We had such a nice time yesterday -- a little (ha!) grueling, but the prettiest scenery ever!
We hiked from Stonethwaite to Grasmere. I woke up super nauseated, by the way. Like pregnancy nausea. Then breakfast was an omelette with sausage. I picked out all the sausage because it was hurting my tummy to look at it. lol Rut roh. All I had medicine wise was medicine for acid on the stomach, so I took the Pepcid and hoped it cleared up as we went along. Focusing on making it up an extreme hill takes away a lot.
As soon as we headed out of The Langstraith, we hit the path which was right around the corner and headed upwards. And upwards and upwards. I don't know how high we hiked and then climbed (literally gave up poles and hand and feet to rocked it in a segment), but it took 2.5 hours. What a step up workout! Thank you God for my trekking poles! lol If I'm repeating myself on that fact, it's because I love my trekking poles. :)
Once we made it to the top, we enjoyed some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. Just gorgeous. It was then that Brian discovered he didn't have our passport or our money. It's VERY unlike Brian to lose anything, so it totally freaked him out. I was thinking, "Well, I'm not going back down there to get it." :D He called the Langstrath and they said no passport. I reassured him it was probably in his luggage. He was sure someone would steal all the money. :) I told him to assume the best about people. :D He hates my Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm pep talks. lol
So, we ate half of our sandwich and a piece of fruit and headed on. We went up and down a lot as we headed on and eventually down through crazy rocks. I should take photos of the crazier/extreme paths, but when I'm on them I'm just thinking about getting down uninjured. :) It's difficult not to misstep stumble as one is heading down. The key is correcting and catching oneself.
We ended up hiking around six and a half hours total. It was fun and Grasmere is a lovely town!
More photos loaded last night. We finally have a really good Internet connection. If any of you plan to take the trip, The Silver Lea in Grasmere is wonderful! The rooms are big, the bed is comfortable, there is a bath/shower combo and a sitting area in the room. Plus, Wifi. :D
We're about to get ready for breakfast and head off to Patterdale.
Oh - and I've had angels help me along the way. One nice man gave me a rub for my calf and another nice lady gave me a Compeed for my blister -- nice cushiony bandaids with a lot of sticky power. I bought more at the pharmacy in Grasmere for my feet today.
More photos uploaded:
https://www.facebook.com/gococks.gosteelers/media_set?set=a.10152462533207631.1073741854.749912630&type=3
Ready to hike the C2C
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Today’s hike from Ennerdale Bridge to Stonethwaite was quite the hike. First we went by (Lake District National Park) and it was rock after rock after rock. The path got rockier and rockier. We even ended up scooting down a particularly precarious section. The entire time I was thinking, “I’m stupid. I’m going to kill my injured calf self.” :D Brian, Jr. announced, I can’t imagine anyone shorter than me doing this. Ummmm. That’s me! The Lake District Park section was absolutely beautiful, a little terrifying at times, and absolutely beautiful. It went on at least three miles and we crawled along like snails. It was so rocky at times, I felt like we were maintaining a one mile per hour pace across the park on the side of the lake. It was a big lake and beautiful. Eventually, we made it to the other end.
Once we finished the lake section, we got a little lost, crossed rock after rock, and then ended up at a Youth hostel. We continued this steady climb up hill – not totally steep – but just a constant grind for quite a while.
We finally ended up at another youth hostel at the bottom of a steep hillside. Up we headed. It went on for at least a half a mile to a mile at a very steep incline. Between going by the lakeside cliffs and up this incline – I was not feeling wonderful about it. :D I think those were the two places where I thought “If my calf cramps up or gets a tear, I’m going to scream in agony – take one misstep – and end up at the bottom of this rocky formation with a smashed head. Those are the type of thoughts I was having today because it seemed pretty precarious to me.
