Saturday and Sunday June 22 and 23, 2019

We were up early and out of the hotel by 7:45 a.m. We took the Gatwick Express to Gatwick. The Gatwick Express is a direct train with no stops and only takes half an hour. We got rid of the wonky wheeled suitcase as soon as we could and then cleared passport control and customs.

Gatwick terminal was really busy with lots of people vying for uncomfortable seats. There were a lot of shops to spend more money or the last of your money. On this trip someone had recommended spending the extra to go into the private lounges. I think next time, if we fly out of Gatwick it might be a good investment.

Eventually the departure board indicated the gate to depart from and we made our way down to the gate, where we were quickly called on to get on the plane.

The flight was a little bumpy, and I didn’t like the landing but that is the nature of flying. Of course, everyone got up as soon as the seat-belt sign was off and blocked the aisle. Shelley and I didn’t rush and then smiled when the Captain informed us that the plane was not docked at an International gate and we had to disembark from the back of the plane on to buses! We didn’t rush to get off as I knew we would have to wait for our luggage.

We had a self-check-in at Montreal and a double check by passport control who gave the declaration a cursory glance. Rather an anti-climax as we had kept receipts.

Ralf was picking us up from the airport. I wasn’t expecting him to be there waiting as he was coming after he had finished his morning shift with the City. I called him to tell him we would wait for him outside at Section D – the pick-up area. Absolute chaos! There were a couple of security guards who were trying to ensure that people didn’t park and leave their vehicles as this was a quick pick-up area. Not even time for a hug, throw the suitcases in the car and move on.

I witnessed one guy getting into a heated discussion with the security guy. The security guy threw his hands in the air, went to the back of the vehicle and proceeded to write a ticket. The car driver got in and drove off, without his passengers. He would have to make the circuit of the roads again.

Ralf arrived “ What a F$$king nightmare, A bunch of idiots”. We threw everything into the tiny Mazda , including Shelley and off we went home.

We managed to stay awake until 9:30 p.m. and then went to bed.

Sunday June 23, 2019

Anti-Climax

Shelley woke us at 7:30 a.m. wanting to go home. I suggested she stay and have breakfast as she was suffering from jet lag and she should at least have breakfast and a coffee before leaving. She was very jittery, with lack of sleep and anxious to get home.

I was angry with her and concerned about her. I figured the least she could do is have breakfast with us, but no, she insisted on going home.

Shelley called to say she was home safely. It had taken her less than four hours to drive home. Driving almost 30 kms over the speed limit all the way home. I think I had cause to be concerned. She said that there wasn’t much traffic on the Sunday morning.  Fortunately she was home safe.

All in all a good trip.

Friday June 21, 2019

We had a relaxing breakfast at our B & B and headed out with a “cartoon” map of London. A “cartoon” map is a map that shows the highlights and the route that the “hop on and hop off” drives around. We had opted not to do the “hop on” bus, as we had a lot of things to pack into one day. The sun was out, we wore our hats and sunscreen – first time on this trip.

We were only a short walk from Buckingham Palace (20 mins) and that is where we started our day.

We got there at about 9:45 and I realized that as the best viewing areas were beginning to fill in we should pick a spot and watch the Changing of the Guards.

We had a perfect view of the Horse Guard and would have had a perfect view of the Blues and Royals if they had come the way they should have done. However, I was pleased to see the Gurkha Regiment with their very fast march, passing in front of us. My Dad had served with the Gurkha’s and had always spoken highly of the soldiers and their dedication.

After watching the changing of the guards we walked down to the River Thames to take one of the tourist boats down the river to the Tower of London. The Glaswegian (on the train) had told us to take the City Cruise as the commentary was really good.

The London skyline has changed a lot since Ralf and I were last there.

Shelley bought the tickets for the boat ride and asked if we could use our Two-together train card for a discount.  We got a 30% discount on the boat and a further discount on tickets to get into the Tower of London. We saved almost 20 pounds.

However, when we got to the Tower we thought we could go straight in to the tower with the “group” ticket. We were directed to pick up our group ticket from another window, once again we were in the wrong line and had to go to another line, not very good directions. Eventually we got our tickets which are a nice souvenir/bookmark. We were just in time for the next Yeoman of the guard tour (Beefeater tour). He was very funny and informative. The Beefeaters had to have served 22 years in the army or navy and reached the rank of Warrant Officer or above to qualify as a Yeoman of the Guard.

