The last week has been a bit of a whirlwind. Our last few days in Scotland were spent in Glen Coe (where we finally caved and got a B&B for a couple of days - glorious!) then a night of camping in Loch Lomond (it's all about balance). Lots more beautiful valleys and mountains and lochs but many more tourists than we'd been seeing before so I still prefer the remoteness of the north highlands.
We then stayed at a cool little hostel on the southern end of the Yorkshire Dales and spent part of the next day in York, mostly at the York Minster, the largest gothic cathedral in Northern Europe. It was pretty amazing and just oozing with history. Sadly we didn't have much time to explore the city as we had to hit the road to get down to Oxford, home of the most expensive hostel on the planet. Oh, there's a university there as well. I actually really loved exploring Oxford. It's a really beautiful town, and all the colleges are designed inwards so it leaves the onlooker constantly curious as to what life is like inside those walls. I did tour a couple of the colleges... Magdalen, Pembroke (alma matres of Eugenie and Nici respectively) and of course Christ Church with the big famous cathedral and formal dining hall. All in all a really cool day, and we had eaten at the Eagle and Child for dinner the night before, the pub where C.S. Lewis and Tokien would meet to banter ideas about back in the 40s and 50s.
The next day was our last day to get lost trying to find highways and once again we fufilled that expectation in spades, but finally made it to Heathrow and dropped off the little Ford Escort. Some quick calculations came back with a total of about 2400 miles driven in 2 weeks. Needless to say I was very happy to be trading in the keys for a bus ride!
I got lucky on Thursday and was able to spend all afternoon leisurely having lunch and coffee (the traditional burrito and flat white!) with Nici due to a power outage at work. Then, despite said power outage that should've sent everyone home, I had a wonderful gaggle of friends show up for my "hello again goodbye" drinks dinner drinks night. It was a really really fun night and it was quite hard saying goodbye to everyone. Thanks to all those reading who were able to come out that night!
Up stupidly early the next morning to catch my flight back to the states. The first leg to LA was as pleasant as an 11-hour flight in coach class could be. My flight from LA to Seattle took off right as the sun was going down. I was on the left-hand side of the plane so I was treated to 2 hours of amazing sunset. The horizon was a beautiful blend of deep red, orange and yellow to dark blue that slowly got deeper and deeper over the flight and finally got dark as we were approaching Seattle. Perfect timing and a fitting end to a long journey back to Seattle!
It's wonderful being back. I spent the weekend playing in the sun with my adorable little 2-year old niece, eating plums and pears out of my brothers mini-orchard in the back yard and generally just enjoying the idea of not going anywhere anytime soon. On that note, this will probably be my last post for a while. I promise to pick it up again when I start traveling again, or if anything exciting happens in the meantime!
Until next time, peace and hugs!
Monday, 15 September 2008
Friday, 5 September 2008
Heading South
In Fort William right now at Fort William Backpackers - free internet! woohoo! We've been staying at hostels most of the time, usually in private rooms but occasionally we've had to stay in dorm rooms which has been universally a bad idea. Couples snogging, people snoring, squeaky beds, one chick was blowing her nose over and over. I think I'm too old and grumpy for that now so I've put my foot down on the dorms. I'd rather camp!
The highlands were stunning. We stayed in a wonderful remote hostel on the beach (Achmelvich Beach if anyone is googling) for a few days and one day drove all the way up to Durness at the very tippy top of Scotland. Very wild and remote... wonderful!! We then diverted over to Isle of Skye and shortened our stay there when we realized we miscounted and only had 6 days to get back to London, not 8 ("Isn't it Monday today? What? It's Wednesday?!?"). We'll wander around here for a couple of days then take two days to power south, stopping for some culture and history in York and Oxford.
We've been pretty much driving and gawking and stopping for lots and lots of photo ops. I'm still hobbling on my stoopid bad hip and my traveling partner has a bad knee so much to my dismay, no walks or hikes. I intend to come back when I am healthy and park up in the highlands for a week or two for a much more of a quiet walking holiday instead of speedy shooting holiday. We did stop at a whisky distillery though so now I know all about making whisky!
It looks like a beautiful day out so I'll be off to do more gawking!