We finally scaled the summit, with me feeling quite pukish and started going downhill. Guess what was downhill the entire way? Rocks, rocks and more rocks. Our feet ached badly! I slipped one time and totally bruised my hip on a rock. Purple. ☺ So after we went several miles down rock after rock slipping and sliding, we finally hit more of a gravel path (still very hard underfoot) and went on another I don’t know how many miles until we trudged into Stonethwaite.. Holy Hell. This walk is making me think that anytime I think we are at the end of our walk, to at least add three more.
We’re having fun. :D The scenery is beautiful when I’m looking up at it and not watching where I’m stepping next.
I’ll upload photos from this day as soon as I can given the very sketchy Internet connections.
Injuries today:
Blisters – at least five.
A raw spot under my arm where it was rubbing against my shirt.
Another raw spot on my boob, where my arm was rubbing against it.
Sunburn.
Tender spots on my hands from the trekking polls.
I think that’s it.
Dinner was absolutely delicious at the Langstraith. Beyond delicious. I had a salad, lasagna and some wine. Slurp.
Another steep incine tomorrow. :o
Once we finished the lake section, we got a little lost, crossed rock after rock, and then ended up at a Youth hostel. We continued this steady climb up hill – not totally steep – but just a constant grind for quite a while.
We finally ended up at another youth hostel at the bottom of a steep hillside. Up we headed. It went on for at least a half a mile to a mile at a very steep incline. Between going by the lakeside cliffs and up this incline – I was not feeling wonderful about it. :D I think those were the two places where I thought “If my calf cramps up or gets a tear, I’m going to scream in agony – take one misstep – and end up at the bottom of this rocky formation with a smashed head. Those are the type of thoughts I was having today because it seemed pretty precarious to me.
We finally scaled the summit, with me feeling quite pukish and started going downhill. Guess what was downhill the entire way? Rocks, rocks and more rocks. Our feet ached badly! I slipped one time and totally bruised my hip on a rock. Purple. ☺ So after we went several miles down rock after rock slipping and sliding, we finally hit more of a gravel path (still very hard underfoot) and went on another I don’t know how many miles until we trudged into Stonethwaite.. Holy Hell. This walk is making me think that anytime I think we are at the end of our walk, to at least add three more.
We’re having fun. :D The scenery is beautiful when I’m looking up at it and not watching where I’m stepping next.
I’ll upload photos from this day as soon as I can given the very sketchy Internet connections.
Injuries today:
Blisters – at least five.
A raw spot under my arm where it was rubbing against my shirt.
Another raw spot on my boob, where my arm was rubbing against it.
Sunburn.
Tender spots on my hands from the trekking polls.
I think that’s it.
Dinner was absolutely delicious at the Langstraith. Beyond delicious. I had a salad, lasagna and some wine. Slurp.
Another steep incine tomorrow. :o
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
So, we made it, including me and my jacked up calf. Yay! I wasn’t sure if my calf muscle would even hold up, but it did.
We set out from St. Bees after a lovely breakfast at Abbey Farmhouse. We woke up extra early because our sleep schedule is messed up and because the sun rose so early. We had coffee in our room first, which was delicious.
Next, we headed down and had breakfast I believe they called, “The Full English.” I had an egg sunny side up, toast, sausage, ham, mushrooms and a potato cake. It was so delicious! I also had pink grapefruit juice and French pressed coffee. The owners of Abbey Farmhouse did an excellent job making us comfortable.
It was time to set out. We geared up, left our luggage for Packhorse and moved along. My pack had an assortment of items – gaiters, a raincoat, rain pants, a rain hat, a thermal in case I froze (lol – not!), moleskin, spray bandage, my glasses, our packed lunch for the day – also packed by Abbey Farmhouse – 3 liters of water (ran out at 7 miles! I found a store to buy more), some muscle relaxers in case I ripped my calf in half and was suffering badly lying next to sheep poo, etc. We were ready. :D
We headed down to the starting line in St. Bees to take a photo and to collect our pebble to carry from the Irish to the North Sea. Rocks collected, we ventured on up the cliff side. It was pretty darn steep. I was still feeling pretty nervous about my calf, but forged ahead. A little over halfway up, it got so steep I was getting plenty worried. Thank goodness for my trekking poles. I’m more than happy to admit they were my life saver today. There’s no way I could have made it without them.
