The Lake District

Note: This post has been updated on June 11, 2011 to include photos!

We arrived in Windermere on May 18th. Windermere is the largest natural lake in England and many people flock to the Lake District during summer time for some R&R.  For those of us in BC, you can easily relate the Lake District to the Okanagan.

Our hostel in the Lake District was very different - there wasn't anyone manning the reception or anyone to go to for questions. The hostel's reception consisted of a fax machine, envelopes and a safe to deposit your money. It basically operated by the honour system.  To use the internet, it was £1 for 30 minutes and to use the laundry machines, it was £3 for a wash & dry.  Our room had 2 bunk beds. The first 2 nights it was just Matt and I and this really nice Swedish fire fighter.  The next two nights we shared it with an older couple from Ontario.  While we were in Windermere, it was for the most part, rainy and overcast :(.  Nevertheless, we still managed to make the most of it.

On our first full day there, we decided to tackle a hike as the weather was sunny! Matt originally wanted to do this 19km hike to Helvellyn and I was begrudgingly onboard to participate.  But when I started to research the hike and realized that certain parts involved going on all 4's, my hesitant yes went to an immediate NO! We went to the tourism information booth and inquired on hikes as there are many in the area.  The tourist dude guy suggested the easiest route to Helvellyn which would take 2 hours to ascend up the mountain and 2 hours to descend.  While it was the easiest route, he failed to mention to ME that it was strictly uphill the entire 2 hours. Not only was it uphill, it was steep.  The terrain wasn't the best and in some parts was slippery due to the stream of water. While ascending up the mountain, my appreciation for sheep increased immensely. As I was trying to catch my breath while hiking my butt up this mountain, the sheep that surrounded me were essentially running to and fro with ease.  Never in my life before had I wished that I was a sheep until I was tackling that mountain.

As we ascended up the mountain (and yes, we even passed people on the way - go team go!), we met a man who was approaching his 80th birthday. Wow - talk about inspirational.  If he could do it, I definitely could do it! He was telling us how he attempted to do a hike to the summit of Helvellyn last year but it was too difficult so this year he was attempting this route.  I am pleased to say that on my way back down from the summit, I bumped into him as he was just about to reach the peak! Yeah! Congrats sir :)

So what's so special about Helvellyn?  Well, its 950 meters or 3,117 feet above sea level and is the 3rd highest peak in England. When you reach the peak, the view is beautiful (and cold and windy...but beautiful). It literally takes your breath away. I don't have the words to describe it - so hopefully I can upload pics shortly.

The descent down was much faster but way harder on the knees. For at least two days after the hike, Matt and I were sore from the waist down.  Butt, hamstrings, knees, calves and feet - but it was 100% worth it. 

The next few days in the Lake District we basically walked through Windermere, Bowness, Grasmere and Ambleside - towns which make up the Lake District area. These little towns (Windermere is the largest and the one we stayed in) are full of little cute shops, bakeries and local artisan products. Matt bought his first painting of the trip in Grasmere - a picture of Striding Edge which is visible from the summit of Helvellyn.  We looked at renting a boat for one of our days there and going down the lake, but the weather wasn't ideal, so we did what we did best - walk, walk and walk some more!

I'd definitely recommend a visit to the Lakes District if you are in England!

Photos!

Base of our hike

View as we ascend the mountain

Higher up we go!

Getting there.

The scenery was beautiful! Perfect day for a hike.

An example of some of the terrain

Sheep!

View of Striding Edge from the summit of our hike.  To conquer Striding Edge, it involves at some points going on all 4's!

Another view from the summit

Grasmere, one of the towns in the Lake District is famous for its Gingerbread. Of course I had to buy it and try it...but I didn't think it lived up to the hype. I think my ginger molasses cookies can give Sarah Nelson a run for her money.

Cute shop set-up

Swans everywhere!

Lake Windermere

Town of Windemere

York

Note: This post has been updated on June 11, 2011 to finally include photos!

