2025_Xmas_Magic_Britain_audio
Episode Stats
Summary
In this pre-recorded segment, Brother Luca and Brother Stelios discuss some of their favourite places to spend a weekend in the UK, and why you should always take advantage of the time you have to spend in the country.
Transcript
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Hello and welcome to this Christmas pre-recorded segment. Now obviously I am joined today by
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Brother Stelios. Hello Brother Luca. Winter has come at last. It has indeed. There has been a
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freeze. Tonight's forecast, a freeze is coming. We're gonna have a cold pill for today. Well we're
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gonna have a white pill. Yeah but it's gonna be a cold one. It'll be a cold pill but a healthy pill
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nonetheless. So obviously because we're pre-recording this Stelios and I are not fortune
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tellers. We don't know what political events are going to be happening in December. So we just
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wanted to give you actually some content that was a bit evergreen, a bit wholesome and also what's
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more. Something that you can take with you and you know use for some practical application
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coming into 2026 as well. And it's evergreen in a metaphorical as well as a literal sense because
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we are going to talk about a very green land. We are. We're going to talk about the magic of Britain
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aren't we and how there are just so many places that you know because you and I we are great
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sages. We are wonderful. We are experienced travelers. You know we've seen a few things around
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this pleasant time. We travel. We travel. Yeah. Yeah. Let's put it that way. And so we're just going
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to talk about some of the our favorite places that we found on those travels as well. Perhaps
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many of them you'll have heard of. Some you won't have done but we all thought we thought that they
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were all great recommendations. Wonderful things to do with your friends, with your family next year
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so you can keep discovering so much of this country and why it's worthy of your love.
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Absolutely. And I want to say that very often when I meet people who tell me that they're
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very much online and they're very annoyed at what they're seeing I'm telling them always
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take advantage of your weekends. Yes. Go somewhere else. And I will say from my experience because
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I do walk the earth quite often the world I'm looking I'm experiencing while traveling and during
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the weekends has very frequently almost nothing to do with with the world we are frequently reporting
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about. It's a different planet. It's very different. And this is something that hasn't been taken from
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from us, from you, however you want to call it. It's still alive. And it's a very good thing for people
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to see it. Because most of most of the country is like this. Yeah, there are still many wonderful,
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wonderful places. Yes, many of them have been touched or are beginning to be touched by many
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of the problems that we here at Lotus Eater's report on, of course. But nonetheless, they're still
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they're still wonderful in their own right. And so let's begin talking about them, shall we?
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So I front loaded my suggestions and then we'll discuss with Brother Stelios about his. But let's
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start with Lincoln, shall we? Because that's where this is. Now, this is a photo that I took back in
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March. And this is taken from the South Common of Lincoln as well. So it's very, very raised as a hill
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going over into the horizon. And as you can see there, wonderful view of the entire city of Lincoln,
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Lincoln, of course, with Lincoln Cathedral, the great, one of the great cathedrals of England,
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just standing very proudly there on top of the hill. And what's more as well, it used to be taller
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because actually you can see in the in the central part as well, there used to be a colossal spire
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that was on the top of that cathedral and it blew off in a storm back in 1547, something like that.
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But when that spire was atop of the cathedral, it was the tallest man-made building in the world at
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the time. And so unfortunately, the weather took that title from it. But it is still an absolutely
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glorious spectacle. And what's more as well, it's been recently renovated, restored on the outside.
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It looks, it looks wonderful. It looks absolutely wonderful. But what's more as well, another good
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thing to say about Lincoln as well is that it's still got some advantageous demographics, shall we
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say. It's beginning to feel the brunt of it. But still, there are many places where you can go there
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that are very wholesome. And I will say as well that if you haven't been to Lincoln, there is a particular
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street going up to the cathedral that you can see is obviously raised up on the hill. That entire road
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where you walk up to the square, and at the square you've got, on the left, you've got Lincoln Castle, and
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on the right, you've got Lincoln Cathedral. And not only that, I mean, so it's a perfect square, you know,
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full of Georgian houses and pubs on every corner, cafes, wonderful medieval architecture, but also
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what's more as well, and this is such an important point, every single shop on that hill is of the
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highest standard, right? It is just a good quality small business, right? It's not, they're not part of
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some larger chain of shops or anything. No, they're all just small shopkeepers who have, you know,
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Victorian suite shops, aircraft models, pie and mash shops, you know, these sorts of things. And
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they're so individual, they're so special to that particular street. There's also one particular one
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which I couldn't possibly do without mentioning, which is that there's an old imperial tea shop,
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which has got, I don't know, 200 different types of tea on it. I've had two of them because I'm a
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very samey person. I just like what I like, but it's wonderful. Have you ever been to Lincoln?
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I haven't been to Lincoln, and it seems wonderful. And one thing I will say is that I see that this is
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a picture taken in March, right? Is it seems like mid-March? Yes. Yeah, 20 of March. One thing that I
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notice in the land is that right towards the middle of April, and especially in May, the flowers bloom and
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the trees have, you know, you can see the leaves. And it's a totally different country as well. Yes.
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You literally feel like you're in another planet. So I want also to see at some point a picture of
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Lincoln, you know, May, June, July, somewhere there. Well, I'll have to take it and show me.
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I'll have to go back and do my duty and just suffer a few days in Lincoln, won't I, to take that picture
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sometime next year? But as I say, Lincoln, I think more than any other city that I've been to
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personally, I just love it intensely. Especially being, it's a strange one, you know, because being
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from Scunthorpe myself, which is a town just to the north of Lincoln, I spent very little time
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in Lincoln growing up. And it's not really until my more recent years that I really began to
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appreciate this wonderful place that I had on my doorstep. And so, yes, the castle, oh, sorry,
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couldn't go without mentioning, the castle also happens to contain one of the four surviving copies
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of Magna Carta. And one thing to show is where is Lincoln on the map? Because people will wonder,
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where should they visit? Well, it's right here. Would you believe in the heart of Lincolnshire?
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You see as well, you've got the walls there by its side. So very, very nice. And quite out the way of,
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yes, funny actually, but wedged between Grantham and Scunthorpe. And then you've just got Lincoln
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in the middle and in all of its splendor. So let's move on, shall we, to talking about Scarborough.
