Travel Tales from the UK

[Charlie G]

I had started a thread in the off topic section of the forum earlier in August about a trip I was planning to the Uk and I thought my travel tales might be better told in the Stories section. So here we go..

I arrived in London around 6:00 am with a back pack on and dead tired from a relitively smooth series of flights lasting 17hours. My daughter gave me instructions to take the "Heathrow Connection" to Paddington Station where she would meet me at a reasonable hour for breakfast at a cafe called "Sloe". As fate would have it, me armed with all my computer print outs from home can't seem to find these instructions as to which train or where exactly this cafe is. I go to the counter of the train service at the air port and ask for a ticket. He askes first class? I say yes,desperate.... but I'm really don't care how I get I just want get there and now! 28 pounds later ( holy Cr#p!) I follow someone who said he was also going to Paddington station.

I get to Paddington,an interesting place but no pictures as they are buried in the backpack and I'm semi conscious, like walking dead. Now I'm thinking this cafe is outside and I do remember it has an escalator leading down to the cafe, so I walk around, outside Paddington station, in the rain looking for this place. I did this for about what seemed like 3 hours (really 1 1/2hrs) and now I'm dieing. Finally I ask I younger girl who seems to be some kind of door person for some business where "Sloe Cafe" is. "Inside Paddington Station" she says "and upstairs." I'm feeling alot of things about now, none of which are good..

In the cafe I order some food from a patient Canadian who is working on his masters in London and works as a waiter in the Sloe Cafe. Five minutes later in pops my daughter. After breakfast I insist that she guide me to her place as one would drag a sleepy 4 year old home from grandma's house. Sleep.................




My daughter, her spouse and I in a pub in London having my first brew, the day I arrived.





A little path on the edge of some no name park.

I rested up alittle and on Friday ( I arrived on Thursday) we (the 3 of us) headed to Cornwall, via train, to visit with the daughters Mother-in-law and see the wonders of South West England, until monday afternoon when I fly to Glasglow. I had hoped to meet Agemax on this stage of the journey, but at this point I was a the mercy of other for transport and it didn't happen. One of my regrets....



Fowey, Cornwall


More of the Fowey habor



Looking south towar St. Austel ( they brew beer there)











And the sun came out! Well kind of.... More another day.

cg

[Charlie G]

Yes , where was I ? I know this isn't GS or motorcycle related, but I'm getting there. I couldn't decide where, or if I should even post but here it is...let me know.





Fowey dock area ( quey?)

I spent from Friday afternoon till Monday afternoon here and the days consisted of finding somewhere to eat, rest, eat again, rest or walk, eat and or go to a pub. Rough I know, but as a tourist I felt obliged. Really nice place and full of tourists, but great.



Looking for Ice cream on the streets of Fowey



At rest, enjoying the harbour



Learning the Cornish way to eat scones, clotted cream and jam. (I prefer the Devon method.



A relic of a castle (St. Katherines)



sun



My first English GS



I walked by this bike over the course of two days trying to find someone who owned it. No luck. I wish I would have brought the GSR cards I made up. It looked relly nice. Note the Katana owners club sticker on the front fender. Next it's a flight to Glasglow, car rental and catch a ferry to Northern Ireland for the Ulster Grand Prix.......another day.

cg

[pete]

Thanks for sharing Charlie, looks like your daughter and her other half were real happy to see you too

I wouldn't mind getting over there one day, would love to wander through some of those old castle's with the secret passages and have a look at the IOM TT as well.

Keep posting, I'm watching

[azr]

Photos are fantastic Charlie, it must have been a heck of a trip. Really has me itching to go see my roots. Thanks for sharing, and what GSR cards did you make up?

[salty_monk]

Unfortunately they never let you down the secret passages....

Glad you had fun Charlie!

[pete]

Unfortunately they never let you down the secret passages....

Glad you had fun Charlie!

Really? Bugger, that's the whole point!

[Charlie G]

Photos are fantastic Charlie, it must have been a heck of a trip. Really has me itching to go see my roots. Thanks for sharing, and what GSR cards did you make up?

On the GSR home page there is a section called GS Goodies. You copy to file a make business cards. Here's a copy of the logo.

Just add your info....

Several people carry them on the forum and leave them on GS's the see.

cg

[salty_monk]

Really? Bugger, that's the whole point!

Yep... Cr*p isn't it. If you're lucky you might see the entrance.

Apparently all the old tunnels etc are far too unstable for ordinary plebs like us

[hampshirehog]

I wouldn't mind getting over there one day, would love to wander through some of those old castle's with the secret passages and have a look at the IOM TT as well.

If you make it over here Pete you'll be allowed to walk down the passage in Portsmouth that your great, great (maybe add a few greats) grandfather walked down (it's the doorway on the extreme right, only just in shot).

It's where all the criminals sentenced to transportation passed through just before they were loaded on to the ships at Portsmouth harbour.

Nowadays it's only used by lasses heading to the beach for a spot of sunbathing.

