Da Mooses Planning an Adventure to U.K.

[Moose2013]

Da Mooses are considering another adventure back to U.K (and possibly Ireland) ... * 

Really enjoy British (and Irish) history, culture and people ... And hikes through the rolling hills, wee mountains and locks / lakes / mers / watery places ... And museums, pubs and B&Bs ... And castles, abbeys, cathedrals and ruins thereof ... And steam-powered trains!

Might like some suggestions from the fine folks here on NGF!

Mind you, da Mooses have visited a number of times before. This thread may take a while to work through where Mooses have gone, where they want to return and new places they wish to visit...


* Hope to go in 2023 if issues with Covid, wars and economy will allow... 

Photo of Mr. & Mrs. Moose during Ffestiniog Railway excursion from Porthmadog to Caernarfon and back again:

[Moria]

Hey Da Mooses

May I suggest my home town.. Dartmouth in Devon.  Lets just say we still have buildings in the town from the 1300's and the history of the town is pretty much all the way through from then to now.

We have a steam railway (GWR based Dartmouth Steam Railway) running from Paignton to Kingswear on the other side of the river.

Whilst it is GWR based, we also have on loan a USA 280 for the next few seasons.  WE have another steam railway a few miles inland, ( South Devon Railway).

Dartmouth also has a railway station in it (now a restaurant) in the Guinness Book of Records as the only station in the UK to never have a train arrive at it...  all the trains were the other side of the river and linked by Ferry.

We are also only a couple of hours drive from Peco at Beer

We are the birthplace of Newcoman and have only one of two working examples left and we were the departure point for the Mayflower when she set of for the New World, before the Speedwell started to sink and they turned back for repairs to Plymouth.

We were also the home for a huge USA contingent during the second world war for the D-Day landings and launched over 450 landing craft of men, tanks and supplies for the invasion.  We are also next door to Start Bay where all the practicing was done for the Landings and the rather disasterous Excercise Tiger.   Obviously we have a couple of USA war memorials here

If you do decide to include us on this tour, let me know and I will send you some accomodation details for the town.. and I would be more than happy to try and refresh the Mooses in our wonderful array of Bars that we have here, some dating back to 1632.

Sorry if this sounds like an advert, but I do some of the historic tours around the town and would be happy to show you the sites, as they say

Regards

Graham

[crewearpley40]

Just suggested places on your other recent thread Mr moose  https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=53792.165#msg764076

[port perran]

And if you are visiting Dartmouth (in South Devon) it would make sense to carry on down to Cornwall with its little fishing villages and fabulous beaches and cliffs.
We also have the Bodmin & Wenford Steam railway and plenty of industrial relics from the tin and copper mines.
I could go on but that'll do for starters.

[crewearpley40]

Cornwall .... ah Truro, Falmouth, Eden project all worth a visit.. Martin and I can go on and on.

[jpendle]

It would be helpful to know where you've already been.

But if you haven't already then you should visit York, National Railway Museum, York Minster, loads of museums and Betty's Tea Rooms.

Regards,

John P

[dannyboy]

If you do manage to get across to Ireland, I can recommend my part of the country, (obviously  ), it isn't called the Lake District for nowt. The old 'Cavan and Leitrim Railway' started in Dromod and Roger Farnworth of this parish did an excellent series of article on the railway. https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=45100.msg565664#msg565664
We live about 15 miles from the border and another 15 miles or so further on is Enniskillen, where there is the old castle, a Cathedral and a barbers shop. What's so interesting about a barbers shop you may ask. Have a look at -
https://www.headhuntersmuseum.com/about-the-railway-museum/
If you do decide to visit, let me know and I will provide some more information - we might even show da mooses one or two typical Irish pubs. 

[PennineWagons]

One fears that should ladymoose discover that moose has put the photo up on the forum then moose might become an endangered species.
But should he miraculously survive this potential extinction event then the Llangollen Railway in picturesque North Wales is well worth a visit.
PW

[joe cassidy]

If you go to Dartmouth I would suggest spending one night at the Thurlestone Hotel not far away.

Very Agatha Christie.

[Newportnobby]

A few days in Bridgnorth would be well worth it. The town itself is on 2 levels (Lowtown and Hightown although there's not much in Lowtown). Of course, there is the Severn Valley Railway terminating in the town (Bridgnorth to Kidderminster), a cliff railway, castle ruins, the river Severn and many decent alehouses. Just up the road there is Thomas Telford's cast iron bridge over the Severn, and the Blists Hill Museum

[Steven B]

What time of year are you planning to visit?

