Header Issues

The header photo and the one above are photos from my first UK trip when I walked the Cotswolds area. They post properly. When I try to use one of my photos from my BC trip in the header it only goes 2/3rds of the way across. I tried a number of photos with the same result. Blogger is giving me a headache.

If anyone knows why (is it because I've done some editing to my BC photos (cropping, straightening etc)? please let me know.  Grrrrr! Anyhoo until I figure it out I'll be keeping my old header photo. It shows me swapping out suitcases when my pink/black flowery case had its wheels broken during the flight from Toronto to Halifax. Haven't even left the country yet and I'm spending $100+ on a new suitcase.

The photo in this post (previous old header photo) shows me taking a breather while wandering the streets around Piccadilly Station waiting for my train to Moreton on Marsh. I stowed my suitcase in one of those places that charges an arm and a leg for the service. It was worth it so I could see a little of London with just a big fat purse and a stuffed backpack! I've learned a lot since that little adventure :)

Here's the photo I tried to post as my header:
Is that not an amazing reflection? I take no credit - all credit goes to the creator!  And to the person working for the Dep't of Transportation who was smart enough to put a pull-off spot just there :) Of which there are not nearly enough!!

Glorious Fall

I have to remember to start heading out of the forest a lot earlier these days! 

The weather has been mild until the sun starts to set around 5pm...

Lily, keeping my lap warm.....much appreciated now that the 

temperature has dropped down to around 0c.

...while Luna prefers to wrap herself around my neck, keeping one paw

on my shoulder...

 

...is it any wonder my crochet projects have a cat hair or two in them?

Yes Luna, I know you're there! Are my ears clean?

Luna, being exasperating!

You know you're not supposed to be on top of the cupboards!

I had to get the stepladder to reach her.

Lily keeping me warm...

Photos from my last visit to the forest...

You'd think it was summer!

It was around 12 or 13c, warm enough for short sleeves

while hiking.

The sun sets quickly though as we head towards the shortest day of the year.

The colours have faded but the beauty remains...

Time to get to the truck!

I found a plant still blooming in the forest at the end of November. It took me 

awhile to identify but finally learned that it is dead nettle.

It's called "dead" nettle because it doesn't cause a rash 

like it's UK cousin - stinging nettle. 

The first 3 photos are of the dead variety, which is a very good thing

as I was handling it with my bare hands.

The next 3 are photos I took last year when Annie and I hiked Hadrian's Wall. 

Three UK trips - 3 encounters with stinging nettle. 

Will I ever learn?

Don't touch!!!

My encounter the first year trip I took walking through the Cotswolds

was the worst experience as I fell in a clump of stinging nettle

while backing up to take a photo! 

The stinging lasted several days.

  They are so pretty!! You just want to reach out and caress them!

Or at least this bumbling naturalist does.

How is the weather where you are? Any snow yet?

Foto Friday

 One year ago today...
I was writing blog posts about last year's trip walking from village to village in the Cotswolds area.

 And.... Kazi had just rescued 2 sassy little kittens. Look at Lily sticking out her tongue! Honestly, it's always hanging out just a tad. When I see her licking herself her tongue looks like it's a foot long! I think she must have been abandoned due to her deformity!

Here's a more recent photo of her letting it all hang out! And what's with those demon eyes? Should I be worried??

Cost of the Cotswolds (and Norwich)

A reader, Jan, asked me a couple of questions the other day - how much approximately did my hiking trip cost and how did I physically prepare ahead of time for the kilometres of daily walking?

1) I am somewhat ashamed to say I have never tallied up the costs but will do so today.  I told a friend yesterday it was somewhere between $3,000 and $5,000!! Great estimate eh?  So...here goes...bear in mind these costs are in Canadian dollars.

