Cirencester

I find myself in Cirencester, a town in the Cotswolds part of England. It has origins as an important Roman city, just after London. I am having a hard time pronouncing the town correctly, so I try to avoid saying it or devising round about ways of discussing this place when talking. It sounds something like siren-sester, but even that might be wrong in the emphasis. Oh well, it doesn't take away from the beauty of the place. You have the average market town parts and the Cotswolds stone buildings about that make this quaint town the "Capital of the Cotswolds." The Cotswolds encapsulates the essence of what a British country town is ideally in my mind. It is like a time capsule when wool was the chief economic engine.
My host is Neil, who is a singer/guitar player in a local band called The Layers, and is a science teacher, too. He also plays soccer (football, that is). He found me a pair of turf shoes my size and we played a scrimmage in a town nearby called Stroud. Later, we went to an open mike night at a local pub and he performed a set and then played with a few other acts. I got to go up and I actually sang backup on an R.E.M. song. What fun!

Pasties

When I first heard that when in Cornwall I had to try some pasties, I couldn't help but think of the tiny tassled nipple covers of certain scantilly clad erotic dancers.
But no, that is not what they are, or how they are pronounced, as I was ever so politely corrected. Pah/stee is more like it. It is a savory/sweet meal in a dough pouch with a meat, potatoes and onions. The dough would be pinched along the seam so that you can hold it with your fingers. The miners in the area used to eat them because they could hold them with their dirty hands and not worry about eating the thicker part of the crust.
Can I have a lamb and mint pah/stee, please mum?

Tintagel to Bradford-on-Avon

I got an early start from Truro with Stella fixing me a cup of tea and some toast. I was headed up to Tintagel to see the remains of the alleged castle that King Arthur was born in. More on that later.

I stopped in a few towns whilst in Cornwall (the British like the word whilst) to have a look around. They were fairly much carbon copies of each other, so I didn't stay too long. Quaint, yes. Different, no.

Now the village of Tintagel exists for no other reason other than to support an artificial King Arthur cheesy tourist industry. Quaint, yes. Different, no.

Do I sound like I'm getting an attitude? No, not me.


Anyway, the hike to Tintagel castle was worth it in the long run. There were spectacular views from the cliffs all around. Oh, and the castle ruins were pretty cool too.

The trail started with a sign that offered Land Rover shuttles down to the base of the cliffs where the climb up to the castle begins. At a touch over $3.50 each way, I snickered at all of able bodied folks who were on line waiting. But let me tell you, on the way back I gave it a second thought. I was wiped out when I got back to my car.
From there I headed back to Bath and after there was a "house meeting" for all of the residents of the place I was staying, Erich and Angelo (who gave up his room for me and is a couchsurfer himself) stayed out and went to Bradford-on-Avon and hung out. It was late at night and raining and everything was closed down. Last call was given and we watched the show of drunks stumble about. We started talking to some Bangladeshi guys who were closing up shop outside of their restaurant and one of them offered us some kind of crispy flat chip like food. I can't remember what it was called, but it was a nice gesture. We ate it while trying to avoid getting wet. We had fun walking around the town in the rain as it was virtually deserted. One might of thought we were drunk ourselves as we carried on along the empty storefronts and back alleys. I took some pics that came out cool and and Erich, who was a bit manic seemed like a ghost beginning to manifest itself in this plane.

A tour of Cornwall

Cornwall is a beautiful and rugged place. We drove all over the place today: Land's End, Pendeen, ate in and walked around Zennor, went swimming in Treen (I think it was in Treen, and yes, see previous post), Penzance and ended the day in Truro.

Let me just say that it was thrilling to drive today. The roads were a treat to drive, but at the same time it was absolutely crazy, curvey, nervey, narrow and often downright breathtaking.

I must admit there were times that I just closed my eyes and hoped that the car or the hedge next to me didn't meet up. I don't really know how I did it, but it was a thrill seeker's dream.

A Naturist's Beach!

Well, when in Rome, right?
'nuff said.

To Truro -- for real!

I couldn't sleep last night because Bath, for some reason, is inundated with seagulls that laugh like a schoolyard full of drunk children, if you can imagine that. I thought birds go to sleep at night, but these creatures seem to fly around and carry on at all times in the night.