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I've been there many times. Right. So you know how wonderful it is. Yes. Right. Okay. So this is an
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example is the Grand Victorian Hotel, because Scarborough, back during the Victorian era,
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was one of the chief holiday destinations for Victorians who, you know, you have the burgeoning
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middle class, and they were able to just have more money in their pockets to spend. And so you could go
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to the seaside at the summer with your family. And there's loads of wonderful, you go in all sorts
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of cafes and you find old photographs, black and white photographs of people in the Victorian Edwardian
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era, you know, down at the beach. But the thing is as well, Scarborough has two sides to it. It has
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the North Bay and the South Bay. You know this, of course, but I'm explaining it for them. And on the
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South Bay, you've got more of your sort of quintessential English seaside trappings. You know,
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you've got arcades, slot machines, fishing chip shops, all those sorts of wonderful things. But
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then, of course, you also have the North Bay. And if I, oh, no, jumping ahead. Oh, I've got the same
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picture twice for some reason. All right. Well, over on the, you have the castle over on the top of the
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hill as well. Absolutely fantastic castle, Norman Castle. I spoke about it at some length, actually,
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when I covered the Pendragon Foundation that Nathan Hood is working on as well, because Scarborough
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Castle is one of my favourites just for its history and its story. And so Scarborough is an absolutely
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wonderful place. What's more as well, very homogenous, very homogenous, very safe. And what's
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more as well, the greatest spot in the entirety of Scarborough is up on the hill at night, stood by
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the castle. And you have the South Bay on your left and you have the North Bay on your right. So you get
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an almost 360 view stood upon the hill of the entire seaside area. And it's genuinely a thing of magic,
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especially because that particular pocket of the town really blesses you with the best number of
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stars at night as well. So you get genuinely starry skies as much as you can with the light pollution
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that obviously plagues England. And so Scarborough, of all of the seaside destinations, I would say is
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truly one of the superior choices. It's a really great one. I've been there, as I said before,
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four times. There are bits of it that I like, bits of it I don't like that much. But generally speaking,
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overall, I think it's a really great place to visit. And one thing I will say, because I like
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walking the earth. In one day, I walked from Filey to Scarborough. I just walked, it's, I think,
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It is. No, it really, really is. In fact, this entire coastline is absolutely fantastic.
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I've walked on separate occasions. I've walked from Whitby down to Robin Hood's Bay.
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Yes. I've also walked from Scarborough to Robin Hood's Bay. That was a very long day. Very
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exhausting, but greatly fun. And actually, that brings me to my next choice, because this here...
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Can I say just one thing? I think that the footpath there is called the Cleveland Road.
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Oh, yes. Yes, absolutely. It's wonderful. I'd like to dedicate myself to walking more
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And can I show something before you show this magnificent village that I've been as well,
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and I have lots of stuff to say. I want to say also that I've done another brilliant footpath
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And back. You walk here along the coastline. It's beautiful. It's absolutely beautiful. There's
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a lighthouse here. Let me find it. Yeah, somewhere here in Flamborough. Yeah, North Landing. I
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remember. Yes. And then I did a mistake, because I went from Bempton here to this Bempton Cliffs
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and here. And then we said, right, we need to cut two miles less. And we went from another
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road. And for the half road, there was around five kilometers. There was pavement and there
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was nothing. And then we were zigzagging to the cars.
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Well, you can see from Google Maps, can't you? Just a patchwork of, you know, meadows and
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fields and things. So let's talk about Robin Hood's Bay. Now, I will just say,
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I was actually a little bit reluctant to include this one. Not because it doesn't deserve its
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own mention, but because there are certain, and I'm sure we'll come to this later when we
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talk about Bybury. But you have examples in the country these days of many smaller places,
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villages, just being overburdened by tourists, right? And actually, these places weren't meant
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to be flooded by the entire photography department of Asia, right? Actually, they're supposed to be
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their own places and not just have people constantly with their cameras out, clogging
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up the roads, you know, just every day. They just, these are quiet places and they're supposed
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to be able to exist in that way. So if you do go to Robin Hood's Bay, do be mindful of the
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people that live there. Because it's a true time capsule of a place. And I have very early
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childhood memories, actually, of going here, because this was the first place I ever went
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to on a residential school trip, where we actually stayed over for, I can't remember if it was one
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night or two, but I'd have been about nine or ten, something like that. Because Robin Hood's Bay is
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very, very famous, or infamous, I suppose, for back during the 18th century, being a smuggler's
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cove. It was somewhere where there was a lot of smuggling going on of all sorts of things that
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were deemed by the populace at the time to be too highly taxed. And so obviously, you're cutting
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through it on the black market. But we had a great amount of fun. You can see here as well,
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it's on a slight hill. And what we did was, we went out into the, well, as a child, it felt like
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the middle of the night. I'm sure it was probably about 8pm or something. But we started down here
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at the bottom. And half of the class was at the bottom. And half of us were scattered amidst the
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houses. And you actually had to get to the top of the hill without being, you were a smuggler trying to
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get to the top of the hill. And you had to get there without being detected by the authorities.
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And it was a great amount of fun. But what's more, Victorian sweet shops, a wonderful bookshop
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around here where I found some splendid, you know, old tomes. And just, and also what's more,
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fantastic pubs. In fact, one of the, my most recent visits last year, I was walking down,
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I think it was actually after the Whitby, after I'd walked from Whitby. And I got there to find a
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small folk band, just performing sea shanties in the middle of the street. They also have a
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Victorian weekends, where you just go dressed in Victorian style. And it really is. It's wonderful.
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It's just people authentically celebrating their history, just existing. It's a quiet pace of life,
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but it's, it's a really special place. One thing, several, I have several things to add here, because
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I've, I've been here, I stayed in Filingdale, which is a bit close. But Robin Hood's Bay is amazing.
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The hill you're describing is indeed steep. I have dined here in this pub, was really great. And you
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have windows, and you look outside the sea, it's great. And whether it's sunny or cloudy,
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you do get this feeling that you're in nature. And my opinion is that basically nature is almost
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always wonderful. Every landscape has something to show you. It's mostly some cities I don't like,
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but Robin Hood's Bay is not one of them. And one thing to say is that here, you have lots of people
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coming with their jet skis and putting them in the water. There is a tide. And the water is going
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back, it's receding. And you can walk along the beach. And at some point, I don't know what hour,
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what time it is, I think around 1pm or something. This is all like rocky, a rocky beach. And you can see
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here in this, in these places here, you have benches, you can get some coffee or something to
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coffee max, or tea max, whatever. And it feels like you're looking at planet Mars, in some respects,
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it becomes very otherworldly, in a good sense. It's, you know, yes, it's one of these ways that
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a landscape captures your attention. It's very great.
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It is. It really is. So what do we have next? Well, I couldn't not mention...
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...couldn't not mention Whitby, could I? You'll notice a pattern here, ladies and gentlemen,
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which is that I have basically just gone from Lincoln down here, and then basically Scarborough,
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Robin Hood's Bay, Whitby. And there's a reason for that, because this, as Stelius and I keep saying,
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this coastline is just one of the absolute best. And Whitby, of course, is one of the most charming
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places I've ever been. You can see here, you've got the abbey up on top of the hill, and it gives
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the entire town this real gothic mystique to it, just having these abbey ruins on top of the hill.