After the guided tour, we headed straight to the line to see the Crown jewels. It was a very long line, I checked with other people in the line how long they had waited and it appeared that we would only have to line up for about half an hour, it looked as though it would be a longer wait. I wasn’t sure if Shelley wanted to line up but I knew she would really enjoy seeing the exhibit if we did wait in line. The jewels and the history behind all of them is fascinating, unfortunately you cannot take photos in the vault. I was pleased to see that they now have the exhibit in multiple languages.

After viewing the Crown jewels we headed into the White tower. I was surprised to find out that Shelley was interested in the military history and armament.

We headed back on the boat to Westminster, two very tired tourists.

The commentary on the boat (up and down the river) was very funny. “The Tate Modern Art Gallery is on the left. It is free to go in. After you have been in you will understand why it is free. Unless of course you like modern Art.” And “The white ship on the right is a New Zealand ship called the Wellington. It is a club for Master Mariners. The Duke of Edinburgh is a member and on a Friday night you will often see him and the Queen staggering about the fore deck after a few too many drinks”.

The security in London is very high, as you can expect with the amount of bombings and terrorist attacks.  I personally was glad we were only spending one day there.

We had planned on eating at the Wetherspoon pub again, but it was really busy and incredibly loud. We walked down to another pub/winebar where we had seen “traditional fish and chips” advertised. The fish was really bony. When Shelley mentioned to the manager that the fish was too bony and she didn’t enjoy eating the fish, he gave us a couple of glasses of wine on the house.

Tomorrow we head home.

Thursday June 20, 2019

Happy Birthday Dave.

I have no idea why I was awake so early (6:30). I was up and showered by 7:00. I had the instant porridge with a banana for breakfast and then waited and waited for the taxi to pick us up at 9:30. Today was a travel day, so nothing much to report.

The taxi arrived on time, the train left Windermere on time and the train from Windermere to Euston was on time. We sat next to a couple from Glasgow and we started to chat. Shelley’s face was a picture, she stared at the fella as if he was talking a foreign language. In a way he was with his very strong Glaswegian accent. After he asked her a few questions, and she just stared at him, she told him we were from Canada and that she was travelling with me. He turned to me and said “So you are the translator” we all laughed and had a great trip chatting to them. They were going to London to see a Bon Jovi concert at Wembley. They came prepared with drinks and sandwiches. A bottle of Prosecco to start, followed by several vodka and lime sodas and he was drinking cans of cider. They offered us a drink, I refused, I needed to keep my wits about me when we arrived at Euston. Shelley had one and said it was nice but fizzy.

By the time we arrived in London their accents were even stronger and I could barely understand them.

We maneuvered through the crowds with Shelley’s wonky wheeled suitcase and took the underground to Victoria Station.

One of the wheels of Shelley’s suitcase may have been damaged on the flight. After all the rough pavements, cobbled streets and dragging it on and off trains, the wheel has almost totally disintegrated. At one point she was wavering from one side of the platform to another as we left Euston station heading to the underground, she looked like a drunken sailor. It wasn’t Shelley, it was her suitcase.

The underground was busy and I told her to push herself on and push herself off the train when it arrived, elbows out and go. Fortunately we only had to go four stops. The hotel is only a short walk from Victoria Station. It is relatively cheap (for London) and handy to Victoria Station which is why we picked it. On Saturday we will take the Gatwick Express straight into Gatwick and as soon as we can we will hand over the wonky wheeled suitcase to the baggage handlers where they may decide to damage another wheel!

When we got to the hotel they asked for ID. I almost had a heart attack, I couldn’t find my passport! We got to our room and I emptied my suitcase, my backpack and my new handbag, no passport. I couldn’t remember where I would have left it. Shelley asked if she could check my purse for me. She had bought a similar purse, and there is a small zipped pocket inside the main bag, there was my passport.  Fortunately my bud knew I had put my passport in a safe place.

If the worse came to the worse at least we were in London and I could have gone to the Canadian Embassy with the photocopy of my passport and hoped to get an emergency passport issued in time.

We had a good cheap meal at a Wetherspoons pub and we have planned a busy day for tomorrow.

Wednesday June 19, 2019

We woke to the pitter patter of rain on the window. Oh no, I had planned a day walking. A scenic boat ride to Ambleside and a four mile walk from Ambleside to Hawes landing.

By the time we had showered, the rain had stopped and it looked as though the sun might come out. “Rain before seven, clear by eleven”, Mum was right again.

I had asked Shelley to be ready to leave early as we needed to catch the 10:00 boat to Ambleside. She was ready before me. We went to the little café and had a great breakfast again and was at the pier with lots of time to spare. We bought our “walkers ticket” which allows you to get on and off the boat a couple of times.

