Rob's epistle Sep 5th - Sep 29th

Well finally my first entry to the blog. I finally feel as though I’ m on holiday now having left the farm work behind (not to mention a couple of kids). Still not sure which of the two is the most stress relieving, sorry boys!

As you will have read, I arrived in the UK last week but didn’t spend very long there. Basically one day to get up to Stockport and meet a couple of my nieces and reacquaint myself with Ben (nephew) and Grant and Rachel (Bronwen’s brother and his wife). My second day there saw us visit Quarry Bank Mill, a local cotton mill that was established in 1784. This area being renowned for its textile history it seemed like the obvious thing to do. Bronwen and I had grand plans for the day hoping to visit several places but the Quarry Bank Mill was as far as we made it. The kids loved wandering though the woods and I just had to know how every machine in the place worked, so you can imagine that took a while. The kids completed a family quiz as we went through the exhibition which added to our collective knowledge of the cotton industry in the 1700’s and since. I’m sure Bronwen will add a link for those that have nothing better to do (for those of you at work, that wasn’t an invitation).

Basically the next day saw us travelling up to Newcastle to meet the ferry which would take us across to Norway.

Well after a few concerns due to a bit of traffic coming into Leeds we made it to the terminal with heaps of time to spare especially given that the ferry was late to leave. Now most would think that this would be an inconvenience but as usual, we managed to turn it into a great opportunity (as you will read later, even greater than we expected). The great thing about the delay meant that we got the opportunity to meet Lucy and Neil, who were two other poor punters in the queue. Lucy is an Edinburgh lass who was setting off on her push bike for a month and had the greatest philosophy when it came to balancing travel and work. She had ridden in Europe, South America and New Zealand, having now amassed 26000kms on her bike. Hadn’t really planned her trip to Norway but decided 10 days earlier that the opportunity was there to go on the trip and she just did it! Neil was a 69 year old Englishman ho was riding his motor bike over to give a couple of friends a hand renovating a house they had recently bought in Norway. He had some great stories, having spent many years climbing with people I knew both from their climbing histories but also from the equipment they developed when I first started climbing. We all sat in the queue next to our respective cars, push bikes and motor cycles chewing the fat and discussing our proposed Norway journeys. The thing I noticed that we all seemed to have in common was that none of us really knew what we were going to do when we got off the ferry, and the really great bit was that none of us really cared!

The ferry trip was fairly uneventful during the night, I had a fairly early one after having taken some travel sickness tablets that sent me off my face, and no your right it doesn’t take much. Bronwen and the kids enjoyed a swim while I was making zzzzzz’s. As the morning broke so did the waves of the North Sea. I’m not sure if it was the residual of the tablets I had taken but I was the only one that wasn’t in a bit of hurry to leave the cabin and get on deck that morning. This of course being Bronwen’s birthday we had planned to start the day by celebrating over breakfast. Well the theory was good. Breanna was a little under exuberant with her celebration and she and I made a hasty retreat with her talking into a paper bag on the way out of the restaurant. Something bout some bloke called Huey or something I think she said! We tried that one or two more times but Breanna and breakfast were never meant to happen that day. After a brief rest below all was well again (literally) and we were all able to enjoy the afternoon cruise through the Norwegian fiords all the way from Stavanger to Bergen. A technical problem with the ship meant that we were about 4 hours late arriving into Bergen. Now given that we had accommodation booked that required us to be there by 7pm and we left ferry at about 8.30 pm one would expect that that might present a problem and it well may have had it not been for that discussion in the queue a day earlier (remember that). Now Neil, knowing of our predicament, approached his friends Carol and Doug, the ones with the house in Norway, and sure enough we were all off in convoy for the one hour drive to their place. It turned out to be in the most beautiful valley just off the Hardanger fiord. We all enjoyed a drink together that evening discussing the plans for Carols and Doug’s three week stay.

