The only person who should be singing adele is adele!!

Geez I have to remember a week back now, this is getting out of control. Well let's see what I can muster up...so I left st Helens. It got dark quickly. The ride to Liverpool was fine, no hills, but busy roads. I didn't get lost till I reached the crazy ring roads just outside the center. They were really confusing!! So that wasted a lot of time but I found the yha. Unfortunately I forgot to write down my stats, but I'm sure it was around 20 miles and I arrived around 6. So I checked in, looking a hot mess and I could immediately tell the receptionist (James) had a thing for me. He kept telling me about all these places to visit in Liverpool and asked where I was from and he said he was from Auckland so we got talking about that. I was at the desk for like 10 min! And whenever I wAlked by he always had to talk to me, couldn't just wave. I wasn't attracted to him though. And I had plans to meet up with elise (this is how you REALLY spell her name) so I was going to suggest to her the cavern club for a Beatles cover band (recommended by you know who), and James asked me if I was going out that night and i said yes and he asked if he could join us and I said yes we will most likely be at the cavern. And that is indeed where elise and I went (after waiting for each other at opposite gate entrances to Albert dock cause we didn't realize there were multiple entrances, so we met at the ferris wheel..and then got lost looking for mathew st!). it was cool to be in the cavern where the Beatles started out and everything, but it was soo loud and crowded, it gave me a headache! Elise and I started talking to a couple sitting near us, the guy was from Peru and the girl from Spain but she didn't know english very well so we mostly talked to the guy. But with all the noise he couldn't hear us so I started writing down what I was saying on the back of the map James spent all night marking destinations for me to visit on. I told them I was in Spain recently, near sorbas and I was studying lizards. Neither one knew what a lizard was (in english) so I drew a pic of one and the guy says "oh you studied dogs?" Yeah so you can imagine how far our conversations went. Then it was his round for the drinks and elise and I wrote down what we wanted, and he brought the paper to the bar, but left it there! I was a bit distraught cause all of James's hard work went down the drain! But when he showed up he told me he would make me a new one lol. Also the Peruvian guy and I were talking and by talking I mean screaming in each others ears so he goes to me, oh your hair smells nice! What shampoo do you use so I can tell my gf to use the same one. And I go, I've biked 20 miles today and haven't showered, that's not shampoo you're smelling! So anyway, the band was good, the crowd was mainly older people and they were rocking out. But geez the drinks were expensive! My round of 3 drinks came to like £12. Oh, I had texted james while he was still at work and asked if he could bring a mArker cause the walls were covered in graffiti, so I wanted to add our names to it as well. There wasn't much room but elise and i managed to fit it somewhere! So the last song the band played was hey Jude, and James takes me by my hand and makes me slow dance with him. At this point elise is looking at me and holds up 3 fingers (we were having a convo a little earlier about how Alex and Paul Thomas both liked me) so she was signifying James was the 3rd guy to fall for me. Then an older lady takes elises arms and lifts them up in the air and starts waving them cause she was the only one sitting down and not dancing or singing. So I throw up a "1" on my finger and for this I got a punch in the arm. So after taking some photos with that couple and with the band finishing, we left. It was downpouring outside! What an introduction to the nightlife of Liverpool! Well we walked in it anywAY. We said our goodbyes to elise and then James and I walked back to the yha. I was real tired and it was after 1 am now so I was really looking forward to going to sleep! But James said oh let me show you the Albert dock and I really wasnt in the mood but I said ok, so we walked around for a bit and he told me some stories (there are 2 liver birds on top of the..god I don't even know what the building is! Maybe civic courts? And local people say the female one is constantly looking over Liverpool and guarding its residents, while the male is waiting for the pubs to open). So I really enjoyed the walk around even though I was falling asleep. And since the yha doesn't have free WiFi I had to loiter outside McDonald's which was one block away and steal their WiFi, so needless to say,I went to bed very late and then on Friday morning I woke up around 930 am to start my touristy ways around Liverpool! And that was how I spent my thanksgiving, eating a nutella sandwich for dinner as well! But I think I will end it there tonight, I am in Chester now and there is lots to see tomorrow!

My goal is to completely update this blog in 2 days!

Let's see how much I can cover tonight before I pass out...so yes! Tuesday night!! I asked the owner where I can put lance and he said he will open the cellar and put lance inside so I went upstairs to get my key to unlock him and I started to panic cause it wasn't in my usual spot. I literally tore the room apart and even went outside near lance to see if I dropped it but I couldn't find it so I went back upstairs and found it eventually, in my hoody pocket. But I felt a lot better about lance being in the cellar. But during this fiasco Neil is doing the quiz by himself, so I missed out on half the first round. Dont think it would have mattered though. So After the quiz Neil entered into some card game called high or low but he didn't get chosen (it was like a raffle) to play. Then we embarked on a journey around wigan and the surrounding areas. He drove me to the pier, the football stadium, through bellinge and haydock and pointed out some stuff along the way. We did that for an hour and then he took me back to the hotel and we said our goodbyes and just as I was packing up the mess I made in the room, he called me and said he left his credit card at the bar!! So I ran downstairs (the bar was closed at this point) and the owner was cleaning up so I just Hung out down there waiting for Neil to come back. The owner asked where I was from and I said new York and he said "I thought all people from ny are supposed to be big and tough." And I said "i may be small but my personality makes up for it!!" So a little while later Neil came by to grab his card, so after that I was able to go to bed!! Wednesday: I checked out of the hotel, then went to haigh country park which was very pretty. And of course there were many pups! The view at the top was nice too :-) I stayed there for a bit, then left and got lost but found my way to the pier to see it in the daylight. Unfortunately the trecherfield engine museum was closed (as was the wigan museum but I had checked the opening hours beforehand) so I just checked out some of the warehouse machinery outside the museum, then headed for the town center to find something to do. I walked around there a bit, checked out their markets, and some shops, then after eating lunch and dealing with Vodafone for 1/2 hr, I went to a park at the edge of the centre. It was nice even though the pavilion was being renovated. So at 2:03pm I left for haydock. I literally just guessed on which direction it was, based on where Neil took me the night before. But I had a feeling I was going the wrong way so I asked some locals and they said haydock was far away and I'm like i can make it lol so they pointed me in the opp direction but it wasn't long before I got lost again so I asked a cop how to get to haydock and again he said it was quite a bit away! It was only 7 mi! I guess wiganians aren't exactly into personal fitness. So I got directions from him, but I just used my gps and found my way out of the town, although I got lost a few times. But I was going along fine until the road ended and there was no sign (much to my amazement) telling me to turn left or right for haydock so I called mikey again and he set me straight. I did fine for the rest of the way until I got to the a580 and I turned the wrong way, so I had to go back the way I came but I did find the travelodge. So arrival time was 4:30 pm, did 22.39 mi total for the day, avg 7.7. The compy was messing up again so I won't put the max. So I checked into my travelodge, finished off the pizza from the night before (but it wasn't frozen anymore so it went down easier) and then met up with Paul Thomas at the pub right near there. While I was waiting for him I was outside the little chef next door to the travelodge, using their free WiFi and freezing my ass off. So the pub was pretty busy, we were there for a few hours. Paul tried to order ice cream towards the end of the night but the bartender was rude about it so we didn't get any in the end. He told me one time him and his friends were having a "guy conversation" which was who would you want on your side in a bar fight? And they had to choose 4 people on their team. I was thinking is he for real? Do guys really get together and talk about this? But I was thinking of ripping his clothes off the entire time we were at the bar so he could have told me he rapes barn animals for living and I would have looked interested. So at the end of the night we went back to the travelodge but he left very shortly after (to my dismay) cause I was super tired. Thursday: I left haydock at 10:16 am, and went to st Helens, which was straight forward, although not very scenic. I arrived at 10:50 am, only 3.82 mi later, avg 8.8 mph. I went straight to the world of glass, which was a lot cooler than I thought it was going to be. I saw a st Helens historical exhibit, an exhibit on glass from its natural history, and from its early uses from the Egyptians up to modern day usage around the world. Then I saw a glass blowing demonstration where they showed us how they made a colored glass dish. After the exhibits and 2 art galleries, I went to the old furnace room where glass used to be made. And you walk under it and see the inside, it was quite cool. After the museum I very quickly rode around the center, wasn't much there but the xmas tree was pretty. They had German markets, but it was no where near as crazy as Manchester! I got a little lost leaving the center to make my way for Liverpool (as I usually do) but I again used my gps and ventured off. Leaving time was 3:22 pm. Ok time for bed, I am slowly making progress!

Lots of catching up still to do!

