Europe Trip 2018 – week 7 England again

Grave hunter

Monday 18 June 2018. Day 49. A short drive today. We are back in England. Two cemeteries. Geoff has ancestors from Haltwhistle just south of Hadrians Wall – these Bells were Reivers. We drove first to Hadrians Wall but could not deal with the tour buses spewing out hundreds of tourists – so we drove on to check out a cemetery at Haltwhistle. Then, on to another at Knaresdale where just inside the gate is an headstone that lists amongst the sons of the couple in the grave, my 1g grandfather who “died 1907 in Charters Towers Queensland”. That one headstone has been extremely useful in identifying just which Bells are mine. Unfortunately, that is as far back as I can go. Records from about 1800 are frustratingly short of sufficient information to make definitive links.

 

 

Map of the Reivers ‘districts’

Tuesday 19 June 2018. Day 50. Today, we met with a 2nd cousin of Geoff’s who lives in the area and has been extremely helpful in tracing the family. She had arranged for us to meet for coffee in one of the old Reivers’ Bastles – with glass panels to show the old escape routes and very narrow defensible stairwells. At the time of the Reivers (say 1500-1700), this horizontal slice across the Island was not under the laws of either England or Scotland. It was locally controlled by local ‘warlords’ who owed allegiance to none but promised it to all. An extremely lawless time with constant raiding (mainly for cattle and sheep) between warlord bands. Some very well known families come from this area – see map left.

I’m going to recommend a few books for those interested in Reivers – and many family names should be. Patricia Finney, writing as PF Chishlom has written a series of 9+ excellent fiction books about reivers (Sir Robert Carey Series). The Steel Bonnets is a non-fiction work that covers the same time period. I enjoyed the Carey series better. Finney has brought the dry non-fiction description to life.

Walkers. Here at Haltwhistle, we are on the junction of two main British walks: the Pennine (which runs north-south along the spine of the country) and Hadrians (which runs east-west and follows Hadrians Wall from Wallsend in the east). This makes for a thriving (albeit short) busy season with people needing accommodation, food and transport. Most walkers carry very little with them on their walk – just a raincoat and lunch in a little satchel. Their luggage is transported (at a cost) for them to their next accommodation. When they have had enough walking for the day, they call a cab which will (for a cost) deliver them to their accommodation. To eat at night, again, a cab will take them (for a cost to a local pub). Those costs do add up. We think that it would add up to about the equivalent of the ‘guided walks’ in NZ.

Archaeologists pawing through ancient drainage ditch muck

Wednesday 20 June 2018. Day 51. A day of Roman museums around the centre of Hadrians Wall: Vindovalda and the Roman Army Museum. Both are good and worth a visit. Vindolanda was a major central town along the wall and archaeologists have been lucky because much of what was thrown into sewers and drainage ditches did not rot away. Quite a lot has been found and the museum has a very good display – including a set of handwritten Roman documents. The Roman Army Museum has very informative displays and audio video displays – even a very good 3D movie.

 

 

 

Bamburgh Castle above a sandy beach

Thursday 21 June 2018. Day 52. A very interesting discussion around the breakfast table this morning with the six of us staying at Yellow House, West Woodburn – the first time this has happened on this trip. We drove NW mainly on quiet B roads to Lindisfarne, Bamburgh, Seahouses (a seaside resort town) and Beadnell where we are for the night. The causeway to Lindisfarne was still covered by the tide so we drove on and watched the tide leaving Budle Bay. Bamburgh has an enormous pile of a castle that we have seen in many movies. We found a place to park and walked a short way along the beach in the wind. This coast has sandy beaches!

 

 

Old double decker tram for transport around the museum

Friday 22 June 2018. Day 53. We met up with friends Bruce, Pru and Chris overnight and had excellent friendly discussions over diner and breakfast. Extremely enjoyable. Today, we headed south and called in at the Beamish Open Air Museum. This is an impressive attempt to recreate villages and life style from the past around this area spread out over a considerable area and linked by roads. We visited the 1820’s village, 1900 town, 1900 pit village. One of the enjoyable aspects is being taken from place to place in old buses and trams. I was very impressed with the ‘New House’ and ‘Old House’ in the 1820s Village.

