Well, as Bokonon said, “Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God”. So as a result of the usual mix of misconceptions and coincidences, we’ve got the house-sitter to stay in the house when we’re gone, and the ladies and I are going to England. The ladies, in this case, are my gorgeous ex-fiancée and our daughter, she’s 21. They’ve been to England before, but I’ve always travelled in the third world, never made it to the land of my ancestors, or at least some of them.
In any case, here’s the current travel plan, subject as always to time, as in “time yet for a hundred indecisions. And for a hundred visions and revisions. Before the taking of a toast and tea.”
We arrive in London on Monday the second of September, and we’ll be there for four days, ’til Thursday. Then a week or so to drive up the west coast of the island, and another week or so to go across and drive down the east coast.
Anyhow, that’s the scheme. If you happen to live along that route and wanted to say hi, post your town and where it’s near, maybe a few words about yourself. If we happen to go by there, all I can say is we MAY get in touch … or not. Heck, once I get to London, I may never make it out of the city much, who knows? I just attempt to follow the dancing lessons, but it’s generally not as simple as when you have the dance steps painted on the floor …
Best to all,
w.
Will you be visiting the University of East Anglia? 🙂
Wilis,
If you get to the far SE, just north of Dover is a town called Sandwich, ancient medieval town. I could show you the house where Tom Paine lived (and introduce you to his great, great, great, great, great grandson if he’s sober). Paine I seem to recall had something to do with the USA Constitution which while now obsolete seemed to me to be a useful idea.
I am a global coolist and believe the GHGs which are useful at turning thermal energy into radiation actually make the planet a little cooler. I also believe that water vapour and clouds are abolutely dominant in regulating global temperatures and themselves are unaffected by CO2 levels. I do not believe that the current cooling of the planet is significantly impacted by CO2 but I do believe that solar effects and the outer planets in turn regulate temperatures and I also believe that a little iceage is very likely to happen more or less now and the current cooling will massively accelerate over the coming decade and longer.
I used to have a good brain but ill health makes me stupid much of the time these days. Still I believe I could put up some challenging ideas which remain qualitative but potent.
I am however aware that most skeptics are closet warmists differing often only over something called climate sensitivity from their brethren holding the extremist positions. This has lead to a debate by two groups who fundamentally believe in the same hog wash.
However WUWT will allow me to post this whereas the skeptic sites will not. Only the DAGW views are allowed with them and the idea that they are actually in bed with the skeptics would give them a collective seizure. The skeptics therefore hold much power over the warmists but their fundamental luke-warmism prevents them from administering the coup-de-grace.
Willis,
While in England please “Beware the Jabberwock, my son”.
{Apologies to the legacy of Lewis Carroll}
John
Some possible ideas: if you have the time and inclination our historic Naval Dockyard at Portsmouth has the Mary Rose restoration and what to me is the most fascinating transitional iron-hulled, steam-driven, breach loading bow gunned ship: the Warrior (built 1860) – see http://www.hmswarrior.org/
And on the way along the South Coast there’s the Jurassic coast at Dorset (with a few of our home-grown oil nodding donkeys at Wytch Farm near Corfe Castle) – and you could visit the Balcombe fracking protesters camp in West Sussex to enlighten them on what is actually needed to keep the UK’s lights on!
Watch out very carefully for (pedal) cyclists on our roads – since the Olympics last year they have taken to thinking they own the roads and often do the silliest things which I wouldn’t dream of doing on my motorbike (which you actually have to be qualified to drive).
And if you need assistance at any time you are in the Surrey area, Anthony always has my email address…
Two places for every American to visit, when in England.
1. Runnymede, sight of the signing of Magna Carta. There is a small area deeded in perpetuity to the USA, and contains a small building dedicated by the American Bar Association in recognition of Magna Carta, and also a small area dedicated to the memory of JFK.
2. The east end of our National Cathedral in London, St Pauls, and I quote:- “At the east end of the cathedral behind the High Altar is the American Memorial Chapel. This part of the building was destroyed during the Blitz and, when rebuilt in the 1950s, formed a chapel funded by the British people to commemorate the members of the United States forces based in Britain who gave their lives defending liberty during World War II.”