[pete]

Yep... Cr*p isn't it. If you're lucky you might see the entrance.

Apparently all the old tunnels etc are far too unstable for ordinary plebs like us

Typical

My wife was over there as a kid and got to look at some, but I think that may have been in Scotland rather than England...

If you make it over here Pete you'll be allowed to walk down the passage in Portsmouth that your great, great (maybe add a few greats) grandfather walked down (it's the doorway on the extreme right, only just in shot).

It's where all the criminals sentenced to transportation passed through just before they were loaded on to the ships at Portsmouth harbour.

Nowadays it's only used by lasses heading to the beach for a spot of sunbathing.

Yeah great, here follow this tunnel to see your heritage, just jump on that hulk in the harbour there... haha

[Buffalo Bill]

Are we there yet?

“Next it's a flight to Glasglow, car rental and catch a ferry to Northern Ireland for the Ulster Grand Prix......” cg

I'm ready to hear all about that!

Bill

[Charlie G]

Yes, this is Cornwall. We had some time to kill on the way to the airport at Newquey, so we took a little tour. Those are surfers out there. I've lived on both the Southern California and North Carloina coasts where surfing is a common activity, but on the West coast of England?





I like the contrast between the grain fields and the beach Vacation rentals in this shot. This could have been taken somewhere between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz, California, only it would have artichokes growing. Nice sunny day for a flight.

I can't remember the exact time the flight took off but I remember I was to pick up a rental car at the Glasglow airport about 6:00pm so that I could drive south to Carinryan, where I would sleep the night at a B&B, and on in the morning to catch the ferry to Northern Ireland at 7:30am. In my last few days at home I started to dread the possibility of driving through the congested city area north of Wales. I was getting a bit nervious about driving on the left hand side, strange road signs and the possibility of being totally worn out when I got to Northern Ireland so I opted to take this flight to save time and alow more leisure time. It really was quite reasonable cost wise.

The plane was one of those commuter tubro props. One row on the left and two rows on the right maybe seats 75 people (?). Maybe a Braszilia or something like that. It took and I was content watching the west coast of England off to my right, but after an hour or so I feel the plane make a slight bank toward the left and slowly lose elevation. I think thats odd, a bit soon to be preparing for the decent to Glasglow. My ears are popping, no big deal I deal with everytime I drive into Oregon. My ankle are getting cold......I just don't have any body fat and get cold easily. After about 5 minutes the stewartess comes on the PA and announces we are making an emergency landing in Dublin due to one of the windows cracking. She states that we shouldn't be surprised if there are emergency personel to greet us at the airport as it is standard procedure. Hummmmm? We land to 6 fire trucks, 2 ambulences and two Gaurdia (Police) all with lights flashing and sirens blareing. I was pretty calm but the guy across the isle was freaked.



I don't know if you can see the very cracked front windsheild on the aircraft.





I really loved the red portion of ths sign. I was talking with one of the many very nice airport people who were taking care of our needs while waiting 4 plus hours for another plane and he said that the lower portion was somewhat embarrisment to them. He saw me and a few others taking pictures of it and said it would be removed tomarrow. I had a chuckle......I love the Irish!

The staff helped us call whom ever gave sandwiches and drinks and were great. On the final leg of the flight to Glasglow they offered free drinks, beer wine a shot or two. I had to decline as I was about to hire a car in a strange town, at midnight, spend three hours driving back and forth up and down the Scottish coast looking for the Cairnryan and my Bed and Breakfast. I don't know how I got there. I really got turned around and wound up getting to the B&B at 3:30am. I woke up at 6:30 am, shoved some ceral down my throat, thanked the hostess at the B&B for the Bacon and toast to go ( Ham on toast sandwich). I caught the ferry to N.I.










There, at the ferry terminal in Northern Ireland was Johnny Drummond waiting to rescue this half awake, road weary Californian with the offer of conversation and a place to rest. Later for now.

cg

[pete]

This is great stuff Charlie, thanks again for sharing.

Nothing like a bit of drama to liven things up hey? That cracked windscreen looks rather freaky to me...

And Johnny, great to see you meeting up with Charlie to welcome him and steer him straight too, that would definitely make things a hell of a lot easier when arriving in a strange place...

[hampshirehog]

That's the cheap and nasty Ryanair for you. Bet she never told you about the big crack halfway along the fuselage!

The Fistral Beach at Newquay is a great surfing beach - one of the best in the world and they'll have a round of the world championships there every year. I've been surfing there loads of times. Like even the very best I fall off a lot - just I usually fall of a bit sooner than most..

Agree 100% about that sign. Like it's ok to dump your rubbish somewhere else then, as long as there isn't a sign saying not to. Top bit made me chuckle as well; you are a survivor. Maybe they weren't expecting that.

[spyug]

Some lovely shots there sir. Thanks for sharing.

I'd forgotten how green and lush old Blighty looks. Someday I'd like to see it all again.

Cheers,
Spyug