Mon, 30 Sep 2002

author Liz	location The Palace Farm, Gamrie, Banff, Scotland
posted 10:01 BST 1/10/02	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

Into the Highlands ( No photos )
From the hostel in Falkland yesterday, we drove East through Fife to Crail which is a busy little village on the coast, and here we began to get into golf course territory, much to Tim's delight.
We drove on to St Andrew's, the home of golf, and spent an hour or so looking around the St Andrew's Cathedral ruins and its graveyard. We came across some (empty) old stone coffins that had been uncovered, and Meaghan and I were horrified when Tim suggested we 'get in and lie down for a photo'! Suprisingly we refused, and went and had a look around the famous golf course which apparently costs £90 a round.
It was a very popular place, with cars everywhere, so Tim was dragged away, and we drove north over the Firth of Tay Bridge, which seemingly went on forever over the river, through Dundee and then headed inland looking for a B&B, and before we knew it we were in the Scottish Highlands. The scenery was indescribable, so you'll just have to come over here and see it for yourselves. There were huge mountains either side over us, and Tim had lots of fun driving over the rolling valley roads.
We ended up skipping the B&B, and instead went to the hostel in Braemar, which was set amongst the woodland. The area around us was a very popular hiking spot, and there were also a lot of ski lifts that, whilst not in use at the moment, probably don't stop in the winter. I am hoping to come back here to ski early next year. I'll have to see if I can get Tim on a pair of ski's :)

author Tim	location Falkland, Fife, Scotland
posted 11:14 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

Off again ( No photos )
Once again heading away from the internet access, here's a goodbye for another week (at this rate, anyway).
We tried to find a dinner last night but left it too late - all the pubs/restaurants were too expensive or full. So instead we made our own dinner, from whatever we could buy at the little supermarket thingo. Quite good!
Spoke to mum and dad, as did Liz and Meaghan, so we've had a good rest and a catch up here.
Off for some more adventure!

author Tim	location Falkland, Fife, Scotland
posted 19:12 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

Some of Fife ( No photos )
Sorry - the updates are going to come thick and fast while we have the ability to do so!
After Liz woke up at 1:30pm (not feeling well), we finally got moving for the day. We covered more or less the central section of Fife, including the coast line from Elie back to the bridges over the Firth of Forth. We then came back via our first proper Loch!
We're in a slow, do not very much mood, so tonight will probably just be a dinner then bed. There are a few nice little pubs and cheapish restaurants around here, so we'll see what we can find.
The people running the B&Bs and the hostel staff have on the whole been very friendly, advising on various pubs to check out and of course which to avoid.
Not sure if the girls will be able to sleep tonight after doing so for most of the day :)
Tomorrow we will probably head out north via St. Andrews, and the eastern end of Fife.
A few more random observations on British Life:

• Radio here is terrible, unless Classical is your thing. The three most common songs we hear on the radio (no matter what station) have been called Songs 1, 2 and 3. They appear almost non-stop.
• There are still plenty of bad drivers on the roads.
• It's very hard to get lost anywhere - all the signs are very good.
• The media here is so much worse than Australia. There seems to be nothing that is sacred, and large-scale death and destruction is routinely relegated after news of celebrity boob-jobs.

author Tim	location Falkland, Scotland
posted 10:50 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

An update at last ( No photos )
The last day or two has in general see us move Northish from Edinburgh towards Fife, which is the region we are in now.
Yesterday we had a look at the Falkirk Wheel - a strange boat lift thing the likes of which I can't really describe. Just have a look at the website!
Next we came north, stopping at the Wallace Monument - a tribute to the Scottish hero William Wallace, of Braveheart fame. Quite interesting, but the prospect of another 270 steps after all our previous walking meant we didn't actually climb up it.
We've also taken in Arthur's Seat - a 250 metre or so mountain in the middle of Edinburgh - a pain to climb with my horrible knees, but a great view (and photos of course) from the top.
Last night we went to a local around the corner for a few drinkies and a bit of food. It was good all round, and these Youth Hostels we have stayed in the last few days mean that we are saving money in general. More to spend later!
Today (when the girls eventually wake up, that is), we're probably going to take in the surrounding areas in Fife - that includes St. Andrews with it's famous golf course, and quite a lot of the costal surrounding areas. We will probably stay another night here - the price is good, and it's only been open for the last few months after a major re-furbishment.

author Tim	location Falkland, Scotland
posted 19:06 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

Woohoo! ( No photos )
It's been a week since we left Peter's house, and I've finally found a net connection where we can plug the laptop in. How annoying it's been. The girl running the Youth Hostel was quite happy for me to tinker around for a while - many thanks to her!
I'll write a more detailed update later. Cheers!

author Tim	location New Lanark, Scotland
posted 11:29 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

