The prelude to The England Chronicles: Back to Reality in The England Chronicles - June 2013

And oooOOooo, I am not so crazy about reality. Our Big England Trip was wonderful, and I am very sad that it's over. Till next time. Because there will be a next time. Probably not soon given the astronomical cost of international travel... but we'll do it again.

I'm going to do the same thing I did last time, and write a whole traveloguey series of entries. Because that was really fun, and I've enjoyed re-reading the first ones since then. I do hope it won't take me six months like it did last time. Or four months, or whatever it was. I vow to make frequent entries. Hahahahahaha!!

So, just as an Intro Section to the Second Big England Trip Travelogue:

• Oh, I love England!! I loved it last trip; I love it even more now. I'd move over right this instant if I could. And I'm happy to report that Baker B also loved it.

• This was Baker B's first Big Trip. This was the first time he's even been on a plane, let alone gone overseas. Baker B is not ordinarily a good traveler. At all. I was pretty concerned about how Baker B would do on such a massive trip, especially since he was not staying with Kim and me in London during the first week. He rented a room in Devizes, a little Wiltshire town near Avebury. The second week we were all together in Marlborough (which is also in Wiltshire, also not far from Avebury) (Avebury is in fact kind of between Devizes and Marlborough. And Marlborough is just south of Swindon)

It's a little over an hour west of London by way of the M4. Stonehenge is there too, on the A303 just north of Salisbury. Kim and I didn't see Stonehenge this trip, but Baker B got to go to the Summer Solstice celebrations with his host- so he got to walk amongst the stones, which you don't ordinarily get to do. We did see LOTS of Avebury.

ANYHOW, Baker B had some... difficulties. We all actually had more than what seemed our fair share of, shall we say... disaster. Well, a whole lot of things went quite wrong, and there was one BIG disaster. Which could have been worse, but was pretty bad. BUT despite all the assorted traumas, it was still a fantastic trip, and Baker B not only survived but did VERY VERY well dealing with setbacks and difficulties all by himself.

And I'll say no more about that right now, since this is just the preamble!

Suffice to say we all came back in one un-injured piece. Well, three uninjured pieces, of course. And nobody's trip was ruined and we were all sorry to leave. And now we have lots of stories to tell.

• Wiltshire is gorgeous. It is also Crop Circle/Weird Stuff Central, full of ancient mysterious stones and monuments (Avebury! Stonehenge! Silbury Hill! Kennet Long Barrow which we didn't make it to although it was right there! Fyfield Down, site of the best assemblage of sarsen stones in England, which was within walking distance of our cottage! Endless other wonders!) Sadly we didn't quite see a real live crop circle, although we'd hoped we would. Not quite... but we did get a teeny glimpse from the road of one Baker B later determined was actually a real one (as opposed to a fakey man-made one). More on that later too. There was one that he pronounced fake due to the appearance (he's become quite the expert) and the fact that it was up on a hill, just out of sight of the road but within easy reach of carpark areas, and the farmer was charging admittance. Charging admittance is not unusual - and helps offset damage to the crops by sightseers- but the placement was fishy.

• It was a little sad since we were there at a time when crop circles are normally in full swing, but this year spring was quite late (as it was in the US) and the crops are way behind, making the crop circles way behind too. Darn. Next time.

• London was also loads of fun, even as we had our own mishaps. While Baker B was having mishaps in the countryside. The really nice thing was how long the days are in England right now. It didn't really get totally dark till nearly TEN. At night. When we were there in October, it got dark a bit after five, which made our touring time short. This time we were able to get going later, miss the madness of riding the tube with commuting workers, and sightsee till ten at night. It also got light crazily early, so Baker B got up and went hiking at like four in the morning more than once.

• The weather was amazingly cooperative. It was often overcast, but didn't rain on us too often. And we had several very pretty days with sunshine. It was cooler than here- as expected -- but we did so much walking that the coolness was quite nice. It wasn't humid like it gets here. I enjoyed the cooler non-humid weather, despite being such a heat lover. Cooler is a lot better for walking all day long. And into the evening. Ironically the weather in England was WAY better than it was here while we were gone. Apparently it rained here the entire two weeks, and has continued to rain pretty much non-stop since we returned. We have had daily flood warnings, and quite a few floods. At this very minute the sun has actually come out (for more than ten seconds!!) so I'm hoping, HOPING we're finally getting a weather break. It's been miserable. And makes readjusting even harder-- going from nonstop walking for two weeks to very little exercise at all due to the pouring rain.

• We walked and walked and WALKED and walked. I don't think there was a day out of the two weeks that we walked less than 8 miles, and it was usually 11-12, or even more. OMG we walked. Both in London and in the country. Baker B walked more than Kim and I did while he was out in the country, what with his insanely early morning hikes. Plus a number of other really really long hikes.

• WELL, I feel like this is a very disjointed and rambly prelude. So I will end with some photos, and make a huge effort to start the Real Travelogue this weekend.

I may as well start out with this one, since apparently I am suffering a serious obsession with Tower Bridge. Even I have to admit that, ummmmm, I probably took more pictures that were strictly necessary of Tower Bridge. I have a LOT of pictures of Tower Bridge, from every possible angle. I didn't realize until I got home quite how many I had. Here's one!

There are approximately 19,234 more!!!

London Icons. Being re-purposed. Somewhere I have one that has been turned into a cash machine, but I'm still uploading to Flickr and don't know where it is.

Some of the Black Cabs are suddenly quite colorful. I liked this one for the Clash reference--- London Calling! Although Joe Strummer is probably spinning around in his grave like a rotisserie chicken - and I also had to take it due to the Vodophone ad. Vodophone plays a part in our adventures pretty quickly.

Lots of Underground riding!

London scene- complete with another icon. And yet again we did not ride a double-decker bus, despite fully intending to. Darn. We rode the tube a bizillion times and a ferry once, and even an actual overland train to Pewsey (near Devizes and Marlborough) ... but no bus. Next time!

And now I am going to end this, because Flickr is being VERY uncooperative---- I don't know what is going on, but I am not amused. Real entries coming up....