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England in the spring means rain, drizzle and downpour. Once in a while, there was sun, but that usually meant we were inside doing something. Mother Nature in England is not without a sense of irony. We didn't let a little rain stop us from having a good time though.

In May, 2006, Alison and I visited our friend Ryan in England, where he is participating in the British American Ministry Exchange Program. You can read about his travels here. He is a pastor for three smalls churches for one year (August to August). We decided to visit him during that year.

Of course, the first part of any adventure involves planning and purchasing tickets. Purchasing tickets went fine. Receiving tickets didn't go as smoothly. We had planned on traveling all over England via their excellent Britrail system. We didn't receive our passes before we left for England though. Booo.

That changed our plans immensely. However, I don't want to ruin the surprise, so read on and see what we accomplished, even without our rail passes.

Day 1: Arrival

If you've ever traveled to Europe from the U.S., than you know that you always arrive bright eyed and bushy tailed. Not only is this a lie, it's also bad cliche and a poor choice of colloquiolism. We were exhausted when we arrived. It was about 9:00am in British time, but that meant it was 2:00 in the morning home time.

What does Ryan decide we should do? Go to London.

We told him he was nuts, so we went back to Hailsham instead. Here's a map so you can get an idea of where to find Hailsham:

After dropping our gear off, we headed south to Beachy Head and Eastbourne. Just some FYI, the next pictures are a bit out of order, so don't fret too much.

These are the cutest little changing houses they have in Eastbourne on the beach. I thought these were nifty.
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From the gardens in Eastbourne. "World famous," Ryan tells us.
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WOAH! Canterbury Cathedral. I thought that was in Canterbury

I told you the pictures were out of order. Honestly though, I didn't fake the rainbow. I think it's cool lens flare.
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Here we are, back in order. This is at Seven Sisters Shephards. We were searching for wool for Alison. That's what she wanted as a souvenir.
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This is us driving. Yes, it is confusing, because I'm on the side of the car reserved for driving in the U.S. We're in the G.B. though. Remember?
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Here we are at Beachy Head. More people commit suicide off that cliff than anywhere else in all of the British Isles. Also, there's a pretty lighthouse underneath the cliff. Unfortunately, I didn't actually see the lighthouse, so I don't have any cool photos of it. Sorry.
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This is Ryan standing next to giant wooden walls that are meant to keep the waves down.
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That's Alison. She's at Pevensey Castle. Can't you tell from the bricks in the background?

After going to Eastbourne, we had to drive to Pevensey Castle. It was a requirement of the trip. You may ask, "What's the importance of Pevensey Castle?" Honestly, I don't remember the history. However, it was a place where Ryan got lost trying to find a parishioner's home. Where else but England can you just get lost and run into a castle? Awesome, I tell you awesome.

The outer wall on Pevensey Castle was built in 296 CE by the Romans. Now that's friggin cool. If you want to see some actual photos of Pevensey Castle, here is a link to someone who cares.
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This is a rapeseed field at 65 mph.

This is probably a good time to tell you about British driving. The roads are barely wider than two cars, and everyone travels at at least 65 mph. Oh, and there's no section that's straight longer than 150 yards, and, to top things off, most of the time there's hedge fences that are taller than your car. It's thrilling riding there.
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Ryan's trying out a pillar box (mail box), because I think they are very classy.
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Day 2: The Southwest

Our original plans were for us to set out on our England train voyage on this day. However, without train passes, this became quite difficult. Instead, we convinced Ryan to drive us to Canterbury and Dover. Actually, we paid for his gas, so there wasn't a lot of convincing necessary. This would be a good time to talk about gas prices in England.

I don't ever want to hear anyone complain about gas here. In England it averaged 98 pence per liter. At the exchange rate when we were there, that's approximately 7 USD (U.S. dollars) per gallon.

