We spent much of the morning booking our ferry trip to Dublin. It turns out that all the ferries leaving from Liverpool are auto ferries that require you to book a car as well as yourself. We were planning on turning the rental car back in when we got to Liverpool, so we had to search for an alternative means of getting to Dublin. Steve got online and found that a little farther down the coast at Holyhead, they have passenger only ferries that take three hours to get to Dublin, which was much better that the auto ferries leaving from Liverpool, at those are slow boats that take 7 hours (!) to make the trip. We called the rental car company to arrange to drop off our car at Holyhead, and to pick another car up in Dublin (it was much cheaper that way than taking the car on one of the Liverpool ferries as well).
After getting all that sorted out, it was much later in the morning that when we usually set out, so we decided to stay close to the resort. Fortunately, there was a fine country estate named Leighton Hall only a few miles away, so we set the GPS to Leighton Hall and set off.
After getting all that sorted out, it was much later in the morning that when we usually set out, so we decided to stay close to the resort. Fortunately, there was a fine country estate named Leighton Hall only a few miles away, so we set the GPS to Leighton Hall and set off.
On a side note, we have decided on a name for our GPS system. We have it set to use a female UK English voice, since in order to get American English, we'd have to have a TomTom CD to upload the different language. The voice setting is pleasant enough, but sometimes she can be annoying, so we have christened her Nagatha Christie.
We drove down yet another series of very narrow English Country roads, (one of which was named 'Snape Lane', which for Harry Potter fans has a sinister connotation), but when we arrived at the gates of Leighton Hall, there was a sign that said that the tours were open from 2 - 5 PM. Checking with the brochure from the resort, sure enough, that's the way the fine print reads as well. We were 4 hours early. What to do?
Well, a couple of miles previously, we had seen a sign that read "Old Wharton Rectory", and we had figured we might catch that on the way back. Since we were so early, we decided to go see that instead.
Backtracking, we drove into the village of Wharton, following a couple of small signs directing us to the Rectory, but after a while, we figured we must have missed it, so we pulled into the parking lot of a convenient Pub. Asking someone who was washing windows outside the pub, he explained that the old rectory was back up the hill the way we had come, but it was only a short distance, so he invited us to leave our car parked there so we could walk back up. Since parking space is always at a premium over here, we took him up on his kind offer (and it seems that every place we have visited so far involves an uphill trudge, anyway, so why should this be any different?).
Sure enough, after a short walk up the hill, we saw a ruined building a short way off the right side of the road. The roof was missing, but you could make out the layout easily, and it was very interesting. There was a large active church across the street with a large cemetary, so we toured that as well. The church in Wharton, according to a history we read, has been active at that site for 1000 years. Out in the cemetary, we met a local resident that presumed we were visiting Wharton because it was the ancestoral home of the family of George Washington. When we told him that we had no idea that was the case, he directed us to another part of the church that had Washington's geneology traced back to the year 1000! It turns out that Washington, according to their records, is decended from the Kings of Scotland at the beginning of the last millenium. His ancestors were prominant citizens of Wharton in the 1600's. Washington's great great great grandfather emigrated to Virginia at about this time.
After leaving the Church, we went back to the pub for the car, and decided to stop for a cup of coffee. The barkeep had a thick Scottish accent, and after talking to him a bit, we decided that he must have been kicked out of Scotland because he preferred Guinness to malt whiskey. He told us there were more historic buildings in town, including a home lived in by Washington's ancestors back up at the top of the hill, so we decided to check that out once we had finished our coffees.
To be continued...
Well, a couple of miles previously, we had seen a sign that read "Old Wharton Rectory", and we had figured we might catch that on the way back. Since we were so early, we decided to go see that instead.
Backtracking, we drove into the village of Wharton, following a couple of small signs directing us to the Rectory, but after a while, we figured we must have missed it, so we pulled into the parking lot of a convenient Pub. Asking someone who was washing windows outside the pub, he explained that the old rectory was back up the hill the way we had come, but it was only a short distance, so he invited us to leave our car parked there so we could walk back up. Since parking space is always at a premium over here, we took him up on his kind offer (and it seems that every place we have visited so far involves an uphill trudge, anyway, so why should this be any different?).
Sure enough, after a short walk up the hill, we saw a ruined building a short way off the right side of the road. The roof was missing, but you could make out the layout easily, and it was very interesting. There was a large active church across the street with a large cemetary, so we toured that as well. The church in Wharton, according to a history we read, has been active at that site for 1000 years. Out in the cemetary, we met a local resident that presumed we were visiting Wharton because it was the ancestoral home of the family of George Washington. When we told him that we had no idea that was the case, he directed us to another part of the church that had Washington's geneology traced back to the year 1000! It turns out that Washington, according to their records, is decended from the Kings of Scotland at the beginning of the last millenium. His ancestors were prominant citizens of Wharton in the 1600's. Washington's great great great grandfather emigrated to Virginia at about this time.
After leaving the Church, we went back to the pub for the car, and decided to stop for a cup of coffee. The barkeep had a thick Scottish accent, and after talking to him a bit, we decided that he must have been kicked out of Scotland because he preferred Guinness to malt whiskey. He told us there were more historic buildings in town, including a home lived in by Washington's ancestors back up at the top of the hill, so we decided to check that out once we had finished our coffees.
To be continued...
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