British Isle Cruise--Day 6

July 31, 2015—Day 6, Leominster to Southampton

We had breakfast in the Talbot Hotel restaurant, which looked like the old coaching inn it had once been with low timbered ceilings and antique furniture.  Afterwards we visited the market in the town square, then wandered around the town one last time before loading up the car and checking out. 

I programmed the GPS to take us to Hampton Court Castle and Garden just outside of Leominster, then on to Southampton, and off we went following the directions. 

It only took us a few minutes to get there and we arrived just as they were opening.  Hampton Court Castle should not to be confused with the Hampton Court Palace outside of London.  The Castle was originally built in the 1400s and is much older than the more famous Hampton Court Palace by about 100 years.  The grounds included a typical English garden, a maze of hedges, and even a sunken garden with a small waterfall.  The tour of the castle itself took an hour and our guide was very informative about the different parts of the castle and which areas were restored and by whom.  A lot of the restoration was done by an American who bought the castle when it was in very bad shape and had it decorated to look like a medieval castle.  It did look very much what you would imagine a medieval castle would look like.

Then it was back in the car for the drive to Southampton.  I had printed a Google map as a backup to the GPS which said the drive should take almost 3 hours.  We followed the directions the GPS provided and it was soon apparent that it was not the same route I had printed.  I know that happens on my GPS at home too, so I wasn’t worried.  After an hour of driving on very, very narrow winding roads when I thought we should actually be on a motorway (freeway), I started to wonder where we actually were.  After another half hour, which means we should have been halfway there, I still had no idea where we were when all of a sudden we saw a sign that said “Welcome to Wales.”  This was clearly not the route I had intended to take, but at this point we had no choice but to continue on what must have been the “scenic route.”  We finally reached Bristol and were back in England and on the motorway headed towards London when the traffic came to a very slow crawl—and I do mean a very slow crawl.  A drive that should have taken 3 hours ended up taking over 5 hours due to the traffic jam.  The good news is that the GPS did actually get us here, and once again, my dad survived the nerve-wracking drive without having a heart attack. 

We checked into the Premier Inn West Quay Hotel, then walked across the street to a shopping mall and had dinner.  After the long stressful drive and the hectic pace of the past few days, I think we all need some time to unwind—good thing we’re going on a cruise!