Northern England

Durham

The second part of our recent holiday involved venturing into the north of England which, it has to be said, does get a lot of bad press (principally from those who live in the more prosperous south of the country). Yes, it is noticeably colder, the accents are harsher and sometimes incomprehensible, and the food – well, it has improved in recent years. And it is best to avoid the populous industrial areas …

Chester

But lurking just over the northern Welsh border before hitting those populous industrial areas of Liverpool and Manchester is some good countryside and beautiful towns like Chester. Not only historic but a big shopping centre, mainly Tudor-style buildings that have a covered walkway on the first floor to provide two levels of shops. Both attractive and practical, plus a good sprinkling of unique shops. Many town centres predominantly have national chain shops so pretty much every High Street (invariably the name of the main shopping street!) feels the same. Boring!

Blackpool pier

Our aim on this trip was to get to the very north of England where some of Vicki’s ancestors came from. This meant a quick trip up the M6 motorway which wends its way between Liverpool and Manchester and provides access to many other industrial centres – very, very busy and hard to avoid. We finally escaped to the coast at Blackpool. Despite its fame as a seaside resort it isn’t attractive by any means. Poor and slightly rundown, plenty of large venues advertising shows, but not very busy on a cold mid-summer evening. The famous pier is mainly a large pub with a lot of games machines, but sneak through the pub to its viewing deck and the view is out to sea where there is a line-up of wind turbines. Interesting, but probably won't make it onto our list of highlights.

Out to sea from Blackpool promenade

We ventured into the wilds of the famous “Lake District”. We were surprised to find some very quiet, narrow roads, remote farms, steep mountain passes (not “real” mountains, of course!), and pretty lakes. A few forests and some grand lodges. It is lovely and peaceful countryside, at least until you near the lakes when you hit bumper-to-bumper traffic queues. The main tourist areas like Keswick on Derwent Water (lake) were heaving with people and cars. Luckily there was no chance of finding anywhere to park our car so we sprinted onwards at a snail’s pace. Up in the hills it was more pleasant, like at the Castlerigg standing stones or over some of the remoter passes. It would be a lovely area to visit in the off-season, though it would be cold and bleak in winter.

Castlerigg

Our evening was spent at Maryport, an east coast fishing port well past its heyday. Once again there was a line-up of wind turbines out to sea, with an attractive port area to wander around before dinner. A smallish town but with numerous pubs, probably reflecting that it had been a busy port.

The purpose of being in this area was to visit the haunts of Vicki’s ancestors - her Mum's great-great-great grandfather moved to the small town of Wigton from Scotland before 1830. It was unfortunate that this was our 'rain day' - we'd been so lucky with the weather until now.  We didn't spend much time hanging about - several photos were taken from the car window, and the others from under an umbrella.

Hadrian's Wall

From Carlyle we followed the very straight Roman roads alongside Hadrian’s Wall across to Newcastle on the west coast. The Wall is still intact in many places, looking just a little more impressive than the local stone walls around paddocks, with the odd remains of a watchtower or barracks. There are quite a few stone farmhouses in the area and it is obvious from where they obtained their building material!  Running along both sides of the Wall is a ditch that is clearly visible. This was another means of defense, both from the northern tribes and those on the southern side. Effectively the Wall formed a protected corridor from a supply port on the east coast to another port on the west. At intervals along the Wall were gates to let people through.

Durham

We spent more time than we’d have liked in Newcastle searching for a church where some ancestors had married - there were three with a similar name and our GPS (affectionately known as Gary .... Gary Garmin .... get it?) took us on quite a tiki tour - we didn’t find what we were looking for, which lead us to the conclusion that maybe they had in fact been married in the main cathedral, which has the same name. I presume Newcastle has some redeeming features, but we didn’t see any as we trundled along the motorways skirting the centre of town - late afternoon on a Friday (most unfortunate!). Just lots of concrete. Luckily it isn’t too far to Durham which is the polar opposite – a beautiful old city on a bend of a river dominated by Durham Cathedral. Cute cobbled streets, street markets, interesting shops, attractive old buildings, pretty location with the river – no wonder we loved it here. It would be a great place to live, except for the cold!! And a special mention goes out to Vicki’s pasta: we found a real Italian restaurant, staffed by Italians, and the best pasta dish Vicki has had out of Italy.