Edinburgh ( No photos )
I'm writing a quick update in the hope that I can find a decent Internet cafe somewhere today - all found so far have no laptop facilities.
Yesterday we had the most amazing breakfast so far - porridge, yoghurt, chopped fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, etc. Didn't need to eat for hours. That B&B had the hugest bathroom any of us had seen - I had a bath - great way to unwind after the day.
We then drove into Edinburgh. After parking in the street to find a tourist information place, we moved the car to a car park nearby where we drove him into a "bay", locked him up, then the door closed. What happened next, we don't know. He must have been taken on a conveyor belt somewhere - it took a little while to get him out later.
We started out on a walk that Liz had found in a little Edinburgh By Foot book that she found, but rapidly got side-tracked at tourist shops, Whisky centres, and fudge-land. Of course, we ended up buying five huge slices of fudge, along with numerous touristy things.
We spent a little time looking at some hostels to stay at, but they were quite expensive and had nowhere safe to park Percy.
The main thing we did was a trip through Edinburgh castle. It's so high up, and you wind around and around towards the top. We saw the crown jewels, the place where the piper stands at the tattoo, the war memorial, etc. The weather turned nasty just to remind us of where we were, and we spent a fair bit of time looking around in general. The girls liked some mead that we tried, so we may have to purchase some of that.
We decided to stay out of Edinburgh, and found a youth hostel at New Lanark - a tiny little village tucked between a river and a cliff-face. We couldn't even find the road in at first. The hostel itself is great - we're going to spend tonight here as well - it's cheap, clean, quiet, and almost smack-bang in the middle of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Dinner was take-away Chinese and a bottle of red, at the hostel.
This morning the girls slept in until 10am when I returned from a three mile walk. This was along side the river, up to The Clyde Falls - Britain's highest. However, it pales in comparison to the falls we have in Australia at only 27 metres high.
We're going to head back into Edinburgh now, taking in Arthur's Seat and looking a little more seriously for a decent Internet cafe.

author Tim	location Preston, Scotland
posted 18:40 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

Border Country ( No photos )
After rising to a great breakfast this morning (though Meaghan was a little slow after last night), we set off to finally make it over the elusive Scottish border.
We took the path through the Northumberland National Park, which meant that the actual border crossing was upon the top of the hill with great views for miles across Scotland. Here, there were huge stones with "England" and "Scotland" on the appropriate sides, and a bag-piper busking infront of the sign. Not touristy at all! Much to the girls disgust, I organised someone to take a photo of the three of us.
We took some nice little back-road trips around the place, including a snacky lunch at Etal, sea-side stops at St. Abbs (looking to stay at a Youth Hostel there, but the owners appeared to have been taken away for Police questioning) and a wonderful drive along the Eastern Scottish coast (we're still below Edinburgh - plan to get there tomorrow).
All in all, not much has changed coming across the border. I've been told "you're not allowed here with an accent like that!" (jokingly) by a local, the shops sell Haggis now, and a "Full Scottish Breakfast" now appears amongst our breakfast options, along with porridge and haddock.
This afternoon we went for a quiet stroll around the village, where Liz made friends with a bull (whilst both her and I were wearing red tops - I kept away!).
There some updates on the Itinerary page - Meaghan is now getting a train back to Bletchley on the 10th of October, whilst Liz and I travel to the more remote areas of Scotland. Up until then, we'll see the standard tourist places. This probably means Edinburgh, Glasgow, Loch Ness, etc. That's more than enough planning for now!

author Tim	location Preston, Scotland
posted 18:40 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

Border Country ( No photos )
(Continued from North and Central England)
After rising to a great breakfast this morning (though Meaghan was a little slow after last night), we set off to finally make it over the elusive Scottish border.
We took the path through the Northumberland National Park, which meant that the actual border crossing was upon the top of the hill with great views for miles across Scotland. Here, there were huge stones with "England" and "Scotland" on the appropriate sides, and a bag-piper busking infront of the sign. Not touristy at all! Much to the girls disgust, I organised someone to take a photo of the three of us.
We took some nice little back-road trips around the place, including a snacky lunch at Etal, sea-side stops at St. Abbs (looking to stay at a Youth Hostel there, but the owners appeared to have been taken away for Police questioning) and a wonderful drive along the Eastern Scottish coast (we're still below Edinburgh - plan to get there tomorrow).
All in all, not much has changed coming across the border. I've been told "you're not allowed here with an accent like that!" (jokingly) by a local, the shops sell Haggis now, and a "Full Scottish Breakfast" now appears amongst our breakfast options, along with porridge and haddock.
This afternoon we went for a quiet stroll around the village, where Liz made friends with a bull (whilst both her and I were wearing red tops - I kept away!).
There some updates on the Itinerary page - Meaghan is now getting a train back to Bletchley on the 10th of October, whilst Liz and I travel to the more remote areas of Scotland. Up until then, we'll see the standard tourist places. This probably means Edinburgh, Glasgow, Loch Ness, etc. That's more than enough planning for now!

author Liz	location Thropton, Northumberland, England
posted 08:16 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

A long drive north ( No photos )
After finally managing to check our emails yesterday (and paying credit card bills - grr), we caught the bus back to Bletchley, had some lunch and then headed North on the M1/A1/A1(M). We left at about 1:30pm, so we spent the rest of the day driving. There was a nine mile traffic jam along the way, where it looked like police and forensics had found a body or something.
We arrived at our B&B - The Chirnells - at 7:30pm. It is just out of a small village called Thropton, and is right in the middle of farms - cows were mooing in the middle of the night.
Dinner was at a nice (but expensive) pub/restaurant up the road, accompanied by a few drinks. Even though it was pricey, the food was a bit fancier than we would normally eat, and quite nice!

author Liz	location Thropton, Northumberland, England
posted 08:16 BST 24/09/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

