Counting Sheep

Inn at Whitewell

The view out the window of my room at the Inn at Whitewell near Clitheroe on the edge of the Forest of Bowland.  It looks like it could have been an ad for butter.  You know, happy cows and all that. 

We were once driving around in the area 8 or 9 years ago and we turned a corner to find the inn with picnic tables out front (now gone), loads of people hanging around with dogs and babies and having a beer or a cider in the setting afternoon sun.  I vowed to be back one day.  Having stayed there, I will be back again and again and again.

Our room overlooked the river and besides the cows there were the ubiquitous sheep and an entire hutch of rabbits.  The bed was so tall you had to climb up into it and the shower...oh the shower, such a rare thing in the UK to find a really good shower. The owner is both an oenophile as well as a food lover so they have a little shop that sells cookbooks and wine as well.  I was in heaven.

Observations on the United Kingdom

Lamb in Kirkcudbright, Scotland on the road to the John Paul Jones house.

British radio is mostly crap.  How on earth all the great British artists in the world get discovered is beyond me because 90% of them are NOT on the radio.  British DJ's adore themselves AND the sound of their voice and love to talk over songs or end them early to talk, talk, talk.

Even bad British TV is better than the best American TV.  Hands down.

Wales does indeed feel like another country entirely. Never, ever lump it in with England.  Never call a Welshman English.  The language (try listening to BBC Cymru sometime) is unlike anything I have ever heard before,  I can't even pick out a word or two.  Totally different to the ears of someone raised on Latin based languages.  Children speak Welsh exclusively in schools until the age of seven where they are then taught English as a second language.

In Northern Wales signs are always in both Welsh and English, sometimes Welsh first and English second.  In the south of Wales I noticed the signs sometimes weren't even translated into Welsh.  Should that tell me something?

Pub food is vastly improving.  I'm not talking Gastro pubs here, I am talking about your average local country establishment, the center and heart of the village.  Pheasant, Wood Pigeon, Monk Fish, Venison, lamb...oh the lamb!  Later, I'll tell you about the 600 year old one we spent two nights dining in on the very edge of Devon and Cornwall.

UK drivers are f*cking insane!  White track roads (from the AA road guide, there are white track, red (2 lane road), green (divided highway) and blue (freeway)) are often times one car width wide, on each side there are hedgerows taller than the car, sometimes by several feet often with a stone wall mixed in, or better a barbed wire fence. Many times, approaching you at indeterminate speed, is a lorry (truck), a large piece of farm equipment, or a Land Rover expecting you to move over please and let them pass. They also always want to go faster than you.  Roads with hairpin turns with sheer cliff on one side and a nice drop to a valley below and it is guaranteed that someone, will whiz by you on the right with enough speed to shake the car you are in.  My knuckles are slowly having some color returned to them.

$4.00 a gallon for petrol is nothing.  We spent two weeks paying the equivalent of $10.00 a gallon and driving over 2000 miles, you do the math, I don't wish to know.

Stone walls are built differently in each county with each having a distinct style.

It doesn't get dark until almost 10:00 at night.

Why do people demand that dog owners pick up after their dogs, yet horses let go wherever and everyone just drives, or walks, over it?

When it gets above 60F in Britain women start wearing the least amount of clothing possible.  This is not always a good thing.

It is possible to think lambs the cutest things ever and then go and eat a lovely lamb dinner overlooking a field of them.

Pheasants come out at breakfast time, rabbits are out at cocktail time.  Pheasants are really, very dumb and not very good at getting out of the way of moving vehicles.

I still take far too long figuring out which coin is which denomination when paying in pence.  Most times I just hand over a bill and get more change.  Having 1 pound coins can really weigh you down after awhile.  it was just easier to pass them on to husband to carry.

Just because someone runs a B&B in their stately home, doesn't mean that they really want to be running one. 

A sprayer attached to the tub with no shower curtain or means to retain water does NOT a shower make.

It is possible to drive 10 - 20 miles from Northumberland over Hadrian's wall and hear a COMPLETELY different accent.  HOT, but so different.

I have now been to almost all of the counties in England (haven't really touched East Anglia and a few of the smaller ones in the middle) as well a handful each in Wales and Scotland and I still think that the Yorkshire Moors is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.

So Long and thanks for all the...

We are off folks....the ipods are loaded...see you back on the other side around May 28th unless I somehow find a computer or two...

Our wedding song..

and others we love