Up I went, and sure enough – my left (injured) leg slipped out from under me on the steep cliff and gravel. It zinged me – kind of like a violin string strung really tightly -- kind of a reverberating sensation. My heart sunk, thinking well “bad word!!!” that is probably it right here at the beginning. I kept inching my way up the cliff with my poles in an excruciatingly slow fashion. I made it to the top. My calf was feeling super tight at this point and I just started repeating a favorite verse in my head, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
My calf was balled up like a knot. Once I made it to the top, we carried on and I made sure to stretch it every mile or so. We traversed the side of the cliff and ooooh’d and ahhhhh’d over the scenery. It was absolutely gorgeous! As we went along, we noticed there was no discernable trail and a lot of brush. We forged on, along with several other Coast to Coasters. We saw this woman strolling along on the other side of the sheep fence and thought she was hiking much more easily than we were. Lol We decided we were probably supposed to be on the other side of that fence. By then, I had gone through all sorts of bramble and misteps thinking I may as well just check it in early. :D We climbed over a bob wire fence and voila - -there was a trail.
So on we marched. My leg was still tight and balled up as all get out from the zinging. I was certainly slow moving at that point, but we kept on going. The Brians were great about encouraging me to stretch and forge ahead.
Eventually, we reached the point to turn inland, which we did. One very cool thing we enjoyed today was turning back and seeing how far we had come! It was pretty impressive to see it. We saw many a sheep and cow today. I love Animal Kingdom, so I was in my happy place with that going on.
Animal fun – just along the way from beginning to end: I’m usually the dog whisperer, but I passed one dog who would not stop growling at me. His owner seemed none to willing to stop him either. Yikes. I asked her if he was scared of my sticks and she said, “He’s scared of just about everything.” :D
My next animal moment was when we passing by some sheep. I stopped to take a photo of a momma and her baby. Well, here comes a ram straight at me walking quickly. He glared at me and started pawing the ground with one of his hooves (?). Yikes. The the last thing I needed was a good ramming in the legs. Hahaha I just scurried along and tried not to make eye contact. :p
Our final animal adventure was a beautiful Border Collie running freely as we were on a path right next to a highway. He was very skittish and seemed to not want to get near any of us. He darted towards the road and Brian yelled, ‘Watch out!” Luckly the pretty doggie dashed back toward and around us and went along its way without getting hit. Yikes. That would have been awful.
Back to our walk……
Once we headed inland, we went miles and miles through small towns, on rocky paths, across little creeks and so on. We never got lost – at the most we wrong turned for maybe a hundred yards and then would realize the error of our ways.
Our last ascent was Dunn Hill (?) and it was quite the climb. Like a really big climb. My calf held out, but my lungs had a harder time. Brian, Jr. was pacing us and he was quite adept at climbing the hills. Brian, Sr. and Brian, Jr. could have probably finished an hour earlier if it wasn’t for me and my gimp leg, but they were great about waiting for me, encouraging me and warning me of hazards.
Anyway, we climbed the Hell out of that hill. I don’t know how to describe it. When I thought I was almost to the top I was probably not quite halfway there. Lol I had encouragement along the way, however, from fellow walkers. We met a group of man and the dad in the group was 65 and one year in the clear from cancer recovery. What an inspiration. I met another man going up the hill in very short steps and he was probably in his mid-seventies. When I say hill, by the way – think something higher. Lol This man was super nice and told me to take shorter steps and it would make it easier. We talked a bit and he also added he was not suffering from a leg injury and didn’t have a loaded pack on his back, so to forge ahead as I was doing great. Awwww.
I finally made it up to the top of that damn hill. Goodness. That was quite the climb.
