home again, home again

[isiscolo]

I have finished walking across northern England and am home again! It was fun! Also, now my mental picture of the nature porn from Sutcliff's stories is a whole lot more realistic.

Here I am with zebra363 atop what's left of a Roman fortlet on what's left of Hadrian's Wall:

Comments

[a_boleyn]

I'm green with envy about your trip. I've always wanted to visit the UK, see the sights and enjoy the food and ambiance. Sounds like you had a great time. Burning state ... not a comfortable place to live. :(

[isiscolo]

It's a very easy place to visit, and I recommend it! I felt a bit guilty that it was my first time there at my advanced age. Also, I have to say that hiking in small chunks with hotels or B&Bs in between is quite luxurious - it's something that the US, at least, is not really set up for. Mmm, showers and soft beds and beer.

[a_boleyn]

Hiking isn't really not feasible with 3 hip replacements under my belt and a 4th one in my future. I'd be just as happy with a driving tour. :) Showers, soft beds and beer sounds very good though.

[isiscolo]

Just how many hips do you have? :-)

But seriously, one of the women on the trip had had a hip replacement, and it certainly made her a lot slower but she did quite a bit. I think that walking on the flat(ish) walks was fine for her, but the hilly areas were tough.

I would not do a driving tour unless someone else was driving! The roads are too narrow and twisty and there's the whole 'wrong side of the road' thing going on.

[zebra363]

In Portsmouth I managed with some difficulty to make hot water come out of the shower, but then couldn't figure out how to turn it off when I was done! I finally got out and started to dry off with the water still running, while I gave the matter further consideration. There were two round dials, buttons on the dials, some numbers that didn't seem to correspond to the temperature...

The HMS Victory is a fantastic tourist attraction for the Age of Sail fan!

[isiscolo]

Heh, you've probably seen three or four new ones on me with your extra traveling. These hotels and B&Bs should at least put instructions on shower operation in their information book!

I've seen a lot of historic ships in my travels - we'll have to get to that one one day!

[china_shop]

Welcome back! \o/

[isiscolo]

Whee! *twirls* Internet access (and my OWN computer), how I have missed you!

[malnpudl]

What a fantastic, gorgeous, happy-making pic! *beams and waves at both of you, around the planet and across time*

[isiscolo]

Aw, thanks, Mal! We had such a good time, and Z is a delightful person to be with.

[hamsterwoman]

3. Sink fixtures. Why do all hand-washing sinks have separate taps for hot and cold water?

That puzzled me to no end about England too when we visited last winter. And that surprised me, because it was my second visit, and I don't remember finding that weird about the first visit. Possibly that was while we were living in a house with a really odd sink too? I can't remember...

That is a glorious picture! (standing on ancient artifacts and all :)

[isiscolo]

Hee! I wouldn't have noticed it, I think, except that EVERY SINGLE SINK had them. And often in public toilets the hot water tap had a little sign on it saying, "WARNING! HOT WATER".

I felt a little guilty in retrospect about standing on the wall, especially since I would NEVER do that here on the pre-Puebloan ruins (which are not as old, only 12th century). It's just that there were no signs saying "don't touch the wall", and about a dozen people standing on or walking on it!

(I cannot resist using this icon for this comment. Sorry. :-)

[hamsterwoman]

That is an amazing icon and should never be resisted! XD