Ok I have a lot of catching up to do, so when better to do it on a Friday night in Liverpool! So ill jump right back into it: I went to the tourist info office for my walking tour. The guide gathered everyone together and asked where we were all from. I was first to go so I said new York. She was over the moon! She told me she had just been there, then turns to everyone else and says "if you haven't been to new York before, its worth a visit!" Then there were some other Americans and they said they were from Idaho, and she goes "oh I think my plane flew over there on my way to California from new York." Haha! I seriously love being from new York, I love the reactions I get from people. And the guys love it!! I feel like Jesus when I say I'm from Brooklyn. Like when I said I was from Brooklyn to Neil and crew they asked if I knew jay z. Like seriously, it is such easy pickings being American in a different country, especially from being somewhere as cool as brooklyn. So if any of you out there want to get laid, be sure to just tell people that's where you're from! But anyway, moving on from that tangent, we walked around Manchester and learnt about some locals and the buildings. I spoke to a few ladies, one told me her son is doing a conservation degree at imperial. I then wanted to ask for his # but I didn't think that was appropriate. So The German markets were on in full force, which caused the tour to go over time cause we had to pass thru the intense crowds, so I didn't make it to ethiad or whatever (man city stadium), so instead I went to a new exhibit at the art gallery that was inspired by the Iceland volcano eruption. So after that I checked in to the yha, had a hot receptionist (I think its a rule that all males that live/work/visit Manchester must be sexy) but didn't chat with him at all. I had dinner and met the girls in my room who were both from Spain. One was working at a biotech research lab at man uni and the other was looking for work, and I told her about alexs woes so she thought it would be best for her to move down to london and try her work there. So anyway, I met up with Louis, Alex and alise (this is the correct way to spell her name) and Louis's coworkers at a pub called apotheca and we did a pub quiz. It was all English questions except for "what state is nicknamed the bear state?" I said Montana, but it was Arkansas!! What bears do they have there besides the ones I see on xvideos? After the quiz, most of his coworkers left, but this American guy from Tennessee and these two other guys came with us. It was one of those other guys bday party and he was pretty drunk, so it was quite the interesting antics walking to the next bar. He asked where I was from, and as you can imagine that went over well. Once the other guy whose name I forgot heard I was from Brooklyn he immediately came over and started asking me questions about it. I could have pulled him I'm sure but I definitely wasn't attracted to him. Drunk bday guy said he was from derby and I said I went there and he asked if I liked it and I said I liked notm better lol. So we went to the other bar, it was okay, the music was decent, but I wasnt feeling the people I was with (other than my crew) so I wasn't really having fun. Although the American invited me over to his for thanksgiving and I really wanted to go but I had already booked for Liverpool. So I decided to leave after not too long. Plus I was real tired!! So Alex and alise left with me and we eventually split up and I walked back to the yha. Monday: The next morning I went on the man city stadium tour, got a bit lost on the way there, so I stopped to check a map and the road was real strange, it was like a small, tree lined, brick road, so it didn't strike me as a place where cars can drive down, so I didn't look when I spun lance around after checking the map and I was inches away from getting hit by a car driving down the street. I seriously don't know how it didn't even braise me cause it didn't swerve out of the way either, the douchehead! But yeah I got to the stadium, I had to go to the team store to buy my ticket. So I had seen they had a concession price online so I assumed that was for students, but it wasn't, it went by age. So the lady asked how old I was when I asked for a concession ticket and that caught me offguard so I said 24 which was obviously the wrong answer and i knew it right after I said it. She said oh so you get the adult ticket and I asked how old was the concession and she said 21 or younger. Grrrr I'm such an idiot!! Then I literally had to run to the meeting place since it was starting in 4 minutes. It was a good tour, went to the seats, the exec boxes, the locker rooms (<3333 Joe hart!!) And some VIP seats. After the tour I checked out the visitor center exhibition, then rode around checking out the sculptures and memorials around the stadium. Went crazy looking for b on the bang and didnt see it so I eventually asked the security guard at the store but he said it was removed cause it swayed too much in the wind. So after that waste of time I went back to the same map where I nearly got run over, they had some info about the neighborhood and apparently there was a stegasaurus sculpture in the nearby park so I went there, but I never found it. The park was nice, that's where the canal was so I followed that for a bit (saw a guy with my same bell!) Then when I got to the city centre I went to a pop culture exhibit which had art work on Hannah barbera cartoons, star trek, batman etc. So that was cool. I then went back to the MOSI. went to the same experiment exhibit as the day before, except there were no kids and it was sooooooo much nicer!! When it closed I went to aldi to buy dinner, saw some really awesome Christmas lights on a pub, and just all over deansgate, market street, etc. It was so lovely!! Really got me excited for xmas! So when I was riding through the busy market street I lost control of lance for a second and I rode into a ladys handbag! She was not too happy! So after I got my cheap pizza I went back to the yha. Lots of Portuguese guys for the game vs man utd. One tried to ask me where he could find a plug adapter, but his English was horrible so that took like 15 min just to ask one question. I chatted more with the girls from my room, they are real nice. So I was supposed to go out with Alex and Louis one last time (alise had left for liverpool, and I was heading to wigan the next morning), but I was so exhausted I told Alex I was going to stay in. He said he wanted to see me before I left so I said I would meet up with him at some point Tuesday. Ok so now Tuesday: I went to the police museum which was really awesome. Even the guys who worked there were intrigued that I was from new York. One asked if I wanted to try on some of the uniforms and see the weapons (not the pistols!) So that was real cool, I have some photos of me dressed up!! They had a female cell room that you could walk through, a courtroom and some old artifacts. After the museum I called Alex and met up with him at starbucks, but only for a minutes cause I needed to get on with my journey. So I said my goodbyes, then he texted me a few min later saying he forgot to give me something but I said I couldn't turn back around, so I felt a bit bad but what can I do? I was already running behind schedule. So my official leaving time was 2:39 pm. I got really lost as soon as I crossed over to salford so I had to call mike a few times to set me straight. I was going fine although I never found sustrans route 55 but then the road curved and changed names so I asked a local where the park was that I had to cut thru and he had never heard of it ( and judging by his lack of pronounciation, he was a mancunian his whole life) so I just said screw sustrans and used my gps. So I went along busy a roads but it was pretty straight forward, although I did get lost a few times more. I passed a lidl as I was getting close to the hotel so I stopped and bought 3 frozen pizzas for £2 - amazing deal! I made it to the wigan hotel called bel air (I rode pretty much in the darkness for the whole journey) at 6:15 pm, doing 20.29 miles, avg 8.5 mph. But my compy sensor kit on the rim kept moving so sometimes the compy wasn't working properly, so that's not entirely accurate. So when I checked in I saw they had no kitchen or microwave, so what did I do? I ate the frozen pizza as is!! It was not the yummiest of pizzas.. but that didn't stop me! So Neil came by, the hotel was above a pub so we watched that man u vs Portugal game, then did a pub quiz which we were horrible at, but it was fun nonetheless. Ok no more for tonight, I need some shut eye!

English guys got the moves like jagger

<p>So continuing right where I left off: we are at yates, having a good time, making fun of the English in the way they dress and dance. Then Alex starts teaching me hip hop dancing, which I slowly did not catch on to. It was a good time. I spilt my drink on me and Alex went to grab me napkins, he is real sweet :-) at 1:30 am we left to go back to the hostel. In the morning, (Saturday) i had breakfast and got some food for louis, Alex and Alicia, but Alex was able to wake up in time so we ate together. When I left to start my day I went to lance and when I rode off I realized by butt felt more painful than usual. That's when I saw my seat cover had been stolen overnight!!! I had brought in my pump and helmet that night before, but completely forgot about the seat cover. So I was real pissed, but what could I do, so I just went on with me day. I headed to, Yup you know me so well! Back to the Manchester museum! Before I went in I called the Manchester po po and asked about my rights as a (non) citizen, if I could do something not covered by a hotels t&amp;cs for staying. He said I have to obey the hotels rules, even if no document is displayed for the guests. I thought this can't be right, but left it at that for now and went inside. I saw only a tiny bit of the dinosaur and rocks exhibit unfortunately cause There was a new exhibit that opened that day that I wanted to see, also on excavations from the middle east! There was a man who was in the gallery with me and he asked if I was enjoying the exhibit and I said yes and he asked if I thought human remains should be on display and I said no because its disrespectful to the dead, they shouldnt be excavated in the first place. And he said that was an interesting argument and a lot of people felt that way. He introduced himself as the curator from the natural history museum (I think) in London and he was trying to get peoples opinions on how they felt about human remains exhibitions. He then asked if I thought there should be a disclaimer at the entrance of the exhibit warning people that human remains are on display and to view at their own discretion. I said I would hope people would realize they are seeing human remains when they go to an exhibit about mummies!! But a disclaimer isn't harming anyone so yeah putting one up would be a good idea. So after that exhibit I went and saw more of the British birds exhibit and then left. I had booked myself on a tour of the town hall clock tour, but before I rode off I posted on yahoo answers my scenario to see what people said about the freedom of info act and if I would be allowed to bring lance inside if the hotels t&amp;cs don't mention bikes can't be brought inside (assuming I would put him somewhere that wasn't a fire hazard), and posting that took me longer than expected, so I then had to rush to the town hall and the German markets were right in front, so I had to push lance through a huge crowd of people to get to the damn front door. I made it with 1 min to spare. So the tour was cool, we went into the rope room where the ringers rang the bell manually, then the mechanics room, then the clock, then the bell tower which had a balcony with 360 views. It was a real good day, I saw the peak district in the background! Then we went into the tower at 2 pm and saw, heard and felt the bell being rung by a hammer. The vibrations ran throughout my whole body!! Then after the tour, the great hall was open so I peeked in at the murals by Ford maddox brown. So I had about an hour to kill before I went on my next tour at 330 so I just Hung around the markets, enjoying the smells and the boutiques and unenjoying all the people there. Unfortunately everything was way overpriced, or else I would have bought some food. So then I headed over to the midland hotel which was the meeting point for my underground Manchester tour, which took you into the bomb raid shelters below ground. I ran inside the hotel to pee quickly, wow was it fancy inside! Then when I came out the guide was checking tickets and i sad I didnt have mine just yet and I needed to buy it off of him, so I take out my money to pay and some guy says "oh we have an extra one, take ours!" And I offered him the money and he refused, so that was quite lucky!! So the tour was real good, the guide was funny and kinda sexy with a hot fashion sense for an older man. He first took us to this brick building in the middle of a block and told us that that was a bomb shelter.&#160; But it blended in with the surroundings so well, you would have just thought it was part of the business buildings on the block. But the Germans bombed manny in ww 2 and most of that area got destroyed so the mancunian govt asked Americans to help them build a shelter (forget why now) and the Americans employed polish people to build it since they didn't know English and thus couldn't tell the public what that top secret brick building was going to be used for. God we are so clever!! So then we went to the tunnels, it was awesome down there. We saw the toilets and where the canal used to be. So it was really cool down there. After the tour I went back to the hostel and Hung out with Alex and Alicia for a bit. But I also saw the hot guys from the night before and we were talking about how our nights were. Mark and Paul Thomas both forgot my name, mark thought it was Lauren and Paul thought it was holly. Then Neil walks in and says hi michele!! So they were like wow way to show us up by remembering her name! So I was talking to those sexy things, I told Paul he could use the outlet in my little alcove to charge his iPhone. So then they invited us to go out with them but I wasn't ready yet so I said we will meet them, so Alex gave Neil his number to text him so we can meet up. Then I got ready and Alex, Alicia and I went to the printworks and we bumped into them on a line to a bar! So that was dumb luck. There was another attractive guy with them that apparently was in our room that day, his name was ashley from Perth, Aussie. So we go into this bar, pay &#163;2 to get in, and its so crowded that after like 10 min no One could get a drink, so Paul Thomas ( I forgot to mention that they brought another one of their friends with them, also named Paul, so I had to call the hot Paul Paul Thomas to differeniate) suggested we leave or else we will never get drunk with the massive crowds at the bar. I thought, oh no, what have I got myself into. These guys are clearly typical English guys who only care about booozing on the weekends ( and they weren't wearing any jackets either) so I reluctantly agreed. So we left and went to a pub near our hostel and that was a lot better with a "convivial" crowd, as Alex said. Louis came to meet us. There was a band playing and they were real good, they gave out free cds!! The lead singer was gorgeous and the drummer wasn't too bad looking either. Neil had recommended me a drink called the steamboat which was tasty. When I finished it Paul Thomas bought me another one even though I said I wasn't going to be drinking anymore. He couldn't fathom the idea of someone having just one drink on a night out. So when the pub closed we headed for the northern quarter. Neil and the girls took a taxi, while ashley, Paul Thomas, my crew and one of the girls came walked with us. Paul and I did some good flirting on this walk. Then that girl got a call from the others saying that there was a change of plan and we were heading to the gay village instead. So we walked that way instead. We went to a bar that played really cheesy music. Some of the boys were looking goooood!! It was a bit loud in there though, so we became a dancing group instead of the Chatty one we were at the pub, which kind of split us up. So after a while Louis suggested we go elsewhere to do karaoke, but only him, Alex, Alicia and I went. It was like after 2 now so most places were shutting so they wouldn't let knew customers in. I was annoyed cause I had wanted to stay at the place we were at, and now we couldn't find anywhere new to go. So we walked down canal st trying various bars. We saw an ad on the door that the g-a-y bar was looking for a cook and a bus boy. So we told Alex to apply for the bus boy one. Then as we were walking there was a guy wearing fishnets, heels, a corset and a wig. He was looking fine!! Louis told me he was my red headed twin cause the wig was of red curly hair, so that scared me a bit, but it was a good laugh. We also passed an advertisement for strippers!! Oh I forgot to mention that on Thursday night we saw an ad for dream boys!! Strippers who were coming to the birdcage next weekend, and then this night i got a flyer for £2 off entry!! I was so upset I wasn't staying till next weekend :-( so anyway, after not finding anywhere, Louis took us this this bar exclusively for bartenders. It was quite weird at first, you go up to this door, ring a bell, a guy slides a little eye hatch, Louis says "hard rock and tgi Fridays" and the guy opens the door. It was like something out of a 1920s mafia run speakeasy! So we were there for a bit. I was in the bathroom when Paul Thomas called me and told me he wanted to join us cause the girls that Neil was friends with weren't being friendly with him, and I was so much more fun to talk to. That really touched me, I thought that was such a sweet thing to say. I told him he couldn't get in because its for bartenders only and Louis was able to get us in. I really wanted him there though cause I got along with him the best out of those 4 locals. So some time passed and I was getting super tired. So we walked back at like 3:30 am. The guys  were back already so I talked to them for a bit and then I asked Paul if he wanted his charger back and he said he still wanted to plug his phone in but he wanted to play on it at the same time so I told him he could switch into my alcove since the top bunk was free. But his charger couldn't reach up there so I said he could take the bottom and I will take the top. Then Alicia comes by and says that someone is sleeping in her bed ( cause I had offered her the top bunk the night before) but because Paul was in the alcove with me, he said she could take his bed. So now I'm ready for bed but my charger couldn't reach the top and it actually caused my phone to fall all the way to the ground, so he said he felt bad about taking my bed, and he didn't mind taking the top and I said no he could stay on the bottom and he said well you can join me down here if you want. And my mouth wanted to say "sure, coming right down!!" But my brain stopped me and I said "no, I'm fine up here. Good night." Sunday: So it was a bit of a hassle in the morning, everyone was packing to leave, including myself. It was a bit of a droolfest cause there were lots of cuties that slept in their undies, or Just got out of the shower, so that was a bit of a distraction for me. But I eventually went for breakfast, and Alex saved some for me as well :-) and I made toast and stuff for Alicia, Louis and Paul. So I finally Checked out after saying good bye to the guys. I went to the yha but I couldn't check in yet cause it was still early, so I just dropped my stuff off. The receptionist liked my hat and said she wanted to get a similar one but was afraid it wouldnt fit under her helmet. And I said that I have to tuck under the eyes but then it fits! So I went to the museum of science and industry and went to a hands on exhibit which was geared towards kids but still fun. But wow were there a lot of brats there!! They were driving me crazy! I stayed there for a good while until I left to go on a 1 pm walking tour of the city. Ok I am going to have to cut this short here and continue tomorrow, I need my beauty rest, these past few days and been way too intense!!

