USA, UK and Norway

Well here we are in London, and it’s Tuesday afternoon. Yesterday was a travel day, but we started out with a slightly more substantial breakfast as we knew we wouldn’t be fed on the plane till late in the afternoon. We had seen a place in the market each day which always had a long queue which we didn’t want to wait in, but they obviously did something good. So on Monday morning it was much quieter so we indulged - it’s called the eggslut!! And they do scrambled eggs, and other eggs and put them in a brioche roll....yum! Will show in photo. Then once we had to check out from the hotel, we hung round a bit in the lobby, but made our way leisurely to the airport as no time to do anything else.

And it is nice to be early at LAX as the international terminal is always rather chaotic, especially yesterday with flights to Japan cancelled because of typhoons, British airways striking....anyway, we made it through with the very efficient Air New Zealand people and had an excellent flight, even nice food! AND such an easy entry into the UK - just put your passport in a machine and through you go - no forms, no people to question you! That is only for the good countries - people from EU countries, USA, Canada, Oz, NZ etc....but so good for us.

So we went to the underground station, topped up our Oyster cards and made our way to our hotel near Earls Court station. This time it is an Ibis, but in an old Victorian building and again charming, not the typical rather soulless Ibis!

We have had a walk, quite a long one, to Knightsbridge as far as Harrods, and then back via the Royal Albert Hall to pick up tickets for tomorrow’s concert. A short relax now and then a fairly early Indian meal, and off to bed, and hope we will slide easily into this time zone, because we remain at this time for the rest of our holiday - or an hour ahead in Norway, but an hour doesn’t count. All good.Weiterlesen

First, last night’s dinner at the pub was good. I had a steak and managed to avoid too much stooge! They offered Carole chips or jacket potato with her lasagne!! Like they do in Ireland, everything comes with potatoes in some form. (She said neither please, just salad!).

And this morning we had a good breakfast, continental and full English choices, and a good start before walking. Despite going to bed with still a perfect day, by this morning it was raining as predicted and we set off in our rain gear at about 9.30. It wasn’t heavy all the time, and sometimes almost stopped, but enough to get pretty soggy, and the ground, even though it hadn’t rained for a week, immediately got very muddy and puddly. With the consistent rain I found that my poncho wasn’t as impermeable as I thought. We’ve always been so lucky with weather on our Caminos that it may not have been put to the test and my t-shirt got quite wet which was uncomfortable and cold. It is much colder today, and hard to remember that yesterday we only wore a light shirt, and many people just had shorts and short sleeves. Any way it was all part of the fun, and it was a short flat walk today, along the firth and half way towards Carlisle. We did about 15 kms, and walked to Burgh by Sands (pronounced bruff). It is a tiny town, but famous for a statue of Edward I where they fought Robert the Bruce...Edward died here, but now buried at Westminster Abbey. Also there is a very old church, St Michael’s, built partly with stones from Hadrian’s Wall, dating back to 13th century, with some later additions (or maybe the later additions were 12th C!!). And it had been a garrison during the wars. So much history!

But as the inn at Burgh by Sands is closed at the moment, we were taxied back to Carlisle for the night (all part of the service) and tomorrow we get taken back to Burgh by Sands to walk back to Carlisle! So it means that we are 2 nights and this very pleasant B and B, and don’t have to pack up tomorrow morning, and have 2 days to get washing dry! So we are getting to know Carlisle well, and are going out to Indian tonight. Paul our taxi driver recommended one that is the “best in Carlisle” so we’ll put it to the test. Indian food in the UK is very good, better than I’ve found in Australia. But the other Asian cuisines - Thai, Malay etc are not anything like as good as in Oz.

Tomorrow’s walk is even shorter than today - about 12 kms I think, and still flat. The hilly more demanding part comes in the middle, so this is a lovely gentle start!Weiterlesen