Across the Pond

They say that, when travelling, you should expect the unexpected.  That's certainly been my experience so far on my England trip--both good and bad.

Fortunately, the bad has been fairly minimal.  But one bad thing directly affects my updates to this journal.  About the third day into our trip, the wireless feature on my laptop stopped working.  I've been able to send and receive emails from my phone, but it's next to impossible to send out longer messages like this. 

Because of that, these updates won't be as frequent as I'd hoped.  It'll depend on the availability of alternate delivery methods (right now, I'm at a post office that has computers with internet access).  I'm keeping a separate journal, so as time and circumstance allows, I'll post things from that.

The other bad thing has been the weather.  It's rained almost every day.  Today will be only the third sunny day we've had.  It's rained all the rest--not non-stop, but at least intermittent drizzle.  Some days, it has poured all day.

Still, we haven't let the rain get in the way of our plans.  The rain has been only a minor nuisance amid the series of extraordinary experiences we've had.

We began our trip in the Lake District, a beautiful, mountainous region in northwest England.  It offered quite a baptism of fire for me behind the wheel.  The roads were busy, narrow, and usually lined with stone walls.  I know I missed some glorious scenery because I needed to keep my eyes on the road!

We did have the opportunity to do some hiking, and from the tops of those mountains we had some glorious views.

While in northern England, we saw two of the oldest things we'll see on our trip: Hadrian's Wall and the Castlerigg Stone Circle.  The Wall was build in the early second century and its foundations are still standing in most places.  Steph took a picture of me, standing on the Wall (in the pouring rain).  I'll post it when I can.

The Castlerigg Stone Circle is even older--dated 2500 to 2000 BC.  It's an oval ring of stones erected in one of the most spectacular settings I could imagine--the top of a mountain, surrounded by even taller mountains.  Religious experiences in such a place wouldn't be hard to come by.

We've seen something like eight cathedrals (defining that term fairly loosely) during our visit so far.  Like Castelrigg, they certain inspire religious feelings.  The high, vaulting ceilings, the long naves leading to the high altar, the beautiful stained glass.  My personal favorite is in Durham, but there are plenty of others that would rank high on anyone's list.

One odd cathedral encounter: when we arrived at York Minster, they were laying sod in the nave!  That's right--grass in a church!  There was some sort of funraiser later in the week.  Very strange.

We're in London now.  We worshiped at Westminster Abbey, visited St. Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London.  Today, we're off to the Changing of the Guard. 

Each day has been full of exciting and interesting things.  I'll tell you about them when I can.  Now, if only I can figure out how to get my laptop onto the Internet again . . .