[YEAR 7!] Quit our jobs, sold our home, gone riding...

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Tynemouth lighthouse out on the pier

Tynemouth pier. Fish'n chips tonight, mate!

When we got back to the parking lot, there were a whole bunch of bikers standing around our motorcycles

They saw our out-of-continent license plates and were very curious about our trip. They asked where we were heading next, and I replied, "Alnwick". They all had a puzzled expression on their faces. And then one of them figures out what I am saying: "Oh you mean Annik!"

Whut? How do you get "Annik" from Alnwick?

Just when I thought I was in a country where I understood the language perfectly, they had to cock it up by changing the pronunciation. UK English is bizarre. Syllables get added or dropped
with no rhyme or reason. Edinburgh gets an extra syllable and is pronounced: Edinborough. Leicester drops a syllable to become Lester. Worcestershire? Well, just for fun let's cut *two whole syllables* from that word and call it: Wooster. Whut!?!

And it's not just the names of places. Aluminum? Add another syllable: Alumin-EE-um.

That's just ridiculesterous.

Still, it was great fun talking bikes with these English lads. Despite the language barrier... After Annik we were headed up to Edin-BOROUGH, but instead of heading straight there along the coast, one of the guys showed me another more interesting route on my GPS. Cool! I love just wandering around with no plan and getting suggestions from the locals while on the go!

 

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Pulling into Alnwick, er Annik, late in the day

Although we've sworn off the Abbey Tour, there is just one more castle we needed to see. Unfortunately we got to Annik too late and the castle was just closing up for the day. We'd have to come back tomorrow when it reopens.

We found a campsite on the outskirts of Annik. It was right next to a rugby field! How much more British can you get?

That evening the cold wind howled and ripped at our tent while we lay shivering inside. Little drops of rain pitter-pattered on the thin layer of fabric over our heads and I thought, "Uh oh, the dreaded English weather has finally figured out that we're here!"

But in the morning, it's dry and the sky is clearing up for our visit to Annik Castle. Luck is on our side!

The castle is just 5 minutes away from our campsite. We find a parking spot just across the street! But we have to slip between some orange cones to get in, not sure if this is legal or not... *shrug*

 

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Annik (Alnwick) Castle!

Alnwick Castle is the home of the Duke of Northumberland and is the second-largest occupied castle next to Windsor Castle. We didn't pay to get into Windsor Castle and although the Duke of Northumberland is not considered a royal, we are dishing out the entrance fee to get into Alnwick because:

The castle was used to film many of the Harry Potter movies!!!

Again, I'm not the most knowledgeable Harry Potter fan, so I'll just relay to you what I think I heard or remembered about the books or movies. Alnwick Castle was Hogwarts School for Gifted Youngsters. It's run by an old man named Professor X who takes in young people with special powers who are misunderstood and persecuted by the general public. These youngsters are then trained to use their powers to fight evil and save the world.

The primary weapon these gifted youngsters use is the broom. And also a dustpan if the villain is extra-heinous.

During our visit to Alnwick Castle, there are different types of tours that are run all day catering to different interests. There is the "history channel" tour with a guide that explains the origins of the castle, who the current occupants are, blah blah. We started off on that tour but soon fell asleep. So we quickly hopped onto the "popular culture channel", where they talked about how Alnwick is used as a filming location for shows like Harry Potter, Downtown Abbey and several Robin Hood movies. That's more our speed!

As part of the Harry Potter tour, guides are dressed up as wizards and show the children how to use their broom weapons.

 

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Neda takes possession of a Nimbus 2000, which is the transportation model of the broom. That's why they called it a nim-BUS.

In the Harry Potter books and movies, there's a game you can play with these brooms. It's called Curling.

A young wizard surveys the English countryside. She is plotting the enslavement of all the muggles who have teased her her whole life

The interior of Alnwick Castle - beautiful!

 

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It's not all Harry Potter though. Another popular tour is the "Weapons of War channel"

An indigenous English person demonstrates how her family used to use bows and arrows to hunt for their food

Instead of shooting wild boar, the kids practice on targets. Real arrows, BTW! :O

 

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As part of the weaponry course, you can even learn how to fire a musket. Real bullets, BTW! :O

This is what they're aiming at. Never bring a sword to a gunfight.
Even if you're wearing plate armor... They have to hire a new indigenous person/target every day.

Like most cultures, they don't treat their indigenous people very well...

Is this Landscape Mode? Or Portrait mode...?

Part of the tour is a medieval dungeon with a house of horrors walk! Spooky!

I heard that they are planning a "Star Wars channel" here as well. In all the brochures, they keep referring to Darth Vader as Alnwick-an Skywalker...

 

[tonyjb72]

Of course it gets tricky as it often depends on where you live as to what the place names are: South of Hadrians Wall, Edinburgh is Edin-bruh. Worcestershire is in fact Wooster-shire (Worcester is just Wooster). Oh, and in the UK there is another 'i', so it is Aluminium (and not 'aluminum')

 

[lightcycle]

Of course it gets tricky as it often depends on where you live as to what the place names are: South of Hadrians Wall, Edinburgh is Edin-bruh. Worcestershire is in fact Wooster-shire (Worcester is just Wooster). Oh, and in the UK there is another 'i', so it is Aluminium (and not 'aluminum')

Ah ha! I knew there had to be *some* rhyme to the reason! :********:

 

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Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/350.html

After meeting the group of English riders at Tynemouth, we are following their suggestions and doubling back at Alnwick, heading towards the interior to ride up into Scotland that way.