Both of these places are our way of saying thanks to all Americans for the enormous sacrifices they made for us. We are truly grateful.
Enjoy your visit.
Remember: You drive clockwise in roundabouts and yield to anyone already in them, as is befitting a system where you drive on the left hand side of the road. I forget the rules about zebra crossings.
Hi Willis
I live near and work in Henley on Thames (home of the Henley Royal Rowing Regatta) so a good place to be a tourist.. if you come that way, say hi.. and I’ll buy you lunch
or Paddington Station in London, is only a 25 minute train ride away for me
Anthony has my email address
Barry
Luther Wu on 1st Aug @ur momisugly 5:01 pm:
Seconded! The Yorkshire Dales are wonderful. However, the choice is huge in England, despite the fact it is such a small island. There is so much history and varied landscape.
The Herriot Museum in Thirsk is very good and the church attractive. The country immediately around there is a bit ordinary but it is surrounded by the North Yorkshire Moors to the East and the Yorkshire Dales to the West. Further west over the Pennines is the Lake District. You really are spoilt for choice for a short visit!
Whatever you do I really hope you enjoy it very much and hope that you see our beautiful country at its best! Best wishes, Annie.
PS:
Our son is over from a LHD country. I have written a sign for him to leave in the hire car…”Drive on the Left!”
Here’s a (first of seven) radio episode to a Modern Science history that mentions The Monument in London, built by Hooke. A lab in the basement, and the whole tower a telescope! http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b037tsw4
eco-geek;
On board with you 100%. Fight on!
London? Aargh! Overpriced, completely atypical of the UK itself, and a nest of politicians and civil servants. Head west young man, God’s counties are the South West, Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Gloucestershire. Avoid Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool, in the west, and Newcastle, Leeds, Bradford etc in the east! Cumbria, Northumberland, Co Durham, Yorkshire are fabulous.
Further North but not as far as Scotland you have the wonderful Northumbrian coast with Holy Island and Lindisfarne Castle. Bamburgh Castle is nearby. There is also (but not for much longer) an amazing exhibition of The Lindisfarne Gospels at Durham, in the library next door to Durham Cathedral. The Cathedral alone is worth visiting Durham for. However, you won’t have time for much, so these are only ideas, just in case you find yourself there.
Be careful that once you get comfortable driving there’s a risk you’ll revert to the worng side.
Some of the roundabouts are troubled – the one at the west end of an old town SW of Cheltenham has too may side roads and lanes. Fortunately no snow now so arrows on the pavement are visible.
Alice and I peddled our bikes through Germany, England, Ireland, and Wales for four months in 1998. Everywhere we went people remarked about the wonderful warm weather. “You Yanks must have brought it with you from California. We’ve never seen the like.” Later we learned of the Great 1997-1998 El Nino, and of our fortune in choosing our vacation of a lifetime to coincide with it. I doubt your weather will be as nice, Willis, but here’s hoping it is.
I lived in Suffolk near Ipswich for five years courtesy of the US Air Force, and it is a marvelous part of England. So while there, do what i never got around to doing, and rent a houseboat and cruise the Norfolk Broads. I envy my many friends who did and never tire of telling me how relaxing and enjoyable it was.
This could be too much like a “sailor’s holiday” for you, Willis, but I bet you would love it.
We had friends from Australia visit us a few years back. Their son and DIL said they should visit here, there and everywhere. They were exhausted by the time they reached us. We sat them down with a gin and tonic and told them to rest and the relief in their faces when they were given ‘permission’ not to do any more sightseeing for a while was quite a picture.
I wonder if this will post as it’s the 4th one I’ve written this afternoon?
Willis,
http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/
and as previously mentioned, Stonehenge. Both are only 35 miles apart and you can comfortably do both in a day and still have time left over.
Both are deeply impressive and cover two very different periods in time.
Occasionally I show various relatives / friends from Oz and the US around, as I live 40 miles west of London, I am usually asked to guide them around London, but I invariably take a day of their time, jump in a car and go do Stonehenge and then on to the Roman Baths in Bath.
If in London then I also like to subject my guests to the changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. The British do military pomp and circumstance in a way that other countries can only dream of and will never match. Buckingham Palace is also fairly impressive, I feel.