A long drive north ( No photos )
After finally managing to check our emails (and paying credit card bills - grr), we caught the bus back to Bletchley, had some lunch and then headed North on the M1/A1/A1(M). We left at about 1:30pm, so we spent the rest of the day driving. There was a nine mile traffic jam along the way, where it looked like police and forensics had found a body or something.
We arrived at our B&B - The Chirnells - at 7:30pm. It is just out of a small village called Thropton, and is right in the middle of farms - cows were mooing in the middle of the night.
Dinner was at a nice (but expensive) pub/restaurant up the road, accompanied by a few drinks. Even though it was pricey, the food was a bit fancier than we would normally eat, and quite nice!
[Next morning, it was on to Scotland]

author Tim	location Bletchley, England
posted 21:11 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Re-united ( No photos )
Leaving the great B&B, with it's strange toilet (3/4 full with water most of the time!), yet fantastic surroundings, we drove almost directly east towards Milton Keynes.
Today's interesting diversions included a stop at a little steam railway called the Glocestershire-Wawrick Railway. We were considering going for a ride until we found a sign saying "This is a high-theft area, leave nothing un-attended." Since our entire lives at this stage are in Percy, we thought better of leaving for a half-day steam excursion.
Since today was a Liz driving day, that left me navigating. All was going well, yet I had failed to notice that the green roads on one map page which looked like they joined up with the one on the next actually didn't. So, we took half an hour's back-street bonanza to get through to where we needed to be.
Upon approaching Bletchley, we rang Meaghan for directions to her Grandma's House. She gave them. They were terribly wrong. We should have remembered - this was Meaghan we were dealing with. A call back saw us arrive close - just on the wrong side of the road, a little way down - she had given us the wrong street number. Hooray for Meags!
After settling in for a little while (we are staying here tonight), Meaghan's Grandma mentioned that the reason that the Spitfires were flying over head was that Bletchley was of course the home of Bletchley Park. Wandering down there, we went on a two-hour wandering of the estate, where we saw how the British war effort had cracked the German Enigma machines, and saved the world. All played up a bit, I had to prod the girls awake a few times, but it was worth a visit.
Tomorrow we intend on heading into Milton Keynes proper to get connected and get updated. Then, we'll probably have a nice long drive up into Scotland to enable us to start looking around as soon as possible.

author Tim	location Wormington, Worcestershire, England
posted 21:13 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

A Good Fun Day ( No photos )
Last night we ended up having some dinner at a great little pub in Pembridge, which is one of the famous "Black and White" towns. Basically, these are villages consisting mainly of the Tudor(?) style of construction - exposed woodwork on the outside, painted black, contrasting against otherwise white walls. Surely you've seen a picture somewhere. Most were built before the invention of the spirit level it seems, with beams going off at all angles, and many buildings looking like they're about to fall over.
The meal was pretty good, and of course we had to try the local brew - in this case the area is strong on Ciders. A Dunkertons Black Fox Dry was followed by a Stowford Press - both unique and tasty.
After the most amazing breakfast, we said goodbye to the proprietors (including the dog Pippa), congratulating them on having the best B&B we'd found so far. We then wound our way towards London, taking in Hereford, Gloucester, Cheltenham and of course lots of other little towns before ending up at Wormington.
On our journey, we managed to find the Dunkertons cider mill. Very interesting, we saw how it all worked before the obligatory taste testing. A huge range of flavours, ranging from the extremely sweet to the extremely dry - both well out of the range of what we'd ever tasted before.
Back on the road, I pulled in at a golf driving range where I showed just how much I had forgotten about how to hit a ball, and Liz did very well for her first real attempt at swinging a club. She was hitting some great shots, and had a good time - we should do it again.
Again, it's a Saturday night so we spent quite a long time looking for a B&B - it would be nice if they took their signs off the road when they're full! We finally drove about two miles off an already not-very-main road, and found this place called the Manor House. It's a working farm, complete with three dogs, two cats, a few horses, quad-bikes and a good dose of country hospitality.
We took a little walk about half a mile down the road towards an abandoned mill - great countryside, and the weather is fantastic at the moment, if a little cold at night.
For dinner, we headed as recommended into Broadway - the nearest "big" town, although it still has the smallest font possible on the map! We found a little pub called The Crown and Trumpet, and used one of their this-pub-only Ales to wash down a Chicken Pie (with apples - weird) and a Lasagne.

author Tim	location Lyonshall, Herefordshire, England
posted 17:06 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

First bit of Wales! ( No photos )
We drove almost directly south today, taking in Whitchurch, Shrewsbury, Church Stretton, Ludlow and finally settling in a great little B&B at Lyonshall called The Woodlands.
Even though we've had it all along, this is the first B&B we've thought to look up in "The Green Book" - a listing of the private B&Bs personally recommeded by a particular team. From the looks of this one, I'd agree so far.
It lists 75 B&Bs around Scotland, the majority of which seem to close around November. So we're just going to slip in on that one, and we should have enough to choose from.
Before landing here, we stopped at Beeston Castle, not far from where we started out in Cheshire. Built in 1225 (but the site was used back to 2000 BC for similar purposes), it stands right onto of a huge hill surrounded by a moat. Fantastic views from the top, in all directions. Will have to get the photos up here soon.
Also, we took in "The Golden Valley" and surroundings (including a few one-lane 25% gradient runs over the hills), to get to which we actually had to drive into Wales and back out again. We were very suprised at just how different everything gets, even in the two miles or so that we actually saw.
Obviously, the countryside doesn't dramatically change, but all of a sudden the signs all take on two languages (if you are lucky), and the radio seems to have three Greek stations on (which of course they aren't, it just sounds that way to my untrained ears).
Our Welsh so far extends to knowing that for "slow" you use a four-letter word starting with A which we have forgetten already. Haven't attempted pronounciation yet, we have a guide in the back of our Lonely Planet book so I'm sure we can suitably embarrass ourselves given time.
So now we're about three miles back into England. The B&B is a private house, nice gardens, friendly dog, and run by an old couple, obviously set up when their children left home.
A few more quick reflections on England to cap off our one-month travelling Anniversary, focusing on the driving experience:

• Drivers here seem to be quite a bit better (a generalisation, of course). We must drive through an average of thirty round-abouts similar to the Miranda one (ie. three lanes, seven exits, traffic everywhere - is the Miranda one gone yet?) each day, and everyone can deal with it.
• Drivers are much more considerate - if you are turning across another lane, and drivers are banking up behind you, rest assured someone coming the other way will slow down from 50mph, flash their lights and let you go. Very strange the first time we saw that. In Sydney you'd probably just sit there and rot. Similarly for turning out of a side street. Nobody behind will honk either.
• Due to everything being closer together and there being many more people, the roads here are fantastic. Apparently it's roadwork season, which means lots of slow-down-to-30 or even wait-at-the-lights-and-then-use-the-other-side-of-the-road passages. The trade-off, of course, is fantastic roads everywhere, even if they only have one town on them and lead nowhere.
• Our car is a large car by UK standards. Most are 1-1.6 litre jobbies, similar in size to our Corollas, etc, which over here are billed as family cars (serious!). There's certainly no "I'm going to grow up and get a V6 (let alone V8) Commodore" mentality over here. Fuel would be way to expensive, and there's no room on most of the roads.

author Tim	location Helsby, Cheshire, England
posted 08:29 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

One Month On ( No photos )
It dawned on us this morning that we've been gone from Sydney a month. My my. How time flies and all that.
We feel that we've seen most of North/Central England quite well, which is of course what we actually set out to do. Hopefully we can carry this on for the remainder of the trip.
Of course, we miss you all, and getting the occasional email, silly forwarded garbage and SMSs are a great way to remind us that there is still a world back home somewhere. As always, keep them coming!
Last night we spent in Helsby, a little village on the road to Chester. We stayed at The Robin Hood Inn, where dinner, breakfast and the room were all "good" but not "great".
Peter recommended that we see Chester, which we did yesterday. Quite an interesting place full of old Abbey/Cathederals dating back (possibly) to the 8th Century, and surrounded by a huge wall. Living "in" or "out" of the wall must make it a strange city to live in. We walked around for quite a while, taking in the sights.
We got suckered in by a machine claiming to dispense maps of the area. "What a great idea!" we thought - us being total tourists and knowing nothing about the place. The machine happily ate our pound (which we're trying really hard to not remember is almost three dollars), and smiled contemptuously. No map was forthcoming.
A saviour arrived as a freecall number next to the map-machine claiming to offer assistance. "Nobody can take your call, please try again later" came the curt automated reply upon our SOS. I'll try again later today, just for the principal.
Today we'll most probably head closer to London - we're about two hundred miles away now, and we don't actually have to get that far.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 21:04 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Never an un-eventful day ( No photos )
First and foremost, two site-news items:

• We have some new photos online! Have a look!
• The link just above here saying where we posted this from is now click-able. It will point to where this was posted from so you can see a map of it.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 09:36 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Washing day ( No photos )
Yesterday was spent doing not much - I've been keeping my mind on programming by writing a little program which calculates mileage figures (5.57 l/100km or 50.7mpg last tank!), and Liz went into town with Peter to get some more films developed.
Today is going to be equally exciting - we're going to do a whole load of washing at a laundromat. Thus far we have been handwashing at Peters, but the backlog is too great, and the weather isn't nice.
Thanks to Dad for pointing out uk.multimap.com. This is a good site where you can punch in any of the little towns we are going on about, and get a scroll-able, zoom-able map of the area. You can even put postcodes in - try CA26TT which is Peter's house where we are staying at the moment. I'll try to incorporate this into the link we put up top there saying where we currently are.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 16:10 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

A familiar bed ( No photos )
We're back in Carlisle now, after another great day on the road.
Setting out from Fridaythorpe, we looked a little more around Yorkshire, before heading on our chosen back-road path "home" to Carlisle. This took in the wonders of the North York Moors National Park (nice farmland), and Bishop Auckland, before crossing our previous foggy-path near the back road B6277 through Middleton-in-Teesdale.
Fate landed us in a town called Alston, which seems to have an obsession with railways and memorabilia. This was evident in their weekends-only narrow-guage railway, Hazel's cafe (situated on the platform), and a great old cars/motorbikes/anything museum staffed by old locals.
Liz had to drag me away from a model railway exhibition and shop hidden away down there - staffed by an old local couple. Reminded me of our old train set we used to have in our old house.
The road out of Alston was the A686, voted as one of the top ten scenic drives in the world. It certainly was great to wind up the pass, see fantastic countryside over one way, then cross the peak and see miles and miles of different farmland the otherway.
Both we and our wallets were weary from our travels, and so decided to head straight back to Peters via the nice fast motorway.
There are lots of fighter planes flying overhead - they do training nearby in the Lake District (as we found out the other day when they flew almost lower than us as we were up on the peaks). I wonder if their increased activity has anything to do with Tony Blair's stand on Iraq - a constant news item over here.
Liz has had some photos developed, so we'll see what we can organise to get them on here - Peter has a scanner. I should make some noise about my camera as well.
Well, time to upload all this and read some mail.

author Tim	location Fridaythorpe, England
posted 21:43 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

