Great Britain 2024 - Part Five - A Rainy Interlude

Day Eleven - 22 September

We'd hoped to get out of Wrexham early but there were no good train connections to our next destination, Stratford-upon-Avon, until noon.  This would get us in too late for the afternoon walking tours.

Holy Trinity church where Shakespeare is buried.

We arrived and took a taxi to our hotel.  Our travel agent which made most of the hotel reservations on this trip put us in a beautiful hotel on an old estate but it was way out in the boonies.  It cost us over $30 to taxi to it from Stratford-upon-Avon.  It was so remote we really couldn't do anything outside our hotel this evening.  It was still raining so walking around the estate was out as well.

Day Twelve - 23 September

Shakespeare.

We checked out of our country hotel and found a place in central Stratford where we could drop our luggage (thank you Stasher.com).  The place was just a four minute walk from where the morning walking tours started.  It was raining/drizzling but it really didn't slow us down.  Our tour (just us and a guide) walked us around historic Stratford-upon-Avon near where Shakespeare was born and educated.  We visited the church where he is buried and walked by the city theaters.  At the church, the old man collecting entrance fees to see Shakespeare's tomb asked where we were from and started talking about Carter Lake which is not far from where we live - small world.  At the end of the tour we ate at a cafe in one of the theaters and exited through the gift shop naturally.

We picked up our bags and took an Uber to the train station.  From there we took a couple trains to Oxford.  Like in Stratford-upon-Avon our hotel was out of the way in an old estate.  It was too late to do anything and it was pouring rain - we had to haul our bags through the rain to a second building (with many stairs).  We ate dinner in the hotel and decided that any tour of Oxford was out of the question.  We just didn't have the time.  Next time.

The next day we would be heading to a place many have not heard of and it turned out to be a magical place.  We would also be meeting with our friends from Stubbington again which made it all the better.

Pictures can be found in my 2024-09 Great Britain Google Photos album.