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And there's something even more to the sort of atmosphere of a town, of course, as well,
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because you also have the Dracula Museum there as well, which I've never actually been in,
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but there is another museum in Whitby that I have visited. And that is one where, for research
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purposes, I had to visit Whitby in order to go to the Captain Cook Museum, because, of course,
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Whitby is where one of the greatest explorers to ever live, had his training. And actually,
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the museum itself is the house that Cook would have stayed in when he was a young lad learning
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the ropes of seafaring. What's more as well, you have the old town across the bridge in Whitby as well,
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and all of the shops in that old town are just so charmingly English. There's one particular one
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that deserves mention, a special mention, other than, of course, there being many wonderful pubs,
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which is just to say that there is a particular pie and mash shop in the old town, and they are so
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proud of it. It's all done out aesthetically like a 1940s cafe. And you've got 1940s sort of,
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you know, Ella Fitzgerald, and, you know, many wonderful singers of that era performing on the,
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I was going to say the wireless then, but on the radio. And you also have, they're very proud of it,
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because actually, this place has been serving food for over 400 years. They have a particular sign
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up in it that says, we've been serving food through the reign of King Charles I, King Charles II,
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and King Charles III, right? And so you really get the sense of longevity, of heritage,
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of history, of memory in Whitby. And it all comes together with, of course, glorious views
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out to the North Sea. And as I say, all with this wonderful town by its side. And obviously,
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Whitby fishing ships are the greatest on earth. Yes. So one thing I will say, I absolutely love
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Whitby. And I may make a judgment here, a comparative judgment. I think that relative to
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Scarborough, Whitby has sort of confined the arcade a bit. Yes, you can, you can definitely see a visible
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difference. Right. So Whitby is absolutely wonderful. I've been to it three times from York,
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from York to Whitby. And you take a bus, the coastliner, I think it was bus 55, if I'm not
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mistaken. And you cross this North York Moors National Park. You went to Thornton Liddell, and then you
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go through this national park, which is stunningly beautiful. And there is a crater here somewhere,
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don't know exactly where it is, that you can stop and you can walk a circle. Anyway, Whitby is
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absolutely lovely. I've been to the, to the Abbey. You walk up the hill. And one thing I will say is
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that it's so jolly. It's simultaneously Gothic and jolly, because I think it's the capital of
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the Goths. I think they have some Gothic festivals there in August or July. Oh, really? This would
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not surprise me. I think, if I'm not mistaken, I think they do have some Gothic festivals. But
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it's so happy as a city. It's just very noticeable. It's, people are having fun. Yes, they are. You see
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it. And the route, especially, maybe it was the sunny days that I visited. I have heard local
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rumours from Whitby, actually, that they get very worried during the summer period from people coming
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from outside of Whitby. And by this, I don't mean foreigners. I mean, Geordies, right? I mean,
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I mean, they get very worried about people coming down from Newcastle and Sunderland,
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basically going very heavy in the pubs and causing a local ruckus. So if you are from either of those
00:23:08.280
two places, please behave responsibly, because you have a bad reputation in Whitby.
00:23:14.300
All right. Let's start talking about some places that aren't on my favourite northern coastline,
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shall we? And I actually wanted, for all it's worth, oh God, no. I actually wanted to give a bit of a nod
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to some of the perks of London, actually. Because they do still exist, even though London is,
00:23:33.420
obviously, nowhere's favourite, no one's favourite place. Certainly not who works here. However,
00:23:40.100
the Prince Charles Cinema is an absolutely wonderful cinema. I've visited it potentially
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about five times. And you might think, okay, well, Luca, why are you just giving a shout out to a
00:23:51.800
cinema of all things, right? There's cinemas all over the country. Well, this one is a little bit
00:23:56.000
different. It's a little bit quirky, because actually, you can go and see particular films on
00:24:01.520
35 millimetre reels, right? Actually, it's not, you know, it's not all download software as
00:24:07.980
they have to date. No, it's an actual old time film reel. And so you can see the cigarette burns and
00:24:15.340
things on the film as it's watching. And it just gives it this grainy, just really...
00:24:23.660
You know, I mean, one of the greatest experiences was having this watching Master and Commander
00:24:30.460
at this cinema as well. And often, you know, it's not really a cinema that plays many,
00:24:37.160
many new things. It tends to just play old classics. And it's a cinema that really just deserves your
00:24:43.280
respect. I won't hark on it too much. But if you're ever in Leicester Square, and you fancy a film,
00:24:48.480
they've always got something on, and it's just really, really good.
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I don't think I've been there, but I will take your advice. Next time I'm in London, I'll be there.
00:24:58.780
One of the things that I don't visit London frequently, but one of the main reasons is that
00:25:04.840
the average speed is 12 miles per hour, wherever you are.
00:25:09.860
This is why I spent five years in London and never learned to drive.
00:25:13.960
It's like, why would I want to be on those roads?
00:25:22.120
Yes. Yeah, I resent it. But it has its nice places. It has its nice places.
00:25:28.120
It does. So I have another one here, which is the BFI, the British Film Institute.
00:25:33.940
I'm sure it's a total coincidence that the nice places in London that I'm naming are off the streets
00:25:43.720
This seems to be the pattern. Now, why have I alerted you to the BFI? Well, though it does
00:25:50.060
have a cinema, that's not actually why I'm pitching it. The BFI has a marvellous archive,
00:25:59.080
which is basically a collection of, as it says here, British lives caught on film and collected
00:26:04.580
online. 120 years of Britain on film. And you can just go there for free, find a booth and just look
00:26:13.800
through the archives. You can get a little headset and you can just pour through hours and hours and
00:26:19.480
hours of British history, old British films, Pather, you know, British Pather, newsreels, anything.
00:26:27.960
Just anything that is of old England and it's on camera, you can find it there. And so it's actually
00:26:35.640
just a really great place to go to reconnect with Britain on film through the ages. But if I dare
00:26:44.020
to venture a single place outdoors in London, it has to be Covent Garden. Are you familiar with...
00:26:52.300
Yes. Yes. You've been there? Yes. Many times. Yes. I really like Covent Garden. When I was living in
00:26:58.720
London for five years for my sins, it got pretty rough at times, right? I didn't enjoy living in
00:27:06.240
London. However, I never had once... It was karma. You did something bad in your previous life.
00:27:13.300
Well, you're saying that, not me. You said for your sins. Yes. These are your words, not mine.
00:27:19.680
Yeah. Well, good point. Good point. Touché. What was I going to say? Yes. I never had a single bad
00:27:26.040
experience at Covent Garden, right? It's a place that is constantly teeming with life and music
00:27:32.900
and joy, right? The shops, of course, very classy, very high society. A particularly wonderful pipe shop
00:27:43.900
that does cigars and pipe tobaccos and things. Socks, if you're interested in that sort of thing.
00:27:50.760
But what's more as well, one of the things that I appreciate most about Covent Garden
00:27:55.080
is the actual street performance, right? I like that because that is exactly the sort of thing you
00:28:02.080
would have gotten, not just around Covent Garden, but more around London, of course, in the Victorian era.
00:28:08.420
The streets would have been awash with street performers and people, entertaining people,
00:28:13.940
street theatre, all these sorts of things. In fact, my final performance when I was at drama school
00:28:20.940
was at the church that is just opposite from this picture. They call it the Actors' Church,
00:28:26.980
and it's just on the opposite side there. And we performed our final exam in that church. It was wonderful.
00:28:33.840
So I do think that if you're ever in London and you're looking around just entirely black-pilled,
00:28:40.540
retreat to Covent Garden, and there you will find some sense of joy in your visit.
00:28:47.820
All right. So now for something completely different. And by the way, I don't feel the need to pull up
00:28:56.080
Google Maps. You all know where London is for those past three things.
00:28:59.520
Yeah. You broke your pattern. From the north, you went south.
00:29:04.940
I did. And now we're going west. Because this here has been one of the...
00:29:10.760
So one of the advantages of moving to Swindon, other than having one of the best jobs in the world,
00:29:17.480
is the fact that actually it allowed me to unlock certain areas of England that I'd never had access
00:29:24.380
to before. And one of the greatest discoveries that I've had since I've been here has been
00:29:30.920
West Kennet Barrows. Now, Kennet is a... I'd hesitate to even call it a village. It seems more like a
00:29:38.940
hamlet, really. But you have to walk some way. I mean, unless, of course, you've got the car.