The Wash ( No photos )
Leaving Wisbech this morning, we headed first around the south side of The Wash - a bay of sorts in the east coast of England.
We made it along to Hunstanton, before turning and heading back around The Wash in the direction of the famous Carlisle. Once again, all the good vantage points were tourist havens, including the cities of Skegness (very similar to Blackpool in its lights and "amusement" parlours.
We took in lots of gorgeous countryside before heading back through the city of Hull which we visited the other day. We accessed this via the Humber Bridge, at the rather extortinate toll price of £2.50.
North through Hull, we eventually ended up at Fridaythorpe, another great little one pub town in the middle of nowhere (a little to the right of York on your handy UK map). We had a walk around the village, but you can only walk for about three minutes in any given direction before you hit open farmland.
Another long-ish driving day, we filled Percy up once again, noticing that we've done about 1500 miles in the short time he's been with us. We had a great lunch at yet another small pub-town somewhere, partaking in what seems to be a huge institution over here - Sunday Roast Lunch. Yum!
A few small observations on English life that don't quite fit in anywhere else:

• Warm beer isn't that bad
• You will get a maximum of five minutes driving between all country towns. This place is dense.
• Forget translating into Australian Dollars. It's too scary.
• People here know how to use roundabouts but have no idea about speedlimits. Even when doing 80mph on the motorways, expect to be overtaken by people doing more like 110mph. The police don't seem to care.
• Even though the Premier League Football (aka Soccer) is world-famous, it's not on TV here. Pay only. God love media monopolies.
• The English are scared of Australian sporting prowess. Barely a moment went by in the recent England vs. India cricket test without a mention of how they would have to shape up before meeting the Aussies down under.
• People don't even understand the term "Gday" here. I've got some strange looks. I mean, I understand when they greet me with "Wot u wont?", but they don't even understand our one unique greeting!
• Everyone here watches either Neighbours or Home and Away. Everyone.
• They don't have your good old-fashoned two-tap showers like we do back home - everything is high-tech, push-button, select temperature and flow-speed. We haven't found the same type twice and are yearning for the tried-and-true Aussie-style taps.
• The weather isn't as bad as everyone says. Yet.

author Tim	location Wisbech, England
posted 07:57 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

A few days on the road ( No photos )
Since we left Elswick, I've been quite slack updating this, but luckily Liz has been doing her "real" journal fairly dilligently, so I can read about what we have done!
The night of Friday the 13th saw us staying at a B&B in Thornhill, nestled in the Peak District National Park. Our way there saw us typically following some main roads, missing a turn-off, and then following lots of back roads to attempt to get back. It's a wonderful way to see around the place - try it sometime.
We have been through some great landscapes - plenty of villages in hills, pine forests, around Ladybower and Derwent dams (where the noisiest things were the sheep), and some great straight fast driving along canals.
Yesterday morning we took a trip to one of the many caverns near Castleton, which was named "Divilarse" in Old English. No prizes for guessing what it translates as. Quite similar in concept to Janolean Caves (except without the horrible entry road), we went on a tour of the caves which had around eight hundred years of documented history. Very interesting.
We are currently in a town called Wisbech, which is not many miles north of London - so we've come a long way. The place we're staying in is the most expensive so far, and the least nice. The B&Bs seem to be much more sparse over this part of the place, so we're on top of a pub called The Angel, which it definately isn't.
Food has generally been very good at the small B&Bs - great breakfasts, and easily reached good lunches and dinners. We're getting reasonably good at eating fairly cheaply for the day. However, we were tired last night after looking for so long for somewhere to stay, and ended up with a couple of bags of grease labelled fast food. Not good.
Today we head back to Carlisle up the East Coast - not sure how long we are going to take, but we have the motorways if need be. These can get us all the way back in a day basically, which is great for when we've had enough. But we haven't yet!

author Tim	location Elswick, Lancashire, England
posted 19:56 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Blackpool, Elswick ( No photos )
A reasonable distance was covered down the motorway this morning, before turning off to have a look at the seaside town Knott End, on the west coast. A great lunch was followed with a walk along the very strange "beaches".
It looks like you could walk out for about a kilometre - the water is so shallow, hundreds of birds use the beach for a resting place.
We then headed south around the point, which basically consists entirely of the city Blackpool. A very strange place, the entire point is basically hotels on one side, a strange bus-train hybrid on the other, and "illuminations" over the roadway. These strange creations are light-up representations of everything from Disney characters and Postman Pat to "Kodax" film - a rip off of Kodak and obviously the sponsor of the whole thing.
We decided that it was way too touristy for our taste, and headed inland to find that elusive great B&B. We succeeded. It's called Thornton House, and is a recently-redone rustic place, run by a nice couple, in a little one-pub town called Elswick (the pub is fine - we checked).
Breakfast is yet to be rated, but the sound of what it is was enough to make us think we could manage without a dinner. Also, the ever-present cost of everything helped our decision!
Tomorrow, we will probably head further south to take in more of this fantastic country side while the weather holds - clear blue skies, temperatures around the low 20s.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 09:40 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Heading South for the Winter ( No photos )
The updated, and suitably un-detailed plan for the next few days consists of "head south along the motorway and get off somewhere". That should do us! Everything else will just sort itself out.
Not sure whether we are going to be able to get internet access anywhere, so we may not get a chance to update this for a while.
Also, we have just sent out an email to lots of people - feel free to forward it to anyone who may be interested if you received one.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 22:34 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Another Lakes Walk ( No photos )
Today we set ourselves a simple task - a nice, low impact walk through the Lakes District.
Peter once again was our helpful guide as we took an easy two-hour stroll around Lake Buttermere. As expected for the area, the scenery was great - I'm really missing my camera so I can show you how all it looks. I guess you'll just have to take a trip over here yourselves.
Tonight Liz and I drove into Carlisle and had a coffee at one of the cafes - let's just say that the nightlife is calm. :)
We then headed out to a little back-road country pub where we enjoyed a quiet ale (ok, Liz had a scotch and coke) before coming home to relax and log on.
We think we might head off for a few days trip around central England starting tomorrow. The fuel is too expensive to keep coming back to Carlisle all the time.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 20:40 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

