Back Home, Leaving Again Tomorrow

I landed in Finland on Sunday. Feeling exhausted after the 2000km road trip. It was all good anyway. However, I find it way too exhausting to write a detailed blog entry about those 10 days on the road. I might add some pictures later if I feel like it...

Since Sunday I've mostly been confused, bored and annoyed. I just feel like sleeping, but to get started with my real holiday, I have to unpack and arrange things first. One of the six bags I brought with me is still unpacked and my stuff is lying all around the living room. There's terrible mess everywhere and I'm supposed to resolve it somehow. I hate such a mess. It makes me feel dizzy and unfocused. The problem is that 50% of the stuff I brought with me is totally new, meaning that I have to find a place to each item, not an easy task when every corner is filled with stuff already. So, eventually this all means that I have to sort out all my closets and sell or throw away the stuff I don't need anymore. And I'm just not up for it at the moment.

I have to do it anyhow. I started off with the bathroom today - carried out 10kg of rubbish. Unfortunately (?!) I cannot continue tomorrow 'cos I'm going to Lapland on my parents' car to relax at family cottage with my relatives (uncle, aunt, grandma). To RELAX, gosh, that's what I've been doing for nearly two months now :D Anyway, inspired or not, I want to go, because a) I haven't seen the people for a year, and b) we are going to bury Cindy there.

Oh, by the way... you know what folks... I guess this is the last entry of my blog *sob* :( Who knows, maybe I'll be back some day with more stories to tell. I wish to thank you all for reading my blatherings! :) I'll still get e-mail announcements about new comments so feel free to comment on any post and ask me anything you like about studying or living Scotland (not that I consider myself some kind of an expert).

Ok, time to run. Wish me luck with the mosquitoes! I've been warned their armies are huge this summer!

Deprived of Internet

Hiya, just a quick note before I have to take my laptop to A-R's place (she's leaving today on a nightbus and I have to take my stuff there before she leaves - I won't take them all with me on the road trip you know). So we're leaving tomorrow morning for the Grand Tour of Scotland. Today's been a helluva day, been packing like a madman for 5 hours. Thank god my mom helped out with the cleaning, I wouldn't have survived.

I'm off now. Heeeelp, I won't make it through the night without Internet! :D

Btw, our tour itinerary can be seen in this earlier post. I'm afraid I won't be able to update this blog until in Finland, or if I happen to find an Internet cafe, then next Saturday (23rd June) in Edinburgh.

'Til then! :)

1500 Kilometres in 4 Days - The Yorkshire Trip!

MOooooOOO!

Long time no updates. Sorry for that. Lauri came here last Wednesday and there's been no time to edit pictures, let alone write blog entries. Actually I've been totally deprived of internet for the past four days 'cos instead, me and Lauri have been driving around Northern England and Yorkshire (some practise in driving on the left before the Grand Tour of Scotland, starting this Friday). And my god, what a trip it was. Overwhelmingly beautiful landscapes and twisty countryside roads, four days filled with history, nature, and driving. LOTS OF DRIVING. Our rented Vauxhall Astra (Opel Astra in other words) had to endure about 1500 kilometres on the road. So really worth every penny we paid to Europcar.


*** BE WARNED: THIS IS A LOOOOONG POST! ***


Before the Yorkshire Trip we spent a day in Edinburgh and another one in Glasgow, exploring the sites that we missed last time Lauri was here. In Edinburgh I visited the castle for the fourth time in my life (and I still find something new every time - a proof of my slowness or of the castle's grandness?) and climbed up the Calton Hill again. It was a hot and sunny day, the weather gods have really been blessing us with warmth. Two pics from there:


Vitsin URRRRRRRPOT! Mun hampaatkin on ihan vinot, stanan hamsteri.


I love Princess Street Gardens.

Thursday passed lazily in Glasgow, in Kelvingrove Park, Tchai Ovna tea room, and the Lighthouse (Macintosh's design again, though a very non-Macintosh style building). I just have to paste a picture from the top of the Lighthouse, to prove that Glasgow skyline is one you do not really miss:


Let the Ugliness strike you!

Still I'll be missing this place after this Friday, my last day here. Quite weird. How can you miss such a grim place. Maybe it's the vibe.


Friday 8.6. - Hadrian's Wall!

On Friday morning we walked all the way to Kingston (on the other side of River Clyde), picked up our car, and set off for the Yorkshire Trip. Weehee!


Lauri the Driver. Jaksaa jaksaa!

Our base camp was to be the grand city of York. We didn't head straigt to York however, because Hadrian's Wall, something I've always wanted to see, was conveniently on our route. So we made it our first stop, visited the Housesteads Roman Fort and walked a bit along the 1800-year-old wall. What an age btw!


Approaching Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland.


Today the Housestead's Roman Fort is occupied by shee-e-e-e-e-ep...


Me standing on ancient ground.