I got up at 8 and headed out towards Truro, with one eye towards Cheddar and another one on Glastonbury. I still have some sites in Cheddar to see on the ticket I bought, but Glastonbury won out in the end. I walked around the ruined abbey where some poor monks ran a successful PR campaign and has anointed it the burial place for King Arthur and Queen Guinevere, turning it into a pilgrimage spot for the Arthur crowd. I then walked through as much of the town that my allotted 1 hour parking slip allowed. Glastonbury is full of tourists and resident hippies, goths and occult minded free spirits.

After that, I spent about 6 hours in 2 major traffic jams on the M5. One 25 mile stretch took 2 hrs to get through. Unfortunately, there were no viable workarounds.

I eventually made it to my hosts place. Stella packed a meal for a barbeque with some friends of hers. We went to a place along the beach and had kabobs, wine/beer, and other foods.

Afterwards, we went to Helston, where her friends lived, and went to a pub called the Blue Anchor Inn, which has been around in one form or another for a long time, but became a tavern in the 1500's. Thorold proudly showed me the place and bought me a beer brewed there called Spingo.

Uh, what day is it?

So, I'm driving down the M5 motorway down to Truro in Cornwall to my next host's place when there came a not so sudden realization that there is something a bit off about the whole situation.  I talked to my host the night before and made sure everything was still in order.  I got up this morning and headed to pick up my rental car around 10:30, just after my host Erich went to work-- just like we have discussed we would do many times.  It took a bit longer than I expected because the rental place in central Bath was actually 2 miles from the center of Bath and Olga walked with me there.  That was a good thing too, because I would have never found it.  I dropped Olga off afterwards, grabbed my bags and took off for Truro.  

I had the radio on as I was headed south and I heard the over-talkative DJ say something with the word Friday in it.  Strange, I thought, being that it was Saturday. So I just thought perhaps he was talking about something he did the day before, especially since I wasn't really paying attention.  

Then I heard the word Friday again, but again I didn't know what they were talking about.  But then I got to thinking about what day it really was. 

You see where this is going?

Erich had mentioned that he had to work on Saturday at 10 and he was free on Friday. Last night he said that he had to work the next morning at 10, so I got confused and thought that it was Saturday and just carried on with that day's plans.  Now with frantic doubt at hand, I called my next host to see what day I said I said I was coming.  Thank goodness she didn't answer right away.  I called Olga up and she said to come on back.  

I turned around and on my way back I stopped in a cheesy tourist town called Cheddar.  I took the tour of the Cheddar Gorge and caves and bought a small wheel of Cheddar to bring back for dinner.  

My mantra for tonight will be: Tomorrow is Saturday.  Tomorrow is Saturday.  Tomorrow is Saturday. 

Pub Quiz Questions

I will list the questions in the comment section.

York and the Yorkshire Moors

My car had a small chip as noted on the inspection sheet when I first picked it up. This morning, the chip turned into a 10 inch crack. I called the rental company and discussed it with them. They wanted me to get it fixed, but I think I will wait until I get back if it doesn't get bigger. On the way down to York on the A19, I spotted an American diner called the OK Diner. Intrigued and longing for something American, I decided to stop in and have a look and something sweet. To my surprise, there was no apple pie a la mode! So I had a fudge brownie sundae instead.
My hosts, Tanya and Huw, had an amazing location -- across the street from the York Minster. Well, I thought it was cool, but I think they are tired of the minster and the Catholic church next to it ringing dueling bells all the time. They had another couchsurfer from South Korea named Suhyeon who has been surfing across Asia and Europe for several months. Tanya and Huw assembled a picnic dinner and we went to a local park and had a nice spread.

Later that evening, we walked around the city and eventually made it to a pub with a quiz night. We met up with another guy named Dave, so we named our team Three Non-Daves. We ended up winning the pub quiz with 40 out of 50 questions correct. YEAH! That gave us coupons for a bunch of free beer. If I have time, I will post the questions in a comment.


Henry VIII was certainly a tempermental man. Here is an example of his opinion of the Church at the time






This is a view from one of the windows in the house.







Michael and I have been laughing at all of the To Let signs. He said that we should put an "i" in between them. Looks like someone heard us talking about it!





