Random Memories from London

Abbey Rd

Lords Cricket Ground

Back to London – Amy’s Visit

It’s a busy last couple of weeks in London. Christine still has a few days left at work but this is all very disrupted by all the public holidays. The first week is Easter Monday, Tuesday is a training day she is not needed at then Friday is the Royal wedding. The second week Monday is May Day, another public holiday and she finishes on Thursday. To make things even busier we have my friend from Mebourne, Amy and her husband Allan coming to London for a week before their tour of Europe.
We arrived back in London on Wednesday afternoon and headed to our friend Chirsty’s that night for a few farewell drinks. Her and her mum are leaving the following morning to visit Italy before flying home to Florida.
Thursday was a bit of a getting settled day. Amy and Allen were due to arrive that night and we were not sure if they wanted to meet or what their plan for the week was so it was easier to have all our house keeping done before then. The first item of the agenda was a doctor’s appointment to make sure we had all the vaccinations we would need for our travels home. We have started to think about what to take traveling and what is being shipped home. It is amazing how much you can accumulate in a short space of time. I’m sure there was a bit of washing done in the afternoon as well. It turned out that Amy and Alan were a bit delayed at the airport and didn’t make it to the hotel until late so we had to wait another day to see them.
In the morning we did get to see Amy and Alan, which was nice. It was their wedding that we went to in China a year and a half ago. After a coffee and giving them a brief tour of the local area (they are staying in the same street) we sent them on their way, sightseeing. We had a very lazy day, went for a walk to Little Venice to look at pubs for our farewell drinks and then chilled in the park with everyone from the hostel in the afternoon. It was Good Friday and a nice sunny day so for dinner the four of us had a vegetarian picnic in Hyde Park. Saturday marked the 2 week countdown of our time remaining in London. There is still a few things, not too much, but a few things we would like to do. We filled in our Saturday with one of these, Kew Gardens. It was Mel’s day off too so she joined us which was very nice. This place was one of the things that Christine really wanted to do as it has heaps of plants and trees to hug, dang hippie! Its was good, I thought that the Eden Project in Cornwell was better, but a good day out nonetheless. It had gardens from around the world, including Australia. The highlights were the tree top walking path, cactus’ and the water lilies. After the gardens the 3 of us embarked on a huge trek from south west London to the north east, on a weekend, meaning much of the public transport is in disarray. We were heading to Peter (Damiens work buddy from Lebara) and Megan’s for dinner. We were only a hour late, which was a pretty good effort. We actually arrived just as 2 of Megan’s friends did so it was all good, and the dinner was amazing. They have a nice apartment in a more English part of outer London. Megan had cooked an amazing roast which everyone enjoyed.
Sunday we were pretty lazy again. Damien went for a run in Hyde Park and then we returned to the park with books to read in the sun. The Whole last month that we have been in England the weather has been amazing, aka no rain and double digit temperatures! Tonight we dined with Amy and Alan at our local, cheap Thai restaurant, Tuk Tuk. They were reasonably impressed, considering they had been disappointed with china town and a Chinese restaurant in the area in the past few days! We caught up with their sightseeing and were amazed to hear how much they had seen and done in 2 days.
Monday 25th April, Easter Monday and Anzac Day! No school today so Hollie, Pinks and Gemma had invited us around to their place for a BBQ lunch. We are still not sure who was happier, Damien got to cook the BBQ and the girls had their lunch cooked for them! What started out as a BBQ lunch turned into a cider session, with several trips to the shop for more drinks, pizza and a short stint playing cards in Hyde Park, all in all a brilliant day!
After an unexpected late night we slept in, again. Christine’s school was having a student free day, so she did not need to work. Christine spent the afternoon shopping, while Damien caught up with Lucy, another friend from work in Melbourne. Lucy arrived today, with a two year visa to work in the UK. She joined us with Amy and Alan for dinner at Cha Cha Moon near Regent Street. After dinner Lucy headed home and the four of us went to see a musical called Million Dollar Quartet. This is the story of when Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins were all in the recording studio together. There is not much of a story but heaps of great music and since we had bought the cheap seats, we were upgraded for free to a much better section.
The previous night Lucy had been asking about the city of London and where it was. Not an easy thing to define in London really, so easier to show her. In the morning, while Christine was back at work, we did the free walking tour starting from Hyde Park corner. This is a tour that we did probably 12 months ago, and while it is essentially the same, I still enjoyed it for the second time. It passes Buckingham Palace and Pall Mall which are looking nice for the bloody wedding. It visits other sights like St James Park, Horse yards, Trafalgar Sq, Big Ben and Westminster. After the tour we continued on up to Piccadilly, Covent Garden and Leister Square. After a long day walking we headed back to Amy and Alans, met Christine and headed to the Churchill Arms. This is the English pub with a Thai restaurant, Damien’s favourite pub in London. As always it was busy, good cheap food and of course pints. Sadly Amy and Alan are leaving tomorrow, their week in London is up after a great week they head to Paris for the next part of their trip, let’s hope it’s not too much of a disappointment!

