To Insanity and Beyond

Now that the holidays are over and the New Year is upon us, I've been struck by the fact that I have a mere 60 days before I head off on the vacation of a lifetime. Hopefully, it won't be like the "European Vacation" classic film, in which Chevy Chase encounters many and various foibles.

I have spent quite some time putting together the itinerary (I'm anal like that) and I have tweeked it and re-vamped it several times, trying to make the most of our time in Europe. Trying to see the best in four countries in a mere 22 days is going to take a helluva lot of ambition and very little sleep. But I think I'm up for it.

Our itinerary looks something like this:

We still have no idea what we are doing or where we are staying on Friday, March 22, because our tour ends that morning but we don't fly out of London until 3 pm on Saturday, so I suppose we are looking for a final adventure on Friday. I probably should get on that pretty soon, don't you think?

We have chosen to rent a car on Monday, March 4th to take a drive to Avebury, then on down to Tintagel and back to London. Many people think it's insane to drive all the way down and back in one day. For me, that's nothing. I am an old 'road warrior from way back. I have been hauling horse trailers and show dogs all over the United States since I was 16 years of age, so a 250 mile round trip run in one day is child's play for me. I have driven to Kansas City, MO from my home, which is a total of 785 miles in a mere 12 hours several times, so this little hope down to Tintagel should be a walk in the park. EXCEPT for the fact that I have to drive on the wrong side of the road and be able to handle their 'roundabouts' which go in a direction that is foreign to me. We have chosen to rent a compact car and I'm hoping it doesn't look like this...

I am one of those "Arthurian" freaks and it was suggested by a friend that I try to get down to Tintagel, the ruins of a castle closely connected to the legend of King Arthur. When I looked it up on the map, I found that it was in the region of Cornwall, which also housed the British Witch's Museum, which had been on my short list of things to do,but had been scratched off because of its location. And I also wanted to get to Avebury to see the stone circle there, but I just couldn't coordinate getting there. Another British friend sent me a link to their version of Mapquest and I worked out this trip. London to Avebury, down the Atlantic coast to Cornwall and back to London.

I was warned not to try to drive in London itself, so we will be taking the tube to Heathrow airport and picking up our car there. I like the idea of being able to stop at any little shops along the way and just taking our time. If it doesn't work out exactly as planned, it's not a major disaster. We'll just consider it a day of fun and adventure. And one thing is for sure, it will be memorable!!