The building of Hadrian's Wall was commissioned by Emperor Hadrian around 122 AD, and it is the most important monument from the Roman Age in Britain which lasted about 300 years (after which the Anglo-Saxons came and the coutry fell into dark middle ages). The wall was built because the Emperor wanted to secure the northern frontier of the Roman Empire against the warlike Picts (or Scots). The wall is long as hell, lasting about 100 kilometres from coast to coast. We visited what is described to be the most scenic and therefore much-photographed stretch of the wall, the middle section and the Roman fortress right beside it, Housesteads. Really impressing.


The most memorable thing of the fortress for me was the latrine again :P I didn't get myself photographed on the ancient toilet seat however, like some nutty Brits did. 'Hey, make a face like you were pushing out a giant poo!' Eh.


Let the walk begin!


AARGH!! I'm a vicious Pict! Fall you damned wall!


The most photographed stretch of the wall. Here's my contribution.


She-e-e-e-e-e-e-ep.

After the Wall we headed for York, our base camp. However, we didn't explore York itself until Monday, 'cos we were too busy with the Yorkshire countryside on Saturday and with the rollercoasters of Alton Towers on Sunday :D More below.


Saturday 9.6. - Yorkshire Dales!

So, on Saturday we drove about 10 hours on the twisty and quirky roads of Yorkshire Dales :) Started early in the morning (imagine me being on the road at 9:15am! Yes, it is possible! :D ) and finished late in the evening, 10:15pm. What a day. The sun was shining brightly and warmly over the misty valleys of the Dales almost all day - by the evening the humidity was so high that it dropped a bit on us from the sky.


I got a Radial blur in this pic without even editing it in the Photoshop, hah!

Our first stop was the amazing Brimham Rocks in Niddersdale, 'The Gateway to the Dales'. The bizarre giant rocks were, according to Wikipedia, caused by sandstone being eroded by water, glaciation and wind, so a result of the ice age. However, this site says something about a river flowing there 320 million years ago, but I'm too lazy now to explore the background further. Whichever way were they formed, what impresses the layman is the otherworldly landscape and the peculiar shapes these rocks have taken over the millions of years. I've never seen anything like that.


I've learned how to use the self-timer!


This was the forst rock we saw, peeping behind trees. 'Whatta heck is that! Wow!'


Möy.


The Dancing Bear. Joraava Karhu. And that's exactly what it looks like! :)


Can you spot a bunny in this pic? There were little rabbits jumping around everywhere :) I've never seen such tiny rabbits in nature, todellisia pupuja olivat!


Pose.


Another pose. Look at the landscape, not me. Cool.


The Idol rock. Check the narrow base it's standing on. If you drew something like that on an art class, the teacher would ask you to erase it because it's too surreal.

After the Rocks we continued towards Haworth, the Brontë Country. A place of pilgrimage for an English Language and Literature student, the place which sparked such classics like 'Jane Eyre' and 'Wuthering Heights'. The Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily and Anne) are among the most celebrated English writers of the 19th Century, and best of all, they were among the pioneers in women's writing. Many myths surround the sisters, such as the fact that they lived a secluded and lonely life under the strict control of their father in a God-forsaken place in the middle of a misty moorland, and that they escaped their cheerless lives in their vivid imagination, which created the stories of 'Jane Eyre' and 'Wuthering Heights'. These myths are only partly true. The sisters were actually quite adventurous, what with their years in Brussels and other places, and their father was rather caring than harsh. And Haworth wasn't a secluded God-forsaken place but a growing, vibrant little town. Anyway, these myths have played their part in rendering the success of the Brontës.


On our way to Haworth we drove through 'Emmerdale', or Otley, the setting for the TV series. I don't watch it myself but these pics might bring joy to those who do. Here we are approaching the town...


...and here we are in the middle of the town. Any familiar places?


Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, so the house where the Brontës lived all their lives and where the masterpieces of literature were born.


Haworth was a nice little touristic town. Buskers were playing their guitars and tourists such as me flocking the main street.

After Haworth, we proceeded northwest to Malham and its ice age formation, Malham Cove. The Cove was formed during the last Ice Age as meltwater fell from the cliff and eroded the limestone into a curved shape. The pictures cannot convey how enormous the cove was, but I took a video which also shows the amazing acoustics the cove had.


Approaching Malham.


Some others had found the place too. You can see Malham Cove looming on the left.


The cove was a 1/2 mile walk away from the village of Malham. On our way there we saw these funky cows and wondered for a while if the one lying flat on the ground is dead or alive.


And there's the cove. Its size was enormous, this pic is from a distance.


We continued by climbing up the top of the Cove to check out the limestone pavement we read about in the guide book...


And here we are! A pavement full of peculiar limestones and deep cracks and holes with moss and grass in between.


A close-up. It was funny to balance your way through the stony pavement.


We continued the walk about 1 mile to Gordale Scar (another limestone formation).


