England
on an RT
The Plan and Program
After long debate and budgeting we started
planning this holiday in England. After several visits to UK, US, Italy &
FSU I came to the impression to really feel and experience the ambiance of a country
one needs to visit the countryside, or as we know it the platteland.
Trudie, never being abroad, was tasked to identify places she would like to
visit and she really put in a noble effort – asking advice anywhere, books,
internet and what not.
The decision was not to visit places that will
take too much time and concentrate on specific subjects too much. We’d rather
do an overview of places than to spend for example a full day and only cover
Madame Tussauds and London Dungeon. These places we
rode past and didn’t collect the t-shirt.
Our mode of transport could only have been one,
a motorbike and this was very professionally handled by About Town Bike Hire in
Wandsworth, London. A new spec
black RT with all the extras, just how I wanted. Spot-on at 10am the
bike was ready and we packed our stuff over and took to the streets. That was
me as the rider, a very user friendly
pillion called Trudie, our personal Garmin with up-to-date maps and very high holiday spirit.
The second morning (Sunday) we stopped at a
traffic light next to a Metro Police car. We greeted and the cop (reading the
About Town Rental sign on the bike) realised we are foreigners. I asked if lane
splitting is allowed in this country and he replied:” Yes. Take all the advantages you can, but do it safe”. I immediately felt as if at home and then
really started enjoying the RT as it should be ridden…
At this early stage when travelling with the
train from Heathrow to Hammersmith Station and from there with a taxi to Wandsworth, we realised our plan to travel by bike was the
best. The traffic conditions is London is horrific, and being from SA it will
be foolish to use a car. The special taxation in Central London makes driving
there expensive too.
The initial plan was to spend two days in
London, two nights in Dorset on the South Coast, one night in Salisbury, Bath
and Bristol respectively and a last night with new biker friends in Neath,
Wales. Due to the holiday season in UK at that time of the year (from middle
July) we booked our accom in advance by internet.
This proved to be a wise decision.
The Cities
London
Immediately after receipt of the RT we rode to
London Eye, around town and the afternoon to Greenwich. At this time of year
London is beautiful to say the least. It is however easy to get bored with
London and our initial plan of two days were just enough – one gets the feeling
of claustrophobia in that city. Although the people is friendly and there is in
fact very few real English people we encountered, it still feels like a city
outside England, only the architecture keeps one in town. What I am trying to
get clear is that when one walks the streets one hears very little English,
mostly foreign languages.
Being summer and perfect weather in the +20’s
everybody is out in the streets enjoying the climate. Where they all live we
can only wonder.
This building reminds me of something … but I
just cannot remember what?
Interesting number plate
To date I only read about them. Fortunately the owner
was not close by… I might have just asked for a ride around the block.
This hotel we could not afford
A trike?
Greenwich
Having visited this
town before I influenced Trudie to agree to go there again. And I
was not wrong, she enjoyed the place tremendously
This Sun dial is
extremely accurate… based on my wrist watch of course!
13h02
Greenwich is not a town but more a place. The residence of Queen Elizabeth I and the location of the National
Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory, which is the heart of the establishment.
Greenwich is known for two very important developments that influences our
everyday lives, whether we know it or not. One must understand that this place
was the centre of knowledge regarding astronomy and time in the years of the
1600s – an era when the British Empire was starting to become a very important
entity in the international world and what happened in Greenwich was regarded
as true and important.
- Longitude.
To map the Earth one needs a grid to reference places of importance and
interest. Latitude grid development is easy to explain and understand. The
equator being the centre can be regarded as 0° and everybody will agree. But
where should Longitude 0°
be situated? If one agrees that Earth circulate once
every day and a day has 24 hours and there is 360° in a circle then it is clear
that 360/24=15. Then each hour around the globe is 15°. Each 15° represents one hour. Easy, but then
where do we start our time? Where is 0°? It can be anywhere on the Globe! But
then, each astronomer requires a common point of reference to look and time the
stars and where was the most important Observatory of the time? At Greenwich of
course! But this eventual decision did not go down without a good salvo of
fights and arguments. We all know the term ‘GMT’ ,
being Greenwich Mean Time where time is at 0°.
-
Accurate time piece. At the time some real accurate time pieces
existed already and most were based on the pendulum design. Also an important
piece of trade if one is involved in astronomy. But what to do on ships at sea?
