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May. 31st, 2006 09:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elizillaThis morning I woke rested and it actually felt like morning, rather than like a Sunday afternoon at a science fiction convention. I spent the night in Elizabeth's bedroom, I think she was bunking in with one of her brothers. The minute I opened the door I had company. Arthur wanted some candy, but Lizzie just wanted to get to her clothing, which is stored in that room.
The bike I am to ride has an alarm on it. You push a button, and then you have 30 seconds to put the key in and turn the ignition on. I wasn't ready to start yet so I just put the key in and turned it on, while I got my helmet and gloves on and got situated. When I went to start the bike, the battery was dead, I killed it. We had to jump start it. But we pulled out around 10am. S's neighbor, Graham, accompanied us. He has a new red 650 V-Strom.
Graham fixed the radios so they worked, yay! It was so handy, that we all had radios. I didn't worry when we got separated because I knew my host would tell me when he was turning. It made it a lot easier, since I didn't have to worry if I couldn't always see him. Driving on the wrong side of the road was terrifying at first. Every time a car came, I had to struggle to not dive back to the right. But I got used to it fairly quickly.
We went to the Lake District. The area near the house has rolling hills similar to SE Ohio, only with fewer trees and more houses. But as we rode north it got more mountainous, probably as mountainous as the Virginia section of the Blue Ridge Parkway, only not nearly as many trees. A lot of the other plant life is similar - there are huge rhodedendrons everywhere, and wisteria. There are trees with white flowers (dogwoods?) and the lilacs are blooming, and buckeyes too. Spring is not as far along here, as it is at home. We eventually went over a mountain pass, Kirkstone Pass. The hillsides were brownish, and there was a lot of scree. I would think there is enough rain here to keep the mountainsides in lush plant growth but I guess not. I thought maybe the sheep eat the trees before they can grow, but S later told me it's because of the soil, it has too much peat content and few things will grow in it. It was still very beautiful. The pass came down next to a big reservoir, like they have in Tennessee along US-129 after you come down from Deal's Gap.
The roads are narrow and many of them have either a stone wall or a hedge, or both, instead of a shoulder. So there's no room for error and you can't see around the curves. At least without the deep gravel shoulders, there's not much gravel in the turns. There are some pretty big trucks (aka lorries) running over those little roads. We passed some gypsy caravans, with huge, ornate, barrel-shaped wagons being drawn by big horses.
Whenever there's an obstacle, like a long light, or the rolling roadblock of gypsy wagons, the bikes are allowed to split lanes and run up alongside the cars and get to the front. Not only do the car drivers not pull out their guns and shoot you, they don't even squeeze you out. Some of them even move over and make room for you to come into their lane if need be.
S took me, and the four children, and the dog for a walk. He says they have a new law that allows people to walk on private land as long as they behave themselves, so we climbed over a gate and walked through a field. There are nice woods and fields very near to his house.
The house itself is very tall and narrow. It's at the end of a row of townhouses, which are all three stories high and squeezed up against each other. They have no yards to speak of, here, the stoop goes right down to the sidewalk and there's a little walled patio at the back of each house. This house goes all the way to the back of the property, though, so it doesn't have that type of back patio, and from the second floor bathroom window I can see over the walls to see what's in the neighbor's patios. Clotheslines and outdoor storage, mostly. This house is on the end, and it has a little garden on the side that doesn't have another house. There's a walled area where the bikes and the car can be parked, and a little landscaped area along the front. It's a very large house for England, with five or six bedrooms, two bathrooms, a big formal dining room, etc. Most of the bedrooms are pretty small, but the kitchen is big and bright. There's a cellar with stone walls and very high ceilings. He says that when the house was built, servants probably slept down there. It's larger than my house, but smaller than the average newly-built house in the USA. It's about 100 years old.
Tonight we went out to the pub, and I tried some bitters. I didn't like it any better than any other beer I've ever had. I also had yorkshire pudding, and a jam roly poly with hot custard. Both of these were very good. The children stayed home, with Karen's mother (who lives here with them) and were in bed when we returned.
