Birdsong's Trip to the UK and Ireland

To find places to eat, Larry checked Yelp online. Dinner at the modern Pie and Ale—Larry ate kangaroo (a first) and I had a delicious duck confit.

Walking tour: “Cotton and Slavery.” Manchester was THE place that milled US cotton. The first mills were on the rivers that surround the city. Later, steam powered mills were built in the city. As Manchester is a little inland, cargo was transported on the river to Liverpool on the Atlantic coast. In 1776, they cut a canal, bypassing Liverpool and increasing profits. The steam powered cotton mill was invented around that same time. Still later the very first British railway (financed by Rothschild’s) was built from Liverpool to Manchester. Slavery thrived in Manchester. Rothschild’s helped finance slavery and slaves were approved as collateral. While slave ownership was outlawed early in England, many of the rich Brits owned foreign slave plantations, including Gladstone’s father. (Gladstone was anti-slavery.) When the U. S. Civil War broke out, Lincoln blockaded the South, ceasing the cotton and slavery trade with Manchester, causing “the Cotton Famine,” a devastating loss of the cotton milling business, putting many, many out of work. Knowing this, he wrote a letter saying he was sorry Manchester was suffering from the blockade. However, the citizens supported his anti-slavery stance. There is a statue to Lincoln in Manchester.

Took a city bus tour. Romans were the first to settle, briefly. Firsts for Manchester: First railway, first railway station, first factories. (Word origin manufacturing.) Perfect site for manufacturing: have plenty of water and coal.

Walked to the north section of Manchester, known for restaurants and pubs. Saturday night--Crowded! MANY smokers. Lots of litter on streets. Met a Brit couple from Preston on holiday, she a half-Indian doctor, he a dietician. Dinner at quiet, formal Market Restaurant with French cuisine. Yum!

Sept. 28 - Keswick

To Keswick in the Lake District, which has no train station. We took the train to Penrith, closest station. We had planned to take the bus to Keswick after getting off the train in Penrith, but didn’t know how long the wait was, so we took a taxi. The driver used to be in construction, but lost everything in 2008. He had been to the US, SF, Florida. (Lots of people had only been to Las Vegas!) Drive to Keswick (pronouncesd Kezzick) beautiful. Tall green mountains, no trees on them. Stone-walled pastures of sheep and cows. Few crops.

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B&B Abacourt was in a row of Georgian buildings (circa 1780). Very clean, 4 bedrooms, quiet, 2 blocks from the main square. Square is pedestrian-only, lined with shops and pubs on all sides. In the center of the square an Elizabethan-looking small building, Moot Hall that actually dated from medieval times is now the Tourist Center. We spent 4 nights, and ate and drank at most of the pubs. Every restaurant has multiple lamb dishes. The food was very good. First night at the Golden Lion met a fun young couple from Glasgow, Alan MacGregor and Lisa Flannigan. It wasn’t a long drive from Glasgow, and they were there just for the weekend. While Alan got refills at the bar, Lisa was telling me all about her nieces and nephews. I said, “ When are YOU going to have babies?” From the bar, Alan bellowed, “I heard that Gladys!” We are now friends on Facebook. Last night ate Indian (every town in UK has one or more.) The BEST Indian we have had in ages.

Took a tour around nearby Lake Derwentwater in a beautiful 1920’s boat, a wooden open launch. There are few buildings around the lake—quite unspoiled. They said the lake is shallow. Green mountains near and far, once again without trees.

Slate is very plentiful here, and buildings, roofs, and street stones made of it. Bridges have 2 X 3 foot cut slate stones. I could see the slate layers at the water line at the lake.

Hiked one hour on a paved road to the Stone Circle, older than Stonehenge. The stones were oblong but of varying size and unevenly cut, in a 500 ft. oblong circle. We were the ONLY ones at the site, a bowl of a meadow surrounded on all sides by green mountains. No tickets. No cafes (or restrooms!) only an ice cream truck. Such beautiful site. I was sorry it was party cloudy and feared photos would not capture the beauty—but good old iPhone camera did a great job.

Where to go next? When contemplating this question, a big issue was how many train changes were required. Train schedules: Larry used the DB Navigator app on the iPhone. He had used it previously on mainland Europe. It actually has all of Europe and the UK but not Ireland. For Ireland he used irishrail.ie or we checked at a rail station. Getting on and off trains with our bags was the most difficult thing we did. I wanted to go to Bath, but too many train changes. Another problem was Saturdays, when rooms booked up early. Checking the travel book, Shrewsbury sounded charming. Got a room.

Oct. 1 - Shrewsbury

Quaint town on a hill almost surrounded by river. We asked the young receptionist the history of the small hotel; she had no idea. Guess old buildings are nothing special when you live there. We later learned it was four old buildings joined together, one being the old Lion and Pheasant, the current name of the hotel. The Lion & Pheasant was an old coach house on the road to London, hence the English bridge close by. The inn had a nice little bar and great food.

Typically, when walking around I am constantly describing to Larry what the sights are. As we maneuver the twists and turns of an old town, what I call his “computer map brain” is constantly trying to envision the map of the place. New solution: Before we set out, take a photo of the Tourism’s city map on the iPhone, which he can see, when reversed - black background and white roads and street names. (His great idea!)

Shrewsbury is the City of Flowers—flower boxes and pots and beds. We visited an English garden in the park built in an old quarry.

The town is very near the border with Wales, and thus was the site of lots of conflict between Brits and Welch.

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