Blogs from Lancaster, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

It had rained overnight and was a cloudy, drizzley sort of day so we went to Lancaster and visited the castle. We went on a guided tour and heard all about the history of the prisions (closed in 2012) and the county and criminal courts (which are still used so no photos allowed). Sadly the battlements are out of bounds so no good views of the city either. We had a tasty pub lunch after which Dad went off to visit his friend who lives in Silverdale but managed to leave his bag at the pub with his phone in it! Mark ran ater him to the car park but he'd already left. The rest of us pottered around the market (buying onion bhajis, eggs, milk sweets, books and a rag rug!) then went to the ... read more

It's time to really make a difference with this blog. So I am half way through building the last minute itinerary for the trip. Only half way into the list of places to visit when you realise that time is tight. Priority now, what to see and what to miss. Whale watching has now moved from doing it in Sydney to doing it in Brisbane. Dose anybody have any feelings on that? Which is a better place to see them? I am thinking that even though we have an itinerary, things will change when we arrive in the various cities. People will tell us, go here and there, use this tour company etc. So things are loose and changeable. We booked a night visit to Alcatraz. The reviews read good and said 'it more eerie and ... read more

We are heading into Lancaster to pick up Deb so she can come on the narrowboat so I thought I'd do some blogging and get you all up to date. 17 May - We got up in the morning and had a lovely breakfast at Beamish Hall. Mark had the full English of course and I had a continental. We packed up and headed to the Beamish Bird of Prey park. It was fantasic. We were only in for a few minutes and we got to hold a little owl. There was all sort of raptors in there and we walked around and checked them all out. Then about 11am we sat in the lawn area for the show. It was great.. there was only 4 of us to see the show so he did it ... read more

You'll have to bear with me because I wrote this blog on paper while trying to keep from falling asleep on the train to Lancaster after 20+ hours without sleep. I made it!! After 22 hours of international travel, seeing a sunset (b)AND(b) a sunrise from the same airplane window, changing planes in a snowy country that is covered in lava, making friends with a girl in which I couldn't even pronounce her name, being mistaken for an Icelandic woman multiple times, being asked by a cranky lady in immigration, "How does an unemployed person like you afford to travel?", taking the London Underground for an hour, and catching a 3-hour train through the English countryside I (i)finally(i) got to see the beautiful face of Allie Friese. Wasn't that a sight for sore eyes? Let me ... read more

Its finally the night before the great adventure into the unknown commences! I'm so excited, not sure I'll be able to sleep tonight! Everything is packed (just!) with a little help and my rucksack isn't too heavy, hopefully won't be too bad lugging it around! First few night's accomadation has been sorted with Chelsea (my cousin) which was really kind of her, though some would say foolish to agree to put up Alex and me! We arrive in Buenos Aires at 0850 local time on Thursday 17th with just each other and our backpacks, let the journey begin!... read more