00:29:44.520
I did it on foot. But eventually you reach these barrows. Now, these are obviously
00:29:49.160
thousands and thousands of years old. And there's not really any barrows up my neck of the woods.
00:29:57.440
So it was a real joy to see them. And you really... It's a place of such strong atmosphere
00:30:04.640
when you go in there as well. And the fact that you can just walk in to these barrows that are,
00:30:11.000
you know, Neolithic, you know, ancient, ancient Britain. It really gives you this sense of
00:30:17.580
connection. And it's all, you know, you've got wonderful countryside around you. There's even a
00:30:23.240
great mound. I was going to say on top of the hill. The mound is a man-made mound that is the hill.
00:30:30.840
And what's more as well, if you have a good old time there, you can walk a little bit further down
00:30:36.080
the road carrying on west and find a pub there called the... I think it was the Wagon and Horses.
00:30:43.680
And this is a wonderful pub that is actually featured in one of Charles Dickens' novels
00:30:50.660
because he stayed at it when he was journeying on his way to Bath. And so a lot of rich history
00:30:58.120
just in this small little vicinity of Kennet alone and well worth your time.
00:31:07.080
Let's get out of England, shall we, for just a second. This is Harlech Castle in Wales.
00:31:18.360
Not much, but I have. And I do have a place in Wales that I'm going to end my portion of the
00:31:25.620
Oh, wonderful. Well, this is Harlech Castle. I visited it for the first time this year.
00:31:31.340
Some of you may know the name of Harlech most famously from the song Men of Harlech as they
00:31:38.580
sing it in Zulu in front of all of the thousands of Zulu warriors. But this is, of course, a typical
00:31:46.340
example of many of the splendid castles that you have around Wales when the English were busy
00:31:55.340
trying to lock it down and bring a bit of Anglo-Saxon order to the place, he said provocatively.
00:32:02.840
But this is, of course, a wonderful castle. Now, despite how formidable it looks, something
00:32:09.520
that I found very interesting when I went there was that Harlech Castle has endured about five
00:32:14.800
or six different sieges. Okay. And it only actually held out once. Die Hard Castle. Yeah. It only held
00:32:22.040
out once. The five other times it was actually conquered. But to say that it's withstood six
00:32:29.620
sieges, it's in pretty good condition, I'd say. Perhaps that's why they won it. Yeah, maybe so.
00:32:37.420
Maybe he had some very distinct witnesses that everyone said, let's focus there. Yeah. And the rest
00:32:44.500
of it stays. I mean, its position is phenomenal. It's not as apparent from the photograph, but it's
00:32:50.860
very, very much raised upon the hill. And all the buildings you can see here are very far down. And so if
00:32:58.520
you stand on the battlements, you get an incredible view, of course, of the sea out into the Irish Sea,
00:33:04.860
but also of the surrounding town of Harlech as well. And of course, all of the many mountain
00:33:11.300
ranges of Wales on the horizon. So, and what's more as well, I've thought that the Welsh locals were
00:33:18.160
very, very friendly, very kind folk. So a nod to them as well. So Harlech Castle is definitely
00:33:26.560
a place to visit. And I just have one more place to mention before we go over to your suggestions as
00:33:36.020
well. And that is that you go and do the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge if you are younger and you
00:33:43.660
feel like your legs can stand it. Now, the Yorkshire Three Peaks are Pennegent, Wernside and
00:33:50.960
Ingleborough. And you can do it informally. You can just do it at your own pace. But there is an
00:33:56.560
actual challenge, which is to do all three peaks in the space of 12 hours. And that's a great
00:34:04.640
challenge for many people. And of course, many people go with a fellowship of friends and attempt
00:34:10.480
to do this. And you can see here the viaducts, how imposing they are on the landscape. It just has
00:34:17.600
such a magic to it as well. And I do believe from this particular, you can see just how atmospheric
00:34:24.880
the landscape is in the Yorkshire Dales. It's really, really splendid. And so if you were looking
00:34:33.460
for a walking holiday, then I would absolutely recommend the Three Peaks. I attempted it some
00:34:40.420
years ago. But due to, there's no other way to put it, bad planning, we only really managed
00:34:48.660
two of them. So it's something that I hope to attempt again.
00:34:52.280
We need to do three of them. Because I love trekking.
00:34:55.540
Yes. Yes. All right. Let's do that sometime. And you should do it too, ladies and gentlemen,
00:35:04.860
Yeah. A real pilgrimage. And a northern pilgrimage. And so, yeah, the wonderful, wonderful countryside.
00:35:13.880
Because it's not just a case of one mountain down, next mountain, you know, there are miles
00:35:18.400
and miles between these three peaks as well. And so by the time you've finished this, you
00:35:25.920
really are going to feel like you've experienced the very greatest of what the landscape of Yorkshire
00:35:36.500
Oh, sorry. There was one more Stelios, which is also just visit Tewksbury. This is another
00:35:43.160
place like Kennet that I found locally. Well, not so local, of course. This is more towards
00:35:48.640
the Welsh border. But Tewksbury is a magnificent medieval English town. It also has an incredible
00:35:56.440
reenactment of the Battle of Tewksbury. And what's more as well, I will just say some of
00:36:02.340
the best bookshops that I found anywhere in Britain. So I'll just say that quickly. And
00:36:10.480
And let us just give an idea to people that Tewksbury is down here.
00:36:17.880
Yes, it is. It's if we just pull out. Yep. Phrasing. Yeah, it's over there, Tewksbury. You
00:36:29.600
see it right there above Cheltenham. Here it is. Yep. So it's between Gloucester. It's just
00:36:35.800
Great. Right. So we're going to go to the middle of Wiltshire. Actually, not quite the middle.
00:36:43.460
Where is it? We're there in Swindon, obviously. Right. I will say this. I mean, everything
00:36:52.220
around Swindon is magnificent. Swindon has some nice parts. It does. We always say the
00:36:58.940
bad things about it, but it has some nice parts. You must look for the good. Yeah, we
00:37:03.000
must look for the good. And I will say this, and I say so shamelessly, when we have guests
00:37:10.340
here, I take them to the Pyongyang tour. Now, if you're watching the show, this is the tour
00:37:16.540
where we go to some magnificent neighborhoods. And if you just walk in these neighborhoods,
00:37:23.340
it's absolutely lovely. If you zoom out a bit, the surrounding area, not so much.
00:37:32.280
Right. So we're going to go to the next one. Let's put it here to Stonehenge. Right. This
00:37:40.600
is very, it's a classic choice, but I do like it. I do love it. I've never actually been.
00:37:48.280
You have to go there. And also, if you love walking, you have to go there because Stonehenge
00:37:54.620
isn't just this site. It's a massive area where you can just walk footpaths endlessly.
00:38:03.280
And one of the, one of my favorite experiences is just walking there in the surrounding area
00:38:09.520
with full sunshine. You walk, you're surrounded by nature. You're surrounded by rabbits. There
00:38:17.160
are lots of rabbits there. Last time I went there. Do you like rabbits?
