After a day of rest on Saturday, (we also had an early celebration of Tahnee's birthday with Ray's dad, aunty and cousins in Darwen), we left Blackpool on Sunday 23rd for our week in London. It was an iconic scene when we left - John waving us goodbye as the two Carol's in the street (his neighbours) hung over their front fences chatting and gossiping and waving to us. On our way down to our hotel, just out of London, we decided we weren't too far from Stonehenge and stopped off to visit this ancient site.

Our first day in London proved extremely challenging. It consisted of 30 deg. heat, cancelled train lines, Marg falling down the station steps, traffic jammed buses being diverted and our car breaking down at the end of the day. Despite not getting back to our hotel until after midnight, we had a good day out - picked up our 3-day London passes and visited the London Museum.

We fared a lot better on Tuesday, negotiating the London over and underground rail system artfully and went on the London Eye, took a ferry trip up the Thames and absorbed the history of the Tower of London. We then wandered around Westminster, to such sights as Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

Wednesday was our theatrical day, visiting the London Bridge and underground tomb tour - a horror event that had the girls screaming. We then wandered over to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and were lucky enough to score 4 front row seats (that had just been returned) to the matinee performance of Macbeth. What a treat for us all - it was a total Shakespearean experience and even though Macbeth is a dark tale, there were very funny and lighthearted bits with audience interaction. After the show finished we managed to fit in an hour at the Tate Modern art gallery before it closed.

Thursday - our last day in London. When we emerged from Victoria Station, the Apollo Theatre, advertising the show Wicked, loomed enticingly before us. What could we do but go over and check out if there were any tickets left for tonight's performance? After purchasing tickets, we walked around to Buckingham Palce for the Changing of the Guard and then to Westminster Abbey for a tour of this amazing church that has witnessed the coronation of 38 kings and queens of England and has the tombs and memorials of so many noted academics, poets, artists and writers. As a bit of an afterthought we visited Apsley House, the home of the 1st and subsequent Dukes of Wellington, and were pleasantly surprised at how much we all enjoyed the house and its history. As the house was on Hyde Park corner, we took in a walk through the park. Tahnee even managed to hand-feed one of the friendly squirrels we saw there. A bus trip down Pall Mall back to the Apollo Theatre for the wickedly wonderful performance of Wicked was a great finale for our trip to London.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed to our London Passes - we couldn't have done what we did without them.

On our way back to Blackpool we stopped off at Ely, near Cambridge, to visit the aged and magnificent Norman cathedral. We also encountered the Bank Holiday traffic jams. A test of patience, the girls were fantastic (again) as we spent 5 hours straight in the car crawling our way back to John's house. We are now looking forward to the Ollerton family reunion lunch on Sunday, spending the Bank Holiday Monday with Di, John and Georgia - the 3 girls are going to the Pleasure Beach fun park, and then a few (quiet?) days before we head off for the Europe leg of our trip.

Best wishes to everyone, and thanks for the messages and emails we have been receiving. It's always good to hear your news.

Love Ray, Marg, Tahnee & Marli

Unfortunately our flight to Rome was cancelled because of the volcanic ash activity. After our initial feelings of disappointment we did a quick re-think, and decided to head north instead to Scotland - despite having our bags packed with clothes for the warmer climate in Rome. A few hours spent cancelling everything Roman over the internet, and some ringing around to organise a hire car that would carry all six of us (Ray‘s dad, John, and his Aunty Margaret are coming with us), we finally headed off just after 3pm, initially for Carlise, then decided to carry on to Glasglow, but after seeing a sign for a scenic route to Edinburgh, arrived in Edinburgh just after 7pm.
We had a lovely meal out at a restaurant recommended by a cabbie and then walked around the city until 10.30pm.

The weather has been kind to us and we spent the next day exploring Edinburgh castle and learning a lot about its fascinating history. We were told the Queen was in town so we walked the length of the Royal Mile to drop in for a cuppa with her at Holyrood Palace (the Queen’s official residence in Scotland), but unfortunately she wasn’t in. We ended the day at an Italian restaurant that made us feel we could have been in Rome.

Left Edinburgh on Wednesday morning and drove to the holy island of Lindisfarne to visit the Priory which was built 1,300 years ago. Lindisfarne is known as the cradle of English Christianity. To get to the island we drove across the tidal causeway which is only accessible for part of the day. The village was quaint and the scenery, as usual, beautiful.