Walking around in York.
This is the view from my bedroom window.






This is a random ruined abbey or church along the road in the Yorkshire Moors. These ruins dot the land.






The Yorkshire Moors have a fantastic landscape. You can see for miles around you from the tops of the strange earth with deep cuts in the ground that have been carved away by the action of springs and time.




Legend has it that this depression was created by the devil when he scooped up the earth to throw at someone (can't remember the details, but that is the gist of it). I couldn't get a good picture of it because it was too big for a single picture to capture it, but it does look like someone tried to claw a handful of dirt from the ground.
I stopped by for a brief visit to Helmsley and Pickering, both quaint little market towns and ended up in Whitby by the seaside. Whitby is a fishing village, but is also known for a darker side. Apparently Dracula ended up here and so this is a big Goth tourist stop and hangout. Ghost tours, of course, abound. There were plenty of people there from all walks, but I didn't see any Goths hanging out in the dainty little tea rooms sipping a cup of Darjeeling. I escaped with getting a greasy fish & chips before hitting the road back to Newcastle.

Serendipty

The word serendipity has come up quite a few times this trip, to be sure. Wikipedia mentions that "Serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely."
Michael and I found it several times on our trip up to Scotland, from the Botanical Gardens, Rumbling Bridge - and even the very local pub in Glasgow. While a trip like this takes quite a bit of planning, it seems that it is the serendipitous finds that seem to be the most fun.

In another example of this is that while I am here in the UK to do some research for the story I am writing, one of my hosts in York happens to be an archaeologist and has a number of books that are exactly what I am looking for! I have such titles as The Making of the English Landscape, The History of the Countryside the classic history of Britain's landscape, flora and fauna, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, and The Place-Names of Roman Britain.
Perfect!

Trip to Edinburgh

Michael and I set out for Edinburgh and after divining a little bit, we found our couchsurfing host's place. We left the car there and headed downtown for a walk along the Royal Mile. Over the next couple of days we hiked up Arthur's Seat, walked all over the city and drank a lot of beer. Last night we went to a few places, but ended up at a pub that had live folk music. The music wasn't much to talk about -in fact, we couldn't even hear it -- but it turned out to be a couchsurfing meeting place. I met some people from France, Canada, Germany, Poland, Portugal, and a few other places. Later, we walked home and ran into a guy in a kilt. Michael wanted me to ask him if he was a true Scotsman (which I was too embarrassed to do), so he asked. The man said yes, to which Michael asked him to prove it. Subsequently, the guy lifted up his kilt to reveal that he wasn't wearing any underwear (thus proving his authenticity). Michael said it was not legitimate because he could have worn a G-string since he didn't show us his naughty parts, but I saw enough to be convinced. At some point we came across the Heart of Midlothian, a spot along the sidewalk where Michael said he wanted to spit. Apparently people spit on it and we weren't sure why, but we were like, "When in Rome . . ." so we did. We weren't sure if it was for good luck for anyone or only Scots (and thus we were now doomed) or what, but later we looked it up and saw this bit of info about it.
We also did some more walking around through neighborhoods, took a doubledecker bus through Leith, and walked through botanical gardens.
The next day we got up and decided to take the long way home, heading over the Forth of Firth, looking at the car and rail bridges. We headed out to Loch Leven, stumbled upon a really cool area called the Rumbling Bridge, a town called Dollar (which I think has it's origins in a derivation of the French word for pain, not a currency that is presently having some pain), hung out in strange local bar in Glasgow, all before driving through to Carlisle and Hadrian's Wall country on the way home. This video is of a guy who looks like Elton John singing karaoke to a U2 song and a very drunk patron dancing. Michael was sure I was going to get pummeled if anyone figured out I was filming what was going on because this seemed like quite a rough place.

