10 Days England Scotland and Wales

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1 10 Days England Scotland and Wales Vacation Overview Spectacular scenery, exciting cities, and thrilling experiences this western Canada tour includes all of this and more. You ll overnight in Calgary, Banff National Park, Jasper National Park, Vancouver, and Victoria. You ll also overnight on Via Rail s the Canadian, a tour highlight that takes you across Canada s Rocky Mountains and brings you back to the days when the journey was part of the fun. In comfortable cabin accommodations and renovated cars, you ll witness snowcapped mountains, ranchlands along the South Thompson River, and fertile fields as you sit back, relax, and travel from Jasper to Vancouver. Another tour highlight is the journey from Banff National Park to Jasper National Park. You ll stop at breathtaking Lake Louise, with greenblue waters forming a perfect mirror reflection of Mount Victoria, and you ll pass snowcapped mountains, exquisite lakes, and steep gorges on your way to Columbia Icefield. Here, you ll experience the Ice Explorer, an allterrain vehicle that travels on ice measuring 1,200 feet thick! Before heading to Jasper, you ll enjoy two nights and free time in Banff National Park, one of Canada s favorite resorts. Two nights in Jasper National Park give you time to explore, hike, or take an optional narrated cruise on Lake Maligne. This western Canada tour also includes sightseeing in each city Calgary, Vancouver, and Victoria. You ll enjoy sailing from Vancouver to Victoria via the scenic Gulf Islands. In Victoria, you ll visit worldfamous Butchart Gardens with its 55 acres of floral displays. For the valueminded traveler looking for stunning scenery, fun adventures, and exciting cities, this western Canada tour is the perfect vacation!. Sightseeing: Visits to Shakespeare s Stratford-upon-Avon, Coventry, Hadrian s Wall, Jedburgh, Edinburgh Castle, tickets for Edinburgh Military Tattoo (departure numbers 0801 through 0822), St. Andrews, Pitlochry, Culloden Moor, Fort William, Gretna Green, Grasmere, Liverpool, BetwsyCoed, Caernarvon, Ludlow, Bath, Glastonbury, WidecombeintheMoor, Plymouth, Stonehenge; orientation drive in Cardiff; walking tours in York and Chester

2 10 Days England Scotland and Wales Accommodations MEALS: Full English breakfast daily; 4 three course dinners with choice of menus HOTELS LEEDS Mercure Leeds Parkway (F) EDINBURGH Capital (F) GRANTOWNONSPEY Craiglynne (F) GLASGOW Pond (F) LIVERPOOL Holiday Inn Liverpool City Centre (F) CARDIFF Novotel (F) PLYMOUTH Jurys Inn (F)

3 Transportation: Private first class air-conditioned motor coach. Itinerary: Day 1 London, England StratforduponAvon Coventry Leeds. Meet your Tour Director and traveling companions and depart at 8 am for a memorable day of sightseeing. Head for Shakespeare s StratforduponAvon to take photos of Anne Hathaway s Cottage, then explore the town at your own pace. After lunch, visit Coventry, whose center had to be rebuilt after the devastation of World War II bombings, and hear the tale of Lady Godiva and Peeping Tom before admiring the splendid modern cathedral. Finally, head northwards out of the Midlands to tonight s destination. (D) Day 2 Leeds York Jedburgh, Scotland Edinburgh. In York, England s most complete medieval city, stand in awe in front of the great structure of York Minster, then follow your Tour Director through a maze of quaint streets including the narrow Shambles. Continue through wild Northumberland National Park and see a section of Hadrian s Wall, the Roman coasttocoast defense against marauding northern tribes. Then, cross the Scottish border and at Jedburgh, glimpse the house of Mary, Queen of Scots, and see the abbey ruins. Lateafternoon arrival in Edinburgh. A suggestion for this evening: enjoy a traditional Scottish night out with Highland dancers, bagpipers, and, of course, the Ceremony of the Haggis. (B) Day 3 Edinburgh. A full day to enjoy the Scottish capital. Morning sightseeing with a Local Guide introduces you to the 200yearold New Town and famous scientists, inventors, and novelists. In the Old Town, drive up the narrow Royal Mile to EDINBURGH CASTLE to admire Scotland s Crown Jewels. Afternoon at leisure. Later, a unique optional experience: board the former Royal Yacht Britannia, which was once the perfect royal residence for glittering state visits and family holidays. Tour five decks and see how the Royal Family and crew of 240 lived and worked on board. Dinner rounds off this optional evening. For departure numbers 0801 through 0822, tickets are included for tonight s performance of the worldrenowned MILITARY TATTOO, a vast spectacle of massed Scottish pipe bands that takes place in an arena on the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle. (B) Day 4 Edinburgh St. Andrews Pitlochry GrantownOnSpey. A day of memorable sightseeing: take the elegant Forth Road Bridge to St. Andrews, whose Royal and Ancient Golf Club has given us the rules of golfing, then cross the Firth of Tay and via Dundee and Perth, head into the Highlands. Stop in the Victorian mountain resort of Pitlochry before continuing to your overnight destination of GrantownonSpey. (B,D)

