We are in Paris…

This morning started out OK.  We left the hotel at the time we meant to and although the walk to the terminal took slightly longer than the quoted seven minutes, it was relatively straight forward.  I had bought a luggage trolley in Bath, which I had been using for my two day packs.  Today I used it for the cargo bag and just carried my back pack (on my back) which I took as carry on.  It worked well going to the terminal at Luton.  Had more trouble in Paris as the pavement was more uneven and I don’t think I had it positioned as well.  In any case it beats carrying the cargo bag!

There was a slight hick up at Luton as I was chosen to be searched.  The most annoying thing was that I had to take my shoes off.  However a long-handled shoe horn was produced when I asked.  We found a café serving a decent breakfast of which we partook.  We were trying to use up the sterling we had left.  We also did a spot of last minute shopping.

The flight was fine – it doesn’t take long to get from London to Paris.  We eventually got to pick up our bags and made it to the train.  However there was another slight hick up as Anna had forgotten that when she turned off her tablet it forgot the email that was open and she didn’t know the code to get into the apartment where we are stopping, which we booked through Airbnb.  Fortunately Anna had a phone number, so we ended up finding a public phone and ringing the owner, who gave us the code.  It turned out the walk from Gare du Nord to the apartment wasn’t really all that far.  (Another problem was that our mobile phones didn’t seem to be working, although we thought they should.)

The apartment is in a sort of gated community.  The owner lives in the apartment above.  The way to the apartment is another slightly scary staircase, but only on the second floor at least!  This is a view of the garden from the apartment.

After we collected our thoughts and ate the lunch we had bought before we left Luton (I say “lunch”,although it was about 4pm), we set off to explore.  We walked to the Montmartre Hill.  We then actually caught the funicular to the Sacre-Coeur Basilica.  This is a view from below.   

We got slightly harassed by two African men – ended up being easier to “buy” the bracelets they’d foisted on us (they were nice bracelets) rather than have a confrontation…

We walked back to the apartment to get ourselves organised for tomorrow's Paris exploration.

Walking in snow…

As I predicted we had a slow start this morning.  However after a delicious breakfast we managed to make it to Cambridge Station for the 11:15am train.  It was sort of a reverse of Thursday – train from Cambridge to King’s Cross and the short walk to St Pancras International from where we caught the train to Luton Airport Parkway.  As the weather was indifferent, we opted to take the airport shuttle bus which goes past the airport hotels.  The hotel is fairly basic but clean and close to the airport!  We are spending our last afternoon in the UK relaxing at the hotel.  We did consider all sorts of places we could go to as this is the last day of our train pass, but decided that relaxing sounded good.  We have to pack tonight for our morning flight to Paris.  We put our packs, poles and other paraphernalia into a cargo bag for the plane trip.

However this is a chance to fill in a few gaps in my blog.

The only snow we have seen in the UK has been on the top of mountains in the distance.  However there was plenty of snow in Lapland and some great places to walk.  I did spend a lot of my time at Abisko talking and planning our UK itinerary, but did venture outside occasionally.

Anna walked considerably further than I did.  I was very happy that she had our fellow Australian Emma as a walking companion for a couple of the longer walks.  Although we had reasonable mobile reception in the area, I felt it was much safer to walk with someone.

One day Anna and Emma walked to the mouth of the river, where it enters the lake, Tornetrask.  I didn’t get far before I decided to return, although I had my second ‘ice encounter’ before I got back to the hostel.  The river was very beautiful.

Where I fell over was only just below the hostel.  Anna hadn’t gone far and came back when I phoned, although I only needed her for moral support and managed to pick myself up.  This is the path down to the lake from behind the hostel.

The next day Anna, Emma and I set off on the ‘The King’s Trail’ (Kungsleden), however I decided that I would return after a short while.  This is what I saw before I turned back.

Sadly the next day Emma was leaving for Narvik, but we decided to go to the Sami camp before she left.

There is a recreation of a Sami camp behind the station at Abisko – the other side of the highway from the hostel.  The buildings form a reconstruction of a typical spring and autumn camp used by nomadic Sami reindeer breeders.  The reindeer have an instinct to migrate between the eastern forests in the winter and the mountains in the summer and the Sami people do the same.  Because of the migrations there has been a need for permanent camps where winter equipment could be stored during the summer and vice versa.

This is one of the buildings

After we farewelled Emma, Anna and I walked to the area from where Friday evening’s aurora photos had been taken.

  

On our last full day Anna and I went for a walk to the lake.  I looked again at the river before we walked on past the scientific station to the lake.