The girls and Marg are learning a lot about England’s history, as we pick up information from each place we go to, together with Ray’s (who has always had a keen interest in history) knowledge as we drive along.

After leaving Lindisfarne we headed towards Hadrian’s Wall, but got side-tracked by the market town of Hexham, where we visited the old gaol. As it was getting late in the day, we only saw one part of Hadrian’s Wall, but that was a lovely ‘adventure’ as we had to climb over a style and cross a field of sheep, with new born lambs, to get to it. We then moved on to Durham to spend the night.

Had a very interesting guided tour around Durham Cathedral the next morning and then climbed the 325 steps up to the top of the tower. John & Aunty Margaret passed this up.

Gave the girls and Aunty Margaret a bit of time to wander around the shops in Durham while, Ray and I went for a walk along the river and John went for a pint, then headed off for York.

A frustrating arrival in York as we tried to navigate around York’s one-way streets to find our hotel. The sat nav was no help as we didn’t have an address it recognised. We all arrived a bit tired and frustrated, but after a good night’s sleep we had a good day out. We decided to do something that the girls would really enjoy and visited Jorvik, an interactive Viking centre and then the York Castle Museum - also an interactive museum of English history from medieval times to the present day. We ended our day in York with a boat ride down the River Ouse, had a drink on the riverbank at the Kings Arms, a fish and chip dinner and then headed home. Having a quiet weekend before we head off for a week in London.

As we sit here at Aunty Margaret’s in Darwen, waiting to find out whether our flight to Rome has been cancelled because of the volcanic ash (not looking good at this stage), we’ll bring you up to date with our adventures.

Ray has enjoyed revisiting old haunts and residences, most have since been demolished and changed considerably over the last 40 years , a mix of emotions for him.

Our day on Blackpool Beach - one can only describe the promenade as a bit like a carnival on steroids! It’s the off season so the streets aren’t crowded - we would hate to be here when it is. We had fish and chips and Ray decided he’d have his with mushy peas for old times sake. We were fascinated by the menu which offered chips with a choice of gravy, curry, peas or cheese and chip buttys (sandwiches) for 60p. Afterwards we went for a stroll down the North pier and were intrigued by all the ‘oldies’ who were sunbathing on the deck chairs in the ‘sun room’ area at the end of the pier. We joined them and probably looked quite strange rugged up in our jackets and coats while everyone else was half naked. We then headed off to Blackpool Tower, only to find that it was shutting early (off season again). Instead we went to Louis Tussaud’s and spent a couple of fun hours among the wax figures.

For a complete contrast, the next day we had a literary excursion and went to the Lake District were we visited the enchanting World of Beatrix Potter in Bowness-on-Windermere and then William Wordsworth’s home at Rydal Mount. Even though it was a cold rainy day, it seemed perfect for the landscape we were in - looking out at the mist hanging over the hills from William Wordsworth’s bedroom was inspiring.

The next day we travelled south to the town of Chester with its famous Roman wall that surrounds the city. We visited the Norman Cathedral first and learnt a lot about it’s history. It was built in 1098, thirty two years after William the Conqueror invaded England. We also walked on the old Roman wall. We were blessed with some beautiful afternoon sunshine were almost hot by the end of the walk. The afternoon finished with pints (alcoholic and non) all round in a pub by the river Dee.

Today (Sunday) was a day for reflection as we celebrated Aunty Margaret’s grandson’s C. of E. confirmation at St. Stephens in Darwen, followed by a family lunch.

While we are having these wonderful experiences we are also very aware of our family and friends at home, especially we are thinking and praying for our friend Vera, who died last Tuesday, and her husband Ian and their two sons. Our prayers and thoughts are with them as they prepare for Vera’s funeral, a beautiful, fun loving and gracious lady.
More news soon.
Blessings - The Ollertons

