27 May 2007
We left York and headed north on the A road through the Yorkshire Dales and Moors National Parks. Driving along the A or B roads is like taking the back roads through the countryside rather than the motorways (freeways in our lingo) the views are spectacular - when you can see them, that is! All along the roads are either hedgerows or rock walls obscuring your vision down to a green-lined, grey ribbon along the roads. As we drive through the Moors and the Dales we catch glimpses across oceans of green or bright yellow fields with zephyrs gently playing across the crops. White sheep with black faces and playful lambs dot emerald quilts, patch worked with stone fences. The parks are certainly different to our own but still very beautiful.
I forgot to tell you when we drove to York from Cambridge we stopped at Sherwood Forest near Nottingham. It's an amazing forest of senescing oak trees. Not surprising that they are nearing the end of their life really -they are so old! Some are over 1000! The oldest of them all was this tree named The Major Oak - it's giant spreading limbs held up by steel struts and supports that somehow manage to steal it's dignity. This tree was said to have hidden Robin Hood at some time or another - maybe when he was evading the Sheriff of Nottingham.
We arrived in Edinburgh in peak hour so it was complete chaos driving into the city, particularly as we didn't have a map. We soon worked out where we were, using all our tracking skills, and made our way across the cobbled streets to our apartment. We stayed 3 days - spent the first exploring Edinburgh, including walking up the high hill from the river to the castle. The Scots of old were a warring lot and all the interpretation at the castle is devoted to battles, wars, war heroes and weapons. A bit confronting - no wonder Hadrian built a wall to keep the Scots out of Britain in Roman times. Edinburgh itself is an amazing city if not a bit drab. The buildings are very beautiful but all soot covered. I guess it gets cold and coal fires are absolutely necessary.
The second day we took a drive up north to the highlands. First we fang across the Firth of Forth to Fife - that is we drove across the harbour bridge to Fife. The harbour is named the Firth of Forth! In fact there's a few forths around Scotland.
The scenery was spectacular and uniquely Scottish. Amazing leafy forests then on to huge heather covered mountains. Ric and I practice our Scottish accents on all the road signs but manage to sound Irish or even Italian - we are both easily amused. Our first stop was at Pit Lockry where we checked out a fish ladder for the salmon that need to swim upstream beyond the power station to spawn. Somehow they work out they have to swim through a maze of tunnels and ponds to get upstream. There was a glass wall on one of the ponds and a counter - none were in there though. I saw a huge salmon jump below the weir wall.
We drove on to Blair Athol - and then down a lime green, ancient tree lined avenue which revealed the beautifully white washed, fairy story Blair Castle. The entrance hall is terrifyingly completely bedecked with hundreds of weapons of every type in every space on the 4m high walls. Muskets, crossbows, knives and spears are all arranged in geometric patterns. I asked the man if was a new exhibit and he assures me all entrance halls of castles and halls (huge houses) are similarly fitted out from their inception. It's meant as a show of strength to visitors and I guess easy to grab a gun if you need to quickly respond to trouble. And it seems there was a lot of trouble in Scotland over the years! The rest of the castle is crammed with artefacts and furniture and ancient family portraits that put our piddling, short lived history to shame.
We continue on to Bruar's - the Harrods of Scotland. It's quite unexpected to find a David Jones-esque food hall in the countryside of northern Scotland. Lunch is Haggis and neaps - a mince of who knows what and mashed turnips. Very tasty! From here the landscape changes markedly to soaring mountains covered with low shrubs - heather to be accurate and on the very tops little remnant drifts of snow. We stop near a tiny stream and taste the water that has run down from the heavens. There is water everywhere, the vegetation is all peatish and waterfalls cascade from on high every few minutes along the road. The amazing thing is you can smell the heather - the tiny white flowers subtly perfume the air all around with a faint honey and baby powder fragrance. Amazingly there are walkers everywhere. They brave the elements (it was showering) and walk up hills that rival even Kosciusko. We are suitably impressed.
I guess that's all for now - finding a computer is harder than I imagined hence the space between correspondence!
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Haven’t seen the Grand Old Duke of York yet
23 May 2007
Well today I write from York. We left Cambridge yesterday and picked up our little hire car that Natt found for us - instead of an Vauxhall (Holden) Astra that she booked we got upgraded to a Peugeot 307 with a sun roof! Very smick! We drove around Cambridge a couple of times on the ring road before leaving (not by choice) took a wrong turn and was confronted with a rising bollard in a controlled area. Needless to say we weren't supposed to drive there and a police-looking type man started to walk towards us but I was able to utilise the tiny turning circle and burn rubber getting away. Ric was supposed to be navigating but he couldn't concentrate on the map with all the beautiful buildings we hadn't seen on foot. We finally got on the A1 and headed north.
The countryside is truly beautiful - leafy emerald green fields lay in every direction. Through the sun roof we could see cloud building then rain showers and then patches of blue. We drove straight into York and paid £6 for parking one hour (about $15). The traffic here as everywhere including the big arterial roads and small back roads is crazy. I think there are just way too many cars in this country. If everyone went out driving at the same time it would just be gridlock from one end of the country to the other. No wonder just about everyone has a bike for when they can't face the traffic. Consequently today when we drove back into York we used the 'Park& Ride' option. You park out of town for free and catch a bus that gets caught in the traffic - oh well, some lanes are just for buses.
