Travel Days July 26-27

We had a relatively uneventful 24 hours of travel: 

* Direct flight from Portland to London Heathrow (yay!)

* Connecting flight from London to Manchester (flight was delayed an hour - boo!)

* Two hour train ride from Manchester to Penrith

* Half mile walk from train station to B&B

Arrived at our B&B @ 8:30 pm London time (12:30 pm pdt). Exhausted, but in one piece.

Learned the following:

* Heathrow airport is an absolute zoo!! Had to go thru passport control (this I understand), but we then had to go through security again. I failed the security scan (no idea what the machine thought it saw), which resulted in being frisked and patted down. If our connecting flight hadn’t been delayed, I’m not sure we would have made it.

* English scones with clotted cream and jam are a new favorite. 

* The British rail system is relatively easy to navigate, but we still don’t have our Two Travel Together discount rail pass. Thought we could buy it at the train station, but they need a passport photo, so now I need to apply online, take a photo of our passport pictures and submit these. Why couldn’t I do this at the station?

* England’s Lake District is absolutely stunning! Fell in love with the green rolling hills, the low stone walls separating pastures (I’m sure these have a special name), the grazing sheep and cows, and the kissing gates sprinkled throughout. 

Rich at patiently waiting for our train to Penrith


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