ENGLAND IN SUMMERTIME: SHROPSHIRE HILLS

Shortly after we get back from Whitby we travel to Shropshire where we have visited previously in 2010 and 2013. There is something deeply comforting about visiting a familiar area especially after  a long absence. We decide to pursue an itinerary of tried and trusted places, beginning with the George and Dragon at Much Wenlock, where we have lunch: Shropshire faggots and peas!

 

Following this we arrive at our cottage and spend the afternoon unpacking and making ourselves at home.  

We go out for a walk and although the local pub is not open yet, the landlady does let us buy a drink while we sit outside  in the sunshine and wait for it to open. We go inside and have a pleasant talk before going back to the cottage for cheese and crackers: all we can manage after such a big lunch!

The Shropshire Hills is a gently undulating landscape with a variety of walks and hills with beautiful views, plus lovely old pubs, attractive market towns, castles and a glorious array of food: the only drawback, depending on your point of view of course is that the portions are often so large you cannot eat it all! However I cannot complain, the wholesome English grub is doing wonders for my health! We have a lazy Sunday walking in the morning, then having Sunday Lunch at the Boyne, a nearby pub (where I get invited to join the men’s cricket team and politely decline as I can’t play for toffee) and cap off with a visit o the Howard which is our local. 

The owners are unfailingly friendly and charming. The cottage is attached to an old vicarage with stables, dogs and chickens roaming the grounds!

The weather is beautiful throughout and Monday sees us walking up Brown Clee Hill, Shropshire’s highest point, from which you can see to the Black Mountains in Wales. We take packed lunches with us and in the evening have dinner at the cottage again. The walk takes less time than we think so we have a liquid lunch in a nearby pub. I have prepared a big Greek stifado at the cottage which we have for dinner. We both feel it’s best not to have too many dinners out to save money and have brought plenty of food!

We go to Ludlow the next morning and spend most of the day shopping: this charming old market town is filled with epicurean shops and markets, so we buy a lot of deli food and prepare a big platter in the evening. We have visited the castle before so decide not to repeat the experience although it is a fascinating building.  We end up just having snacks for lunch as our favourite pub has closed down and we can’t find any light lunches! 

Food is one of our great pleasures and we make the most of it: it’s mostly “man food”, big portions and loads of meat and fish! In the pub we are getting to be well known as the people are so friendly, and we feel like locals!

We visit Bridgnorth, which is on the River Severn and is on two levels separated by a high cliff. Here there is a cliff railway which we use to descend to the lower town. It’s very old, a piece of history from the Industrial Revolution and was at one time operated by water pressure.

Here we give in to a pub lunch and the food is great but the portions are enormous so I feel guilty about not being able to polish it all off! 

We spend a bit of time on the Cliff Railway and I have managed to break my glasses so try in vain to find another pair: my spares are at home so I have to mange with sticky tape for the time being. I discover Lapsang Souchong tea which Sarah tries and is hooked!

Our second walk up Caer Caradoc Hill near Church Stretton has the best views of the week and the weather is stunning.

We have the usual Shropshire-sized lunch: I am eating as much fish and chips as I can get hold of on account of having missed it in China. The pub at Cardington, the Royal Oak, was once, it seems, visited by Prince Edward so Sarah calls it the Prince Eddie as she can’t remember the name. It’s a delightful old place and as ever the people are friendly and polite. We cannot fault the hospitality.

We decide to make spaghetti in the evening and round off at the Howard as usual. At night the area seems very atmospheric and a little ghostly, with bats flittering about and the odd fox.

On Friday we visit Church Stretton again and walk up Cardington Mill Valley to the Long Mynd. Would you believe it: a cyclist drags his mountain bike all the way up this craggy and rather tortuous walk to a lovely waterfall ending in a sheer cliff!  It turns out he has taken the wrong road and I do feel a bit sorry for him as it must have been exhausting.

We have another pub lunch and I have my default dish again, which at least is a normal portion size, and do a little shopping. Sarah really enjoys this walk. The weather is the best we have had all week in the morning with wall-to wall sunshine. As it’s our last night we finish off with a pub dinner of steak for Sarah and crab salad for me: irresistible! I have a farewell beer at the local as Sarah feels a little tired.

I have indulged my tastes for all the English things I love, the countryside, pubs, beer and food.

ENGLAND IN SUMMERTIME: WHITBY

Apparently the weather has been poor throughout summer so far and most people anticipated a poor summer like the one we have had since 2007, with constant rain, cool air and flooding. So it is delightful to note that the weather since I returned has been glorious! England is at its best in summertime and I’m able to enjoy the things I love best about it; the green and gently rolling landscape, the old village pubs and beers, the  sunshine and the wildlife.

Sarah and I visit Whitby where we have been many times before and we both feel delight at the first sight of the sea, something we haven’t seen for over a year. We set off at 6.30 and arrive at about 10 am, following a steady drive with breakfast on the way, and following this  we tend to have a ritual of walking onto the harbour to eat fresh crab and prawns from the market. We both love the food, so spend a fair amount of time eating fish and chips, crab and prawns: only once do we change this when we have an Indian meal on the second night.

 I visit the headland where the statue of James Cook looks out over the harbour with plaques from Canada, Australia and New Zealand on the plinth. It revives my interest in history.

Near the statue is the jawbone of a blue whale from the old days of whaling. At the time of whaling everything that came from the whale had a use, the skin for making coats, the flesh for  food and  oil. The whaling industry, fortunately, was eventually abandoned as artificial products were  developed.

Whitby is a maze of  cobbled streets and small fishing cottages situated around the harbour. It is  deeply endowed with history and legend as the inspiration for Stoker’s “Dracula”, and through association with Captain James Cook whose ships Endeavour and Resolution were built in Whitby.