Lake and Peak Districts

Tuesday we were up and out by 9.15am, close to a record for us! We picked up a hire car, found our way back to the hostel to collect our bags, and then tried to head out of town. We finally got on the road we wanted, and then it was closed and traffic was being diverted. Continuing to drive, the suburbs, villages or towns, whatever they are continued. We were headed to Edale in the Peak District. We were basically there before we even hit a highway, slow going. We ate lunch in town, set up our little tent and then headed to ‘Hope’ and ‘Castleton’ for a drive. We got lost, what should have been a 20min drive turned into a 2 hour loop. Didn’t matter, it was nice, English countryside. We had a look around town and climbed up to the ruins of a castle on the side of a hill. Driving back to the campsite didn’t take long! We relaxed at the tent for a bit until it got dark. Off to the pub for a beer and a feed. The menu looked good, but the food wasn’t anything to write home about. Then it was back to the tent, for what was going to be a very cold night!
Brrrr… I think we nearly froze last night, even in our sleeping bags, blankets, tracksuit pants, jumper and beanie! Our tent is small, but the roof is just fly wire, meaning none of the heat stays in the tent and the cold comes straight in. It’s a tent we borrowed from the hostel that someone has left behind, either a one use at a festival or they nearly froze and decided never again!
We sat in the car to eat breakfast, we bought some milk and cereal in town yesterday (no problem keeping the milk cold). We had planned to do a big walk from the campsite today, but after seeing that it was cool, grey and drizzly, we decided it might be better to take the car with us. We drove up the big, steep part of the hike and then got out to walk along the top of Mom Tor, a ridge that separates two valleys. It had nice views, sheep and an old stone wall, but was pretty chilly in the wind.
We continued on with no real direction, bit of a scenic drive. After numerous pretty villages and narrow roads we stopped in Bakewell for a Bakewell (type of cake) and coffee. It was also a nice village on a small river.
Our next stop was just out of Curbar, where we did another partial walk this time along the Froggatt and Baslow Edge. This was fun, especially since once again we were able to park at the top of the ridge. We walked along the ridge which had views over the countryside, valleys and nearby towns. We also took some photos out on ledges, way too close to the edge, just to show what sort of mischief people like us get up to without parental supervision. We bought some nice bread and an antipasti plate, but had to eat it in the car, back at the campsite as it was too cold anywhere else. Then we rugged up and headed to bed!
Thursday we had a big driving day, which by the time we found somewhere to sleep, was even bigger than we had expected. We made the effort to be up early, pack up the tent, breakfast in the car by a reasonable hour. Our goal for the day was to see the Angel of the North, a giant sculpture just outside of Newcastle. Driving out of the Peak District we were hoping to drop in to a friend of Nans, however we were unable to get in contact so pushed on.
We were at the sculpture in time for lunch, a picnic under the Angel. The Angel would be about 10 meters high and as wide as an airplane. The artist who produced it is Antony Gormley, another of Christine’s favorites’! As enjoyable as it was sitting in the grass we forced ourselves to keep moving. We wanted to head about an hour north to Blyth on the coast to try and find a campsite. We picked up some groceries and asked where a campsite was but nobody really knew. We drove further up the coast without any luck, the closest we could find was tourist parks full of cabins, but no camping. As the sun set we were tempted by the prospect of joining the sheep in the paddocks, but pushed on. We abandoned the coast and headed inland towards Hexley, which is where we wanted to be the following day. Unlike most of England, this was very rural, many of the towns on the map were in actual fact noting more than a pub, shop or sheep station. Passing one pub, there was a mobile fish and chip shop, as we walked over it smelt great and we were sure we were onto a winner. When we got to the window, the guy looked surprised to see us, and told us he had just sold out of everything, so again we had to push on, munching on a bag of crisps.