The days in a life of a Manchester tourist part 1

Hello again! It's been some time since we last spoke, I have been having a very busy time in Manchester! I am really liking it here! It reminds me of new York in some respects, but is very compact. And it doesn't have the tastelessness of London (billions of people 24/7, expensive!) So I don't want to leave! Even though, according to my ghost tour guide, mancunians life expectancy is 5-10 years younger than other parts of the country (he gave surrey as an example, I didn't understand the reference). But anyway let me go in order and tell everything that I can remember starting with Thursday: I went to bed at 12am on Wed night because that was when the common room at Ashton closed. So when I woke up to have breakfast, I saw Alex the French guy. We chatted a bit. He was real sweet. I sneezed and he got me tissues from the bathroom. We were having a fun conversation, I was saying something about a story Louis (English guy) was telling me the night before about the Chinese mafia in the Manchester Chinatown. And Alexs English is pretty bad so he thought I said I was the head of the Chinese mafia. So that has been the butt of many jokes the past few days that no one else gets. So after breaky I went to the Manchester museum and was there all day till closing. I saw the ancient Egypt, natural history, Manchester history, and world cultures exhibits. Then I went to the portico library cause it had an exhibit on Alice in wonderland. It took me so long to find the damn place I nearly gave up but I'm glad I found it. They had old editions of the Alice series, and some new adaptations, like pop up books and translated stories and parodies. The library itself was real cool, it was so old, the books were all falling apart and most had to be held together with string! Then I went back to the hostel. Alex was there again and there was this dutch girl. So I got talking to her, her name is Alicia. So we were just hanging out in the common room but since the children in need concert was going on just down the block, I wanted to go to the bars close by so I can ask the crowd how it was once it ended. So Louis is a bartender at the hard rock cafe, which is in the print works, which is very close to the MEN arena. I had wanted to go there anyway to check out the memorabilia. So I asked Alex and Alicia if they wanted to go with me. So we started getting ready and these 2 french guys in the hostel that Alex was talking to asked if they could come. So we all left together. They are casino dealers in France and are going to be working at a casino in blackpool in a month, but they came to Manchester to improve their English beforehand. I told them Manchester is not the best English city to try and learn the language and accents of the locals! So when we got to the hard rock, the concert just ended so there was a mad rush of people. But Louis gave us free drinks all night if we donated to the charity. So we did and we got these bracelets that say imagine theres no hunger. It was a fun night, despite the French guys having difficulty with English. Alicia spoke English well and knew some french so she was the interpretor. At one point I saw a guy waiting by the bathroom with the CIN teddy bear ears so I knew he had gone to the concert. So I asked him how it was. He said it was amazing. I asked who his favorite act was and he said lady Gaga. I told him I was jealous cause I would have liked to have gone to the show and lady Gaga would have been my fav too. So we were chatting about it for a bit, he even took off his ears and gave them to me! And said that way I can feel like I was at the show. How nice! then his gf came out of the bathroom and didn't like that I was talking to her bf and pulled him away and got mad that he gave his ears to me. So they were arguing about that so I offered them back to him and he said "no no you keep them, that way you can say lady Gaga was your favorite act!" So I kept them and wore them all night :-) god his gf and her friends were such cuntrags. I asked them if they could tell me about the show too and they all ignored me. I swear some people just have the worst insecurities when it comes to relationships. But anyway a bit later on in the night, they left and I said thank you again to the guy and he gave me a high five. Now as the night went on, Alex and I were swapping clothing, piece by piece. It ended with me in his shoes, jacket, watch and glasses, and him in my shoes, sweater, purse and ears. Then Alicia and I went roaming around looking at the music stuff on the walls. There was a prince drum and a chili peppers skateboard! So when the bar closed we went back to the hostel. We got along really well, I had a lot of fun. And I was a bit tipsy for the first time in a long time. Louis made me this like milkshake drink with frangelico in it. Mmmmm!! So ok let's move onto Friday: had the usual breakfast in the hostel. Louis never gets up in time for it because he works so late, so I grabbed some fruit and put it next to his bed. Then I went to the whitworth art gallery once I left. It's contemporary art, so I wasn't overly impressed with some of the art. Although they had a permanent textile exhibit with clothes from other cultures around the world, old stuff from the 19th cent and modern stuff. They also had a shadow puppet section which was cool, and another shadowy exhibit with "dark" paintings. There was another small exhibit called air pressure and it was a documentary on the day to day life of a family who owns a farm at the end of a runway in a Japanese airport. The govt tried to kick them out in the 70s so they could build the airport, but they refused to move. How awesome is that! But it was quite sad, seeing them do their farming duties, and loud planes are flying overhead over few min!! So I saw the whole museum then went back to the Manchester museum and finished the world cultures exhibit and went to another Egypt one. Then I went straight to the victoria rail station for a ghost tour. I had time to kill so I ate an apple and a nutella sandwich. I searched all up and down that damn station and I couldn't find the bathrooms or any garbage pail anywhere!! Even outside of the station. I ended up throwing my apple core in a flowered area.so then the tour started. That was really fun, whenever the guide mentioned a story about a head missing from a dead person he would take a fake skull out of his bag and say he stole the head. I thought it was amusing. So I learnt that most urban open spaces are old church grounds. A lot were demolished and there is a law that you can't build on old sacred grounds, so these cities just turn them into little block green spaces. The stories were quite cool, there was this one in particular that struck me. A boat that set off out of the river irwell had sunk, and it was a big event to see the launching of the boat (it was like the first one) so a huge crowd witnessed this. One man from Scotland who came down to see it, stripped off his clothes and jumped in to save drowning people when the boat tipped over. He saved 4 people that day, but when he went back to land, someone stole his clothes, and he died of hypothermia later that day! How awful is that! So the tour went on for 1:40, we went to the  courtyard area of the town hall, where Sherlock Holmes, harry potter and some other movies/shows have been filmed because it looks like a 18th cent setting. After the tour I went back to the hostel cause I was supposed to go out with the new crew to the xmas markets. But apparently Louis got called into work, but I still wanted to go to the markets anyway, so I asked Alex and Alicia if they wanted to come with me and they said yes. I didn't want to be out too late cause I was already sleep deprived for the past 2 days. But Alex wanted to eat so we left late. But it was fine cause I met our new roomies, 2 hot guys from haydock and 1 cute guy from wigan. They were real fun and easy to talk to and I quickly got along with them. The guy Neil from wigan was showing his Canadian/Aussie friends the Manchester club scene cause they never been to manny before. And he brought his 2 sexy friends. So at the end of the convo I tried to recap their names. I was 1 for 3. I thought mark was Matt (so close enough) but I thought Paul was Thomas, so from then on I just called him Paul Thomas. So I went out with alex and Alicia but by the time we went to the markets, they were closed. So we went to a whetherspoon bar close by the town hall but it was very crowded, so then we went to yates. We sat outside at first, ordered a LIT pitcher. For the first time, Alicia was realizing how English girls dress for their nights out. She was completely freaked out. She turns to me and goes "english girls are so trashy!" And sh e just kept making faces of horror all night long, because it never went away. And at one point, 2 got into a brawl. She was not impressed. I'm glad this is just an English thing though, and that dutch and other Europeans have more class (Alex vouched for the French). Attention! I have to interrupt this blog post for an important announcement. I am going to meet up with the crew now so ill have to continue tomorrow!
And its freaking raining!

