Bob Lillie's Travels: 2012

The Orangery at Mt Edgecombe - now a cafe

The staircase in the Formal Gardens at Mount Edgecombe

The fountain in the formal gardens

Mum

A part of the formal garden which includes a feature constructed with bricks rescued from the ruins of the old Mt Edgecombe house which was destroyed by bombing in World War II

A tree fern grove in the gardens

A sculpture in the gardens

Eve and Al with Mum enjoying a coffee in the Orangery

The Cremyll ferry which crosses the Tamar between Mt Edgecombe and the Royal William Yard in Plymouth with Devonport Dockyard in the background

The Finnegook Pub in Crafthole which is not far from Mount Edgeconmbe

The view over Crafthole and the Lynher and Tamar Rivers towards Saltash and Devonport

On the way up to Heathrow we stopped at the National Trust property of Stourhead where we had lunch and walked around the lake in their magnificent garden

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stourhead

The Temple of Apollo

The entry to the grotto

In the grotto

The Pantheon

A waterfall and the remains of a Mill with a waterwheel

The next day I departed from Heathrow and arrived in Brunei for a three day stopover. Brunei was quite warm and muggy. Apparently October is wet season in Brunei and whilst it didn't rain, walking was difficult due to the humidity!

Brunei is a small country situated on the South China Sea on the Northern coast of the island of Borneo and sandwiched between Sarawak and Sabah. Whilst those two places are part of Malaysia, Borneo is not and is ruled by the Sultan of Brunei. The rest of Borneo is part of Indonesia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunei

I stayed in the Radisson hotel in capital Bandar Seri Bagwan

The Tamu Kianggeh Open Market

The Brunei River

The Australian Flag flying because the Governor General of Australia had visited a couple of days before I did!

This was erected to honour the Sultan

Water Taxis

Portraits of the Sultan are everywhere. This is at a park used for Royal ceremonial events

The Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque

Houses built in the the Kedayan River - At high tide these are standing in water.

There was a rain forest walk at Tasek Park, behind the hotel, leading to a waterfall

Some of the plants seen along the walk

Bananas

At the Tasek Falls

The Jame'Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque

The roofs of the Sultans Palace

Monkeys spotted beside the road going to Tatong

The Tatong River at Tatong

And that was the end of my tripping. I arrived home on 10 October 2012.

Two views of the Chateau de Blois

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blois

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Blois

A bridge over the Loire at Blois

The Chateau de Chaumont

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Chaumont

Two views of the River Loire at Chaumont

A traditionally designed trip boat (which wasn't working on the day!)

The Chateau D'Amboise

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_d%27Amboise

The Chateau de Close Luce, a 15th Century Manor House where Leonardo Da Vinci lived out the last few years of his life at the invitation of the French King. It is now a museum celebrating the life and works of Leonardo Da Vinci

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clos_Luc%C3%A9

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci

A Tapestry inside Clos Luce

Anne Of Brittany's Chapel. Anne was a formidable woman who was also once resident at Clos Luce

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_de_Bretagne

To examples of canons invented/designed by Leonardo Da Vinci inside the House

In the gardens

A bridge designed by Leonardo

Some reproductions of the Mona Lisa

A Water Wheel

Another Suspension Bridge

A reconstruction of the aeroplane designed by Leonardo

Approaching the Chateau de Chambord

The Chateau de Chambord - A Royal Palace and home to the last serious contender for the French Crown - the Comte de Chambord

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Chambord
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri,_Count_of_Chambord

Inside the main foyer featuring the grand staircase

Looking from the first floor to the courtyard

A bridge across an ornamental lake in the Gardens of the Chateau

The Chateu de Chinon - Medieval castle which was once home to King Henry II of England who was father to both Richard the Lionheart and King John. It was the setting for the Play (Later a film) A Lion In Winter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Chinon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II_of_England

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_in_Winter

The entrance to the Castle

In The Castle

Two views over the River Vienne (which flows into the Loire) from the castle ramparts

The Ramparts

Al showing off!

Two views of a Vineyard next to the castle

And some grapes!

The Estuary of the River Rance near St Malo in Brittany

Mont St Michel in France. The monastery built on St Michael's Mount in Cornwall was founded by Monks from this Abbey.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Saint-Michel

Mysterious white plastic caps placed over these lettuce plants near the Mont.

Pointe De Grouin looking across the Bay of Mont St Michel.

We were close to the end of our trip. Our plan was to have a quick visit to St Malo and then take a leisurely 2 hour drive to Roscoff in Brittany for a relaxing trip on the Brittany Derry back to Plymouth which was due to depart at 4.00pm. However, about hour before we arrived at our hotel which was near St Malo we received a text message from Brittany Ferries advising that our ferry crossing had been cancelled due to Industrial action taken by their crews.

Luckily Brittany Ferries had made an agreement with P & O Ferries that they would honour our tickets. The drawback was that we had to drive to Calais to take the ferry there to Dover. So we were faced with a Five hour drive to Calais and then another five hour drive back to Plymouth. We left St Malo at about 8.30am on the Thursday and finally got back to Plymouth at 2.30am on Friday morning.

So much for a relaxing end to our trip!

However we did get a chance to see a little of Normandy and the area around the mouth of the River Somme and passed through Rouen and Caen although we did not have time to stop and look.