Thanks for reading if you've kept up with me so far!
The highlands were stunning. We stayed in a wonderful remote hostel on the beach (Achmelvich Beach if anyone is googling) for a few days and one day drove all the way up to Durness at the very tippy top of Scotland. Very wild and remote... wonderful!! We then diverted over to Isle of Skye and shortened our stay there when we realized we miscounted and only had 6 days to get back to London, not 8 ("Isn't it Monday today? What? It's Wednesday?!?"). We'll wander around here for a couple of days then take two days to power south, stopping for some culture and history in York and Oxford.
We've been pretty much driving and gawking and stopping for lots and lots of photo ops. I'm still hobbling on my stoopid bad hip and my traveling partner has a bad knee so much to my dismay, no walks or hikes. I intend to come back when I am healthy and park up in the highlands for a week or two for a much more of a quiet walking holiday instead of speedy shooting holiday. We did stop at a whisky distillery though so now I know all about making whisky!
It looks like a beautiful day out so I'll be off to do more gawking!
Thanks for reading if you've kept up with me so far!
Thursday, 4 September 2008
Wandering the Highlands!
I have 3 minutes left on my internet card so speed is of the essence! The scottish highlands are spectacular!! I've tried haggis (yeeeuck!!!) and had some scotch with the locals (yum!) have driven up down and all around and are now heading down towards Glen Coe. We're in Isle of Skye at the moment and looking forward to more awesome scenery and photo ops in the days ahead. "kay - out of time!
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Lord's and Liverpool
Well I survived London getting my errands done and was able to spend some time watching the last of the Olympics and having some pints with a couple of Andrews. Saturday night found me with Andrew C. at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese for a pint and some proper british pub grub and Sunday I got all dressed up in a fluffy princess skirt and heels and met Andrew W. up at St. John's Wood for a day of cricket at Lord's. I'd never been to a cricket match before so we decided to do it in style in the Pavilion! It was a very fun day and Andrew was very patient explaining all the finer points of the game!
Monday I loaded up the backpack once again and headed to Heathrow to pick up the rental car. It's a peppy little Ford Focus Turbo Diesel... very fun to drive! I'm now in The Wirral where I'm spending a few days at the home of my good friends Craig and Kathy. Tuesday Kathy and I went to the Tate Liverpool for some modern art and culture then yesterday we trundled on over to Wales to go to the Conwy Castle, a beautiful medieval fortress that's amazingly well-preserved! I'm moving on today, heading up to the Lake District for the night then meeting my friend Marty in Glasgow on Friday! Scotland here I come!!
Monday I loaded up the backpack once again and headed to Heathrow to pick up the rental car. It's a peppy little Ford Focus Turbo Diesel... very fun to drive! I'm now in The Wirral where I'm spending a few days at the home of my good friends Craig and Kathy. Tuesday Kathy and I went to the Tate Liverpool for some modern art and culture then yesterday we trundled on over to Wales to go to the Conwy Castle, a beautiful medieval fortress that's amazingly well-preserved! I'm moving on today, heading up to the Lake District for the night then meeting my friend Marty in Glasgow on Friday! Scotland here I come!!
Thursday, 21 August 2008
Last Night
Tonight is my last night in Switzerland. Boo! I'm flying back to London tomorrow then hitting the road to explore the rest of the UK on Monday (after my first cricket game on Sunday at Lord's!). I definitely want to come back here, especially if I can get healthy enough to do some serious hiking and climbing! I will miss having mountains in the distance where ever I go. I'll also miss the little chocolates they give you when you order a coffee! I'll miss the chocolate in general actually. I've gotten quite spoiled here. I've been at this hostel in Gryon for a week now and it's got such a great vibe and really cool people that I've come to feel at home here so it will be sad to leave. Several people who are here have come for a few days and ended up staying for months. Megan and Kevin from Canada have been here for a year. It's that kind of place. We had burrito and mojito night last night (soooo good) then watched Return of the Jedi. Lauren, who has been here for 2 months and leaves on Saturday has never seen Star Wars so they are attempting to get through all of them this week. Three more to go!