Poetry Night in Newcastle

My couchsurfing buddy Michael and I went into Newcastle for a night of poetry, music, and beer. We went to a pub that had an eclectic mix of things going on in different rooms or places about. Michael wanted to go tonight instead of heading up to Edinburgh because this was the last night of the poetry series for the year. We grabbed a bite to eat and drink and headed upstairs to listed to the readings. For me, it was more of a night of comedic poetry with some seriousness thrown in for good measure. There was some wacky folks who signed up to read. Many of the readers donned costumes to assume different roles. One woman put on an apron and scarf to look like country housewife, one Japanese man put on a biking outfit, and one strange young guy put on 70's style sunglasses and mustache that reminded me of Andy Kaufman's lounge act persona. One South African sounded like he had a professional voice, and when I talked to him later, it turns out that he was an actor and voice personality. One guy had someone play a didgeridoo in the background while he spoke.
During one break, we went outside and came upon some rowdy Morris Dancers having a grand time. There were some rather strange folks milling about and it was fun to watch. After the show we hung out in another room that had folk music playing with acoustic guitars, ukuleles, banjos and singing. The room next to us had accordions and concertinas among other sea shanty associated instruments and songs going on.
Afterwards, Michael showed me a few of the 8+ bridges that cross between Newcastle and Gateshead. One of them is a bridge that was just being completed and made out of bamboo!
Later, we went shopping to prepare for our trip to Edinburgh.

Driving in the UK

I just picked up my rental car in Newcastle. I even made it to my couchsurfing friend Michael's place with only one person honking at me. That was good considering last year's try at it. What made me a bit nervous was the pre-acceptance walk around the car: there were a few scuffs that were indicated on the car and when we looked at them, I could hardly find them. I was thinking if they look that hard, then I'm in trouble. We'll see.
Wish me luck!

Hadrian's Wall Walk

On to Hadrian's Wall. Last year I did a hike along the wall from Housted's Fort to Once Brewed. This year I took a bus to Once Brewed (yes, and there is a Twice Brewed, too!) and then went from Steel Rig to Gilsland and stayed at a B&B there. All-in-all, the walk was about 10 miles + another one to get to the B&B. The person at the information desk in Once Brewed said it would be a tough walk plus the fact that it will be windy. It was an arduous walk, indeed, but she hit it about the wind. It was really whipping around on the hilltops. The views were spectacular and I had a great time walking along, that is, until the end. At one point, I decided I had enough, and that was about 3 miles before the end. I met up with an older father and son duo and ended up walking with them until we got off the trail at an inn called Sampson's. They went in for a drink, but I pressed on, wanting to get there. I tried to call the place, but my phone didn't work in the area -how aggravating! After asking a few people where the place was, I found myself walking up a hill that took me away from the village and into the farmland. I kept asking myself, "Is this really the right way to go? You should have knocked on that last door to ask to use their phone." I pressed on a little more and couldn't see anything but farmland. Eventually, I saw a farmer drive up and check a bale of hey. I asked him about the place, which he knew of and offered me a ride there. How nice! Of course, I accepted gratefully.

My room is in a converted hay barn and is done up rather nicely. It has just enough space to have what you need. It has some of the original stone and dovetailing exposed, which looks cool.

I didn't order dinner ahead of time, thinking I'd either bring something or go into town. The host drove me to the Sampson Inn to eat and picked me up when I was done.

Note to self: What were you thinking taking your laptop on the hike? Whatever writing

you had to do could have waited. Idiot!

Catch-up post #4

Oh goodness, so much has happened. \i feel like i might be in confession. Forgive me ... for \i have not blogged in so many days.
First off, let me say that \i am on a foreign keyboard and \i keep ;making mistakes, so \i am not going to attempt to correct everyone one. \i f you notice, all of my \i's have this\ before them becuase the shift is smaller and the \ is where my pinky would normally hit it. All other mistakes are attributed to fatigue or strange keyboards. At this moment, \i don't care.#

