Travel Blog; July 13 to July 18, 2012

You may find this blog, like the flight from Melbourne to Manchester, rather long and tedious, but hopefully you will find that like the flight, the end result is worth the effort!
5.00pm, July 13, Helen and Phil came for a quick light snack (Auvergne omelette) before we headed to Melbourne Airport. We had already checked in “on-line’ and printed our boarding passes at home, so all we had to do at the airport was to check in the baggage. As we had already checked ourselves in, we went to the e-check-in queue, only to find it longer and slower than the ordinary check-in queue! So beware, do the on-line check in from home, but still queue in the ordinary line to get your baggage booked in!.
Time for a coffee and complete the green departure card, before farewells and going through the doors to the departure gates. However, somewhere between going through the doors, and reaching the passport control desk, Ann managed to lose her departure card—so a delay to the queue whilst she completed another! From there it just became the long tedious wait to get on the plane for the long tedious flight to Abu Dhabi. The in-flight entertainment was good—an excellent selection of classical music and what seemed like hundreds of films, tv programmes and the like all on demand. There was a good flight-path navigation system as well. We travelled almost the whole 14 hours in darkness, with the sun making a glorious entrance about 30 minute before we arrived. Looking down on Abu Dhabi it seemed a very desolate place, with a couple of emerald green golf courses visible in the otherwise barren brown landscape. There also appeared to be a lot of swamp-land which was being drained and/or built up in places preparatory to being developed into expensive water-side residential sites; and some already completed high-rise buildings of various architectural designs, including one which looked like a massive bodhran (Irish hand-drum) standing on its side. The airport terminal was much like any other but for the large rectangular glass capsules, like very oversized fish tanks, into each of which a dozen or so of those desperate for a smoke could go and puff away to their hearts delight. The other thing to note was that coffee left much to be desired! After about three hours, it was back through the screening process and boarding the plane for the next 8-hour leg to Manchester. A two-year old girl took a shine to me, and insisted on calling me ‘poppa’. Apparently her grandfather, who she was on her way to visit with her slightly older brother and her parents, also has a beard. Fortunately she did not discover me on the plane until we were nearly at Manchester, at which time she insisted on standing by my seat and jabbering in a totally incomprehensible way until everyone had to return to their own seats for the descent into Manchester. Apart from that, the flight was totally uneventful.
At Manchester we were advised to go through the e-passport exits for immigration control. But like the e-check in at Melbourne, that also proved to be a mistake. Admittedly the queue was shorter, but the process much slower. Most people did not know what to do, placed their passport the wrong way up in the scanner, and then had trouble standing still while the automatic camera took a picture for the computer to make a verifiable comparison. On average it took about 5 minutes per person, so the old traditional way of being checked by a real person seemed much more efficient, and the ordinary queue certainly moved along much faster. But at least it then shortened the time we had to wait for the baggage to come through on the carousel. After going through the ‘nothing to declare’ doors, we had to go the 13th (top level) of the car park to collect the hire car.
No dramas there, except that one of the lifts was not working and the two that were, were very slow. Now, I have heard it said that Manchester is one of the rainiest places in England, so we were very pleasantly surprised, when we got to the top of the car park, to find it being bathed in glorious afternoon sunshine! The collection of the car was very smooth, and the chap on duty very friendly and helpful. I paid using the travel-money card which worked well, and we headed for the Ramada hotel. It was easy enough to follow the route on the motorways, but once we were in the country lanes we got very lost. But we came across a shopping centre, where the locals were very friendly and helpful, and we were soon on our way again—but not before I tried to get some money from an ATM, which refused to process my card! We got to the Ramada at exactly the same time —to the second—as the bus carrying the Herne Bay trippers back from the flower show. So, we caught up with sister Brenda and brother-in-law Eddie at the hotel, and had a very enjoyable dinner that evening. But we were buggered by this time, and could not last the distance of the evening.
Saturday morning was crisp—about 16 degrees, —and sunny. We had a nice walk before a good breakfast, and were very impressed with the way the whole area had been developed, retaining a lot of woodland around what was otherwise a very large business park. After breakfast, the bus tour departed and we left to find the M6 motorway to go the Lake District. Once again we got hopelessly lost, and had to seek assistance from the girl managing the till in a small grocery shop we stumbled across by chance. She was very helpful, just like everyone we have met, and wrote out some very clear directions which took us through a couple of delightful villages, and eventually onto the M6. Two hours later we were in Ambleside, and checked into the Walmer Hotel.
The Walmer is very comfortable, and right in the centre of the town, so we could walk to everywhere—which we did. It is about 20 minutes to the actual lake (Windermere), but very well worth it. There is a lovely pub right on the lake side, with a large selection of local beers—several of which I tried, and found very much to my taste. This tasting in not pints of each, but the pubs offer small tastings of the local beers, of which there are many, as part of the tourist attraction. But I did have a full pint on one (Black Sheep Bitter) and we sat right on the bank of the lake, basking in lovely warm sun, for about an hour. Very nice. We also tried a pub right in the middle of Ambleside, which was very nice and atmospheric.
One thing very obvious in England just now is the wave of patriotic fervour sweeping the country, due in part to the Queen’s Jubilee, and in part to the Olympics. Every shop, pub and restaurant is bedecked with red, white and blue bunting and Union Jacks. There is so much about that I wondered whether a law had been passed making it compulsory. But no, I have been assured, it is all very willingly done on a purely voluntary basis.
On our last full day in the Lake District, we started, in bright sunshine, to drive across to the west coast by way of Keswick, Derwent Water, Buttemere, Crockermouth and Whitehaven. The scenery is stunning, and it was an extremely enjoyable drive. We went to St Bees, which has an interesting history. Very small now, it was once a thriving religious centre, being the first religious training college to be established after Oxford and Cambridge. Today it is noted for being the start of the ‘Coast to Coast Walk’. From St Bees, where it started to rain, we went to Ravenglass, a remarkable small fishing village which also boasts a Roman Bath House, and from there we headed through ever increasing rain, back to Ambleside by way of Coniston.
For dinner this night, as it was still raining, we went to the very nearest restaurant, where we had the best meal so far! (confit de canard for me)
Well, that concludes the first of the travel blogs. I shall resume (if any of you are still interested) after a few days at St Andrews.