• Flight: $760 ( you can't seem to get a flight to the UK from Toronto for under $700 anymore)
• Robert Q: $126.81 (transportation from London to the airport in Toronto and return trip)
• Cotswold Walking Tour (guidebooks, accommodations, breakfast, daily transportation of luggage) $1331.48 (9 days)
• Hotel in London for 1 night - $44.11
• B&B for 3 nights in Norwich - $240
• Oyster Card (for the underground, buses) $46.33 (I still have the card with lots left of on it for my next trip)
• trains: $260 total (Heathrow to Paddington, Paddington to Moreton in Marsh, Bartley to London, London to Norwich, Norwich to Gatwick)

• RBC Travel Insurance - $58.00
• Airport Meals - $80.00 (bloody expensive!!)

• Spending Money: 300L -> $555.00 Canadian.   I came back with maybe 20L - I tried to use it up before I left. I found this amount more than adequate to cover all of my dinners and lunches and cream teas :) plus entrance fees into Sudeley Castle, Broadway Tower and several other places, one taxi,  souvenirs, local beer... 

For other shopping I used my Mastercard - I didn't go too wild as I had to fit everything I purchased into my suitcase. I spent $465 Cdn. using Mastercard and that includes the duty-free and most of that was Christmas gifts for Kazi and other members of my family.

So, for flight, Robert Q, accommodations, trains, Oyster card, Meals, insurance the trip cost was:
$3502 
(+ $465 on Mastercard for Christmas gifts)

Not as bad as I thought!! And well worth the enjoyment I had from the experience.

2) Physical preparation:
Something that would have helped - more hill climbing! It was a lot hillier than I expected but I managed. My strategy was to walk backwards when my muscles started screaming. Walking backwards uses different muscles and was sort of like taking a bit of a break. I would still have to take a breather now and again - even stopping for 2 minutes really helps in the middle of a long climb.

For at least 6 or 7 years I've had a stationary bike in the basement that I use quite faithfully (15km last night) and for the past 2 years I've used my real bike to ride to work and back daily (not in the winter though!!) I also joined two hiking clubs and still try to hike 3 times a week (though I won't hike when it's colder than -10c!!)

The most important bit of preparation was wearing my hiking boots on all of my hikes prior to leaving on my trip - these are the most important things you'll need. My feet are size 7.5 but my boots are size 8 allowing ever so important wiggle room for toes. Expensive hiking socks with liners will prevent blisters and every night I massaged a ton of lotion into my feet. Take  care of your feet and they will take care of you!

I've ordered a guide book for a couple of hikes in the East Anglia area which is where Norwich is. I might try organizing my own hiking trip and use just a larger backpack (no suitcase). I'd like to try that sort of a trip (where I carry everything I need with me) to see if I can do it before I attempt something huge like walking the Camino.

Well Jan I hope that answers your questions adequately. It's certainly an amazing way to see and experience a place and has whet my appetite for further adventures!

A Day with Annie and on to Norwich

It was wonderful meeting Annie. I've been following her blog and she's been following mine for several years. I watched her exciting journey as she went through school and then decided to move from Whitehorse (in Canada) to the UK!! After visiting I can understand the allure - I would love to live there myself! Oh...if only I could afford it!

Annie braved the highway to come all the way to Moreton-in-Marsh to pick me up - about a 2 hour drive I think. She didn't sleep much the night before. After a breakfast sandwich we got back on the road in her spiffy "new" car as I was spending the night at her and her cousin's place and then I was taking the train to London then onwards to Norwich.  We got a little confused with the roads on the way back and saw a bit of Oxford :) but otherwise the drive was brilliant - Annie is fast becoming a pro driving on the left side of the road. Me - I'd be terrified to even try!

We stopped here at Morrisons to get a few groceries - the prices were surprisingly low!

Look at the gorgeous sky! The clouds were spectacular and quite unusual!

Although only 2 hours from the Cotswolds the landscape and architecture were quite different. Instead of the golden limestone here everything is built with bricks.

And I didn't see any PALM TREES in the Cotswold villages. It still amazes me to see them! We were much closer to the southern coast of England and the effects of the gulf stream could be seen everywhere. By Annie's house there was a cage with a couple of guinea pigs - they stay outside year round!! I said - "what about when it snows?" Silly me - it doesn't snow!!