Canterbury Cathedral was built before they had rulers, so the walls all curve. Actually, I took this with a fisheye that has some serious distortion.
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See the candidness?
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No photographs in the crypt. But photographs are allowed looking into the crypt.
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This is inside the nave of Canterbury Cathedral. The nave is the seating area.
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Lots of stained glass in England. I'm pretty sure this is of a parable of Jesus. Something about a rich king giving bread to the poor people.
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This is lots of parables of Jesus.
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Some dead king. The cathedral was full of the tombs of deceased monarchs.
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This candle represents the location where the shrine to Thomas a Beckett (remember Canterbury Tales) sat before Henry VII destroyed it in 1538. Woah! Who's that walking the background. What a random photograph that took three tries to stage.
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This is one of the newer stained glass pieces. I believe they took inspiration from Walt Disney.
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I have no idea what she's doing, but she's providing a nice interest point for the front doors of Canterbury Cathedral. Of which, by the way, no one uses except for ceremonial occasions.
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A chippie! We had to have fish n' chips. They were delicious. Alison and I shared a haddock. Ryan had a cod to himself (pig). Ryan also introduced us to pickeled onions.
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I told you they were classy. They were also EVERYWHERE.
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We found the Secret Tunnels, but don't tell anyone. They're a part of the Dover Castle exhibit.
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All done with the Secret Tunnels. No photographs were allowed.
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Looking down the Keep Well. The text on the sign reads:

This well shaft was originally 140 metres deep. It was the sole source of water for the garrison during a siege. For security, the well led directly to the second floor. From the well chamber, a series of lead pipes distributed water by gravity to other parts of the keep.

Pretty neat, eh?
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This is a room inside the keep in Dover Castle. A keep is a fancy word for the main building inside a castle.
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Looking out over the English Channel from the top of the Keep. If you squint your eyes, you can see France.
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Just as classy as a pillar box is a telephone booth that's painted red.
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On our way back from Dover, we stopped at Bodiam Castle. Bodiam castle is famous because it is very picturesque.
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Day 3: London

Our plan for this day was to rise bright and early and go to London for the day. We rose at about 9am, and got on the train bound for London at five past noon. Ooops.

This is Alison waiting at the train station. Train travel around England is an excellent way to commute. It only cost us £12 per ticket though, because we were so late.
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We arrived in Downtown London and quickly caught a subway out to Wesley Chapel.

This is our tour guide at Wesley Chapel showing us the "riding horse" that John Wesley rode when the weather wasn't appropriate for outdoor riding. He believe it was important to stay fit.
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This is where John Wesley started every morning. Reading the Bible and praying.
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The front door, when you were to visit Wesley.
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Alison standing in front of John Bunyan's grave.

Across the street from Wesley's house was the Bunhill Fields (which is where Protestants were buried). Lots of famous dead people there, such as Susanna Wesley, Daniel Defoe, and some others I can't remember. Check here for more information
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We quickly caught another Subway to the Tower of London, which was closed, so we went on Tower Bridge, which was open. Neat bridge.
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Alison presses a penny. It's what we do.
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This is London Bridge.
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Alison tries out hydraulics. These demonstrate how the bridge is lifted.
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This is one of the hydraulic lifts. I don't remember their size, but 20 tons rings a bell.
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Next we hopped on over to Trafalgar Square. Isn't she cute?
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Lots of pigeons there.
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Alison liked this. Turns out it's a statue of Alison...Lapper that is. Marc Quinn designed the statue, and it's temporary.
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These facilities were darn clean. Free too!
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We went to see Stomp, since it was conceived of in Brighton. This is where the show is currently performed in London, only a few blocks from Trafalgar Square.

After Stomp, we caught an 11:00pm train back to Polegate Station, where Ryan weerily picked us up at 12:05am. He was tired. We were too. On to Day four!
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Day 4: London...err...Hailsham!

We started out this day thinking we would be going to London and seeing the other famous things there, but when we got to the train station and learned that our ticket was going to be £20 each, we turned around and went back to Hailsham.

Except, that Ryan had left us at the train station, and we had no way of contacting him. The day was nice though, so we walked the Cuckoo Trail from Polegate to Hailsham. We enjoyed a nice lovely walk through rural England.
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Sheep are popular in England.

Since we had some time to kill, we decided we ought to have a Sussex Cream Tea, so we rode Ryan's bikes back down the Cuckoo Trail and enjoyed some at a tea house. A Sussex Cream Tea involves consuming one pot of tea, some milk, two scones, and clotted cream (it's like butter). We shared one. Yummy!
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This is in the graveyard of the Anglican Church in Hailsham. It was an old neat graveyard. Very cool.
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More dead kings. These guys are everywhere.
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A dead queen I presume.
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A little girl chastised me for taking this photo. "You're taking a picture of a pole?" she said, as she mocked me.
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Day 5: Wales

After enjoying a nice relaxing day in Hailsham, visiting charity shops, enjoying cream tea, and getting Alison some wool, we headed north to pick Stacey up from the airport. Stacey is Ryan's girlfriend (or at least she was), when we were visiting. Now she's his fiance. Actually, they could be married when you're reading this now. Anyway, we picked her up from the airport and headed north to stay with some of Ryan's friends on the way to Wales.