Today I took the train/bus up to Les Diablerets which is a quiet ski village in the next valley. From there I took a little ski cable car thing up to Isenau and wandered around, took pictures, took a nap in the grass and generally admired the view of the surrounding mountains. Other than the other hike the rest of my days here have been lounging about on the deck, reading, playing cards and (yesterday) shopping for burrito fixins. It's been a good week.
It's taken the full four weeks down here to really start chilling out and relaxing and not feel like I'm constantly needing to do something somewhere. It'll take all of my Jedi powers to keep a calm mind once I get back to London and have to run around for errands on Saturday.
That's it for Switzerland blogging. My next stop after London is the home of my friends The Michaels in Wirral near Liverpool where I'll spend a few days next week. Then Scotland! But for now, a bientot Switzerland!
Today I took the train/bus up to Les Diablerets which is a quiet ski village in the next valley. From there I took a little ski cable car thing up to Isenau and wandered around, took pictures, took a nap in the grass and generally admired the view of the surrounding mountains. Other than the other hike the rest of my days here have been lounging about on the deck, reading, playing cards and (yesterday) shopping for burrito fixins. It's been a good week.
It's taken the full four weeks down here to really start chilling out and relaxing and not feel like I'm constantly needing to do something somewhere. It'll take all of my Jedi powers to keep a calm mind once I get back to London and have to run around for errands on Saturday.
That's it for Switzerland blogging. My next stop after London is the home of my friends The Michaels in Wirral near Liverpool where I'll spend a few days next week. Then Scotland! But for now, a bientot Switzerland!
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Glaciers and Mountains
Hello! Back in the land of the internet after camping for a week. Last we left our intrepid explorer I was in Zermatt enjoying some glacier gawking. I did indeed head up to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise the day after I last wrote and it was indeed beautiful. Different though since we were high above everything in the area and the view was of all the Italian Alps to the south and the surrounding mountains in the distance. It was also summer ski season so lots of snowboarders and skiers on the gondola. Wierd. At the top I met Ondrej, the only other solo traveler toting a camera. We took each others picture with the Matterhorn in the background then struck up a conversation (he spoke english!). He is from Slovakia and we ended up hanging out for the day, taking pictures and exploring the glacier. It was fun to spend the day with someone after so much time traveling alone!
Next day I was in a rush to catch the train and managed to drop my camera and now the lens (my 50mm) won't focus closer than 3 meters. #&^$*#^&!!!!! and I missed the train anyway. I was heading to a campsite and by the time I got there it was pouring rain so I had to set up camp in the rain and ended up eating a cold dinner in my tent and trying to sleep through a crazy thunderstorm thrashing my tent. Not a good day. But, woke up the next day to an absolutely gorgeous view and what turned out to be a killer campsite. I was in Arolla, a leetle tiny village up at about 2000 meters nestled in amonst mountains and glaciers with a view down the valley. I wandered up to the village for a coffee on the terrace of a little cafe then just wandered about the trails in the woods and explored. Met my tent neighbors that night (Ying and Ynke from Holland) who told me about a cool hike so the next day I hoisted the backpack and camera (with the other 24mm lens) and headed out to Lac Bleu (Blue Lake). It was longer than I expected but when I finally got there it was, of course, gorgeous. It was a small lake but it was deep glacier blue and surrounded by little hills with trees and lots of cows and quite a few other hikers. Lots of trails came in to the area so it was a natural stopping place for lunch. I was tanked by the time I got back and so spent the next day lounging about the campsite in the sun with my neighbors. I didn't have a stove so had planned to head down to the restaurant for dinner but they invited me over to eat with them at their campsite. They had a pretty elaborate spread for a campsite so we ate and chatted and had some wine and enjoyed the mountains. Yay!
After a few days there I'd planned on heading to another nearby campsite but decided to head to warmer climes for a few days and went up to Valle de Joux and found a campsite by a lake. Very pretty but it was much more of a family campsite so lots of kids running around and a playground just below. My second day there it rained from noon on through the night so I was tentbound for hours on end. After that I was very ready for a real bed but I had two more days in that campsite before I moved on. I did a couple of hikes, one that was up to a "Chalet" up in the mountains which turned out to be a snack bar on the side of the road next to a wildlife park. Oi. Still, it was a pretty hike and I was able to have a bison hamburger which was, um, interesting. Second hike was much prettier and much steeper so I only managed about 1/3 of it before my aging hip and knees gave out and I headed back down. Time to move on!