A trip back home ( No photos )
Well, we're back at Peters from the one-night trip over to the East Coast.
We left in the morning, after having a great little snack at the Bakery right next door - fantastic food, and much cheaper than the B&B's breakfast! Liz tried a Cornish Pastie and was suitably impressed. We looked a little more around the town before heading off.
We headed out to the coast, through much more fantastic farm scenery. Eventually we made it to Scarborough on the coast. We found what we assumed was Scarborough Fair, took some photos, and got away - very touristy there. Also, their "beaches" are very sad compared to Aussie ones - we spent just enough time there to appreciate Cronulla then left.
We then drove down the coast, through such little towns as Hornsea and Withernsea. Lunch was at a "chipper" right on the sea - a non-healthy lunch of chips and chilli, and a great fish and chips.
Refreshed, we set off to explore the penninsula south towards spurn head. After a reasonable amount of driving, it wasn't really all that interesting. In the end, it was a private road which we decided against driving along. There were lots of people which we assumed were doing bird watching - lots of camera gear with huge zooms, tripods, etc. Very strange indeed.
Once again tackling some great back roads, we wound our way west through Hull (where that boat which has recently been in the news with a fire onboard set out from) and the hopping on the motorways for a trip back to Carlisle.
Almost back at Carlisle, we decided to hop off the motorway and take some new and interesting B roads to avoid the traffic in the middle of Carlisle.
Today was a huge amount of driving, so the things that we saw all kind of melded together. We think we'll have a rest day tomorrow - perhaps some walking in the Lake District - not as strenuous as last time however - and generally relaxing before another trip in a few days.
We finally filled Percy up, after doing 530 miles on 58 litres of diesel. Not bad at all. By my maths, that's about 6.8 litres/100km.

author Tim	location Kirkbymoorside, England
posted 08:49 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

A drive East ( No photos )
Percy took a trip to the Auto Electricians yesterday morning, but they were unable to get the light to come on - grrr. Of course, as soon as I drove it away, the light came on good and strong. We will have to leave it for them to test drive it later in the week. At least we got the tyre sorted out.
Starting from Carlisle, we headed East in search of adventure. We had a vague destination of "the east coast", and everything else just sort of happened.
Plenty of main roads were interspersed with a fair splattering of B roads, driving around through fog, pheasants, sheep plagues, and the ever-present rain.
We are in the area that has been in the news for flooding recently, and the roads certainly reflected that. We didn't actually find any flooded areas, but parts of the road had puddles which required major swerving.
Along the A170, we kept looking for a place to stop for the night. The criteria were simple - it needed to be a B&B, and have food available nearby. We ended up at an Inn called The Black Swan in a town called Kirkbymoorside.
Conveniently, a few real ales and selection of reds were available at the bar to wash our meals down - Liz a rump steak and myself burger-type-thing with a great salad.
We got the room for £15 each, skipping breakfast (we got snacks instead) - cheap because the room was over the common room and had a squeaky floor! Let's just say that after our long day, we crashed straight to sleep, regardless of the supposed room quibbles.
The remainder of today will get us to the coast, look around, and head back to Carlisle most probably. The weather seems to be improving, so anything could happen.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 15:19 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Oh no Percy! ( No photos )
Just been out to do a little shopping in Carlisle central - we were looking at sleeping bags, camp gear, etc., as well as a little food for tonight's dinner (pizza).
Upon returning to Percy, we noticed a very flat rear right tire. It most probably was caused by a slow leak from yesterday. So here are Liz and I, changing a tyre in the middle of one of the main streets (with cars driving by at reasonable pace less than a metre away). The work completed, I then attempted go get us out of the very tight parking space we were in.
Immediately, we heard a horrible scraping sound. Surely there was nothing more to changing a tyre on a Peugeot than any other car. So, after a little initial investigation, we decided to get off the main road, bear the screeching noise, and look closer in a side street.
Upon driving around the corner to the most horrible clatter you have ever heard from a car, Liz came running up laughing. The way these cars work, the spare tyre is on the outside, with a bracket holding it up under the car. We had failed to put the bracket back on. How silly we (mostly I) felt.
This fixed, we returned triumphant to Peter's place and brought our washing in before the rain comes again.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 09:07 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Today's plans ( No photos )

Today will probably be a relaxation day, with a bit of shopping and a lot of nursing Liz's feet back into good health for the travels to come.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 08:57 BST 08/09/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