Finally we made it to Hexley at about 9pm. We parked the car and walked about town eventually settling on a hotel. We grabbed a pizza and enjoyed a warm beer from our grocery run earlier in the day. Then it was time for a hot shower, only to find that there was in fact no hot water! The hotel told us to wait 20 minutes, but still no hot water, by this stage it was after midnight so we scrapped this idea and hit the sack.
Next morning there was still no hot water! At breakfast, full English with hash browns, yeah baby, we got talking to some other guests, who said there had been no hot water for 3 days! When we checked out we complained again, and refused to pay the full amount, agreeing to a 10 pound off the original 50 pound for the night. Before we left town we went for a bit of a stroll. It was a nice little place nice gardens, church, market and little shops and galleries. We loaded up on cakes from one of the bakeries before leaving.
The reason we have travelled all the way up to this end of England was for Hadrian’s Wall. This is an old stone wall built by the Romans and back in the day it went from the west coast to the east coast. It was only a meter or so high and about the same in width. It was basically a statement by the Romans that they had taken as much land as they intended to and meant anything further north (Scotland) was not going to be invaded.
From the Once Brewed National Park (cool name), we did a walk for about 2-3 hours along the wall, through paddocks, along ridges and past a lake. Every mile for the whole wall the Romans had built a guard tower and every 1/3 mile there was a guard turret, although only the foundations remained. Christine found a Sycamore tree that she really liked and the other highlight for her was the young lamb’s playing in the fields.
After our walk we drove to Ambleside in the Lake District. Having done a bit of research (pat on the back), we knew there would be campsites. We did want to get there earlyish as it was school holidays and weren’t sure how busy it would get on a Friday afternoon. Turned out there isn’t actually a campsite in town, but the friendly YHA was able to help us out with directions to one in Coniston about 15 minutes away. We pitched our tent, had a beer by the lake and then walked into town for Fish and Chips. Saturday morning we headed off in the car to do some hiking. Again solid research before we left London paid off, as the tourist information offices in the area were useless. The walk that we were doing was the Aira Force (waterfall), High Force and Gow Barrow Fell loop, which took us about 3 hours. It started in fields following the river upstream. It soon veered steeply up a hill. After about 30 minutes of uphill walking we were at the top of the hill. At the top of Gow Barrow Fell was a Trig Point. The climb up and Trig Point had good 360 degree views. As we proceeded down the other side there were also great views of the nearby lakes. From here the track wound its way around the hill and to the waterfalls. As has been the case a few times, we were not overly impressed with the waterfall or the crowds. The rest of the walk had been fairly quiet, but the waterfall is very close to the carpark, so there are many more people on this part of the walk. The water fall was nice, but we are just a bit spoilt for choice after being in America, and of course Australia! We had intended to do another walk in the afternoon, but the day had got away from us a little bit. Part of the walk was a stone circle which excited Christine very much, so instead we simply drove to the stone circle and skipped the walk. The stone circle was just in the middle of a paddock with a reasonable view of a lake below. It was similar to Stonehenge, stones in a circle, although the rocks were not as big and not on top of each other. We made a shopping stop in town and bought a portable single use coal BBQ and some burgers and headed back to the campsite.
Dinner ended up being a late affair, as the coal didn’t ignite as easily as it said it would on the box. Having a small BBQ and big feed of burgers, bacon, capsicum, onion, mushroom and potato also slowed the process. It was enjoyable and warm, and the nights aren’t as cold as they were a few days ago.
