1998

Thursday at 3:30pm central time we left Little Rock AR for Houston Texas; after a couple hours layover in Houston, we left for London, Gatwick; leaving Houston at 6:30pm,ct and arriving at Gatwick at 4:00am,ct: 10:00am in England.

We immediately made our way to the thrifty car rental to pick up the car we had reserved: surprise number one; we were quoted the car for 11 days for (a) $250; by the time all the taxes and additional charges were added on it was $397. It seems that even though the credit card company says the card will cover the insurance, it is not legal in England so the insurance had to be included at $6 a day.  Anyway thats what I was told when I got back and protested the charge.

It was a beautiful sunny day.   We jumped in the VW golf and headed for Woodbridge.  About 3.5 hours later, we got to the A12. I want mention the traffic. We were still excited and it gave us an opportunity to look at everything instead of just speeding by. Once on the A12 memories came flooding back.  I had been to several of the towns along the way, and a lot of things were just as I had remembered them. Except the traffic.

Anyway, we made it into Woodbridge, drove out by Bentwaters, and back into Woodbridge to find a place to stay for the night. We stayed with Mrs.O'toole, she has a nice B&B with Oxfam. 28 pounds per night for 2.  She is very close to downtown Woodbridge, so we walked, and walked and walked.  We went up and down Market Hill at least 10 times, and all over town. I just couldn't believe I was there "again". We got fish 'n' chips take out from the hotel on the top of the hill, and ate supper on a bench across the street.  We went into the Cross, and I "tried" a pint of bitter - I see where it gets its name, I didn't remember that one! There might have been 5-6 other people out that evening, we just about had the town to ourselves.  Finally we walked back to Mrs O'toole's to turn in for the night.

Saturday morning we packed up and drove to the parking lot by the train station and started walking again. We spent all saturday morning going by Beaumont Baptist Church, through St. Marys, and everything else we could find.  Just after noon, we walked over to Carthew Court and surprised Mr. and Mrs Schofield.  I had not seen them since january of 1970 and I cannot describe how good it was to see them again; these are 2 wonderful people that I could never thank enough for the way they treated me when I was there in the 60's or this time. We visted a long time, had tea/supper with them and then left for our next B&B: the Cherry Tree house in Hacheston.

Sunday morning we attended church at Beaumont Baptist, the same as I had done so often before; "MEMORIES" again, and all of them good; a short fellowship/tea after church, and then we went home with Michael Astbury and his wife, they had invited us to lunch; we had a great meal and then visited until late in the afternoon; we made some memories there, I just hope we didn't make a pest of ourselves.

That evening we had tea with Bart, at the Cherry Tree house, a very interesting young man. We spent a second night there. 32 pounds per night for 2.

Monday morning we loaded up the VW and decided to do some more sight seeing.  we went to Framlingham Castle, and stayed till well after noon. My wife really likes history, and this was her first castle visit.  If she didn't enjoy it, she should get an oscar for best performance.  I don't think we missed anything; then we drove over to orford castle but it was closed, so we just walked around and took a few pictures, but I knew we would have to come back. We finally started looking for a place to stay.  Surprise - some B&B's won't let you stay unless you have booked in advance, even if they have a vacancy, but it worked out well, we went to the Old Rectory at Dallinghoo - 30 pounds per night for 2.This is a very nice B&B  I highly recommend this B&B.

Tuesday morning we headed for Norwich to go through the castle there, just like I had done almost 30 years before. We spent the day at that castle, its well worth the trip, but the main attraction was something I had remembered - "supposedly" some "Billings" were executed there.  The last time I had gone there, they had a head over the exit from the dungeon with the name "Billing"; no "s", and supposedly that was one of the last people to die in the dungeon. The head [scull] wasn't there any more, but they had a mannequin head with the name, and a different story.

On the way back to woodbridge, we took all the small back roads we could. Surprise again, they now have hedges planted along the roadways - it makes it tough to sightsee.  That evening we stopped by the Schofields again to say goodbye. It was almost as hard as it had been in 1970...in some ways harder, because I doubt I will ever see them again.

Another night in the Old Rectory.  Wednesday morning we loaded the VW, went to Bentwaters and was allowed on the part of the base where the bx, barracks etc were located, we went to the barracks I spent 2 years and 8 months in, took a few pictures..memories again...some not so good. Big changes in the barracks...they had been remodeled a lot...outside entrance into each room instead of a center hall; that would have been nice...

Then on to Orford Castle again - they are open on wednesday.  We stayed there for several hours, then one last trip through Woodbridge town - a quick stop at Edwin Avenue, that's where the Schofields had lived...memories again..all good...a few quick pictures then headed for Cambridge.

We spent 4 hours walking around the colleges/universities at Cambridge...then decided to head north...we took the M1...wow what a road...we stayed at a B&B off exit 29 [I think], anyway, near Bolsover...Thursday morning we went through the castle at Bolsover...our plan was to go through several castles while working our way back toward London...but I guess I wasn't feeling well, because I couldn't get warm...the wind was blowing, it was rainy, and I was freezing, or at least felt that way.  So at 2 that afternoon, we decided to head for the Gatwick Airport area.  We ended up at Hurley; where we spent the rest of our nights.

Friday morning we took off to Brighton and drove up the coast to Dover...and thats where we should have started...a lot to see, but the drive up the coast took longer than expected...but we spent the rest of the day there...then back to Hurley...and turned in the rental car...saving 70 pounds by turning it in early.  I wasn't about to drive in London..and thats where we planned to spend the next several days.

Saturday and Sunday we took an early train into London, spent the day doing the typical tourist stuff, and took late trains back to the B&B.  38 pounds per night for 2, WITH A PRIVATE BATHROOM and a very large room, well worth it

Monday we spent getting our stuff together for the trip home.

Tuesday morning we went to the airport at 6am, thats midnight central time.  We got home at 8:30pm central time... a looooonnnnnggggg day... it took over a week to get back to sleeping at the right times... and to get over the caffeine withdrawl... we don't usually drink so much tea and coffee...

Things had not changed as much around woodbridge as I had expected... the biggest surprises were the traffic... everywhere... and the cost of everything... where we would spend a dollar... it cost at least a pound... you should be able to have a very reasonable vacation in the states... compared to what it cost in England. The other big surprise we had was, no heat at night... every place we stayed turned the heat off at 8pm and we froze... or at least were very cold. I missed the coal fires...

All in all it was a great trip. I should have done it years ago. It was very good for me, and my wife really enjoyed it.

Linn, I don't think I would have ever made the trip, if I hadn't seen the pictures and other things you have put on the internet. I just couldn't leave it alone anymore.

Thanks.

Rick Billings