Quick words of wisdom

Dear blog

I know I have been neglecting you for the past few days but I am surrounded by Manchester hotness 24/7 and it is a very big distraction. I promise I will write soon!

Thanks for understanding,

Michele

Manchester might be up there for fav UK cities!

<p>Tonight makes night#2 staying in Manchester. There was so much excitement going on yesterday that I didn't have time to write in my blog, so I will cover both days: so Monday night I was real tired from my walks so I wanted to go to bed early, which I had planned on doing regardless because it was 30 mi to Manchester and I was anticipating some crazy hills. So the self catering kitchen opened at 7 am so I figured I could finish off the free pasta at like 730 and then set off. I went to bed at 9 pm and woke up at 7:05am - and from my alarm! So I went to the kitchen a bit later and surprise surprise, it wasn't open. Neither was reception so I used the emergency phone to contact a member of staff, and someone came to open the kitchen for me. So I set off soon after, official time was 8:22 am. I rode along edale rd, past edale and thru barber booth. A farmer had opened up the gate leading to the road and a sheep ran out. There was a truck driving along side me and I guess it spooked the sheep cause then it started running down the road! The farmer didn't even Chase after it, but she said something to the truck driver which was probably something along the lines of " scare it back this way!" Cause the truck was getting really close to it at some points. It went a good distance down the road until finally it pulled over, the truck went by and it calmed down a bit, then ran back in the opposite direction. So pretty quickly, I came to a gigazmo of a hill. It started off with a 16% incline! I made it up most of that. Then it just went higher and higher and I couldn't see the end cause of the fog. It was like the never-ending staircase from the phantom tollbooth. I was on and off with the riding and the walking ( but mostly riding, and was feeling a bit ill and almost regretting eating all that pasta) until there was light at the end of the tunnel! As soon as I reached the top, it went straight downhill again! Surely someone could have just built a road around the hill!? I was out of the fog though, so that was good. The rest of the way was a piece of cake. I went down another long steep hill and it was level almost the whole way to Manchester. By this point the fog is nonexistent with how low I am so I got good views of the hills and cliffs, when I was still in the peak district. But the traffic was unreal! At one point it was at a stand still so I went onto the sidewalk but I clipped a garbage pail and swerved into the street, as a tractor trailer was coming. But I managed to stay on lance so I pulled back up onto the sidewalk. So once I got to London rd in Manchester I had some issues finding the hotel, but eventually saw it. So ill still count that as not getting lost on my journey :-) I arrived at 10:46 am, riding (the walking with lance wasn't even registered on my comp since I was going <1 mph) 27.59 mi, avg 7.6 mph, max 33.5 mph. I checked in and beat Michael to the hotel so I went to the art gallery and he met me there. Then we went back to the hotel and I bought yesterdays groupon, which was a 3 course meal at a Russian restaurant. But since the deal hadn't ended yet, I didn't have the code for the owner, so she wouldn't accept it, but offered us a different voucher, which was also for 3 courses, but this included a shot of vodka!! So that worked out well!! She offered me a sweet tasting vodka, and it didn't taste too bad! Michaels smelled like rubbing alcohol. If I would have had that I probably would have thrown up. After dinner we walked to the MEN arena and fools gold had already started performing. Then at around 9ish, the chili peppers came on!!! It was amazing! The new guitarist josh sounds a lot like john, which is good for their old songs. But no one can ever replace john frusciante! They opened with one of their new songs, don't know names just yet, then played dani California, the adventures of rain dance maggy, can't stop, by the way, scar tissue, under the bridge, Californication, tell me baby, higher ground and a few others. after they played hard to concentrate, flea said since that was a mellow song they were going to play another reaalllly mellow song, so mellow it should be cAlled death mellow! And then they played right on time!! They encored with soul to squeeze, a few others and then ended with give it away. Anthony was looking HOTTTTT without his shirt! Flea did a walking hand stand across the whole stage. One of the trumpet players from fools gold came out and jammed a bit as well which was cool. So after that amazing performance we went back to the hotel, after getting a little bit lost. So now onto today! We woke up early to eat breakfast then catch the 845 am train back to the peak district! We got off at hope then walked to castleton and went straight for peak cavern. We were the only 2 on that tour so that was neat. The cave was pretty awesome, and cold! After the tour we went to the visitor info center to see if there were any buses going to Manchester from the area so we could stay a bit later, but there weren't :-( so we started walking to speedwell cavern but decided against it cause it would be cutting it too close to catching the train from hope, so we went back to the visitor centre, had lunch with a bunch of ducks, and then tried to go to the castle, but it was closed during non summer weekdays ( which I should have known) so we went to the museum in the visitor centre. Then we walked back to the hope train station and bought some fudge along the way, which didn't last long! We took the train to Manchester, and ided the lichens I've seen so far, and I got real tired and dozed off, and had a dream that I slept thru my stop at Manchester, and when I woke up i was in Edinburgh! So When we got back to Manchester, we grabbed our stuff from hotel international and I moved to my new hostel, Ashton house. After dropping my things off mike and I went food shopping before he caught his bus to Birmingham. Then I came back to my hostel and met 2 guys, one french, one English, and they are very nice. The English guy has been staying in this hostel for 3 weeks so far, he said the showers are military style! I hope the womans bathrooms aren't like that, otherwise I'm not showering for a few days! I went to reception and asked if I could bring lance inside the reception hall, cause at the moment he is just outside locked to a pole and she said no. I am really not happy!! Poor lance out there in the cold and dark, all alone! And it was drizzly last time I checked up on him. Oh well he could use a bath anyway.  K bed time now, lots to see in Manchester tomorrow!

Really looking forward to having phone reception in the palm of my hands tomorrow!

Before I write about today I just want to mention what happened after I wrote yesterdays post. I ate dinner then got dressed to go outside and climb up kinder scout halfway so I could get service and post it. On my way out, a boy steaming with hotness (he had a lip ring and an Aussie accent) asked if I had come from ravenstor and I said yes and he said he saw me there last night and again riding away in the morning and he recognized me by my frog hat! This was my prime opportunity to chat him up but I fell shy and didn't say anything! After spending a few freezing hours on the hill (of all places to book a hotel) and again having a cloudy night where I couldn't use my star wheel, I headed back inside to look for him. I went to the games room, where the tv was, and the lounge but he wasn't there :-( so I called it a night at 10:30, but not before going to the bathroom and noticing I had a huge piece of tomato in my teeth! Like seriously, how does that happen? It's a first for me and of course it was when I was talking to a cute boy. So onto today: I woke up this morning at 8:30, so I got quite a nice rest! Again more fog on the hill summits, but I went strolling anyway. When I went to the drying room to pick up my pants, I saw I had a grass streak on my butt from where I fell and slid yesterday. I thought oh this is lovely, green stains on my ass, mud all over and a tear in the crotch! Yet another pair of jeans ruined. Anywho, my first destination was kinder scout, but I didn't go all the way to the top cause of the fog and wind and I was getting cold, so I just headed west across the moorland. I saw some bone remains of an animal. Probably someone's dog that got attacked by a vengeful sheep! I hiked up some hill ( again no posts telling you names, although the paths were better marked...after kinder scout) and sat on top of the rocks for a bit. My phone had died by this point so I was using the time stamp on the photos I took as a clock. I decided to walk the ridge of the hilltop and then do like a 270, cause edale valley was below, so I would just walk down that last hill and then get to the valley and walk back. But from where I was sitting I couldnt tell if all the hill tops were connected or not. I just took a chance and hoped they were around the bend I couldn't see, otherwise I would have to go down one hill and go back up the one on the other side. So I was walking along, wasn't as muddy and wet today (although I was wearing my waterproof socks just in case). I only saw 3 individual hikers on the same trail as me, as well as a high school group. I fell about 3 times, once on the heather, and other two on the uneven surface of the path. I eventually came to the area where I wasn't sure if I could continue or not. But as luck may have it, I only had to walk a little bit inland and the stream that had cut into the valley between the hills had turned into a waterfall. Nothing spectacular, and the water was quite brown, but it was still a nice sight to see. So I crossed over the stream and onto the other hill, and as soon as I summitted, I felt like I had changed locations altogether. It was windy and way foggier on this side! I could not see beyond the cliff edge, whereas on the other hills I could see mam tor and the hills on the other side of the main road. So I was getting cold again so I swiftly followed the trail until it started going towards edale valley. Then it was no longer foggy and windy.  The rocks on this side showed evidence of volcanic rock with the way it was folding, looked very cool! Then I had to pee and since I hadn't seen anyone in a while I just peed on the trail. I saw like 10 sheep doing it today, so why couldn't I!? Wow my butt was cold though!! So I went all the way to the end of the trail, which I finally saw a sign that said I came from grinds knoll. Then I followed the penine way until I reached edale village. The only interesting wildlife I saw the whole time were a few lichens, a brown hare, an inchworm, and one bird, maybe a curlew? It had the body of a pigeon with a fan tail and the colors of a pheasant, and was quite vocal when flying. When I passed through the village I went on another footpath along a river and then through some farmland. I saw a sheep resting against the dry stone wall and I thought that was a bit odd so I went over and saw that on the side of its face that was facing the wall was all cut up and blood was running down it. My heart sank, but there was no one to alert, so I carried on walking until I came to the road. My camera told me it was near 3:30 now so I shouldnt go on anymore excursions or else I'd get lost and wouldn't find my way back before sundown. So I continued on the road till I got to the hostel. There is a farm just below the hostel and I saw a farmer tie a dead sheep to a rope and attach it to a mini tractor thingy and drive away. I thought what is going on all of a sudden to these poor sheep! But that's farmlife I guess. So when I got back to the hostel it still wasn't dark and once I charged my phone it said it was only 4:15, so I think my camera clock is one hour ahead (ah! Because of daylight savings!! I just thought of that!) So I could have gone on another walk, but I was tired,cold and hungry anyway. I wish I knew how many miles I walked and my max elevation! The map in the hostel lounge is telling me that the hills I walked along were upper tor and nether tor, I believe. First thing I did was I got back was shower, then I went to the kitchen to make dinner and saw that my food had been thrown away, even though my label on it said I was departing tomorrow. So I was a bit grumpy but the reception people were nice so I didnt want to kick up a fuss so I just told the lady what happened and she said they will replace it. the guy from yesterday came out and asked what I had there and I said spaghetti and sauce and he went to the catering kitchen and gave me a bag of pasta and some sauce. He asked if I had anything else and I said no. Now I wish I had said I bought a whole chocolate cake and didn't get a chance to even have one bite! So I'm done with my dinner now, I will go on another quick hunt for sexy Aussie lip ring boy ( who I found out works here) and then I will hike up kinder scout one last time to post this!

