Never Trust Thomas Cook Travel Guides

Photos: Stuff and Things

thegirlinthedocs — Tue, 2 Jun 2015 07:28:00 GMT

random photos

Georgetown on my mind

thegirlinthedocs — Tue, 2 Jun 2015 06:31:00 GMT

Like with the holiday to Tuscany when we went to South Carolina last year mainly because we really like Nicholas Sparks novels that are set in the Carolina's and after the in land villages of Tuscany we had to do the beaches for my sister that loves sun, sea and sand.

So we found this hotel in Pawley's Island that looked like a perfect base and we weren't going to be in Myrtle Beach, but not so far away that we couldn't get there, the same could be said for Georgetown that we had to see; as it is the perfect little Historic Town.

We hired bikes and rode around everywhere.

When we set out to Georgetown it was sunny and perfect, we rode the 15 miles straight down Highway 17 and even took the bridge over the Waccamaw River and Great Pee Dee River, which is so very high to be cycling up on a beach crusier!

So we made it to the main historic centre and it seemed to empty, it was so sad. We were the youngest people in the town willingly.

We walked along the boardwalk and ducked in and out of shops, but there was a whole section of the water front missing. We stepped in to the cutest little General store called "Tucks" and the owner told us that he had only opened it earlier that week and that he hadn't seen many people in the store. He then told us that the main section of the main street on the waterfront burnt down two months before we arrived in a linseed oil fire from one of the restaurants and that the town council couldn't get funding to build the shops in the same way.

We were sad, that it was a little bit of a wasted journey, but we felt good that we had cycled again. When we headed back to the hotel we stopped off at the plantation called Hobcaw Barony where Tash broke her flip flop, like snapped it right in two so she had to cycle barefoot like me.

The most amusing part of the day was when we were half way to the hotel and the road in front of us was grey. I called up to Tash asking if she thought it was rain and she laughed saying no it couldn't be so we carried on cycling in to it and wham we were hit with instant skin soaking rain.

We had to cycle over seven miles in this rain getting peeped at as we cycled down the highway, not that we were on the road. We went between cycling with our eyes closed, to cycling with our sunflasses on hoping that the rain would run off, to constantly wiping the rain out the way. When the rain eventually stopped we were outside out of KFC and we were starving, but as I wrung out the water from my playsuit we decided that maybe that would not be a good idea.

When we got back to the hotel we were frazzled, but no longer wet since as soon as the rain stopped the Carolina heat came out to play.

Once again we eneded up soaked to the bone, but laughing about it later.

When it rains it pours

thegirlinthedocs — Sat, 9 May 2015 05:28:21 GMT

It was our first full day in Tuscany and instead of getting a bus to Firenze my sister and I decided to go on a walk around the outskirts of San Giminagno. In all fairness I didn't really mind what we did as I had dragged my sister to the fortified city because of my love of all things Assassin's Creed. I was still soaking it in that I had in a way climbed all the towers that stood the test of time, albeit it virtually and a male character that wasn't me, but I wasn't going to sweat the details.
We meandered through the city taking in the labyrinth style cobble streets and wandered out in to the open country from the North gate. We must have gone at least four miles following the guide book we had, kicking up the hard packed earth and walking past vine yard after vine yard and villa after villa. It was beautiful, it was hot and the pair of us were enjoying the freedom of travelling alone. As we walked along the motorway we were looked at by the insane drivers as if we were crazy (there was a path of sorts), but we didn't care this circuit was going to take us 10 miles around the hills and back to the city we were pumped and half way through.
The guide book told us to turn down a side road so we did. There was supposed to be a footpath across the stream. There wasn't. Thinking we had read the instructions wrong we ended up walking almost all the way to Poggibonsi (a place that would become our travel hub) before giving up and turning around. We got back to the point where the path was supposed to be and saw an overgrown mess that had once been the footpath. Shrugging our shoulders we went back the way we came. As we hit the almost vertical hill it began to rain and by rain I mean RAIN it was cold, it was heavy and it was all encompassing, seemingly out of no where. We took shelter in a little deserted garage that had a grimy and antique looking Piaggio Ape until the rain let up a little.
The hard packed dirt road we had walked out on was little more than mud soup as we returned and the exposed track reverberated with the thunder overhead. All the perfectly prim beauty now visceral and terrifying. Then as suddenly as it appeared the storm was gone and we were soaked to the bone, hair matted and clothes stuck to us. When we reached the North Gate again the only signs of the storm were the wet cobbles and us as we walked through everyone that were as perfect and unruffled as could be. We clearly looked like tourists and as we laughed I didn't mind one bit.