I rented this car, a Fiat Punto.
I rented this car, a Fiat Punto.
Driving was a rather scary experience at first. Not only did I have to drive on the left-hand side of the road, but I had to interpret strange road signs, I had to drive a stick shift (which I had not done for almost two decades) and I had to shift with my left hand.
When I first got the car, I unlocked it and sat down, only to discover to my dismay that I was sitting in the passenger seat. "I must be completely out of my mind", I said to myself, thinking that there was no way I was going to get out of this with my skin intact. But by following other drivers and imitating what they did, I was able to get acclimated in a fairly short time.
My route towards Edinburgh was rather circuitous. I decided to cut through the Yorkshire Dales, through winding country roads, just to see what it was like.
Unfortunately, although the weather had been lovely for the last several days, it decided to turn foul today. It was misty most of the day, with some drizzling. Not a good day for picture taking.
Here's some pictures of Yorkshire.
I know Gromit! We'll go somewhere where there's CHEESE!
It appears I'm not the first one to think of this. I bought some Wensleydale
cheese and ate it - It was a bit crumbly, with a slight cottage cheesey
taste.
One thing that struck me was how similar all of the rural buildings are to one another, they seem to all be made of the same ochre-colored stone, the same stone used in the mortarless walls that seperate the plots of land from one another. I hadn't realized how pervasive these walls are, seems like a lot of work compared to something like a split-rail fence.
The trip through the dales took a lot longer than I anticipated. Worse, an accident had completely blocked the roadway, not twenty meters from the motorway entrance leading to Penrith! I had to take an uncertain detour, but I was helped by a friendly truck driver who let me follow him part way to the next motorway entrance. (For you Americans, motorways are Britain's equivalent of freeways.)
This place was difficult to find. It does not appear on any of my tourist maps. In addition, most tourist sites have friendly brown road signs indicating how to get there - this one does not. After negotiating an 8 mile drive over a maze of country roads (and stopping for directions three times), I was rewarded by the sight of a small, plain sign: "Long Meg Druids Circle, 1/2 mile". (Yes, I know that the druids had nothing to do with the building of the circles, but it's interesting that the maker of the sign didn't.)
When I got there, I was the only person in sight. I walked among the stones for about 20 minutes until someone else showed up. It was really quite a unique experience.
The "daughters" are about 50 stones arranged in a large ellipse about half the size of a football field. Long Meg is a taller, upright stone which is outside the circle.
Miraculously, the weather had cleared by the time I got there, and I was able to take these photos. (It got misty again shortly thereafter).
Long Meg
I reached Edinburgh a few hours later. Rick had mentioned staying in a place called Sibbett's, but I didn't know the address. Browsing through a local bookstore, I found a reference to a place called "Sibbett House". I drove to the neighborhood, but couldn't find the name "Sibbett" on any of the houses. I inquired at a nearby pub, but they had never heard of it. I finally asked a gentleman who was entering his house, if he knew where I could find "Sibbett House".
He replied, "Oh, that's me. That is I'm John Sibbett. I'm retired now. Oh, but don't worry, I've turned over the guest house to new management."
Anyway, he led me to a house across the street, #26 Northumberland Street,
with a little brass plaque that said "Sibbett". It was only three doors
down from the pub where I had inquired earlier, you would think that they
would have a clue...the manager (I never did catch his name) was very nice,
he even took my car keys and re-parked my car in a safe place.