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. 

Videos

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. 

Hallo From Ireland!

thE pubs in dublin is fantatic! Today we went to the guiNness factry anD The Jameson fctory allin 1 day!  we learn so many fasinating thins abut Beer an whisky.   I had no ideam Jameson stirted in Dubli WHAO!my hans r huge on ths keyberd. lik huuug!e man! itssooo greater were havinsush a dgoodtim! we miss hometho. Awww wow a panda sais hi to me once.  Greasey pandas he was all hey man!  You know whAT I mean? I don't belive inZebras either.  Black and white why can't they all jus git along? theysgdi ayuojtn& I know!t.

Hebden Bridge

On Saturday we went to a town called Hebden Bridge about 40 minutes, by train, East of Leeds.  The night before there was a severe eye stabby storm so we wanted to go some place where we could enjoy a walk in the fresh powder.  Hebden is a small town situated on a narrow canal. When we arrived, the entire canal was frozen over.  Along the banks, large canal boats were locked in by the frozen ice.  We threw snowballs to try and break it but our weak attempts simply made little craters on the surface.  It was fun, and we attracted some others to join in.  No one was successful though.  Even the huge ball we made weighing at least 100lbs failed to break through.  After several more useless attempts we decided to start walking along a path next to the canal.  The path was beautiful, snow covered every inch.  There was so much snow that we couldn't resist building a snow man.  Unfortunately, he didn't turn out so well.  It was our first time building one and apparently you need a degree in structural engineering and the artistic ability of Michelangelo to make one that looks like the ones on TV.  Still, we were pretty proud.   A few hours later however, we were saddened to see that someone had knocked our beloved snowman over.  Whoever did it was probably so disturbed by its hideous form that he had to rid the world of this demon spawn.  Either that or the snowman fell over on its own because, we suck.

A short distance from the small center of Hebden is a trail that winds its way up a hillside.  The hike was a bit treacherous due to the ice but the view from the hill was spectacular.   Despite the snowman debacle we had a great time in Hebden Bridge.

We are legal!

We got our TV license today!  We are now free to watch and record TV on any device such as mobile phones, DVD/ VCRs, computers, digital boxes, and game consoles without the TV gestapo coming after us.  One thing we found after a couple days of watching is they don't censor anything here!  Movies have the F word, S word, everything!  They even showed nudity at 8 pm on a weekday!  It offended everyone of my prudish American sensibilities.  It was almost too much to handle, but I soldiered on watching.  I had to.  For America!  

York

York is a 2000 year old walled Roman city about an hour bus ride north of Leeds.  It is rich in history and in the 19th century became a hub for the British railway.  But we didn't care about any of that, when we arrived we went straight to the first pub we could find.

The Harkers is a pub near the city center.  We were drawn to it because; 1. It was a pub, 2. It was warm,  3.  It was warm.  Also they had a great deal on Sunday roast.  Cady had the Pork and I had the lamb.  It was delicious.  After the pub we tried to get up to the wall to walk around the city but unfortunately it was closed, lots of things are closed on Sundays here.  Instead, we took a walk around town and looked at some of the ancient ruins that are scattered throughout the city.

We also went to a few museums but immediately walked out because we're cheap. After the stroll we went to the British Railway Museum which is the largest rail museum in the world and its free!  It was massive and had hundreds of trains.  We sat and listened to a guy talk about trains for an hour.  I never knew that a train's transmission shifts with a lever that the conductor operated by rocking back and forth and I'm bored.  Actually, I found it really interesting because TRAINS!  Cady, not so much.  Hopefully the next time we visit we will be able to walk around on the wall and maybe check out some other museums (pubs).

It's SNOWING!

Neither of us have ever been in snow while it was falling before.  I've watched it from a window and enjoyed it after the storm, but never walked through it or lived in it.  I like it, however I discovered today that snow has a tendency to go right for the eyes, so from henceforth I will be referring to snow as "eye stabbies".   Stay tuned for my next post where I will most likely be bitching about the "eye stabbies." 

We are no longer interesting

Well... That didn't last long.

We're interesting here!

People actually find us interesting here! 
"Wow!" they say.  "Love your accent! where are you from?"
 "America!" we reply.
"Where in America?"
 "San Diego." 
They look surprised and ask us a bunch of questions.  Just yesterday a guy at the bank was telling us how cool that is.  Yeah, we are pretty cool.

Our Flat

 

MTV called, they want their lame Cribs spoof back.

Where are we?

