Your Escape Blueprint

There are 53 million people crammed into England, a country you can fit into Canada 75 times (with a bit to spare).

At its peak the British Empire influenced 20% of the worlds population and covered almost a quarter of the earths total land area.

How the times have changed.

Today Britain still retains sovereignty over 14 territories outside the British Isles, however it is the population dynamics taking place in this country that are very interesting and causing a stir.

When I was in Boston Lincolnshire in 2008 the locals talked about the flood of Portuguese who had come to this part of the country.

Now in 2012 there still may be Portuguese around but it is the Eastern Europeans who have moved to this farming community in search of better economic fortunes.

The number of “Foreigners” in this part of the country always comes up in conversation.

The local area employs a large number of seasonal workers on surrounding farms to harvest fruit and vegetables. It’s not that the “foreigners” are taking jobs from Britons. They are doing jobs that no-one else seems to want to do.
There is a lot of animosity because it perceived that people who come to England from the European Union get a free ride from the government and even receive preferential treatment. There is also talk about anti-social behaviour and drunkenness of the foreigners – it would appear that the majority of decent hard working people are painted with the same brush.

Its not like crowds of drunken football fans are invading the town.

I even heard a rumour that there was protest march being organized due to the foreign invasion. (Apparently a public meeting held in Boston Lincolnshire in July ended with a vote of 66 to 64 against holding a demonstration.)

As a colonial myself the idea of protesting the influx of new people into ones country smells like the left overs from an Eskimo picnic. It even has overtones of Nazism.

It is my opinion as an outside observer that the peoples anger is misdirected. Instead of generating ill will – this energy may be better channelled towards sending a message to the country’s policy makers in London.

It also would appear that the locals of this part of the British Empire don’t see the irony of reverse colonialism that is taking place.

 

“At the far end of England, a land of rocks and moorland stretches itself out into a blue-green sea.
Between its high headlands lie tiny sheltering harbours where the fishing boats hide when the winter storms are blowing.
One of these harbours is so small and the entrance between its great stone breakwaters is so narrow that fishermen called it “the Mousehole”.
The people who lived in the cottages around the harbour grew fond of the name and they call their village Mousehole to this day.
They say it in the Cornish way, “Mowzel”, but you may say it as you choose.”

The Mousehole Cat by Antonia Barber

We had the good fortune to see this book while staying in Chertsey and the memory of this Mousehole harbour stuck, which is why when we were looking at staying in Cornwall, Mousehole was top of the list!

It lived up to its reputation the opening into the harbour is indeed a tiny hole, one which any “Storm cat” would have a problem getting into. No storms while we were there just the regular flux of the tides filling and emptying the rock pools….. while leaving all sorts of interesting critters behind!!!! These crystal clear little pools contain all sorts if you just take the time to sit and look……. Anemones, limpets, crabs, shrimps, fish and all kinds of weeds and algae.

Then of course you can go crabbing with a line and bacon on the harbour walls or launch yourself off the steps into the incoming tides (might need a wet suit for that one, it can be a little chilly).

Inside the harbour is a small crescent beach “low tide” although you have to share with the anchor lines, just outside and east is a tidal flushed swimming pool, much warmer, easy to get into and with its own little population of critters…… augmented with adults, kids and the odd dog. Climb the steps and enjoy a fantastic view while enjoying a Cornish tea or ice cream…. Yummy!

We stayed high above the village and enjoyed meandering in, early enough and you can watch the fisherman unloading their catch, or pick up a tasty treat for breakfast. There is no shortage of tea rooms, pubs and restaurants and of course there is a fish & chip shop….. (no village is complete without at least one)

We even had a Mousehole cat come and help us eat ours as we scoffed it down by the harbour.

What a fantastic place to get away from it all! We know we already got away from it all, this was even better though as we got to share it with a very good friend and some of the family! A perfect Cornish holiday!!!!