We stayed in Efrat with the Bogner#s. David and his family were consumate hosts, making us feel like we were family. They fed us a lot of food and \i may have actually gained a few pounds that \i lost while \i was sick. We all actually went out on Saturday night like it was a double date without the kides! David has a sense of humor \i appreciate, so that was refreshing. \i played a little guitar with his son, who is an aspiring player/songwriter himself.
Without getting too much into politics, Efrat is a lovely \\jewish town that is like others in the area nestled between Arab villages. While there isn't much violence between them, there isn't a whole lot of love crossing lines. \this tension seems par for the course for the residents, but for me, it is an unfamiliar stress that weighs on my comfort level. Especially when travelling through. \it was, as \i was told, safe. And it probably was safer, than say, taking a leisurely stroll through Camden at 2 am. Still, \i would go back to visit.
From there, we went to visit our next hosts in Rehovot\; Jose. We first stopped by a clandestine bullet factory that was set up before/during the War of \independance. A kibbutz was set up where underneath the laundry about 30 feet below the ground was a bullet factory that operated for a few years with no one finding out. The folks who didn't know it was there were called "giraffes" because they can#t see what happens under their feet. After that, we stopped by a community center where \\jose worked. \he took us to his apartment and hung out for a while until his wife, Elizabeth, came home. We had pizza and then she made a pasta dinner for us.
The next day \i was leaving, s0 we spent the first part in Tel Aviv and \yaffo. The flight out of Ben Gurion to \heathrow was good and \i got to my |\hotel in \london fairly late. \it was a nice hotel\; The Thistle.
\i'm almost caught up, but \i'm a bit tired. \i just got back from a comedy club in \newcastle with my friend \michael. \the show was mostly funny as there were a bunch of different acts. The best was an ensemble group who where polishing up their act for the upcoming Fringe Festival in Edinburgh.
Tomorrow, \i am off early to walk along \hadrian's wall and end at a B&B in Gisland before coming back to South Shields, where \michael lives and where \i am now.
Cheers!

Jerusalem, pt 2; the Dead Sea and Ein Gedi

We made it back to Jerusalem and spent the day walking, walking, walking. Jaime was determined to leave no sidewalk untouched. We stopped by Hebrew U and visited her old dorm and stomping grounds and then went through other neighborhoods and looked at cool buildings and alleyways. By nightfall, the kids and I had enough and sat down at a cafe outside and ate dinner while Jaime walked around some more, taking pics and vids of whatever caught her eye. She then dragged us around some more places that she wanted to show us. We had enough, but she had a mission. Finally, we convinced her it was time to go home after going down Ben Yehuda street again. Taxi!

The next day we headed out for the Dead Sea and Ein Gedi. I probably don't have to mention this, but it was HOT! As we walked down to the water we passed these "abandoned" umbrellas and showers. I didn't think much of them, but Jaime asked someone what they were doing there and it turns out that the water level has dropped dramatically where they used to be where the shoreline was. Amazing. We all waded in the water, but didn't go floating along - I think mostly because we didn't want to deal with the oily water. We collected a bunch of crystalized or precipitated salt before leaving.

Ein Gedi is a nature preserve with waterfalls. We got there later in the day so we didn't have time to fully explore it. We did get to hang out at a waterfall for a while and that was enough for us.

As a bonus to the day, the kids got a camel ride!

Gideon: A Man, A Mission, A Mitzvah

Jaime lived in Netanya with her father briefly and to make a long story short, he is buried there. A few months back Jaime asked a question on a list-serve about where the cemetery is located, if for some chance we made it there. She got a few responses, but one extraordinary one stood out. It was from a British ex-pat named Gideon.

After finding out her father's name, Gideon found his way to the cemetery and asked the right people where his grave was and actually found it! He took some pictures and sent it to us by email and told us to look him up when we got there.

Jaime gave him a call and we picked him up at a bus station. He was a nice chap and was excited to show us to where the grave was. After exchanging each other's background information and histories, we arrived at the cemetery. It was a very hot day and the sun was directly overhead. We walked to a plot in the back near the opposite corner where we arrived. As we got there, Gideon was describing his experience looking for it, giving a matrix combination of where it could be: 3rd row, fourth grave, or 4th row, third...

We finally found it and tried to take some personal time alone to reflect when we were descended upon by a couple of guys who wanted to polish his gravestone. We told him no thanks but he kept on hounding us. I finally had to yell at him to get lost and he finally left -- only to come back later and start again.

We talked to the kids about their grandfather, took some pictures and video, and left some stones on the grave. Upon walking back to the car, Gideon told us that he was so proud he called his rabbi about what he did. We offered him a lift back, but he refused and hopped on a bus that magically appeared as we walked to the car. We were very thankful for his good deed; his mitzvah.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the ...

