Liverpool to Leeds

We are on our second day of the 127.5 mile journey from Liverpool to Leeds. We are sore tired and sleepy.  Today was better than yesterday.  Yesterday we were so unprepared for the distance by the end I was hallucinating.  We found a small pub/inn called the white bear last night which we just stumbled  upon.  It was a total local joint but they were really nice and allowed us to park our bikes.  The locals were really drunk.  They kept asking us questions about California and why see were doing this.  We met some really cool loud local women who invited us to have a drink with them.  One woman when she heard Cady was from la became really interested.  she kept asking us if we knew jack bower.  It was fun.  The small town only had one restaraunt open.  A tapas place.  It was ok.  The staff was really nice. After dinner we went back to the hotel and we were out. 

Today we woke up early and got ready for another long day.  Our butts and shoulders were incredibly sore.  About 80% of the ride is on uneven dirt or poor asphalt.  It is really uncomfortable.  Not an easy ride.  People along the canal and on the canal boats are really nice.  They wave and say hi when we ride by.  Certain stretches are very urban and dirty while others are pristine and beAutiful.  People are fishing and walking their dogs all along the way. Even with the terrible surface conditions we rode over 40 miles.  Just 45 or so more to go before home.  Once again we stumbled upon a random pub/inn.  This one is called the old stone trough.  It's is really nice.  And once again the people are great.  We had dinner at another pub just down the street which had food and now we are heading off to bed.  Surprisingly we are feeling better today than yesterday although still exhausted.  As soon as I finish writing this I am going to be asleep.  We have another long day tomorrow. 

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Venice and Como

Dublin

Scotland

We arrived in Glasgow late in the evening and stayed at a Premier Inn in the center of the city.  Glasgow was only a stop over for our journey so we didn't do any research about it.  Had we done some, we probably would not have chosen a hotel next to a strip club.  Despite the surroundings, the hotel was actually very nice and there was a great cafe across the street where we had dinner. After dinner, we thought about what we were going to do for the evening.   I had a great suggestion, but after seeing Cady's angry eyes I decided it would be best to go back to the hotel and get some rest instead. We had a big day tomorrow. 

The next day we went for a quick walk to find breakfast. It was a particularly dreary morning with freezing temperatures and snow flurries.  We had heard that Glasgow is a beautiful city but unfortunately I think it was having an off day because all we saw while walking was a guy passed out on the side walk, a street that police blocked off due to what looked like a crime scene, and a rather scary looking crow that seemed to be following us.  It wasn't a glowing first impression for UK's "Number One Up and Coming City."   This is not to say we won't go back and have a proper visit one day.  We really didn't spend enough time there to get a true feeling of it.  The locals say that they have great museums and a famous music scene and I am sure they do, but that will have to wait for another time because after breakfast we had a train to catch.
 
The train ride through Scotland was magnificent, with sweeping views and unrelenting beauty. We were treated to unbelievable imagery of snow capped mountains, dense lush forests, and gorgeous lochs.  I highly recommend train travel in Scotland.  Our destination was Oban. A city located in an area called Argyll and Bute on the western coast of Scotland.  Established along the shores of the Firth of Lorn, Oban is best known for it's whiskey distillery which bears the same name.  The entire town sprung up around the distillery which started making whiskey in 1794. When the train pulled into the station we were treated to a delightful seaside town.  It was Easter weekend so there were quite a few people milling about.  It wasn't overly crowded though which was a relief.  It was beautiful and built in the shape of a horse shoe around a bay at the base of a hillside.  While Cady and I strolled around we noticed a slight musty sweetness in the sea air.  Even though it was incredibly faint the scent was immediately familiar to me.  Scotch. 

The Distillery is in an unassuming brick building on the corner of the main street.  You could miss it completely if you weren't looking for it.  I was surprised at how small it was for the amount of whiskey they produce.  About a million Barrels which is small by comparison according to the tour guide.  We learned quite a bit about the intricacies of making scotch whiskey and the laws and taxes that govern its production.  Oban still uses much of the same equipment for over 200 years.  You could see the patina of age in the stills and mash barrels and you could smell it in the air.  No trip to Scotland is complete without a visit to a whiskey distillery and Oban is a good one.  The best part?  It was capped off with 2 tastings and a free Glencairn whiskey glass.  Not too bad for 7 pounds.