We were quite content to settle in for a relaxing tea-drinking afternoon and talked and talked and talked!! It was my first day NOT walking and I had woken up with the sniffles. I was happy to rest and I think Annie was happy to be safely back home after the busy highways!

IF ONLY I had room in my suitcase I would have brought home this pile of "cozy mysteries" but I had to settle for taking a photo instead and will borrow them from the library. Annie and I both love this genre of literature!

At dinner I treated Annie to a big meal from "The Carvery" at the local pub. It wasn't our first choice of meal but we discovered that on Sundays that is all that is available. So we filled up on roasted turkey, yorkshire pudding, tons of veg and potatoes and gravy - it was really really good! I haven't had yorkshire pudding since my mother was alive, so probably 20 years or more ago. I enjoyed it immensely! There was a game of trivia going on and we did our best :)  My brother Gord had suggested I try a pint of bitters while in England and I saw that this pub had bitters on tap so of course I sampled some. Found something else I like!! Thanks Gord!

We talked and talked some more after our dinner and we both encouraged each other with writing projects. Annie's done her part - posted to her blog a couple of times - but I'm still in the pre-writing stage with my plan. So much to get done before I can engage in a project. But someday...

The next morning we headed off to the train station and saw a few animals along the way :) A couple of cows having a walk along the side of the road and horses roaming freely in the forest. I missed seeing the pigs eating the acorns unfortunately!  Go HERE to see the pigs on Annie's blog!

It was sad to say goodbye to Annie knowing that we'd soon have the entire Atlantic Ocean between us but I had to carry on with the rest of my trip. I promise I'll come back!! (for a longer visit :)

 After a 2 hour train trip to London, 2 rides on the underground and another 2 1/2 hour train trip to Norwich, and a taxi to my B & B in the little village of Mulbarton it was time to settle into my room - "The African Room" for THREE NIGHTS!! What luxury not having to pack up my suitcase every night!  It sort of felt like I was in an entirely different country so the name of my room was fitting!

If I were to redo this trip I would have stayed in Norwich instead of Mulbarton. I had to take a bus into Norwich each day and there was no bus or other transportation to Dickleburgh which was south of Mulbarton and where I had hoped to visit as some of my ancestors were from there. There was a bus to a village near Dickleburgh from Norwich but by the time I would get back to Norwich the bus to Mulbarton was no longer running. So next time I go I'll stay in Norwich and won't have to worry about the rural transportation.

Not that I minded taking the bus into Norwich!! I loved it! It was a double decker bus so I sat on the 2nd floor right at the front and managed a few photos of the lovely views.

This is what I could see from the bathroom window (not a good photo, there's a bit of a reflection). It was a very rustic spot my B&B - they had dogs and a couple of horses. In fact they weren't even IN Mulbarton, they were outside of it so I had to walk a mile to the bus stop which seemed like nothing after my wanderings.

When I think of Norfolk County this is what I think of - the misty trees.

 My B & B - isn't it glorious? My room looked over the conservatory on the right.

This is on the way to the bus stop in the village.

And this is coming back - the B&B is to the right of the opening.

One night walking back from the bus stop I got a little lost (more about that later) and when I asked several people if they knew which road I needed to take to find Brick Kiln Lane which was the road the B&B was on they'd never heard of it!! This is a closeup of the street sign - it was falling over and a bit hidden.

They have poppies on this side of England too!

Getting closer to the village...

Lots more berries - yes, I sampled!

And public footpaths here too - believe me, I was tempted!!

This is a scarecrow in someone's garden - I don't know who the person is in the photo?? but I thought it was an original way of scaring off the birds :)

The village green in Mulbarton.

Unique style of homes - I really like them!

The Purple Line! That's my route.

 And off we go to Norwich!

Still a bit misty here and there...

And now we're in Norwich. I've asked the driver to tell me when we're in the "City Centre".

Which he did! I spent two days exploring Norwich - a village called "Old Catton" (my mother's maiden name), Norwich Cathedral, the outdoor market etc. Stay tuned...