The Grand Expedition - Part Two
Sorry for the delay in part two of the Britain trip. Had to do too many things the last few weeks, plus my paid LJ expired. I'm going to try going it for awhile without re-upping because, well...LJ's sorta shit nowadays. Don't really feel like investing any sort of money in it unless I have to.
I'm going to speed this up a bit. I already wrote out detailed thoughts and recollections on our travels, but they're probably more of interest to ourselves rather than everyone here. I'll touch on the highlights though.
Here we go!
May 30 - June 3 - Leicestershire and Confuzzled
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A leisurely early morning trek through the Cotswolds to our home the next few days, the Hilton Leicester. Quick stop for a lemonade and swan-viewing in Lechlade-on-Thames, then another stop in Chipping Norton for lunch. The final push to Leicester actually saw us take a wrong turn, which was ok because the wrong turn actually brought us right to the Hinckley Island Hotel - home of Confuzzled 2013!
Since we were in the neighborhood, we decided to grab our con badges then head to our hotel to offload all our stuff. Along the way we ran into avon_deer and baccala_30. I hadn't seen Avon since Further Confusion 2011 and Baccala since FC 2012, so we caught up a bit before heading to our hotel.
Although not very far away milage-wise, the Hilton (Confuzzled's dedicated overflow hotel) would prove to be enough of a pain to enable easy commuting back and forth. This was a business-oriented hotel situated near the M1 and M69 interchanges. Getting in and out of the hotel itself was a bit of a hassle with its arrays of multi-lane roundabouts surrounding it. It was nowhere near a furry-takeover inside the hotel either. I probably noticed about maybe 20 furs total in my time there. The overall vibe inside the hotel was stiff enough to make me a bit self-conscious about my attire (con t-shirt, badges, etc.). Some of the other furs I ran into mentioned the same thing.
Confuzzled was nice enough to provide a shuttle to make the 15 minute trip from the Hilton to the con hotel. A great service, one that I took advantage of when I could. However the shuttle only ran its pick-up run once during the morning and the return just after midnight. When I needed to head to the con a bit later in the day, I really didn't have any choice but to take a cab -- at £25 a pop! At this stage, driving around Great Britain was definately a two-person navigator/helmsman task so having Tina drop me off wasn't an option. I didn't feel comfortable enough to drive myself either, especially since I knew alcohol consumption was likely.
The vacation vs the convention was also a bit of an issue. Tina did attend parts of the con and took interest in some of the artistic aspects of it. We both went to the ferret event on Saturday and she also watched her first fursuit parade ever. Although she found it interesting, she really didn't feel comfortable doing the amount of socializing I wanted to do. She also wanted to take the time to see some of the surrounding area. Although I wanted to spend more time during the day at the convention, I also didn't want to feel like I was abandoning her, so we explored the Twycross Zoo one day and Bradgate Park the next. Bradgate park was a fascinating place, both because it was a deer reserve and for the Bradgate House ruins and the Old John Tower.
My evenings were spent at the con hotel. I decided to bag any ideas of suiting up at the con, since I only had limited time there and I wanted to make the most of it socializing. This mainly consisted of hanging out in one of the hotel bars with Avon, skawinski and a rotating cast of other locals I had the chance to meet for the first time. Really happy with the company I got to spend time with while there and I really wish I had more time to do so.
June 3 - Keswick / Lake District
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This was the second longest stretch of the trip. Also this was the day I became more comfortable driving in Britain, thanks the the extensive time spent on the non-threatening motorways. No problems at all with weather as that had cleared up nicely while we were at the con. Same held true on our journey up north. We took a brief detour along the way through part the Yorkshire Dales at Tina's request. Beautiful countryside that's a lot like our area, only much, much greener! Snapped a few photos of dream-type homes and got back in the car to Keswick.
We got to Keswick without much effort, however finding the B&B we were supposed to stay at was a bit of a problem. The town's streets were winding, narrow things without much of any signage. After a few runs around town we finally figured out the hotel was on a road that was split in two by the main road. Went to dinner and retired early that night. In the morning we explored a bit, did some laundry and took a boat ride out on Derwent Water on an amazingly warm day.