Funny? No. Not at least when you are going through it. Funny? Yes, because if you don't have a sense of humor, you will most likely self destruct in 30 seconds, or something like that.

The day started out good enough. Everyone was doing their own thing to get ready to leave our wonderful hosts. I heard some guys on the moshav having band practice, who I visited the day before, start up again. I got a chance to play guitar with the drummer who was good. I actually videoed them and will post it on the web for them to see.

We were going to stay in Me-Ammi, supposedly in the Haifa district, but a bit away from Haifa. I called our upcoming hosts the day before and told them that we couldn't make it last night because I was still too sick to travel, but I should be alright for the next day. They said to give them a call when we were about to get to them to give us directions. OK, no problem (a bit of foreshadowing there)

We went to Rosh Hanikra, a place on the Israeli-Lebanon border where grottoes have been etched into the limestone. There is a cable car that takes you down to the grottoes and a film about the history of the place.

We left there and headed towards Haifa, making a brief stop in Akko. We played musical parking locations before we decided that the vibe wasn't very comfortable, so we left for Haifa. I called our hosts for directions and that is where the story turns. The guy said that he thought we weren't coming, so they made plans and weren't even there.

What? I said that we were coming the next day. He said to give him a call when we were near. He said sorry, but ... next time.

Next time? Right! He didn't offer to help us find a place and basically wished us luck.

Jaime thought it wouldn't be such a problem to get a hotel room in Haifa, not withstanding the price. We went through all of the hotels and most of them were full. Of those that were not full, they were not only expensive, but roach ridden. Once place that we got a room, after taking time to find the building, walking up 4 flights of steps, entering a dingy room and looking around, Natalie opened a drawer and found a 3-inch roach. Ahhhhhh!

Did I mention that it was after 2 am now?

One more place to check in Haifa -- and it had rooms! We got there and it looked promising, except for the prostitutes in the nearby beach parking lot. After a half hour of chaotic activity in the lobby, she came out with a key! And we have garage parking. Premature elation.

The hotel complex was enormous, like a set of three tall office buildings. Once we figured out where the garage entrance was, we realized that it was under and for all the buildings. We didn't know which building we were in or where the elevator would be. We parked by one place and Jaime ran into the lobby to ask the clerk. He came with her and he took us to what he thought was the right building. Wrong. We went back to the first place and went up to the room, but the clerk couldn't get the key to work. He was apologetic and said he didn't know what to say but sorry. He found another room and when we got in, it looked good. That was until Jaime spotted something moving on the floor. A huge @#$%'n roach scrambling around. Shortly, Natalie spotted another ginormous roach scurrying about. If they were any bigger, they would need leashes and collars!

We were soon on to Netanya where our little adventure ends, peacefully. Not pleasantly, just peacefully. We found a perfect parking spot at the beach, and at 4:30, with the kids already asleep, we all slept in the car for a few hours.

Catch-Up Post #3

Our hosts in Qatzrin (Moshav Quidmat Tzvi) were amazing. Their hospitality has made a big impact on this trip. Shoshi and Yaacov, along with their kids accepted us in their family as if we had always been there.
In this picture, Yaakov is cooking pizzas in a fire burning stove. The night of our arrival he was throwing a party for his 12th grade geography students (something he will repeat a few times). The pizza was great and so was evening getting to know everyone.

Safed was an artists colony we walked around. It had a lot of beautiful doors and structures.










This is the ruins of a synagogue found in the ancient ruins of Qatzrin











Natalie with the River Jordan behind her







Sunset view outside the house we stayed in Qatzrin






We were invited to dinner at a friend's of our hosts who are Druze. Yaakov brought what I think was a 5 gallonish container of freshly milked mild and a huge bag of pears from his orchard peartrees. Here, Shoshi and Noah pose at the dinner spot. Dinner was sitting down on the floor cussions and served over several courses



Jamie and Yaacov







Our dinner hosts.









There were these men in another room playing shesbesh (backgammon). They were playing it so fast that they picked up the dice as fast as they rolled and moved. They were playing long before we got there and long after. After dinner I played to games with one of the "cocky" players. He beat me the first game, but I won the second game and he was shocked (or so I am led to believe). He wanted to play again, but we conveniently had to leave. I told him it is better we leave it tied.