On the river at Durham

A sunny August weekend turned out not to be the best time to drive down the coast. This is Captain James Cook country and there are several historic and pretty ports, such as Whitby (where Dracula was written and partially set) and Staithes. Far too many people around and we couldn’t get enthusiastic about parking miles away and walking alongside grizzly kids and pushchairs. So we avoided Scarborough (apparently that was a good decision) and headed across the North Yorkshire moors to another pretty historic town for the night – Knaresborough, just west of York. Our last Airbnb (a good one again) and our last pub dinner (a good one too) for a while. Clearly lots more worth seeing in this area, including York, so another holiday beckons.

Wales

Conwy harbour from the castle

Our annual leave is restricted this year as we’re leaving some for a trip back to NZ in November, plus we can’t leave the country until then as Vicki may not be allowed back in! Making the best of this situation we decided to explore Wales and the north of England. To maximise our chances of fine weather (or warmer rain) we took a week off in August. The downside to this is that everyone else is taking August off too as it is the school summer holidays. While Britain isn't big and there are a lot of fast roads (there are a LOT of all sorts of roads), we were fairly ambitious in our scope and we spent most of our time toodling along on slow and narrow back roads, stopping every few minutes for a photo opportunity. While we spent several hours screaming along the motorways at 70mph (yes - that's miles per hour!), our average for our 9-day, 1300 mile trip was 30mph (50kph).

So, first task: sort out the accommodation. We don’t have enough gear for camping, and that is a pain anyway when you’re on the move every day. Hotels and B&Bs are quite expensive, £80+ a night, which for a minimum wage earner adds up over 8 nights. And big cooked breakfasts every morning are wasted on Vicki and dangerous for me with my lack of will/won’t power. So it was to be Airbnb again and it worked brilliantly. We averaged about £35 per night and all bar one included breakfast - mainly cereal, fruit and milk - perfect. Interesting hosts too. Perfect for us, though recently we looked for Airbnb places near to where we live for friends and found local prices double what we paid! That’s the difference between one of the most expensive areas in the country and Wales and the dreaded “North” of England.

The amphitheatre at Caerwent

First stop the English/Welsh border country. We had lunch at an unexpectedly interesting village – Caerwent. Here are the remains of one of the best-preserved Roman forts in Europe - Venta Silurum - and there are a lot of remains, barracks (a Legion was base here for hundreds of years), walls, and the remains of a large bath complex. 

Tintern Abbey

The drive up the valley of the River Wye, which marks the border between England and Wales) is beautiful, and in the middle are the remains of Tintern Abbey, a truly spectacular ruin. It is easy to see why the Cistercians built it here as they like remote locations for their abbeys, unfortunately it cannot escape the hordes of tourists, like us.

A night at Hay-on-Wye, famous for its literary festival and numerous second-hand bookshops, was only “spoilt” by traction engines rumbling through town for a classic car and steam festival the following day. We sprinted out of the pub (where we had just finished a superb dinner) and chased them down the road to get a photo and find out what was going on. Depressingly we had to leave early the next morning to get to our next stop, and it only got worse as various classic cars passed us heading for the festival.

Driving through the Brecon Beacon “mountains” is very peaceful and atmospheric. One of the remotest spots south of Scotland, and we found some very quiet one-lane roads as we searched for ancient iron-age forts and castle ruins. It was a bit of a shock emerging into the Welsh mining valleys, poor and sad. We were trying to hurry as we were heading to the west coast for the night, but the valleys go north to south so it was a convoluted trip through places with names like Ystradgynlais, Ystalyfera and Cwmllynfell. Clearly a shortage of vowels as well as money in the area.

Fishguard lower town
(not the modern ferry port to Ireland)

We stayed near the port of Fishguard which must have been quite remote once upon a time as in 1779 the pirate ship the Black Prince bombarded it when the populace refused to pay a £1,000 ransom! We enjoyed the following day’s drive up the coast where we even stopped to watch dolphins frolicking. The port towns are very colourful, but full of people at this time of year.