These hostel computers seem to lack USB connections! Once again, no photos can be uploaded :(  This hostel (Lake District Backpackers) also lacks wi-fi, hence my lack of Internet & skype calls with home!

Final Day in Nantwich
May 15th was our final day in Nantwich. I spent the morning walking around the town once again and then Matt and I grabbed lunch at the Shakespeare pub - 2 can dine for £10! After our lunch, we went back to the house to pick up Tawny and Chelsea as the plan was to head to the local college, ReaseHealth, for their annual family day event.  We met up with Lorraine who works there and then began to check out the many activities and things to see around the campus including the Farmer's Market, visiting with cows, monkeys, horses, reptiles, meerkats and other animals. We spent a few hours at the college and then headed home where we ate bangers and mash for dinner - yummy!

After dinner, I packed up all my stuff and then chatted with Tawny and Chelsea for about an hour - I am going to miss these gals! We bonded really well and I had such a great time with their family :) We'll definitely have to meet up again when they move back to Calgary - or maybe they should come visit me in Vancouver?

York
On May 16th, we arrived in York at about 11am.  We walked 20 minutes from the train station to our Bed & Breakfast called Queen Anne's Guest Home.  For 2 nights, we paid £54 each, which included a full English breakfast, but also our own room with decent beds.  After being in Nantwich and sleeping well, I was happy that the good sleeping routine would be guaranteed to continue for at least another 2 nights.

After we checked in and dropped off our bags, we headed for the City Centre. Our plan was to just get acquainted with the city and do most of our touring the following day, but as the city is rather small, we hit most of the sites up that afternoon just by aimlessly wandering around.

We went to York Minster - the 2nd biggest gothic cathedral and contains over 800 years worth of stained glass, Clifford Tower (built by William the Conquer to suppress Northern rebels, paid the £3.70 admission to enter the tower and the views were beautiful), wandered through the shops in The Shambles (Europe's most visited street, plus its over 900 years old) and saw the other major sites.  York is also walled with medieval stone and we walked along half of the medieval stone that surrounds the city.  It was really cool! The city walls were built for protection over 2,000 years ago and are a 2.5 mile circuit which encloses 263 acres of land.

I really enjoyed walking through the Shambles, especially after reading about its history. Aside from being over 900 years old, Shambles means open-air slaughter house or basically, a meat market. Back in the day, butchers would display their meats on hooks out in the open air . The pavement in the Shambles is raised on both sides which creates a channel through the centre - why? Well, because this served as a sewer for butchers who would pour their waste into it several times a week. This sewer basically became a river for blood, guts & offal - EWW!

The following day we continued wandering around the city and also went to the National Railway Museum to see trains - choo choo!  We saw the only Japanese bullet train outside of Japan, Royal trains, Steam trains, and other choo choo trains!

As we were leaving York on the 18th of May and waiting at the York Railway Station, we had the privilege of watching a steam train enter and depart the train station - it was really cool. I didn't think that I would be impressed by a train, but it was actually really neat to see. Matt has it on video and hopefully I can upload it soon!

Pics from York - better late than never!

The Shambles

York Minster

Clifford Tower

View from Clifford Tower

View from Clifford Tower

I LOV|E markets with fresh produce!!

Walking the walls that surround the city of York

View of the walls that surround York

We are now in the Lake District and have been enjoying a few relaxing days here....post to follow!

Manchester and Liverpool

Note: This post was updated on June 11, 2011 to include photos!

Manchester
On May 13th, we took the train into Manchester. We didn't really have anything planned for Manchester as when we did research about the city, very little gained our attention. The plan was just to aimlessly wander around the city and hopefully be pleasantly surprised.

Manchester is full of shopping opportunities...Like really good stores that I easily could have spent the day shopping at. But since I have no room, shopping was off the list again :( I did go to the Apple store though to have my iPod battery assessed, as it seems to deplete too quickly. Not much could be done as I was not willing to part with my current iPod in exchange for a new one, as all my information is backed up on my laptop which is at home.