Third and final installment shortly. Northumberland and Scotland.
I'm going to speed this up a bit. I already wrote out detailed thoughts and recollections on our travels, but they're probably more of interest to ourselves rather than everyone here. I'll touch on the highlights though.
Here we go!
May 30 - June 3 - Leicestershire and Confuzzled
View Larger Map
A leisurely early morning trek through the Cotswolds to our home the next few days, the Hilton Leicester. Quick stop for a lemonade and swan-viewing in Lechlade-on-Thames, then another stop in Chipping Norton for lunch. The final push to Leicester actually saw us take a wrong turn, which was ok because the wrong turn actually brought us right to the Hinckley Island Hotel - home of Confuzzled 2013!
Since we were in the neighborhood, we decided to grab our con badges then head to our hotel to offload all our stuff. Along the way we ran into avon_deer and baccala_30. I hadn't seen Avon since Further Confusion 2011 and Baccala since FC 2012, so we caught up a bit before heading to our hotel.
Although not very far away milage-wise, the Hilton (Confuzzled's dedicated overflow hotel) would prove to be enough of a pain to enable easy commuting back and forth. This was a business-oriented hotel situated near the M1 and M69 interchanges. Getting in and out of the hotel itself was a bit of a hassle with its arrays of multi-lane roundabouts surrounding it. It was nowhere near a furry-takeover inside the hotel either. I probably noticed about maybe 20 furs total in my time there. The overall vibe inside the hotel was stiff enough to make me a bit self-conscious about my attire (con t-shirt, badges, etc.). Some of the other furs I ran into mentioned the same thing.
Confuzzled was nice enough to provide a shuttle to make the 15 minute trip from the Hilton to the con hotel. A great service, one that I took advantage of when I could. However the shuttle only ran its pick-up run once during the morning and the return just after midnight. When I needed to head to the con a bit later in the day, I really didn't have any choice but to take a cab -- at £25 a pop! At this stage, driving around Great Britain was definately a two-person navigator/helmsman task so having Tina drop me off wasn't an option. I didn't feel comfortable enough to drive myself either, especially since I knew alcohol consumption was likely.
The vacation vs the convention was also a bit of an issue. Tina did attend parts of the con and took interest in some of the artistic aspects of it. We both went to the ferret event on Saturday and she also watched her first fursuit parade ever. Although she found it interesting, she really didn't feel comfortable doing the amount of socializing I wanted to do. She also wanted to take the time to see some of the surrounding area. Although I wanted to spend more time during the day at the convention, I also didn't want to feel like I was abandoning her, so we explored the Twycross Zoo one day and Bradgate Park the next. Bradgate park was a fascinating place, both because it was a deer reserve and for the Bradgate House ruins and the Old John Tower.
My evenings were spent at the con hotel. I decided to bag any ideas of suiting up at the con, since I only had limited time there and I wanted to make the most of it socializing. This mainly consisted of hanging out in one of the hotel bars with Avon, skawinski and a rotating cast of other locals I had the chance to meet for the first time. Really happy with the company I got to spend time with while there and I really wish I had more time to do so.
June 3 - Keswick / Lake District
View Larger Map
This was the second longest stretch of the trip. Also this was the day I became more comfortable driving in Britain, thanks the the extensive time spent on the non-threatening motorways. No problems at all with weather as that had cleared up nicely while we were at the con. Same held true on our journey up north. We took a brief detour along the way through part the Yorkshire Dales at Tina's request. Beautiful countryside that's a lot like our area, only much, much greener! Snapped a few photos of dream-type homes and got back in the car to Keswick.
We got to Keswick without much effort, however finding the B&B we were supposed to stay at was a bit of a problem. The town's streets were winding, narrow things without much of any signage. After a few runs around town we finally figured out the hotel was on a road that was split in two by the main road. Went to dinner and retired early that night. In the morning we explored a bit, did some laundry and took a boat ride out on Derwent Water on an amazingly warm day.
Third and final installment shortly. Northumberland and Scotland.