Aberporth

The falls above Dyfi Furnace

No one seems to know much about the middle of Wales; the south has the mining valleys, the Brecon mountains, and the big Welsh cities of Cardiff an Swansea; and the northern part is known for the Snowdonia mountains - good walking country. There are also plenty of engineering “marvels”, early viaducts taking railways or canals across steep valleys.

A canal on a bridge across a valley! Pontcysyllte aqueduct.

Cardigan Castle

Throughout Wales there are lots and lots of castles: the Welsh were an unruly lot and the English kings needed to build castles to keep them under control, apparently. There are also plenty of ancient stones in the form of forts or just standing on top of each other.

Standing stones at Pentre Ifan

Welsh countryside from the
iron-age fort Garn Goch

Carreg Cennan Castle

And, returning to the earlier subject of weather, we had only one day of heavy drizzle, in the north of England.  Mustn't grumble. :-)

For more photos, take a look at our gallery.

Morocco – The Desert

The excitement builds as we see the sand dunes rise from the stony desert ahead. It doesn’t become continuous sandy desert till over in Algeria, but they are classic dunes that do spread for tens of kilometres. The Algerian border is only a few tens of kilometres away and is well guarded and may even be closed at the moment. Along the edge of the dunes are rows of hotels and we stop at one where we wait till a small group of tourists (mainly Dutch and English) are ready and then we are led out to the camels. We each only take an overnight bag with us and leave our luggage in the hotel.

The ”camel trek” involves a couple of Berber lads walking and leading a camel followed by a train of camels and their passengers roped together. Not particularly challenging but soon we are away from everything with dunes in all directions as far as can be seen for a 45 minute ride to our camp for the night. It would feel remote except for the tracks of quadbikes everywhere, camel droppings in abundance, and other groups of tourists on camels been led in all directions! But it is surprisingly peaceful.

Camels are incredibly uncomfortable. As they lurch to their feet you are thrown steeply forward, then backwards, so holding on tight is essential. The saddles are like sitting on an uncomfortable bean bag and 45 minutes is far enough for one day. Going up the dunes is fine but coming down is hard work, you have to hold on tight to avoid toppling forward. It's a great workout for the inner thighs, says Vicki.

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The “Berber Camp” looked authentic with its ring of eight large black tents surrounded by a little stockade, but it was more 'glamping' than camping. Each tent, stifling hot in the sunshine and throughout the night, contained a king-sized bed, almost covered by a double-sized sheet, rugs covering the sand floor, and a solar light. The shared loo was a porta-loo type arrangement, but the flush wasn't working, so a bucket of water and a cup were provided to create the 'flush'.  A small water tank outside allowed hands to be washed and teeth cleaned.

Awaiting dinner

After much wandering around the dunes and taking pictures, including the much-vaunted sunset (drab if you normally live by the sea or mountains), dinner was served outside under a canopy, followed by the waiters doing the customary song and dance routine. We’ve noticed that nearly everyone in the tourist industry is also an entertainer and speaks 3-7 languages! They all speak Berber/Arabic plus French, and then many speak some or all of Italian, Spanish, German and English as well.

Because we had to be back at Marrakesh airport early the following evening, and Hamed, our driver and guide, knew our stop-at-everything-photogenic record, we had to be on our camels by 6am and part way out of the dunes by sunrise. Another drab affair, but still serene and beautiful. Luckily we managed a good breakfast and shower at the hotel before a big drive back, having covered 1200km or so in three days. Once again we enjoyed the desert, though this time by a different route as we headed over a different pass through the Atlas Mountains to reach Marrakesh in plenty of time.

Looking back we’d have to say that the camel trek and night out in the desert was the best time of our Moroccan adventure, followed by the mountains and gorges and villages. The worst time was the long wait at the airport for the flight home, only realising that the plane was delayed by hours through a text from England - they certainly weren’t telling anyone this at the airport! Then the stress levels ramped up big-time as we landed and immigration were not keen on letting Vicki into the country. Luckily they took pity on us as the rules are not clear and it was 3am on a Bank Holiday weekend. So, we're back in England for another six months …

Morocco – The Atlas Mountains and beyond

Leaving the city of Marrakesh the first things to note were the large resort developments on the outskirts. Most were still under construction and many featured golf courses. Given the amount of sand blown in from the Sahara it must be a challenge to keep them in good condition, not to mention watered. According to our guide, Hamed, this is causing problems and conflict with people who live and farm in the area. Still, it shows how many foreign tourists they must be attracting.