When it was time to go down the other side, we went through some muck where we had to traverse slippery rocks, then some creeks and then this insanely steep back down the hill. It was seriously something I think many would want to scoot down on their butts – especially if it had been raining. Thank goodness, it had not. We made it scoot free. Oh – and we also passed through many a gate and climbed quite a few fences.
For some reason, I thought after we spent quite a bit of time going down the steep hill, Ennerdale Bridge (our destination town) would be at the bottom. I felt like stuff I read said Ennerdale Bridge was at the bottom right after the steep descent. Well, Hell. Apparently, right after isn’t the same definition for me as it is to anyone who said that. We trudged on for at least another hour after the steep cliff. The rest of the trudge was a rocky path with creeks, sheep and cows.
We finally turned towards Ennerdale, and went the last mile or so to get our hotel location, Shepherd’s Arms Hotel. Voila. Eight hours of tekking and we had arrived.
Oh – and I ran out of 3 liters of water at the seven mile mark. Yikes! I never drink that much water so shortly. I don’t know if it was the hill climbing and me worrying about my calf cramping up or what. We stopped at a store in Cleator Moor (I think) and bought bottled water.
That was it for yesterday! Fun. A couple of blisters and that was about it.
I've added the photos on my FB again if you'd like to check them out. Pardon the quality. My camera sucks and then the dang thing switched to fisheye mode about halfway through so we look pretty distorted. lol Oh well. :)
Will be back in a second to post the link to the FB photos again if it lets me. :)
We set out from St. Bees after a lovely breakfast at Abbey Farmhouse. We woke up extra early because our sleep schedule is messed up and because the sun rose so early. We had coffee in our room first, which was delicious.
Next, we headed down and had breakfast I believe they called, “The Full English.” I had an egg sunny side up, toast, sausage, ham, mushrooms and a potato cake. It was so delicious! I also had pink grapefruit juice and French pressed coffee. The owners of Abbey Farmhouse did an excellent job making us comfortable.
It was time to set out. We geared up, left our luggage for Packhorse and moved along. My pack had an assortment of items – gaiters, a raincoat, rain pants, a rain hat, a thermal in case I froze (lol – not!), moleskin, spray bandage, my glasses, our packed lunch for the day – also packed by Abbey Farmhouse – 3 liters of water (ran out at 7 miles! I found a store to buy more), some muscle relaxers in case I ripped my calf in half and was suffering badly lying next to sheep poo, etc. We were ready. :D
We headed down to the starting line in St. Bees to take a photo and to collect our pebble to carry from the Irish to the North Sea. Rocks collected, we ventured on up the cliff side. It was pretty darn steep. I was still feeling pretty nervous about my calf, but forged ahead. A little over halfway up, it got so steep I was getting plenty worried. Thank goodness for my trekking poles. I’m more than happy to admit they were my life saver today. There’s no way I could have made it without them.
Up I went, and sure enough – my left (injured) leg slipped out from under me on the steep cliff and gravel. It zinged me – kind of like a violin string strung really tightly -- kind of a reverberating sensation. My heart sunk, thinking well “bad word!!!” that is probably it right here at the beginning. I kept inching my way up the cliff with my poles in an excruciatingly slow fashion. I made it to the top. My calf was feeling super tight at this point and I just started repeating a favorite verse in my head, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
My calf was balled up like a knot. Once I made it to the top, we carried on and I made sure to stretch it every mile or so. We traversed the side of the cliff and ooooh’d and ahhhhh’d over the scenery. It was absolutely gorgeous! As we went along, we noticed there was no discernable trail and a lot of brush. We forged on, along with several other Coast to Coasters. We saw this woman strolling along on the other side of the sheep fence and thought she was hiking much more easily than we were. Lol We decided we were probably supposed to be on the other side of that fence. By then, I had gone through all sorts of bramble and misteps thinking I may as well just check it in early. :D We climbed over a bob wire fence and voila - -there was a trail.
