Hey, howdy!
When October was over and November started, it was time for one more month’s replace on my travels. I stayed relatively busy for many of November, although, so that is extra of an October and November abstract. When you didn’t learn the final one or don’t bear in mind, I’m learning at Westfield Home in Cambridge and travelling as a lot as I probably can for the time I’ve right here.
I’ve been right here lengthy sufficient to alter my spellcheck to British English, so get pleasure from phrases like artefact and organise 😉
On 15 October, I had my most stress-free journey, one organised by Westfield Home – so I didn’t have to fret about sorting my very own transportation or something! This was a day journey from Cambridge to Stonehenge and Bathtub, each of which have unbelievable histories.
After leaving Cambridge by tour bus at round 07:45, we bought to Stonehenge round 11:15. Stonehenge, in fact, is a monument with the present stones arrange round 2500BC, however with pits and a few archaeological finds courting again a lot additional. It was fascinating listening to in regards to the concepts as to why the monument exists, what it was for, and extra; all the pieces about it, in fact, being hypothesis primarily based on what archaeologists and historians can piece collectively from the numerous artefacts discovered. We spent a few hours at Stonehenge earlier than leaving for Bathtub. (No, I didn’t simply have a look at huge rocks for 2 hours – there’s additionally a museum.)
Bathtub is a gorgeous metropolis named and recognized primarily for being the positioning of among the most well-preserved unique Roman public baths on the earth, although it’s value noting that this doesn’t imply there’s a very great amount of unique Roman construction left. The town can also be fascinating for its design (a lot of town being designed and deliberate by a single architect) and newer historical past, together with well-known residents and frequenters akin to Jane Austen and Charles Dickens.
After a number of hours at Bathtub, we took the bus again to Cambridge and bought again to Westfield Home round 22:00.
Photograph by: CY-BY-SA
The next weekend was one other journey organised of the scholars, by the scholars, for the scholars (see, I’ve not turned utterly British) – Canterbury and Dover. On Friday the 20th, I bought out of sophistication within the afternoon and accomplished the hurried journey again to the dorm to pack earlier than dashing to metropolis centre to the prepare station for the three-hour trip to Canterbury.
The Canterbury journey consisted of myself, Simeon Klepac (a Valpo buddy), Moira (a Valpo buddy who is definitely learning in Eire this semester however came visiting to hitch us for the weekend), and 6 different college students from Westfield Home. After dropping our luggage off at our hostel in Canterbury, we had dinner at a wonderful little restaurant on the town. I realise you’ve by no means seen images of the opposite individuals I’m learning with, so right here’s that specific group of us:
(Clockwise, beginning on the individual with the digital camera: Moira, Camille, Jillian, Joshua, Jackson, Gracie, Ellie, Bekki, Simeon)
Photograph by: CY-BY-SA
After night time’s sleep on the hostel, we took a bus the following morning out to Dover, a city instantly on the English Channel and recognized for its chalk cliffs. We visited the water very first thing so we might all contact the English Channel (as a result of you may’t go to a coastal metropolis and never contact the water), then did a pleasant hike alongside the highest of the cliffs earlier than climbing down a steep switchback path to the underside of the cliffs. The climate was downright terrible, blowing rain at us just about horizontally and making simply conserving our eyes open fairly the problem! On the backside of the cliff face, although, the wind and rain have been much less and I used to be capable of get some good images of the cliffs. After hanging out on the backside of the cliffs for some time, we made the arduous journey again to the highest and hiked again alongside the very moist footpath (once more in driving rain) into town of Dover. After getting a fast lunch at a café on the town, we cut up up – some individuals stayed on the town to browse the retailers, and the extra fascinating of us went to the Dover Fort, an superior fortress at which we spent as a lot time as doable earlier than we needed to head again to metropolis centre for the bus again to Canterbury, from the place some individuals would choose up their luggage from the hostel (they’d saved them in lockers for the day) and we’d depart again to Cambridge.