 

 

 

They don’t make them like that now Compare size of beast with man

The ‘New House’ has been furnished with the household goods of a tenant gentleman farmer (who would have added ‘esquire’ to his name) – an iron range in the fireplace, lots of polished brass, pictures of livestock on the walls, good tables and chairs, glass in the windows. The ‘old house’ is furnished for the household of his steward/bailiff – low ceilings, poor lighting, sit-in beds, no windows, open fireplace, smokey.

Overnight, we stayed at an old tollroad inn at nearby Tantobie – on the top of a ridge crest with a view of a sliver of ocean and a rowdy crew downstairs watching a World Cup Football match.

Saturday 23 June 2018. Day 54. A day of motorway driving. We are at Altrincham just west of Manchester and about 30km from Frodsham where we were for week 4. We are here for two nights.

 

ODI England v Australia 2018

Sunday 24 June 2018. Day 55. Old Trafford for an ODI between Australia and England. This was our reason for coming to Altrincham. It was quite an adventure. A hot day in the sun. Australia’s batting collapsed for 205 after having a very promising start – two stupid run outs did not help. England batted for an hour before lunch with an immediate batting collapse. It looked a done deal for Australia – just 4 wickets to get. The English crowd was very surly, drinking a lot. Then, suddenly, it looked as though England could hold on and win and we saw the crowd become vicious and nasty. It was the songs – ‘We are winning’. A football crowd. Very scary. A determination to smash and win. Not enjoyable at all.

Monday 25 June 2018. Day 56. Drive from Altrincham to High Wycombe. Boring motorway driving. The motorways generally move quite fast 120-200kph. For big chunks of the journey around Birmingham, the road has been narrowed for reconstruction for about 5 years. We had a very nice sit in the garden of our B&B – the only time we’ve been able to do this. Packed up ready for departure back to Oz tomorrow.

Tuesday 26 June 2018. Day 57. Drove around trying to find somewhere to sit by the Thames – fought with a few parking metres along with several other irates. Eventually found a nice spot to watch swans, ducks and river boats and have a sandwich for lunch. Returned our car and caught our plane.

A bit of a summary. Costs. Overall, I have the impression that pretty well everything in Britain costs about twice what it should. The exchange rate is roughly 2:1 – so, we can multiply £s by two to get $s. A coffee or sandwich that should cost $4 is marked as £3 or $6. A meal that I think is worth $20 is marked at £20 or $40. I think that the GBP should be revalued.

Phone. The giffgaff phone sim worked very well and cost just £10 per month. The only problem that I experienced was a lack of signal in very remote areas away from towns and cities. Sounds familiar.

Car. The Kia Niro Hybrid hired from Penny Car Hire at Virginia Water. An excellent choice – both the car and Penny Car Hire.

Roads. The roads in Britain are very dangerous to drive on – especially in England. In England, it is a bit of a toss up between A roads and B roads. B roads are usually very narrow and windy and hence slow. However, they have fewer cars. A roads are usually a little wider and have more cars – many of which are driven as though they are in a video game or a slot car – with little attention paid to the road conditions, other road users and oncoming traffic.

I have become very tired of being asked what I was convicted for. Many residents of this island have the strong belief that all Australians (this means you) have been transported from England as a convict. Therefore, if you are Australian, you must have a conviction for sheep stealing or similar. Somehow, this ‘all’ definition excludes their own children or uncles who have emigrated. Perhaps the best approach is to ask if the person has any relatives in Australia and if yes, ask what they were convicted for.

Having said that, I think that there is grudging respect for Australia. While I might say ‘I barrack for Australia and anyone that is playing England’, the English will say ‘I barrack for England and anyone that is playing Australia’.

We been talking about what our highlights of this trip might be. I think that for me I have begun to get a clearer picture of this island and have begun to understand the kind of life my ancestors may have had here and why they left.

I am very, very glad that my ancestors (mostly) decided to emigrate to Australia. I can now fully understand what we mean by Prisoner Of Mother England.

I’ve written an opinion piece about Brexit.