Jonathan Martin
-The museums of Oxford – not just the Ashmoleon but also pop in the others. They are all free and full of wonders.
-The British Museum is the museum of the world.
-If you or your ladies like Western art then Google the galleries in London. There are more than are obvious that contain great works. And they are free.
-The cathedrals of England are all magnificent. Gloucester has the oldest fan vaulting in the world, the bombed out Coventry is moving, York Minster has the Roman catacombs where Constantine was crowned (of historical importance). Any is worth stopping at to investigate the architecture from before (supposedly) we had a vector theory of force. If in Somerset try Wells for a very clever example.
-Try the traditional pubs but be willing to move on of they look like they have no atmosphere.
-If you have time, wander off the beaten track and follow the brown signs (tourist attractions) to see the history of the British Isles.
-Picnic at Ironbridge for the birth of the Industrial Revolution.
Whitby has a spectacular ruined Abbey and is the epitome of Gothic. Bram Stoker noticed that.
-The south west is beautiful; Cornwall for mining history, Devon for naval history, Dorset for geology (it was invented there). Somerset and Wiltshire are lovely and full of interest but so is the rest of the country.
You won’t see it all. Just take time to slow down and explore.
Keith Sketchley says at September 1, 2013 at 10:20 am
If that means that you won’t even name the Gloucester slums then I can only assume that you are also from Cheltenham, as I am.
How come we’ve never met?
and w. beware the ghost of Samuel Pepys. that’s all I am prepared to say on the matter
I married in London in 1965 and after the budget reception in a quaint pub on the north bank of the Thames east of downtown (name forgotten) we accepted an invite for Christmas dinner a month or so later from one of our friends who lived in the country just outside of Diss, Norfolk, near the border with Suffolk. Because I was a Canuck, they opted for Turkey, the first our hosts had ever eaten and, at the time, this bird was hardly established as a part of British cuisine. I was asked to serve as advisor on its cooking. I cautioned that all I really knew was more or less how it was supposed to look after it was cooked. It turned out terrifically good, making converts to this goofy bird as a fine dinner. The highlights of the couple of days was the Christmas Day service in a small stone church built by G. Chaucer’s grandson (or was it great grandson?) and a walk across frosty fields with walking sticks to what must be the tiniest pub in the world with room for no more than about 6 to 8 customers at a time. If I could recall exactly were it was, I would direct you there for a wonderful pause. I’m sure you will enjoy your journey very much. Cheers
“I did save my Dad’s life about a dozen times when my parents came to visit. Always stepping out into the road and looking to the right!”
Need to look both ways.
A jogger died in White Rock BC because she only looked one direction, the train was coming from the other.
http://www.hms-victory.com/
Admiral Lord Nelson’s flagship which looks as if it could be taken to sea with no preparation at all.
Given your interest in things nautical.
But then as you are a minority in the party of three what sort of things might your wife and daughter like to see ?
Westminster Abbey just across the road from the Houses of Parliament is extraordinary, since it is the last resting place of so many kings and queens and some of histories other great names. A reminder of all those history lessons we had at school. The cathedral of St Paul’s is impressive for it’s shear size alone.
At the National gallery there are some remarkable paintings even if you thought you didn’t like such things, it’s the sort of place that can change ones views sometimes.
I sometimes feel though that London could be better geared up to suit tourists than it is.
Willis, if you come to Somerset do come and see us!
j.poynton@blueyonder.co.uk
Beware staying at ancient public houses. Those old blackened timbers have wonderful history but if anyone gets up in the night to answer the call of nature the creaking wakes everyone in the place up. Stonehenge used to be good when they allowed you to get up close and personal with the stones, but you might find it a disappointment nowadays, unless you get permission to leave the tourist paths. If you want a piece of blue stone for luck, best to go to the Neolithic quarry where they cut them. I was born and raised Oxford and if you do go there I can tell you where to look for medieval decorated floor tiles, in the days before computers we used to find that kind of stuff amusing, maybe you do to.
FTR in the unlikely event anyone is interested, the troubled roundabout is in Gloucester, close to the A40 westbound and the M5 which runs north-south. Try getting to the hotel you can see to the northwest.
Willis, you’ll have a busy trip regardless.