On our way there we said hello to these lazy she-e-e-e-e-eep. I 'BAAAA'D all the time. I think I actually managed to strike up a conversation with the sheep 'cos after a while they started answering me back.


From Gordale Scar another 1/2 miles to Janet's Foss, this beautiful waterfall, and another 1 1/2 miles back to Malham and our car. Gosh, I've started thinking in MILES!


And still we went on. We drove across Ribblesdale, on true moorland and fells, and came across this graceful viaduct in Ribblehead. Here's our trusted driver and our ally, the car.

After Ribblehead Viaduct we still drove to Ingleton with the aim of checking out two cool waterfalls, but since dusk was already falling as we got there and our feet were already aching a bit, we decided to leave the waterfalls for another trip and turn the course towards our base camp and comfy beds. We arrived in York so late that the restaurants were already closing down. Thank god for kebab stalls.


Sunday 10.6. - Alton Towers!

No time to sleep you lazy cows! Off we go to Alton Towers! As an afterthought, I didn't quite think it all through when I chose York as our base camp. First we spent all day in Yorkshire Dales, at least a one-hour drive from York, and then we set off for Alton Towers amusement park near Stoke-on-Trent (Take That boys used to live there btw, haha!). So much like a similar day trip as Särkänniemi from Helsinki: a 2-hour 15-minute drive there and the same back. Oh, well. At least Lauri got some driving practise. And we got to drive on M1, a three-lane or sometimes even four-lane motorway.
And oh my god, the Alton Towers trip was truly worthwhile. We got to experience some of Europe's most thrilling rollercoasters: Rita Queen of Speed accelerated from 0 to 100kmph in just 2 seconds, Nemesis had G-forces greater than a space shuttle takeoff, Oblivion plunged you vertically in a deep hole (I felt like I was close to dying - be sure to watch the video behind that link!), and Spinball Whizzer took you on a rollercoaster ride while the car was spinning around freely. We experienced all the rollercoasters except one - just before we joined the queue the ride broke down with people still on it (you might guess that after that I feared not only for the rides themselves but also for my life - a rollercoaster breakdown doesn't really evoke feelings of trust). Anyway, soooo cool. Can't put into words.


Nemesis was decorated like a giant monster.


Spinball Whizzer.


I fell in love with this pink Uncle Worm telling tales :)


After Alton Towers we arrived in York early enough to witness the sun set over River Ouse. Here's some cityscapes.


A medieval house. It was really twisted - it's not because of the camera lens. Hihi, cute!


The Shambles, a medieval market street in York. Love those tiny alleys!


York Minster, a grand abbey in the middle of the city.


Clifford's Tower, the only remaining part of York Castle.


Monday 11.6. - York itself!

It wasn't until Monday we had time to explore our base camp in more detail. And it turned out to be an intriguing city! There's been a city since times immemorial - the Romans had a fort there (we saw the remains under York Minster), so did the Saxons and the Normans, on which the York Minster was built in the Middle Ages. And the name itself - York - derives from Old Norse 'Jorvik', Jor=? and vik=bay, named by the Vikings who raided the city in the 9th Century. Funny eh? A linguist like me always experiences moments of pure joy when coming across connections like that ;)

So, we visited the huge York Minster and Jorvik Viking Centre which delved deep in the Viking way of life and especially all the stuff we can tell by their bones and skeletons - what diseases they had, how they died (many bones had marks from swords), what they ate, and how the Viking genes have spread in the British Isles. The most funny thing was that there even was a Real Giant Viking Poo on show behind the glass! :D Imagine, you shit today and 1200 years later people inspect your feces in a museum. The poo had worm eggs in it, for example, a proof that the Vikings didn't care about food hygiene that much - the food store and loo were situated side by side in the village. Ooooh, thank god I wasn't a Viking.


Inside the Minster.


Minstahh Minstahh!


The Shambles and me.


Medieval side alleys. Aaaww!


Making our way towards Clifford's Tower, again.


We still had time before the time in the car park went up, so we paid to get to see Clifford's Tower also from the inside.


The Tower provided nice views over red roofs and the Minster.

After that our trip was almost over. Ahead was still a 3,5-hour drive back home over the Pennine Mountains and hills of Cumbria.


Be prepared for everything in York! We spotted this sign on a storage space in the car park where we left our Astra. Ja sehän sanoo siis: 'Parkkitalo suljettu: TULVA.' :D


The sun was already setting when we arrived in Glasgow. This picture isn't very good, but I decided to post it here 'cos it fits nicely at the end of a post, doesn't it? The sky was all red. Amazing.

So, that was our little Yorkshire getaway.
Today my parents arrived here, and on Friday we will set off on the Scotland Tour. Tomorrow's going to be a mad day. I have to pack all my stuff and decide what to bring with me on the tour and what to leave here in Anna-Riitta's flat. Luckily my mum insisted on helping me out with the cleaning part, so I might even make it to the city tomorrow with my parents and Lauri. Now time to get some sleep, I need energy for packing!