Back to the Motherland: Twelve Days in England

The first thing I thought when I stepped out of St. Pancras Station in Central London was – alright, time to see what it’s all about. Back in the motherland, baby (generationally, of course). Second thing that crossed my mind: New Zealand certainly wasn’t creative when it came to inspiration.

It was nice to be back on the left hand side of the road (though granted I’ve been away for a year so being on the left again was a funky feeling). I stayed at a little hostel in Swiss Cottage, about ten minutes on the tube north of central London. I met a lovely girl called Coralie from France, and even had a drink and a pizza with her at the bottom of the hostel. After spending the past few days solo, it was nice to make a friend again.

It’d been a big day on the train from France (conclusion: worst public transport so far, and certainly would not make an effort to transit through there again), so I had a relatively early night.

London Day One

This morning I took the metro into the centre of town, and essentially followed the crowd. There were people everywhere, just like everywhere you looked there was something to see. Whether it be an old building, a nice park, a cool shop or a red telephone box. I kid you not, the line to take photos next to the phone box next to Big Ben was incredible.

I walked a bit of a loop around Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace before heading in towards the National Museum. My route took me all the way through Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, Tottenham, Soho and all the way past St Joseph’s Cathedral to the Tower of London. I crossed Tower Bridge and walked the entirety of South Bank past the London Eye before catching the metro home. It was about 18 kilometres total. Call me insane, I know.

One of the highlights of the day was calling Connor, my coworker and friend from Red Horse. It was super refreshing to catch up with a familiar face.

London Day Two

England has to be the only place where it’s been easier to pay directly with my phone or card rather than buy a pass. Public transport in England is EXPENSIVE. But it’s not like you have a choice. If you’re planning on travelling here, I’d keep it in mind. I was lucky enough to meet up with an old friend from Queenstown who is originally from England. Amy and I had a lovely bit of time around Spitalfields Market before splitting ways.

Another highlight of London was the Formula One exhibition. New Zealand isn’t large enough for any of the races, so it was really awesome to see some of the cars up close, as well as learn some more of the history around the sport. I’m a part of a facebook group called ‘Girls Across the Grid‘, which is a collective of female fans from across the globe. I was able to meet up with the sweetest girl ever, Catherine from Leeds. It was awesome to go to such a cool exhibition with someone who enjoys it as much as I do.

Remind you of a certain project from my season at Brundage?

One of the coolest things they had, and also a very sobering attraction, was Romain Grosjean’s car from the 2020 inferno crash. Though only the frame was left, it was incredible to see what he survived and was lucky to come out unscathed from.

London to Oxford

I left London early on the Oxford tube to go to: you guessed it, Oxford. Though it sounds like a train, it was actually a double decker bus. So I did in fact earn my red bus pin from London. Unfortunately I was so caught up in a call with my friend Summer back home that I missed my stop entirely. To be fair, it was a grassy pullout, and there was no announcement or notice that we’d stopped at Lewknor, but hey. Still embarrassing to call my friend up and say that she’d have to drive another twenty minutes.

Shortly after meeting up with Natalie, Alex and Millie – a lovely family that stayed in the ranch over summer – they invited me to join Millie for her fortnightly lesson at the local riding barn. Though I had a very well used little pony called Bertie, I forgot just how demanding jumping lessons can be. We got to jump about 60cm, so nothing crazy, but Millie set a personal record of 75cm which was awesome to be a part of.

That night we went to the local pub and I was able to try a hand pulled beer. Henry back in Munich had insisted I had to try one before leaving England, and I have to say he wasn’t wrong about how good they are.

We did attempt to see the comet, though only a teardrop cloud made an appearance.

Oxford Day Two

What do ya know? The church bells still ring on a sunday. Though I didn’t get to go, it was very cute to see a little town, with a little church, in a little valley have their church bells still going. Alex took me into Oxford main centre to have a wander around, which was really cool. Walking past buildings that were built 700 years before your own country was settled by Europeans is a pretty crazy thought. I took a wide route around through the gardens and along one of the rivers which was really stunning before ducking into the main city centre.

