June 25-July 7, 2008

Wednesday & Thursday, June 25 & 26

Our tour group will gather at Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Toronto for an evening departure to London’s Heathrow Airport where we will land early Thursday morning. To stretch our legs after the flight, we will visit the beautiful Kew Gardens. Then we will take a double-decker bus tour to get an overview of the important sites of the city and listen to our guide telling us about London.

Friday & Saturday, June 27 & 28

This morning, we will have a brief city tour before going to Buckingham Palace, one of the homes of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, to see the Changing of the Guards. Then we will visit Harrods to see this huge department store and what it has to offer. In the afternoon, we will have a guided tour of Westminster Abbey. This magnificent and world-famous building is England's most important church and has been the site of every coronation since 1066.

Before we leave London on Saturday, we will have a guided tour of the Tower of London. These buildings built in the 11th century have been used as a fortress, a prison, a treasury, a palace and a zoo. We would like to spend our noon hour at the London Mennonite Centre to learn about their ministry there. Then it’s on to Stratford-upon-Avon, William Shakespeare’s birthplace. We will attend an evening performance at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Sunday, June 29

We will worship this morning at the magnificent new Coventry Cathedral, located next to the ruins of the old cathedral which will remind us of the devastation of war. In the afternoon, we will spend time at Warwick Castle with its various sections depicting life from the Medieval period through the Victorian period (1068-1898). Before the afternoon is over, we will visit Anne Hathaway’s thatched-roof cottage. There should be some free time to enjoy the beautiful town of Stratford-upon-Avon.

Monday, June 30 & Tuesday, July 1

Today we will travel to Wales, but before crossing the Severn River and entering Wales, we will make a stop at the Tewkesbury Abbey, a beautiful example of Norman architecture. We will enjoy visiting the St. Fagans National History Museum, an open-air museum depicting Welsh life from Celtic time to the present, giving an insight into the rich heritage and culture of Wales. A visit to Cardiff, the capital of Wales, is also on the schedule.

On Tuesday, we will drive north through the Snowdonia (Eryri as it is known in Welsh) National Park to the popular inland resort town of Betws-y-coed where the River Conwy meets its three tributaries flowing from the west.  We will make other interesting stops on our drive north to Liverpool, England where we will stay for the night. Relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery
today.

Wednesday & Thursday, July 2 & 3

Leaving Liverpool, we will head to York where we will visit the Jorvik Viking Centre lying beneath the busy city of York. This journey will take us back in time to the days when the Vikings inhabited this area. You will enjoy the ancient street called Shambles and the other streets and ancient buildings leading to King’s Square. You will want to walk into the York
Minister, England’s finest Roman cathedral. In the little town of Thirsk where we will stay for the night, we will visit the World of James Herriot—an outstanding tribute to this famous vet—which is of interest to young and old alike.

Thursday’s schedule has us going to England’s beautiful Lake District. We will visit Dove Cottage, the home of William Wordsworth from 1799-1808, and the Wordsworth Museum, across from our lodging for two nights along Lake Grasmere, and have some time to explore this area of wonderful scenery.

Friday & Saturday, July 4 & 5

Today is another day to see more of the Lake District. We will take in a Sheep Show at the Lakeland Sheep and Wool Centre to learn about the many breeds of sheep and wool production. Then we will have the unique experience of going into the Honister Slate Mine to see how slate is mined. It will be an interesting day.

Saturday’s highlights include seeing Hadrian’s Wall and the ruins of the old Roman fort at Birdoswald. Then we travel on to Scotland to the city of Edinburgh where we will have a tour of Scotland’s capital city, the second largest city in Scotland. Our tour will include the Royal Mile, flanked on one end by the Palace of Holyroodhouse and on the other by the Edinburgh Castle.  We will stay in Glasgow for the next two nights.

Sunday & Monday, July 6 & 7

Our last full day in Great Britain will be a relaxing day as we enjoy the beautiful Scottish countryside as we travel north past Loch Lomond where we will stop at the quaint little village of Luss. We will make other stops as we travel through a section of the highlands before returning to Glasgow. We will have our farewell dinner and pack our bags to return home. 

All too soon it will be Monday morning and time to depart from Glasgow for our flight back to North America. Without a doubt, our time in Great Britain will only have whetted our appetites for a much longer stay some time in the future.

Your Tour Leaders:

Wilmer and Janet Martin, TourMagination partners and operators of the Waterloo office, have led many tours, including a number to England, Scotland and Wales, and looking forward to travelling with you to visit many sites in these three countries.