Week 12: England — Chris Moore

We're packing up and leaving Scotland behind on Sunday morning. We're off to England for the rest of this leg of the trip.

Sunday

We loaded the car for what seems like the hundreth time. We hit the road towards Queesnbury. We're crashing there for a few nights to break up the trip South.

We stopped in a small Scottish town on the border called Gretna Green. Apparently that's where all the kids run off to get married young. I needed shoes so we were there to check out the outlets.

Just a few miles away from there, we stopped in Carlisle to see the town and Carlisle Castle. I enjoyed this one for two reasons. First, it was quiet. There were maybe ten people inside. Second, it was more of a defensive castle. Built for work.

We'd been driving in heavy rain all day during a Yellow Warning. That's the UK's way of identifying heavy rain. It's different from the normal rain.

Just before we entered the Yorkshires the skies cleared. Boy am I glad they did. We stopped along the highway to snap these pictures with my phone. Amazing.

Sun setting over green fields and stone walls

Our Airbnb in Queensbury was a bit off the beaten path. It did have this view and blazing fast fiber internet though.

Hills and fields beneath an overcast sky

Monday

A grocery run, school, and work.

Tuesday

Beatlemania! We drove over to Liverpool to see Penny Lane and all things Beatles.

Colorful sculpture outside a modern waterfront building

Children posing with the Beatles statues in Liverpool

Fountain and sculpture in a city courtyard

Liverpool street lined with ornate buildings

Colorful rows of sweets in a shop display

On the way back we stopped in Manchester to see John Rylands Library.

Vaulted stone passage inside a historic library

Child walking through an arched library corridor

Tall stone arches and windows inside the library

Stained-glass window beneath a vaulted ceiling

Circular stained-glass window in a vaulted ceiling

High vaulted reading room at the John Rylands Library

Red sandstone exterior of the John Rylands Library

John Rylands Library lettering on the building

Wednesday

Heading South to Henley-on-Thames. If we had known what we were in for we would have stayed there longer. Henley is a lovely little town with lots of pubs, parks, and transit.

First a stop in Oxford to see the colleges and the town.

Oxford's Radcliffe Camera viewed from above

Thursday

I took a little walk around Henley to explore. There's a dam and lock and a walking path where the tow path used to be.

Friday

School and work. We had dinner at a local pub.

Katharine, Ady, and I also went to explore England's wild Costcos.

Boxes of Tetley tea on a warehouse shelf

Saturday

We're taking the train in to London. Time to show Grammie the big city. We arrived at Paddington and had to take some pictures with bear himself.

We stopped to check out the toys at Hamley's. There were five floors of them. It was a nice break from the rain too.

We walked through Picadilly Circus to St. James Park. We'd hoped to go through the Horse Guard but recent protests had shut the gates.

We headed toward Buckingham Palace in hopes of hearing the guards yell at someone but no luck today.

Children looking through the railings at Buckingham Palace

We strolled up Whitehall in the pouring rain. Past Trafalgar Square and in to Covent Garden. We watched the street performer juggle knives on a ladder for a while.

Then we went down the 193 steps to the tube. Back to Henley for this tired and soggy crew.