Why the grass is green

I couldn't believe how long it's been since I posted. We were in Britain for a couple of weeks visiting Frances, Mike and Sophia and then hiking the Cumbria Way. We attended a choral workshop and a rehearsal of Amabile, the girls choir Frances accompanies. We had a great time with FMS and enjoyed the choral events too.

The Cumbria Way was actually quite well marked. Some of the information we read suggested otherwise. We did take a few scenic detours but they were of very short duration. We had quite a bit of rain, but hey, this is England and the Lake District so what else do you expect? The scenery was wonderful, so different in colour than what we're used to. I had no idea how remote some of the places on the walk are. When I think of Britain I think of big cities and we saw very little of those.

We hopped on a bus and then a couple of trains immediately after we got off the plane deciding that we'd rather just stay up and travel than book a night in London. We did spend a night in London on the way back but since the train was late getting in we only saw the bit from the train station to the hotel. We walked to supper and back that night which doesn't count as seeing London. If we want to do that we'll have to plan a trip and stay in London.

As Richard says, perhaps we're just country mice at heart. We found the people in the small towns very friendly and some of the people we encountered in London were too. The cab driver who took us to the hotel was very cordial. Some of the other folks in the hotel and the restaurant gave us the feeling that they were in a big hurry and just wanted us to get out of their faces. People in general seemed to be in more of a hurry in London.

We may speak the same language in Canada as they do in Britain but the two cultures are entirely different from what we could tell. For instance, there is nothing at all in North America like the English pubs. Based on our limited experience we've decided that pubs are always nice and warm. There always seems to be a fireplace going. We were very grateful for the warmth of the Red Lion the first day when we were wet and had been tromping through farm yards. The publican told us there was an outside tap where we could rinse off our boots and, boy, did they need it!

Dogs are allowed in the pubs as are children. In the small village pubs where we ate there was always at least one dog tucked under a table and more often than not, there were two or three. You tend to forget they are there until one of them takes it into it's mind to bark at another one.

We watched one family group with a dog and were amused by the mother of the young people who seemed to own the dog. When none of the family was looking at her, she was feeding the dog 'chips' under the table. Labs seemed to be the popular breed. We certainly didn't see any small dogs.

We saw lots and lots of sheep. At first whenever we saw a black animal in the distance we both went on the alert, being used to hiking in bear country. We told one of the people at the B&B where we stayed about it and he had a good laugh. Some things are just automatic, such as looking the wrong way when crossing streets.

Frances told us that pedestrians in Britain don't have a lot of rights but that they can cross the street anywhere if there's no traffic. We never did get the hang of it. By the end of our stay we were utterly paranoid and would dash across the street as quickly as we could. Although the language is different in Europe we felt less anxiety about getting around because they drive on the same side of the road as we do. Many times when someone was going to drive us somewhere we went round to the wrong side of the car. It gives one pause about cycling in Britain.

Our rain gear got a good work out and we stayed fairly comfortable. The main problem was that we couldn't dry our boots. Mine especially are really gross. They got mildew in them and they've been banished to the garage until I can take some rubbing alcohol to them. I've tried other remedies that I found on the net and they still stink. Today at Costco I bought a four pack of rubbing alcohol and I'm hoping that I'll be able to get them back into wearable condition again. They were brand new for this trip and they performed wonderfully, not a single blister.

We have many pictures and had many adventures but I'll leave it at this for now.