4 Day 5 GrantownOnSpey Culloden Moor Inverness Fort William Glasgow. Via the battlefield of Culloden Moor and Inverness, the Highland capital, skirt Loch Ness as you drive to Fort William beneath Ben Nevis, Britain s highest mountain. Enter haunting Glen Coe, where the MacDonald Clan was massacred in 1692, pass wild Rannoch Moor, and then drive along the Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond to Glasgow. (B,D) Day 6 Glasgow Gretna Green Lake District, England Liverpool. South through the historysteeped Lowland Hills and a visit to Gretna Green, where the blacksmith used to wed runaway couples. Drive through beautiful scenery in the Lake District, considered to be the finest of England s national parks. Visit Wordsworth s Grasmere, then follow the shores of Lake Windermere. End the day in Liverpool, of Beatles fame, once the departure port of the great transatlantic liners. You may wish to join an optional city tour this evening. (B) Day 7 Liverpool. North Wales Excursion. A day dedicated to the mountainous splendor of North Wales. After a stop in pretty BetwsyCoed, drive over spectacular Llanberis Pass and through Snowdonia National Park to Caernarvon, where the castle saw the investiture of Charles as Prince of Wales. Then, follow the coast road via the walled town of Conway back to Liverpool. (B) Day 8 Liverpool Chester Ludlow Cardiff, Wales. In Chester, the historic county town on the Dee River, your walking tour includes the Roman remains, black and white halftimbered buildings, and the twotiered arcades called the Rows. Pause in the pretty market town of Ludlow before heading back into Wales and Brecon Beacons National Park, land of salmon rivers and the Welsh mountain pony. Finally, through The Valleys, whose iron ore and coal were the raw materials for the Industrial Revolution, to the Welsh capital. Here, an orientation drive introduces you to the major attractions: Cardiff Castle, Cathays Park, Millennium Stadium, and the stately civic buildings. A suggestion for tonight: why not join an evening of Welsh entertainment and dinner? (B) Day 9 Cardiff Bath, England Glastonbury Widecombe Plymouth. Leaving Wales, cross the Severn Bridge for a visit to the elegant Georgian city of Bath, famed for its Roman relics, before heading into the romantically scenic West Country and Glastonbury with its King Arthur associations. In the heart of Dartmoor National Park, visit quaint WidecombeintheMoor, ghostly setting for Conan Doyle s The Hound of the Baskervilles. Finally, in Plymouth, hear about Sir Francis Drake and see the Mayflower Steps, where the Pilgrim Fathers embarked in (B,D)

5 Day 10 Plymouth Stonehenge London. On the final leg of your journey, take in Thomas Hardy s Wessex, and visit prehistoric STONEHENGE. First, explore the stunning visitor center with its imaginative exhibitions, then admire the magnificence of the monument from up close. Return to London around 3 pm, where your holiday ends. (B) Available Departures