No visit to Whitby seems complete without a trip to Robin Hood’s Bay: this is steeped in old history and atmosphere redolent of  smugglers’ and seafarers’ tales. There is a supernatural air about the place and I’d love to visit at night or stay over one time.

“Ye Dolphin” does a pretty good menu but as we have had a hearty meal the night before, we have a light lunch of  smoked salmon and garlic prawns. It also sells many cask ales! 

The “Laurel”, a beautiful old Robin Hood’s Bay pub has a fascinating interior and you can eat crab from the fisheries there!

Although you can walk to Robin Hood’s Bay from Whitby (we did it last year) it is an arduous trek and we decide to go by bus this time!

Skippers Cafe, near the harbour does a very good breakfast menu where I have poached eggs while Sarah has a lie-in. It also serves up enormous “challenge” breakfasts which are so huge only a gargantuan stomach could digest it all. (see below)

http://www.skipperscafe.co.uk/challenges

Needless to say I don’t attempt it!

Whitby does get extremely busy at lunch times and it’s a challenge finding somewhere to eat! In future visits I feel it’s best to self-cater at this time, while a quieter time can be had in the early evening and it’s easier to find a seat with a little planning!

The old churchyard as mentioned in “Dracula”.

Sarah goes for a walk in the sea while I watch the ships. There are still a few trawlers going out from the harbour but largely the local industry seems more about tourism. Most of the houses by the harbour are holiday cottages.

There is a bridge across the harbour which allows you to walk to the other side of the town: however  it is a swing bridge and at high tide it is opened to let boats into and out of  the harbour. On this occasion it stayed open for 20 minutes while Sarah was on the other side...I was worried there was a fault until it closed again!

Adjusting to Village Life

The strangest thing about returning to England is that it feels as if I never left: maybe I haven't been long enough in China yet! A post-Brexit Britain is just the same as the one I left last year and life in my small village is more or less the same as before, different faces maybe, but the same lifestyle.

 It feels easy to slip into the old routine of village pubs, local walks and meals out: I should say the odd meal out but since seeing Sarah for the first time in a year I've been somewhat indulgent with this and have been out for a meal about 5 times so far. Reception from the locals friendly most of the time, with a little curiosity, which stimulates conversation! The weather is fine which is very welcome in contrast to China's humidity.

I feel I have missed the landscape, gently rolling hills, green fields and trees, the smallness and intimacy of it all! Never has England seemed so charming!

COMING HOME

I travel to Beijing and stay at the Beijing Traditional Hotel for one night, then at the Dragon King Hostel which is very good and inexpensive, if a little run down. It is a very popular backpacker hostel and has an excellent bar with good cheap Western-style food and an excellent breakfast. While in Beijing I spend some time around the Lama Temple area and Houhai where I do some gift shopping for the family. I've already bought some fans, copies of Chairman Mao's quotations, and I have some yellow rice wine which I have placed in flasks. This was a gift from the owner of the little restaurant in the old town in Baoding which I often go to. Apparently it made by some villagers in the mountains.

During my time here I go into Huxleys and fall into conversation with an androgynous young Chinese (who I eventually find is female) and we have such a good time together we exchange contact details and hope to meet up again. She calls herself Phantom and is a worker in communications but wants to become a photographer. Her English is excellent and it turns out she has studied in the Netherlands.

I spend a few days in Beijing and at last have to make a very early start to the airport. This time I'm on a BA jumbo to London. I use the airport express to get there which is an extension of the Beijing underground network. I have a light lunch of dumplings in the departure lounge after checking in.

The flight is long and tedious, and slightly less comfortable than Air China as there seems to be less leg room. I feel they have squashed extra seats into the planes. However at length I can see the familar landscape of my homeland far below. It is a wonderful feeling.

I stay in Whitechapel in one of the halls of residence for the universities. It's basic but cheap especually for London. On the first night I'm too tired to eat anything so settle for an ear;y night. The next day I pick up my train ticket for Newark Station from King's Cross.

Nothing is ever what we expect it to be. When I get to London it feels like an extension of  China, as it has that same feeling of  being somehow other than English. However it is so much quieter than China, with, outside the centre, less people. I go back to the Prospect of Whitby, the pub I visited when I left for China, and have my first real English meal, pie and mash.

I feel full of anxiety as I get ready to catch the train back to  Nottinghamshire and see Sarah for the first time. We send each other constant messages. When I call from London to say I’ve made it safely she is highly emotional.

I watch the English countryside roll past the train as I travel north with delight and increasing anticipation.

On the platform at Newark Northgate Station I see Sarah for the first time in nearly a year. We hold each other in our arms for several minutes and she is quite tearful. It is a tender moment and we decide to make the most of our time together. The first thing we do, as arranged is go to a village pub for fish and chips with mushy peas!  As it’s a Friday what could be more appropriate?

The one thing I didn’t expect to find on coming back is that it feels as if I haven’t been away and the whole thing was a dream!  I have to go online and look through all my blog entries to persuade myself anything that happened over the last year was real!

There are numerous family gatherings planned over the next week and of course this is as it should be!

Something I have been looking forward to is roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding!

And of course time with Sarah! This is so precious now!

MORE BAODING LIFE

My time is now taken up mostly with preparations to leave, and making sure everything is completed with regard to assessments for this year. The weather is quite tropical  at times, with intense heat, humidity and heavy storms. I try to relax in the evening with a beer in the street cafes. There is a general air of the area beginning to close down as a slow migration of wheeled suitcases begins, and some of the shacks in the shanty town on the edge of the campus begin to close for the summer. The Blade Runner - esque feeling of the area persists, however.