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Sunday on the ferry
I woke up feeling MUCH better, but with a slightly weak stomach (no nausea, just a bit touchy). We spent the morning driving around Lancaster and Heysham (with its scenic nuclear power plant), popped in to a Sainsbury's looking for crackers or something similar to help keep my stomach settled... ended up buying some "American Style Salted Wheat Snacks" (aka pretzels).
As I type this, we're on the ferry Ben-My-Chree pulling away from the docks in Heysham, bidding farewell to England... for a little while, at least!
(Continued later.) The trip over was pretty uneventful... calm seas, no rain, and a tailwind that seemed to be keeping pace with the ferry (meaning the air on deck was pretty calm). We spent a good portion of the trip on the very top deck looking out over the Irish Sea... At one point, Rackham pulled out his laptop and hooked up the little USB GPS antenna, then loaded up the tracking software -- that was fun! We could see exactly where the ferry was and how fast it was going (in fact, when zoomed in, we could see the little arrow for our location moving steadily westward). We got a screenshot that I'll try posting later. About mid-point on the journey, we spotted a windmill farm, just out in the middle of the sea. I'm actually a bit curious about where the power from that was going, because we really weren't near *anything*.
On the Isle of Man, we managed to get lost pretty much immediately (we turned a bit too soon), but still ended up finding our way almost directly to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
speakr2customrs and curiouswombat's house. What wonderful people! It really felt like we were meeting old friends, for the first time. They'd fixed us a really yummy sunday dinner (roast chicken, potatoes, cabbage and peas with apple crumble for dessert) and we had a fantastic time just chatting about anything and everything. They're both long-time SF&F fans, so we have quite a bit in common -- we even got to see some of Speaker's painted lead figures (although I guess they're not made out of lead anymore these days, so miniatures? I'm not sure of the current term), a hobby he shares with Rackham. They also let us borrow an internet connection so we could take a quick peek at our email (and stave off the internet withdrawal symptoms). I'm hoping someday they'll brave the potential volcanic eruptions and come visit us in Seattle!
Armed with two sets of directions (each giving different details, so we thought we were pretty secure in where we were going), we headed out toward our B&B on the northern end of the Isle of Man... and still ended up getting lost. The roads there are actually a bit scary, especially if you're not used to them. I wrote earlier about the country roads in England being "just barely wide enough for two cars, with blind corners and people driving full-tilt down the middle of the road." Well, take that, add in lots of sharp curves, bumpy roads, fog, very few lights and cars parked randomly on the road (turning the A6, essentially, into a one lane road without warning) -- where some people still go careening around at full-speed! We completely missed the turnoff for the A10 to Bride and ended up driving up and down the A6 for awhile, before I remembered Curiouswombat mentioning that the turnoff for Bride had just a tiny little sign... we turned back toward Ramsey and sure enough, there it was! Then we wound up driving up and down the A10, at a complete loss because our directions from the B&B said that it was the first driveway after the second intersection (we were finding no intersections and were beginning to wonder if maybe we should be considering different definitions of the word), but that if we got to Bride, we'd gone too far.
We'd reach the "Welcome to Bride" sign (complete with mention of its Twin City in Arkansas), turn around and head back. We were pretty tired by this point and pretty frustrated, but after a few passes along the road with no luck, we finally stopped at a hotel just outside Ramsey (which was absolutely packed with peopled -- turns out the Ramsey Town Band was performing there that night). The hotel staff were incredibly friendly and helpful (the first man we talked to said that when he first moved to the Isle of Man, he got lost constantly... and that for such a small place, it's incredibly easy to do), and eventually they rounded up a little old lady who had grown up in the area... she recognized the name of the farm immediately and was able to tell us where we were going wrong. The sign that said "Welcome to Bride"? Was for Bride Parish, not for the town (although why it mentioned the Sister City there, I have no idea), and the houses and buildings we saw and thought were the start of Bride, were actually a little conclave of buildings known as Dogmill. The next time through there, we drove past the houses (and it turns out there really were only a few) and back out into more open country, just a short way up to the very well-marked turnoff for the B&B. We slept REALLY well that night!