So on we marched. My leg was still tight and balled up as all get out from the zinging. I was certainly slow moving at that point, but we kept on going. The Brians were great about encouraging me to stretch and forge ahead.
Eventually, we reached the point to turn inland, which we did. One very cool thing we enjoyed today was turning back and seeing how far we had come! It was pretty impressive to see it. We saw many a sheep and cow today. I love Animal Kingdom, so I was in my happy place with that going on.
Animal fun – just along the way from beginning to end: I’m usually the dog whisperer, but I passed one dog who would not stop growling at me. His owner seemed none to willing to stop him either. Yikes. I asked her if he was scared of my sticks and she said, “He’s scared of just about everything.” :D
My next animal moment was when we passing by some sheep. I stopped to take a photo of a momma and her baby. Well, here comes a ram straight at me walking quickly. He glared at me and started pawing the ground with one of his hooves (?). Yikes. The the last thing I needed was a good ramming in the legs. Hahaha I just scurried along and tried not to make eye contact. :p
Our final animal adventure was a beautiful Border Collie running freely as we were on a path right next to a highway. He was very skittish and seemed to not want to get near any of us. He darted towards the road and Brian yelled, ‘Watch out!” Luckly the pretty doggie dashed back toward and around us and went along its way without getting hit. Yikes. That would have been awful.
Back to our walk……
Once we headed inland, we went miles and miles through small towns, on rocky paths, across little creeks and so on. We never got lost – at the most we wrong turned for maybe a hundred yards and then would realize the error of our ways.
Our last ascent was Dunn Hill (?) and it was quite the climb. Like a really big climb. My calf held out, but my lungs had a harder time. Brian, Jr. was pacing us and he was quite adept at climbing the hills. Brian, Sr. and Brian, Jr. could have probably finished an hour earlier if it wasn’t for me and my gimp leg, but they were great about waiting for me, encouraging me and warning me of hazards.
Anyway, we climbed the Hell out of that hill. I don’t know how to describe it. When I thought I was almost to the top I was probably not quite halfway there. Lol I had encouragement along the way, however, from fellow walkers. We met a group of man and the dad in the group was 65 and one year in the clear from cancer recovery. What an inspiration. I met another man going up the hill in very short steps and he was probably in his mid-seventies. When I say hill, by the way – think something higher. Lol This man was super nice and told me to take shorter steps and it would make it easier. We talked a bit and he also added he was not suffering from a leg injury and didn’t have a loaded pack on his back, so to forge ahead as I was doing great. Awwww.
I finally made it up to the top of that damn hill. Goodness. That was quite the climb.
When it was time to go down the other side, we went through some muck where we had to traverse slippery rocks, then some creeks and then this insanely steep back down the hill. It was seriously something I think many would want to scoot down on their butts – especially if it had been raining. Thank goodness, it had not. We made it scoot free. Oh – and we also passed through many a gate and climbed quite a few fences.
For some reason, I thought after we spent quite a bit of time going down the steep hill, Ennerdale Bridge (our destination town) would be at the bottom. I felt like stuff I read said Ennerdale Bridge was at the bottom right after the steep descent. Well, Hell. Apparently, right after isn’t the same definition for me as it is to anyone who said that. We trudged on for at least another hour after the steep cliff. The rest of the trudge was a rocky path with creeks, sheep and cows.
We finally turned towards Ennerdale, and went the last mile or so to get our hotel location, Shepherd’s Arms Hotel. Voila. Eight hours of tekking and we had arrived.
Oh – and I ran out of 3 liters of water at the seven mile mark. Yikes! I never drink that much water so shortly. I don’t know if it was the hill climbing and me worrying about my calf cramping up or what. We stopped at a store in Cleator Moor (I think) and bought bottled water.
That was it for yesterday! Fun. A couple of blisters and that was about it.
