1) At around this time, we switched drivers and Daniel became our "wheel man." He has no qualms about traveling down the road at a good clip (read as "fast")...and this is good, we've wasted enough time messing around on these highways! Becky is now our navigator, and me...well, my situation hasn't improved.

2) Much to my disappointment there is no salisbury steak in Salisbury...I know, I looked everywhere.

So there we were cruising through Marlborough and our "full English Breakfasts" were finally wearing off. We were gettin' hungry. We parked the Black Mariah in the town's market square and set off on foot in search of food. Becky turned down interesting looking pub after interesting looking pub. Finally she gazes at the menu at "Polly's" and says, "Oh, they have fish and chips here"...that sounds good to Daniel and I so in we go. What a Big, Mean Trick! What we have here is your traditional English Tea Room...there are NO fish and chips, there is NO steak and kidney pie, there is NO real food what-so-ever. "They must have switched menus" is all Beck can say...Right! All they have to offer is tea, tea and more tea...with a few fluffy, gooey pastry items on the side. Bah! Beck orders a round of "savory tea" for us which turns out to have some dainty little quiche's on the side...it'll have to do and it makes Becky very happy.

So on we drove deep into the English countryside! An hour or maybe an hour and a half down the road we came to Salisbury. We managed to get quite lost as this is a fair sized city and the signage is, as always, just about non-existent. Right about dusk we finally find the B&B they had booked for us in Chepstow and settle in. Bummer, we must go out again...it's laundry day. We had packed enough clothes for five days and we were on the seventh. This was only possible because of the insightful gifts Awanna gave me for my birthday ...a clothes line, a sink stopper and several packets of Woolite. I highly recommend all these items on all future trips!

Our landlady informed us there was a small launderette about a mile away and so we set out across town, with the laundry in a bag slung over my shoulder like a sea bag, through the dark. Turns out it was a fairly good time. Nothing like mundane chores to make you realize you're in a foreign country. We washed, we dried, we chatted up the locals...fun. Back at the B&B (nothing fancy but adequate) we do a little BBC on the telly and hit the bed, exhausted.

We took an hour long tour of the interior led by a most informative guide. I was quite impressed with the four central stone columns, each about as big around as my living room, that bear the weight of the entire spire...they visibly bend under the weight! Apparently stone gives much more than one would think...Another of Becky and Daniel's ancestors is entombed here, William Longespee, somewhat of a hero to the English. As an added treat we got to see one of only four remaining copies of the Magna Carta.

After our tour of the cathedral was over we engaged our guide, Dennis, in some small talk. He told us of how he wished he could visit the U.S. but that he and his wife, Barbara, were taking care of Barbara's father and weren't able to get away...besides that they were bell ringers at Sarum St. Martin's church across town and they had obligations there. Now he had our attention, this is something Becky and I have been interested in for some time (visions of Peter Wimsey and the "Nine Tailors" start dancing in our heads). Beck and I are bell ringing groupies from way back...we once hung around the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. for hours just waiting to hear a short peal. We were delighted to meet someone who actually rings and then..."da bomb!!!"...if we were going to be staying around Salisbury that evening they had a practice scheduled and we would be most welcome to come and listen...now we were excited, church bells, a peal, pinch us we're dreaming. Bell ringing is something new to Daniel, so Becky explained what an opportunity this would be for us and please, please, please, could we?...bless his heart, he's up for it...even though our plans had us scheduled to take in the Sammy Miller motorcycle museum in New Milton that afternoon and spend the night in Portsmouth.

Right, then! We had better hit the road and make some time...

A little reality sandwich here...gasoline ("petrol" in British) was running at $4.00+ per gallon while we were there...it is higher now.

On the road again, down to New Milton and the Sammy Miller motorcycle museum...sorry, I have no pictures of it. Becky went and had tea (we weren't falling for that old trick again) while Daniel and I ogled their extensive collection. The mechanics in charge of restoring the bikes were in the lobby crowed around a television set watching a tape the BBC had done the previous week on the museum. We buddied right up watching it with them and attempted a little small talk but without having much luck. We continued with our tour and ended up back at the front desk where we were surprised to find Becky in deep discussion with the guy behind the counter who was being his very most charming and explaining all about; motorcycles, the museum, Sammy Miller and all the other things that Daniel and I had wanted to hear...you'd think men would show more loyalty to their own gender wouldn't you? The only real complaint we could make was the museum's lack of Moto Guzzi's (they only had two).

I rode with Dennis in their car while Becky, Daniel and Barbara walked. I had assumed we were going to a local cafe and hadn't realized that in actuality we were being taken to their nearby house...how amazing that these lovely people would invite us, relative strangers, into their own home! So we had coffee and cookies and watched their home movies of a foundry making a bell for them. They had undertaken an assignment to have a bell cast for a military church down on the coast at one of only two existing foundries still doing that kind of work in England. Barbara was the photographer and the video was a delight! We then went upstairs to their computer room and played with a bell ringing program they had until almost midnight. As we left they told us that the next time we come we get the "insider's tour" of the cathedral and we would, of course, be staying with them...all in all a magical evening and I suspect it's just the sort of thing that all three of us were traveling for.

Hey, wait a minute, I don't remember taking this picture...oh yeah, I stole it from the Mary Rose web site...hehehe.