Reposted on 2012-02-23 from defunct blog
Well I really
should have posted the photos of my UK travels earlier, but a
combination between uploading and downloading, and sorting them, and real life,
has delayed me doing this.
They are all here
But I will try and
give a bit of a story here to each of the 11 photo albums:
Photos from first
cycling attempt. Penzance to Cape Cornwall, Land's End
to St. Austell: 27-29 March 2005
- Just what it
says. I started out in Penzance, cycled to the youth hostel near Cape Cornwall,
where I met a couple of nice blokes from South
Africa working in London.
I also met a crazy man with a bicycle who could not stop talking. The next day
I cycled from Land's End to Truro,
about 40 miles. Then 20 miles later, in St. Austell, after I stopped for
lunch, my knee started to hurt. I decided to not risk damaging my knee, so I
returned to Taunton
to rest up (and see my doctor).
Photos from Taunton and Matt's music
video (Taunton & Minehead): 6-13 April 2005
- Mostly photos of
friends: Ann, Lou, Matt, James, Julia, Kay and Ed. I met Matt, Ed and Kay just
that week. Matt was down in Taunton
and Minehead filming a music video for a song he wrote and recorded.
Photos from St.
Austell to Liskeard: 15 April 2005
- After resting my
knee I decided to continue my cycling where I left off. I went the day before
to Truro (by
train) to spend the night at Ann's place during college. As I cycled from St.
Austell, I stopped at Lostwithiel and the ruins of Restorme for lunch. Then as
I was reaching my goal of getting at least as far as Liskeard (20 miles from St
Austell), I realised I should probably be off the road of heavy traffic. Next
thing I knew I was flat on the sidewalk pavement, my bicycle nearby, and blood
dripping from my face. With the help of some nearby people and good
looking medics (both the ambulance medics and the nurses at Liskeard emergency
hospital), I survived with only 5 stitches in my chin (along with a big scrap
om my right elbow). After that fun I decided to return to Ann in Truro, 40 miles away, as my place in Taunton
was no longer mine, and relatives near London
were several train changes away.
Photos from Truro, Exeter, London, and Byfleet: 16-23
April 2005
- After a good
rest and help from 'nurse' Annifer I decided to lend her my bicycle (until I
return to the UK),
and to backpack the rest of the way. So I headed to Byfleet (near Woking,
south-west of London)
to repack my stuff. On the way I decided to do the train change in Exeter, as I had not
really seen the city (despite being there a few time for work). On the list of
creepy things that happened to me: While I was taking a short rest break from
carrying my heavy pannier bags, near the Exeter train station (in the middle of
the day), I was hit on by a creepy man. Blatently hitting on me. I lied and
told him I was not travelling alone, had a girlfriend back in Canada, did not need his help with
my bags, and that I was late for my train (which at the time I was not sure
about). I said the last one when he asked if I'd ever thought of being with
another guy (yeah time to get outta there).
- After a couple
days with my cousins, the Seewooruttuns (in the last few photos), I went to London to see other cousins (Henry and Judy Rado), and
walked around London
for the last time (so far).
Photos from first
time in Kidderminster and from Manchester:
27 April - 5 May 2005
- Before Matt left
Taunton he told me if I was passing by Birmingham to stop at Kidderminster
and he'd put me up for a day or two. So when I changed to backpacking I thought
'I'll go to Kidderminster as my first stop'.
That's where I met Tom, another great guy and friend. I was in Kidderminster for about a week, having a great time with
Matt and Tom. However I wanted to continue to Scotland,
and when a filling fell out, I found out that Manchester had a Dental hospital. So I spent
a few days in Manchester,
having a good time, and got a temporary filling.
Photos from Edinburgh: 6-7 May 2005
- After Manchester, I went to Edinburgh,
and checked into a hostel suggested by someone at the hostel in Manchester. Boy was that a
great decision. McBackpacker's Hostels are the best for friendly atmosphere and
if you want to travel around Scotland
(as every 7th night in their hostels is free). I met a coupld girls that fist
day and we went out pubbing that night. The following night we tried to find
authentic Scotish live music, in the end we did a live music pub crawl (since
not much was had to drink and most places were cover). I also hiked around old
Edinburgh (Royal Mile), up Arthur's Seat, and through new Edinburgh (Princess Street).
All before getting ready for a McBackpacker's 7day tour of Scotland...