Other than the Apple store, we went to Piccadilly Gardens, Deansgate locks and Manchester Cathedral to name a few.

If you are thinking of visiting Manchester...it's not worth it unless your goal us to shop, because the stores were amazing!!

Here are just a couple pics (because I didn't take many):

In front of the fountains...Matt's play-off beard still growing!

Inside of the church

Outside of the church

Deansgate Locks

Liverpool
There was a lot more to see in Liverpool than Manchester. Aside from better weather (it poured rain in Manchester), we were only faced with very windy conditions. We started off at the World Museum where we looked at Ancient Egypt and Greece displays and then headed out to Queens Square...more shopping!!! I kept my horse blinders on as we walked through and bee lined it for Albert Docks where we went to the Merseyside Maritime Museum. What a great museum to learn more about the Titanic and its sister ships. We also went to the International Slavery Museum which had a special exhibit on apartheid. I really enjoyed the history, artifacts and photos on display.

We also went to the Cavern Club where the Beatles 1st performed (yawn), but what caught my attention was that Adele had a free show there this past January!

That was basically it for those 2 cities.

Here are some pics from Liverpool:

Mummy!

Beatles stuff everywhere!

Club where the Beatles 1st played...more importantly, Adele played a free show here in January!

We've now left Nantwich and are in our 2nd day in York. That post will follow too.

Nantwich

Matt and I have been in Nantwich since Monday.  We bussed from Victoria Coach Station and stopped over in Birmingham, Stafford and Crewe. Once we arrived at Nantwich Coach Station, Matt's friend Pete was there waiting for us.  Matt and Pete used to work together in Calgary and have a super awesome relationship. We've been staying with Pete's family for the week and are having the best time!  I have so many wonderful things to say about this family - they are funny, kind, warm, hospitable and have such strong & unique personalities.  Moreover, they've travelled so much and have been providing loads of useful information for us to help us in our journey...oh, and they are great cooks! We've been eating well this past week.

History of Nantwich
Nantwich has an interesting history.  It's name derives from "Nametwich" meaning "most famous wich", the Saxon word for centre of industry and in Nantwich's case, this was salt.  Norman invaders burnt Nantwich to the ground in the 11th century (man, this place is OLD), and it was attacked again in the 13th century by Welsh marauders.  In the 1500's, it was once again attacked by fire and most of the town was destroyed. With the help of Queen Elizabeth I, it was rebuilt with brick and timber and many of those building still stand today. I love the ancient character of this town! Below are some pics of Nantwich:

What We've Been Up to in Nantwich
On the day we arrived, we all went out for dinner at Naaz, an Indian restaurant. I love Indian food and Britain is known for having some of the best Indian food.  The food was delicious! I'd go into more detail for the foodies out there, but eventually I plan on doing some posts just about food. After we got back from dinner, I called home to wish my mom a Happy Mother's Day!  My first Mother's Day without my mom :( 

Since I've been in Nantwich, I've been sleeping so well. My own bedroom to myself! Matt and I are on the top floor (3rd floor) and we have to ascend/descend up these extremely steep steps.  I'm always super careful everytime I walk down. Also, I have to make sure not to bump my head as people in England must have been very short when many of the buildings were constructed.

On our 2nd day in Nantwich, we went to Crewe, the closest city.  Pete's daughter and I decided to walk instead of take the train.  It's about an 8 minute train ride or 1.5 hour walk as its over 5 miles.  Since I had been used to walking in London so much, I wanted to continue with the exercise as Nantwich is quite small and the distances to walk to places is relatively short as everything is very accessible by foot.  In Crewe, we hit up a few stores and had lunch at Chatwin's, a popular eatery in England.  I had a savory roll and it was pretty good!  It started to rain heavily so once we were done shopping around, we all trained back to Nantwich.  When I got back to our temporary home, I made a few phone calls via Skype to my former co-workers. It was really nice to hear their voices!!