Today I struck another item off my bucket list…….. Yep, I went deep sea fishing.
We went out for a 4 hour fishing trip with Mermaid tours in Penzance, I was not the only novice onboard and as one of the regulars told us “women usually catch the fish and always the beginners!” after a slight detour to check out a pod of dolphins we settled down and got a chance to get our gear wet.

Some of the group were after mackerel using feather lures (a string of 4 shiny tassel’s hiding 4 hooks), our skipper showed us how and reeled in 2 Mackerel almost as soon as the lure touched water. These were promptly put to use as bait as the rest of us were after Haddock. I carefully watched the instructions and in it went…….. low and behold I caught the first fish (apart from the bait Mackerel) It was a small Whiting, apparently not worth keeping as the crew unhooked him and back he went…. My first ever fish and I didn’t even get a photo!

Silence descended as we got down to the serious business of fishing…… the fish were not too serious though as only 2 Haddock were caught and the odd Mackerel. So everyone reel in and off to another spot! Mike caught a Haddock, then a Dogfish (a type of shark which was wrapping itself into knots trying to get away……. he went back over the side to fight another day!).

The fish weren’t coming in fast enough for the skipper, so he moved us elsewhere to try a few other spots. Pollack and Gurnards were caught but nothing big…….. then the tales started! You know the ones, how they were all pulling in 10lb Cod last week! By this time I was getting a little disheartened as I was getting no other bites!

Skipper decided to change tactics and go after Ling & Pollack, which meant changing the tack too what looked to me to be a odd setup but hey I’m the novice! With new tack and jelly worm bait we try again, with warnings off the rough bottom and trying not to get hooked down there.

I managed to get tangled with my fellow fishers on more than one occasion and then it happened!!!!! Yep! I had just dropped her down and I am well and truly hooked on the bottom, the rod bowing down and round the stern…………. Captains mate to the rescue! A man of few words he takes my rod, does a couple of dips and jiggles and hands it back with “You’ve got a big one! Reel her in”

Woohooo! Good job I had seen those fishing movies, with a little coaching and a lot of reeling I landed a 12lb Ling!!! Biggest and last catch of the day!

Guess what is for dinner tonight? Probably for the rest of the week too!

What a smile

 

 

Not all the best castles are found on the European continent, we spent a wet, blustery Welsh day exploring Conwy’s UNESCO world heritage site. The Castle commands a rock above the Conwy estuary and demands as much attention as the Snowdonia landscape behind.

                   

 

Conwy constructed by English monarch Edward I between 1283 and 1289 as one of the key fortresses in his ‘iron ring’ of castles built to “contain” the Welsh. The English lived inside its walls and the Welsh outside……..

It “only” cost £15,000 to build the Castle and the walls around the town! In 1283 that was a large fortune, you could rent a cottage for about 5 shillings a year. Some estimates have the cost at £150,000,000 at today’s values. Glad I didn’t have to foot the bill!

There are no concentric ‘walls within walls’ here, because they were not needed. Conwy’s massive military strength springs from the rock on which it stands. Soaring curtain walls and eight huge round towers give the castle an intimidating presence undimmed by the passage of time.

Climb the battlements for views looking out across mountains and sea and down to the roofless shell of the castles 125ft Great Hall. It is from these battlements that you can appreciate Conwy’s other great glory, its ring of town walls.

Conwy is the classic walled town. Its circuit of walls contained a Harp shaped town, the walls, mostly intact are over three quarters of a mile long and guarded by 22 towers, access to the top of the wall is through 10 of these towers with an average walk of about 10 minutes between each entry point.

Watch your footing along these walls especially if it is wet and blustery, as they can get slippery especially when on the incline. Exploring the walls is free and it costs £4.80 to enter the ruined castle itself. Well worth a visit even though we did not have our own tour guide as in this video we found.