00:38:19.680
Right. So this is just something that you have to see at least once. Um, if, even if you're
00:38:27.260
local or, um, or, uh, a tourist, you have to see Stonehenge. It's brilliant. And let me
00:38:35.280
just give you some very basic facts. I have here an AI generated list just to see what the
00:38:44.020
Right. Cause it's random facts. Cause we can talk about these sites endlessly. They're saying
00:38:48.920
basically that his purpose was a mystery and it was basically believed to be a religious
00:38:56.500
It's not that big a mystery. We do know why it was built and it was built for the greater
00:39:03.660
And they say that a key feature that is interesting and spooky and nice is its astronomical alignment.
00:39:12.320
They say the main axis of the monument lines up with a sunrise on the summer solstice and
00:39:19.180
the sunset on the winter solstice. And this suggests that it was an important marker for
00:39:25.360
seasonal events. And also I'm going to break lots of rules here. You know, pro tourist lobby.
00:39:38.680
I was there for the summer solstice actually. I was there with Rory.
00:39:42.900
And lots of people who are saying that Stonehenge is too crowded. They say go to Avebury.
00:39:50.740
And yeah, they say go to Avebury. And I will say one thing. Cause last time I went to Avebury,
00:39:59.280
I was there with a Druid aficionado and she was touching the stones and telling me that
00:40:10.820
Yeah. So, you know, there, there is a sort of, you know, Druidic feeling there. So just
00:40:17.780
visit it. I don't know if the stones have magical healing powers or not, but maybe try it.
00:40:27.140
Many people will tell, will advise you to go and touch grass. Stelios advises you to go and
00:40:34.240
Right. So now I want to take you again up north.
00:40:42.780
Up north. Cause I was there for seven years and I do love York. And this is York here,
00:40:54.040
I want to show you, I want to show you just some pictures here. This is the shambles.
00:41:00.500
This is one of the oldest neighborhoods. I think it's from the 1500s and here you have
00:41:06.560
it by night. And I will say one thing is that this is a lovely place here. I just couldn't
00:41:13.480
No. I'm sure I went for a birthday one year when I was quite young and it being very special.
00:41:21.140
Well, if you were quite young, you wouldn't have noticed some of the things that I did
00:41:27.320
And we will talk about them in a bit, but I will say that the shambles here is one of
00:41:31.160
the best neighborhoods and you have every night a ghost tour. There's a ghost shop, you
00:41:38.020
know, and there are huge queues of people going in and buying ghost figurines. It's really
00:41:46.360
And you have someone dressed with the appropriate dress.
00:41:54.160
The appropriate garments and whatever. And they are giving people a sort of a ghost tour.
00:41:59.880
And there's also a bus in York that you can have a haunted tour of York.
00:42:05.460
Why York specifically? Why is it associated with ghosts?
00:42:14.200
Ghosts are everywhere. I should know this by now.
00:42:16.800
Also, there's a Harry Potter shop there that has...
00:42:20.500
Usually you see it full of people. It's not like that.
00:42:24.040
No. I imagine the streets are rarely that quiet.
00:42:26.860
Also, I remember there was a llama figurine somewhere here. And I think here you have an
00:42:32.080
excellent, excellent coffee shop with lovely scones. The scones were huge.
00:42:46.200
Right. So, York is very wonderful and vibrant. It's also very jolly. You see here that it
00:42:53.520
has kept its character to a surprising extent. See here this lovely... I think this is Micklegate.
00:43:00.260
It doesn't say here. I think this is Micklegate Tower and the Micklegate Road and entry. You
00:43:08.120
had the Micklegate Social here just behind. You have... I think it was Ria's here. The
00:43:15.380
And just at the place where this person is taking the photo, there was a great pub. How
00:43:22.500
was it called? The Windmill, I think. I've dined there many a times. It was one of my favorite
00:43:27.680
pubs. I don't know if it's still there. I think it was. Right. Let me just show you
00:43:33.900
other... Here's your cathedral. Again, very big cathedral.
00:43:38.880
Minster. Minster. Yeah. And you have here the statue of Constantine the Great. Oh, wonderful.
00:43:47.720
So, it's a bit imperial. There are imperial vibes in the city. Here you have, just to the
00:43:55.280
left, you have also a tea shop with hundreds of flavors. You mentioned before when you mentioned
00:44:02.240
Lincoln. I will say I couldn't forget. I had a tea with chocolate and orange.
00:44:08.880
That sounds extraordinary. Extraordinary. And there's also a lovely bookshop just to
00:44:15.300
the left of it. Very peculiar. Yeah. You know, there's also a great bookshop. I think it's
00:44:23.180
called the Minster Bookshop. Definitely give that a visit. Right. So, York is very, very,
00:44:29.160
very full of people. And you have all sorts of tourism. The Minster is great. See here,
00:44:38.460
York, in case you're wondering where you are. In case you're lost. I will say this. I've been
00:44:44.760
inside the Minster several times. And there was a lovely occasion in early December. I think it's
00:44:53.840
every year, early December. So, now, less than a month from now, I think it was a Santa Lucia
00:45:00.260
choir. And they're singing lovely religious music. Oh, heavenly.
00:45:09.500
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, or Christmas carols and stuff. Right.
00:45:14.100
It's a marvelous experience. So, definitely visit it. If you want to have an idea, just
00:45:20.660
check videos on YouTube, because there are videos of this glorious event. Right. So,
00:45:26.320
what it says here, York is one of the most ancient cities with such a patriotic history.
00:45:30.980
Our city was there in Athelstan, the first king of England, united all Anglo-Saxon and Viking
00:45:36.640
territories, making him the first Anglo-Saxon ruler of all of England. So, it does have rich history.
00:45:43.020
And I will also say something that is, that just comes off the top of my head. I think
00:45:49.400
it was Cardinal Wolsey, who was in York. Yes. And during the period of Henry VIII, where
00:45:57.420
he was trying to get a divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Yeah, he was exiled from power and
00:46:02.500
basically given York. He was like Bishop of York, something like that. It was his last title.
00:46:08.500
Yes. And I think he, did he kill himself before they killed him? Or is that one of the...
00:46:15.160
It's a speculation. It may have been the case. But I think the generally accepted version of
00:46:22.880
history is that he just got ill and died, fortunately, before his trial. He's in trial.
00:46:28.880
Right. And I will say very briefly, we have the two really interesting series. One is a series,
00:46:38.340
the other is a movie. A Man for All Seasons. Oh, I love it. And then we have Tudors, where in
00:46:42.920
Tudors, they have a more sympathetic view of Cardinal Wolsey. I mean, it's Sam Neill. I kind
00:46:48.120
of not like him. Oh, he's... Even when he's playing the villain, I kind of stand for Sam Neill.
00:46:52.880
The thing is, as well, actually, just on that, Sam Neill is the sort of man I'd never have
00:46:57.500
thought to have cast as Wolsey. But he is magnificent. Yes. Every single scene he's in...
00:47:05.760
And the scene where he commits suicide is one of the greatest scenes. I think it was my
00:47:12.480
Man for All Seasons is a wonderful movie, but they did portray him basically like Jabba the
00:47:19.680
So... Right. Yeah. This is AI generated, but the issue is that it's not that far away from
00:47:28.280
reality. Oh, right. Yeah. Again, Mikkelgate here. It's not just Mikkelgate. Come on. Come
00:47:33.980
on, Twitter. Right here. Again, this may be AI generated, but it's not far from reality. And
00:47:42.400
I will say I have been in this hotel. Occasionally, if you're properly dressed, they do allow you
00:47:51.000
to go in the garden here and... Oh, they actually have a dress code?
