Assorted other GB Activities

Among other things we did in the UK we of course got some climbing in on the Grit. I've wanted to climb on Grit for ages, ever since I first saw the movie "Hard Grit" obviously I was not doing anything that would constitute putting my neck on the line in the way that many of the people in that video were (certainly not with the family present). Grit is an interesting rock, more granular than sandstone but not even close to being conglomerate as far as how it climbs. We spent 3 days climbing on this unique stone, 2 before Edinburg and one after, and I went out on my own on one other evening (VIDEO). Dylan was able  to get in some more climbing on some of the smaller of the many boulders that litter the hillsides.

 After Edinburg we headed back through the Peak District and did a bit more climbing before stopping in Bath. Here Linda and Dylan are in front of the Abbey just outside the Roman baths.

 And Dylan in front of the bath.

 We then headed on to Stonehenge and took a tour that walked us through the country side culminating in a special access tour of the stones themselves, which allowed us to walk among the stones as opposed to viewing them from a raised catwalk about 100 feet back.

Our last day that included visiting Bath and Stonehenge and then driving to a hotel close enough to Heathrow that we would be able to make a noon flight was quite taxing and not something I would really recommend. Though in hind site I would just pass on going to Bath because of the crowds, it is kind of cool but at the same time it is difficult to enjoy.

Our flight back landed in Dallas and we spent a little time with Linda's grandma (98 years old) and then I headed back to Albuquerque while Linda and Dylan head to Austin with her dad to visit with the cousins.

July 9th - 11th, 2016 - Edinburgh

After spending a couple of days in the Peak District climbing we headed to “The North” ..... 

to spend some time in Edinburgh. The day we got in we tried to check out the local climbing wall but only arrived as it closed, then got dinner to go from a small restaurant in the “Old Town” called Oink!, where the only make one thing but do it quite well. Edinburgh is a fantastic city and where J.K. Rowling lived while writing the Harry Potter books. We did our usual walking tour of of the city and also checked out the Edinburgh Castle on our first day. We headed to the cemetery to visit Tom Riddle’s (Lord Voldemort) grave across the street from the above mentioned cafe .....

and the views of the city from the castle were quite amazing .....

so amazing that Dylan felt a need to stand guard over it .....

In the evening we headed to The Witchery for dinner, the only “fine dinning” night we had in our entire 6 week trip ..... 

The food was quite nice with Dylan getting his usual, whatever is closest to a hamburger .....

While Linda and I shared the lamb wellington. We had tried to check out the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena the day we got to Edinburgh but got lost since all forms of sat. nav. take you to the wrong place, though different places depending on the app you use. Instead we made a day out of going there. We first checked out the “New Town” part of Edinburgh, getting lunch at a restaurant called The Dogs where the food was reasonably priced and quite good, comfort food, and again Dylan with something as close to a hamburger as possible .....

After lunch we headed out of the city to the climbing arena where Junior Worlds has been held on several occasions. The facility is enormous and makes anything I’ve been to in the US seem tiny ..... 

There are 5 main walls that are all 60+ feet tall including a section that is 100’ tall and an angle adjustable competition wall. Before we headed home Dylan wanted a snack so he headed to the vending machine and returned with .....

Guinness chips, apparently they start them young in Scotland.

We quite liked Scotland and Edinburgh in particular. There are lots of nice homes just outside the main part of the city where it does not seem that crowded but you are still really close to the restaurants and shops, you can also quickly get out of town and to the hills or ocean. All in all it just seemed a bit easier to navigate as a traveler and more homey than London.

July 2nd - 6th, 2016 London

We arrived in London in the morning after yet another overnight flight, so far all our long flights have been overnight in which case Dylan is the only one who gets any real sleep. I’ve got to say I’m jealous of people that have the ability to crash out anywhere in any position. Needless to say, arriving in the morning means needing to stay awake for the majority of the day to keep on schedule. Once we made it to our flat across the street form Kensington Garden (part of Hyde Park), we headed back out to the London Science Museum. Before we got there Dylan was already intrigued by things he had never seen before .....

We eventually managed to stay awake through the day and bought groceries at the largest Whole Foods I’ve ever seen. 

The next day Linda had signed us up for a free (except for tip to guide who actually pays Sandemans to be able to lead the tours) Sandemans walking tour of Westminster. Before the tour we had breakfast with one of Linda’s college friends, Dawn and her family, who has lived all over Europe and has been in London for the last 8 years. Among the many things we saw were Westminster Abbey, the changing of the guard .....  

St. James Park, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Westminster with Big Ben .....

Dylan really enjoyed our guide, Lars, who told stories of the London/British history in a pretty engaging manner .....

, he earned a nice tip. It was a pretty long day. It is also worth noting that we had just traveled from the Southern Hemisphere where we were for the winter solstice and day light lasted from 8am to 6pm, to the Northern Hemisphere one week after the summer solstice and day light lasts from 4am to 10pm which is wreaking havoc on our internal clocks. The below shot is sitting on out porch looking out at Kensington Garden at 9:30pm .....

On the 4th of July, ironically, we visited the Tower of London, being where the royalty resided up to about the time the British were planting a flag in the US. It was pretty cool to see the whole castle and all the different items housed there, including the Crown Jewels (holy 530.2 karat diamond). Then there were the Beefeaters (guards of the Tower), after doing the audio tour we lined up for the free Beefeater tour. Yet again, Dylan loves listening to the tales that are told by these guides and they are quite interesting ..... 

After the Tower we headed to a climbing gym to pick up the bouldering guide book. After a little searching we decided to go to The Castle Climbing Center, because how can you say no to a climbing gym in a castle.

On the 5th we headed to The British Museum. The museum houses an amazing collection of art and artifacts from around the world and is just enormous. We focused on the highlights like The Rosetta Stone, sculptures from The Parthenon (though we still need to go to Athens at some point), other Greek works, the Easter Island figure and Egyptian artifacts. For many of the items though I’m left feeling that maybe they really belong in a museum in the country of origin while in others if they had remained there they would have likely ended up in someones private collection. To finish off the day, we headed to Kings Cross Station because of its association with Harry Potter and to see the Platform 9 3/4 shop and tourist trap, we did not partake in anything because of tomorrows planned activity.

Our next day, after struggling through the Underground with our luggage to the airport and picking up our rental car (yes, no car while in London) we drove out to the Warner Bros. Studio for The Making of Harry Potter tour. This was a really cool experience and highly recommended for any fans of HP. They give a lot of background for the making of the movies and talk about how certain scenes were made. All the props and sets were the ones used in the movies themselves (though at times there were multiple versions). Here, Dylan and Linda wand shopping .....

Linda on her way to Hogwarts .....

Dylan is waiting to see the headmaster due to poor behavior .....

 then waiting to run away on the Knight Bus .....

 Once the tour was completed we headed to Sheffield for a couple more days of climbing.