Holidays

When I go on holiday, I like to go to somewhere there are lots of historical buildings/monuments/sites of interest that I can explore. My best ever holiday was in Egypt, I absolutely loved exploring the Valleys of the Kings and Queens; The Pyramid complex at Giza and various Temples. These days I tend to stick to UK holidays and am slowly working through the English Heritage catalogue of castles.

One thing to be careful of. Is that many historical places are closed on certain days or even over the winter months.

I missed out on Donegal castle, Totnes castle because I was there on the wrong day of the week.

The Hadrians wall bus service only ran April to October. 

The moral is check before you travel.

Yes the opening hours of castles and historical places of interest can be sketchy to say the least! I always check first before I set off on my journey and select a plan B if the plan A is closed. 

Oh no! Yes, sometimes the best laid plans can still go wrong! I find with the English Heritage cards that there is usually 'somewhere' that I can visit, even if it's not my first choice. 

Ennerskillen sounds interesting, what was it like? Likewise, the Lake District. I've never been to the Lake District myself, when I was in year 9 at secondary school (back in the early 90's) I had the choice between Snowdonia or the Lake District for the year 9 trip and I chose Snowdonia. Is the Lake District worth a visit?

I hope that your sunburn wasn't too bad when you finally got to visit Hadrian's wall?

My Plans go wrong sometimes. 

My failure to see round Donegal castle was unavoidable.  I was on a package coach holiday with the hotel in the town of Donegal and one free day.  The town was almost dead.  The castle was closed for two consecutive days per week. 

In fact the holiday firm had arranged a boat tour for the morning to see the spectacular coast.  Unfortunately our driver couldn't find the ships captain.   I suspect the problem was that it was February. 

After a couple of hours of wondering around a dead town,  I took a local bus to the larger town of Ennerskillen and spent the day there, seeing their sights and their castle museum. 

The Hadrians wall fiasco was because I tried to visit it in November. I checked the bus timetable on the Internet but not the date.

There was a regular tourist bus service between the towns of Haltwhistle and Hexham.  I arrived at the dead town of Haltwhistle in the middle of November, and discovered that the next tourist bus was due in April.

Attempt No. 2

Next July, I had it all planned out, train timetables, bus timetables.  I arrived in Carlisle by train with 10 min to spare to get the Newcastle bound train to Haltwhistle again!  in Carlisle I discovered that the train was cancelled.  Next one in an hour.  I went to the lake district instead.

Attempt. No. 3

A week later I travelled by train to Newcastle then Hexham, then caught the tourist bus and successfully visited Hadrians wall.  Unfortunately I had no sun cream . And on the hottest day of the year I was exposed to a burning sun.

My Plans go wrong sometimes. 

My failure to see round Donegal castle was unavoidable.  I was on a package coach holiday with the hotel in the town of Donegal and one free day.  The town was almost dead.  The castle was closed for two consecutive days per week. 

In fact the holiday firm had arranged a boat tour for the morning to see the spectacular coast.  Unfortunately our driver couldn't find the ships captain.   I suspect the problem was that it was February. 

After a couple of hours of wondering around a dead town,  I took a local bus to the larger town of Ennerskillen and spent the day there, seeing their sights and their castle museum. 

The Hadrians wall fiasco was because I tried to visit it in November. I checked the bus timetable on the Internet but not the date.

There was a regular tourist bus service between the towns of Haltwhistle and Hexham.  I arrived at the dead town of Haltwhistle in the middle of November, and discovered that the next tourist bus was due in April.

Attempt No. 2

Next July, I had it all planned out, train timetables, bus timetables.  I arrived in Carlisle by train with 10 min to spare to get the Newcastle bound train to Haltwhistle again!  in Carlisle I discovered that the train was cancelled.  Next one in an hour.  I went to the lake district instead.

Attempt. No. 3

A week later I travelled by train to Newcastle then Hexham, then caught the tourist bus and successfully visited Hadrians wall.  Unfortunately I had no sun cream . And on the hottest day of the year I was exposed to a burning sun.

Oh no! Yes, sometimes the best laid plans can still go wrong! I find with the English Heritage cards that there is usually 'somewhere' that I can visit, even if it's not my first choice. 

Ennerskillen sounds interesting, what was it like? Likewise, the Lake District. I've never been to the Lake District myself, when I was in year 9 at secondary school (back in the early 90's) I had the choice between Snowdonia or the Lake District for the year 9 trip and I chose Snowdonia. Is the Lake District worth a visit?

I hope that your sunburn wasn't too bad when you finally got to visit Hadrian's wall?