Have a great photo of the girls and Ray greeting John (Ray's Dad) at his front door in Blackpool - the first time any of us had been there. It was a happily emotional time. From the end of his street,we can see the Pleasure Beach roller coaster - which once used to be the biggest roller coaster in the world. We travelled over to Darwen the next day to visit Aunty Margaret and also catch up with his Uncle Tom (who Ray has never met) and his wife Margaret (who is also a Margaret Ollerton). Yesterday we had a trip up to Skipton to the castle there - apparently the best preserved castle in the UK. It was fascinating and the girls were able to really relate to the Robin Hood movie we went to see that night. On the way home, we stopped off at Accrington to have a look at the Primary School and High School Ray used to go to as well as a house he used to live in. Having a quite day today in Blackpool - probably go up Blackpool Tower and walk along the beach. Tomorrow we are heading off to the Lakes District and then it's off to Rome at 6am on Monday morning. Running out of time on the library computer. So will sign off for now. Marg

We’re leaving for Blackpool this morning after having had a great time with Ray’s sister Di, her husband John and their kids Chris & Georgia and Di’s dad Harry. Went to watch Georgia play soccer on Saturday morning in typical English soccer weather – freezing cold, windy and rainy! But it was a great game and Georgia’s team (Perrywood) won 4-2 with Georgia kicking the first goal.
We spent a couple of evenings at their local, the Meadowlark, (which is conveniently located just across the road), having a pub meal one night and then participating in their raucous weekly quiz night the second. Our table won thanks to ‘Ant’ who has a mine of information tucked away.
John took us down to visit the local limestone tunnels which was fascinating and the girls even got to do a big of ‘legging’ on the boat coming back. The Black Country – as the west Midlands is known - has a very interesting history, but unfortunately we don’t have time to see it all.
On Sunday we all took a car trip down to south Wales and visited Tintern Abbey, a 1,000 year old Cistercian monastery, and also the castle at Monmouth where, we learnt, King Henry V was born. We drove through some beautiful Welsh countryside and villages which was almost worth the trip itself.
Thanks John, Di, Chris, Georgia & Harry for your great hospitality and all the home cooked meals.

We arrived safely in London yesterday afternoon - met by Ray's brother-in-law, John. Had our first taste of a motorway traffic jam!
Looking forward to catching up and spending the weekend with Ray's sister, Di, and her family in Dudley, Birmingham.
Weather was a pleasant 15deg Celsius on arrival, but this morning is very chilly and only expecting to be around 10degC max. for the next few days, a bit of a change after experiencing 28degC with high humidity on our last night in Hong Kong.
We want to thank Marg's cousins, Helen and Janice and their husbands Nick and Merv for the fantastic hospitality they showed us in Hong Kong. Staying at Nick and Helen's was so much more inviting than a hotel room, enjoying breakfast each morning with the family. We packed a lot into the 4 days we spent with them and felt we had the full Hong Kong tourist experience - junk ride, yum cha, Peking duck dinner, tram ride up to Victoria Peak, cable car to the giant Buddha with vegetarian lunch at the Po Lin monastery, noodles at a street stall and all the markets:- clothes (Tahnee & Marli would like to thank Aunty Janice for helping them with the haggling), wet market with live fish and crabs; flower, goldfish & bird markets (although we didn't spend a lot of time at the last 2 as the girls were quite upset to see the goldfish and birds in tiny cages and bags. Marg even got to go out with Helen & Janice for a massage one evening while the guys caught up for a drink at the Football club. We spent the last evening having an Aussie BBQ on the roof top of Janice & Merv's villa overlooking the water.

We arrived Hong Kong safely and no dramas - in fact half an hour ahead of schedule.
The trip was great, we watched 2 movies each. It was good wind down time after the busyness of getting ready.

Met by Marg's cousin Helen and her husband Nick. Staying in their 13th floor apartment overlooking the Harbour. For Hong Kong standards, very spacious - it has 4bedrooms, plus an area behind the kitchen where the Nanny lives. HK has 6 million people in an area of 1100 square kilometres. The density of high rise buildings resembles a lego land - one on top of the other. Given our spaciousness in north central Victoria it is quite overwhelming.

Had a great day Sunday - junk ride over to Lamma Island where we disembarked for a seafood lunch. Weather was 26 deg C and humid.

Took a tram ride up to the Victoria Peak and back, then went for Yum Cha and in the afternoon shopping at Stanley Market. The girls had a great time - overawed by all the stalls and spent most of their HK dollars.

The girls have enjoyed swimming each afternoon with their cousins.

Departing Thursday morning for London - will arrive 2.30am (EST) Friday morning.