On our 3rd day in Nantwich, we walked to the local college, ReaseHeath, where Pete's wife works. We toured around the campus and headed back home, except we didn't quite make it.  Pete and Matt were walking ahead of us girls (Pete's wife, his 2 daughters and myself) as we stopped into a convenience store to pick up a few goodies.  We were just about home when we peered into the neighbourhood pub which is literally right around the corner from their house, and who do we see at the bar? Matt and Pete!  We went inside and ended up staying there for close to 3 hours.  Matt sipped on his Coke, I sipped on my Diet Coke and the rest of the family on their beverage of choice.  We had some really great conversation while sitting there and lots of laughter! I am really going to miss this family when we leave Nantwich! They've embraced us like their own :)

After we left the pub, we went to pick up dinner at one of the local fish & chip shops - The Coral Reef. Oh, was it good! I had the 1 piece cod with chips and mushy peas.  Who knew peas could taste so good?!  (Foodie blog in future will have a picture and more details of the deliciousness).

The rest of our time in Nantwich, I've spent roaming around town. I love poking my head into the little shops.  I've almost memorized this town as it's that small.  I love how everything is accesible by foot - no need to own a car.  You can hop on the train if you need to go into the next biggest city (Crewe), but really, this town offers everything you need on a day-to-day basis. I love how the food needed for the day's dinner is purchased on the same day. Freshness guaranteed! Several times a week there is a Market in the town square where you can pick up more fresh baking, produce and other items. 

Yesterday I went for the most memorable walk of my life! Pete's daughter and I walked together to pick up his wife from work.  The plan was to continue walking to Snugbury's, a well known ice cream brand in England.  Apparently it was just "up the street" from the college....yeah, it wasn't.  Oh boy, the walk....we walked probably close to 7 miles (there and back) for ice cream in some amazing conditions (wind, rain, no sidewalk, rough terrain etc).  We walked along the highway with no sidewalk where the wind generated from cars & trucks passing by at times caused us to lose our footing! Most of the time we had a narrow border to walk along and at other times we had to run across the road to walk along the other side which was passable. We walked alongside cows, horses and sheep until we finally made it to the ice cream shop located in the middle of nowhere!  I have to say though that the ice cream was amazing.  It wasn't very sweet/sugary but it was very creamy!  On the way back, we took a different route and walked along the canal - beautiful scenery and much safer!  Here are some pics of our adventures:

That's all for now about Nantwich! Next posts will be about Manchester & Liverpool!

London Photos

Now that I have access to a computer, I have the luxury to upload some photos taken from the Vancouver Airport and from our stay in London. Here they are:

Our farewell party at the Vancouver Airport:

Matt and I at Vancouver Airport:

When we arrived in London and dropped our luggage off to our hostel, we headed to Hyde Park.  We picked up some food at a local grocery store chain called Waitrose and set out our hotel blanket and made a few calls on our new British cell phone.  We walked around Hyde Park, checked out the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain and the beautiful scenery of the park.  What a great location!

Our hostel:

Hyde Park:

Princess Diana Memorial Fountain at Hyde Park:

Matt relaxing at Hyde Park...also where I got my first tan :)

We took the hop-on, hop-off bus around London. Best way to see all the sights in the fastest time possible.

Red Phone Booth!! They really do exist in London!

 Matt being uber cool on the phone:

The National Gallery in London:

Trafalgar Square:

Parliament Buildings (including Big Ben) in London:

Westminster Abbey:

 Buckingham Palace:

London Eye & London Aquarium:

 Tower Bridge:

Chelsea Football Club:

Crossing Abbey Road (apologies in advance for the super cheesy pose):

I mentioned in a previous blog about how the trains were so congested one afternoon - here is a pic!

Those are all the pics for now! It takes ages for them to upload to this website! I hope you enjoyed.