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Rushcliffe District

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    • Day 87

      Merry men

      November 29, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ -1 °C

      Today we finally encountered our first sub 0 temperatures. It got down to -3° last night and by 10am when we started on our hour long walk into Nottingham it was a toastie -1°.

      Our gear held up quite well and we had no issues with the cold at all, although it's not even winter yet so we'll see how we go!

      We enjoyed crunching on the icy leaves and grass and made our way to Nottingham castle and a Robin hood statue. After our chilly morning walk we decided to stop in at a cafe - and oh boy did we stumble across a good one. A cat cafe!!

      We enjoyed a hot beverage and just before we were about to get up and leave a cat named Popcorn jumped up on Bec's lap and fell asleep, so naturally we stayed another 30 minutes before we left to go explore under the city.

      Nottingham has the UK's largest network of caves - over 800 are hidden beneath its streets. So we soaked up the extraordinary atmosphere of the ancient caves carved deep beneath Nottingham’s in the attraction 'City of caves' which had a WW2 air raid shelters and a medieval tannery. 

      From here we fuelled up with a baked spud which was delicious before checking out ANOTHER Christmas market, this one was a respectable size and when we had enough of smelling the delicious food stalls we headed on the hour trek back to our uni accommodation. But midway back we came across The Haunted Museum, so we obviously popped out heads in.

      After checking out some very spooky items and potentially getting haunted we finally made our way back to enjoy some warm soup for dinner while planning some next steps

      16.9k steps
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    • Day 104

      113ème étape ~ Nottingham

      November 14, 2022 in England ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

      Et voilà que nous avons découvert la fameuse ville de Nottingham.
      Nous avons eu l’honneur de rencontrer Robin des Bois devant le château de Nottingham.
      Le shérif ne devait pas traîner dans les parages.
      Nous avons aussi été boire un verre dans un Kitty Café.
      De manière générale, nous n’avons pas vraiment apprécié cette journée. Nottingham n’a rien d’exceptionnel. Et le kitty café était un peu décevant. Les chats ne sont pas très sociaux. 🤷🏻‍♀️
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    • Day 14

      Nottingham felt weirdly like home

      September 9, 2022 in England ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

      I went to Nottingham because of a family connection - one of those stories where genealogy gets overgrown with mythology, like lichen on a gravestone. What started as a researched story about my paternal family's connection to the Nottingham lace industry sort of became in my imagination a deep ancestral connection stretching back to the crusades.

      So maybe I was primed to connect with the place before I had even arrived there, no matter what it was like.

      But it really was EXACTLY my taste. We started our morning there going for a swim at our host's posh corporate gym, a converted railway station with a massive underground shower / changing / locker room. (The only thing I've ever seen like this were the showers at the Hilton in Queenstown where, frankly, I could happily return when I become a spontaneous millionaire, or at least when I get hired to act as caretaker of its hedge maze when it gets snowed in. This tangent was a reference to "The Shining.")

      We went for coffee at an outlet for 200° - Nottingham's local roastery. This was exquisitely good coffee, matching the Australian standard and perhaps even surpassing it. I did find it strange to see the local hipsters ordering a "flat white" as if it was the most stylish thing ever. Strewth. It's bloody International Roast mate! But 200 ° was like much of Nottingham some red brick industrial building happily repurposed, its original aesthetic touches now gratefully displayed.

      Stu and I went for a walk along the canals, looking at the whole Lace Market district and even doing a little shopping at Marks and Spencer.

      There were flowers laid on the steps of Council House for Queen Elizabeth, and posters of her face everywhere. I saw that one had been smashed. Former Prime Minister and interview darling Kevin Rudd was on British television giving an eloquent colonial viewpoint on the tragedy.

      Elizabeth's death has been accompanied by no shock at all. In fact, the death of Olivia Newton-John back home was a bigger shock. We've all been doing preparatory grieving for years now. If I were writing this as a fantasy story, I'd probably have King Charles dying within a year of his accession, but then I have the typically sadistic imagination of any fantasy author.

      That evening, our host Luke was convening his LGBTQIA+ Christian group at St Andrews Church with Castle Gate. Stuart was to be a guest speaker. I didn't want to go, and in fact had a full on freak out about going which left me a wreck. I had been so uneasy about Luke, a stranger, offering us free accommodation on the strength of him liking Stuart's book, only to find myself standing at a Church door feeling pressured to go in. And I really lost my shit.