The next morning Doug and I went for a walk around the property to enjoy the views of the fiord and the nearby mountains. We took the opportunity to replenish the firewood pile while we were out and about. The night before Doug had mentioned that he wanted a large western red cedar tree removed from next to the house. So with chainsaw in hand I took to the tree and we all gradually took the tree apart. Now many of you may be thinking “you’re supposed to be on holiday fool” and that is true, but I thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent with Carol, Doug and Neil and as it happened we went for a drive together that afternoon and ended up staying the next night as well. What a wonderful introduction to Norway. The other great thing was that they had travelled here for years and knew all the good things to do so we left with some fantastic ideas.

Now for those of you who have never been to Norway, get your arse over here as soon as you can because this would have to be one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Between the mountains, glaciers, fiords, lakes, rivers and waterfalls we aren’t really sure what to look at next. The last three days has been like driving from one postcard to the next. Tonight for example we are staying in a fantastic wooden apartment high in the mountains at the foot of a glacier (we will walk up to it in the morning), with a stream running past the window and an enormous waterfall on the other side and beautiful lake below. If I could fit it all in the one photo I would attach it, but there’s just too much to fit into one shot. In fact we have both felt like the quintessential tourist stopping to take photos every five minutes and fighting each other for the camera.

The bottom line is that we are progressing incredibly slowly through Norway and none of us really care. We have a booking in Sweden some time later this week so we do have to keep moving but we all feel that we could quite easily stop here for several more weeks. I’m sure this is not the last time I will feel like this...

The first half of this was written from the comfort of the most wonderful cabin in a high valley of the Jostedalsbreen glacier. Liam was fairly keen to do two things while here (Norway) - see fish and glaciers. So first one was off to an aquarium in a place called Balestrand. A small aquarium set up for Norwegian school kids. The kids go to the place for a week and spend the week learning about the structure and the aquatic habitats of the fiords. It looked like great fun for the kids as they were measuring currents and drawing fish. One group retuned from their fishing trip while we were on the jetty. Quite amazing to see a convoy of small boats arriving with the kids and their catch - what a fantastic class room. They all dutifully measured and categorised their catch and placed them into the aquarium holding tanks.

After the morning we had the most amazing drive from the fiords to the Jostedalsbreen glacier. The cabin we have is at the head of a valley with three glaciers coming down to within a kilometre of the cabin. A view of the lake, a beautiful glacier blue huge to the water. The morning saw us make a trip to the terminus of the glacier which took me back to the many glaciers I have had the pleasure??? to climb before. It was good though to take Liam and Breanna to touch the ice, an experience they really enjoyed. The amazing part was that even Bronwen joined us in ignoring the multiple “Danger” signs to make the final trip to the ice.

After that we travelled the many tunnels through the mountains to make our way to the home of Abba and Ikea (Sweden). Unfortunately a change in itinerary meant a fairly short stay in Sweden with a couple of stops to museums in Gothenburg. One in particular, the Universeum was fantastic with a great series or aquariums and a jungle and a heap of hands on stuff for the kids. We all really enjoyed it. The rest of the time was spent in a very relaxing small town called Tingsryd where we spent our time taking walks around the lake and watching horse riding competitions (Breanna enjoyed it).

As you have already read we are back in England now and Bronwen has brought you all up to date but I wrote this and I was determined to post it!

As you have read we have been busy checking out the sights of London. The kids and I spent the afternoon today (29th Sep) watching the Arsenal vs Westham game over a couple of pints and several packets of crisps at the “Dog and Pot”, doesn’t get much more English than that!!!!

London

Wow, what a great city. I have been here before, but every time I come here I am overwhelmed by the grandeur and history of this city. Buckingham Palace, Parliament House, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey - all awe-inspiring, even in the pouring rain today. We did eventually escape indoors to the fabulous (and completely free) Science Museum. The kids really enjoy the science museums, so I can see that these will be a regular to-do list item in all the big cities.

Yesterday we went to the Tower of London - renowned for its bloody history, even with a Tower called the Bloody Tower. But I hadn't quite realised that it was the first royal residence for William the Conqueror, and had so much other interesting history (displaying my ignorance here!)