00:47:55.800
Baby, basically, you need to not be dressed as a bum. Based? Yeah. So I wasn't. So I was allowed
00:48:04.400
to enter. You may proceed. Yeah. It was just great. And you have... You look at the Minster
00:48:10.860
here from behind. This is like backstage view of the Minster. Not exactly because you have
00:48:17.240
the walls that surround the city. Absolutely stunning views. It's... You have to do it.
00:48:25.840
One... Two of the things you have to do in York are the following. Walk along the... Along
00:48:34.240
the walls and also do the Dame Judi Dench walk. Walk along the river miles and miles and miles.
00:48:41.240
It's absolutely wonderful. Oh, and you also have the Jorvik Centre as well, don't you?
00:48:45.340
Yes. The Viking Centre. With all the Viking history. Yes. Yes. I remember that from a school
00:48:49.200
trip as a young lad. Right. Just... Just look at this. This is behind the Minster. They have
00:48:54.340
here some cafe shops. Now they haven't taken the tables and chairs outside. But you have these
00:49:01.340
three wonderful places here where you can get scones and coffee and tea, whatever. It's just
00:49:08.420
magnificent. Right. Let's exit this. Let's see if we have extra photos here. Again, shambles.
00:49:16.300
Come on. Right. Here. Okay. This is just a look of York without the tables and chairs here
00:49:26.800
of the pubs when... Or a Dutch angle shot. Yeah. For some reason. This is great. I think this
00:49:31.380
is the Centurion place behind. It had the gym I went. But I walk this place all day, you know, and
00:49:38.580
you walk along here. You have the other bridge here. You also have another lovely place here in the...
00:49:45.060
You can... You can... Where is it? Anyway, we left here. Right. So York is amazing. Definitely visit it. And if you
00:49:54.660
love walking, it's one of the best places because you can just walk everywhere. And it has great
00:50:01.140
connection with also public transport to basically all the places in the north. So it's very central
00:50:08.260
and great. Now, York is one of those cities where they say that it's really stunning. And the... I have
00:50:16.660
heard that the York of the south is Bath. Lots of people in Bath may say that York is the Bath of the
00:50:23.220
north. I'm staying out of it. But let me just show you here where we are going. York is here. Both is
00:50:33.140
right here close to Bristol. It's here. Yeah. It's right where the Cotswolds begin, I think. I think the
00:50:44.180
Cotswolds are a massive area here. It's just even more bigger than this. It's just Bath is here. Right.
00:50:51.940
Let us look at some Bath photos. Sir, I've only ever visited Bath once, so I must go again.
00:51:00.500
You have to go there? Well, I mean, it's already convinced me. Yeah. Let's just look at this.
00:51:07.300
Yeah. Extraordinary. You walk here. Here was a place where I will say first time I visited now,
00:51:12.820
because I visited, I think, 20 years ago. You walk here and there are some stairs and you climb down.
00:51:20.100
And I saw some people here eating with their hands. I said, what are they doing? Anyway,
00:51:24.820
I just kept continuing walking along this beautiful... Why do you have to pay for stock photos?
00:51:29.940
What's this nonsense? Very strange. No idea. Right. Let me just show you. Here you have beautiful bridges.
00:51:37.620
Hmm. Just look at that. Yeah, it's extraordinary. And then, of course, as well, isn't it? One of the most
00:51:46.340
important landmarks of it is the old ancient Roman Baths. Yeah. Which I'm sure I must have visited many
00:51:53.700
years ago when I did go, however briefly. Yeah. There are lots of people here who take pictures.
00:52:01.620
I have been one of them. Oh, I thought you might have been. Yes. Right. So this is just a place where you
00:52:10.020
have magnificent view and I never get tired of it. Never get tired of it. Let's look at some other
00:52:15.860
photos from Bath here. Also, it has a great pub. I think the Raven pub. And this is the pub where
00:52:23.220
Keir Starmer was denied entry entrance. Oh, right. Oh, yes. Okay. Yes. So we have to mention this.
00:52:29.220
Shout out to landlord. For people who are also interested in the current affairs. And that was
00:52:33.540
based as well, because that was over the lockdown stuff as well. Yes. Right. Again, here, if you walk
00:52:39.460
down this small path, you see here, this is a great hotel. Yeah, remarkable. You see also, I think
00:52:47.860
this, no, that's not Sydney Gardens. It's called, it has a different name. Sydney Gardens is to the right
00:52:54.900
of it. If you walk here. Sydney Sweeney Gardens. Sydney Sweeney Gardens. Yeah, definitely.
00:53:02.020
Check them out. Check them out. She gave us her endorsement. She did. Didn't she? Right. So you
00:53:09.940
you see here. Right. This is a great place. I do remember this. Yes. How could I forget that? Possibly.
00:53:19.380
Yeah. That was one of the greatest streets I've ever been on. Yeah. And I think this is Bath Regent
00:53:24.580
or Regent's Bath Circus. And close to it has some very posh, but lovely neighborhoods. And I've heard
00:53:32.660
this an anecdote where someone was there in the living there in the door knock and it was Nicolas Cage
00:53:40.020
said, I'm interested in buying your house. Are you interested in selling? But it's just crazily
00:53:45.140
expensive. Bath is crazily expensive. Imagine living in that cove. Yeah. Imagine. Yes. Right. So I'm not
00:53:55.780
so much a city person. I'm more of a nature man. I love, you know, the the great unexplored. And when I
00:54:03.220
named Lincoln, part of the charm of Lincoln is the fact that it is a just a small city. Yeah.
00:54:08.580
But I will mention this city because it's very close to my heart. Edinburgh in Scotland. Always
00:54:16.260
meant to go. Yeah. There is something really lovely about the city for me, which the audience may disagree
00:54:25.060
with me. It's the sound. I love the sound of bagpipes. Oh, the sound of the scots. And you very frequently
00:54:33.540
listen to bagpipes there. Also, you have Edinburgh Castle, which is lovely. And you go through a
00:54:41.300
wonderful tour and you look down the city and it's great. You have, I think, Arthur's Eld or King's Eld.
00:54:48.820
I think Arthur's Eld. Right. It's another beautiful hill that you see the city. But it's just I
00:54:55.220
and you have this great road here. You climb up to the castle. Now we'll say this. I do have
00:55:03.220
a massive issue, possibly with the Scottish government. I think Scotland is one of the
00:55:08.900
most expensive places to have whiskey. Oh, really? Yeah. And I absolutely love whiskey. That should
00:55:15.060
never be the case. And the Scots are, I think, number one in whiskey. I will say this.
00:55:19.220
I happen to agree. I also love Irish whiskey, but I think my favorite are the Scots whiskeys,
00:55:24.820
especially in the Isle of Isle of the smoked ones. More of a smoked whiskey, man. They were
00:55:30.580
crazily expensive there. Now, I have heard the excuse that there's lots of drunken fights and
00:55:39.220
they're trying to contain it. In Scotland. But I think that this is an absolute excuse. I have seen
00:55:44.740
several roles there. People throwing chairs. But let us not mix things. No. Whiskey is whiskey.
