Wee trip to the UK by a wargamer

[vtsaogames]

Various comments and photos https://corlearshookfencibles.blogspot.com/2023/11/a-wee-trip-in-uk-chester-wales.html

[FifteensAway]

Nice. 

Wife and I are touring England, Wales, and Scotland next year for our 25th anniversary.  Hope we don't get sick.

Any pointers for US travelers to UK.

Blog read fine for me.

[vtsaogames]

Scottish and English pounds are interchangeable, in spite of what some English say.
Local buses are very easy: wave your no-touch card to pay 2 pound fare.
Rail very easy too.

We found pub grub quite good. Quite like pork pies, steak and ale pies. In Scotland, they put puff pastry on top. I prefer old fashioned pie pastry.

[Spinal Tap]

Sounds like you had a great trip, shame you missed Vindolanda as it, and the wall, are amazing as is the Roman Military Museum on the site.

A point regarding Scottish and English pounds is that due to the high amount of Scottish notes being forged many shops will not accept them.

I travel regularly between Scotland and home in Yorkshire so have a wallet of mixed notes.

It is virtually impossible to spend Scottish notes in West Yorkshire at the moment but other areas ma be more accepting.

[Citizen Sade]

Quite like pork pies, steak and ale pies. In Scotland, they put puff pastry on top. I prefer old fashioned pie pastry.

One of us! 

Me too. Those pie floaters aren’t proper pies. To be fair, some places try to fob you off with them in England too.

[modelwarrior]

Glad you had a good trip and enjoyed yourself. Scottish notes are not accepted in Gloucestershire ,but Stroud pounds are ok.

[fred]

Great write-up of an interesting trip.

It’s amazing what can be fitted in on a UK trip with an American view of distances!

[armchairgeneral]

I live in Chester so good to get the tourist impression. Great photos. Glad you had a good time.

[vtsaogames]

I was in the hobby shop on Bridge Street more than once. The morning we headed to the Lake District it was before the shop opened. Due to my miscalculation, I didn't get to make a purchase. 

[Atheling]

Durham Cathedral. The finest example of Norman architecture anywhere in Europe. and that sadly includes Normandy!

[Iain R]

Any pointers for US travelers to UK.

Dunno if this is what you meant, but on a purely wargaming note, don't fall into the trap of believing that the UK is awash with independent wargames shops, and that every small town has it's own little boutique store packed full of all those independent manufacturers' rules, metal figures, etc that everyone outside the UK loves but can't order due to customs costs. The reality is very different. While there are plenty of independent hobby shops spread about, and some of them are excellent, most still just tend to sell the same plastic boxed sets by Perry, Warlord, FoW, GW, etc. Those independent metal figure retailers and what not from the UK are still pretty much mail order here, too!

[vtsaogames]

The hobby shop in Chester had wargames figures from Victrix, 28mm ancients, not the 12mm WWII that has been getting my attention. And loads of plastic models, model RR, etc.