There are various boat cruises leaving from Bowness.  They are reasonably priced and cover lots of different trips, from a quick ride across to Hawes Landing where you can walk up to Hilltop Cottage, a short cruise on Lake Windermere which doesn\’t stop at any of the docks, a longer lunchtime cruise, a dinner cruise and the Walkers Ticket.  this allows you to get off at Ambleside, get on a small launch to Wrays Castle and then get back on the small launch from Hawes Landing.  Or just hop on and off to Wrays Castle.

It was a lovely cruise to Ambleside passing several large “estate”. One of which was built in the late 18^th century by a wealthy cotton mill owner as his summer estate. It is now a hotel and the “boathouse” is used for a special wedding venue.

We walked into Ambleside which is a small village similar to Bowness. However, it is more geared to walkers and climbers in the area. Most of the shops are outdoor shops with some really nice gear.

At 12:10 we boarded another small launch to go to Wray’s Castle and the start of our walk back to Hawes Landing.

We were walking on a public footpath through the Wray and Claife Estates, both are owned by the National Trust.

We had already walked two miles into Ambleside, I was a little concerned that it would be a bit of a trek for Shelley. She was a little tired as we came into Hawes landing. She said she had walked her feet off to her armpits.

It was a lovely woodland walk, well sign posted and relatively flat. There were a couple of hills but very nice.

We had an ice-cream before taking the launch back to Bowness. After getting of the final launch we sat on the promenade and watched the world go buy. There area a lot of swans, Canada geese, and pigeons all wanting to be fed. You can buy bird seed to feed the birds. All in all a good day.

We had an early dinner at the Albert pub and came back to the B&B to repack our stuff for tomorrows trip down to London.

The saga of the Summer Creams.

Many years ago on one of my trips to visit my Mum and Dad, Shelley asked me to buy a candy called Summer Creams. Christa (her daughter) and Shelley had found these candies in a “Brit” shop in Mississauga and loved them. I searched high and low and could never find them. I thought they were a figment of Shelley’s imagination.

I think it was on Shelley’s list of things to find in the U.K. We were in an old fashioned sweet shop in York and almost found them. After trying every candy in the shop, Shelley decided the closest thing to the “imaginary” sweet was Scottish Rock. However, the lady in the shop did confirm that there was a sweet called summer creams. We couldn’t find any summer creams in York, or in Edinburgh and it looked as though Shelley was going to have to settle with Scottish Rock. On our first morning in Bowness we passed another sweet shop and we popped in. “Do you have summer creams?” asked Shelley. Yes said the lady How much would you like? She got the big jar from the shelf and began to add 100 grams to the weight scale. “A little more” said Shelley – “Christa will be so pleased that I have found them”. “May I try one,” the lady gave her a “summer Cream” Shelley’s face beamed “yes, yes these are the right ones”. “I better have a few more.”

As we left the shop Shelley was tucking into one of the bags of summer creams. – Sorry, Christa you may not get your summer creams after all.

Tuesday June 18, 2019

I am a get up and go kind of person, wake up, shower, breakfast and go. Shelley is a get up, have a coffee, wake up slowly, have a shower and two hours later we leave.   Unless we have a train to catch it can be a very slow start. When I give Shelley a time she is ready to go, if I don’t give her a time she lollygags. That is o.k. because we are on vacation.

This morning was a bit of a lollygag. Awake at 7:00 left the B&B at 9:15 with no breakfast! The B&B provides an instant pot of oatmeal, packaged chocolate croissant and a muesli bar. We wandered down to a nice café and had a good cooked breakfast with a really good cup of coffee. We then wandered down to the piers where all the boats leave and caught the 11:15 ferry across to Hawes landing.

We stopped at Claife Station on the way to Beatrix Potter\’s cottage, to view the lake.

We took the woodland path up to Beatrix Potter’s Hilltop Cottage. It was a 2 mile walk through the countryside, absolutely beautiful.

The guy at the ticket booth last night told us that we would have to walk up the road or we could get the bus to the top. I knew there was a footpath that we could take, at least for part of the way.

It was a lovely walk, we stopped many times to enjoy the scenery. After arriving in the village, Shelley bought her ticket to view inside Beatrix Potter\’s Cottage. It is owned by the National Trust and is left in its original state. I had previously visited the cottage with my Mum and Dad, it was free to wander the grounds. I told Shelley to do the tour but I would wait in the gardens.