The lockers ended up being a relatively enjoyable story! Apparently, Simeon (who had been tasked with stuffing all the luggage doable into one locker) did too good a job packing the locker tight, and it wouldn’t open once more. The attendant on the entrance desk of the hostel tried for a very long time to get it open, however to no avail. After fairly a while ready, we bought good news: the hostel supervisor had authorized using such instruments as a hammer or crow bar to open the locker. A number of of my buddies rushed all the way down to the locker room to look at as Simeon broke into the locker, and from upstairs the remainder of us heard a “pop” and loud cheering. Our luggage have been again!
Presumably the locker was damaged, however hopefully they’ll be capable of get it repaired and it received’t be an excessive amount of of an issue.
Photograph by: CY-BY-SA
That Tuesday night time, I discovered myself with an surprising conundrum: I had no plans for Wednesday. Now, that is pretty normal for me right here – I don’t have Wednesday courses most weeks, however everybody else does, so there aren’t journeys being deliberate and I find yourself doing issues like laundry and cleansing that day. That week, although, I needed to get out on Wednesday. So, I booked a prepare for early the following morning and charged my digital camera battery: it was time to go to Ely.
Ely is the following notable city North of Cambridge. It’s about quarter-hour away by prepare (not counting the 45-minute stroll to the prepare station from Westfield Home), which makes it an ideal place to go to on a random Wednesday. However why go to a city roughly the identical measurement as Logansport? (No offence to Logansport, in fact.)
First, it’s necessary to know that Cambridge has no cathedral – relatively, it has faculty chapels (many) and church buildings (additionally many). Chapels akin to these of the universities of Cambridge, although, can’t simply stand alone. They need to be headed by a cathedral. By some means, the cathedral that oversees your complete Cambridgeshire area (just like a county within the US) is within the tiny city of Ely, due to historical past I received’t get into, courting again to the 600s AD. It’s very fascinating! Anyway, the cathedral at Ely is likely one of the finest cathedrals in England, together with a really distinctive octagonal tower (constructed as a result of the unique sq. tower collapsed in 1322). I made it to the cathedral for the 7:30 morning prayer service, walked round city a bit, after which returned to the cathedral and stayed till after 15:00, admiring the constructing and studying about its historical past and the historical past of the area. After spending practically eight hours there, I made a decision Ely was my favorite cathedral of England.
Photograph by: CY-BY-SA
The following day was Thursday, and I as soon as once more didn’t have any courses, which made it an ideal day to go see a Shakespeare play (Macbeth) on the Globe in London with some buddies. Clearly, we’d booked tickets fairly a very long time prematurely, however the climate turned out completely – it was imagined to rain, nevertheless it held off your complete time we have been in London. This was good, as a result of the Globe has no roof over a lot of the space, and we had yard tickets – that’s, we have been standing (for your complete period of the play) proper by the stage – a really cool expertise!
The following weekend was lighter, with only a quick journey to London for a live performance for my World Music class. The weekend after that, although, included among the finest mountaineering England has given us but! On Friday, 3 November, I as soon as once more rushed again from courses to pack and get to the prepare station for a prepare to Windermere, in England’s Lake District.
Some background on trains in England. When travelling from Cambridge to London, the trains are just about completely dependable. Often, one can get tickets for a prepare instantly from Cambridge to King’s Cross in London, except monitor upkeep is being finished, during which case a part of the journey is perhaps by bus (however the further price is roofed by the prepare corporations). When travelling North, although, issues will be completely different. There are fewer rail strains and fewer trains (which means fewer occasions per day), so it’s practically all the time crucial to alter trains at the very least a few occasions. When reserving tickets on-line, the web site figures that each one out for you, so that you don’t have to determine time tables by yourself. For this journey, we had a prepare all the way down to London’s Euston station, then one to Lancaster, one other to Oxenholme, and a last one to Windermere. The issue with modifications like these is that, if one prepare is late, you danger lacking the following one.