 

Three months since we flew out of Vancouver…….. in many ways we haven’t stopped! Events still seem like a whirlwind at times……. Yet the reality is that we have been able to stop and smell the Roses. Since we left, we have visited England, France, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Portugal, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Austria, & Monaco! A grand total of 15!!!!!

We are well on our way to our “Visit one hundred countries goal” Mike is catching me up rapidly!  As many of the 48 countries that I have visited previously are this time around second visits for me. After all being English born and bred I have already visited some of Europe. However I still managed to add a additional 10 countries bringing my grand total to 58!!!!!

Michael’s goal for this year was to visit a minimum of 15 new countries! He is well on track having added a whopping 14 to his check list! He has gone from visiting 27 countries to a whopping 41! If we manage to squeeze in a visit to Wales, Scotland or Ireland he shrinks the gap even further.

Fifteen countries in 3 months……. while still managing to hang out for weeks at a time in some gorgeous places! Europe is probably one of the few places in the world you can do that, in most cases the countries are small and only a few hours away even when driving in the Alps!

After 3 months the question has to be….. is it still a vacation? Yes! Although a vacation with a difference……. there is no sense of hurry or having to squeeze everything into two short weeks! We still have the surreal sense that this is not real and that we have to go back to work sometime……….. Reality is we don’t!

True we cannot stay in Europe forever…….. England especially is very hard on the budget even taking into account that we are staying with family and friends. The everyday cost of living here is disheartening; groceries, fuel and housing are way more than Canada! Groceries are more expensive here than any other European country we have visited! The English pub scene is another budget killer…… especially when it is time to buy a “round”. This can be a real problem in a big group, buying a round for 10 plus people is fine if you drink 10 drinks yourself, otherwise it can get very, very messy!!!

Logistically our preparation work has paid off, the banking is ticking along nicely, bills are being paid, our renters seem happy and more importantly our rental cheques are coming in regular as clockwork! Mike has even done a little distance consulting work for his old clients….. Got to love this high tech age! Skype is very useful, free video conferencing and for very little money you can purchase credits which enable you to call any landline! 1 800 numbers are of course free, which is a darned good job as I spent 25 minutes on hold today! But what the heck, I was outside watching the birds and enjoying the sunshine. What would we do without the internet?

This all goes to show that it is possible to break out and Escape! Stay tuned for our next adventure!

 

We were advised by our friends that we had to visit Ronda……… they were absolutely right, it is a magical place!

Ronda in the province of Malaga Spain is situated on a rocky outcrop in a mountain surrounded basin 750 m above sea level. The Guadalevín River runs along the 120 meters deep El Tajo canyon effectively slicing the city in two. The effect is spectacular especially when standing on any of the 3 bridges that link the city.

These three bridges, the Puente Romano (“Roman Bridge”), the Puente Viejo (“Old Bridge”) and the most spectacular Puente Nuevo (“New Bridge”), span the canyon. The term “nuevo” is a bit misleading, as the building of this bridge commenced in 1751 and took until 1793 to complete, hardly new! The Puente Nuevo is the tallest of the bridges, towering 120 meters (390 ft) above the canyon floor.

The Puente Nuevo is always the center of attention with visitors, drive through the city early afternoon as we did and be prepared to dodge what appears to be 100’s of people excitedly dashing from one side of the bridge to the other. Ronda is a very popular day trip destination, therefore the best way to see it is to stay overnight. The ultimate place to stay would have to be the Parador this used to be the City Hall and is perched right on the canyons edge, although at almost €200 per night it was a little rich for us. We stayed in a moderate hotel just outside of town and drove back into town to explore, around 6pm the streets were almost deserted……. well in comparison anyway.

It is a fascinating place and well worth the detour to get there, give yourself time to wander the streets, peer into the gorge and maybe explore the famous Plaza De Toros, the “bullring”, visit the Giants House or of course some of the many churches & museums that abound.

For us the highlight was standing on “The New Bridge” and peering down and down……… almost wish I could fly!