For breakfast, I spooned plain yogurt into five bowls, sliced fresh strawberries and bananas on top, and sprinkled a generous amount of the chocolate granola that we still had from Denmark. Sue said it looked like an awfully healthy breakfast for holiday, but I pointed out that it was chocolate granola. Still kind of a splurge.
Byron House, Sue's beautiful home
The house was so old it didn't originally have bathrooms. So rooms had been converted to bathrooms, and were huge.
We knew today was going to be a long driving day. Sue estimated 4 hours to Manchester. Google said 3 hours 15 minutes. We hoped it might be somewhere in between. We were wrong.
We packed up the car, which went a little better than at the airport; I actually had a sliver of rear visibility.
We took our group photo with Sue in the front garden. I used my wallet under the camera to get the angle right, then set the 10-second timer. Alex and Bella climbed up in a tree and the rest of us stood in front. In case you're wondering why I haven't posted it, it's because I'm saving all the group photos with our hosts for a single post in August.
We said our goodbyes to our wonderful host and headed out of town. 20 minutes down the road, Sue texted to say that I had left my wallet! I really need to stop using it to prop up my camera. We turned around and drove back through the London traffic, retrieved said wallet, and set out again.
Not a whole lot to report about the drive, other than to say that driving from London to Manchester on a Friday afternoon is a bad idea. Traffic was terrible. Like constantly stopping to a standstill on the freeway bad. I had always imagined the drive north would be through idyllic English countryside, the Cotswolds, or All Creatures Great and Small kind of country.
I pictured this:
But this is what it was:
A pull-over picnic area, like Denmark, would have been nice, but we were so behind schedule due to traffic that we ate our picnic lunch in the car while driving. We've really embraced the open-faced sandwich thing from Denmark. Slice of bread, smear of hummus, chunk of tomato or avocado or cucumber,...instant lunch. I had also bought a few Mars bars to junk it up a little bit, UK-style.
We stopped at a service plaza for potty and coffee, and chatted with some girls demonstrating cosmetics. They said we could stay and talk to them forever because they loved our accents. That was a funny turn-around, since we're not used to being the ones with the accents.
The drive took about six hours.
Our couchsurfing hosts, Helen and Les, actually live in a small town called Glossop, about 10 miles from Manchester. Once we finally got off the boring freeway, the scenery was beautiful. Glossop is an old market town in Derbyshire (which is pretty much All Creatures Great and Small). Just as we got close to their house, I attempted to avoid a speed bump and drove too close to the curb. After a low-speed but harsh scrub against the curb, the car immediately drove rough. Cristina told me to stop, and hopping out, she confirmed that I'd blown the front tire. We were very close to the checkered flag (our GPS destination) so I drove on the flat about 50 feet and turned on to the next street. I parked in front of a house that I sort of recognized from my Google street view of Helen and Les's place, and sure enough, I was right in front of their house.
They came out and met us. Les said we'd deal with the tire in the morning. No point in changing it now with it evening and us at the end of our journey for the day. We unloaded the car and got a bit settled.
Dinner was so nice after a long day on the road. Gorgeous chunks of chicken breast, couscous, roasted potatoes, and tomato and avocado salad with slices of fresh cheese. Conversation with Helen and Les was warm and entertaining from the start, and we could tell this would be a pleasant visit.
Bella took to Helen immediately, and I think the sentiment was mutual. Within an hour of meeting, Bella was in the kitchen helping them whip cream for dessert.
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