Sunday morning was a cloudy morning but as the day went on it got sunnier and warmer which was nice. We were planning on having a lazy day at the campsite and maybe visiting Ambleside. When Christine was showering however, she got chatting of course, and was told about a walk in Coniston called Old Man, so we thought that we would give that a shot. The Old Man is the highest point in the area, so the first 2 hours of the walk was climbing up a big hill. It wasn’t long before we were stripping off our jackets and jumpers. There were stops along the way, much of the area is old mines, so there was ruined buildings, mining equipment and tunnels. There were also some lakes a toward the top of the hill. The hill really wore Damien out, but Christine seemed to find some extra energy along the way. We were amazed at all the dogs running up and down the track. The view at the top was worth the effort, despite being a bit hazy we could still see all the way out to the sea. There was also views of the hills and lakes in the surrounding district. Damien enjoyed a nap in the sun at the top, while Christine chatted to an old local she had made friends with on the way up. We continued down the other side and around the mountain, past more lakes and puppy dogs. After about 5 hours we made it back to the carpark. We headed back to camp for a relax. Damien had beers by the lake while Christine read her book at the tent. The campsite is right by Coniston Lake, our tent only 50m through the trees to the lake edge. The campsite wasn’t overly crowded which was nice, but this maybe because it’s not exactly a cheap campsite. For dinner we walked into town hoping for a lamb roast (they are just so cute and edible playing in the fields) at one of the pubs, however the lamb had all sold out. We settled for a pint and a steak and ale pie.
The next morning we were up at a reasonable time and hit the road. We were having a scenic driving day. The first area we passed through was Great Lonsdale, which had pretty and tiny villages, green hills and narrow roads flanked by stone walls. We had hoped to stop for coffee, but drove through most of the towns, which did not offer much in the way of a shop or café. Continuing through the English countryside and up some fairly steep hills, we crossed Wrynose Pass and Hardknott Pass. On the other side of these we finally stopped at a pub in Boot for a coffee and scone. The drive then flattened out as the headed towards the coast for lunch where we found a decent bakery with pies.
A slight navigational breakdown meant that the drive to Furness Abbey took longer than anticipated, however we found it eventually. The abbey was built in the 1100’s although today it is basically just ruins. It was not too busy, as it was almost closing time, so we pretty much had the run of the place. It was a nice abbey and quite large. Parts of the Abbey were covered up as it is being restored. Finally heading back to the campsite, we had a few drinks by the lake and cooked another BBQ. This time we skipped the potato and onion which sped up the process, although it was still a slow dinner. We ate Sausages and Lamb Burgers that we had bought from a butcher in the town we stopped for lunch.
For the last time we packed up the campsite and jumped in the car. We headed to Ambleside, the place that we had intended to stay in the Lakes District, yet we have not visited yet. It is a busy, but beautiful town. It is on a lake and creek with the famous bridge house, cafes, galleries and shops. Our time was a bit limited due to having to pay for parking, in a country town! We drove through Windermere which is equally picturesque and touristy. We didn’t stop until we had got away from the tour buses, where we found a nice picnic spot on the lake for lunch. Our last stop in the Lakes District was for Ice Cream, which was served to us by a friendly girl from Slovakia, before heading back to Manchester to return the car. The Drive to Manchester went smoothly until the last bit. We were in Manchester but couldn’t find the car hire place and seemed to do numerous laps of the downtown area before getting the car hire company on the phone to direct us, turned out we were really close, several times! To celebrate our trip we headed to the pub in town under the Eye. It’s really great, with cheap beer, outdoor seating and a big old European looking building. We had dinner in a Mexican restaurant and was hoping for a few more beers, but headed home after one as we were nearly the only people out and about on this particular Tuesday night.
We enjoyed our breakfast the following morning, we could make ourselves coffee! After a slow breakfast we headed out for one last quick look around Manchester before grabbing our gear and heading to the train bound for London.