Someone needs to set up a bt tower on top of these damn hills

<p>Well today was an interesting adventure! When I woke up, the view was not as nice as it was yesterday (which by the way I rode for 8.68 miles although something of that was when I walked lance on that path to litton), it was back to being foggy, but not as bad as when I left eyam. I set off from ravenstor early to give myself plenty of leeway to get to edale. I left at 8:35 am. I got a little lost in the beginning because I had forgotten if the b6049 went through tideswell or litton, and I didnt have any signal to check my gps so I chose litton. I went all the way up the hill and had service there so I checked the gps, and of course it was through tideswell (which explains all the heavy traffic) but for the rest of the way i didn't get lost and it was pretty much level or downhill until I got off the main road and took a back path into hope. Passed a few nice lakes though, one had like ice blue water, yet the one on the other side of the road didn't. So I passed through hope to get to edale. It was another long climb to the top! On my way up, I was looking to my left at like a viaduct, picking away at my nose, and all of a sudden I heard a loud "hello!" To my right, which startled me. It was a group of bikers, and they said hello as they rode past. I saw like 4 groups today, all with their sexy lycra and sponsored shirts, so I assume they are practicing for a marathon. So when I got to the yha gates, it was yet another steep hill up to the hostel. I passed a walker who was coming down and he said oh its mostly flat, you'll be fine. What a bastard!! I ended up walking lance for most of that way. I swear, the yha chooses their hostels in the most obscure places! But its real close to the popular walking trails so can't complain there. I arrived at the hostel at 10:47 am, 12.85 miles later, max speed 32mph!! And avg 6.2. I dropped off my stuff cause my room wasn't ready yet. Then I headed back down the hill to grab food from the spar in hope. I sat at a bus stop across the church and had lunch. At around noon I guess the remembrance day mass was getting out cause there was this traffic hold up near the church for like 10 min, and then I heard some trumpets going and saw a whole bunch of people with the poppy flower pin walk by. After lunch I checked out an old animal pound ( a real one) and then headed for edale again. On the way up I saw a dead mole on the shrub. It didn't seem to have lacerations (not that I picked it up and examined the damn thing), but it was probably poisoned. So My original plan was to go to the hostel, change into my waterproof socks, and drop off the food, then do some local walks. But on my way I figured I should check out edale the village quickly before I do that. Well I never made it to the village cause I passed a major starting point for a whole bunch of walks, so I decided just to do a quick walk, with the heavy sauce jar on my back, and ill try not to get too muddy. I first went to the moorland centre that had walking maps but you had to buy them. So I decided to just wing it, I'm sure there will be signs posted like at wye valley. So I had someone point me in the right direction for mam tor and I was on my way. It was still foggy at the hill tops, but I was able to see decently enough. I followed the road for a bit, then geared off to a footpath. I reached the summit of some hill, but I couldn't tell you if it was mam tor or not ( cause why would direction signs be necessary!?). Then I just roamed around a bit, I mean the info board at the moorland center said the fences were only there to contain the sheep, we were free to explore the countryside under the crow act of 2004. But then signs along the way said keep to paths. But let me tell you something, I came across many little signs with a walking person, indicating a public footpath but the footpath would just disappear into the grass. And they had those wooden steps for you to hop over the fences, but those didnt have a path either on the other side of the fence. It's all very strange, I wonder if things are like this in cow country back home. Just allowing people to roam on lands with cow and sheep, with their dogs and whatnot. So anyway, I'm walking along. I ended up Fenced in, and the only way out was either hop back over the fence from the wooden steps that I took to go in, or go through a gate. So I went for the gate and saw it said private property, so when I lifted the latch to let myself out, 2 men came out to see who was on their property and I said "I'm sorry, I got lost and I've wandered into your land. But I'm leaving now!" But like I was led there by the "path"! I just don't get it. So I continued up some more hills, Getting muddy and wet, really regretting not going back for those socks, I was really stepping deep in mud at some points. It was really slippery. I did manage to fall at one point, but that was on a grassy slope thank god! So i check the time and its 3:10 so I figured I better start making my way down this hillside before it gets too dark! So I can see the road, but no paths! So I thought oh fuck this, its like a labyrinth trying to find these wooden gates and steps out of these fenced areas, ill be here all night! So I started hopping the fences. Got my jeans caught on the barbed wire and tore them a bit. Then I came to a small stream and I hopped over it but landed in nettle or gorse or whatever else plant has little stingers that stuck to my clothes. So I'm making my way down the hill, hopped another fence which had very tall grass on the other side, so once I got over and took my first step, it sunk down into some water. Well at least the mud was cleaned off! I made my way through the grass ( I hope England doesn't have ticks!) And continued down the moorland. I finally saw the road I originally came up, but I was on the other side, but that was ok because the main road was right in front of me now! No sooner did I think that, did I come to a river. I definitely couldnt hop over this one! So my only choice was to again climb over the fence. Only this fence had thorny shrubs lining it. But I just went for it. Climbed the fence, then pushed through the shrubs, losing my hat and some hair in the process. But I was free!! So I then headed back to lance and biked around for a bit then headed back to the hostel. Biked 24.85 mi the whole day. I checked in and saw they had paintings on the wall from ansel Adams! Didn't think he had international fame! So when I was filling out my info, I told the receptionist that if he can't find me in the membership system its cause my name is spelt wrong. And he was like "you can't spell your own name!?" And I said "no, it wasn't me, I ordered over the phone, so the guy (replace with complete moron) I spoke to spelled it wrong!" Then I moved into my room and when I opened my sock and underwear bag, this horrible smell escaped and filled the room! Looks like ill be needing to do some wash in Manchester! So tomorrow I will be back on the moorland, doing some more of those walks. I will try my very best to stick to the footpaths, and I'm assuming there will be more people since ill be going earlier, so I will just follow in their footsteps. One thing that peeved me yesterday that i forgot to mention, was for some reason only on the walk up from the monsal trail to the head (or maybe it was only where I noticed it) there were so many dog poop bags tied to the tree branches! I remember at a work meeting Michelle said that people are weird when it comes to poop (referring to how people used to leave it outside the hospital door) but this really was appalling. Esp if they had just waited another 2 min they would be at the top of monsal head and they could have disposed of it in the bins provided! I think there should be stricter background checks on people who try to buy/adopt pets, there should be some way of tracking if someone is a responsible owner not just for the health of the animal, but also in the duties that come along with owning
A pet! But that's my rant for the evening. I better get out of this kitchen before I find myself eating those chocolate muffins that belong to another guest!

Not looking forward to the hills that await me enroute to edale tomorrow!