First half of
photos from McBackpackers 7 Day Tour of Scotland: 8-11 May 2005
Second half of
photos from McBackpackers 7 Day Tour of Scotland: 12-14 May 2005
- Well with over
340 photos of the trip, the full extent of the travel, and all the fun I
had, the photos had to be in 2 albums, and my description here is going to be
as short as possible - so ask me questions if you want to know more.
- DAY 1 Edinburgh to Inverness: Edinburgh, Pitlochry, Smallest distillery of
single malt (scotch) whisky in the world, Ruthven Barracks, Battle of
Culloden, Inverness, and the introduction of Ruby the inflatable sheep - out
mascott (along with other 'things' available in the men's toilets.
- DAY 2 Around Loch Ness: North shore
of Loch Ness, Urquhart castle, Fort Augustus
and Scottage heriatige centre, Swimming with Nessy.
- DAY 3 Inverness to Kyleakin: Looking for marine life, Fort
George across the bay, Rogie Falls,
Clear skys of Scotland (yes
you can sun tan in Scotland!),
Plockton, Kyleakin sunset.
- DAY 4 Isle of Skye: Portree, The Storr (read
the sign!), Duntulm castle, Old Scotish thatched houses, Beautiful sky over
Skye.
- DAY 5 Kyleakin to Oban: Elean Doan (Highlander) castle, Loch Scotland - opps Loch Gary, Ben Nevis (highest
point on the UK mainland -
no I did not climb it like I planned), Glencoe, Heather ale, West coast of Scotland,
Sunset in Oban.
- DAY 6 Oban day trip: Sea-safari, Old slate mines on Luing, Relaxing on Luing,
Cairn and standing stones near Kilmartin.
- DAY 7 Oban to Edinburgh (last day): Harry Cows
(pronounced coos), Cambel church, Rob Roy's grave and infromation centre,
William Wallace memorial at Sterling,
Farewell night in Edinburgh.
- After the fun
7day tour, I decided to finish going to John O'Groats, but needed some other
incentive. Aha, a day trip of the Orkney Islands
(59th parallel). So I coached (bussed) it up to Inverness
again. Then on to the desolate north-east of John O'Groats. And on to Orkney,
where it snowed briefly (in the middle of May). Some of the photos show the
wrecks of ships from WWI, after which the Churchill Causeways were built to
connect 4 of the islands to the mainland (Orkney Island) to stop surprise
attacts comming from the North Sea to the Atlantic (Scapa Flow). Stopped in the
main cities of Kirkwall and Stromness, as well as the Italian Church,
Skara Brae (one of the oldest know settlements in the north), and the Ring of
Brdgar. Ferry ride back to Scotland,
and photos of John O'Groats.
Photos from Glasgow, Cardiff, &
Good-bye to Ann in Truro:
19-26 May 2005
- After the
desolate, cold days of John O'Groats and Orkney (to off set the beautiful days
of the 7day tour), I went to rainy Glasgow,
where I met my Great Grandmother's first cousins (Walter and Alice Hamilton).
The next day I did a double-decker bus tour of Glasgow,
before returning to Kidderminster. However, my
reasons for going to Kidderminster were interupted, and I decided to postpone
the full second visit and say good-bye to Ann in Truro. On the way I stopped in Cardiff, and a side trip to my Grandparents friends,
the Puls (no photo) in Newport.
I enjoyed the last few days I spent with Ann and her pub mates, and the Cornish
coast.
Photos from Birmingham: 28-30 May 2005
- I promised Matt
that I would be back in Birmingham
for the end of May. After a fun weekend (with no sleep one night - long story),
I spent the rest of the week with Matt at Mark's place (the first photo is of
Mark). I had hoped to spend some time with Tom as well, but other things were
keeping him busy. Including working on the re-make of Eric Prydz's Call On Me
music video (for which I helped a little). My last week in Kidderminster
and Birmingham ended attending a Geri Haliwell
concert in Birmingham.
Photos of friends,
final farewell in Taunton:
7-9 June 2005
- My last few
days in the UK
were spent saying good-bye to all sorts of friends. Matt was one, as he moved
back to Minehead for the summer break. Also my ex-house mates - Hayden who
moved in just before I left, Spencer and Lindsay who have been in the house the
longest. And a few people I met while spending time with Matt. Then it was off
to Byfleet to pick up most of my stuff and come back to Canada.
Well that's about
it. There are plenty more stories, but those will come as asked, or more
importantly, in person :)
Repost comments (comments from 2012-02-23 on the reposting of this post):
The links to the photos have yet to be updated. Until then you can find all the photos here in different sets here (note that they are in the same order as above, just in less albums):