As I type this, we're on the ferry Ben-My-Chree pulling away from the docks in Heysham, bidding farewell to England... for a little while, at least!
(Continued later.) The trip over was pretty uneventful... calm seas, no rain, and a tailwind that seemed to be keeping pace with the ferry (meaning the air on deck was pretty calm). We spent a good portion of the trip on the very top deck looking out over the Irish Sea... At one point, Rackham pulled out his laptop and hooked up the little USB GPS antenna, then loaded up the tracking software -- that was fun! We could see exactly where the ferry was and how fast it was going (in fact, when zoomed in, we could see the little arrow for our location moving steadily westward). We got a screenshot that I'll try posting later. About mid-point on the journey, we spotted a windmill farm, just out in the middle of the sea. I'm actually a bit curious about where the power from that was going, because we really weren't near *anything*.
On the Isle of Man, we managed to get lost pretty much immediately (we turned a bit too soon), but still ended up finding our way almost directly to
speakr2customrs and curiouswombat's house. What wonderful people! It really felt like we were meeting old friends, for the first time. They'd fixed us a really yummy sunday dinner (roast chicken, potatoes, cabbage and peas with apple crumble for dessert) and we had a fantastic time just chatting about anything and everything. They're both long-time SF&F fans, so we have quite a bit in common -- we even got to see some of Speaker's painted lead figures (although I guess they're not made out of lead anymore these days, so miniatures? I'm not sure of the current term), a hobby he shares with Rackham. They also let us borrow an internet connection so we could take a quick peek at our email (and stave off the internet withdrawal symptoms). I'm hoping someday they'll brave the potential volcanic eruptions and come visit us in Seattle!Armed with two sets of directions (each giving different details, so we thought we were pretty secure in where we were going), we headed out toward our B&B on the northern end of the Isle of Man... and still ended up getting lost. The roads there are actually a bit scary, especially if you're not used to them. I wrote earlier about the country roads in England being "just barely wide enough for two cars, with blind corners and people driving full-tilt down the middle of the road." Well, take that, add in lots of sharp curves, bumpy roads, fog, very few lights and cars parked randomly on the road (turning the A6, essentially, into a one lane road without warning) -- where some people still go careening around at full-speed! We completely missed the turnoff for the A10 to Bride and ended up driving up and down the A6 for awhile, before I remembered Curiouswombat mentioning that the turnoff for Bride had just a tiny little sign... we turned back toward Ramsey and sure enough, there it was! Then we wound up driving up and down the A10, at a complete loss because our directions from the B&B said that it was the first driveway after the second intersection (we were finding no intersections and were beginning to wonder if maybe we should be considering different definitions of the word), but that if we got to Bride, we'd gone too far.
We'd reach the "Welcome to Bride" sign (complete with mention of its Twin City in Arkansas), turn around and head back. We were pretty tired by this point and pretty frustrated, but after a few passes along the road with no luck, we finally stopped at a hotel just outside Ramsey (which was absolutely packed with peopled -- turns out the Ramsey Town Band was performing there that night). The hotel staff were incredibly friendly and helpful (the first man we talked to said that when he first moved to the Isle of Man, he got lost constantly... and that for such a small place, it's incredibly easy to do), and eventually they rounded up a little old lady who had grown up in the area... she recognized the name of the farm immediately and was able to tell us where we were going wrong. The sign that said "Welcome to Bride"? Was for Bride Parish, not for the town (although why it mentioned the Sister City there, I have no idea), and the houses and buildings we saw and thought were the start of Bride, were actually a little conclave of buildings known as Dogmill. The next time through there, we drove past the houses (and it turns out there really were only a few) and back out into more open country, just a short way up to the very well-marked turnoff for the B&B. We slept REALLY well that night!