A pendulum does not work on a boat playing on waves! After a serious sea
disaster where more than 2000 British seamen went under when a total flotilla
ran aground (on rocks) near Cyprus in the 1600s a competition was opened to
design an accurate time piece to be used on ships at sea. These time pieces are
important to calculate the ship’s position using the sun (time!) in order to
plot on the Longitude and Latitude grid. Eventually the British Astronomer
Royal based at Greenwich (how else?) won the 20000 Pound first prize for the
design that was most accurate. All the entries and the whole story are there to
be seen and read.
Unfortunately no picture taking
inside the buildings are allowed.
Bath
The City of Bath is
built around the ancient Roman baths that was built over the only hot spring in
the UK.
Obviously and true to
their custom and religion this place was sacred to the god of Sulis Minerva. The remains are well preserved and the
complete story is well documented, the first inscription around 76AD! By the 6th
Century the Saxon Monasteries took the complex over after the Romans allowed
the spring to fall into disuse.
This is the outlet
from the eye, which was sacred and only the King allowed there. The yellow in
the picture is the original lead liner installed by The Romans and still to
this day in perfect order.
When one is thirsty and
a pub too far away…
By the 12th
Century King Henry I started using the baths as a curative medicinal and
everybody of note travelled to Bath for cures of any sort. It became the place
to visit and this time was the second Golden Era in its existence. The present,
they say is the third Golden Era with about 2 million people visiting Bath annually!
But the present Queen Elizabeth II despises this place! More later…
Cardiff
Cardiff to us South
Africans means only one thing – rugby at Cardiff Arms Park (previously) and Millenium Stadium recently. Where the Boks
have lost and won good over the years. We had to stop
for a Kodak moment on our way to Heath further north.
Weymouth
We passed through
Weymouth on our way to Isle of Wight and could not spend more time than the
occasional stop for a picture. Fortunately a road construction closure detoured us through town centre and we were just in time for
a bridge to lift allowing the early morning boat flotilla out the harbour. Stunning!
This town reminds us of Gordon’s Bay and is a definite address for a coastal
retirement in the UK, if ever.
Cathedrals & Castles
One can spend days
exploring the numerous castles and cathedrals in the UK but we decided on only
a few. Being through two then the picture can get somewhat monotonous…
St Pauls, London
It was Sunday when we
visited and a church service was underway. This place is so large one is
allowed in the cathedral during the service without bothering anyone. We could
not go up the stairs to the dome and had to resort to pictures in the lobby and
off course from the outside.
Salisbury
Now this is a
cathedral of note. No wonder Cecil John Rhodes named the capital of the country
he founded as Salisbury. The old City of Salisbury houses the most impressive
cathedral in UK – at least to my mind. The following pictures tell the story,
much better than I can ever do.
This door not good for
normal persons
Pen Dennis
When we left Eden
Project earlier than planned and had some time to kill, we looked at the map
and saw “Pen Dennis Castle”. I thought it be the last resting place of the
ocean liner that frequented past the Cape of Good Hope in the previous century
as late as the 80’s, I think. We set the GPS to the waypoint and started going
south. Wonderful instrument a GPS – one never feels lost although one never
knows where one is…
It was a beautiful
country road winding along the coast of the southernmost tip of UK and when we
arrived we found a real castle! No ship this time. Pen Dennis castle was built
during the Roman times and expanded over the centuries until the Second World
War when it became a museum rather than a fortress of protection – used solely
to protect the bay of Falmouth against any onslaught. Being just 22miles from the southernmost tip
of the UK we could nearly feel like touching home further South.
Accommodation
Sleep
We booked two nights
at Piccadilly backpackers in (of course) Piccadilly, London. The other nights
at B&B are at various places. All the B&Bs were of good standard and
rates varied between 50-65 Pounds per night for the two of us. Some include
breakfast, albeit usually from 8 in the morning which is way too late for us
travellers. In these cases we requested a packed breakie
that we could enjoy en route where ever.
But Piccadilly
Backpackers deserves mention for a very different reason;
Situated in a narrow
street in the outskirts of Piccadilly and bordering the area of Soho it was at
first difficult to find. Even the GPS took us around the block twice before we
hit the front door, if one can call it a door. We were somewhat late and did
not have any other choice so we booked in, with the RT parked around the corner
as there is no parking legal or illegal in front of the lodging, nowhere in the
whole street!
In SA we were quite
accustomed to backpacker conditions and did not fear any different in the UK.
What a surprise! At reception after swiping the plastic, two bed sheets and
pillow cases were handed to us and we were informed of our room on the 7th
floor. Fancy these plastic cards that one swipe in the door to unlock your room
door and I thought not to be too critical about the surroundings, these guys
are on the ball… We opened our room door and found it would not open full,
bumping against the bed! A double bed with a single bunk above all against one
wall with not more that 500mm open area around the three other sides. Our
top-box could barely stand flat and we could barely move past each other. The
bed however was comfortable when we eventually later that evening, and the
second evening, stumbled in to nap.
