My flight was smooth but after eight hours in the air we arrived early. Noise restrictions prevent airplanes from landing before 6:00 AM so we circled for 20 minutes. When we finally landed, my U.K. adventure officially began. First on my list were to get my luggage, to get my car, and to get to my hostel. All my luggage was there. The Europcar rental was better than expected: a brand new Toyota Corolla Verso. Being new to hostels, I wasn\'t sure what to expect so I decided I\'d check it out ASAP and get checked in. All went smoothly. Aside from touring Oxford, my only goal for the day was take one little driving tour to start getting used to driving \"all wrong\". After a few hours, I returned to Oxford to take a bus tour for general orientation. Good thing it was hop-on, hop-off all day. I fell asleep half way through the first loop so I had to take it again. Yes, time change got the best of me. The evening I spent walking around town and various Oxford colleges. I love university towns.
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Driving around Oxford taught me that driving around in England would not be fast or easy. Consequently, I learned I\'d have to adjust my plans. While I had expected to go much further each day than my guidebook suggested, I now know better. My plan is to pick and choose from the most interesting of multiple tours and connect them. Today was the first day I did that. From Oxford I headed to Glouchester and selectively completed the tour before shooting north to Manchester. Over the course of the day were many highlights but there was also a significant disappointment. It just so happened that my trip coincided with the end of the worst flooding in decades. No, my disappointment wasn\'t the flood but a consequence of the flood. The potable water in Glouchester had become contaminated so drinking tap water was prohibited ... which means that none of the espresso machines was working!!! :-) So much literature comes from England. For example, I drove around the town of Banberry of the children\'s nursery rhyme with the line about \"Banberry Cross\". Without a doubt, the most important places I visited were a series of homes associated with Shakespeare. In my pictures below you can see one, the house where he was born. I\'m enjoying the realization that history here goes back very far. A wall I saw called the Priory was built in 917 AD and went through seven stages of change over five hundred years. An interesting building on stilts in Ledbury has been a dairy marketplace for over four hundred years. These timeframes stand in stark contrast to what we considered \"historic\" back in Los Angeles: anything from the 1950s or 1960s. In Manchester, I stayed at a hostel in Potato Wharf. Check out the photo gallery below.
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Coal and wool and other commodities were produced around Manchester but getting product to distant markets was a problem. Eventually a system of canals connected to rivers which lead to the sea. One early project connected Manchester to the sea and its point of origin was called Potato Wharf. Though it fell in to ruin, the village counsel wisely decided in 1987 to restore it for tourism, and it seems to have worked. I was captivated as you can see below. Upon arriving at my hostel in Potato Wharf, I had no intention of shooting the wharf ... but I couldn\'t help myself.
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My dash toward Scotland was not without distraction. Besides spending a few days with Twila and Tracy, I stopped often as you can from the sample below. The population thinned and cars were fewer. The roadside turned more country and relaxing. I visited a tacky seaside town, an ancient bridge, a fabulous abbey, and much more. Eventually, I arrived at the border.
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Before heading to England, I had no particular interest in abbeys. However, my interest was piqued when I visited the abbey near Twila\'s and Tracy\'s house where we went to see the Shakespeare play. However, when I saw Fountains Abbey on my way to Scotland I was hooked. The scale, the beauty, both seen on a perfect day, well, it was too much. Abbeys went to near the top of my list (as you\'ll see in future days).
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