Road trip London to Holyhead, August 2016, part 2



Our next night was near Hereford, England and it took a little while to get there. It was another unique rural find. Tucked away in tiny Rectory Lane facing St. James the Great Church, Cradely parish, (above) was the adorable ‘Cider Barn’. It had a tiny kitchen (below) and two cozy beds upstairs. The host also showed us his residence next door- a gorgeous place built with wood from sail ships dismantled in favor of steamships so long ago. We checked out the cemetary behind the church, and I wondered about the story of the husband and wife “accidentally killed” seven years apart (above). Instead of cooking, we had dinner at a pub called The Fox. The food was fine, and dessert was great- fruit cobbler or pie which came with warm custard. On the way there and often while driving, we were enchanted by small farm fields, houses with thatched roofs, pubs, square hedges and some tall hedges that made a green tunnel around us as we drove. 

 
We drove next to Liverpool and saw The Cavern Club of Beatles fame- actually a re-creation a few feet away from the original, which was demolished for a city train project. There happened to be an international Beatles festival wth cover bands from all over the world (Poland? Thailand? Turkey? Apparently they all love the Fab Four) that week. Liverpool has a university and also had a mix of thriving and faltering businesses in the area. We listened to a band and checked out the Beatles memorabilia on the Cavern walls but really didn’t stay long.

We encountered traffic and highways on the drive to Holyhead, and it seemed kind of long as we were a little crowded and tired of being in the car. Our destination was the port town from which the are ferries to Ireland. In Holyhead, we stayed at two different hotels due to space issues. These are small houses on residential streets and I stayed with Fiercely, Cleverly, and Really while DH and Truly stayed a few blocks away. We had a great  dinner at Stanley Arms pub on Newry Street. It seems to be a very quiet town. It was windy and close to the water. It was a very pretty area with hills in the distance and the tidy houses in rows. There was also a Roman fort we passed the next day as we went to the ferry. Next was Ireland! Some photos from Holyhead and crossing the bridge to the ferry:

Then we got on the ferry and headed to Ireland!