Now I am in Gryon at a hostel called Chalet Martin. Very excellent hostel if anyone manages to be traveling around here. I've got a room with a view to the mountains (yay!) and the people here are very laid back and mostly canadian/american/australian so it's all english speaking. A great place to park my hat for a week. I went for a hike yesterday and am spending today resting, catching up on internet and lounging on the deck in the sun enjoying the view! I wish I could be posting pictures with these posts but y'all will have to wait until I get them up on flickr.
phew! epic post... thanks for hanging in if you've read this far!
peace
Next day I was in a rush to catch the train and managed to drop my camera and now the lens (my 50mm) won't focus closer than 3 meters. #&^$*#^&!!!!! and I missed the train anyway. I was heading to a campsite and by the time I got there it was pouring rain so I had to set up camp in the rain and ended up eating a cold dinner in my tent and trying to sleep through a crazy thunderstorm thrashing my tent. Not a good day. But, woke up the next day to an absolutely gorgeous view and what turned out to be a killer campsite. I was in Arolla, a leetle tiny village up at about 2000 meters nestled in amonst mountains and glaciers with a view down the valley. I wandered up to the village for a coffee on the terrace of a little cafe then just wandered about the trails in the woods and explored. Met my tent neighbors that night (Ying and Ynke from Holland) who told me about a cool hike so the next day I hoisted the backpack and camera (with the other 24mm lens) and headed out to Lac Bleu (Blue Lake). It was longer than I expected but when I finally got there it was, of course, gorgeous. It was a small lake but it was deep glacier blue and surrounded by little hills with trees and lots of cows and quite a few other hikers. Lots of trails came in to the area so it was a natural stopping place for lunch. I was tanked by the time I got back and so spent the next day lounging about the campsite in the sun with my neighbors. I didn't have a stove so had planned to head down to the restaurant for dinner but they invited me over to eat with them at their campsite. They had a pretty elaborate spread for a campsite so we ate and chatted and had some wine and enjoyed the mountains. Yay!
After a few days there I'd planned on heading to another nearby campsite but decided to head to warmer climes for a few days and went up to Valle de Joux and found a campsite by a lake. Very pretty but it was much more of a family campsite so lots of kids running around and a playground just below. My second day there it rained from noon on through the night so I was tentbound for hours on end. After that I was very ready for a real bed but I had two more days in that campsite before I moved on. I did a couple of hikes, one that was up to a "Chalet" up in the mountains which turned out to be a snack bar on the side of the road next to a wildlife park. Oi. Still, it was a pretty hike and I was able to have a bison hamburger which was, um, interesting. Second hike was much prettier and much steeper so I only managed about 1/3 of it before my aging hip and knees gave out and I headed back down. Time to move on!
Now I am in Gryon at a hostel called Chalet Martin. Very excellent hostel if anyone manages to be traveling around here. I've got a room with a view to the mountains (yay!) and the people here are very laid back and mostly canadian/american/australian so it's all english speaking. A great place to park my hat for a week. I went for a hike yesterday and am spending today resting, catching up on internet and lounging on the deck in the sun enjoying the view! I wish I could be posting pictures with these posts but y'all will have to wait until I get them up on flickr.
phew! epic post... thanks for hanging in if you've read this far!
peace
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
Climbing the Riffelerg!
Hello from Zermatt! Home of the Matterhorn. I decided to splurge a little for this part of the trip and I booked a room at a nice hotel and chose one that faces south with a view of the Matterhorn. It is SO worth it! I have a little balcony that I can sit on and just stare at tje mountain. Pictures don't do it justice, it realy is kinda mesmerizing! The hotel and room are fantastic too, very homey and friendly and they offered me a glass of champagne when I arrived as a welcome drink. How cool is that?