Manchester

After a busy week we were up early on Saturday to finish packing up our room. We had train tickets to Manchester in the early afternoon. The train ride was only 2 hours so not too long. We dropped our bags at the hostel Christine had booked online and then spent the evening wondering aimlessly around the city. We looked for a map at first but weren’t very successful, we did manage to sneak into a fancy hotel and get a basic map from the reception staff. We had a few beers in a pub and were joined by a group of guys on a bucks night, playing pub-golf. They were quite friendly as you can imagine. We ate some thai food near the china town and then explored the Printworks, which is an indoor complex full of bars and restaurants. Was busy on Saturday night and had a few Hens and Bucks night parties. Good Fun.
Our room was full tonight, 6 bed dorm, as there was a soccer match on apparently. That’s not normally an issue, except that the room was in the basement and did not have ventilation, got a bit hot and stuffy and was a bit difficult to sleep. It was good in a way, we checked if we could change rooms the next morning but they said we could either move, or stay in the same room, but just the two of us, as the hostel wasn’t going to be as busy. The hostel (Ashton House) was good, not too big, good location, nice common room, free breakfast, basic kitchen and clean hot showers.

We had two full days to explore Manchester which was nice as it isn’t a huge place. After finding the tourist info and getting a decent map we headed to the Manchester Art Gallery. It had a lot of old British paintings and also a ‘newer’ section. There was also a temporary exhibition on Anish Kapoor who Christine really likes, a lot of the works were the same as what we saw in Bilbao Spain.
Our timing in Manchester was not great a number of places were closed for renovations. Getting ready of the Olympics no doubt. The city library which is built in a Pantheon like building was closed. We wandered around, it was a nice day and Manchester has some very nice buildings, an Eye, Cathedral, Urbis which is a triangle shaped glass building (although closed for renovations). We walked along the canals, rested in a small park where we had a picnic lunch. We made a brief visit to the Space and Air Museum and then headed to the John Rylands Library. We didn’t have long as it was closing but was well worth the visit. Less like a library it is more a temple of books. It almost looks like an old gothic church, with high-vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows.

Being Sunday afternoon we thought we would find a quiet pub for a beer. Well we found what looked like a quiet pub. Once inside we were rather surprised, it was full of locals, we were probably the youngest in the place by an easy 10 years, and it was karaoke night! We found some couch space, had a chat to a couple of old fellas, a few beers and meet another group of locals. Everyone was very friendly Christine got contact details of a couple who were hoping to visit Melbourne next year. They then took us down a few side streets, past the smallest staircase in England, to another pub. This seemed even busier, with half the people from the first pub. The US Masters golf was on tv and we watched as an aussie lead before finishing second! It was such a nice night, and again we were left wondering why we have stayed in London for so long, when the people are English and friendly everywhere else in the country! Easy to say after a nice day in the sun I suppose…
Monday morning was quite a slow morning, for Damien especially. After a long breakfast, a nap and a shower we were ready to hit the city for a spot of shopping. The main priority was a couple of air beds for the next few nights camping. This turned out quite easy, finding some on special in a sports shop. Christine also did some shoe shopping, allowing Damien some quiet time in the corner of the department store. After coffee and lunch in quick succession, we headed to the Quays on a tram. Again not great timing, it was late afternoon, getting a bit cooler. The Imperial War Museum which is supposed to be good was closing up in half hour, but wouldn’t let us in. We had a brief look at the Lowry Gallery and building which is an entertainment centre and big modern building. We crossed the shipping channel and headed to the Manchester United Soccer ground (or our new favourite expression for soccer, "Grass Ballet"). As expected there were bus loads of Asian tourists taking photos, so we did the same, including a faked leg injury pose, ohh how soccer! We continued on to Old Trafford, the cricket ground. Some more photos. We had been told at the pub last night that there are plans to pull it down and rebuild as its no longer big enough for the test matches. It was then back on the tram, a simple dinner at the hostel and lazy night on the couch.