Ablutions further up
the corridor and round a corner are shared with others.
The rate? 66Pounds per night!
Extra was 4.80Pounds parking for the RT two blocks up the street?
But the area was good
enough consolation for these conditions as we enjoyed the night life of
Piccadilly and Soho where it seems people never sleep. They party, theatre,
visit knock/strip shows, or just loiter… without us ever feeling unsafe or out
of place.
Eat
To eat out can be
rather expensive and we decided not to test the restaurants, rather buy some
rolls, cheese, tomato, ham, etc and do our thing
anywhere on a pavement or a park, in our own tupper
plates that we brought along from home just for this purpose. Washing all down with a good dose of red wine, usually South
African which is freely available. Not being allowed to consume alcohol
in public we used small plastic glases and poured the
wine skelmpies
when (we thought) no one was looking!
My first & last
Guinness
Other times we tried the
odd English pub and enjoyed that tremendously, specially the pints they are so
well known for. Not being a beer drinker myself I always asked for light beer,
but was nowhere to get. The lowest was 3.8% alcohol stuff. Also
good enough when Klippies & Coke is non existent.
Site scenery & Parks
Isle of Whyte
We took the ferry from
Lymington and rode around the island looking for some
ancient relics. The rest of the island is similar to mainland and we at that
time had enough of castles and old buildings. We found the Roman Villa. A
resort developed by a rich Roman many centuries ago. The archaeology is still
in process and is an interesting site to visit
Stonehenge
Stonehenge didn’t
impress us and the odd 7.6Pounds entrance fee scared us off. We could stand the
same distance from the rocks as the people that paid just on the other side of
the fence. So I took one picture to show we were there and Trudie took some
close-ups to impress others, not seeing then (but only later) that there was a
fly on the board she was photographing. Big fly that is if it was for real on
the rocks!!
Eden Project
Now this is a place to
visit! We nearly missed the opportunity as it was so outlying and not in our
original planning. We made an effort to adjust our itinerary and were blessed
with a wonderful experience. Eden project was developed in a worked out clay
pit and successfully tries to show the visitor what the influence of modern
development on nature and specially plant life is. There are huge structures
that house tropical plants in tropical climates throughout the year. Also other climate examples. All to
educate the visitor. And in the restaurant a diagram of what the
population of the earth is made of if reduced to only 100. Make
s one think…
This looking familiar? They call it hemp
Even the utensils are
organic
Eye of London
London, being an
ancient city doesn’t have many sky scrapers where visitors can experience a
bird’s eye view. The Eye was put up for the millennium and supposed to be demolished
after five years. It is now 10 years later and there is still an endless queue
to gain entrance. We were fortunate (and clever) to book and pay in advance for
the priority line where one pays for
entrance on a certain day but not stating the time of arrival. Upon arrival
one’s identity is checked and then moved to the front of the que. At that time there could have
been over 400 people waiting to gain entrance. At a premium of about 60% extra
it is still a wise decision and we enjoyed the experience tremendously.
New Forest
A natural forest of many square miles on our journey down South where we
took the time of just riding in nature under endless canopies of embracing tree
branches and leaves and at times a carpet of soft natural flora. Splendid.
Tales
Daylight robbery
During the Late 1600s
the king set additional taxes or fireplaces in private homes. The population
got the moer in and would not allow inspectors into
their homes to do the counting. As it was custom to have several fireplaces
sharing one chimney it was not good to count the chimneys. When the burocracy realised they were outsmarted they changed the
tax to windows. A household having more than 6 windows facing outside were
taxed. People then started to build up the additional windows. Hence the term daylight
robbery.
Magna Carta
Upon visiting
Salisbury Cathedral there was in a side room an exhibition of artefacts from
the Magna Carta era. I was not interested in that
other than the term itself. Many years ago, cannot remember if it was Staatsleer II or III, I learnt about Magna Carta. But could not place any meaning to
the words. I asked the old gentleman doing duty in the room and he
agreed it had something to do with Constitution; in fact a lot! At those early
times, customs, rituals, tradition and laws were not written but lived mostly
in the minds and souls of the population. But King John started to take liberty
and overstepped his privileges. The Barons got together and discussed the
King’s actions and confronted him. The decision was made to start the write up
for the sake of future generations. This saw the first of the modern
constitution as we know them today.