For breakfast, we went to the Ikea in Birmingham and enjoyed a full British breakfast for £.99.

That's right. You read correctly. We ate one sausage, two hashbrowns, baked beans, and scrambled eggs, all for 99 pence. Ryan had a sandwhich to go with it. That guy can eat so much (pig).

Just for your information, if you don't normally eat British breakfasts, I wouldn't recommend it unless you're used to having grease for breakfast. We all had a little stomach "difficulty" later on the drive to Wales.
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These were the flags outside Ikea. Too fitting for Ryan and Stacey. Stacey spent the year in Sweden.
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We knew we were in Wales, because all the signs were written funny. We stopped in a neat town of Llangollen (proncounced Clangollen) to check out some horse driven canal boats. Here's Y Felin Yd in the town.
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Dog mooring! I love it!
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This is the canal. Not as exciting as expected, but still pretty.
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That's the top of the boat. Can you imagine the rest? You'll have to imagine, because I didn't take any photographs of the actual boat. Luckily, these chaps did.
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This sign means there's a speed camera in use. Evidently, there are speed cameras that look like old style view cameras all over the G.B. We never saw them.
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Wales is mysterious.
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After checking into our hostel Llanberris, we went to hike Mt. Snowdon, which is the highest point in Wales. This is the sign at the parking lot.
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Here we are rambling along.
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Furry sheep.
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This is Llyn Teryn, which means Lake Teryn. It was a gorgeous lake at the top of the Snowdonia hike.

Unfortunately, it started to sprinkle, so we were forced down before summiting. Instead, we went back to a warm pub and enjoyed a fine Welsh dinner. Alison had lamb. I had steak and ale pie. Both were delicious.
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Day 6: Oxford

Because there's no rest for the weary, the next day we woke up and drove back to England. We stopped in Oxford on the way and enjoyed a lunch at the Eagle and Child. This pub was made famous, because J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis patronized the pub frequently.
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Here's our lunch. I'm having a ploughman's lunch. Alison had tomato soup. Ryan is having a sandwhich, and Stacey is having steak and ale pie.
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The obligatory "we were here" shot.
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Another one of those shots, except this time outside of Christ Church, a college in Oxford.
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A cool window on the outside of Christ Church.
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A column going into the dining hall of Christ Church.
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Stacey and Ryan try to figure out the map.
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This guy told me he'd break my legs if I stepped on the grass. Just kidding. He was actually a marvelous chap who kept me from stepping on the grass.
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I think this is Noah.
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See that cross? It was carved from inside that altar. That's a huge block of English oak. It was carved at the millenium in honor of George Bell, who was a bishop and opposed saturation bombing during World War II.
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Need I say more?
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That's the grass on which I was not to set my feet.
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A green door. Ha!
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Got you!
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Day 7: The Joust

On Sunday, we went to church and saw a joust. Except, the joust was at Battle Abbey, which is where this picture was taken.

Castles and red telephone booths is quintessential England.
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Aren't they having fun? Actually, no. I told them to do it.
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Music was provided for the guests of the joust. He was very intense.
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There's a special bond between knight and squire.
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This guy took part in the sword fighting. We don't know if he got the nose wound from that though.
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Hobbits DO EXIST.
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Ok, they're really cellars, but who cares? They're intriguing.
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Stacey was going to have to go to the airport this afternoon, so we took some last photos of these too before she had to go.
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This lightpole reminded me of a Bishop's hook, so I had to take a photograph of it.

Day 8: Go Home

This day meant going home. We were not ready to leave. The airport was a mess too. Imagine this: all over England, people queue up in nice orderly lines, EXCEPT AT THE AIRPORT.

At the airport, total chaos ensues. TOTAL CHAOS.

Standing in line took so long, the ticketing agent told us to run to the gate. We walked gently, and made it in plenty of time.

Want some advice for traveling in England?

Order your train tickets more than three days ahead of time, even if you plan on using overnight shipping
Pack a rain jacket.
Pack an umbrella.
Plan on getting wet.
Learn English
Bring LOTS OF MONEY.
Plan for fun.

Well, that's it from England. Cheers!
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