I booked accommodation for us from the internet and I didn't realise it was a 'theme' motel. We were amused to find our room was in a railway carriage! Pretty small but cozy - a shame the TV was on the wall above our heads (go figure?)
We went to the restaurant for a drink and some dinner- the whole complex is right next to a main railway line. Huge trains and smaller ones wizz and clatter past about every 15 minutes. There was a couple in the restaurant and every few minutes the husband raced outside with his expensive looking Nikon camera to capture a shot of the locomotive for posterity. He didn't photograph every train mind you - just the ones he was enamored with. Some even honked in appreciation as they raced past! I tried to engage him in conversation to find out what his penchant was but he and his wife were quintessentially British and preferred not to elaborate beyond the absolute minimum. I didn't press my luck with them but found out he was an actual 'train spotter' and his wife did not share his passion beyond accompanying him on the 'spotting' expeditions.
Overnight it took a few hours to calm my nerves when a train suddenly burst through the sound barrier - and convinced myself they wouldn't derail and land on my head, which was closest to the tracks (< 5 m) through a very thin timber carriage. Needless to say I survived the night and will no doubt sleep better tonight with a few passionfruit vodkas under my belt!
This morning we went to Fountain's Abbey near Ripon. It was extraordinary. I think Ric and I took about 4,000 photos between us. It was huge and ruined (that's why we were there really) King Henry VIII apparently took the honours for ruining this Abbey since the catholics wouldn't let him divorce when he got sick of his wives. So he vindictively tore the roof off and sold the iron and cast the monks out. But according to the chaplain who gave us a potted history in the spectacularly beautiful grounds, the Abbey was already on the road to ruin. Money and other such worldly distractions had made them unpopular with their townsfolk as well. I gather Henry disbanded all monkeries and abbeys - but will have to read more on the subject.
Sadly this afternoon when we arrived back in York the camera battery has gone flat and there are so many sights to document. We went to the York Minster (huge cathedral) and walked down the Shambles - a small lane with weird leaning buildings defying gravity. Might come here tomorrow really early before everyone is up to capture it on chip!
That's all for today!
Well today I write from York. We left Cambridge yesterday and picked up our little hire car that Natt found for us - instead of an Vauxhall (Holden) Astra that she booked we got upgraded to a Peugeot 307 with a sun roof! Very smick! We drove around Cambridge a couple of times on the ring road before leaving (not by choice) took a wrong turn and was confronted with a rising bollard in a controlled area. Needless to say we weren't supposed to drive there and a police-looking type man started to walk towards us but I was able to utilise the tiny turning circle and burn rubber getting away. Ric was supposed to be navigating but he couldn't concentrate on the map with all the beautiful buildings we hadn't seen on foot. We finally got on the A1 and headed north.
The countryside is truly beautiful - leafy emerald green fields lay in every direction. Through the sun roof we could see cloud building then rain showers and then patches of blue. We drove straight into York and paid £6 for parking one hour (about $15). The traffic here as everywhere including the big arterial roads and small back roads is crazy. I think there are just way too many cars in this country. If everyone went out driving at the same time it would just be gridlock from one end of the country to the other. No wonder just about everyone has a bike for when they can't face the traffic. Consequently today when we drove back into York we used the 'Park& Ride' option. You park out of town for free and catch a bus that gets caught in the traffic - oh well, some lanes are just for buses.
I booked accommodation for us from the internet and I didn't realise it was a 'theme' motel. We were amused to find our room was in a railway carriage! Pretty small but cozy - a shame the TV was on the wall above our heads (go figure?)
We went to the restaurant for a drink and some dinner- the whole complex is right next to a main railway line. Huge trains and smaller ones wizz and clatter past about every 15 minutes. There was a couple in the restaurant and every few minutes the husband raced outside with his expensive looking Nikon camera to capture a shot of the locomotive for posterity. He didn't photograph every train mind you - just the ones he was enamored with. Some even honked in appreciation as they raced past! I tried to engage him in conversation to find out what his penchant was but he and his wife were quintessentially British and preferred not to elaborate beyond the absolute minimum. I didn't press my luck with them but found out he was an actual 'train spotter' and his wife did not share his passion beyond accompanying him on the 'spotting' expeditions.
Overnight it took a few hours to calm my nerves when a train suddenly burst through the sound barrier - and convinced myself they wouldn't derail and land on my head, which was closest to the tracks (< 5 m) through a very thin timber carriage. Needless to say I survived the night and will no doubt sleep better tonight with a few passionfruit vodkas under my belt!
