Blogs from England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 2267

Into our stride now: walk to a mountain, up one end, across the top (or two), and down the other end. Once again the views were stunning, and again the bad weather didn’t materialize, although it was worse than yesterday – no sun, but a few very short showers. The ascent today was very gradual on slow, grassy paths. Eventually, however, every up is telling. I had to take more and more breaks as we approached the ridge. Actually, this is good as it reminds me to look at the view. As yesterday, it was easy to see the glacial formation of the valleys. The glaciers never reached the tops, which is partly why they have ridges that can be walked. The valley of our ascent was relatively narrow, with a pretty little stream all along ... read more

Defeat of a sort today. Last night the guide advised that today’s Level 2 walk was the easiest of the week, and anyone in doubt regarding doing Level 2 or 4 (easier) should try this one. So I did – and bailed out after lunch. In my biased view, the effort seemed to be devoted to getting to the top of the fells (hills/mountains) almost as fast as possible. The climbs were very steep, and little commentary was provided, only at the breaks. The countryside is beautiful. The bracken is much higher than in North Devon, although there are few wild flowers, which had highlighted the green so well last year. Rain showered all the morning and at lunch. I walked damp all day, probably from a combination of rain coming through the “waterproofing”, perspiration, and ... read more

Chipping Camden – Stratford, Friday, August 13 Our tour included transportation to either Moreton-in-Marsh, or Stratford to end our journey. This was done in a Mercedes saloon! Bob and Julia were dropped off first at the train station in Moreton-in-Marsh. I was then driven to Stratford. The driver and I discussed web sites most of the way. Yvonne Jones at Hamlet House greeted me with “Are you Judith!?” even though I was very early - just after 10:00. She is a bona-fide character. She talks regularly to her talking grey parrot, which had just learned to say “spider”. He also says “cat says meow” and “pig snort snort snort”; although sometimes he reverses them. She says he knows a whole set of animal sounds and their names. He says them all mixed up and then all ... read more

The entire London Study group spent a week touring Southern England. We went to Cambridge, Ely, York, Warwick, Kentworth, Coventry, Bath, Amesbury, Salisbury & Portsmouth. Saw a couple World Heritage sites, a few castles and infinity cathedrals.... read more

Its was a cold November morning. My alarm started ringing at 4:30 am with the song »L'ombelico del mondo« - the belly of the world - loudly. Anyway, it was a short night, as packing was done into long night hours. So, i picked up Adi some 30 minutes later, just as he was just getting his hair cut (at 5am in the morning hehe)... actually, he didn't even go to sleep, funny (straight from work, but hey, he was seriously tired afterwards in the day)... My dad then drove us to the airport, and i got seriously annoyed by his slow driving... But OK, better safe than sorry, as our trip was just starting ;) Yep, my first trip... overseas... so, my travelling career is starting :) So, our first stop was London, an overnight ... read more