August 5 - 6, 1961 - England


SATURDAY AUGUST 5, 1961 - YPRES,BELGIUM to DOVER,ENGLAND
Got up this AM (Ypres) and got breakfast. Paid our bill, walked across the street and bought some cards. I addressed them & Chas. mailed them. George walked along with Chas. Went up & got packed, put the stuff in the car & came back to the hotel to bid the owners goodbye, Mr.  & Mrs. & son. They surprised us with a special treat, a good-bye drink, champagne no less. They joined us in a drink along with George & we sat and talked for a while longer. We were surprised & honored since no one else was treated like this. George said this was his first taste of champagne. Saying good-bye to George was not easy, a little old man of 65, that has neverhad any Jim until just now. He almost broke Dad‘s hand saving good-bye & to me he said “Goodbye my lady” & kissed my hand. Made me feel like a duchess. I gave him one of Dad‘s ties for a memento. We headed for Oostende & boat for Dover, England. Lucky as usual, we were the last car on & the first off (cost $33.00 for car & us). We arrived in Dover about 5:30 PM & headed for London, but got tired of driving & stopped at a small hotel just about 10 miles outside. We had beer & ham sandwiches & meat pies for our dinner & headed for bed. Dad‘s cold is somewhat better but he’s quite tired. If all goes well we should be in Scotland in the later eve tomorrow. We’ll do England on our way back to the boat, nite-nite.

SUNDAY AUGUST 6, 1961- FARNINGHAM, KENT, ENGLAND
Left our hotel about 10 AM at Farningham Kent & headed north, first through London onto 1A. the great northern route. What a tremendous improvement on the hwy. almost all the way it’s “dual hwy”, now real great driving. Since it was Sun. & everyone was going the other way to the beach, we hit very light traffic. We went north through Doucaster, Darlington, Newcastle. Morpath & now we are’ looking for a room in a very busy town. Hope our luck holds out. Chas. is tired & shouldn’t  drive so long, but he’s “dour” & wouldn’t stop sooner. Some real nice fellows gave us a AA handbook which can’t  be bought, you must be a member. All 3 were English, the fellow, that is. We had dinner along the road & it was quite expensive but on the highways they do hook you. A Swiss restaurant.  Found a room at Morpath, a small inn but pleasant. We went down to the bar for beer & it was full to the hilt. Beer drinking time is from 7-10 on Sunday. Decided we wanted a ham sandwich with our beer & they were fresh out, so a fellow in the bar offered to run down the street & pick up a couple for us. Really friendly, sandwiches were really good. Made many friends here & before the night was over they were buying beer for us. We stayed up to 11 PM, being a resident here we were allowed extra time. One of the men gave me a rose corsage. He raises flowers, very nice too. Another Scot helped us locate the proper tartan for the Manclarks. Gave us several to choose from on the side of Mann & Clark??

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