This morning we went to Fountain's Abbey near Ripon. It was extraordinary. I think Ric and I took about 4,000 photos between us. It was huge and ruined (that's why we were there really) King Henry VIII apparently took the honours for ruining this Abbey since the catholics wouldn't let him divorce when he got sick of his wives. So he vindictively tore the roof off and sold the iron and cast the monks out. But according to the chaplain who gave us a potted history in the spectacularly beautiful grounds, the Abbey was already on the road to ruin. Money and other such worldly distractions had made them unpopular with their townsfolk as well. I gather Henry disbanded all monkeries and abbeys - but will have to read more on the subject.
Sadly this afternoon when we arrived back in York the camera battery has gone flat and there are so many sights to document. We went to the York Minster (huge cathedral) and walked down the Shambles - a small lane with weird leaning buildings defying gravity. Might come here tomorrow really early before everyone is up to capture it on chip!
That's all for today!
Yes I Am Alive!
Not a very faithful blogger, am I? So much has happened since February - suffice to say that the UK, Ireland and Croatia are very beautiful, but seriously there's no place like home. For whomever may be interested you are about to be subjected to installment one of my travel diary from our trip...
Hong Kong to Cambridge
20 May 2007
Well we've just had the last few days in Cambridge with Natty. The flight over was completely painless - flying in the day I think is the answer - arrive in the night or afternoon and just sleep, then tomorrow is another day! Probably the good seats had something to do with it as well.
Hong Kong was brilliant - we were very relaxed compared with the first time we visited and walked from Mong Kok down to the harbour and back about 4 times in the day and a half we were there. The smell of HK is unmistakable: cured seafood, liniment, spices and curdled milk all rolled into one. Walking in crowds of thousands of people is like being in a ballet, or swimming as part of a huge school of fish, and is strangely not unpleasant.
Cambridge on the other hand is an out of sync tangle of bikes, people, car, buses and the odd truck (lorry). The architecture is a stark contrast with that in HK as well - and it has completely blown us away. The college buildings in Cambridge range in age from 1000 to 1979 - almost a millennium, which is quite difficult for me to wrap my mind around. The buildings throughout the town are all very ornate and impressive as one would expect for this town with prestige to burn! Most of the colleges have been closed to visitors as it is exam time, and we peeked through the stone arch of one but were chased out by a very cranky porter (the man who sits in the office at the front).
We've been on day trips across the fen (a huge ancient wetland that was drained in the 1700's with help from Dutch engineers) to Ely whose massive cathedral is known as the 'ship of the fen' and ate lunch at a lovely pub aside a canal. Ric tells me it won pub of the year! Then we went to Newmarket and Natt and I shopped while Ric sat in another pub and wrote his diary. Yesterday we went off across the fen again to Bury Saint Edmonds - which was once an important religious centre with a huge Abbey with lots of Monks. The place got renamed Bury St Edmunds after poor old St Edmund got killed in 870 and his body was moved there in 903. The Abbey was destroyed by the townspeople in 1539 because they rebelled against the mean Abbot that lorded over the place. We went to the brilliant markets and then walked through the expansive grounds of the giant ruined Abbey, Ric was in his element. This is truly a pathetic history of the place. I just looked it up on the internet and a lot happens over a course of a few thousand years! That's all for now.
Hong Kong to Cambridge
20 May 2007
Well we've just had the last few days in Cambridge with Natty. The flight over was completely painless - flying in the day I think is the answer - arrive in the night or afternoon and just sleep, then tomorrow is another day! Probably the good seats had something to do with it as well.
Hong Kong was brilliant - we were very relaxed compared with the first time we visited and walked from Mong Kok down to the harbour and back about 4 times in the day and a half we were there. The smell of HK is unmistakable: cured seafood, liniment, spices and curdled milk all rolled into one. Walking in crowds of thousands of people is like being in a ballet, or swimming as part of a huge school of fish, and is strangely not unpleasant.
Cambridge on the other hand is an out of sync tangle of bikes, people, car, buses and the odd truck (lorry). The architecture is a stark contrast with that in HK as well - and it has completely blown us away. The college buildings in Cambridge range in age from 1000 to 1979 - almost a millennium, which is quite difficult for me to wrap my mind around. The buildings throughout the town are all very ornate and impressive as one would expect for this town with prestige to burn! Most of the colleges have been closed to visitors as it is exam time, and we peeked through the stone arch of one but were chased out by a very cranky porter (the man who sits in the office at the front).
We've been on day trips across the fen (a huge ancient wetland that was drained in the 1700's with help from Dutch engineers) to Ely whose massive cathedral is known as the 'ship of the fen' and ate lunch at a lovely pub aside a canal. Ric tells me it won pub of the year! Then we went to Newmarket and Natt and I shopped while Ric sat in another pub and wrote his diary. Yesterday we went off across the fen again to Bury Saint Edmonds - which was once an important religious centre with a huge Abbey with lots of Monks. The place got renamed Bury St Edmunds after poor old St Edmund got killed in 870 and his body was moved there in 903. The Abbey was destroyed by the townspeople in 1539 because they rebelled against the mean Abbot that lorded over the place. We went to the brilliant markets and then walked through the expansive grounds of the giant ruined Abbey, Ric was in his element. This is truly a pathetic history of the place. I just looked it up on the internet and a lot happens over a course of a few thousand years! That's all for now.
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