|
Post by whollygoats on Feb 9, 2017 17:08:55 GMT
If you're asking in the American sense ... Reputedly, I've been rubbed out...in the 'American sense'.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Feb 9, 2017 17:18:04 GMT
Okay...The old goat needs guidance.
I'm not particularly mobile phone friendly. I don't own one. I don't intend to take one with me to Europe. Yet, I understand that 'public phones' have largely disappeared. What is a visiting furriner (who speaks 'Merkin Anglich'), who is attempting to make accommodation arrangements ahead of his transit to the intended locations, to do? How am I to seek accommodation and make advance reservations at upcoming destinations? Will there ALWAYS be an tourist assistance window to identify and book nearby B&B or rooms for the traveler?
I do not intend to hire a car. I intend to travel primarily by train, secondarily by bus, and probably hoof a lot. I'd like to limit the latter, but I don't see much of that in the cards without steep charges. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Travelers who have been? Locals? Are 'burner phones' a real thing? Can I acquire a disposable phone at reasonable rates? Or, can this all be done on the internets and how accessible is the internets to itinerant furriners? I do not intend, or even desire, to carry some form of my personal computer along on this peregrination.
|
|
|
Post by Moose on Feb 9, 2017 20:30:47 GMT
I daresay we can lend you a phone when you hit the UK if we know where you're staying .. you can just mail it. Or is the not wanting to use a phone meaning you don't want to use one at all, rather than just you don't want to buy one?
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Feb 9, 2017 23:44:34 GMT
I daresay we can lend you a phone when you hit the UK if we know where you're staying .. you can just mail it. Or is the not wanting to use a phone meaning you don't want to use one at all, rather than just you don't want to buy one? It is more a matter of ignorance, than desire. In the normal course of events in my life, I tend not to use the home phone sets much because they don't really work all that well with my hearing aids. For me, using a telephone is better without my hearing aids. Still....I would use one if it were inexpensive, easy to obtain, and easy to learn.
|
|
|
Post by Moose on Feb 10, 2017 0:07:17 GMT
Probably nothing we could lend you would be easy to learn. But you can buy a basic phone for under ten pounds from most places. They'll show you how to use it . As I said we have spares though that we could send you when you landed.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Feb 10, 2017 0:26:46 GMT
So, today I firmed my last week in Britain by booking in to a hotel in Duxford. It's right on the rail line to Liverpool station in London, at Whittlesford Parkway station, and hour plus in to London.
I also initiated negotiation with Classic Wings, purveyors of Dragon flights, about a flight over London and Cambridge, during my stay at Duxford.
|
|
|
Post by JoeP on Feb 10, 2017 10:32:52 GMT
You're right about public phones being a rarity now. The ones that still exist are probably out of order due to their coin boxes having been vandalised.
Not really sure about the availability of tourist information desks where read life in-person people can do bookings for you - definitely in the major centres, but quite likely to be missing or closed where and when you actually need them.
Getting a mobile phone would be good - and if you get a 'smart' phone, it's basically a computer and there's a lot you could do with it in terms of making bookings that won't involves calls and hearing aids. You should definitely get one in Britain not beforehand because there are some differences in radio bands used and in any case you'd need a local SIM card.
|
|
|
Post by Moose on Feb 10, 2017 19:21:51 GMT
I dunno Joe - in all seriousness it took me quite a long time to get used to using a smart phone and WG might just end up tying himself in knots with it.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Feb 18, 2017 17:40:02 GMT
We'll see.
The current plan is for Swimmer to obtain a new smart phone, which she thinks she needs, train us to use it and send me off to Urp with it (a trusting soul, indeed).
While we're at it, I'm learning applications with Google Map that was unaware that existed...like booking hotels. This is great for me because I can assess distance on foot far more easily. Even a more primative text-only with Google Map would serve me much better than I am presently equiped.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Feb 18, 2017 18:04:23 GMT
Hmmm...I thought I'd posted a question about Carmarthen. Three accommodations. The Falcon, The Rose and Crown and the Boar's Head, all along Lammas Street. If anybody here happens to know if any of these have reputations as dens of iniquity or get gold star recommendations from your friends' friends, I'd be interested to hear (well...see).
Then I wonder if I mighten not just train right in to Pembroke Dock and book there to use it as my center of operations for south Wales. Is there one location of the two, Carmarthen or Pembroke Dock, which would serve better as a base of operations for day tripping in the Pembroke peninsula Dyfed?