00:55:53.460
And this expensive, this tax rate on whiskey is categorically wrong. They don't want you to
00:55:59.860
know this, but you can drink whiskey without throwing chairs. Yes. Again, don't ban whiskey.
00:56:08.180
Right. Look at this. It's just marvelous. That is extraordinary.
00:56:11.620
And one thing I will say, some buildings were a bit grayish or blackish, but this didn't deprive the
00:56:20.020
jolliness of the town. I got a very happy feeling there. Maybe it was the bagpipes.
00:56:25.220
Maybe it was. Maybe it was the bagpipes. But lots of Scots I've met disagree with me. They tell me
00:56:30.580
they can't stand the sound of bagpipes. Oh, I'm glad they're saying it because I do happen to agree
00:56:35.940
with them. No, it's the sound of pride. It's a very sharp sound. It's the sound of pride. All right.
00:56:43.780
I mean, don't go wrong. I'm not saying I wish I didn't exist. It's not one of my favorites.
00:56:47.940
My favorite. You have to love the sound of bagpipes. It's just how it is. Oh, yes. No,
00:56:54.020
I understand. Right. So I like how diplomatically you play. I quite understand. It pierces your ear,
00:57:01.060
but it elevates you. It fills you with pride and joy. I do understand that, actually. Yeah. Okay.
00:57:09.460
I'm a bit more convinced. So here is Tom Roussel, great man, great friend of the show. And he says,
00:57:17.060
my current advice for tourists visiting England is to just visit these three towns,
00:57:23.060
Sarancest of Quaint Town, local Cotswolds Villages, Roman Villa, Treadworth and Roman Museum in town,
00:57:30.340
Bath for Roman Baths, beautiful town, and the nearby stately home. And he has this trajectory here
00:57:38.340
where he goes south. Oh, to Salisbury. Yeah. Right. That's great. But I'm going to break
00:57:46.580
his rule. I will travel along his road, but I will also be very cheeky and tell people to do the
00:57:55.620
exact opposite route as well. Well, to do it in reverse. Do this, but also go to the Cotswolds here,
00:58:03.700
which I happen to love. I do appreciate, I do appreciate the concerns that you have. And I'm
00:58:10.340
sure that they are the concerns Tom has. I do appreciate this, but you have to look at the
00:58:18.340
stunning beauty of the Cotswolds. I'm a Cotswolds aficionado, but I will be diplomatic
00:58:26.900
in that I won't mention all of the Cotswolds. Okay. Because there are many. I mean, there are
00:58:31.620
many. All right, then keep your secrets. The ones that I'm frequenting, I won't say. Good. So they
00:58:36.820
don't get full of other people. But the ones that I, that they, they weren't particularly good to me.
00:58:45.940
They overcharged my coffee and my scones and my fish and chips. And the places where I went and the
00:58:52.740
fish and chips portion wasn't massive. And it was expensive.
00:59:05.380
I'm joking a bit, but we are talking about wholesome places, great places that you have to visit.
00:59:10.740
And not all of them are in the Cotswolds. I will say this. I try to never miss a weekend. I have this
00:59:16.020
right here. This is in Shaftesbury. I was going down to Durdle Door and I had to stop there because
00:59:25.940
a footpath started and I want to do it again. It's wonderful. You just look at the view here.
00:59:34.580
JMA. And I want to walk it. Right. And I have here other places. Right. Well, it's in Somerset.
00:59:40.340
That's not Cotswolds. It's, it's not Dorset either. Shaftesbury is in Dorset, but you just look at this.
00:59:49.780
JMA. This is one of the oldest neighborhoods again.
00:59:52.820
Um, this guy here was messing up with my photo, but still, it's beautiful.
00:59:58.660
JMA. Um, here you have stunning views. It's just wonderful.
01:00:05.780
JMA. Yeah. Just, just look at this. This is beauty.
01:00:08.980
JMA. I do remember Carl saying that Wells Cathedral was one of the greatest places to visit.
01:00:13.940
JMA. Yeah. Now I'm going to attract the hatred of people.
01:00:21.380
JMA. Don't tell them. Don't tell them. This is a picture I got from Bybury.
01:00:26.500
JMA. When you see AI pictures there, just compare them. You see that it's true.
01:00:31.860
JMA. Also, one thing I want to say is that I think it's a good thing for people to do what
01:00:37.300
this is, by the way, stone the world. This is the doors of Durin. I think it's important for,
01:00:43.220
for people to see it at some point. And I'm talking to our audience, because when you go to some of
01:00:49.860
those beautiful Cotswolds, you see what hasn't been taken away from you.
01:00:54.980
JMA. And I will say this, this is why I'm breaking this rule, because I think that it's,
01:01:02.420
it's a massive white pill for people who feel incredibly black-peeled.
01:01:07.380
JMA. You have to watch it, because this is something that is, is alive and vibrant.
01:01:16.180
JMA. It's going to, yeah, once you see that it hasn't died, it will fill you with joy. It
01:01:23.140
will fill you with pride and it will reinvigorate your patriotic sentiments.
01:01:28.420
JMA. If, um, is that north of Swindon, Stone the World?
01:01:36.180
JMA. Let me just show you here where Stone the World is.
01:01:40.020
JMA. So, yeah, I really, that's probably up in my priorities, to be honest with you.
01:01:45.060
JMA. Siren Sester, also where Tom suggested, is where we've been there.
01:01:50.020
JMA. You remember once where you stayed at my place?
01:01:55.940
JMA. Good night. And then the road back closed,
01:02:16.660
And here is Joshua's favorite place, or not so much.
01:02:20.500
Lately here is where you think it's completely destroyed by tourism burden on the water.
01:02:25.220
I will say, yeah, when it's full of people, it's annoying.
01:02:31.140
You can't park, you can't walk, it's full of people.
01:02:38.100
Lots of them are just walking barefoot, and they're entering the river barefoot.
01:02:48.820
JMA. If you pick times where it isn't full of tourism, it's absolutely wonderful.
01:03:14.580
JMA. If you know how, you can game the system, and you can actually see it in this beauty.
01:03:22.260
Right. So, just look at this. You're walking, and this is just a lovely river. Lots of lovely ducks.
01:03:27.940
Awesome. Just following one another. It's great.
01:03:33.140
Very wholesome. Here, from that ridge, you see it.
01:03:41.700
And it has lots of other lovely pictures. Let me see, where is it?
01:03:45.540
Yeah, but also it has, here is what Maven says. He says, bought on the wall.
01:03:53.700
He says, he is showing how very bad it can get. Things can get with lots of tourism. Just look at
01:04:05.460
Well, if you did that, you should just be banned from the village.
01:04:08.260
And pick up some great days to visit. Again, when you do,
01:04:14.580
it will reinvigorate your sentiments, because the city is lovely.
01:04:18.980
It's not a city. This small Cotswold is absolutely lovely.
01:04:29.700
Right. Another one, which is one of my absolute favorites,
01:04:34.340
is Broadway, which is really close to Stonewall.
01:04:41.140
Yeah. And you go here. Also, Chipping Camden is magnificent.
