Your roving reporter
Hands up if you've been to England. Hands up if you've been to England and never left London. And, no, that doesn't mean a trip to Stonehenge. Tut, tut. Shame on you. Did you not know it's the rudest city in the world?! Well, don't tar us all with the same brush. I've said before that, as a general rule, people get friendlier the further north you travel. I'm glad to report that the same rule extends in to Scotland. The people in Edinburgh were falling over themselves to help you.
In the past I've had quite a few emails from people planning visits to England asking what they should do. I ask where they are staying and for how long and the answer is usually London for a couple of nights. In which case I always recommend the usual sights and a trip on the London Eye. Finishing with a request that they don't take their visit as meaning they've seen England. I know it's a small country and it must be easy to assume there's not much else to see. This isn't the case. The place is full of history. Okay, maybe only London offers the bright lights of a truly cosmopolitan city but there's more to a country than its capital.
In response to Monday's blog was this comment:
I can see this site spawning a new one: Jake's tour of britain - move over Billy Connolly !
I know I've been in trouble before for swaying way off topic, but a) I'm on a kind of sabbatical b) all the other Domino bloggers have stopped talking about Domino c) have you seen the weather outside. It's not often in England that you can use the phrase "it's red hot out there". I'm making the most of it and getting out on my bike as much as I can. And with Karen's six week summer holiday starting tomorrow you can bet I'll be getting out a lot more. While I'm out I will take as many photos as I can to share with you all. Hopefully you'll see there's more to England than London.
Today I am off on my bike to track down a local folklore legend. The Lambton Worm. Not quite up there with Robin Hood and King Arthur but it's a 20 mile round trip which is about all I can cope with at the moment. I'll leave you with the chorus from the The song of the Lambton Worm:
Noo lads, Aa'll haad me gob,
That's aall Aa knaa aboot the story
Of Sir John's clivvor job
Wi' the aaful Lambton Worm
Update: I've been and found where the old worm lives. In retrospect, maybe it's best that tourists stay in London. The hill's not as much a hill as it is a slag heap. I took some photos anyway...
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Jake,
keep THIS blogging up and I'm going to have to move my bookmark from "Dev" to "Tourism" or even "Miscellaneous, Esoterica & Uncategorisable"!
:o)
Keep cool Dady-o.
(-;
*Stopped* talking about Domino? Not too sure my blog was ever that relevant!!
ps: Jake, If you've got any recommendations for Glasgow, let me know as I arrive there in about 5 hours :-)
A small story :
I was in London for two nights in April (on my way to Peru!) which means we had one full day to explore. Did the "tour" - Harrods, Piccadilly Circus, Big Ben, B. Palace, London Eye, Tower o' London etc etc - guided by my girlfriend who has lived in London before. We got back to our hotel around 4ish and decided to have some kip as we were pretty jetlagged. Our plan was to wake about around 6:30 and then head off to Brick Lane to have some curry and beer. Next thing I know it's 10pm!! Bloody.
The next morning we were off to Madrid so I missed out on a night of Caffreys in an English pub. Next time.
Oh, and it was sunny the whole time we were there. I think this conception that London is rainy and miserable is lie to keep people away.
P.
I'm surprised to find, that typepad.com was NOT designed by you. Looks pretty jakeish ...
Either Mena and Ben Trott are codestore readers, or maybe there ARE other people out there, showing good taste. ;-)
You are in (well, near to) an area whose natural coastline is rivalled in England only by Cornwall. There is also a good number of castles, and while I agree with you that one can see too many castles, there is a good variety and Warkworth is great one to take kids to, and become a kid again yourself for that matter. Dunstanburgh is just a ruin but in a wonderful coastal setting and you'll fill your camera's memory there.
Also visit the Farne Islands and pay homage to Grace Darling.
Visting capital cities rarely gives one a representative feel for the country. I've worked in Moscow, Bangkok and Jakarta (putting in Domino) but I don't feel I've been to Russia, Thailand or Indonesia. In Jakarta the locals took me to Planet Hollywood!!
Farne Islands are on my list of places to go this summer. As is Holy Island and other parts of Northumbria. Just hope the sun returns by then, as it seems to have gone today. British summers - normally about a week long.
This reminds me of a trip I made to Land's End many years ago.
We caught the old bus from Penzance, the only passengers being my sister and I plus two American tourists.
The bus pulled into the parking lot - about 500metres and out of sight of the real "land's end". The other two asked the driver "When do you go back?" His reply: "I'm going to turn the bus around now and head back".
So, they hopped off, had a quick photo of themselves in front of the Land's End sign, and hopped straight back on.
On the other hand, my sister and I nearly got blown into the Atlantic by gale force winds, spoke to a potential suicide sitting on a cliff edge and saw a quaint Worzel Gummidge display!