The day we were leaving for Kiruna, the sun came out and the sky cleared.  But of course we did see a fantastic aurora display that night.

A final photo.  This is the so-called ‘Gateway to Lapland’, which was the view from our bedroom window.

Evensong at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge

We decided to catch the train from Nottingham to London St Pancras International Station and then walk the short distance to King’s Cross Station, from where we got an express service to Cambridge.  There was an alternative that cut eastwards from Nottingham, but it was “standard” class and as we have first class rail passes, we have become quite snobbish in our need of the little extras!

This is me at Nottingham Station will all my possessions.

When walking the Camino it is recommended that your pack is no more than 10 kg.  Mine was actually a bit more than that.  It is now considerably more than that!  When we decided to go to Lapland, I knew that I needed warmer clothes so I went shopping in Vienna.  This was an interesting exercise in itself.  I know where to buy plus size clothes in Australia, but had no idea where to go in Europe.  Fortunately a travel forum provided the relevant information.  I also use travel forums to find laundrettes when needed. 

Well on the train to Cambridge we shared a carriage with a gentleman going to a wine tasting and lunch in Cambridge.  He suggested that “The Eagle” would be a good place to have lunch.  We took his advice and Anna found out that it is the place that Watson and Crick announced that they’d ‘discovered’ the “secret of life”, she shook her head and called them ‘brigands’ as she is always disappointed that Rosalind Franklin does not receive the recognition Anna feels she deserves.  We were certainly ready for lunch as we had very little in the way of breakfast and had walked to the centre of Cambridge from our hotel.

One thing I wanted to do in Cambridge was to see the college where my cousin studied for his PhD in the 1960s – Gonville and Caius.  Unfortunately it wasn’t open to the public.

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Unlike at Oxford, we didn’t actually tour any college in Cambridge (although we walked through Clare College and King’s College, see below), but we did enjoy walking along “The Backs” – the area between the six riverside colleges and Queen’s Road.  There are some picturesque bridges across the River Cam.

I particularly like the look of the “Mathematical Bridge”.

One of the highlights of my trip to Cambridge was attending Evensong at the glorious King’s College Chapel.  It was wonderful to hear the superb singing of the choir.  I have of course seen them on television, but it is quite different to actually be there.

Anna was very keen to go but initially I was a little reluctant as the bus we were waiting for was very late and it was very cold.  However it was well worth going, so I am so glad Anna insisted. 

We plan on having a leisurely breakfast tomorrow morning before we make our way to the hotel we have booked near Luton Airport, from where we are flying to Paris on Sunday morning

Loch Ness and Kyle of Lochalsh

This is a bit of a catch up post…

We left Glasgow Queen Street on Sunday morning for our trip to Inverness.  The scenery, particularly between Perth and Inverness, was spectacular.

Our hotel in Inverness was on the banks on the River Ness and was great.  This is looking back to the hotel as we were leaving

We arrived in Inverness on Sunday afternoon.  After making our way to the hotel to drop our bags, we set off for the tourist information office via Inverness Castle.  We realised that it was too late to go to Loch Ness that afternoon, so went shopping instead and got an early dinner at the pub near the station

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As we were in Scotland, I felt I should try some local foods!  Although probably not only available in Scotland, I tried black pudding for breakfast, but wasn’t all that impressed.  We set off early on Monday morning and caught a bus to the ruined Urquhart Castle on the banks of Loch Ness.  We paid to tour the site which was very interesting and the views of Loch Ness were superb.

We returned to Inverness on the bus and had time to grab some lunch before we caught the train to Kyle of Lochalsh.  I am really glad we went to Urquhart Castle as it was fascinating and it was great to see Loch Ness.  But we had originally intended to catch an earlier train to Kyle and explore whether we could walk across the bridge to the Isle of Skye or catch a bus.   However the train was late arriving so we just explored the books on sale at the station and got back on the train for our return trip to Inverness, in the dark.

The trip to Kyle was well worth the time as the scenery was magnificent.

There is a constant problem everywhere we go that there are heaps more places we would like to visit than we have time for.  I am reasonably happy with the itinerary decisions I made, although sometimes things don’t go exactly to plan!  Tonight we are in Nottingham.  Fortunately the hotel is really good, as we were over an hour late arriving which meant my plans to look at the castle in the daylight, before it shut, didn’t happen.  Instead we went for a short walk, including reserving seats for tomorrow, before returning to the hotel for dinner.

Tomorrow (Friday) we are off to Cambridge; hopefully, without any signal faults to hold us up