We learned on the walking tour that the style of the S braces on Tudor houses and in particular the combining of them to make circle patterns originated in Shrewsbury.
Also, we had a Shrewsbury biscuit and it's nothing like what we think of them in NZ. The NZ ones are known as Jammy Dodgers here whereas the Shrewsbury biscuits are light shortbread type things with a hint of lemon, rose water and (in the one I had) caraway seeds. Much nicer!
A day trip to the seaside north of Liverpool. About 100 of these sculptures spread out over 3km.
A few months ago I had to swap my NZ licence for a UK one. During the swap they wouldn't recognise that my NZ one allowed me to drive a manual and so I was issued an automatic-only licence.
Today I sat and passed my manual practical test. They're pretty strict and I was nervous. The place I went to only has a 34% pass rate and I think I might not have passed if I'd not been so pally with the guy.
In other news, we've been looking at insurance for when we buy a campervan and are really struggling. A few of the places can't even start the first page of whatever form they're using because when they enter my birth date followed by my licence issue date they get a 'computer says no' and can't proceed. The forms have been designed on the assumption that you have to be 17+ when you get your full licence and I got mine when I was 15 😢
We'll figure something out eventually.
London this weekend. Caught up with Jo, Michael and Lilie (Sally's old workmate, current boss and their daughter respectively) for a couple of pub lunches and a walk along the Thames Path.
Here's a kid giving out high fives to people regardless of their ethnicity or religion.
Apparently we've bought a campervan! Has been an interesting couple of months .... the project I was working on got canned (my last day is the 31st of May) so we had to make some decisions. Damian had spent a lot of time researching campervans and with the Brexit uncertainty we decided buying one would give us options! So an early morning train ride to Somerset has resulted in us signing up for this little baby. Have delayed pick up until 31st of May and it'll need to be in storage as Manchester is too dangerous for such a precious beast.
As Sally mentioned we don't pick it up until 31st May but we'll spend a couple of nights in it down in Devon before returning to Manchester and putting it in storage. June is going to be full up with Megs and a couple of other friends visiting.
We're thinking we might take it for a run down near Toulouse in France for the first week of July to catch up with Tony and Trish who have been doing up a canal boat and should be puttering around in that region then.
Sally's cousin up in Linlithgow has recently bought a VW campervan so we might go do something with them near the end of July. There's also a vague plan to do a week in Germany at the end of August.
We have to be in our apartment until 24th July. We have no idea what Sally will do work-wise after May and my contract goes through to the end of September so we're thinking at this stage that if she doesn't find anything we'll live full time out of the van until we decide to chuck it all in and hit the road permanently.
We finally visited Manchester's Science and Industry Museum today. Lots of history of the cotton industry and steam trains.
We're in Prague! We went on a 4 hour electric bike tour today. Believe it or not neither of us had ever been on an e-bike before. Makes cycling hills easy work; will definitely have to get them when we return to Auckland and drop down to one car.
Aforementioned bikes outside the Prague Castle. 24°C and we're very thankful we didn't have to peddle much.
Beer is dangerously cheap here at £1.30/NZ$2.60 for 500ml served on premises and if you like pilsner it's the best you can get. Sally had a radler (which is effectively a shandy) and it was more expensive on account of the lemonade that was added.
Another cracking day today. Lots of walking. Watched the astronomical clock do its thing at midday, had goulash and dumplings for lunch, went up the funicular, lay around in a park, drank beer in a monastery and wandered back home again.
We're in Budapest!
St. Stephen's Basilica
Rainy this morning. We spent a LOT of time in the pinball museum (Flippermúzeum) which was a heap of fun.
We went for a nice 7km walk around Alderley Edge yesterday with Sally's workmate and husband (and dalmatian). There's some really lovely walks once you get out of the cities.
Morning folks. It's a long weekend here and we're about to head off to walk the Sandstone Trail. One of the nice aspects of hiking in England is that there's always a pub or BnB at the end of a day's walk. Very civilised.
One of the downsides is the weather; it's going to be raining all day tomorrow and perhaps Monday.
Today we start at Frodsham and end up in Tarporley where we'll be staying at The Swan.
We dawdled 23km in 6 hours. Fairly hilly to start with and mostly downhill into Tarporley. Lots of nice spring growth, nettles, badger setts, calves and birds.
Yesterday started with a little bit of rain and a run-in with a bull but the rain stopped and we took in some nice terrain including Beeston Castle. 16km and we stayed in the Bickerton Poacher.
Today was fairly fine and a lot flatter than the previous two days ending in a walk along a canal into Whitchurch and home. 21km.
We have the van!
First meal tuna and tomato pasta with Chapel Down bubbly at Lynton Campsite in Devon. We're here for two nights making sure everything works properly and will head north to Manchester on Monday.
This is such an awesome van.