Last night before I went to bed I finished that egg mayo sandwich, and realized that was what smelt like cow crap. I'm still deciding if it was better off that way or not! I had 7 old annoying ladies in my room but at least they all went to bed at the same time as me. This morning a receptionist asked if I wanted to switch rooms to be in with a 19 yr old girl. I said I don't mind either way but what I was really thinking was YES GET ME OUT OF THAT HELLHOLE! So I went downstairs to eat breakfast and I couldn't believe my eyes! The fog had cleared and I could actually see the hills surrounding the yha! Wow were they beautiful! Today really was a total contrast to yesterday, thank god. So when I went to get lance from his bike shed, I saw that the headlight bracket hadn't fallen off! in my semi panic state last night I had forgotten which side of my bell it was on. Unfortunately the slidey part on the light itself is broken, so it won't clip into place, so ill still have to hold it! Anyway, I set off to explore more local trails. I was determined to find this damn monsal trail and since I didn't find it yesterday, turning right out of the hostel (today was a much better day for it anyway), I turned left today. And I did see a sign for the trail but there were steps leading up to it! I thought this was a well known bike trail!? So I decided to lock lance up there and follow a walking path thru chee dale nature reserve, which was along the river wye. It was real gorgeous, saw some herons, some dippers (I think), some tits and a few other birds. The path was a bit rocky and very muddy so I was slip sliding all over the place. There were cliffs towering over both sides of the river and it was mostly woodland habitat. I walked for a bit but decided to turn back when there was a steep rocky decline, so I went back to a junction and followed the path uphill towards wormhill. When I got to the top I saw a flock of sheep running down the hill and then I saw the Australian shepherd chasing after them, then the owner chasing after her screaming LUNA! LUNA! I saw signs everywhere to keep dogs on leashes cause they can scare or harm the livestock, but I guess that guy thought he was above the law. It was a funny sight to see though. So after wormhill I continued up, saw a small waterfall and when I went close to take a photo, my foot sank in the mud! So there you have it, the whole rest of the day I had a soggy foot. Then I hiked to the top and got to a road, followed that into a dale area but it was soo muddy so I turned around and just followed the road. Then I took a public footpath which led to the millers dale old midway rail train station. The monsal trail passed through there so I finally found it, but was suffering from lance withdrawals so I decided to get him, then ride the trail (not without getting a toffee ice cream for lunch and climbing up the hill to the old limekilns) so I got a little lost, went briefly thru monks dale, and back tracked myself a bit but I found him in the end and after asking some hikers with a map the best way to monsal trail, I concluded to just carry him up the steps. And there were about 50 of them. When I got to the top I was back at the millers dale train station!! Wish I had known that was the way before I went all loop de looping! So I rode along the monsal, it was very popular. I'm scared to know what summer weekends are like! I checked the sites along the way like millers dale quarry and priestcliff. Priestcliff was real steep and again muddy so I left lance at the bottom and walked up. Yesterday when I was doing that concession(?) Trail I realized I was hiking up with my helmet but as soon as I took it off I slipped and nearly fell over, so I kept it on this time :-) at the top, there were some great views of the cliffs and the dales yonder. When I was riding along the monsal trail there was this box that you could hear different stories from locals about the midland railway. One that particularly caught my attention was when a guy was on an express train from Manchester to Sheffield and wanted to get off at milers dale, so the conductor told him when they approach milers dale he will tap his shoulder. This will signal the driver to slow down and thats the mans cue to jump out of the train!! And he said when he landed, it wasn't on the platform, he didn't know where he was, he fell into a stream and got all wet and had to like bushwack his way to the road! What a crazy story, I believe something like that would definitely have happened in like the 20s, but no way today! ( unless in China). so I went off trail a little bit at several other points to check out the vegetation and litton mills. The trail is what was once the rail line (hence the station) and so it went thru a few tunnels which was cool in every sense of the word. Then there was a footpath to the top of the hill, which was monsal head so I climbed up there with lance, which was tiring! But when we got to the top the view was breathtaking! Chessbrook mills lying in the valley with the river wye flowing beside it with limestone cliffs and dales and trees all around it! At this point its 3 pm and I'm hungry for real food so I go into the pub at the head but it was really crowded and overpriced (£4.20 for soup..that's nearly times sq prices!) So I left and sat on a bench overlooking the valley and had my nutella sandwich there. Then I took the road back in the direction I came cause it was going to get dark soon, so I didn't continue on the trail to bakewell ( and also was in no mood to bring lance back down that path) so I rode down the hill instead and at the bottom I saw the road signs I saw last night when I got lost! So at least I knew my way back and it wasn't too far. So I rode for a bit and was able to see the "wilderness" that I couldn't see last night. But then I saw a sign for ravendale so I went that way and quickly came to a narrow and very rocky walking path. So I walked lance the whole way. At about 340 ish the sun was getting low and I thought I need to find a road before it gets dark. Luckily there was a man walking with 2 dogs so I asked him how to get to litton and good thing I asked cause I never would have gone the route he told me. I had to squeeze lance through a few tiny gates and carry him up and over dry stone walls, then wheel him up the steep hill again! At one point I slipped and my knee banged a rock. But it was nothing major. My right shin is very bruised from lances frame though!! So I eventually crossed through some dales, trying to avoid all the cow pats and came to a farm. I asked a farmer how to get to the main road and thank god it was not too far and I still had some daylight to spare. The road on the farm was so muddy that I road in the dirty puddles until the water got too deep and I went onto the muddy track but the mud was so soft it stopped lance dead in his tracks. So I walked him for a bit. Adding more mud to my shoes and jeans. Shortly after I got to the red lion pub in litton. A local took one look at me and asked if I fell! My jeans are totally destroyed and I will be needing new sneakers after this journey. I also had mud on various spots on my face. So I had a meal there that had goats cheese in it cause I wanted to see if it tasted as bad as I remembered from malham. It was tolerable, but maybe that was cause ive been eating bread and nutella for the past few meals. Then I got back to the yha, switched rooms, and showered. I tried to tackle the gigantic knot that's been in my hair for over a week but I couldn't, so I just cut it out. There is a hole in the back of my head now, but I have so much hair, it'll cover it! And anyway it will grow back quick enough. For the time being it is less to manage! It might be no surprise that I am completely exhausted, I may call it a night at 9 pm!

First cold day. Can't wait for those long johns!

This morning I woke up at 9 am still tired and my back kind of hurt from my bag on it all day yesterday. But I had to check out so couldnt lounge around. I wanted to go straight to the ravenstor yha but their reception closed at 10 am and didn't open again till 5 pm. So the receptionist at the eyam yha was nice enough to call them and tell them I was coming so they could have someone there to take my things in and I would check in later.  So I left the yha eyam at 10 am and saw some of the sites around the town. It was really foggy in the hilltops so I rode to the top of eyam edge ( the hill the yha is on) and saw absolutely nothing even several yards off the hilltop. I went to mopessons well, where people left food during the plague. Then I rode through the village and read more about how the plague impacted the people. I went inside st marys church and read the exhibition about the plague and saw some plague related items and learnt about the church itself.  On the outside wall was a sundial that told local and international time. As you probably figured out, it wasn't working today!! So after hanging around the village I rode to ravenstor. Didn't get lost and the hills weren't too bad except one so I got there in good time. Arrived at 1:20 pm ish and did 8.11 miles. I was able to check in after all so that was really great. Then I set off for the monsal bike trail. I never found it but I came to tideswell so decided to check out the village. I took a self guided brochure from the tourist info point, then I went to a cafe to have a real lunch for once. Unfortunately it didn't agree with me and made its way out within 20 min :-( well that was a waste of £7! So I then did the tour of the village, started at the cathedral (I thought if a place had a cathedral it was a city!?) And went around to the buildings and up some steep side streets. So that was good. I feel bad though for the teenagers of small villages like this. You would quickly get bored of nothing to do at night, and the nearest city is still pretty far away! I could neverrrr live somewhere like that year round, no matter how nice the scenery. And not to mention climbing those hills every day! For a small village with all one lane roads, it sure had a lot of cars driving through!! So then I went to a small gallery and saw some real nice landscape paintings, but my god £950!? I'll never ever pay that much when I decorate my house! Then on my way back to the yha I took a trail that ran parallel to the main road so I wouldn't get lost. I went off trail a bit and checked out a quarry. There was cow shit everywhere!! No doubt I added more to the bottom of my shoes. So I went back to the junction in the trail and rode along. It's near 4:30 now so it will be getting pitch black real soon. I rode along a stream and then along the river wye. I was the only one on the path except when I saw two ladies walking and I scared them to death when I rode past! The main road diverted away from this path but I kept riding on anyway. I came to a lake with the cliffs overhanging it on both sides, and trees running all up the slope. I wish I had a good camera!! It esp looked nice in the moonlight and fog. So I soon came to the end of the trail and onto a road but I didn't know which way to turn. To the left was up a hill and to the right was level. So I went the level way until I saw a road sign. Of course I needed to go the other way! So up the hill I climbed. All while I was biking along the river looking up at the cliffs I was thinking sheesh that's high, wouldn't want to bike up there! But of course I had to- and then some! I came to a road sign that pointed to a footpath to the millers dales, where I needed to be, so I thought that would kill some time cause it would be more direct. But then I came to a gate where you had to hop over these pieces of wood and I knew they were there to prevent bikers so I turned around and went back up the path to continue along the road. But unfortunately at this point I had broken my head light bracket and it fell off! I didn't have my emergency headlamp with me so I rode the rest of the way holding the light!! So now I'm down to 1 tail light ( on my first day in coventry mikes dads light fell out of my pocket and down into a sewer), a broken headlight bracket and a headlamp! So anyway, I found my way back to the yha. It was kind of cool riding at night. A little nerve racking being up on the cliffs, but I heard some cool animal calls and May have seen a bat. My total distance for the whole day is 20.97 miles, avg 7. So now I am in the dining room, the only place with phone service. The cook is singing along to his REM cd and a school group is eating. I really want their leftovers. I had an egg mayo sandwich from the coop and I couldn't tell if that cow shit smell was from me or the egg. Well tomorrow I'm off to find that monsal trail and possibly do a walking loop trail in litton, a nearby mill village. I want to keep local again cause I always bypass nice places when I go from one place to the next, and I don't want to do that here. So its a real early night for me to take advantage of as much daylight as I can!

If I ever visit bolsover castle I will be coming from the east!!

Today was the hardest day thus far. The weather held out except for a drizzle when I left the dukeries lodge but that didn't last long. And there was no wind and it wasn't too cold either. So it could have been a lot worse! But my god those hills are exhausting! But let's start from square 1. I left the lodge around 930 after I had my cooked breakfast. I did the Edwinstowe heritage trail (went inside st Marys church where supposedly robin and maid Marion were married) which led to sherwood forest. The visitor center had an exhibition about you know who so I checked that out before seeing the major oak. That tree was real impressive. It still produces acorns even though its trunk has been hollow since robin hoods days. Or so the story goes. So after the tree I followed a few of the other trails and did some off roading. Sherwood is known for their spiders, but I didn't see too many. Saw lots of fungi, some insects, a few birds, the usual. No mammals as you would expect. No one my age again, there were either old people, families with young kids or annoying school groups. Bless the old people who still have the passion and health to do sight seeing. I prefer to do it while I am young, fit and uncommitted to anything, cause no one knows what the future holds! but more power to these old folk :-) so after walking around for a few hours I left at 1:32 pm for eyam. I was making good time at first cause it was decently flat and I was riding on a smooth a road surface. So I passed poulter country park and road around there for a bit then continued on my journey. But then the hills arrived! Esp when I passed thru bolsover! My god was that hill ferocious! Good thing I was heading down! Somewhere near Chesterfield I saw a church steeple that was bent and twisted. I wonder if that was done intentionally? Then It got dark fast around 4pm. When I got to the peak district, not all of the roads had lights so I had to rely on my headlight (which I nearly lost yesterday when it fell off of lance unbeknownst to me! I would have been so screwed today!). But I was managing. It was mainly downhill at first so that was good going. Then the national park started to turn on me and there were lots of steep hills going up and down. Particularly when I turned off the main a road and onto a b road to get to the yha, that hill was awful. But I stuck thru it and trekked along until I realized I wasn't on the same b road anymore. So I checked the gps and I was supposed to turn off a long time ago, and probably would have missed that behemoth of a hill! so instead of retracing my steps I just went a different way, on a high cliff, one lane road, in darkness!! I eventually found eyam, stopped off at the convenient store for food ( in my half delusioned brain I saw they had banana custard and I thought that was the UK word for yogurt, so I bought that..turns out it was pudding) and made my way to the yha. I made it up the hill to the street the yha was on, but it was on top a real steep higher hill so I walked lance the 800 yds to the entrance. I was pretty drained by that point. I was so happy when I arrived, I could have kissed the steps. I completely forgot to check the arrival time, but it was like 745 pm. This is the first time I've sweated since I started, and I mean drip dropping! When I arrived my face was all red, I was on the verge of collapse, and I stunk like shit. Unfortunately that is no stretch of an exaggeration cause somewhere along the way I stepped in it! And with every step I take, pieces are falling off and onto the carpet. Yet another reason why im happy im the only one in my room! Not only am I too tired to be chitty chatty, but I don't want the girl going around spreading rumors that all Americans bathe in dog crap!! But all in all, I know I keep moaning about the hills, but once I got on top, the view was fantastic. the full moon covered by clouds, casting a dim light on the villages carved into the hillsides. I feel like a poet right now!! But they really were a nice sight to see, and they all had some lights shining from them, which was cool. I think I broke a personal record for the longest break in-between pees ( definitely while awake, not too sure about overnight). I didn't pee for about 9 hours today, and didn't really have to go when I arrived either, but once I turned that shower water on, my bladder perked up, like a dog that starts salivagating after smelling a steak. so my stats: total distance for whole day ( did not ride around sherwood at all) 36.5 mi, avg 7.4 mph, max 28.5!! That was down scary bolsover hill! I wish there was a max elevation feature! Tomorrows ride to ravenstor will be much shorter but no doubt I will get myself up to no good! I am going to sleep like a narcoleptic at a poker party. Night night!