Anyway, arrived last night and today decided to head up the Gornergrat Bahn Matterhorn Railway. It is "Europe’s highest open-air cogwheel" and it chugs up into the mountains stopping at various places along the way and ends up at about 10,000 ft. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I recently read Mark Twain's book "A Tramp Abroad" which contains an account of his mountain climbing adventure to reach the Riffelberg Hotel above Zermatt. If you haven't read it I highly recommend it; very comical with classic Twain wit. Well, today I climbed the Riffelberg!! Yes, I followed in his footsteps and climbed from the Riffelalp Hotel to the Riffelberg Hotel which are two of the stops along the railway. It was all of about 3.7km and took about an hour, quite the adventure! But in all seriousness it was incredibly beautiful with views down the valley and up at the Matterhorn, sadly clouded over today, but you could see the surrounding mountains which were lovely. The best part was that I had gotten up kinda early so had the trail entirely to myself. Not a single other soul until I reached Rifflelberg. So cool! :)
At Riffelberg I hopped back on the train and chugged up and when I got to the top and wandered out onto the viewing platform I was gobsmacked. Holy Cow. Mountains and glaciers all over the place. The tops were clouded over but it was still a truly awesome sight. That kind of view is really why they invented the word "awesome". I tried to take some pictures but, again, I'm sure they wont do it justice. I wandered about a bit then settled onto the patio with a hot chocolate and some apple streudel and just kinda gawked. I was hoping the clouds would burn off. (So were a couple hundred other tourists milling about just waiting and gawking. There was even a mall up there which was a little wierd. But I digress) Eventually wandered about some more exploring the area. Down the back side were more views and more glaciers and couple more mountains and paths wandering down and around for people to walk down into the other valleys or out to the glaciers. The clouds never did burn off so I finally started walking down then caught the train when I was getting tired and chugged back down to Zermatt.
Tonight, steak and a couple of glasses of red wine rounded off my adventure perfectly! Best of all the clouds have burned off and the mountain is out in all its glory. Tomorrow weather depending I may head up to the Matterhorn Glacier Something or other (highest gondola in Europe? something like that. Stay tuned)
Anyway, arrived last night and today decided to head up the Gornergrat Bahn Matterhorn Railway. It is "Europe’s highest open-air cogwheel" and it chugs up into the mountains stopping at various places along the way and ends up at about 10,000 ft. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I recently read Mark Twain's book "A Tramp Abroad" which contains an account of his mountain climbing adventure to reach the Riffelberg Hotel above Zermatt. If you haven't read it I highly recommend it; very comical with classic Twain wit. Well, today I climbed the Riffelberg!! Yes, I followed in his footsteps and climbed from the Riffelalp Hotel to the Riffelberg Hotel which are two of the stops along the railway. It was all of about 3.7km and took about an hour, quite the adventure! But in all seriousness it was incredibly beautiful with views down the valley and up at the Matterhorn, sadly clouded over today, but you could see the surrounding mountains which were lovely. The best part was that I had gotten up kinda early so had the trail entirely to myself. Not a single other soul until I reached Rifflelberg. So cool! :)
At Riffelberg I hopped back on the train and chugged up and when I got to the top and wandered out onto the viewing platform I was gobsmacked. Holy Cow. Mountains and glaciers all over the place. The tops were clouded over but it was still a truly awesome sight. That kind of view is really why they invented the word "awesome". I tried to take some pictures but, again, I'm sure they wont do it justice. I wandered about a bit then settled onto the patio with a hot chocolate and some apple streudel and just kinda gawked. I was hoping the clouds would burn off. (So were a couple hundred other tourists milling about just waiting and gawking. There was even a mall up there which was a little wierd. But I digress) Eventually wandered about some more exploring the area. Down the back side were more views and more glaciers and couple more mountains and paths wandering down and around for people to walk down into the other valleys or out to the glaciers. The clouds never did burn off so I finally started walking down then caught the train when I was getting tired and chugged back down to Zermatt.
Tonight, steak and a couple of glasses of red wine rounded off my adventure perfectly! Best of all the clouds have burned off and the mountain is out in all its glory. Tomorrow weather depending I may head up to the Matterhorn Glacier Something or other (highest gondola in Europe? something like that. Stay tuned)
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