This trip in 2009 to the United Kingdom was seeded by a cousin's wedding in London. With that incentive to visit the UK, my siblings and I decided to take advantage of the chance to tour the country too, with the wedding sandwiched somewhere in the middle of our tour. And so began trip planning.
The resulting itinerary was a two week whirlwind tour where we started from London and went counter-clockwise around the United Kingdom, visiting many different places in England, Scotland and Wales. We probably tried to see too much in such a short amount of time. We had to make some last minute adjustments to the plan too (see Part 3), but that made the trip even more interesting.
The United Kingdom is a lovely country with a fantastic variety of things to do and see. Scattered throughout the country are many cathedrals, churches, castles, historic landmarks and beautiful natural areas. The amount of accumulated history is impressive. Then there is London itself, which in some ways stands out from the rest of the country for the megatropolis that it is, while also hosting a large collection of history too. And I have to mention the large number of sheep there, which makes the UK just that much more adorable.
The beginning of the trip had us landing in London, from where we promptly took off to the east towards Canterbury. There we would see our first of many cathedrals: Canterbury Cathedral. What followed were more cathedrals with York Minster and Durham Cathedral. York Minster was definitely a pretty cool one to visit.
Part 1 — Eastern England
Part 2
Canterbury, England The first cathedral of the trip. Impressive in its detail and scale.
Canterbury Cathedral, England I'm not religious but I couldn't help feeling impressed and in some slight awe inside the cathedral.
Dartford Crossing - Tunnel and QEII Bridge
Dartford Crossing, England On route from Canterbury towards Cambridge. Here we were crossing the Thames east of London at Dartford Crossing. We paid the toll and headed down to the Dartford Tunnel.
York Minster, England Arrival at the grand York Minster on a rainy noon.
York Minster, England One of the more intricate pieces inside the cathedral.
York Minster, England A pretty room surrounded by stained glass windows and a colourful ceiling.
York Minster, England There were stairs and walkways outside on top of the cathedral. It was a unique chance to see the upper parts of the architecture in more detail.
York Minster, England There's a clear rooftop colour theme going on in York.
York Minster, England It's not just the front entrance that is built well, but all around the cathedral the detail and intricacy is unrelenting.
Durham Cathedral, England Next stop was Durham and its cathedral. This one doesn't look quite as majestic as the previous ones, but that's probably setting too high of a bar.
Newcastle upon Tyne, England We stayed in Newcastle upon Tyne for the night. We got there pretty late but still took some time to do some night-time exploration.