The Wayfaring Path

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I’m writing this from a crisp and sunny Sweden, so I’ll have to consult my trusty diary to remember the weeks between leaving Lindisfarne and arriving in Stockholm. Regan had arranged a cat-sit in Andover – down south, about an hour from London, so I had a lovely breakfast with my new archaeology mates, then I left the island and headed to Berwick-upon-Tweed and a train to Newcastle. I had a night in Newcastle before taking the train down to Andover. I will definitely go back to Newcastle – the people are amazing and the city looked super interesting too. It was raining and I was exhausted so I just dragged Bertha to my hotel and spent most of the afternoon and evening luxuriating in the double bed and en suite!

I made a quick trip to the Waitrose over the road and had a brilliant time choosing “picky bits” to have for dinner – coconut flesh, mango, chocolate, sushi… such fun! In the morning I had no less than three people carry Bertha up and down stairs for me, and the most hilarious Uber ride I think I’ve ever taken – a crash course in Geordie-speak… including pick-up lines… and a running commentary of the sights “there’s a statue of Queen Vicky… what a c*&t” was a surprise and a highlight!

The train to London was packed with what looked like mostly students about to start their academic year. It was a bit of a struggle getting Bertha up into the train as there was a big gap between it and the platform. The train guard came through in a whirlwind, grabbed the bag and then told off all the blokes standing behind me on the platform for not helping! Legend. I was sitting next to a young man who immediately started “man-spreading” into my space so I sat with my legs and arms right out at my seat boundaries, buggered if I was going to be squashed into a corner the whole way.

The change from Kings Cross to Waterloo was sweaty and stressful – I was sending Regan selfies as I got redder and more flustered! I was on a time crunch and had to change lines… and only a few of the central tube stations have lifts. But I was very lucky to have a lovely woman grab Bertha and take her up the stairs at one station! I obviously looked old enough and pathetic enough for such assistance but I don’t mind, I’m just grateful to anyone who helps me out!

The train to Andover was basically empty so I was able to spread out and chill, and was a normal colour by the time Regan met me off the train! It was raining there too and I could NOT be arsed with another Bertha-dragging session in the rain so I hailed a taxi. Another great chat with the driver – we’ve met so many fun and friendly people on this trip.

The house was comfy and nice, and the two cats were just brilliant! Ronnie, a big ginger boy with not a care in the world; and Raina, a Sphynx cat who is bald, a bit odd-looking, but really sweet and lovely. I’d been a bit freaked out by the pics Regan was sending of her, but she is one of the best cats I’ve ever met, and I fell in love with both of them immediately! She gets cold so has to wear pyjamas, which kind of reminded me of dressing my dolls when I was a kid. I was forever fussing over her, and she is a heat-seeking missile, always burrowing under blankets and curling onto your lap. Just adorable.

Andover itself was ok – not great, not terrible. The town had lots of charity shops and vape shops, plus Greggs, Costa etc. A few independent stores, but not so many really, and one guy was so rude to me – saying NZ is basically a slave nation to the UK – that I walked out of his silly shop! But there was a very old pub, where a load of English monarchs stayed over the years (including Catherine of Aragon!) and a fantastic Museum of the Iron Age, which is only open on weekends.

The museum was so well put together for such a small town, you could see so much work had gone into it, and probably mostly done by volunteers. There was a brilliant 3D picture and all kinds of good displays that brought it all to life. Plus I had it all to myself, which was a bonus. I didn’t have time for the History of Andover museum, but I assume that was also good, and there were some fun Lego displays, my favourite being a Dodo!

Other than that we didn’t do a lot in Andover, apart from walks, our groceries, and sending a couple of parcels home. We are switching over from summer to winter clothing in preparation for Sweden. I found nice woolly hat, scarf and gloves in a charity shop, and I also fell in love with an analogue watch so eventually talked myself into buying it. There was a TK Maxx not far from us, which I thought was going to be kind of like The Warehouse but actually has really good brands and quality stuff, so I picked up a merino jumper for 27 quid and a nice daypack for about the same. Bags and shoes have been a really integral part of this trip, I guess cos we do so much walking, and the things I thought would be great when I was in NZ have not really turned out so awesome, but luckily good stuff is easy to come by in England.

The MOST exciting thing that happened in that two weeks was having lunch with Dad and Gail in the nearby town of Alresford, which we took a bus to, but they arrived by STEAM TRAIN! The station was exceptionally cute, you definitely see the difference between a station run by volunteers compared to one run by a company! It was so brilliant to have a few hours with D&G, and great to hear about their trip. It was hard to say goodbye but it’s only a few months till we are back home and can see them again. We had lunch at The Swan and then wandered around the Sunday market. Most of the shops were closed, which was a shame as it was a lovely village with lots of independent shops, quite different to Andover.

It wasn’t far to get to Salisbury either, and we had a good day over there checking out the cathedral (not top 3 but still good) and we walked up to the very ancient site of Old Sarum. It was used as a hillfort settlement for thousands of years, with the very old earthworks and the ruins of a castle and cathedral there too. Quite the mission to get to but it was great to get a big walk in and to spend time somewhere so important and old. Salisbury is a pretty town and is on our list of places we’d stay/live. There was a piece of furniture that was IDENTICAL to one I saw in Bamburgh Castle for sale in an antique store, and it was less than 200 pounds. Almost worth moving to the UK just for that!

I worked on my St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne video, plus another one I made with just the Lindisfarne footage and nice music, and a similar one for York Minster. I really love making the videos and get such a kick out of people watching them! I was back to work a week early and it was really nice to be back! I appreciate my job so much and how supportive everyone there has been of this trip. I found a pretty lake with ducks and swans, so that was fab, and then it was time to clean up, pack up, say goodbye to the cats 😦 and move on. We had a night in a hotel near Gatwick airport and a pretty good flight (apart from the man next to me coughing the whole way). It was exciting to start hearing Scandinavian accents on the plane!

Flying into Stockholm we were both taken with how many trees there were – we weren’t expecting so many so close to the city. It was a fairly efficient process to get through Customs, and easy to get on the bus then train to our accommodation. It’s a nice wee flat, close to the train, and our first impressions are of a clean and well-organised city, with amazing autumn colour everywhere. But we’ll get to all that next time.

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