I've added the photos on my FB again if you'd like to check them out. Pardon the quality. My camera sucks and then the dang thing switched to fisheye mode about halfway through so we look pretty distorted. lol Oh well. :)
Will be back in a second to post the link to the FB photos again if it lets me. :)
Monday, July 21, 2014
A Train Ride to St. Bees, Cumbria
Last night we had delicious Italian food for dinner and then headed back so we could get a good night's rest before our day of travel to St. Bees. I was still awake at 3:30 a.m. Boo. Hiss. I think I finally zonked out around 4:00 a.m. and the alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. for us to rise and shine.
We headed over to the train station and had breakfast there before catching the train to Lancaster -- switched trains -- and then headed to St. Bees.
The train ride was lovely -- I enjoyed all the scenery on the way.
We're at St. Bees now and have enjoyed our time so far here, walking around and eating at a local pub.
The connection at this Inn is slow (although it's a LOVELY place and we do have a connection), so if anyone is following this blog and wants to see the photos -- I've added them on FB instead for today. I made the album public so it can be viewed by everyone.
https://www.facebook.com/gococks.gosteelers/media_set?set=a.10152462533207631.1073741854.749912630&type=3
Here's some interesting facts about St. Bees straight from "Coast to Coast Path" by Henry Stedman:
"Who Was St. Bees?
St. Bees is actually a corruption of St. Bega, an Irish princess who fled her native country sometime between the 5th and 9th centuries to avoid an arranged marriage with a Norwegian prince.
Landing on England's north-west coast, so the story goes, St. Bega lived as a hermit and became renowned for the good deeds she carried out for the locals. And that's about it really, or at least it would be, if it wasn't for the legends that have grown up over the centuries. In the most famous of these, St. Bega approached the local landlord, Lord Egremont, for some land for a convent she wished to found.
Egremont promised St. Bega all the land covered by snow the next day, which, seeing it was to be a mid-summer's day, was not as generous an offer as it first appeared. Miraculously, however, snow did fall that day and St. Bega was able to build her convent, around which the village was founded."
Hope you enjoyed! That's just a little history of St. Bees.
We headed over to the train station and had breakfast there before catching the train to Lancaster -- switched trains -- and then headed to St. Bees.
The train ride was lovely -- I enjoyed all the scenery on the way.
We're at St. Bees now and have enjoyed our time so far here, walking around and eating at a local pub.
The connection at this Inn is slow (although it's a LOVELY place and we do have a connection), so if anyone is following this blog and wants to see the photos -- I've added them on FB instead for today. I made the album public so it can be viewed by everyone.
https://www.facebook.com/gococks.gosteelers/media_set?set=a.10152462533207631.1073741854.749912630&type=3
Here's some interesting facts about St. Bees straight from "Coast to Coast Path" by Henry Stedman:
"Who Was St. Bees?
St. Bees is actually a corruption of St. Bega, an Irish princess who fled her native country sometime between the 5th and 9th centuries to avoid an arranged marriage with a Norwegian prince.
Landing on England's north-west coast, so the story goes, St. Bega lived as a hermit and became renowned for the good deeds she carried out for the locals. And that's about it really, or at least it would be, if it wasn't for the legends that have grown up over the centuries. In the most famous of these, St. Bega approached the local landlord, Lord Egremont, for some land for a convent she wished to found.
Egremont promised St. Bega all the land covered by snow the next day, which, seeing it was to be a mid-summer's day, was not as generous an offer as it first appeared. Miraculously, however, snow did fall that day and St. Bega was able to build her convent, around which the village was founded."
Hope you enjoyed! That's just a little history of St. Bees.
Sunday, July 20, 2014
A Movie in Manchester
Happy Sunday!
We were very happy to wake up at 9:00 a.m. this morning, so we slept 10 hours. I suppose we needed it. Needless to say, we are feeling well rested today.
Upon awakening, we decided to give the hotel coffee pot a go. As I suspected, it was an espresso machine and poured about two ounces of espresso. We also had a tea pot, so we made hot water, which I added to the espresso to make a full cup of espresso coffee. Voila! :) It actually is quite tasty.