I suspect I'll move from, say, four to five days there, to a bit in Aberystwyth for mid-Wales and try to squeeze in Mach Loop, then up to Caernafon or Colwyn Bay (I'd like this to be a 'slow boat' through Snowdonia National. There is a well-known small guage railroad in Snowdonia). I'm looking for recommendations regarding northwest Wales, too. From there to a four to five day stint on Man, before returning to run to Whitehaven for several days of revisiting Cumbria and the Lakes....perhaps Hadrian's Folly, too. Then, it's on to Aberdeen and the North Sea islands. Must be there before May 27.
So, I would expect my arrival in or around Whitehaven will be on May 20, give or take a couple of days.
Depending upon how I get from south Wales to the mid-Wales coast, I could potentially squeeze the RAF museum at Cosford in between south and mid Wales, or after my return to Liverpool International from Man. Then run from Cosford to Carlisle, and then Whitehaven, from Cosford.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Feb 18, 2017 18:45:12 GMT
This looks good: Snowdon rail. Portmerion is on the line and it makes Porthmadog look like a decent place to come to ground in NW Wales.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Feb 18, 2017 20:00:22 GMT
So...The itinerary is firming up.
PDX to Vancouver to Heathrow to Pembroke Dock/Carmarthan. <camp> Tour SW Wales. Bus or train to Abrystwyth. <camp> Attempt Mach Loop and be willing to decamp and recamp. Tour mid-Wales coast. Porthmadog <camp> Tour Snowdonia. Caernafon Castle. Portmerion. Local trains. <recamp in NW?> Venture to Liverpool Airport via train to connect to Citilinks to fly to Ronaldway Airport on Man. <camp> Tour Man. Fly back to Liverpool and then train to Whitehaven. <camp> Tour Cumbria. Train to Aberdeen <camp> to meet ferry to Kirkwall. <camp> Tour Orkneys...SKARA BRAE Ferry to Lerwick <camp> Tour Shetlands....JARLSHOF Ferry back to Aberdeen <camp> Train to Inverness <camp> Tour Speyside. Distilleries. Bus through Cairngorms National Park to Perth, Stirling and Falkirk <camp> Visit Falkirk Wheel. Train to Wellington <camp> Visit RAF Museum, Cosford. Train to Duxford <camp> Visit Imperial War Museum. Fly on Dragon @ Classic Wings. Train in to London for British Museum and Tate visit. Fly home.
Two months stay.
I count 11 days of travel and expect that two of them will be by bus. That means I'll have used in the realm of 9-10 of my 15 days of travel when arriving at Duxford. The remains will be used to day trip to London from Duxford.
The Cosford piece is movable at this point.
I'm not too sure about the busing through the Cairngorms. A night's stay in Kingussie sounds intriguing, but I haven't any idea why. I suspect distilleries abound in the heath in those parts.
|
|
|
Post by Moose on Feb 18, 2017 20:08:29 GMT
How long will you be in Whitehaven?
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Feb 18, 2017 20:26:20 GMT
How long will you be in Whitehaven? It's looking to be in the realm of six days. That's that 'Tour Cumbria' part. I figure I can revisit the Lakes and train in to Carlisle and do Hadrian's Wall whilst returning to Whitehaven as a...well...haven. I'm hoping for decent weather and mayhaps a walk to St. Bee's? I know I want to return to Castlerigg, so I'll need to go in to Keswick at least once. Think of it this way....I figure I'll leave Whitehaven for Aberdeen, from which I have a hard and fast May 27 departure date on the ferry. So I'll be leaving Whitehaven on the 25th, bound for my pilgrimage destination. My gelatinous scheduling shows me stumbling in Whitehaven (which I seem to persist in thinking of as 'Winterhaven') somewhere around the 18th. There is still a fair amount of 'slop' in the itinerary.
|
|
|
Post by Moose on Feb 18, 2017 21:01:11 GMT
I'd like to try to walk to St Bees and if you wanted company on the other parts I am sure Col will happily oblige. My chances of getting very far from home are pretty slim though as I daresay you know But we can entertain your evenings
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Feb 18, 2017 21:24:14 GMT
I'd like to try to walk to St Bees and if you wanted company on the other parts I am sure Col will happily oblige. My chances of getting very far from home are pretty slim though as I daresay you know But we can entertain your evenings I have strong inklings. I thought maybe the stroll to St. Bee's might be stretching my luck. Evening companionship, fuzzy and otherwise, will be welcome. It will be like introverts conspiring to not be uncomfortable. 8^D} What is the name of the accommodations Farther Kye recommended?