Sustrans will be receiving a peachy e-mail from me shortly!

Wow what a tiring day. I checked out of my hostel around 9 am, then rode around the city reading the rest of the tourist info boards and checked out the architecture, and the sky mirror (which was super awesome!), nearly running over a pigeon 4x in the process. The hills of nottingham aren't as nice when you have to ride up them with 2 heavy bags. Much better vis today though, so got to see a bit of the outskirts although it was mostly obscured by trees. So 2 1/2 hours later (11:36am) I was ready to depart for Edwinstowe! I had already done 7.61 miles before I left. I had trouble finding route 6 and went all the way to wollaton hall, 2 miles out of the city, and had to turn around. I eventually found it and everything was fine until I came to a path in buswell that to the right was a bridge over a railway track and to the left another path, so I took that one, but then saw signs on the opp side of the tracks but I was parallel to the direction they were pointing so I kept following. I then doubted myself so I turned around and was going to take the bridge over the tracks when an old man told me the way to go. So I got back on track ( no pun intended) and continued through beetswood country park which also wasn't marked at forks. But I guessed right again ( I either have a good sense of direction or am just really lucky). The park was real pretty with the leaves on the floor and different colors on the trees. I stopped and had lunch at a lake. But then I got lost when a sign took me out of the park but then didn't tell me when to turn. I went over tram tracks via a bridge but I knew it was the wrong way cause there was no 6 sign on the other side. I called mike to help me but I couldn't make sense of the directions so I just went back over the bridge ( which was hard to squeeze through so I was a bit annoyed) and just rode through an industrial estate and found the network again. Then it started to tinkle down with rain but it didn't last too long. I rode through more country and woodland until I got to newstead abbey. I was unsure where to go (again, no markers) but it had a large garden and park area so I walked in and went to the bathroom. When I came out a staff member asked for my ticket cause you had to pay to walk around. I said I was looking for route 6 and he told me the way but said I was free to peruse the gardens and he "hadn't seen me". Wasn't that nice! There also was a lake and lots of sections of international plants so I was there for about 40 minutes. The house wasn't open unfortunately. So I then left the grounds and once I got out of the gates the route 6 signs were sooo misleading. They literally were in every direction. I followed the one that pointed left for workslop. After going a mile or so I didnt see the 6 sign and i was on a major a road so that didn't seem right. Called mike again and he set me straight. So i turned around and followed a footpath through a residental area and eventually passed through more farm and woodland. It started to get dark by this point but the moon was full and lit my way. But in the woodland I couldn't see anything so I put my light on. I couldnt see the route 6 signs anymore but I just followed the main path. I tell ya it really is so much more energy draining when you ride on rocky paths than paved roads! And as a result I had to ride a lot slower. So it got really dark, but on the plus side I saw a badger run across the path! I think I saw 2 others at dusk but the figures were hard to make out. And can you believe it, I actually saw another biker on the path!! So a few miles later I found the exit. Apparently I was in sherwood pines. I quickly found a sign for edwinstowe and followed that b road to my hostel. It's a pretty nice place. So I arrived at 5:20pm and did a total of 40.78 miles the whole day with an avg of 7.3 mph. Id say like 8 of that is just from being lost. So It's another early night for me, Ill be exploring sherwood forest tomorrow and then riding to eyam in the peak district!

Pray for good weather tomorrow!

Had another full day in nottingham today. The weather was drizzly all day again. The first thing I did before the castle opened was walk around and read the tourist info boards about the history of the neighborhoods. Then as I made my way to the castle I passed an art studio where there was a wildlife art exhibit going on so I checked it out and got talking to the artist. He takes Photos in the bush (or sometimes a reserve) of the animals and then paints them from there. They were real good, I especially liked the wolves outside the cave! I preferred some of the pics to the paintings though.  So I left and then went to the castle. Walked around, the vis was absolutely crap, I could only see for maybe 1 mile at the most off the terrace. Then went to the museum, then did a tour of the Mortimer caves underneath the castle. When the guide did a count of the # of people on the tour he counted 14 and said "I thought there were supposed to be 15?" Then the man in front of me moved and the guide goes "oh I don't think I counted you!" So he counted again and I was indeed the missing person. So from them on he kept picking on me. Like he mentioned Durham and turned to me and said "do you know where that is?" And I said no and he says "didn't think so!" And then he made me hold the gate keys. Then as we were in the caves he told us the story behind the name Mortimers caves. So queen Isabella was married to king ...Edward I?? And she eventually grew tired of him so she found another lover named ___ Mortimer and together they plotted to kill king someone. So they took a hollowed out cows horn, shoved it up his butt and dumped hot coals down it and burned him alive from the inside!! ( what the guide failed to mention was how they were able to do this without him fighting back) but anyway so when he died there were so physical signs of burning or anything else so they told everyone it was due to natural causes! But queen Isabellas son comes along and smells a rat so he somehow gets the power to exile his mom to Norfolk (which is still in England so why she was no longer queen is beyond me) and then kills Mortimer, and thus becomes king! I'm still trying to figure out why the caves were named after mortimer though. Maybe he snuck down there to have his affairs with the queen!? Anyway, this all intrigued me very much and I have taken notes ;-) so then we went along the castle rock and he showed us these holes where cannons were kept during battles. And then he pointed out these kinda shallow alcoves and he said the soldiers kept pigeons in those holes (which I'm assuming is where the term pigeonhole comes from) so they could eat the eggs and eventually the pigeons so they weren't malnurished. Then he points to another hole and says "can you see the pigeons nest? Can you see the egg inside?" And everyone says no and he sticks his hand inside and does a slight of hand trick and pulls out a cadbury egg and gives it to me and says "you keep this cause you held the keys!" I was sooo delighted!! I wasted no time after the tour was over to gobble that up! I went back to the museum until the castle closed, then went to the contemporary art museum. As far as contemporary art goes..it was par. There was one scene on a canvas of a bird bath and some trees around it and the only medium was honey so that was interesting. But then another artwork was purely bee crap splattered on a white canvas!! If that's all it takes to become a famous artist then just tell me where to sign! The other 2 galleries were artifacts from other museums, chosen by the artist because together they created the theme of different interpretations and understandings of the natural world. So there were paintings, animal skeletons, sculptures, archaeological finds, short films and old instruments. I particularly liked the film about the octopus and its life history, and the seahorse one as well although they cut open a male with lots of babies in his pouch just so they could show the tissues and the embryos :-( so when I finished I went to a cool pub called pit and pendulum which had horror decor. It was awesome!! The price of my bean chilli was just as scary but I needed a (properly) cooked meal badly. And after that I called it a night and made my way to the hostel! Tomorrow I am off to sherwood forest after hearing so much about this robin hood guy! Although I overheard a lady who worked at the castle telling a tourist that the stories of robin hood span from the 12-14th centuries, so since nobody lives that long it is likely that there were several "robin hood like" people over that time span. Little john and will scarlet were real, but maid marian and friar tuck were not. So its a bit of a disappointment for me, but I'm still looking forward to checking out what's left of sherwood forest anyway!

Note to self: need to revisit nottingham on a weekend!

After my first full day in nottm I actually quite like it. Haven't had too many interactions with the locals though, so that could skew my opinion. But it has pretty old and modern architecture, lots of sculptures around the shopping areas, the castle rock is nice and the hills give good views. But one thing that aggravated me today was the fact that the city doesn't cater to tourism in what I'm assuming is any time of the year other than summer. I mean in derby, the art gallery section of the museum was closed to make way for a new exhibit and for painting cleanings, and the 4th fl stairway of the pickford house was getting a new carpet, and in a few other locations I've visited there always seems to be at least one attraction that is being renovated to some kind. But my god, today was almost impossible to visit anywhere! So I understand my lonely planet is over a year old now so the info will be outdated, but like the castle wasn't open today, when in my book it said it was, the museum of nottingham life had reduced their opening days to fri-sun, and the caves were temporarily closed!! So after following the robin hood trail, I eventually did find my way to the halls of justice museum, which was the old gaol, so that was really interesting. It talked about the treatment of prisoners, executions, the conditions of the gaol, and what happened to people when they were transported to Aussieland. They had a few items on display that were swallowed by prisoners, everything from metal, to chess pieces! Then they had a little exhibit about robin hood. After the museum I walked around the city some more, got dinner then made my way back to the hostel. I am not very impressed with these pub inns. Not only is it nosey downstairs, but there is no kitchen in the accom! So tomorrow it will be more nutella sandwiches for dinner. When I got back I went to take a shower and when I got into the bathroom and undressed ( the bottom half), I realized I forgot my flip flops. And looking at the state of the tub, I definitely wasn't taking my chances going in barefoot, so I decided to run back to my room which was close to the bathroom and grab them. My travel towel is real tiny and doesn't cover me all the way around, but with this place being practically empty I didnt think I had anything to worry about with being seen, so I covered myself as best I could, then ran into the room and then back into the bathroom. When I got out of the bathroom, I noticed a CCTV camera DIRECTLY OPPOSITE my bedroom door!! I really hope andre was busy watching youtube again and didn't have a free peep show!! So tomorrow is my last night in notm, I will visit the castle for real, and check out more of the city before heading for sherwood forest on wed!

