England!

There's something rather special about England.  Perhaps it's where I was born?  Perhaps it's the history  and the beautiful old buildings?  Perhaps its the quaintness of the country lanes, or then again the beauty of the countryside?  Then again, perhaps it's all these things and more.

After Vancouver we were keen to see England again, but can't say that our first impressions were good.  What a depressing welcome to the country.  Very grey and bleak as you're transported by bus, via the bowels of Heathrow Airport to passport control.  So many greys and dull colours; a very marked contrast to the bright, airy and colourful airports at Auckland and Vancouver.  Mind you, the staff made up for the depressing visuals of Heathrow with their warm welcome to England.

We flew from London to Manchester and again were intrigued by how "empty" and green the country looks from the air.  While travelling by car you often have the sensation the country is packed with buildings, roads and people with no "spare" space.  In fact, depending on the time of day, travelling by car can be a real challenge as can finding somewhere to park your vehicle at journey's end.

Public transport was great.  The buses, trains and trams were both regular, reliable and reasonably priced ... a big contrast to what we're used to back here in New Zealand!

Over the next few days and weeks I'll add a few more posts from our trip to the UK.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and hopefully you'll enjoy looking at the images as we did taking them :-)

In this post from top to bottom you can see Lyme Park, Wharfedale and Bolton Abbey.