As we were walking up the garden path to the entrance of Beatrix Potter\’s cottage we met a family with a young boy of about 5 years old, Edward. When buying the tickets with kids the Trust gives them a sheet of paper so that they can find hidden hedgehogs. There are six hedgehogs to be found. I asked Edward how many he had found – four he told me. I had only spotted one, I asked him if he would tell me where the hedgehogs were or would I have to find them myself. He told me I had to find them myself. I thought that was fair. His grandmother almost had a heart attack. “No Edward, why don’t you ask the lady if she could tell you where she has seen her hedgehog and you can tell her where you have seen your hedgehogs”. I think both Edward and I thought that was an unfair exchange four hedgehogs for one. I told Edward the general area for my hedgehog and he told me there was one by the front door of the house. I eventually found all six hedgehogs with the help of another adult. I was kind enough to tell another young boy where to find the last hedgehog he was looking for. I must be getting soft in my old age.

Shelley thoroughly enjoyed her walk around the cottage and the property.

Today was the first day of really good weather, sunny and warm and not a drop of rain. I even got a little bit of a sunburn. We had a walk around Bowness and had a lovely dinner at the Albert Pub.

Monday June 17, 2019

Edinburgh to Oxenholme

We said our farewells to Andrew, and took the bus to Haymarket Train Station. It is the station closest to Andrew’s house and only has four platforms – can’t go wrong!.

This meant we didn’t have to worry about the walk from the bus stop to the Main Station and possibly getting on the wrong train again. However, it did mean that all the luggage spaces were taken and there wasn’t any room for Shelley’s case. We managed to shove it under the table with a little help from the women across the aisle.

I got my computer out and was going to update the blog. Shelley greeted the couple that we were sitting with who were from Ecuador. The computer did not get turned on. We chatted all the way to Oxenholme with this lovely couple (Ramero and Valerie). He was a gastroenterologist and was attending a conference in Birmingham. They added another couple of weeks to their trip to visit Scotland.

Ramero\’s English was better than Valerie\’s, but she managed really well and of course their English was better than my Spanish. We talked about different dialects, languages and Ecuador.

I really wanted to update the blog as I was so far behind, but there is a time and place to connect to the wired world and a time and place to connect to the here and now. I learnt so much about Ecuador, the indigenous peoples and even a little bit about gastroenterology.

We arrived in Oxenholme and should have had a 15 minute wait for our next train to Windermere. Unfortunately they were missing a driver, I did offer to drive the train for them, but they declined the offer. We had over an hour to kill. We were told there was a nice pub up the hill with really good food. Off we went dragging our suitcases behind us.

If we turned left there was a beejesus hill, if we turned right it went downhill and there was a sign post to the Village. Which way to go. I asked a young girl who was attached to her cell phone if she could find the pub for us – yep up the hill to the left.

In the meantime, my best bud had chatted up an old English gentlemen who offered to take us to the pub in his car. We piled our suitcases in his car and he dropped us at the pub. How nice was that.

We both had a superb lunch and at 2:00 headed back down the hill to the train station. There were now lots of people waiting for the train and all congregating around the middle of the platform. I maneuvered us through the crowd to the front of the train and eventually the doors opened and we settled ourselves in for the short 30 minute ride to Windermere.

Once again we got into conversation with our fellow passengers. An Indian family whose eldest daughter was about to graduate from St. Andrews University and was not keen to return to Delhi. The father was a very proud father who told us she was graduating with honours and on the Dean’s list and will go on to get her Masters. The youngest daughter would graduate next year.

After arriving in Windermere we took the bus to Bowness. Andrew had checked out where we needed to get off the bus for our B&B, what a lovely, caring person.

Of course we chatted to a couple at the bus stop about the weather. \”We have had a lot of mizzle\” she said. What a great description of drizzle, mist and rain – mizzle!

We arrived at our B&B, which is very nice and clean, We walked down to the lake to check out the ferry timetable and headed back to the B&B with a bottle of wine and a bag of crisps!

The wired world can rob us of connecting with real people.

Sunday June 16, 2016

What a fantastic day out and a great tour guide. Although Andrew hasn’t had a car in 18 months, he drove his daughter\’s car very well. He made us laugh about the electronic start and “no key”. Shelley was the expert on starting the car and the electronics. She became “Lady Shelley” for the day as I had to open the back door of the car, because we couldn’t work out how to release the child lock.

Our first stop was at the Kelpies, legendary sea creatures who would lure sailors to them and then drown them. These fantastic sculptures, were created as part of a millennial project on a lovely area of the Union Canal.

