I just mean North America. There's nothing else new about me. I could even be accused of being a little backwards at time. Anyhow, I have just make a few posts lately and realized I hadn't even been around here for a few years. My interests come and go all the time, some merely sitting on the back of the stove, so to speak. I thought I'd mention here for your amusement something we all did year before last.
Last year we sponsored a wedding, my daughter. The year before last we went to the U.K.
That was my first visit to the U.K., though not my first trip overseas. That was when I went to Germany with the army. It was a wonderful trip and one that we would do all over again at the drop of a hat. It had its moments.
We spent a week in London, then the rest of the time trying to find our way to The North. London was great. Getting around was easy once we got used to the Underground, or the U-Bahn, as I kept wanting to call it. Nothing very bushcrafty in London but I at last had a chance to visit Silverman's. I even had a long chat with Mr. Silverman himself. Small store, though. My wife and daughter visited Harrod's while I was doing that. Toured Buckingham Palace and as we left London, Windsor Castle. Both were nice places.
We picked up our rental car at the airport. That's when the real adventure began. I had driven on the left in other places, so after the first, oh, half-mile or so, I was fine. But the car, a VW something-or-other had a six-speed manual transmission/gearbox, which was more gears than I knew what to do with, but I guess it's nice to have some extra ones. I had no trouble changing gears with my left hand but it felt awkward steering with my right hand. Odd. But I managed to get through the experience with no damage and not too much embarrassment.
All the places we stayed were charming, especially in Cropredy. We fortunately missed the music festival but the sight of all the beer kegs was worrisome at first. One of our surprises was the canals. I'm sure we knew about them but who talks about canals? We also visited Sulgrave Manor, near Banbury, because that's were some of my wife's ancestors came from. We drove the A69, I think it was, and made a side trip to see part of Hadrian's Wall.
Naturally we finished the trip in Edinburgh where we caught the tattoo. I didn't drive in London but I did in Edinburgh. We weren't there long enough to push our luck too far and I never got lost. I did other places but not there. In Scotland we stayed in Dunfermline (in the kindom of Fife, as an acquaintance used to insist it was), so we were able to visit the tomb of Robert the Bruce, which was not something we had planned to do. But visiting the graveyard is something I do when I visit my hometown, too. I had a lot of trouble understanding people in England, but not in Scotland.
Nothing particularly bushcrafty about the trip except for map reading and route finding and I had some problems there but only because of the roundabouts.
Last year we sponsored a wedding, my daughter. The year before last we went to the U.K.
That was my first visit to the U.K., though not my first trip overseas. That was when I went to Germany with the army. It was a wonderful trip and one that we would do all over again at the drop of a hat. It had its moments.
We spent a week in London, then the rest of the time trying to find our way to The North. London was great. Getting around was easy once we got used to the Underground, or the U-Bahn, as I kept wanting to call it. Nothing very bushcrafty in London but I at last had a chance to visit Silverman's. I even had a long chat with Mr. Silverman himself. Small store, though. My wife and daughter visited Harrod's while I was doing that. Toured Buckingham Palace and as we left London, Windsor Castle. Both were nice places.
We picked up our rental car at the airport. That's when the real adventure began. I had driven on the left in other places, so after the first, oh, half-mile or so, I was fine. But the car, a VW something-or-other had a six-speed manual transmission/gearbox, which was more gears than I knew what to do with, but I guess it's nice to have some extra ones. I had no trouble changing gears with my left hand but it felt awkward steering with my right hand. Odd. But I managed to get through the experience with no damage and not too much embarrassment.
All the places we stayed were charming, especially in Cropredy. We fortunately missed the music festival but the sight of all the beer kegs was worrisome at first. One of our surprises was the canals. I'm sure we knew about them but who talks about canals? We also visited Sulgrave Manor, near Banbury, because that's were some of my wife's ancestors came from. We drove the A69, I think it was, and made a side trip to see part of Hadrian's Wall.
Naturally we finished the trip in Edinburgh where we caught the tattoo. I didn't drive in London but I did in Edinburgh. We weren't there long enough to push our luck too far and I never got lost. I did other places but not there. In Scotland we stayed in Dunfermline (in the kindom of Fife, as an acquaintance used to insist it was), so we were able to visit the tomb of Robert the Bruce, which was not something we had planned to do. But visiting the graveyard is something I do when I visit my hometown, too. I had a lot of trouble understanding people in England, but not in Scotland.
Nothing particularly bushcrafty about the trip except for map reading and route finding and I had some problems there but only because of the roundabouts.
