BPE - London~York
Aug 6...
After a night in the middle of a service area we woke up quite early, put our things back in the bags, and began our hitching... It took us quite a while, asking the truckers (most of them were still sleeping inside their big cabins, and the ones we asked to, either told us it was forbidden, or that they were not leaving yet), letting a long line of teens with their "racing cars" making noise, looking at people in their cars passing by making as if they dont see us, smiling at us, or even raising their thumbs back... (something we got quite used to after some days :p)
After some time a really nice guy, who had just arrived to London Airport that morning from Southeast Asia (where he was visiting his Indonesian wife's relatives) and was going back to his home in Leeds, gave us a lift. We had a really nice chat with him, telling him about our plans, hearing him tell us about his trip to Indonesia and Thailand, and his children, and many other things.
We told him about the demostration we had seen in London and then he start telling us about how at the time of the bombing in London most of the people had been shocked rather than angry, and how the first thing he thought at the moment was... what have we done wrong so that these guys decided to do that? rather than calling for revenge, rather than insulting them, many people in London were asking themselves in which way they hadnt make this people feel accepted; what they themselves had done wrong. He also told us how after the bombings there were demonstrations all around London asking people not to create a prejudice against other cultures, other religions, other races, because of the bombings but rather to create a more open and welcoming society... (something tells me the ones in "power" were (are) not thinking exactly the same...)
We had a really nice chat with him, and he end up taking us almost half and hour pass Leeds (his destination), to the "Park&Ride" of York, from where we took the bus to the center of York... Thanks Steve!!! there, after building our tent and leaving our bags at the campsite we went to walk around the center of town.
York is a really nice city surrounded by walls, with very old houses, narrow streets and with a very impressive cathedral...
close to the York cathedral (which you can see below from the walls around the city) there is this park with the ruins of a big church, but this is all what is left... ^
there is really old houses, that look like if they were going to break in two at any minute, and in there is this narrow street where the houses on either side bend towards the center and come very close from eachother.
Here in York we had our first dining-out, because we knew most of the time we will be buying our food (lots of canned beans, bread and fruits) so we wanted to treat ourselves a the beginning of our trip. We asked for a veggie-friendly restaurant and they sent us to "El Piano" a really picturesque, colourful restaurant, with a unique menu (they actually explained it to us after asking us if it was our first time there... :p) and really nice food. All the food vegetarian, and most of it vegan... o(^_^)o
below... our food: lentils curry with coconuts milk (and rice crackers) and vegetables with bitter chocolate. Unique combination isnt it? yummy!!! And our dessert: vegan carrot cake with orange sauce (we were too happy about it so there is no picture :p)
after a long day... back to the campsite for our first night in what would become our "home" along the way.
After a night in the middle of a service area we woke up quite early, put our things back in the bags, and began our hitching... It took us quite a while, asking the truckers (most of them were still sleeping inside their big cabins, and the ones we asked to, either told us it was forbidden, or that they were not leaving yet), letting a long line of teens with their "racing cars" making noise, looking at people in their cars passing by making as if they dont see us, smiling at us, or even raising their thumbs back... (something we got quite used to after some days :p)
After some time a really nice guy, who had just arrived to London Airport that morning from Southeast Asia (where he was visiting his Indonesian wife's relatives) and was going back to his home in Leeds, gave us a lift. We had a really nice chat with him, telling him about our plans, hearing him tell us about his trip to Indonesia and Thailand, and his children, and many other things.
We told him about the demostration we had seen in London and then he start telling us about how at the time of the bombing in London most of the people had been shocked rather than angry, and how the first thing he thought at the moment was... what have we done wrong so that these guys decided to do that? rather than calling for revenge, rather than insulting them, many people in London were asking themselves in which way they hadnt make this people feel accepted; what they themselves had done wrong. He also told us how after the bombings there were demonstrations all around London asking people not to create a prejudice against other cultures, other religions, other races, because of the bombings but rather to create a more open and welcoming society... (something tells me the ones in "power" were (are) not thinking exactly the same...)We had a really nice chat with him, and he end up taking us almost half and hour pass Leeds (his destination), to the "Park&Ride" of York, from where we took the bus to the center of York... Thanks Steve!!! there, after building our tent and leaving our bags at the campsite we went to walk around the center of town.
York is a really nice city surrounded by walls, with very old houses, narrow streets and with a very impressive cathedral...
close to the York cathedral (which you can see below from the walls around the city) there is this park with the ruins of a big church, but this is all what is left... ^
there is really old houses, that look like if they were going to break in two at any minute, and in there is this narrow street where the houses on either side bend towards the center and come very close from eachother.
Here in York we had our first dining-out, because we knew most of the time we will be buying our food (lots of canned beans, bread and fruits) so we wanted to treat ourselves a the beginning of our trip. We asked for a veggie-friendly restaurant and they sent us to "El Piano" a really picturesque, colourful restaurant, with a unique menu (they actually explained it to us after asking us if it was our first time there... :p) and really nice food. All the food vegetarian, and most of it vegan... o(^_^)obelow... our food: lentils curry with coconuts milk (and rice crackers) and vegetables with bitter chocolate. Unique combination isnt it? yummy!!! And our dessert: vegan carrot cake with orange sauce (we were too happy about it so there is no picture :p)
after a long day... back to the campsite for our first night in what would become our "home" along the way.
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