UK road trip part #2

8 AUGUST 2009, SATURDAY

Up bright and early again as my 24 hours in the car park was going to be up just after 9:30am so I had to get the car. I had decided to head west across in the direction of Liverpool so that is exactly what I did. I made a few stops along the way in the Peak District National Park as it was a lovely area. There were lots of little country ‘villages’ and winding roads. The scenery was definitely very green and helped by the fact that the sun was making an effort and that the rain was holding off.

While I had considered staying the night in Liverpool this evening (in a hostel) after thinking about the probably parking fees I had a change of plans, and so found a McDonalds (for ice cream this time) and booked a hostel in Chester, a town between Liverpool and Wales. I figured parking would be cheaper there. And I was right. By absolute fluke I found the road the hostel was on - but didn’t realise until I pull up to check a road sign. The discovered not only had I found the right road, but also managed to park about four shops away from the backpacker place. I chucked a few things into a small bag, checked into the hostel, and headed out to see what was actually in Chester. Turns out it is quite a pretty little city/ town. It was built during Roman times but has quite a lot of tudor style buildings and lots of medieval buildings too.

I headed straight to the city walls and walked them around the city - a two mile walk apparently. From there I saw East Gate and the clock - which apparently is quite well known. I also saw a group of youths being spoken to - they all had flags and banners so I think they had been protesting something from the bridge next to the clock - there were a group of people standing below looking up as well.

From there I headed to the Abbey which although impressive, I have to admit that I am abbey-ed out. Then it was onto the Roman Amphitheatre, or what was left of it, before heading to the River Dee for a stroll. As it was a nice day, there were quite a few people down there - there was also a band playing as well, although not sure what that was about!

By the stage it was relatively late in the day, so I headed back to the hostel where I got stuck into finishing my uni assignment and doing a load of washing. There weren’t many other people staying at the hostel, two girls who were in my room and who went to bed at about 8pm despite the fact that it was Saturday (!) and a group of about 10 guys who were on a stag party. At least - that’s what they said when I asked about the fact that one of them was in some sort of costume (a character out of a British show I wasn’t familiar with!).

SUNDAY 9 AUGUST 2009

I was up incredibly early this morning so that I could get the train to Liverpool for the morning. I decided to get the train as it was only five pounds - and parking would end up costing more than that. Was 40 minutes on the train so managed to proof read and fix my assignment.

When I got to Liverpool no one was really around so I walked down to the Albert Docks area which has been recently redeveloped, then headed into the Cathedral Quarter. Then it was onto the Cavern Quarter which is where the Beatles, and many other music icons, got their start in life. In the Cultural Quarter I ended up spending a few hours at the World Museum which was not only free but which was quite impressive. It was five floors and I ended up walking through most of the exhibitions but only really looking at three - the Egyptian one (which I thought was pretty average), the Time and Space one (more interesting although I was there too early to go into one of their planetarium shows, and one which I can’t remember what it was called (something about Beat to the Music?) which basically went through all the groups and people that have come out of the Liverpool Music scene. It went well beyond the Beatles and I found that the most interesting - talked about the history of some of the venues which have become known for launching people, including testimonies from club owners and old patrons/ fans, memorabilia, heaps of things. I thought it was done really well - interesting display panels which included notes about what happened in those years generally as well as musically. You could listen to the number ones from that decade, see old telegrams to parents and managers, old signs, how album covers were decided, etc.

Anyway after that it was a quick visit to a café (not McDonalds this time!) to email off my uni assignment before getting the midday-ish train back to Chester where I picked up my car.

From Chester I headed south-west towards Snowdonia National Park. I went via Chirk Castle which was on my map by not in my guide so I mistakenly thought it might be less touristy. Somehow I managed to not see the sign telling me I needed a ticket and walked up to the castle and around most of it before noticing the you had to present it to go into one room (all of them technically). I snuck out quietly - happy with what I had seen and headed onto Snowdonia.

Initially Snowdonia hadn’t been on my list of things I was planning to see, but since I had decided to skip the Lake District because of the weather, I figured I might as well head there. The scenery was stunning. Massive mountains - some green, some that had been mined for late, little towns scattered throughout windy roads (with massive drops down the side - at times I was quite concerned!!) and lakes in the valleys. I drove and ended up parking in one of the towns for a short hike to get some better views. I then headed to the base of Mt Snowdon which is the biggest in the region at 1085m. I had planned to get the railway up but it had stopped running for the day. Because the weather was pretty average they said the views had been pretty average anyway.