England is not like the United States at all.  For Example, they still have Blockbuster here! Unreal! And their Costco has a tire center but it's spelled Tyre Center!  Outragous!  Also there is only one Starbucks in the entire shopping plaza!  What!?  Oh, and look at this.  They're Burger King and McDonald's are right next to each other!  I mean, Who does that?!  And Ikea, they don't carry the Sjöåfkthöåggståddt end table, they only have the Zgréfftånstdnéöthugt one!  It's like we are living in The Twilight Zone over here! 

Culture shock

England has lots of weird things that we are not familiar with.  Not remembering which direction to look when crossing the street is a big one.  But there are little differences that I find strange.  For example; every outlet has an on/off switch.  So when you plug something in you have to remember to switch the outlet to the on position.  Everything in our flat has a switch on the wall that you have to flip before you turn on the actual thing you're using.

Voltage is higher here too so you have to check your device rating to make sure you don't fry it.  The good thing is most computers and electronics are rated for UK voltage so our computers are good and our flat has one 115 volt US style plug in the bathroom so we can use our Sonicare toothbrushes.

 One of the most absurd things we discovered is that you have to have a license to watch TV.  Even the freely broadcasted stuff over the air.  The BBC will come to your house and threaten you with fines if they even think you have a tv.  We discovered this because we opened a letter addressed to "legal occupant" which contained a notice with big red writing warning that an officer was going to be sent to our flat to investigate the possibility that we were watching TV.   And this license isn't cheap.  £145.50 that's $234.87!  It's like if PBS suddenly said "F*ck it!  We know you watch our sh!t without pledging you ungrateful bastard.  We're just going to come to your house and make you pay us."  And there's only four types of shows here; Reality TV, Game Shows, British History, and Top Gear.  Well there are actually 5, the news which could be considered reality I suppose.

We also discovered while shopping that no one knows how to use our credit cards.  Swiping a card through a credit machine is completely foreign to them.  They are much more advanced than we are in this regard.  Everyone here uses smart cards.  Credit cards with a chip embedded in it.  It is much more convenient because you just scan the chip and you're done.  No Swiping no signing. There were some places that wouldn't even take our cards.  So a suggestion to anyone who visits Europe, get a smart credit card; it is way easier than having to explain to everyone how to swipe.

They also have a thing here called post codes;  ours is LS2 7EJ.  Took me 3 days to remember that.  They need post codes for all kinds of things.  I went to buy a sim card for my phone and they wanted my post code.  We tried to get some money and they wanted our post code.  Sign up for utilities- post code.  And speaking of utilities, you can't set up utilities without a bank account and you can't set up a bank account without proof of residence from a utility bill.  Luckily the bank accepted the letter Cady's employer provided as proof after the 3rd attempt so we could open an account and start paying bills.  Only took us a week to get that settled.

It's cold here!

Today we saw sun for the first time in a week!  It has been cloudy and drizzly since we got here but today it peaked out from behind some clouds.  The strange thing is it's colder when the sun is out.  The temperature has not gone above 7 degrees since we have been here and today it dipped into the 4s which is about 39 degrees.  It took me a while to figure out how to calculate that.  You see you have to multiply the Celsius temperature by 9, divide by 5, add 32 then sacrifice a small goat to get the the degrees in Fahrenheit.  The last part is optional but leads to more accurate results. Don't even ask me how to convert from imperial to metric units.   I haven't been able to cause it's almost impossible to find enough goats.

1 week in England

Yesterday was officially our first week in England.  So far it has been fun but stressful.  Our arrival was very smooth aside from a stern immigration agent who was not happy about letting me into the country.  Apparently they don't like it when you stay in their country for over 6 months but she let me in!  Hopefully it won't be an issue when we start traveling around.

 Our flat is surprisingly nice.  It is in a building Named The Chandlers in an area called The Calls.  The pictures made the place look small but it is surprisingly big so we have plenty of room for anyone who wants to visit.

The view out of our window is nice too.  Looking directly at an old church.

We live very close to a small river and are within walking distance to pubs, restaraunts, clubs, and shopping areas.  One of the cooler places is the Kirkgate Market.  It is the largest enclosed market in Europe and was built in the 1800s.  Cady and I wandered through there the other day and they have stalls with fresh fish, butchers, cured meets, clothing and tons of other things.  It reminds me of Pike Place Market in Seattle but bigger. There is also a shopping area similar to Santa Monica's 3rd street promenade. 

On our first night here Cady and I went to a hotel pub called the Adelphi Hotel.  It was nice to sit down and have some genuine British Pub food.  I had the fish and chips and Cady had the Bangers and Mash.  It was good.  And they had a special Wednesday deal that came with a beer.  I had 2, A Leeds Pale and one called Old Engine Oil which was an English Porter.  Both were great.