|
|
|
Post by Moose on Feb 18, 2017 21:35:07 GMT
The Mansion on Woodhouse. Bout a five minute walk from my house. I'd like to try the walk though .. being outside is less scary for me than being in a bus or car for some reason and there is a lovely sheltered walk to SB where we'd be unlikely to meet anything more threatening than a cow. We could take a picnic and stop somewhere
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Feb 18, 2017 21:53:30 GMT
The Mansion on Woodhouse. Bout a five minute walk from my house. I'd like to try the walk though .. being outside is less scary for me than being in a bus or car for some reason and there is a lovely sheltered walk to SB where we'd be unlikely to meet anything more threatening than a cow. We could take a picnic and stop somewhere Sounds most excellent. From Google Maps, it looks a nice park space. And, the Mansion looks fine, but looking at the map, I'd be detraining at Corkickle, right? Then out to Coach Road, to Ginns to Kells, thence to Lakeland, Fell View, and finally, Woodhouse. I'm getting the impression that the Mansion o'ersees a great deal. This means it is uphill from the train station, right? It shows to be about a mile as the crow flies, so more on foot.
|
|
|
Post by Moose on Feb 18, 2017 23:27:25 GMT
Naw, detrain at Whitehaven station .. we or at least Col will meet you there and stand you a cab. It's all very, very uphill.
|
|
|
Post by tangent on Feb 19, 2017 1:52:43 GMT
It's all very, very uphill. I can confirm that.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Feb 19, 2017 19:32:43 GMT
Will I need crampons? Ropes and clips?
|
|
|
Post by tangent on Feb 19, 2017 20:41:32 GMT
No, but a robust cloak or a shield to guard against the natives might come in useful. Nothing that would count as an offensive weapon, mind.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Feb 19, 2017 21:04:50 GMT
Hey! I'm not Scots.
|
|
|
Post by Moose on Feb 19, 2017 22:25:08 GMT
We're not SO bad up here though our house is small and poky and not terribly clean. I guess you will learn to live with it
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Feb 25, 2017 4:10:17 GMT
Hmmm....I'm still trying to decide between Carmarthen or Pembroke Dock for a landing site in SW Wales.
I've just found that de Havilland has a museum in St. Albans, which, if I read my maps correctly is a suburb northwest of central London.
|
|
|
Post by JoeP on Feb 26, 2017 9:40:18 GMT
A separate town rather than a suburb, but in that area.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2017 11:54:58 GMT
A city, no less...
|
|
hexgoblinweb
Junior lady
Learn to take full responsibility for your own actions, life will respect you for it.
Posts: 106
|
Post by hexgoblinweb on Feb 26, 2017 14:15:59 GMT
Whollygoats, if you can get the Moose out of her house even for a 5 minute walk, you will be forever in my debt.
What wonderful plans you have for your trip to the UK. Sounds exciting and full of beautiful plans.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Feb 26, 2017 15:47:07 GMT
I keep trying to drop the hint that I'm open to suggestions and recommendations along the way....but yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
I don't know what to expect on Man and I'm really pretty lost in Wales, I've only vague ideas of things to do (I have a book at my left elbow I need to look through, I suppose, but hey....). I've been to Scotland twice before and Inverness is one of my favorite destinations, so I'm expecting the whole Skara Brae, Jarlshoff, and Highland wander to be exhilarating and wondrous. A magical mystery tour, as it were. My wife introduced me to the Lake District, which was one of her favorites (Cockermouth, I believe), but I've not been to 'the Wall' (Hadrian's Folly) nor ever met Moose and her menagerie face to face.
I'd like to think that I could be standing under practicing hypersonic aircraft in the Mach Loop, but I think that is such a long shot as to make it unfulfilled fantasy.
And then...Duxford. A Dragon ride. Over London. (I got my confirmation packet yesterday!) I'm jazzed...months in advance.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Feb 26, 2017 22:47:00 GMT
Well....I now have a 'smartphone'. Some kind of Samsung product. They won't let me play with it, yet.
Swimmer and her brood are going to teach me how to use it in the next month, plus.
|
|