Arrived in Upper Broughton

E-mail #1 from England


Just a note to let you know that we have arrived at our friends place (Dorothy and Jog Chahal) which is about 15 miles south of Nottingham and about a mile outside of a picturesque village called Upper Broughton.  If I can manage it I will send a pic because Jog and Dorothy's place is a beautiful country house that Jog and Dorothy have poured their soul and labour into.

We have spent a lot of time around Loch Tay in Scotland and then up to Newtonmore and then to Glen Coe and Oban. Then we took the ferry to Tobermory on the Isle of Mull and the next day we took another small ferry to Ulva where we walked and walked. The island of Ulva is just north of the island of Iona where St. Columba landed from Ireland in the 5th century bringing Christianity for the first time.  We drove from Tobermory (which looks just like the pictures) down to the Lake District in England where we spent three days exploring. We spent two nights at an absolutely charming country hotel outside of Keswick and had a great time chatting it up with the locals and visitors in the small pub in which the owner of the hotel is the bartender. Faulty Towers had nothing on this place (unique but absolutely charming) and £70 a night. Then a night in Windermere and a steamboat ride down the lake.

We spent as much time as possible talking to the locals and we thoroughly enjoy doing so. It's a great way to get connected.  We shared drinks with three Scots who were camping next door.

Grasmere in Lake District.  William Wordsworth is buried just to the right of the stream

We left the Lake District yesterday and as we approached a roundabout off the M50 we were stuck in a monster traffic jam south of Derby yesterday. We spent an hour and a half sitting before the police managed to back us out of an interchange and then we had to go 30 miles around just to avoid the backup which extended for miles and miles in every direction because the roundabout that we had just come off was jammed at every entrance point. Britain is a nation of cars that have grown to big for the roads and the fast drivers behind the wheel. We are driving a new Ford Focus and it seems quite big for the country roads. Interestingly there seem to be very few British cars on the road here. Most cars are Toyota, Ford (many), Mitsubishi, Pugeot, Kia, etc. with the odd Vauxhall (British) thrown in. However I believe the Vauxhall is now owned by Opel and is made in Germany. Of course we have the usual selection of BMW, Mercedes, Audi and an amazing number of VW's and you wouldn't believe how many big SUV's. The Brits have the bug and the Scots are even worse. Huge Land Rovers, Toyotas, etc. We did see lots of Austin Healey, MGB, Sprite and Triumphs racing around the hills of Scotland last weekend. I was talking to a couple in a bar the other night and they (with thick accent of course) were trying to tell me about a particularly small Ford car. It took them at least two minutes to explain to me that the car's name was Ka, not car. Yesterday I saw my first Fordka or Ford Ka or FK. It looks a bit like a VW beetle. Another neat car here is the Honda Jazz, a very small van style car.

Our younger son Mike flew into Manchester on Saturday and called from Liverpool last night. He and his friend Krista are arriving at the rail station in Melton Mowbray this afternoon where we are picking them up.

Sycamore Lodge