TINGS (The International N Gauge Show) is usually on the first or second weekend in September. Warley Show (biggest UK exhibition) is towards the end of November. York show is held over the Easter weekend. There are plenty of others. See https://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/ for a list of events.

May 2023 will also see a large event at the National Railway Museum hosted by the N Gauge Society.

Steven B.

[dannyboy]

With all the recommendations of places to visit Moose, I presume that the lovely Mrs. Moose and yourself have set aside six months for this 'mis-adventure'? 

[Moose2013]

@Train Waiting @Moria @crewearpley40 @port perran @joe cassidy @jpendle @dannyboy @PennineWagons @Newportnobby @Steven B

Thank you all for your suggestions, good sirs. Very much appreciated.

It would be helpful to know where you've already been.

Want the whole three-decade long list?

Moose add lists in next post for future reference.

Moose was just hoping for ideas, but doesn't want to waste anyone's time. Perhaps Moose should prepare a rough itinerary over the coming months and THEN ask for suggestions. 

One fears that should ladymoose discover that moose has put the photo up on the forum then moose might become an endangered species.

You're right. Mrs. Moose just saw the photo and preceded to give Moose "the look"... 

[Moose2013]

Da Mooses' interests:

• 
  Distilleries, Hiking, History, Castles, Abbeys, Cathedrals, Ruins, Highland Games, Outdoor Markets, Steam Railway Excursion or Dinner Train, Model Railway Shops, Avoiding large populations
  

The Not-All-Inclusive Lists [because Moose's memory cannot recall every place that Moose has traveled]:

* Prior places visited and considering re-visiting:

• Arundel
  Avebury
  Ballindalloch
  Bamburgh
  Bath
  Beaulieu
  Blackness
  Chepstow
  Chichester
  Dublin
  Dufftown
  Edinburgh
  Elgin
  Fort William
  Glamis
  Grasmere / Lake District (mostly hiking)
  Highland Way (hiking)
  Loch Lomond (hiking)
  Isle of Skye (hiking)
  Leavesden (Warner Bros. Tour)
  Lincoln
  London
  Nairn
  Nottingham
  Oban
  Parthmadog
  Portsmouth
  Salisbury
  Stirling
  Stonehenge
  Warwick
  York

* New places considering visiting:

• Arran Islands
  Blarney
  Canterbury
  Cork
  Cornwall
  Dartmouth
  Falkirk
  Isles of Mull & Ione
  North Berwick
  Nottingham
  Shetland Islands
  Snowdonia (hiking)
  Republic of Ireland (Southern region)
  Winchester

* Prior places probably won't revisit:

• Aberdeen
  Aviemore
  Ballater
  Battle
  Belfast
  Ben Nevis (hiking)
  Betws-y-Coed
  Bodiam
  Bo'ness
  Bournemouth
  Brighton
  Bristol
  Caernarfon
  Caldicot
  Cardiff
  Cliffs of Moher
  Conventry
  Conwy
  Culloden
  Derry
  Donegal
  Dornie
  Dundonnell area (hiking)
  Dunvegan
  Fort Augustus
  Galashiels
  Giants Causeway
  Glosgow
  Grantown-on-Spey
  Hastings
  Hawick
  Holy Island
  Holyhead
  Huntly
  Inverness
  Jedburgh
  Keswick
  Linlithgow
  Looe
  Mallaig
  Melrose
  Northern Ireland (various places)
  Orchy
  Orkney Island
  Oxford
  Peebles
  Plymouth
  Portree
  Rosslyn
  Stratford-upon-Avon
  Thurso
  Tongue
  Torr Head
  Torrin
  Ullapool

[njee20]

"Ireland (southern Region)".

That's like saying describing Canada as a northern region of the US (which I imagine the US would probably like!)

Winchester is nice from your prospective list. I mean... without any sort of itinerary or vague plan it's really hard to genuinely recommend places, particularly when you're down at places the size of Arundel. Snowdonia and Cornwall are also both lovely. Depending on when you're coming Cornwall particularly may be heaving, and would likely fail your "not peopley" test. Snowdon itself won't be much better, but the area generally is nice.