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Driving

20/9/2018

Today was a big driving day. Not the biggest to date but still many miles under the wheels of this Skoda. We are off to Derby after our days in Penrith. The drive reinforced many of my thoughts about UK roads and drivers.
UK drivers are, generally, very civilised. The organisation of UK roads is remarkable. It needs to be to cope with such complex traffic.
But!!! It just works.
UK drivers seem to have an innate way of managing the congestion. Motorway traffic seems to have its own organic flow. It is like a choreographed dance unfolding in front of me as I hug the middle lane. I worry I’ll end up trapped not fast enough or too fast for where I am.
When I watch how it works though, it is delightful. Everyone hugs the left lane most of the time. When they need to pass they drift out to another lane. Then they duck back again.

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Museums

19/9/2018

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You travel - You do museums. You just do. Museums are repositories for our culture. For the culture you are visiting. You may eventually reach a point of,
“NO MORE!!!! Aghhhh!”
But so far I have enjoyed all the museums we have wandered through. Today we did a museum I did not think could exist. How can you have an entire museum dedicated to such a small interest group. But here it is. Almost in the centre of Keswick in the Lakes District we found a museum dedicated to - the pencil.
It makes sense to those of us of a certain age. I am sure many of us had a set of Derwent coloured pencils. Or perhaps Lakeland coloured pencils. This museum is run by the company responsible for these coloured pencils - and it was great.

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Back to the start

18/9/2018

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This trip is not about visiting the places we lived. It is more about the places that have lived on in our thinking. We wanna touch on the places that still crop up in conversation. Heading back to where we grew up was not so much about seeing the old house again. More about one or two specific things that live in our family culture.
One of those is the Middlesborough Transporter Bridge.
We remember visiting the bridge as a family. Back then, pre 1965, the bridge was on dumpy, dirty docklands across the Tees. It was a sickly corporation green colour. The green that coloured everything in ‘60s Middlesborough.
There was zero health and safety around this bridge. As a family we just walked up and began to climb the 288 stairs to the top. Then as a family with children all under 10 we walked across the top and down the other side. This was such an experience for us that we remember it to this day.
We had to get back there and try to recreate the climb.

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I’ve had a little fall

16/9/2018

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The highest point in the Pennines. It is the place John McAdam invented his process for making roads.

Yes… I had a little fall. Sounds like a line from Monty Python - like,
“I’m not dead yet!. I’d like a little dance!”
I am OK. I did the right thing as I lay on my back with the water rushing past me. I kept still and checked everything before I moved. I am sure that is the right thing to do.
Phone… yes all good… screen is all fine… still got signal.
Watch… Yes all good… still counting my steps. What if it had been a new one eh!!! The Apple Watch 4 that catches falls and checks you are OK. Instead of me checking the watch is fine, it would be asking me if I am OK or to call for help.
Camera… yes shutter still works. Seems to still focus as it ought.
Sun Glasses… Yeh… not dislodged at all… no scratches.
Car Keys… wet but all fine… won’t be a problem.
Room Key… Ahhh good not lost in the bog…
So there we have it All fine nothing to worry about. Now! Can I stand up?
I am OK. Perhaps I better tell the whole story.

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Three Technology Thoughts

15/9/2018

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Yes I know it I am a geek. I love my technology. I use it all the time. Lets take a look at how technology is and isn’t working for me on this trip.
WiFi on the plane.
Emirates has WiFi on all their A380s and most of their 777s. It was available on both our 777s. I didn’t use it.
Emirates were at pains to explain the limitations of the service. It is not an Emirates limitation. It is the physics of 300+ users all sharing a single satellite link. So I passed and used their in flight entertainment package.
I remember chatting with people in the air using their airline WiFi. It is an good service within its limits. I loved chatting in real time while describing what I could see on Flight Radar 24.
I am a big Fan of Flight Radar 24. BTW. It was great to lob into my first hotel and receive an email with screen shot of my flight. I saw me racing a Qatar flight to the US across the emptiness of Turkey. I did look down over the expanse of Turkey as we flew across. I love to wonder if I was looking down on some Turkish mountainous treasure at the time of that screen shot.
WiFi in the Hotel.
I could not do this kind of publishing without my hotel WiFi. Free WiFi was a basic criteria in choosing hotels. At the Holiday Inn Express in Stirling and Inverness it was great. No log in details needed. No nothing actually. Not even a password. Just open a browser and go. It just works and works well.
Now further south in Penrith. Hmmm. I am not sure if I will even be able to publish this writing. Internet is here and free. But it is hopeless. I am assured that today is a minor aberration and it is usually wonderful. Hmmm
Geek update… hack hack… hit and crash. Made it work. Ohhh my… can't believe the difference. Perhaps there are blocks at their equipment to keep me out… Ha ha no more! Cue evil grin!
Phones
I have always been a fan of the Vodaphone travel experience. I have written about it often. It is still the best from all I can see. My sister is using Vodaphone. For just $5 extra per day of use she gets to access all her usual quota of service. Can’t fault it to date.
I am with Telstra. For me it is $10 per day of use. A day defined on Sydney time. While I get unlimited text and phone for that day, I get very little data. There are many extras I could add on to make it work but it is not close to the Vodaphone experience.
GPS
Since Julie has lots of data with her Vodaphone plan we are using Siri as GPS for all we do. To date she has been great. Not as good as a dedicated GPS I must say. But I suspect that is just because of Satellite speed when under cover. Under cover of trees, of clouds, of rain. You know, like Scotland all the time.
Occasionally Siri has been late to warn us of a turn. With so many complex roundabouts that can be a problem. We have had to go around again on a few occasions. This lets Siri catch up and we are back on track. I think a dedicated GPS would be better but Siri has been fine to date.
More technology thought yet to come.