Effectively, whereas we have been fortunately on the prepare between Euston and Lancaster, there was an announcement that the prepare can be terminating at Preston as an alternative of continuous to our cease on account of somebody being hit by a prepare earlier that day. We needed to watch for the following prepare to Lancaster, which made us miss the following trains. Fortunately, ours hadn’t been the final trains of the day, so we have been capable of get on later trains and make it to Windermere – later than anticipated, however nonetheless the identical day! Prepare hassle wasn’t over, although. Maintain that thought.
On Saturday, we took a bus out to Keswick, after which from there to a hike alongside the Cat’s Bells peaks. This was one of the best hike of England, I feel. The climate was fairly good, the views have been unbelievable, and it even had some sections the place we have been principally bouldering our approach up the rocky slopes.
After an almost 5 hour hike, we took a bus again to Keswick, the place Simeon and I went to the Derwent Pencil Museum. Keswick is the positioning of the world’s first-discovered graphite deposit (and stays one in all solely two recognized equally massive deposits of pure graphite), and thus can also be the placement of the invention of the graphite pencil. Naturally, we needed to go to. Seems, pencils have a relatively fascinating historical past! The Derwent pencil manufacturing facility (the place the museum was) additionally has very fascinating historical past, particularly round WWII, when the British authorities had them make some particular pencils for spies going to enemy areas. These ingenious No. 2 pencils had a graphite tip on one finish to make them appear to be a standard pencil, however inside they contained a map and a tiny compass. Fascinating!
That night, we went and visited Castlerigg, a stone circle just like Stonehenge, however older – round 4500 years previous, and displaying its age. After watching the sundown from there, we returned to Ambleside the place our hostel was.
Sunday, we began by heading out to Wray Fort, which is cool as a result of it’s a fortress. Solely the primary ground was open, and really empty, nevertheless it was nonetheless very neat! After travelling again to Windermere, we visited the Jetty Museum, which included plenty of historic boats from the one owned by Beatrix Potter (author of Peter Rabbit) round 1890 to Trimite, which set world information for its class in 1983 by going 144mph. (Sure, Britain makes use of MPH. In addition they use meters, toes, inches, litres, gallons, and Celsius. They kinda simply combine and match imperial and metric items every time they really feel prefer it.)
Lastly, it was time to return to Cambridge. This time, we have been imagined to have a barely slower journey, however it will have fewer modifications – a good commerce. We made it from Windermere to Oxenholme, and have been imagined to go from there to Birmingham to catch a prepare on to Cambridge. Nonetheless, as soon as once more, the prepare had a disruption. We needed to get off early, at Stafford, as a result of our prepare was going to circle round Birmingham on account of (as soon as once more) somebody being hit on the rails. We needed to wait fairly some time to catch the following prepare to Birmingham, and we knew time was operating out – the prepare we would have liked to catch from Birmingham can be the final one, and we’d solely have two minutes to alter trains. Even when operating at full pace by the station, two minutes shouldn’t be very a lot, so we missed the prepare. We needed to take the final prepare to London as an alternative, and even from there, there was no approach we’d make it to Cambridge earlier than round 5 within the morning. So, Simeon bought us an Uber from London, and we made it again to Westfield Home at round 1 within the morning – not horrible! That was definitely not essentially the most enjoyable night, however we made it. (I’m nonetheless engaged on getting a refund for the prepare tickets I didn’t use, so hopefully that’ll assist cowl the price of the Uber we needed to take.) (Edit: I ended up preventing the prepare firm, Avanti West Coast, over e mail for a full eight and a half months earlier than lastly getting my refund in June 2024 – first as a cheque I couldn’t deposit within the US, however lastly as a direct financial institution switch.)
It was a stunning weekend journey aside from the journey troubles, although, and was the primary place I bought to see fall colors this 12 months!
Photograph by: CY-BY-SA
