The 2016 Post Brexit Adventure


June 24, 2016



The Cotswolds

Mrs. Gym and I are in the United Kingdom again. Yesterday, I might have said we were back in Europe but that is not correct today. Britain voted to leave the European Union and as we arrived at Heathrow this morning the whole world was learning of the narrow victory that the "leave" faction had over the "stay" faction. This morning, there were some very happy people, like Don our driver and some very sad people, like David Cameron the Prime Minister. The markets reacted swiftly and although it was sad to see how negative the market sentiment was to the realization that Brexit was happening, the historic vote just made our visit to the Cotswolds a little cheaper as the pound fell hard against all other currencies. In other words, our vacation just got cheaper! Mrs. Gym and I won't rub that in and we will continue to be the fine Canadian ambassadors that we always are, as we explore this beautiful part of Britain.  However, the circumstances of the vote certainly do make it an interesting time to visit.

We left Calgary on Thursday the 23rd of June at dinner time and arrived on one of Air Canada's newest airplanes that took us directly to Heathrow. It was an excellent flight and we landed in London in mid-morning somewhat unrefreshed but excited to be back on the road. We had traveled over the pole and it was hard to get any sleep on the flight because the Canadian arctic is of course enjoying its longest days of the year, this time of year. Through the entire night you could open your window blind and see daylight below as we flew over the Hudson's Bay, Baffin Island and the tip of Greenland before we crossed over Northern Ireland and started our descent.

At the airport we met up with Don our driver. He is the go-to driver for the Buckland Manor which is the really cool "hotel" that we are currently camped out at. From here, Mrs Gym and I will be exploring the Cotswolds over the next week or so and then Gym is going to golf in Scotland and Linda is going to spend time with the Anderson's. Brenda and Roland Anderson are a couple we met on another  adventure and we have written about them in this blog. Mrs. Gym will be visiting them in Essex at their home, while Gym is off to the birthplace of golf.

Hopefully, over the next couple of days while we are exploring the Cotswolds together we will be able to post a couple of articles that will give you our observations about this unique part of Britain.

Mrs. Gym on front steps of the Buckland Manor where we arrived on
June 24th. It is a two hour drive from Heathrow. Here we were greeted by
a welcoming staff and the manor's yellow labrador.

After checking in we hiked around the ten-acre property and this is a
shot from the south side of the acreage.

This is the backyard and it gives a sense for how green the Cotswolds are and how the
buildings that are constructed from the Oolitic Jurassic Cotswold Limestone stand out of all the lush
vegetation.

Gardening here appears to be a little easier than it is in Calgary.

We hope to be able to show you more of the beautiful scenery in the days ahead. Stay tuned...