BEST OF IRELAND & ENGLAND SCOTLAND WALES SUMMER 2014

LARK1961

HELLO FELLOW TRAVELLERS. I AM TRAVELLING JULY/2014 TO IRELAND AND THEN DIRECTLY TO SCOTLAND ENGLAND AND WALES. I WAS WONDERING IF ANYONE HAS TRAVELLED SOLO ON EITHER OF THESE EXCURSIONS WITH TAUK?. ALSO, DID ANYONE GET A CHANCE TO RIDE AT ASHFORD?
REGARDS,
LORIE,
CANADA

Randall and Donna Lau

We just finished The Best of Ireland Tour in October and had a great time. The only opportunity time to ride was at the Mt. Juliet Hotel. The Ashford Hotel had our only opportunity to try Falconry. I do remember having enough time to ride.

CWH

I'm scheduled for the England, Scotland Wales tour Aug 3. I was just looking at the website and noticed there's a change of hotel in Wales. The book says the Hotel Portmeirion down on Cardigan Bay. The website says the The Quay in Deganwy which is way north of Portmeirion. I see from the Google map of England there is road work in England from our hotel in Wales to Stratford-on-Avon. Hopefully that isn't our route or the work is done by August. They don't work that fast in MI. Anyone else know anything?

AlanS

CWH wrote:

I'm scheduled for the England, Scotland Wales tour Aug 3. I was just looking at the website and noticed there's a change of hotel in Wales. The book says the Hotel Portmeirion down on Cardigan Bay. The website says the The Quay in Deganwy which is way north of Portmeirion. I see from the Google map of England there is road work in England from our hotel in Wales to Stratford-on-Avon. Hopefully that isn't our route or the work is done by August. They don't work that fast in MI. Anyone else know anything?

That is too bad, we really enjoyed it! Portmeirion is quirky and interesting- more modern history since it was built over a period of 50 years starting in 1925. But, it does have interesting Mediterranean architecture, a history of noted visitors (Noel Coward, Gregory Peck, Paul McCartney, George Harrison just to name a few), TV and film history (probably the most famous and one most recognized by US visitors was the Brit TV series "The Prisoner" which was filmed there), and beautiful vistas of the estuary.

British

PORTMERION HOTEL--- i think there was a lot of discussion last year from people who had stayed at the Portmerion hotel that it was either, very negative comments about it, or it may have been something like long term roadworks, i just can't recall, either way, I assume Tauck listened to their customers and found an alternative.

CWH

I was checking out The Quay hotel in Degnwy and was excited about going there. Then today I had a letter from Tauck that we would be staying at the Ruthin Castle Hotel. After looking at their weabsite tonight, I've very excited about visiting there. I'm much more interested in history and historical figures than modern happenings. The Ruthin has both! Wherever we stay, I'm looking forward to it.

LARK1961

I TOO HAD HEARD AND READ NEGATIVE THINGS ABOUT PORTMERIAN. I BELIEVE TAUK HAS A HIGH STANDARD TO LIVE UP TO IN THEIR ACCOMODATIONS, HENCE THE CHANGES. I HAVE ALSO RECEIVED A LETTER FROM TAUK RE: HOTEL CHANGE TO THE RUTHIN CASTLE ON THE AUGUST 8TH, 2014 TOUR. I CHECKED OUT THEIR SITE AND IT IS BEAUTIFUL. I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO STAYING THERE.
LARK

OzJohnno

These forums, though underused I believe, certainly keep you up to date with the changes to tours. We are booked on the August 10th tour and I suppose because we are much further away from head office down here that we have yet to receive any notification of any hotel change. Until I read this thread I was unaware that we'd changed from Portmeirion. Now I find we're into our 3rd hotel. I have confidence in Tauck and their choice of hotels but I just wish they could advise their overseas customers of the changes along with the locals. That said their notification is probably in the mail.

CWH

Hi, Lark and OzJohnno. I was pleased to see your responses and glad to know the dates of your tours. Wish we could have had the same ones. I look forward to learning more about my travel mates. Glad you also got a letter Lark since the website still hasn't been changed. Either The Quay or the Ruthin Castle hotel would please me. I believe Tauck's standards are high. I hope the whole tour proves that true. Very much looking forward to it.

ndvb

We took the England, Scotland, and Wales trip in August of 2012....gosh that seems so long ago when you write the year. Pretty fresh in my memory though. Anyhow, we followed that trip with the Best of Ireland. Both were fantastic. Kori was our TD on the first one and Mary on our second one. We enjoyed both of them.

I thought the hotels on the E, S, and W trip were (including Portmeirion) very nice. We were graced with great weather. The only real rain (we did have a couple of sprinkles) we had was in Oxford and that didn't last long.

Portmeirion was a unique place with some great vistas and nice areas to walk around. It is dated, but that gave it some "character." It is on a very steep hill so if you have walking problems I could see how that could be an issue.

There is a lot of driving around and you will see a lot of sheep (I am sure there are more sheep in Wales than there are people). We were in a small group tour so seating on the bus was pretty comfortable. If you wanted it, you could go to the rear and have two seats to stretch out on.

One of my favorite places is Blenheim Palace. It is Winston Churchill's home during his youth. You don't get to spend a long time there, but you'll enjoy the time you get. We had gone there in 2003 on a driving trip through England and Wales. We spent the day there and still didn't have enough time to see it all. We drove (yes, on the "wrong" side of the road) from London to Pennmanmaewer, Wales to visit with some of my wife's family, one of which still lives in my wife's grandmother's home. We only took back roads and it was a challenging ride. At points we actually got off any real road and were 4-wheeling it. You'll understand when that big bus is on some of the roads we drove on. Two lanes (maybe on 1.5) with stone walls on either side (no berms) and sometimes when you come up to another vehicle coming at you, someone has to give way and move back....maybe a mile or so. Most cars give way to your bus...that is the good news.

We took the train from London to Liverpool in between the two trips and again, rented a car to go visit with family. (I always rent an automatic in England. I have enough issues with driving on the "wrong" side of the road as it is. I scared some poor lady to death when I went the wrong way on a roundabout.) If you are doing both trips you will enjoy both of them. It certainly makes sense to only have to fly across the "pond" once and see both places.

Hopefully you are going to see the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in August. I had never heard of it until we were told we were going to see it, so I looked on YouTube for some videos. They were pretty impressive on video, but much more impressive in person. I am glad we got to see it.

Enjoy the trip(s).

We spent two extra days in London at the Royal Horseguards. It is a GREAT hotel and has a perfect location. Enjoy.