      It was a horrible night after that. I walked around until I didn't feel upset anymore. Talking to Stuart about it later, I realised that I had been "triggered" - a word that gets thrown about so casually, but actually represents something quite devastating. I'm scared of being recruited into a religion. I'm scared of being love bombed and won over and broken down. And I was so far from home, I didn't have anywhere safe to go to, just this Christian man's house. I've stayed in a three houses now for free accommodation from fans of Stuart's book; it gets harder each time. I'm not sure how I'll handle the publication of his memoir. Maybe I'll invest in a Romani caravan and follow him around the world on that, I don't know.

      Every holiday it seems I have some really shitty moment, and my panic attack at the doors of a Church in Nottingham was this holiday's shitty moment. I toyed briefly with the idea of abandoning Find Penguins because my inner goblin now was pointing out (with a factual air that was very Kevin Rudd) that all travel was irremediably ruined forever. But what would my inner goblin know? And what would Kevin Rudd know for that matter?

      I asked the next morning if we could just move on to York one day early. Stuart was more than amenable. I had scared him with my freak out, and frankly I had scared myself too, walking off in a strange city.

      I love Nottingham - I want to go back there - but maybe not the religious side of it. If anything, Nottingham struck me as kind of countercultural and irreligious - and certainly very multicultural. There was melanin here that was almost absent from Surrey. And for all the scruffiness of its architecture, the streets were clean - clean of litter, of pigeon-shit, of takeaway containers, of cigarette butts. Clean! Livable! Growing! This place wasn't a repository of yesterday's dreams, excepting the dream of renewal. I felt it giving me energy somehow. I felt so weirdly at home.
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    • Day 86

      Feeling educated

      November 28, 2023 in England ⋅ 🌙 1 °C

      This morning we got up relatively early to go and explore Cambridge, we were first distracted by a breakfast buffet which was adequate.

      After eating too much food we went for a walk to a nearby industrial area and stumbled across a HQ of a company that Phill has been playing their games for years.

      We then drove into the heart of Cambridge to explore the town centre... Only to drive out of the heart of Cambridge to find a parking lot. Eventually we found one and walked back into the centre.

      The city itself is beautiful, with many buildings with lovely facades. The most impressive being the ones of the world renown Cambridge University. A very pleasant town indeed! After exploring the town we headed back to Bartholomew II (we may have forgotten to take a photo... So the face reveal has been postponed until tomorrow.)

      Our next destination was unplanned but welcome, we finally got to go back to the burger chain that has been etched in our mind for years: Wendy's! It was great, probably good that we don't have them in Aus.

      Once we filled up on an early dinner, we got back on the road and went to our next town as well as University for the day! The University of Nottingham, which is where our accommodation is for the next two nights. We got in as it was dark but once we checked in we went for a long walk around their huge campus. While the walk was chilly (3°C), it was a very still night so it was very pleasant to walk in.

      We end the night washing clothes again as we have access to a free machine!

      Step count: 22.2k
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    • Day 29

      Day 28 Nottingham, UK

      January 4 in England ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

      Nottingham will not be on my list of places in the world you must visit, but we have made the most of the day but there will be few photos! We drove here in two hours and it was a reasonably busy road, but an easy drive into the city, where our hotel is very close to the centre. It’s an old fashioned hotel but described on Google as ‘ one of the most prestigious boutique hotels in Nottingham’. We walked around town for an hour or so before finding lunch at a very average restaurant. We decided to then visit the National Justice Museum in the Lace Market area of Nottingham, England. The museum is housed in a former Victorian courtroom, prison, and police station and is therefore a historic site where an individual could be arrested, tried, sentenced and executed. Our visit began with a theatrical performance in the courtroom with some audience participation, including David as Constable Dodd. Quite funny and a good start to exploring the museum which was interesting. I did however have my second panic attack of the day as we went down into the dungeons and pits where prisoners had been incarcerated and I could not see an exit sign (my first had been when the hotel lift did not open immediately). Anyway I survived both. We wandered back but were too late to visit Nottingham castle. After a short rest we headed out to find the Thai Street Food restaurant we had found online and we were not disappointed as the food and atmosphere at Zaab was excellent. We wandered back and had a relaxing drink at a very quiet bar across the road and that too was enjoyable but we are really surprised at how quiet the city is with few people around. Nottingham is not what we expected even though it is the 9th biggest city in the UK. It generally seems very run down and the people look pretty miserable. It is the first city we have noticed to have a lot of homeless people. We are pleased to have only one night here even though the day ended nicely.Read more

    • Day 19

      Reisetag und Warhammer World

      September 14, 2022 in England ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

      Auf dem Weg von den Dales nach Cambridge einen Halt gemacht in der Warhammer World in Nottingham! Riesige Dioramen, tausende Figuren , Max am Staunen, die große Suche nach dem ‚Assasin‘ - leider ohne Erfolg. Dann weiter nach Cambridge in unser bnb mit riesigem Bett, indischem takeaway und einer Folge Lewis!Read more

    • Day 4

      The Nag's Head and Colston Bassett

      August 28, 2016 in England ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

      Surprising how differently the bike handles when loaded down with all the things I thought I needed for this trip! 16 careful miles through the English countryside, getting a sense of what lies before me. We'll see how exhausted I am after 50 miles tomorrow..