A drive through the Lake District ( No photos )
Another late start on a trip out around the Lake District. If you were to look at a map of the west coast of Britian, there is a big "gap" right in the middle. Inside that, there is a part that sticks out, sort of opposite Isle of Man. That basically contains the lake district, with Carlisle at the top and Barrow-in-Furness at the bottom.
So, we set out on a driving trip with Liz at the wheel nursing some very badly blistered feet. She got us as far as Silloth, where we had a nice snack at a place called George and Liz's cafe - not flashy but edible. She had been doing very well, but eventually listened to her feet and forced me drive the rest of the way.
We started heading south along the coast road, which took in Maryport, Workington, Whitehaven and Gosforth. Our initial plan was to head as far south as Barrow, but the seemingly ever-present roadwork told us that if we ever wanted to get home before dark, we should head inland sooner rather than later.
And we are so glad that we did! Turning in on a tiny back road at Gosforth, we headed in through such one-horse villiages as Santon Bridge, Eskdale, and Boot before finally arriving at something we had been warned about via signs much earlier. Hardknott Pass.
Basically a Roman road passing through the mountains, it was only one lane, winding up the mountain and down again, at around 35% gradient. It had signs at the start saying "don't do this in winter, no matter what your vehicle". Of course, we just had to do it! Peter later told us that he once took a school mini-bus over there loaded with kids, only to be later pulled into the Principal's office and advised of the school's no-Hardknott-Pass policy.
The rain only added to the effect as Percy proved his ability to flawlessly climb wet mountains, using mainly 1st gear. We stopped half-way up, one wheel off the road to allow passing traffic, on a very hard slope, to take a photo. We had a little stress restarting in such a difficult place, but I can thank my SES 4wd training for this stretch of road.
The road was basically one-lane for much longer, where we took in Wrynose Pass (similar to but far less taxing than Hardknott). Eventually we re-joined civilisation, taking in Ambleside before heading back to Carlisle via Keswick, Penrith and the very fast M6 motorway.
The scenery was awesome for all of this day-trip - so many beautiful little houses, churches, etc. nestled into the rolling hills, the windy little roads, the ever-present mist, cloud and rain. Britain has A roads (big, fast, maintained and used a lot), B roads (catalogued and numbered, but less-well travelled), and all the rest. The most interesting things we have seen so far by far have been driving on these smaller back roads. This certainly the best way to see the place - a coach or train would have had a little trouble with Hardknott Pass, methinks.
Liz and I cooked dinner (a Tikka Marsala) before retiring to the "goggle-box" (Peter's term) for some hard-earned rest.
Today will probably be a relaxation day, with a bit of shopping and a lot of nursing Liz's feet back into good health for the travels to come.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 10:15 BST 07/09/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Hadrian's Wall ( No photos )
On this morning we took the car back to have its one remaining niggle looked at - it has a "water in fuel filter" light which intermittently comes on to say hello.
The kindly garage guy put a new filter in after making it quite clear that there actually wasn't any water in there. It seemed ok for a while, but came back again. I'm just back from the garage again today where he said that an auto electrician would have to look at it. Sound expensive? Perhaps, but that three month warranty is real nice here. Booked in for monday morning.
The remainder of the day we spent driving in a general easterly direction under the guidance of Peter, crossing over the Scottish border (yay!) and having a pub lunch. The curious thing is that "pubs" dont really exist in Scotland - they disappear at the border to be replaced by drinking houses almost always connected to a hotel. Quite strange.
Refreshed, we journeyed through Kielder forest - a man-made forest surrounding the largest man-made lake (via a dam) in Europe. Very nice surroundings, and lovely to drive through. The dam itself is quite unlike all the Australian ones I have seen - the back wall is actually grassed over and sheep graze over it!
The return journey was along Hadrian's Wall - the roman wall built to keep the "barbaric" northeners out of the roman-conquered south. It runs almost the width of England, and parts of it even run through modern-day cellars of houses. The part we saw was partially excavated, and we also took in Housesteads fort - one of sixteen "big" forts along the length of the wall. Here, we saw the remains of a hospital, wheel ruts from carts, and probably the earliest central heating system anywhere - dated 124 A.D. or so. As Peter pointed out, it would have been over a thousand years before anything as clever was re-developed elsewhere. Similar for their nifty latrine system!
Percy willingly brought us home, un-daunted by the prospect of water in his fuel filter. The roads are all so empty and great to drive on. He has also done almost two hundred miles (320km) on about about twenty litres of diesel. Very thrifty, which will be handy given the fuel prices over here.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 09:04 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Will they fit? ( No photos )

Today we are going to attempt to work out in slightly more detail what we're going to do for the next few days - some day trips and perhaps a few overnight ones.
Oh, and we have to see if our suitcases fit in our new car :)

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 08:54 BST 06/09/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

It's a new car!!!!! ( No photos )
(Continued from North England)
The first half of this day was spent fighting with insurance agencies over here attempting to organise insurance for Percy. Not as simple as it might sound, we ended up with the AA (equivalent of NRMA) finding us one for a reasonable sum. This is interesting, as when we talked to them earlier that day, they estimated almost three times as much.
In the afternoon we headed back into Carlisle, and went into Ottakars. This is basically a big chain bookshop with a coffee shop inside - very similar to Dymocks. I believe Meaghan was working in one in Milton Keynes. Being the cheap Aussie that I am, I spotted a book on a special for 99p - over here books are more like £9, so I was quite happy with that. The other day I also picked up a "How to Solve Cryptic Crosswords" book - an art I've never quite had time to understand.
The big news comes in the form of the National Australia Bank actually getting something reasonably organised for a change - the money for the car found its way across into Peter's UK bank account, allowing us to write a cheque for Percy!
The result of this is that he's now all ours, parked out the side of Peter's place. We spent the rest of the day playing with all the high-tech buttons, discovering no end of creature comforts. The only problem is that it will be hard to let go of him and purchase a thirty year old combi instead when we go to Europe!
Of course, we just had to test him out a little (you should have seen the smile on Liz's face when she was driving and the turbo kicked in for the first time!), so we went for a spin across to Silloth - a town on the estuary which eventually becomes the sea. We drove down the coast a little, where we could easily see across to Scotland before it got quite dark.
Some random back streets made for quite entertaining driving, especially in a new car at 60mph when the roads aren't quite wide enough for two cars!