A short one hour ferry ride from Oban is the Isle of Mull.  It is the 2nd largest island in the Inner Hebrides, a chain of Isles off the coast of Scotland.  It goes without saying that the views from the ferry were amazing.  Made even more magnificent by the uncharacteristic sunny weather that seemed to be shining just for us.  The main town on Mull is Tobemory about a hour by bus from the ferry terminal.  Tobemory is reminiscent of a small fishing village.  Built along the banks of a once thriving farming and fishing community the fishermen have long since departed giving way to quaint little shops catering to the hoards of tourists that visit each day.  Cady and I spent some time wandering the main thoroughfare before heading up into the hills for a hike.  The weather could not have been better.  It was so great in fact that we actually removed our heavy snow jackets for the first time in 3 months and exposed our pasty white skin to the glorious rays of the sun.  It felt good.  We think we even got a little sun burn which normally isn't a good thing but after this long without sun it was comforting.  The veiws from the mountain side were stunning.  After our hike, we stopped at a small cafe and had a seafood lunch before heading back to the ferry.

We left Oban in the morning and continued our journey to the last town in our mini Scotland adventure. Balloch, on the shores of Loch Lomond.  We decided to end our trip here based solely on a whim.  Some receptionist at some hotel told us about Balloch.  She was difficult to understand through her thick Scottish accent but we think she said we should visit.  That was good enough for us.  By this point a quick hike around the park near the loch was all we could muster.  We were so tired all we wanted to do was have an Easter Sunday roast for dinner and get some rest in our bed and breakfast.  After we ate at the only restaurant not crowded with Easter reservations, we went back to our room and settled in with a glass of Scotch and some Back to the Future 3 on TV.  Scotland was wonderful.  There are so many things to see and do there we barely scratched the surface.  And as we packed up and got ready to leave the next morning only one thing bothered me.  Doc Brown was sent back to 1885 by a bolt of lightning in the Delorean.  Marty and 1955 Doc find the Delorean left by 1885 Doc in a cave so that Mary could fix it and get back to the future.  He instead uses it to go to 1885 to save Doc.  That means that there were 2 Deloreans in 1885.  Why didn't they just used the parts and gas from the second Delorean to fix the broken one and go back to the future?  Also if Clara Clayton was supposed to fall into Clayton/Shonash Ravine and the only reason why she didn't was because Marty went back to 1885 to save Doc, then how would the tombstone Marty found for Doc in 1955 say "Layed to rest by his beloved Clara?"  Doc and Clara would never have met without Marty going back to 1885 so that engraving should never have existed.  And why doesn't 1885 Doc have any recollection of helping Marty fix the Delorean a second time 1955?  Ok... 3 things that bothered me. 

Fast walkers

People walk so fast here.  I feel like I'm being chased everywhere I go. 

The Great Train Robbery

The BBC is shooting a tv show across the street from our flat!  I noticed some huge trucks last week and saw them again today.  Cady suggested we go down and see what they were doing.   We asked a rather large crew member and he told us that they were shooting a show called "The Great Train Robbery"  about a heist that took place in England in 1963.  According to the Sun.  It was dubbed "The Crime of the Century."  The heist took place on a train from Glasgow to Eustin London.  The 18 member crew made off with the equivalent of 40 million pounds in today's money.  Coincidentally the mastermind behind the robbery died early this March.  The 50th anniversary of the heist is coming up in August so the show should be premiering sometime before then. Cool!  (not about the robbery, that's bad.)