But first we stop at a pub in Rothbury for some fuel for the road...

Bangers and mash! OMG, so good! And yet so bad for you...

Can't remember the last time we have eaten so badly and felt so guiltily doing so... After we leave the UK, we're going to have to go on a diet. Nothing but fruits and vegetables and water.

 

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Our route takes us through a beautiful scenic road towards the Northumberland National Park

Thick foliage in the Northumberland National Park

Dire warnings as we near the Scottish border. Do they not serve crumpets and tea in Scotland?

 

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Just as we are about to cross the border, we spy an interesting sight along the side of the road. We have to investigate!

So I knew Scotland was separate from England, but I was unclear whether or not it was actually a separate country. Pretty shameful not knowing that, isn't it? A quick Google search confirms that it is. Yet, it is still considered part of the United Kingdom and Scotland is now threatening to leave the UK because of the Brexit vote. If that happens, they're going to have to police this entire border across the middle of the island.

The road that we're on crosses the border at a spot called Carter Bar, which was the site of a huge battle between Scotland and England. Right at the border there's a huge stone with Scotland carved on one side and England on the other.

Naturally, I'm on the English side and Neda is ahead of me on the Scottish side

Riding through some Scottish towns

 

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We've checked the forecast for the next few days and there's going to be quite a heavy rainfall coming up. So when we arrive in Edinburgh we find a cheap(ish) AirBnB to bunker up. But we don't stay inside very long because we have a dinner invitation!

We met Gino and Fiona last year while we were riding through the Lago de Como region in Italy. We've kept in touch since then and now we're going to catch up with them at their place in Edinburgh. Such a small world! I love it when people we meet on our travels show up again later on our blog! It gives our trip a feeling of continuity - that our journey isn't just made up of stand-alone episodes but a tapestry of threads that weave itself in and out of our lives over time.

Gino welcomes us with good food and great Scottish whiskey!

Gino gave us an exhaustive rundown on the history of Scotland, which seemed to consist mainly of their millennia-long conflict with the English. Seems the English aren't very well-liked in Scotland!

Our hosts are fellow motorcycle world travelers and we talked at length about our trips and what it meant to finish up a long tour and settle down again. This has been on my mind constantly - what will our lives look like when all of this is over? From talking to Gino and Fiona, life after a long trip is basically planning for the next long trip. I thought as much. We've met so many long-term travelers that we identify with closely and almost all of them yearn to be back out on the road again once their trip is over. So the lesson I'm taking from this is, why stop in the first place if you don't have to...? Hm....

Since this is Gino and Fiona's neck of the woods, we pick their brains about the best route to take through Scotland. There's absolutely no shortage of ideas.

Fiona gives us a very polished presentation on the best motorcycle roads through Scotland. We had handouts with speaker notes and everything!

We left their places with our stomachs filled with good food and our heads filled with visions of twisty roads through Scottish highlands. Can't wait! But first, we need to do some regular maintenance on our bikes.

 

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Next morning, we drop our motorcycles off at the dealership just outside of Edinburgh

I met an Irish rider at the dealership and I asked him about good roads in Ireland. He said, "Stay on the west coast!" Okay, in the last 24 hours I think we've basically got our route planned for the next month or so!

The Irish guy had exactly the same motorcycle I have, same year and everything.

<ul>
"How do you like the R1200GS?", he asked me.
"I like it, it's a great bike!"
"Yeah me too."
"Except for the final drive. I've had to fix mine three times already", I moaned.
"Yes! I've heard about that!"
I nodded my head sadly. "Also, the servo brakes on our model are terrible. No brakes without the key in in the on position!"
"Yep."
"Have you heard about the known EWS problem? The antenna in the key ring sensor fails and your bike can't start", I ask him.
"My bike is in the shop for exactly that reason."
"Hm", more head-nodding, "Also the fuel pump is known to be bad"
"Wow, our bikes really suck!"
"Haha, right?"
</ul>

Bonding over bike problems! The R1200GS is a funny beast. Despite all these issues, every single owner I know still loves their bike, it's just so well-balanced, easy to ride, and does quite well on variable terrain. And these issues crop up over very high mileages. I suspect the incidences per km are no better or worse than any other brand, it's just that BMW riders tend to put on more mileage than other bikers.

We take public transit back to Edinburgh. We'll be without our bikes for the next couple of days, which is okay since we're going to explore the city a bit by foot. Rain starts to pelt the windows of the bus on our ride back. Just in time.

Catching up on some laundry now that we have a roof over our heads

We're finding it impossible to hang-dry clothing in Scotland! The air is so humid here!

 

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We don our rainjackets and jump back onto the bus to explore Edinburgh's old town

My first reaction was: Wow, there are a lot of brown-bricked buildings here... These are medieval tenements that crowd the low skyline of the old town. Also, there are a ton of tourists here, all braving the cold Scottish rains. And everywhere, there are reminders that we are in Scotland, as if the whole town is capitalizing on every single stereotype there is about this country.

On every street corner, there's a Scottish guy in a kilt playing the bagpipes

A little street-diorama reminding tourists that golf was a Scottish invention

 

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New College University of Edinburgh

Edinburgh is known as the City of Festivals. Several of them are overlapping this week. We take in the Fringe Festival

The Fringe Festival is a huge international arts festival with official and unofficial performers lining the streets of Edinburgh

Some of them have a stage and official playing slots, others just find a corner to jam

We had such a good time hopping from performer to performer and listening to some great music. All of the street performers played for tips, but the ones on stage were there mainly to advertise their paying gigs in bars and theaters later on in the evening.