A week off... What to do!!!

There is one week left of school before another 2 weeks of holidays. Since neither of us will be working in this time we have decided that we will be having another trip, this time within England, up north.
Monday morning Christine was up and off to work. Damien got up as well hoping to get a few days teaching work. This was a non event, with the agency not even returning calls. They must know I’m not interested in long term work. Getting up early but not having work was a weird sensation for the first few days I didn’t know what to do with myself. Tuesday I headed to the National Gallery so as to avoid another day of wandering around in circles. The gallery was big, with heaps of great, but old paintings. Of note are Van Gough, Leonardo, William Turner, Renoir and Rembrandt.
After the gallery and once Christine was home we headed around the corner to visit Christy. We had half organized to have dinner together at her hostel. She is from Florida, so she was cooking Yankee Burgers and we obliged bringing some Aussie Wine. The place she is staying and working is a real hostel, hot a hotel. It has a nice lounge and was just nice to spend the evening in a different common room with different faces. Christy is headed to Italy with her Mom soon so we were looking at where she would be going and what they were doing, some of which were places we visited on out Italy trip.
Wednesday night we went for a stroll with Mel to Notting Hill. We have only just found out, a bit late, but once a month many of the galleries are open late. They are all small private galleries, and some put on music and drinks. The first one that we found was very busy, possibly due to the free wine. It had a lot of artists trying to promote their works, so was quite interesting. We had hoped to find some more trendy places but the others that we found were closed or not really having much happening at them. The girls instead decided to find an ice cream parlour to finish the evening.
The rest of the week was spent tidying our room and trying to sort out some of our stuff, although this did not prove to be too successful. Friday night we headed out to Earling Broadway with Tunde one of the girls Christine works with. We may be seeing her in Vietnam, so she was keen to talk to us about that. We had a big feed in a local Middle Eastern restaurant.

Finishing Work!

For the second time in a week we missed out on Steak again! After work we headed to a pub in Shepherds Bush to meet Russ a friend we met on our Sail Croatia. It has been ages since we have seen him so we were looking forward to catching up. Apparently Tue is steak night at this pub. However shortly after we arrived, the bar man rang his big bell and announced that due to plumbing works next door, the water was being cut off. The toilets were closed, the kitchen was closed but they would still serve drinks! After a beer we headed across the road to an Asian restaurant that had food and toilets. Russ was good, great to catch up, he gave us a copy of the whitewater rafting photos from Croatia.
Damien finished up work a Lebara Mobile on Friday. It has worked out quite well, initially 3 month contract that was subsequently extended for an extra 2 months. Unfortunately it means there is a 1 month period without work, before our visa expires. We celebrated the occasion and Kirsty’s birthday in the Shoreditch area.
Damien wasn’t feeling great the next morning so he stayed in bed! Christine and Mel feeling a little bit more energetic, went for a stroll in the park. Its Dad’s birthday, happy birthday!
Saturday night we had another themed farewell party, this time black and white. It was to farewell Renee who is heading back to Aus as her visa has finished. It was quite an easy theme, Christine looked great in a black dress while Damien was able to wear his work suit.

Sunday was a really nice day. Christine this time elected to stay in bed, but Damien was up early, met Christy one of our friends who lives in the area. We headed down to St Pauls Cathedral for the Sunday morning service. St Paul’s is London’s other grand church, and we had only visited briefly previously. We were a bit early, allowing us time to have coffee outside beforehand. The service was good with a singing choir and the interior of the church amazing. Afterwards the sun was out, still a bit chilly, so we headed down to the Thames, had a look at Shakespeare’s Globe and then visited the Tate Modern. We walked along Southbank and had lunch in a little café. We finished in Trafalgar Square looking at the useless hippies camping there and the Olympic clock.