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 17:58 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North England ( all photos )

Mountain Climbing ( No photos )
We now have a few extra blisters and aching limbs courtesy of Peter and couple of his friends taking us for a walk up a 2000ft mountain (damn these Imperial measurements!) and back down again. This was about half an hour south of Carlisle, into the Lake District. The valleys were beautiful, and the lakes viewed from the top were icing on the cake.
A very nice way to blow a few hours, the view was fantastic in what continues to be extremely good weather. I'm beginning to suspect the story of bad pommy weather is all a myth. I'm sure I'll eat those words later.
One of Peter's friends David brought his two dogs Badger and Rocky, the latter being the only member of the expedition to rival me for unfitness, although at fifteen years old that isn't saying much for me.
We had a late lunch at a pub at one end of the lake, where Liz had chicken something, and I had a beef steak, mushroom pot-pie and veges. A great cheap pub meal.
[The next day, we started exploring North and Central England]

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 17:48 BST 04/09/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North England ( all photos )

Around Carlisle, and a Pug ( No photos )
Peter showed us a little of Carlisle city itself, including Tulley House, a museum of Carlisle's long and sordid history, and many other historical places. It's very strange seeing buildings advertising dates that show they were built before the First Fleet arrived in Australia. Of course, many are quite a bit older than that.
The other piece of news is that we have put a deposit on a car. It's a grey 1995 Peugeot 306, and if you're not interested in the details tune out now. It's an XRDT, with a turbo diesel 1.9, 5 speed, electric sunroof, power windows, power steering, nice stereo, alarm, immobiliser, 5 door hatch, only 23,000 miles (grr), and very nice to drive. I believe it is going to be named Percy. Percy the Pug. Sorry Mighty Mouse, we would have brought you if we could.
Now we're just waiting on the bank to get their act together (sound familiar?) before we can actually pay for it. Hopefully this will happen before the weekend, which would be roughly inline with our schedule - something I've just tided up and hopefully you have had a look at!

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 16:34 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North England ( all photos )

Into phase three! ( No photos )
(Continued from London 1)
I'm writing this from Peter's place - we've arrived safely, and, according to him, amazingly on-time. Apparently Virgin, although omni-present, are almost omni-inefficient.
On the train I updated the Itinerary page with our future plans - please peruse it at your leisure, and then be completely un-suprised when we do something completely different!

author Tim	location London, England
posted 10:36 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 1 ( all photos )

Virgin Trains ? ( No photos )
It's been a little while since an update since we have been fairly quiet, enjoying our last days in London for a while a least.
We're on our way on a Virgin Train to Carlisle - I didn't know just how much of an empire Virgin had over here. The morning has been hectic - what a suprise. Getting on and off the tube, up and down stairs, escalators (did you know that even though people drive on the left here, everyone walks on the right?). Liz and I managed to get separated at Victoria station - those tube doors wait for no-one.
We had our last breakfast and said goodbye to Betty and Betty the proprietors of our B&B. I guess that's B&B's B&B. We're booked again for later in the year when we come back to London to wave Meaghan off and pick up Margaret. Infact, we have a full shell of a plan done - I'll put it up here soon.
I think I'll break the entry up into separate days. Hope to get connectivity soon at Peter's in Carlisle.

author Tim	location London, England
posted 10:42 BST 02/09/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 1 ( all photos )

Walking the Dogs, Farnborough, Bromley, Beer, Wine ( No photos )
Writing this from on the train, I'm splitting it up because otherwise it will get too cluttered.
Yesterday we started the day with another great walk with Tiggy and Molly, who were getting kinda used to us before we left. As was Lucky, who Zadro assures us is doing just fine. Sniff. This walk took us again up to the woods, but this time we were a little more adventurous, finding our way through a golf course where the dogs being walked seemed to outnumber those walking them by about two to one. Everyone in this area seems to have three dogs. Except us. Sniff.
Then, we jumped on the 358 bus to Farnborough, where Liz tidied up her grandparent's graves, and we again payed our respects. We walked a little more around Farnborough, including their old church (which was deserted by this time - about 3pm).
The local pub again called us, where we had shared a roast turkey dinner and a Ploughman's Lunch (which I had to inquire the contents of). Liz embarrased us both by asking what "that thing with the roast was". It was, of course, a Yorkshire Pudding. Locals laughed at us. It was great!
We then jumped back on the 358 to head back to Bromley. Unfortunately, being a Sunday, Liz's favourite dispensers of strange sausage roll substances were closed, much to her dismay. Her temporary sadness was quicky alleviated with a trip to the nearby Squirrel Gardens.
Thanks to Roy and HG, the only phrase I could remember whenever I saw a squirrel was "squirrel-gripper". Thanks guys. They were kinda cute, but didn't want to come over for Liz to pat them. Similarly for the geese and ducks.
Leaving Bromley on the now-famous 358, we headed back to Beckenham. The call of the local pub there was too much to resist one last time, so we had a quick pint there in the sunshine (which there has been an abundance of over here - very strange), before heading back to B&B's B&B.
We just had to finish off our bottle of wine, since carrying it was going to be a royal pain. So we did. This helped ease the pain of sleeping in the lumpy bed, with the dogs shaking the house to be let out, and doors slamming all night. Strangely, I'm still going to miss that place.

(customised)