      I'm staying at an inn near the Colston Bassett Dairy, key point on my cheese pilgrimage. I'm going to say hi and thanks to the cows tomorrow. The inn has horses, so of course I'm thinking about you Sharon Holland!

      I guess the stereotypes of the English countryside come from somewhere - I kept expecting to see Mr. Frog racing his motor-car down the road, much to the chagrin of Toad. Fortunately, the drivers have been very nice and the National Cycle Routes are not too much traffic. The innkeepers sent me down the road to the local pub for dinner.

      Pictures will have to wait, my phone's camera is still freaking out. Selfies work, however, so I'll send one of me about to have dinner at the Nag's Head.
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    • Nottingham💛🎄

      November 27, 2021 in England ⋅ 🌧 3 °C

      Een tripje naar Nottingham✨ Het was erg koud, want het had net gesneeuwd in de ochtend. Het was een erg gezellig dag, aangezien we met 13 (!) mensen op stap waren😊 Nottingham is een leuk stadje met een mooi kasteel en een grote kerstmarkt 🎄Read more

    • Day 45

      Barlow to Nottingham

      June 11, 2019 in England ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

      Up and off to nottingham, it is raining so much today that we have to choose things to do that are out of the rain. We first went to the Justice Musuem which was really interesting, and they showed re-enactments of the court system from the 1700s which was very funny. We then went to the sandstone caves underneath the city, they are man made but have been there for hundreds of years, then back to our hotel for a quiet dinner.Read more

    • Day 9

      Birdlip to Painswick, June 7

      June 7, 2018 in England ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

      The Royal George just about did us in.

      Food was OK, but we both felt a bit under the weather this AM. Arlene was worse than I was, but she ate more of the hollandaise sauce than I did. At least it is not food poisoning, just an upset stomach.

      We had a so-so breakfast at 0700, out the door by 0800 and walking downhill. The way out of town was a bit pecarious as we had to walk along a narrow and curvy road until we reached the trailhead. Cars were hauling and we had a very uneven shoulder to navigate....we both made it.

      The trail immediately started downhill (oh, what a delight, but we would pay dearly later) and was a very woodsy trail. I recall what happens to the first walker in the morning that walks a woodsy trail...yep, a face full of spider webs and my hat was covered.

      After a few minutes, we stopped as Arlene wanted to check out a side trail so I sat on a rock (being the patient person that I am), and up the trail trots a red fox. We saw each other about the same time and the fox did a 360 as casually as a thief in a jewelry store. Nice surprise so early in the morning.

      We continued along the woodsy walk seeing a deer jump in front of us and I flushed a pheasant out of the bushes. Scared me out of my second skin and Arlene got to view his upward flight while I was ducking for cover.

      We passed some great views through the trees of the valley below and really enjoyed the cool morning air.

      A local running club must have had a 1/2 marathon utilizing the trail, and started such that the runners were running south to north (we are walking north to south). We noticed many, many temporary trail markers providing directions and from the looks of the muddy footprints in the trail, the runners were covered in mud from head to foot. The one part of the trail they did not run up (but we walked up) was the portion to the top of Coopers Hill. This would have been a killer as it did us in.

      Amazing what a short break and a sip of water will do for the recovery after a hard effort.

      So we continued after the brief recovery stop, walking through a golf course that had posted signs "traverse at your own risk". That gave us pause, but then we saw no golfers, so across the fairway we motored, getting to the far side, to the service road which took us away from the course and down into Painswick.

      We are at the Troy House B & B for two nights and our hosts are very nice and accommodating. Dinner reservations are made, they are doing our laundry and there is an honor system for beer and snacks in the quite large room that we have. Arlene is enjoying a well deserved nap and I am not too far from that as well. After the rest day tomorrow, we finish with six straight days of walking. I can imagine that they will be walks to remember.

      We have been very weather fortunate so far, but the forecast is not looking quite so accommodating for a dry walk into Bath next Thursday. We shall see.

      Dinner tonight.was at the Cardynham Bistro in Painswick. It came highly recommended and it deserves its appraisal. Garlic toast as an appetizer was hot, soft and delicious. The main course of beef stroganoff, the house specialty, was the best I've had in years (we both enjoyed the same thing), and to wrap up the meal, the sticky toffee pudding was truly outstanding. Now to let things settle down as tomorrow arrives too quickly with a full stomach.
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