepower, with contingents from each era, marching in, starting with some Jacobites. I did not get a good shot of them.

There were some Redcoats:

They participated in a demonstration of firepower

Then everyone fired at once, but I mistimed my shot – still, it is evocative!

And then they fired again, but the field commander was a bit in the way

They cleared the field and then all the re-enactors marched in, in chronological order, and took a bow. It was a bit difficult to get a good shot, due to the number of spectators.

I have lots more photos, but don’t want to bore you!

I headed for the bus stop to get the bus back to the station, and must have missed it by only a few minutes, as I had to wait nearly an hour for the next one. Then as the bus drew up at the station, I saw a train leave… but only about 15 minutes to wait for the next. In the end, I walked from Glasgow Central to my hotel, buying a sandwich on the way. All in all, it took about three hours to get back!