It was quite a nice walk to the Kelpies and back to the car.  We stopped to take photos of a Scottish orchid, a wonderful log with amazing textures and a willow centaur.

As we walked back to the car, the heavens opened, we managed to take cover and we waited until the rain passed before getting back to the car.

We then went to the Falkirk Wheel.

I loved this place. Absolutely amazing engineering to lift narrow boats from one canal to the upper levels of the other canal. What would have taken 11 locks and half a days work, takes about 15 minutes in a bathtub. Absolutely amazing to watch this magnificent piece of engineering.

Shelley was getting hungry, so we left her to get something to eat in the café and Andrew and I walked to the top of the “lift” and along the towpath for a while. Then we went into the woods to see the remains of a roman wall. Lovely in the woods, although you could still hear the highway.

From there we headed to Linlithgow – the birth place of Mary Queen of Scots and her royal palace. We walked around the small loch, which was very pretty and peaceful.

Andrew talked about growing up here and his parents. If you were born in Linlithgow you were referred to as a black bitch and very proudly held that title. The story goes that a man was “imprisoned” on one of the small islands on the loch. His dog would take food over to him so that he would survive. It was discovered that the dog was doing this and the dog was then secured on the other small island so that she could no longer provide for her master. The dog was a little black bitch.

We finished up at the palace and Andrew went to get the car while Shelley and I had a little wander around, the palace needs a bit of work, but could be a nice place if you had a roof and windows.

Our final stop was Queensferry where there are now three bridges. I say now, when Ralf and I crossed into the Kingdom of Fife five years ago there were only two bridges. The rail bridge and the road bridge. They built a new “motorway” bridge. The old road bridge is only used for public transit, taxis, pedestrians and bicycles.

We went back to Andrew\’s place and prepared supper.  Andrew was expecting a warmshowers guest. She was cycling Lands End to John O\’Groats. Andrew helped her with her route – she was cycling big miles every day.  When Ralf and I left Edinburgh on our Grand Adventure it took us 5 days to get to John O\’Groats, she was hoping to do it in 3 days (about 160 kms per day).

Saturday June 15, 2019

Andrew came with us on the bus in to Edinburgh and gave us an interesting walking tour of Edinburgh. He told us about the Parliament and the history of England and Scotland. It was interesting as I didn’t know very much about the English/Scottish relationship.

Who was in charge and when the Scottish parliament was removed and then reinstated by the English.

I had an interesting encounter with a person selling “genuine Harris Tweed” waistcoats, which were a patchwork of materials. The jackets have been up-cycled using Harris Tweed he informed us. Up-cycling is the new buzz word, and is supposed to encourage you to buy things because they are not being thrown into the trash but reused. I innocently asked him how he knew each piece was “genuine” Harris Tweed. He got right in my face and quite angry telling me that there was a process by the Harris Tweed company who verified that the tweed was made in a particular area in Scotland and only then could they put in the special label. If I had any concerns about whether this was genuine I could write or phone the Harris Tweed organization. I asked him not to get so angry. He was right back at me asking me how he should have answered when I was questioning his clothing. I said you can answer without getting aggressive. He carried on and I put my hand up, turned around and walked away.   I believe the man protested too much.

Andrew was telling us that there is a lot of off-shore tartans being made and of course as we know from our travels in Asia a lot of “copies” of brand name products.

At about 1:30, Andrew left us to pick up his daughter\’s car, he is going to take us for a drive tomorrow to Falkirk. Shelley and I carried on walking the historic City and the Royal Mile. We had lunch and I carried on with the history tour for Shelley. Grassmarket had a small farmers market, which we wandered around and then headed up to Greyfriars cemetery.

Edinburgh is famous for its Universities, philosophers and seat of learning. In the 1800’s the medical profession needed cadavars to practice on. There were two Irish workers Burke and Hare, who as entrepreneurs started to remove newly buried bodies from graves to sell to the universities in the City. Unfortunately there weren’t enough dead bodies so they created a few (murdering). Eventually they were caught and Hare turned against the other and Burke was hung for the murders. People had to use heavy cement stones to place on top of the graves and iron railings to stop the body snatchers.

Two other interesting stories from Greyfriars Cemetery – J.K. Rowling used to wander the graveyard while writing her first Harry Potter book and used some of the names on the gravestones for characters in the book.

The second is Greyfriars Bobbie the little dog who stayed by his masters grave after his master died.

We walked the length of the Royal Mile to Holyrood Palace and the new Houses of Parliament.

Holyrood Palace is the Queen’s official residence when she is in Scotland.

Another good day walking the City.