We decided to have breakfast in the hotel this morning and it was delicious:
After breakfast, we headed out and about in Manchester in search of the AMC theater so we could see the latest installment of "Planet of the Apes."
Some photos we took as we went along and passed through Manchester University:
We really enjoyed the movie. It was just what you expect from The Planet of the Apes, and we were glad we went.
After the movies, we headed back to the hotel and watched some of The British Open while having libations.
Oh -- and I need to add that I feel like the Batman movie where all the cosmetics were unsafe to use -- except for me, it's my hair. My blow dryer made a sound like a commercial jet taking off as I was using it. I have an adaptor, but it must not be working so great. My flat iron won't really heat up much at all. Not good! :-D Pioneer woman am I. :-)
Hopefully, the adaptor situation will be better as we travel along. It's not charging my computer very well either and I want to be able to post my updates. Alas. :-)
We're resting now and going to head out and about for dinner in a bit.
We were very happy to wake up at 9:00 a.m. this morning, so we slept 10 hours. I suppose we needed it. Needless to say, we are feeling well rested today.
Upon awakening, we decided to give the hotel coffee pot a go. As I suspected, it was an espresso machine and poured about two ounces of espresso. We also had a tea pot, so we made hot water, which I added to the espresso to make a full cup of espresso coffee. Voila! :) It actually is quite tasty.
We decided to have breakfast in the hotel this morning and it was delicious:
After breakfast, we headed out and about in Manchester in search of the AMC theater so we could see the latest installment of "Planet of the Apes."
Some photos we took as we went along and passed through Manchester University:
We really enjoyed the movie. It was just what you expect from The Planet of the Apes, and we were glad we went.
After the movies, we headed back to the hotel and watched some of The British Open while having libations.
Oh -- and I need to add that I feel like the Batman movie where all the cosmetics were unsafe to use -- except for me, it's my hair. My blow dryer made a sound like a commercial jet taking off as I was using it. I have an adaptor, but it must not be working so great. My flat iron won't really heat up much at all. Not good! :-D Pioneer woman am I. :-)
Hopefully, the adaptor situation will be better as we travel along. It's not charging my computer very well either and I want to be able to post my updates. Alas. :-)
We're resting now and going to head out and about for dinner in a bit.
Saturday, July 19, 2014
We are here.
We are here, we are here (Horton Hears a Who).....
We had a nice and easy flight from Charlotte, North Carolina to Manchester, England. We flew business class, which we don't do that often, and the experience was very pleasant on U.S. Airways. Both our steward and stewardess were very friendly and hospitable.
I had champagne upon arrival on the plane -- I'm always keen to alcohol on a plane. Hate flying! I also went to go to the bathroom and was about to walk straight into the cockpit. Hello pilots! :D The steward was nice enough to tell ditzy me wrong way, but invited me to visit the cockpit if I'd like. Britt asked me if they gave me wings. lol
For our meal on the plane we had an appetizer plate, some sort of beef, potatoes, veggies, and a salad for dinner - chocolate mousse -- along with two glasses of chardonnay for me. I was getting quite sleepy (tipsy) by then.
They handed out nifty little Samsung Galaxy tablets for movie viewing. I watched Noah -- well, half of it. Yikes. I thought it was such a bad, bad movie. After that, I slept a good three hours courtesy of the sleeping eye mask things they provided.
Oh -- and I purchased "Gone Girl" and started reading it. I'm liking it so far. I have a hard cover of it which I lost -- so now I own the paperback version also.
Upon awakening, I knew we only had a couple more hours of flight left.
My view:
Later, as we were descending:
Once we arrived at the airport, we were treated to rain -- not unexpected. :) Don't forget your rain gear!
We waited on the tarmac for an hour -- apparently they were down to one runway due to the weather and had quite a queue of planes waiting.
Our cabbie was super nice and full of information as to the local area.