Starting to feel the Autumn nights

I am in my hostel in nottingham now. It is one of those pub/inns that I was so curious about staying in. Let's see how it measures up. But first todays recap: I checked out of the guesthouse after having to endure the loud annoying girls throughout the night. I thought I had succeeded in sneaking mike in but hot receptionist told me next time I had to pay £10 for an extra person. So we headed for a stroll around derby before we went our separate ways. Our first stop off was tk maxx for round 2 of returning the shoes from my storm costume, this time mike had cleaned and polished them and they looked very convincing. However, it wasn't open yet and was set to open in 30 min for "Sunday browsing". Whatever the crap that means. So we walked along the river derwent, went past little Chester and towards darley abbey and then came back down and walked towards the centre through Darley park. It was a very nice green space, lots of colorful leaves on the trees, and plenty of cute dogs to top it off!! Made me want one so bad!! The weather was real good, blue sky and warm. I almost feel like I'm not in England anymore! Although I bet it hasn't been this nice in Leeds. So we then walked to a kingsmead close street and Michael took a pic with the street sign. Then we went to the cathedral to see the peregrine falcons that nest there. After only a few minutes, we saw one flying very low above our heads!! It was a great sight to see. Then we went to Tescos, bought lunch, then went to tk maxx and I was able to return the shoes, score! £35 back to mommys bank account :-) then we went to the river again and had lunch. Together we ate 18 mini donuts (for dessert, not JUST as our lunch). Then I took mikey to the bus station and I headed off to nottingham at about 2:10p! I followed the national cycle network route 6 again, got a bit turned around at first, but found my way and then it was smooth sailing up until I got to attenborough. The ride was mostly along the river so that was real nice, saw a cormorant flying over the water. Also passed a bike terrain park, it had dirt hills and stuff. Looked fun, I hope leicester has one nearby! As I was riding along, I passed lots more dog walkers. This one 5mo pups was a bit confused by the bike so at first she hid as a rode past but then started chasing me (not in an attack dog manor, in a curious puppy way). It was very cute but I had to ride very slow for a while for fear that she would come all the way to nottham! Not like that would have been a terrible thing ;-) so when I got to attenborough at 3:45p, I checked out the nature centre at the reserve. Then I went to a lake edge and put my bag down to take pics and a swan on the shore started hissing. I'm not sure if it thought my bag was a predator or something, although it wasn't moving! Then I followed a trail that led to the river Trent, and had some lakes along the way. I couldn't get a good look without binos so all I saw was a few herons, mallards and the other typical waterfowl. There was a beautiful sunset over a lake to the right, with factories bellowing smoke out of giant chimneys to the left. But that's British nature. When it started getting dark I followed the path along the river Trent which led to the beeston marina (predictive text on my phone changed that to marinated lol). This is where I got lost cause one sign said route 6 left and another said "big track" towards city center to the right. I've noticed that as you approach a place, you start seeing signs for "town/city center" but it never specifies which one they are referring to! Like I thought city centre meant beeston centre but Michael said no, it means notham cause beeston isn't a city. But if I'm riding somewhere and I'm not familiar with the political state of a place, how do I know where exactly the sign is implying!? Oy vey. Anyway, I followed route 6 which did me well, and I eventually used the a roads once I got close to notham centre. I rode 22.66 mi, avg speed 7.9 mph.  When I arrived at my hostel at 6pm the place was an absolute madhouse! (the pub, not the hostel itself). I think the bingo club decided to go out for a fun karaoke night! One old lady asked if I was a backpacker and I said yes and she asked where I was from so I said ny and I got the typical response and I asked her if she liked it when she went but really I didn't care for a convo at that moment cause I just wanted to check into the damn hostel!  When she finally let me go I ran upstairs and checked in. The receptionist (who I'm pretty sure is a decendant of andre the giant) came downstairs and took lance into the back room where I chained him to a pole. I knocked over a suitcase and andre III says to me, "oh that's ok a guest asked us to hold that for her 2months ago, and she never claimed it!" And I'm thinking umm that's a but odd, did they never call like the bomb squad or something?! That would certainly be the case if this was the US! So now I am in my room, earlier I was able to hear awesome 80s music with eye watering singing infiltrating the walls, but after like 7:30 it ended. I am alone in the room so I have hogged the portable radiator all to myself :-) its going to be an early night tonight to make up for the lack of sleep I got last night! Tomorrow I explore nottingham!

the things i would do for a shotgun right now

today was my first real bonfire night! last year i was on my way to capernwray with LUUSAC to do some training and although it was cool to see loads of bonfires and fireworks going on all throughout the country as we were driving there, i didnt get to see any up close and personal. so this time, michael came and met me for the fiasco. we went to the museum and art gallery and finished up the exhibits in there, but i was rushing myself cause i wanted to go to the pickford house, so right before i left the museum, i went to the bathroom and didnt bother to take off my bag, and when i stood up i realized one of the straps for my waist buckle had been in the toilet cause it was all wet. thats what i get for saving 1.3 seconds of time it would have taken for me to remove the bag. then we went to the pickford house, which was a museum of a georgian style house. then we headed over to markeaton park for the entertainment. there were lotsss of people there! and the weather held out, no rain and it wasnt too cold. a young boy group called MEN performed a song on the stage, which the derby audience was wildly supportive of, and then after that we headed over to the bonfire. the flames went super high!! that was lit for about 20 min then the fireworks started. they were real cool, some very pretty ones! when it was over i left michael to ride to tescos for dinner, and he walked to the guesthouse. i parked outside tescos on a bike rack, and when i came out a dog was on the other side of the rack. when i went to unlock, the dog came over to say hello, and its neck was right up against the cogs! i thought, ok lady it wasnt exactly a good idea to park your dog next to a bicycle, but i got to have a quick cuddle so all was well =) went i got back to the guesthouse, it had been transformed from a boring and quiet senior center like accommodation, to a freshmen dorm! there were a whole bunch of girls, probably near my age, that were listening to music loudly and getting pumped up for their night out in the fantastic derby club scene. one even mistakenly opened my door, looking for her friend. hopefully i will be tired enough to sleep through their drunken antics when they return at 3 am. anyway, tomorrow i head for nottingham after the bf and i walk around derby for one last time! toodles!

Derby gets an A for free food, but a C for classy people

Today concludes my first full day in Derby. When I woke up I saw that the sexy guy had left me :-( so tonight I am definitely lonely (not like last nights attempts to talk to him were a success). I had a dream about him! I kept bumping into him around the hallway of our exquisite hotel so I made small talk and then we starting chatting and I asked what he was doing in Derby and he said he just got married so for his bachelor party (which happened AFTER the wedding in my dream), his best friends took him to the most fancy hotels in the best cities in the world. And I said, you should be on your honeymoon, instead you are with your friends in Derby!? And the hotel was quite nice in the dream but Derby isn't exactly prime location! But anyway we flirted a lot thruout the dream and I thought hm this is strange, he just told me he got married, but who am I to stop him! Unfortunately nothing happened before I woke up. So for my day: my first port of call was the sikh museum, I was the only one in there (and actually made them open up for me!) And after like an hour one of the guys that works there asked if that was my first time in a sikh museum so I said yes so he Said He will show you around. So he showed me everything and then put on a movie for me. He was very nice but his English wasn't very good. When he didn't know what to say about something he would read the interpretation board, and I just wanted to say, its ok I can read it myself, since I hardly understood him. Then we are watching this film and he asks where I am from, so I say ny. He finds on his phone a youtube video of an American white woman who converted to sikhism and is mediating to a prayer. So he gives me his headphones to listen to it! I'm thinking to myself god can I leave now? But we continue watching, as I'm listening to the prayer, as he is telling me about the film. Then he asked if I had fb, and he made me search for myself on his phone. He said if I ever had any questions about sikhism then I should message him.  But I still don't have a request from him though! So finally I got up and said thank you and started to leave. He then said something to me about Indian food and I said I've eaten it before but I don't know the difference between the Sikh, Muslim and Hindu cultures incorporated in the food. He looked confused and said, you don't want the food? And I then realized he invited me to their..I don't know what its called..community center? To grab some food. So i said yes (obviously..free food!) And he took me inside, but before I could get food I needed to put a cloth on my head, take my shoes off and go up to the prayer room and "pay my respects" which entailed kneeling and bowing on the floor to a man surrounded by flowers, continuously singing prayers. Then we went to some other guy who you cup your hands do and he scoops some bread like mushy food into it. Then I got my free food! A woman who was a native to nottingham and hence spoke perfect English, took me around and showed me how to do all this. Then when I got my food she offered me to sit either at a table or on the floor! I chose the table. She stood there and watched me eat, making me very selfconscious, esp when I didn't realize the white liquidy thing was a dessert and I started to eat it first. But she was real nice. I met her son and daughter in law and their 2 babies. She invited me back tomorrow but i don't think I'm going to go cause I feel like I'm imposing since I'm not actually a Sikh! But they all were very nice, so I didn't have the heart to tell them I got that yellow sauce on the white head cloth I was wearing. So when I left I headed towards the city center. Barclays had just opened a new branch so there was a little ceremony going on with a street performer, dancing guards and free hot chocolate! When I was watching the performer, so many people were being rude, I wanted to punch them all. So I concluded that the people of Derby are pretty trashy! So after the show I passed an Asda challenge tent with a stage where contestants have to guess how much cheaper various products are than sainsburys. But they were also giving away free food, I got a mini chocolate muffin! So I'm watching the contestants and a woman asked if I wanted to be one and I said no, even after she said that Asda would give £10 to charity. I felt a bit guilty after that, but it seems kinda far fetched anyway. When I took a photo of the contestants playing the game, the host asked if I was from the IRS, which made me wonder about Asdas economic state anyway. So I then went to the tourist office and when I went to lock up lance I realized I lost the lock key. I had a spare but if I lose this one im screwed! So I went to the museum and art gallery and checked out the archaeological exhibit until closing time. When I left it was downpouring, but I had remembered my waterproofs. So I didn't get too wet, but lance sure did! He needed a good bath after yesterdays ride though. So I came back and made stir fry again and when I went to the kitchen to wash the dishes I smelt something really Scrumptious, and I saw someone was making chicken cutlets!! But I will not falter, I will stick to my vegetarianism! For the rest of the night I will watch some more awful British tv shows then retire, hopefully to have a nice dream about the receptionist!