I found somewhere on the outskirts of the national park to pitch a tent and spent the night. Only five pounds too - and nice clean toilets and showers even.

MONDAY 10 AUGUST 2009

Up very early as I had planned to go up Mt Snowdon today. But the weather was crap and it was foggy so decided not to go back to go up it. Instead I headed south back into England (Snowdonia is in northern Wales) and called into Shewsbury at around 8:30am for a break. I parked the car and planned on going into the castle and the abbey and discovered they didn’t open until 10:30am!! Just silly if you ask me. So at about 10am I headed off straight down into the Cotswolds where I spent the remainder of the day. Cute little villages so had a look around a few of them, but the weather was pretty crap. By late afternoon it had started to rain quite heavily so I decided to start heading west. Because of the weather I ended up driving through around London, past Gatwick airport until it improved slightly and I found a sign for a camping ground. Got there at about 9pm and there was no one around again so I pitched a tent after speaking to the guy that ran the hot food shop at the front. Said they had already been around for the night - so if I saw someone in the morning to pay them, otherwise not to worry too much about it. So I set up my tent in the drizzle. Grabbed some food and since my torch was running low on batteries had an early night.

TUESDAY 11 AUGUST 2009

No one was around this morning when I got up and left so didn’t end up paying. It’s not like I got up super-early either - left at about 8:30am or so after giving the tent a little bit of time to dry out, not that it will matter since it will no doubt just get wet again tonight!!

Tried to see the castle when I got up that I had camped nearby but the access gate was closed to I dawdled into Canterbury instead via Hastings and the beach where I grabbed some breakfast. Sat on the rocks for about five minutes before realising how uncomfortable it was and heading off.

Got into Canterbury a bit before lunch and set up camp in a camping ground which was slightly more upmarket than some of them, and therefore cost a little more too, and did some washing, more because it was there and I wanted to wash my towel and sleeping sheet, easier to do that when there was also a dryer available. The sun was actually shining so after the washing was sorted I headed into town and after a bit of searching found a carpark.

Canterbury is quite small but very cute - helped a lot by the fact that it was a lovely day and there were lots of people sitting at cafes and eating ice cream and sitting in the parks etc. My first and really my only stop was the Cathedral which was huge and very imposing-looking. Slightly morbid as Thomas Beckett (think that was his name) got murdered there a long time ago. Not sure what it is with me and churches lately but about 10 minutes after I walked in, this dude (I don’t know if he was a priest or something else) came out and started with the God’s prayer thing. Everyone stopped their photo taking and started saying it along, was a bit odd as it seemed slightly random, not like it was a Sunday or anything. Anyway the church also has massive crypts underneath which you could also visit, which was interesting although I do think they could have done a bit more with it. I think maybe I should have spent the extra couple of pounds and got an audio guide - it would probably have made more sense then I would expect!!

Anyway after ducking to the post office and grabbing an ice cream soda I returned to my car and the camping ground and chilled for a few hours. Was nice to relax and wind down after a few busy road trip. Different to my other travels where I can unwind and nap etc when I am on a bus or train, etc. Hadn’t managed to find anywhere to charge anything so couldn’t finalise my next uni assignment which was a bit of a shame.

Met Soma (hi Soma!!) for dinner in Canterbury as she recently moved out there for work. Ended up going to a Cuban restauarant which had a nice outdoor garden and had two-for-one Mojitos. The meals were massive, I only ate about three quarters of my paella and we didn’t finish our dips off either. I got the bus back and crashed out - final night in my cheapo Sainsbury tent.

WEDNESDAY 13 AUGUST 2009

Took my time getting up this morning since I didn’t have to be at Gatwick until after 1pm. However, since the sun rises early, so I tend to as well. After repacking my bags and throwing the tent and plastic cups and cutlery I bought on my first day, I headed off at about 9am.

Since I had some time to kill, I decided to detour to Herne Bay which is another rocky and not very attractive looking beach. So I ate breakfast there before continuing on my way to the airport with a few stops along the way.

Got to the airport nice and early and returned the hire car - no issues there except it had a lot of grass bits and some sand scattered in it as well. Oh well. Ended up doing almost 2500 miles in 12 day which is quite a lot if you think about it. No accidents either - no scrapes or bumps, etc.

---

---