At the top of the pass ...

The countryside between Marrakesh and the Atlas mountains is fertile and irrigated with the water flowing down from the mountains. Lots of orange and olive groves. The Atlas mountains, which look huge from Marrakesh, are just as big close up, with a very windy road up and over the high passes and even some snow on the tops just above the road. Along the rather barren way are many villages, often quite hard to see as the buildings are made of whatever stone is local to the area and blend in very well. Plenty of trucks and tourists travel this route, and a lot of motorcycles look like they are preparing to cross the Sahara, but most are probably just enjoying the very bendy road. Plenty of deep gorges and good viewing spots plus little shops selling jewellery, ceramics and tagines.

Ait Ben Haddou

Coming through the other side of the Atlas mountains is the famous UNESCO World Heritage town of Ait Ben Haddou with its dramatic Kasbahs (fortified buildings) and the scene of many films including Gladiator, Alexander, Kingdom of Heaven, and even Games of Thrones. Almost all the inhabitants live across the river in the modern town.

Ouarzazte

The first city across the mountains is Ouarzazte, which is home to the local film industry with a huge walled film lot as you enter the town. We noticed numerous shops and factories selling fossils as this area is famous for them. One factory we stopped to see had jewellery, plates and huge slabs of stone embedded with fossilised creatures. We really liked the bathroom bench/sink tops cut out of the stone – very dramatic and stylish.

Fossils in a slab of rock

Into the Dades valley

The geology is spectacular and it must be a well-visited area for students. There are frequent rocky outcrops, very colourful rocks, and clear strata lines that have been tipped and squeezed into all angles.  There are a couple of very spectacular gorges too and these are well populated as they tend to be a bit cooler and shadier than the surrounding desert. We noticed a lot of quite nice houses lying empty in the villages and hillsides. These belong to the lucky workers who are based in Europe and just come home once or twice a year. We stayed in a rather nicer hotel that the basic one in Marrakesh but it was getting a bit late and cool to take a dip in the swimming pool. And that was our fault as we had Hamed, our driver, stop every few minutes throughout the day so that we could take photographs! The hotel was situated in the Dades Valley. It is a rose growing area and though we weren’t quite in time for the annual rose festival, there were a lot of boys at the side of the roads selling wreathes of roses.

Selling roses at the roadside

Todra gorge

Another impressive gorge is the Todra. This is quite narrow with towering cliffs – it puts the “famous-in-England” Cheddar Gorge to shame in a big way. There are more locals here out for a picnic and to relax in the cooler air and shade. A river runs through it and on the opposite side to the road are several buildings, apparently hotels but now abandoned by law – there is a huge rock squashing one of them! It was a particularly wet Spring which explains fallen rocks, plastic bags in trees beside each river, and the amount of growth in the rocky desert.

Line of wells on a qanat stretching
from the mountains in the distance

Even though the desert is barren there are many photo opportunities. It is not sandy here, just stony and covered with some grass and acacia trees and quite a few interesting rocky outcrops. All quite colourful. Signs of human habitation are sparse, but every so often there will be a Berber with a herd of goats, or a few camels. The most interesting human element are the qanats. These are underground water channels that slope gently downwards from the Atlas Mountains, bringing water to the desert communities. They may be 10m or more in depth and every once in a while there are vertical access shafts so they can be serviced, usually to clear a fall of mud. You can see the qanats from the lines of access shafts that spread across the desert. Traditionally each qanat is looked after by one tribe. Unfortunately these days with climate change there is very little water in them and most are now dry. Occasionally a Berber family will live in them to escape the heat.

There are many picturesque desert oases with mud-brick buildings. Sadly many are falling into ruin as the mud brick needs constant maintenance to prevent it washing away. On the plus side, though, there appears to be a lot of new construction in the larger desert towns with new schools, public buildings and even subdivisions. Clearly the government are encouraging people to stay rather than migrate to the major cities.

Someone has to do the work while the men are in the cafe!

Rugs are washed in the stream and spread on rocks to dry

As we head across the desert we can see a tall line of dunes in the distance, away near the border with Algeria. This is to be our stop for the night …