Getting reoriented was the basic plan for today so, as millions of others do, I started a walking tour at Big Ben. Rick Steves narrated my stroll which included Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, and so forth. I then consulted his list of most recommended sites and found the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms highly rated. “Why not?” I thought.
What a fabulous museum! Actually it’s two-in-one museums.
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My sprints around the U.K. greatly benefit from visiting family. Going north I spent two days with Twila and Tracy and going south I visited another day. Given how intensely Tracy is working the final stages of his PHd program it was generous of them to take me in, especially the way they did. They’re going on four years in Leeds and their proud and knowledgable of their adopted English home. This came through when they gave me an intense and thorough tour of the city center where we walked everywhere, snuck into places, and visited museums. It was great and I really appreciated the personal touch.
From Leeds I headed to London for the last transition of this trip. My plan was to take in bits of London which I didn’t know already while mixing in a few day trips to places I’d previously visited but in awful weather. Dover and Canterbury in particular were high on my list. This was a wind down phase to another awesome U.K. trip.
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Amazingly after climbing Ben Nevis I wasn’t sore but my legs certainly were tired. So walk around Glasgow for the day? I thought not! Instead I chose an option for site seeing that I’ve come to trust and enjoy: the hop-on, hop-off bus tour of the city.
Not only did it choose the City Tour bus, I chose to ride it twice.
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First, at 4,409 feet Ben Nevis is the U.K.’s highest mountain. Second, I’ve climbed it before. So as I hauled myself out of bed to catch the train to the north of Scotland I found myself asking, “Why was I doing this hike again?” Fair question! I didn’t know the answer myself until today.
While planning this trip to the U.K. I know the hike was a high priority for me. When deciding the day to hike I know the weather was a crucial factor. Only after discussing the hike with staff at the Visitors Center did I figure it out. I had hiked Ben Nevis before but on a day when the top third of the mountain was enshrouded in clouds. I hiked to the top but was never rewarded with the breathtaking views. I wanted that closure so the hike was a priority.
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A few cities just bowl you over and Edinburgh is one of them. With the cliff-top Edinburgh Castle connected to the Holyrood Palace by the gently descending Royal Mile you form the backbone of the Old Town. Near by is the Georgian flavored New Town and the heart of transportation, Waverly Station. This description sounds too detached from reality and I was intent on remedying that.
Seems I had done a pretty good job when last I was in Edinburgh. Every place I revisited rang with familiarity. Many places I saw from afar today I knew I had visited before. It sounds like conceit but I impressed myself! My energy level is always high when visiting this city of art, culture, and commerce. Though poking my fingers into old familiar places is how I started my day, I did visit three new sites.
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My primary goals today were to visit two extraordinary structures: The Forth Bridge, a rail bridge inextricably linked with Scotland’s identity, and The Falkirk Wheel, a boat lift which united east and west Scottish canals for the first time in centuries. However, if I was going to be out-and-about on a BritRail pass then I could do more.
Choosing the loosely defined theme of “bridges” I looked in to where else I could go. Perth offered three(!) bridges with pedestrian paths I could cross. Adding this to my first two choices could result in a loop … and what more could be found on the loop?
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After a day’s rest from my 84-mile walk I was feeling somewhat regenerated. My ambitions were small for this transition day. I thought a walking loop around town would be just right after which I’d hop a train to Edinburgh. I never should have talked with the hostel staff. I never should have learned about the £4.80 Daily Saver. I never should have been tempted to go on a grander Newcastle adventure.
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If you were wanting to walk across England then wouldn’t you choose the shortest path? If you were a Roman emperor wanting to build a wall to defend your English territory against the Scots then wouldn’t you choose the shortest cross-island route? Well, Emperor Hadrian built such a wall from Bowness-to-Newcastle in the far north of England and we walked along its length. We walked Hadrian’s Wall.
Please don’t think that my cousin Dallas and I walked 84 miles atop a wall.
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I told you I’d try to squeeze in yet another visit to the Merseyside Maritime Museum at Prince Albert Dock and, after a leisurely cup of coffee, I was at the gates by the time the museum opened. Yes, I was first in. I only had two hours before I had to leave for the train station. I didn’t want any regrets and dang if I didn’t.
The stories of how the sinking of the Titanic, Lucitania, and Empress paralleled the decline in Liverpool’s shipping industry were fascinating. The coverage of Liverpool as the head of North Atlantic operations during World War II was eye-opening. Learning more about the slave trade, the port development, and British customs over the decades were all well presented and interesting. This really was an excellent museum and I really did need to hurry to catch my train!
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I would highly recommend that everyone visit Mount Snowdon and ride the Snowdon Mountain Railway … by any means other than mass transit. It took four hours to go up and down the mountain but an additional 11 hours to get from and to Liverpool. Granted, I didn’t have to choose an English city from which to visit western Wales but the long haul isn’t what took all the time. It’s the inefficient local bus system that added unnecessary hours of waiting and wandering. Go in a car, but go.
Two days ago I came to the mountain to scope out the situation.
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