Miles walked: technically zero for the walk, unless you count all the walking in the airport, and to and from the guest house into town (1/2 each way, two times)
Manchester Airport - waiting for the train to take us to St. Bees
So here we are waiting for our train. We arrived! A long day of travel complete with many hours of waiting. Four hours in Atlanta and now two in Manchester. This is what I get for being worried about having time to catch connections. Better early than late I guess. Last night I was up packing till 1:00 am and then got up at 3 am. And now with the time difference...yeah I've been up for about 24 hours! But here we are!! I had a little scare at the ATM because it wasn't accepting my card, but it turned out I could only ask for 100 Pounds at a time. Thank goodness it worked...we would have been in big trouble if it hadn't! Tomorrow we are going to start what I've had my mind to do since freshman year of college. And now the journey is on its way. I know its going to be tough, but that's part of the challenge, right?! Let's pray for some okay weather. Not rain the entire time! [hahaha..how I laugh at this comment now! If we only knew....]
Tomlin Guest House - 10:00 pm
Wow, its 10:00 and still really light out. Yes, we are far north, which would also explain the temperature. And I thought we were just getting really crappy weather in the '50s but then I looked in Stedman's [the guide book we used - which I would recommend although there were a couple parts that weren't too reliable. Some people took to calling it Steddy's book of lies....but apparently this summer he was coming through and making corrections for a new edition, so you may want to check that out if you're planning this trip] and the high in June and July is only in the '60s anyway. No wonder the English are so white. (Now I get where my complexion comes from!)
After waiting for the train, we got in ours, and it turned out we totally could have gotten on the 12:00 because it didn't matter the time you took the train. Live and learn I guess. The train ride was great. We rode from the airport to Manchester Piccadilly and then changed trains to get to Carlysle (which is actually northeast of St. Bees but it's still the easiest route to get there) and then another to St. Bees. Thank goodness for helpful train staff as our tickets were really confusing. I just loved watching the hillsides and all the sheep and the brick houses. It made me nostalgic for Belgium.
The train to St. Bees went down the coast of the Irish Sea (stormy and windy! The clouds hung so low; sometimes I felt like I could reach out and touch them - something we would get very acquainted with for the duration of the trip), and I am amazed at how they built those tracks. Sometimes it was going so slow around these windy hillsides and it seemed like we were going to fall into the ocean!
When we arrived in St. Bees we went to town and to the Post Office to get food for tomorrow. YAY - DIGESTIVE BISCUITS. The best cookie things ever. I know it sounds gross, but I got hooked on them when I was in Belgium and I just don't understand how they aren't sold in the United States.... I'm so stocking up on those when we go home! :-) The cash machine at the post office would only take 'link' debit cards...must be British...which worries me a lot, we need to find cash, but I was able to run my card as credit to pay for everything, so that's good news find that I can do that. I'll be happy when we can get some cash though.
We then walked down and found our guest house, which is by the start of the walk, but a little ways from the town. Irene, the caretaker, is super nice and got us situated. We then walked back into town (jees...shouldn't we be saving energy here!) to look for food, but it turns out there was this celebration happening with the students as everyone was dressed in suits and gowns, and nothing was available....so....grocery store meal! Walking back we detoured to the church and graveyard where there is a stone from the 10th century (although i couldn't find it). And then back to the B&B to watch some British 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire.' Tomorrow's the big day!
St. Bees is a really interesting town. Legend has it that an princess from Ireland (St. Bega) landed here somewhere between the 6th and 9th centuries to avoid an arranged marriage with a Norweigian prince and asked the man who owned the land if she could have some to set up a convent. He said if it snowed, she could...and it did. And so St. Bees came into existence.
Bre fell asleep early and just woke up thinking it was morning and started to get ready. I asked her what she was doing and told her it was ten at night. Time is all screwed up right now.
2 comments:
Looks like a great trek. I'm love hiking and am interested in doing this walk. How much did the whole thing cost you?
Hey Retired at 40! I just sent you an e-mail - hope you get it and sorry for the delay. The trip can be pretty cheap or pretty expensive depending on what you do for housing... and how strong the Pound is to the dollar! I'm trying to figure out what we averaged in terms of the dollar, but I would say it was probably $60/day with the housing included....
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