We checked in at MacDonald Hotel and Spa and were surprised, that despite the early hour, our rooms were ready. Yay! We were pretty pooped. Our rooms are large corner rooms with windows all the way around, a king size bed, and pretty large bathrooms. Score.
The exterior of the hotel:
Views from the hotel:
I located us right next to the train station we will go to when we head to St. Bees on Monday.
We decided to sleep a couple of hours to add to the three we slept on the plane. It helped a lot! After that, we walked about three miles through Manchester just to check it out. It's basically a big city with plenty of tourists. Apparently, the city's inhabitants are called Mancunians. Who knew?
A couple of photos as we walked through it today:
In the bus photo, the lady on the right is scolding her son because he almost got hit by said bus as he forged forward into the street. Thank goodness, he did not.
We had fish & chips at a hotel restaurant and it was good. Lunch - we both had the same, plus Brian had a beer and I had a wine -- was $80. I need to start a Go Fund Me page for this trip. hahahaha It was tasty.
We're chilling now. Supper with Brian, Jr. tonight and I think tomorrow we're going to mostly rest/adjust to this time change before our big hike. Perhaps we'll go see Planet of the Apes. We're watching one of the original versions right now in our hotel room.
We're excited to be here and looking forward to our trek!
We had a nice and easy flight from Charlotte, North Carolina to Manchester, England. We flew business class, which we don't do that often, and the experience was very pleasant on U.S. Airways. Both our steward and stewardess were very friendly and hospitable.
I had champagne upon arrival on the plane -- I'm always keen to alcohol on a plane. Hate flying! I also went to go to the bathroom and was about to walk straight into the cockpit. Hello pilots! :D The steward was nice enough to tell ditzy me wrong way, but invited me to visit the cockpit if I'd like. Britt asked me if they gave me wings. lol
For our meal on the plane we had an appetizer plate, some sort of beef, potatoes, veggies, and a salad for dinner - chocolate mousse -- along with two glasses of chardonnay for me. I was getting quite sleepy (tipsy) by then.
They handed out nifty little Samsung Galaxy tablets for movie viewing. I watched Noah -- well, half of it. Yikes. I thought it was such a bad, bad movie. After that, I slept a good three hours courtesy of the sleeping eye mask things they provided.
Oh -- and I purchased "Gone Girl" and started reading it. I'm liking it so far. I have a hard cover of it which I lost -- so now I own the paperback version also.
Upon awakening, I knew we only had a couple more hours of flight left.
My view:
Later, as we were descending:
Once we arrived at the airport, we were treated to rain -- not unexpected. :) Don't forget your rain gear!
We waited on the tarmac for an hour -- apparently they were down to one runway due to the weather and had quite a queue of planes waiting.
Our cabbie was super nice and full of information as to the local area.
We checked in at MacDonald Hotel and Spa and were surprised, that despite the early hour, our rooms were ready. Yay! We were pretty pooped. Our rooms are large corner rooms with windows all the way around, a king size bed, and pretty large bathrooms. Score.
The exterior of the hotel:
Views from the hotel:
I located us right next to the train station we will go to when we head to St. Bees on Monday.
We decided to sleep a couple of hours to add to the three we slept on the plane. It helped a lot! After that, we walked about three miles through Manchester just to check it out. It's basically a big city with plenty of tourists. Apparently, the city's inhabitants are called Mancunians. Who knew?
A couple of photos as we walked through it today:
In the bus photo, the lady on the right is scolding her son because he almost got hit by said bus as he forged forward into the street. Thank goodness, he did not.
We had fish & chips at a hotel restaurant and it was good. Lunch - we both had the same, plus Brian had a beer and I had a wine -- was $80. I need to start a Go Fund Me page for this trip. hahahaha It was tasty.
We're chilling now. Supper with Brian, Jr. tonight and I think tomorrow we're going to mostly rest/adjust to this time change before our big hike. Perhaps we'll go see Planet of the Apes. We're watching one of the original versions right now in our hotel room.
We're excited to be here and looking forward to our trek!
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