Driving in the UK

Driving here is unusual.  I'm not talking about the fact that the driver sits where the passenger should be and they drive on the left hand side of the road. That was surprisingly easy to get the hang of.  The pedals are the same, the shift pattern is the same, you're just sitting on the wrong side of the car (at least according to the US and about 90% of the rest of world). What surprised me about driving here is that you can walk into any rental agency and rent a car.  No questions asked.  I expected to at least see some "So you want to drive in England" pamphlets or a poster about the rules of the road hanging somewhere, but there was nothing.  The man behind the counter took my info, pointed to our car and off we went.  I was just handed the keys to a 2 ton murder machine without so much as a "don't forget to drive on the left."  The rules here take some getting use to.  And by "rules" I mean things that I made up as I drove around trying not to smash into stuff.  I had no idea what I was doing.  There are some similarities of course.  Green means go,  red means stop, yellow means... go?  The signals here have a yellow light that flashes before the light turns green.  I assume it is to allow everyone to prepare for the green, but the drivers all anticipate the yellow and speed off as soon as the light changes from red.  Most of the cars were half way through the intersection before the green even came on.  It took some time but I adapted pretty quickly.  Yellow means go.  Easy.  What was not as easy to figure out was the roundabouts.  Just about every intersection is a roundabout.  You approach them at full speed look right and, if there are no cars, you enter the most terrifying driving experience of your life.  There are double decker buses, long haul semis, dump trucks, tiny cars, big vans, all manner of wheeled monstrosity spinning around in a giant vortex.  It is so stressful, and you have such a short amount of time to make any decisions that when it's all over PTSD sets in and your mind blocks out the experience.  You come out the other side shaking as if waking up from a nightmare and miraculously you are going in the right direction.  All your passengers rejoice with sighs of relief.  High fives are exchanged.  Sweat is wiped from brows.  And together you laugh and mock the experience.  That is until you all realize with horror that there are more these.  Many many more, one after the other as if you are trapped in some sort of giant twisted washing machine stuck on the spin cycle.  They are everywhere and no one seems to know what they are doing in one.   Usually for large roundabouts there are at least 2 lanes that guide you through it.  The far left lane, I surmised, was for people who wanted to leave at the first first turn off.  If you wanted to leave on the second or third one you stayed in the right lane.  It made sense, except for the fact that no one seemed to be doing this.  When I thought I had just about figured it out I would get cut off or I would cut someone else off.  People seem to just enter and go wherever the hell they wanted.   I figured out the best way to get around one of these was to shut my eyes, mash the gas, and pray.
Another thing that was weird was there were practically no speed limits posted.  Plenty of "Reduce Speed" signs but no signs telling you what speed you were supposed to be at.  Once in a while I would see one but I was never sure whether it was supposed to be in kilometers per hour or miles per hour.  In one stretch of road the limit seemed to switch between the two.  Also on a few freeway construction zones there were two posted limits 10mph and 30mph. So which was it?  I never knew because everyone seemed to be doing 50.
Some other strange things are, cars are allowed to park against the direction of traffic so you can't assume the road is flowing in any one direction based on the parked cars.  This is especially dangerous while walking.  Also, many roads here are very narrow so you have to drive around parked cars constantly.  And speed cameras are everywhere.  And they seemed to do nothing to deter speeding drivers.
It was a mess, but it was fun and I am totally doing it again.  The next time perhaps I should go over the UK driver's handbook before setting off.  Or not, because where's the fun in that?  Murder machine.

A little Pannal never hurt anyone

We ended up in this small town of Pannal completely by accident.  Cady and I purchased a discounted train ticket that allowed 2 people to travel anywhere within West Yorkshire for 11 pounds which is way cheaper than the normal ticket.  Unfortunately we didn't read the fine print where it states that our intended destination, the city of Harrogate, is not included.  So, long story short, they kicked us off the train.  Actually "they" meaning the conductor who was quite polite.  He said,  "You need to get off  the train."  So, we ended up in Pannal.  And we are still trying to get out of this hell hole.  If anyone is reading this please send help!

Just kidding.  We got out of there safe.  Just in time too, because while we waited for our return train (at the local pub of course) we did some research on this quaint unassuming suburb.  It turns out the only thing they are known for is a yearly pantomime festival.  Yes, pantomime as in miming.  Lucky for us, we just missed it as it was a few weeks earlier.  We could tell it was a wild one though because there was still a guy pushing an invisible broom in the parking lot.  I don't know anyone who likes mimes.  I can't stand them. Oh no! You're trapped? Then let me help you out of that invisible box... WITH MY FIST!  I wonder what a pantomime trip to the hospital looks like.