When at home after our
holiday, I looked in my Staatsleer handbook Modern Political Constitutions and there
it was, and I quote: “All through the
period from 1066 there was a struggle going on between the king and the Barons
whose opposition to the Crown on the head of a weak king led to anarchy in the
earlier part, as in the reign of Stephen, but took a more regularized form in
the later, as seen in the document called Magna Carta,
under John.”
What touched our hearts & souls
The centuries old culture
The UK is one very
large museum and monument of the development of the modern lifestyle and culture
as we civilised people got to know it. Walking through the streets of London,
or any other small town in the countryside one cannot help wondering what
happened before in the previous 2000+ years. The land feels in a query way,
sacred. Full of memory. One needs to stand quiet and
just listen…
There is too much to
fathom for one human in one lifespan.
Like the one afternoon
on our way back from Pen Dennis (a 520km ride on the day) we stopped in a
little town called Honiton. Trudie trotted over the street to a grocer for our usual dinner of rolls, cheese, etc and I was waiting at the bike. Without interest looking
at this uninteresting building housing a modern
furniture store while the manager was watering the hanging gardens just before
closing. My eye caught a plaque on the wall. Read the picture below…
I asked the manager
politely if what is written on the plaque is true and he replied:” Indeed Sir, and there is many more to see
this country. We are living in a living museum”
True words from a proud citizen.
The Legs of Trafalgar
The two days we spent
in London ended every time at Trafalgar square, about 20 min walk from the
backpacker. We spent a few hours there and with the sun setting after nine, the
days were long and hot. Plus 20C every day. And many
girls wore their shorts… for me and others to enjoy and grin about. Nice to
have a 12x zoom on the camera too!
And the winner is…
Animals in war
The English is known
not to forget those who served the nation, living or dead. And there are
numerous statues and monuments of known and not so known individuals all over
the country. These we passed by respectfully except the one we saw when passing
at speed on our way to Buckingham Palace. Trudie and I saw it simultaneous and
I made a U-turn there and then. It was a monument for the “Animals in War” –
because they had no choice! Heart breaking and so fitting…
The Legend of Bath
It is said that the
son of a Roman Cesar was deported from the clan when he picked up leprosy.
Nobody would have anything to do with him and he worked as a pig warden. After
some time he saw the pigs frequenting at a fountain and these pigs were in
better condition than other pigs of the area.
He decided to roll in
the mud around the fountain and in time he healed from the leprosy. He returned
home and his father was overwhelmed with joy about his recovery and his story.
After his father’s death he inherited the throne and ordered a bath to be built
around the fountain to be used by anybody with any ailment. Hence the Baths as
we see them today.
Hanging gardens
The hanging gardens are all in bloom and it
seems as if each landlord tries to compete with his neighbour on the flowery
scene outside. With virtually no garden area this is the only way of showing
off some colour, and very efficient indeed!
Only pictures can
describe the beauty.
Piccadilly & Soho at night
Pictures speak a
thousand words.
20h40?? And still daylight
The Queen and the city of Bath
The story goes that
present Queen Elizabeth II at the age of 12 visited the city to officially open
a park for children. After the ceremony, walking to the carriage she overheard
somebody in the public remarking about her “thick
ankles.
She was so furious that
she there and then decided that she will never in her life ever return to this
dreadful place. A promise she kept to this day. Once she had to travel by train
through the city of Bath en route to another place she drew the covers over the
windows so nobody could see she was in the Royal Train.
Apparently few of the
Bath public misses her anyhow.
The Grumpees of Wales
Our last Saturday
proved to be the pinnacle of our holiday, being an invite from a member of the
UK BMW Club to ride with them in the hills of Wales and spend the evening in
typical country style with a barbeque amongst friends and family in true
English style!
Brian Price rides a
R80 and us with four other riders (all on Boxers) rode +160km through old
rehabilitated coal dumps, up and down mountains and beautiful scenery.
OK. You try to
pronounce these words…
At one spot up a rise
there are flowers set out over an area the size of a residential stand. The
story is that for many years a road worker stayed in the little house and he
always maintained a beautiful flower garden, even during the cold winters. When
he died, the locals carried on putting flowers down years after his death, in
respect for this man that liven up the lives of so many people he never even
met.
I cannot give a better
review than what John Coates have written on their website. Read more at
http://www.grumpeebikers.co.uk/page60.html
And then it was time to head home.
The Sunday morning we greeted our new friends in Neath
and headed to London to return the RT and on to Heathrow by train.
Waiting on the station
And then the newest and most known
landmark in South Africa before we touched down – Soccer City.
This was an experience of a lifetime… And we will
work hard to create another one in future. Anybody interested to join?