We Wander — Mark & Meghan’s World Travels

We’ve covered a fair bit of ground since landing in the UK four nights ago. Be sure to check out our breadcrumb page to see the routes we’ve taken between our destinations. We’ve been tracking our routes using a handheld gps unit (Garmin eTrex Vista HCx). A big thank you to Meghan’s parents for giving it to us as a gift before we left! Figuring out how to upload from the gps unit to Google maps was a bit of a challenge, since the gps software is only Windows compatible. But I finally figured it out, and I’m looking forward to watching the line grow longer and longer…

We started our UK explorations by taking the train from Southampton to Salisbury, where we took a side trip to visit Stonehenge and Sarum Castle. Stonehenge was incredible, even from a distance. Unfortunately you are not allowed to walk amongst the stones — a path runs in a circle around the whole area. Apparently they used to allow visitors to walk through Stonehenge, and they even used to rent out pick-hammers so that you could chip off a piece of stone as a souvenir! I don’t know who ever thought that would be a good idea. Now you have to admire it from a distance. But even from far away the size and arrangement of the stones is impressive. After Stonehenge we visited Sarum Castle, which is actually just the ruins of a castle on top of a hill. We were treated to amazing views and some really interesting history as we walked around. Sarum Castle was built by William the Conqueror in 1069, but the site has indications of human inhabitation as far back as 3000 BC. That’s old. Really old.

We spent a night in Bath at a backpacker’s hostel, where we shared a room with the loudest snorer on earth. It was so loud that I ended up getting up at 4:00 am. Meghan met me in the common room just before 6:00 am, and loudly proclaimed that people like that should have to pay for private rooms. After a pretty awful breakfast, we set out to explore Bath, and our day improved immensely. Bath is a beautiful city. We didn’t even feel the need to pay for any of the tours or admissions, because it was very rewarding just to walk around and enjoy the streetscapes. I did, however, feel the need to pose next to the fashion museum wearing my crocs. I look good. I mean, really good.

We wandered around Bath for the day and then got on a bus for the trip to London. Since arriving in London we’ve been staying with Meghan’s sister Jessica and her fiancée Tim. They’ve been wonderful hosts. We got to meet some of their friends at a party on Friday, and we borrowed bikes to explore the south bank of the Thames. Yesterday we took a day trip to Brighton and spent the afternoon lying in the sun on the beach, eating fish and chips, and taking in the massive crowds. It seemed like half of London was at the beach for the day. The sheer number of people has impressed us here, both at the beach and in London too.

The crowds are much denser than we are used to in Canada, that’s for sure. It certainly makes the city feel alive and vibrant. I’ve also been impressed by the overall quality of the street performers here. On Friday we passed a saxophone quartet playing in a public square. Compare that to the buskers singing Bryan Adams on Sparks Street in Ottawa. I know which one I prefer…