Blog

The worst night so far. I was surrounded by very noisy snorrers. That usually doesn’t prevent me from sleeping, but these guys were next level. Then there was a LOUD alarm clock at 4 AM, then a guy standing still with the dorm room open for a solid three minutes… Erf.

So up early, to the Haymarket station, which is just on the other side of the street. A short hour ride and I’m in Carlisle. I don’t have time to explore, but the Castle is just outside of the station. It’s a beautiful red brick round affair, I would have like to see it more actually.

The next train took me through wonderful sceneries, as we crossed Yorkshire Dale NP. It’s a vast area of rolling hills, quite high ones for that matter. Now, the pictures I take from the train often don’t do justice to the beauty of the places I cross. Today, I might have figured out why: it’s all in the parallax effect. You know, it’s the effect of objects in the foreground moving faster than those in the background. It’s that thing that makes pictures into three-dimensional images, something that is missing in photos, and isn’t rendered as good on video. In a way I’m glad. It makes the experience unique to being there, living the moment.

As I’ve seen everywhere else in the British Isles, rivers are leaving their beds and fields are flooded. I wonder if that’s the norm for February or if that’s exceptional. We passed through many small overly cute stations, that should be great base for a walk in that endless green ocean.

I had a couple hour to spare in Leeds, that I used to get some lunch and have a walk around. Like most British cities I’ve seen so far, the center is really decently preserved, and give that imperial vibe to it. Back at the station, I face the first cancelled train of the journey so far. No worries though, there’s a replacement half an hour later.

Nothing much to report from the train to London, as I fall asleep while today fade to black.

Unfortunately, I arrived at rush hour, and I have no choice than to take the Tube: the hostel is two hours walk from King’s Cross! I tried against the odds to use my Oyster card from 2022, having no idea if I had still credit on it. Turns out it did! 😎 The Piccadilly line was full af, and I got lucky to get early and find a seat.

I extricated myself and moved towards the District line. It was even worse: I could even climb aboard the first metro for my destination. People were crammed inside tighter than a Polyphia song. Luckily, there was another just seconds later. Ah! Take that suckers!

Two stations later and a bit of walking, and I’m at the hostel, just in time for the weekly Pub Quiz! I teamed up with Emilie the young Kiwi (shit, I’m not far from being twice the age of the youngest travellers) and it was great fun! We finished second thanks to her pop song knowledge, and despite me failing miserably at some extremely easy questions that I should knw without even thinking…

Before going to bed, I’d take a short moment to think about what has been done so far. Two weeks already. They went by in a flash! It doesn’t sound like a lot of time, but it’s already 10% of the whole planned duration. I both feel like I just left a couple days ago, and at the same time it seems far away already. I took 29 trains and trams and metros, slept in one and in eight different cities of three countries.

Three countries? Yes, I might seem a bit late on the planning already (I should have done Belgium already), especially considering one of them is France. It’s true that I took a long British-Irish holiday, but that was worth, there was much to explore. Next I’m embarking my old friend Kévin for Belgium for a couple days, and then I rush through Luxembourg, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Germany, Danish Realm and Norway to be in the middle of Sweden by March 2. So we’re well on track, no worries!

If you’re still reading these, don’t be shy (or lazy 🧐) to post a comment here. It’s heartwarming to know that I’m not fully alone in this!