The day before was Hampton Court Palace and Ham House, and Rob and the kids have also visited Windsor Castle (I intend to go there tomorrow since I missed out the first time with other things I needed to do)

We have crammed as much as we can into the days here and we are a little travel-weary! As one of the people we met on our travels said, travelling is not a holiday, it is hard work!! All the decisions to make, the organising, the pounding of the pavement and the amount of information to absorb. Okay, I can't hear much sympathy out there from anyone for all this hard work we are doing! It's really just a prelude to say that I'm sorry we are not doing a particularly great job of keeping this up to date or e-mailing our friends with personal notes, but we are exhausted most nights!!

It's now nearly 1 am, so I must away, or I will not get to Windsor Castle tomorrow. Hope to get a few photos added tomorrow.

Norway, Sweden and back to Stockport and London

Rob has done a comprehensive update which we will upload as soon as I get organised enough to find my USB drive. In the meantime, here is a very brief summary of where we are at.
Since my last post we have travelled by ferry over to Bergen, Norway and spent a week travelling through the fjords and glaciers east and north of Bergen - absolutely spectacular countryside. Then a quick trip into Sweden for a pleasant 3 day sojourn in Tingsryd in the south, and a flying visit to the fabulous museums of Goteborg, before heading back into Norway for 3 days to catch the ferry back from Stavanger.

Visited Mt Grace Priory on the way down from Newcastle back to my brother's house, and then a great day out with Grant, Rachel and the kids to Chirk Castle in North Wales. Rachel was an excellent tour guide with fabulous knowledge of the area and the history, which we found so interesting. Said goodbye to my brother and his family yesterday (although I will see them again soon to deliver the car back). We had such a lovely time with them and the kids all got on so well that none of us wanted to part so soon!

James and Chris have arrived in England, successfully delivered to us at Heathrow. Great to see them after 4 and 5 weeks respectively of farewelling them and only occasional contact by phone or e-mail. Sounds like they have really enjoyed their time with friends and at camp and in China. We are now here in London at Derick's place until 30th Sep - probably our last good e-mail and internet access for a while. It is so kind of him and his sister to let us use their house, which is very conveniently located close to Heathrow. Even got to catch up with old friends from Adelaide who happened to be arriving at Heathrow the same day as the boys. So great to see Debbie and Peter and their kids - ironic to be catching up on the other side of the world.

One of the best things about travel is the opportunity to make new friends or enhance existing relationships. And it is not just the new people that you meet, but it's also the old friends or relatives that you spend time with and get to know better. For us, this trip is as much about spending time with each other and getting to know our children properly before they grow up and leave us to make their own lives, as it is about seeing new places.

Interestingly, I also find that in changing the way I communicate with people, I gain new insights into old friendships and often consolidate new friendships. I really hope that this blog is an opportunity for some of our friends to get to know us better too!

And we would love to hear news from home, so please do leave a comment, or send us an e-mail to let us know what you are up to. We can't always manage to reply straight away, but will do our best to reply when we can. Look forward to hearing from you.

Stockport, Manchester and the Lake District

Have been away at the Lake District without access to internet, so am a bit behind. Had great weather and stayed in a little cottage with my Aunt from New Zealand, so a good catch up with her. Met up every day with my brother and his family and had a very relaxing time doing walks, seeing a stone circle, and having picnics by the lake.

Back to Stockport on 1st September to stay at my brother's house and then Rob arrived 5th September (yesterday) - great to have him here - the kids have missed him. Went to Quarrybank Mill today, another National Trust place. It is an old cotton mill built in the late 18th century and apparently one of the most forward-thinking management of its time. The apprentices had to be at least 9 yrs old (at other mills they could start as young as 5), they had medical care and decent food and even some education, but they worked 12 hour days 6 days a week, and on Sunday had to walk 5 miles to church twice a day. Liam and Breanna couldn't quite relate to that!