01:04:52.340
And it has a footpath. You climb down the hill to Broadway.
01:05:06.660
And during the summer, they have something really nice and interesting.
01:05:20.420
They draw inspiration from the magnificent scenery and they do so.
01:05:33.860
Broadway Hotel, The Fish, Crown Low and Meal here.
01:05:42.420
And here, if you love footpaths, Broadway can be a great place to start.
01:05:48.900
Here you have Cotswolds Way, Ashmolean Museum Broadway, Upper High Street.
01:05:55.140
You have Whichever Way, which is 40 miles of a footpath, which to me is a challenge.
01:06:02.260
I'm definitely going to walk that at some point.
01:06:06.820
Also car park and toilets if you want to relieve yourself.
01:06:13.140
Now, I want to show you Durdle Door because I will say that people outside of England
01:06:20.100
frequently think that England doesn't have beautiful beaches and waters.
01:06:28.820
And there are some areas where, right, the water is not so nice.
01:06:33.620
But there are also some areas where the water is stunning.
01:06:45.140
Do you remember which part of the coast it's on?
01:06:55.620
Again, also, there were smugglers here and stuff.
01:07:08.420
One thing I will say here is that I parked here in Lalworth Cove.
01:07:17.380
And then I climbed up, I call it the Hill of Sorrows, because it was very steep.
01:07:24.340
And then you walk to Manowar Beach and Durdle Door.
01:07:58.660
The group I was with was very keen on taking photos.
01:08:18.900
But then I went out and just, I was watching the other ones climbing up slowly.
01:08:52.500
This isn't just, you know, or tinkered or something.
01:09:08.500
Also, I will say this, because I like giving credit where it's due.
01:09:20.740
They tried to steal it, but I didn't allow them.
01:09:39.220
I've heard that the rocks there are very sharp.
01:09:42.260
You have to take care, but you have to go there.
01:09:45.940
Also, really fun thing is I was telling one person in the group,
01:09:50.020
you really have to take care of how you be careful, how you walk.
01:10:08.180
They faced the consequences of not listening to prudent advice.
01:10:26.580
I was a bit unlucky that day because it was very cloudy.
01:10:29.860
You can't see the majesty of Winchester when it's that cloudy.
01:10:33.620
I mean, you can, but if it were sunny, it would be more glorious.
01:10:51.460
No, that looks extraordinary, especially after everyone's left.
01:11:08.660
They were traveling across Dorset and eventually reaching Durdle door.
01:11:15.700
And look at just here, the beauty of the place.
01:11:22.500
It was the lasses who were basically really stalling because they were taking pictures.
01:11:39.220
Also, I have heard that waters in Cornwall and Devon are great.
01:11:45.940
I'm sure Josh would speak to that with some authority.
01:11:54.580
I told you that the beach was a bit like being in a Radio Genoa video.
01:12:07.540
I strategically withheld evidence and then I did.
01:12:15.540
But yeah, I have heard great things and I have been told to visit St. Ives.
01:12:22.580
It's one of the few places in Cornwall I've actually visited.
01:12:25.620
Also, one thing, Torquay, I think Torquay is the...
01:12:35.780
And also, I think, unless I'm hugely mistaken, I think it was where William of Orange landed
01:12:46.420
Well, actually, if you just zoom out a little bit, somewhere in there is Newton Abbott.
01:12:52.420
And Newton Abbott, well, it must be near Exeter, but Newton Abbott was...
01:12:57.460
There was a spot where a speech was given to the local populace where they basically announced
01:13:05.300
And I can only imagine that the locals were looking around very confused at just suddenly
01:13:09.620
having a new king arrived in that little sleepy village.
01:13:28.180
Also, I've heard great things about all of Devon and all of Cornwall.
01:13:40.740
That's where I'll go next summer at some point.
01:13:44.020
I have a list where, you know, I'm obsessed with, I've been to 82 places in the UK.
01:13:53.300
Now, the final place I want to show is in Wales.
01:14:02.500
And I will say that it's very close to my heart for several reasons.
01:14:17.700
The seagulls are a bit prejudiced against the houses in the sea, nearby, in the coastline.
01:14:28.740
I'm sure they're very prejudiced against the seagulls.
01:14:30.980
Yeah, they are going a bit IDF on the houses there.
01:14:34.820
And they're just bombarding them with, you know, their, you know, the seagull waste.
01:14:50.740
It was a nice place here to drink beer and something.
01:15:01.220
One thing, I think there were lots of stoners there in Aberystwyth.
01:15:06.180
Let me just show you how I drove there and where it is.
01:15:12.260
I think they say that Snowdonia is a bit to the north.
01:15:19.700
And basically you go, yeah, you cross Bristol here and you just go there.
01:15:33.140
You have lovely footpaths with brilliant, brilliant, awesome, you know, view.
01:15:46.020
You occasionally have some stoners here or there.
01:16:03.780
And again, I will say I experienced a very jolly sentiment there from it.
01:16:11.140
And you have, you know, really bright colored places.
01:16:15.620
You have a, you know, this beautiful landscape.
01:16:19.140
And here you have Aberystwyth castle, which I think, I think, unless I'm horribly mistaken,
01:16:38.660
Reminds me a lot of Scarborough, actually, in its geography.
01:16:41.540
And the way that the houses arc around and you've got the raised hill in the background.
01:16:49.220
There's also a sauna here if you want to go and chill and then swim in the cold waters.
01:17:05.060
And let me just finish with a few other places because I, I mean, I've been to, as I said,
01:17:16.580
But I will say here, for instance, in, I was in Brighton for some time, which was a bit of a challenge.
01:17:37.380
It's another extra lovely footpath you can go to is the Seven Sisters footpath.
01:17:47.780
It's the one with the white chalky cliffs that we see in several movies.
01:17:53.940
And there are several stories as to why it was named this way.
01:17:58.260
I think, unless I'm mistaken, one story is that there were seven sisters who committed suicide there.
01:18:06.340
It does sound like an appropriate origin story for the naming of a place.
01:18:12.100
There are places that have this sort of namesake.
01:18:16.500
And last, I want to say something about a place I want to visit.
01:18:32.260
They told me that, especially if you like the seaside,
01:18:35.620
you have to look at, you have to visit it, especially during summer.
01:18:39.780
And of course, I have to, I am a whiskey lover.
01:18:43.300
I imagine it's quite a harsh environment, to be honest, in a Scottish winter, being in Oban.
01:18:51.860
And just because I'm a whiskey lover, I have to end with the Isle of Islay.
01:18:59.540
That's the fountain where all the smoked ones come from.
01:19:12.980
Yeah, I'm sure we'll go there one day and clink a glass and get quite squiffy.
01:19:19.380
I suppose that concludes just about every recommendation that Stelios and I have had between us for the
01:19:26.180
sake of this hour, however long we've been recording.
01:19:28.820
So we do hope that you found some sort of recommendation in there that's either local
01:19:34.580
to where you live or, you know, that you can see some utility for, you know,
01:19:38.980
you can go and make some great memories with your family, with your loved ones in the next year.
01:19:43.940
So from both Stelios and I, we wish you a very Merry Christmas.
01:19:48.660
We also, of course, wish you a very festive New Year.
01:19:52.100
And we look forward to seeing you in the new one.