In 2000, the United Kingdom passed the Countryside and Rights of Way Act. This gave the public permission to walk on any uncultivated land in the country. Basically, you can walk wherever you want and no one can do anything about it. On a beautiful Thursday in March, my friend Andy Stillman, his cross country teammates Andy and Jared, and myself woke up at 6:30 to take a train out to Glynde for a 14.5 mile country walk. This walk took us on footpaths, parks, three English villages that all had less than 400 residents, farms, peoples backyards, a golf course and even to the English channel before terminating in the city of Seafood. I mean Seaford. (Kind of a joke throughout the day)
To get to Glynde (Its pronounced like it rhymes with find or mind) we needed to transfer at Lewes (prounouced Lewis. Someone needs to teach the British how to spell). We asked the man working at the Lewes station which platform went to Glynde and how many stops we rode the train for. When the train arrived at Glynde the doors didn't open. We repeatedly pressed the "open" button but to no avail. We found the conductor who issued us new tickets to ride back to Lewes and then take the next train going to Glynde. He seemed very disappointed in us and assured us it was our fault. We took too long getting off so the doors locked. That wasn't the case.
As we stood on the platform at Lewes, waiting for our second train to Glynde, the guy that helped us earlier walked by and seemed completely confused. He then circled
around, walked by again and asked "Where are you fellas going?"
"Glynde"
"I just put you on a train to Glynde! What are you trying to do? Ride the trains all day for free? You need to buy new tickets right now!"
I explained our situation and showed him the tickets issued by the conductor. He still seemed angry. Why would we waste our time riding the trains all day for free? Our hour detour wasn't all bad though. We were able to get a cup of "The Universe's Best Tea" served by Victor from Switzerland. He was a little screwy, and had the poems he had written taped to the wall of the store. What a guy though, what a guy!
It took us no longer than 15 minutes to get completely lost. The detailed directions said to go up the driveway of the Prescott House, but we figured the Backswell house was close enough. We figured the guy must have made a typo in his directions. Nope. About 45 minutes later we decided to go back to sqaure one and start over. So here we were two hours behind schedule and 14.5 brutal country miles ahead of us.
The walk was awesome. We chased sheep as we walked through people's farms, hopped barbed wire fences, went through hundreds of "kissing gates", touched the English Channel, got some ice cream and even ate at a pub that first opened in the 14th century. While an amazing day, it was exhausting. We left my flat at 6:45 AM and returned at 10:30 PM. I would estimate that we walked at least 17 miles.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Cliffs of Dover
My friend Pat and I took advantage of one of our days off from the office to travel down to Dover and hike along the famed White Cliffs. We met at the Waterloo train station early in the morning and boarded the next available train to Dover.
This train had twelve cars and we just happened to sit in the last one. Once the train got moving Pat took a little nap and I put on my ipod and just zoned out. I decided to un-plug and do some reading about an hour into the ride and heard this announcement as the train pulled into the next stop: "Just a reminder that at this stop this train separates and only the front four carriages will be going to Dover." Oh boy. Pat had also just woken up and we bolted off the train and sprinted towards the front. We ran for 150-200 meters and jumped into the 4th carriage just as the "doors are closing" announcement was being made. Close call.
We grabbed a quick lunch at a small pub in Dover and then headed to the tour information building to get some directions. The man in the tourist info place seemed a bit out of place. He wasn't very friendly, nor was he very enthused about the cliffs. Not sure why he decided to work at the Dover Tourist information building. He told us that he wouldn't recommend hiking to the cliffs because it was really muddy at this point of the year and that instead we should go to the Prince of Wales pier and look at them from afar. Screw that, we came here to hike the cliffs.
On our ascent of the hills we came across the Dover castle. Probably the coolest castle I have seen in the UK. We tried to go in the back without paying but whoever built that castle was very thorough with their fortification.
We continued towards the cliffs and about a mile and half or so we finally got there. The guy was certianly spot on about the mud, but it was worth it. It was slightly raining and very peaceful because there wasn't anyone else in sight. We then hiked about a mile along the cliffs just enjoying the view. It is always nice to get out of the city and remove myself from the craziness that is London.
The Castle as we got off the train in Dover.
We stumbled upon this on our way. This is dedicated to the first trans-english channel flight and this chalk outline is where the plane landed. It seemed like a decently big accomplishment but for some reason there wasn't even a sign leading off the road to it. It seemed strange until we realized it was a french pilot. I am surprised they even put this much effort into recognizing the accomplishment. We knew we were close because there was no way this thing had landed too far from the channel.
We finally arrived at the cliffs and you can see the castle in the distance.
Pat sitting and taking it all in.
Is that Johnny Depp I see over there in France?
Pretty cool tv in the town centre. Czech Republic vs. Slovakia. Come on Pat, we are going to miss our train!
This train had twelve cars and we just happened to sit in the last one. Once the train got moving Pat took a little nap and I put on my ipod and just zoned out. I decided to un-plug and do some reading about an hour into the ride and heard this announcement as the train pulled into the next stop: "Just a reminder that at this stop this train separates and only the front four carriages will be going to Dover." Oh boy. Pat had also just woken up and we bolted off the train and sprinted towards the front. We ran for 150-200 meters and jumped into the 4th carriage just as the "doors are closing" announcement was being made. Close call.
We grabbed a quick lunch at a small pub in Dover and then headed to the tour information building to get some directions. The man in the tourist info place seemed a bit out of place. He wasn't very friendly, nor was he very enthused about the cliffs. Not sure why he decided to work at the Dover Tourist information building. He told us that he wouldn't recommend hiking to the cliffs because it was really muddy at this point of the year and that instead we should go to the Prince of Wales pier and look at them from afar. Screw that, we came here to hike the cliffs.
On our ascent of the hills we came across the Dover castle. Probably the coolest castle I have seen in the UK. We tried to go in the back without paying but whoever built that castle was very thorough with their fortification.
We continued towards the cliffs and about a mile and half or so we finally got there. The guy was certianly spot on about the mud, but it was worth it. It was slightly raining and very peaceful because there wasn't anyone else in sight. We then hiked about a mile along the cliffs just enjoying the view. It is always nice to get out of the city and remove myself from the craziness that is London.
The Castle as we got off the train in Dover.
We stumbled upon this on our way. This is dedicated to the first trans-english channel flight and this chalk outline is where the plane landed. It seemed like a decently big accomplishment but for some reason there wasn't even a sign leading off the road to it. It seemed strange until we realized it was a french pilot. I am surprised they even put this much effort into recognizing the accomplishment. We knew we were close because there was no way this thing had landed too far from the channel.
We finally arrived at the cliffs and you can see the castle in the distance.
Pat sitting and taking it all in.
Is that Johnny Depp I see over there in France?
Pretty cool tv in the town centre. Czech Republic vs. Slovakia. Come on Pat, we are going to miss our train!
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