I’d timed it with half marathon weekend though, so I did get a bit caught up in traffic. That evening we went over to Nat’s parents’ place for a roast lamb. I haven’t had lamb since leaving New Zealand and it was definitely a comfort meal. Post meal, Millie and I had a few rounds of Mario Kart where she thoroughly kicked my butt.

Alex also took me to the local spot – the tallest hill in the area. Coming from the mountains of Innsbruck made it laughable, but it was really cool to see a view of Oxfordshire.

Loughborough Day One

I took the morning bus back to London and was able to meet up with my childhood friend, Mattias. Him and his family had moved to Zurich about thirteen years ago, and I hadn’t seen them since. It was so cool catching up and just rerunning old memories of Northcote in New Zealand. We walked around London and got some food before taking the train up to Loughborough where he’s studying Graphic Design.

I have to say, for a blow up bed, I have never slept like a log like that in my life. Though we were late going to bed, we stayed up even later just chatting, our brains just rabbit holing random bits of information – “do you remember the skate ramp?” or “what about that restaurant we used to go to down the road?”

Crazy cool.

Loughborough Day Two

Mattias had a uni workshop in the morning, so I took myself for a wander around. It’s not a huge town but certainly a cool place for students. Once Mattias finished he showed me a lot more of the campus and explained more about what they offered. We found a really nice pizza place, and got to try Melonade. I genuinely was expecting watermelon lemon drink, but it tasted a bit more like liquid mint sauce. They had a bangin’ playlist going too.

We walked back home and chilled out a bit before heading to the pub with his flatmates, Adam, Jay, Alicia and her friend Jamie. Who doesn’t love a good game of ‘Go Fish.’

Rutland Day One

Around midday, Rod, Mattias’ dad came and picked me up. I found it quite funny how Mattias had changed, yet Rod was almost exactly the same. As if not a day had gone by. Their place was a lovely old english building in a small village between Oakham and Stamford. Cath, Mattias’ Mum and I went for a walk with their dog Echo around before having a relaxing afternoon catching up with the family.

Rutland Day Two

Cath and I went into Stamford today. Stamford is the home of Burghley House, where they hold the Burghley Horse Trials. It’s a huge equestrian event, that I remember hearing about as a kid and watching Mark Todd in various clips ride around on. We had a coffee and hot chocolate at the estate garden out the back of the house itself, savouring the blue sky day we had scored.

So, I thought white stags were a thing of fiction. That only kings hunted. Turns out Burghley house has a pair of them. They were very friendly too, walked right up past us.

We spent the rest of the day wandering around the town, stopping every once and a while for a drink or a bite to eat. Stamford’s buildings were also really cool, making attractions of themselves.

Rutland Day Three

Cath, Rod and I drove to Cambridge today. It was similar to oxford, but more spectacular in my opinion. It’s a university town, with colleges that could be their own settlements alone. We went to the King’s Chapel, whcih was incredible. Huge fanned structures line the ceiling, with almost floor to roof stained glass windows. There’s so much history in the building, from centuries old graffiti, to different coloured bricks showing the amount of time it took to build. We had lunch at a place called ‘Bread & Meat’, where I decided to try the British version of a Chilly Pheesesteak. Or is it Philly Cheesesteak. Not bad.

Rod and I wandered the riverside while Cath did a quick bit of shopping before heading back to pick up Clara, their youngest daughter. Later that night, Felix, Mattias’ younger brother came home from work a little earlier too, so we were able to catch up and talk about his future travel plans for Asia and New Zealand early next year.

London Day Four

I said goodbye to the Morgans early in the morning and took the train from Peterborough to London central once more. I was lucky enough to meet up with yet ANOTHER friend! Levi is the brother of one of my best friends from Brundage Ski Resort, and the one member of the family that I had not yet met. Though we didn’t have a lot of time, we had a really great pizza and a cool catch up with little time we did have.

Once Levi had returned home, I took the train down to Amy’s house to catch up with Amelia and her for the night. It was so nice to be able to hang with them again, and though Amy had to work, Amelia and I watched a movie ‘Challengers’ and spent the evening getting up to speed with the past year or so.

Catch up soon!