Tomorrow we will ride south to Robert's house in Cambridge.
The bike I am to ride has an alarm on it. You push a button, and then you have 30 seconds to put the key in and turn the ignition on. I wasn't ready to start yet so I just put the key in and turned it on, while I got my helmet and gloves on and got situated. When I went to start the bike, the battery was dead, I killed it. We had to jump start it. But we pulled out around 10am. S's neighbor, Graham, accompanied us. He has a new red 650 V-Strom.
Graham fixed the radios so they worked, yay! It was so handy, that we all had radios. I didn't worry when we got separated because I knew my host would tell me when he was turning. It made it a lot easier, since I didn't have to worry if I couldn't always see him. Driving on the wrong side of the road was terrifying at first. Every time a car came, I had to struggle to not dive back to the right. But I got used to it fairly quickly.
We went to the Lake District. The area near the house has rolling hills similar to SE Ohio, only with fewer trees and more houses. But as we rode north it got more mountainous, probably as mountainous as the Virginia section of the Blue Ridge Parkway, only not nearly as many trees. A lot of the other plant life is similar - there are huge rhodedendrons everywhere, and wisteria. There are trees with white flowers (dogwoods?) and the lilacs are blooming, and buckeyes too. Spring is not as far along here, as it is at home. We eventually went over a mountain pass, Kirkstone Pass. The hillsides were brownish, and there was a lot of scree. I would think there is enough rain here to keep the mountainsides in lush plant growth but I guess not. I thought maybe the sheep eat the trees before they can grow, but S later told me it's because of the soil, it has too much peat content and few things will grow in it. It was still very beautiful. The pass came down next to a big reservoir, like they have in Tennessee along US-129 after you come down from Deal's Gap.
The roads are narrow and many of them have either a stone wall or a hedge, or both, instead of a shoulder. So there's no room for error and you can't see around the curves. At least without the deep gravel shoulders, there's not much gravel in the turns. There are some pretty big trucks (aka lorries) running over those little roads. We passed some gypsy caravans, with huge, ornate, barrel-shaped wagons being drawn by big horses.
Whenever there's an obstacle, like a long light, or the rolling roadblock of gypsy wagons, the bikes are allowed to split lanes and run up alongside the cars and get to the front. Not only do the car drivers not pull out their guns and shoot you, they don't even squeeze you out. Some of them even move over and make room for you to come into their lane if need be.
S took me, and the four children, and the dog for a walk. He says they have a new law that allows people to walk on private land as long as they behave themselves, so we climbed over a gate and walked through a field. There are nice woods and fields very near to his house.
The house itself is very tall and narrow. It's at the end of a row of townhouses, which are all three stories high and squeezed up against each other. They have no yards to speak of, here, the stoop goes right down to the sidewalk and there's a little walled patio at the back of each house. This house goes all the way to the back of the property, though, so it doesn't have that type of back patio, and from the second floor bathroom window I can see over the walls to see what's in the neighbor's patios. Clotheslines and outdoor storage, mostly. This house is on the end, and it has a little garden on the side that doesn't have another house. There's a walled area where the bikes and the car can be parked, and a little landscaped area along the front. It's a very large house for England, with five or six bedrooms, two bathrooms, a big formal dining room, etc. Most of the bedrooms are pretty small, but the kitchen is big and bright. There's a cellar with stone walls and very high ceilings. He says that when the house was built, servants probably slept down there. It's larger than my house, but smaller than the average newly-built house in the USA. It's about 100 years old.
Tonight we went out to the pub, and I tried some bitters. I didn't like it any better than any other beer I've ever had. I also had yorkshire pudding, and a jam roly poly with hot custard. Both of these were very good. The children stayed home, with Karen's mother (who lives here with them) and were in bed when we returned.
Tomorrow we will ride south to Robert's house in Cambridge.