Pretty hotel in Aviemore south of Inverness.

Aviemore main street

Penrith main street

Penrith central square

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Last Scottish Day

14/9/2018

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Today is our last day in Scotland. Tomorrow we hit the road south for more technology and engineering and the natural environment in the UK. Scotland has been amazing. Everyday has brought a dozen ‘Oh Wow’ moments. Scotland has kept me striving for the biscuit tin photograph.
Today was a bit special in 2 ways. We were revisiting a favourite spot from 3 years ago - Glenfinnan. (I repeatedly and mistakenly and deliberately called it after a Scotch Whiskey I once heard of). And we were to get out to a little fishing village that had intrigued me for just as long.
Another insane long drive to both. (I promise I will get to the tale of why we based ourselves so far from what we want to do). Then off to the two final Scottish activities.

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Graveyards

13/9/2018

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Travelling through Scotland is to travel through amazing history. There are monuments dating well before my home town was a town. Monuments to events 100 years before then. And of course the graveyards. You have to visit graveyards to see the last resting place of all your favourite Scottish heroes. James Bond must be buried here - although, maybe he is not dead yet. And Scotty from Star Trek. Surely he is buried in Scotland!
Today I stumbled upon a most amazing graveyard. The last resting place for some of the largest heroes of recent history. A hidden place, rarely seen by the average, less intrepid traveller. But I was there. I saw this graveyard. I saw the sadness at the passing of these magnificent contributors to the whole of the UK not just Scotland.

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Today we drove to Skye

12/9/2018

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Who knows what the real Scotland is?
Is it Kilts and painted blue faces? Or is it blue faces from the biting cold? Is it Bagpipes and tossing that thing they do?
I wanted to find a version of real Scotland-
So today we drove to Skye.
For so many of us Scotland is the biscuit tin picture we see each Christmas.
So today we drove to Skye.
Oh yes, we also wanted to catch up with Ross while he had both feet in the same country -
So today we drove to Skye.

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Queensferry Crossing

11/9/2018

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Much of the planning for this trip centres around engineering. We aim to see the constructions, buildings and creations that make us giddy. Yes, we will visit lots of natural wonders too. But it is the industrialisation story that is key in this trip. Much more of that to come.
We have already visited the Falkirk Wheel as an engineering example. The trip to Concorde was special for similar reasons. Yesterday, after the Steall Falls, we took a delightful wander along an old lock system called the Neptune Steps.
Earlier this week we spent an afternoon around the Edinburgh bridges. They are spectacular. We also discovered that the little village under the bridges is a delight not to miss.

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Steall Falls

10/9/2018

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I do ache tonight.
We had a wonderful walk today. Wonderful is the only word to use. We were full of wonder the moment we hit the track.
We walked up to the Steall Falls outside of Fort William. Falls made famous with a brief appearance in one of the Harry Potter movies. - Who knew?
I discovered the falls on line. I am glad I did. There seems to be not one printed document about them in any tourist office. When we wanted details the helpful worker in the office just logged on to the page I had found. And printed it out. She confirmed it was well worth it. We knew we were in on a little secret.

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Why This Blog

Three years ago, my sister Julie and I travelled to the UK for 3 weeks. It was 50 years since we had arrived in Australia as £10 tourists. We wanted to see all the places we remembered from our childhood. Not only the places we went to in our childhood but also the places we had never seen but had formed part of our family culture. We felt the trip was a wild success. But there was a down side… we needed to go back and finish a few things off. 2018 and we are back. So let me tell you all about it.

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