Edinburgh and Limbo-Land

I've been in Edinburgh for two weeks now, and while it's a great city so far and I think I'll really love living here, at the moment I'm in limbo-land so it's a bit hard.

Last but not least

Well I’ve now finished my last Helpx before my move to Scotland, and it was really good. The train journey up from Wales to Eden Valley in Cumbria was really good, especially on the final leg from Leeds to Kirkby Stephen. It turns out this journey forms part of a famous scenic train trip called the Settle to Carlisle line. There are even a few steam trains that go up and down it so it becomes a tourist attraction as well as a main train route. I think it’s a little like the Transalpine trip back home. Anyway it was definitely very beautiful as it went up the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The landscape changed pretty dramatically from what I had just left in Wales – it went from heaps of gently rolling hills, bright green and covered in trees, to an almost barren, yellow grassed large hilly area with very few trees. It was like the difference between the Canterbury foothills and the Mackenzie country at home (but nothing like these).

I especially liked the stone walls that were everywhere, marking out little paddocks right up into the hills. There were a lot of low stone walls in Wales too but there are way more through this area. It was really pretty to see, especially with the little stone barns that had all fallen into ruins. Apparently the small stations along this line are maintained by volunteers, and they are kept really well – all looking freshly painted in cream with dark red trims. So a very pretty train journey overall, although I think that first part was a lot more stunning than the second half which I travelled up on the way to Edinburgh after my helpx.

My hosts, Heather and Duncan and their three kids, live in a little village called Crosby Garret, not far from Kirkby Stephen where the train station is. They live in an almost finished barn conversion right next to one of the big viaduct bridges for the train line. 

It’s a beautiful area – about one minute’s walk away was some farmland on the ‘fells’ (hills?) with public footpaths all over it. It took about 15 minutes to walk up the first hill and then turn around to see the brilliant views. It was really nice to be walking alongside all the stone walls and looking in to fields full of buttercups!

I only stayed here from Monday to Friday but it was fun; I could definitely have stayed longer if our schedules were a bit more open. They are new hosts and I was their first helper! So I think it was nice for them to be able to have someone stay for a short time to see if they wanted to continue with Helpx. I was helping to get their new deck started by digging some holes and clearing some space, but it was a bit wet for a few days so I ended up being inside most of the time, prepping the hall for plastering, hanging pictures and stuff like that.

View from the house

View from the house

View from the church on the hill

A house in the village built in 1712

Wales and beyond

So last week marked 11 months since I left NZ, and I still haven’t gotten any better at keeping this up to date in all that time…I get reminders from various people that there hasn’t been any updates for ages – thanks for your perseverance and for thinking of me by checking back regularly!

I've used my time wisely and written this while on a train...I’m travelling to my sixth and final Help Exchange before heading up to Edinburgh at the end of the week. I’ve just left my great hosts Angie, Keith and their daughter Rowan in Wales, in a place called Llasantffraid, near the English border. If you are looking on a map the nearest big town is Welshpool, and it’s about 1.5hours train to the city of Birmingham. I’ve been staying here for three weeks, mainly weeding vegetable beds and planting and mulching in vege seedlings. They have a handful of chickens and a few sheep so I was helping a little bit with them too. They live in a beautiful area – loads of rolling hills and trees; and the Spring weather has finally warmed up enough so everywhere you go is super green and lovely.

I feel like I’ve seen huge amount of this part of Wales, thanks to my hosts being into climbing, walking and kayaking – I’ve been able to tag along and check out little villages or walk alongside the canal while they’ve been doing their thing, which has been really great. We did a big 1.5hour walk through an old limestone quarry, with great views:

This is the Montgomery canal I walked down:

We went over to ‘the gateway to North Wales,’ a touristy town called Llangollen, which was really nice:

My favourite was when we drove over to Snowdonia National Park (1.5hours away) and I checked out the village of Betwys-y-Coed (pronounced Betis e coed) while Keith and Angie went on a full day ‘scramble’ in the mountains. There was a gorgeous river going through the village and I turned a 30min walk into an hour and a half one as I fully took advantage of the beautiful day to take my time and take heaps of photos juts for the pleasure of it.

I really love Wales! I had a great time here and loved it just as much last year when I went to Cardiff so I definitely recommend people to check it out! I hadn’t even really considered going to Wales in this couple of months of travelling (HelpXs nearby hadn’t worked out) but I’m so glad I did. I know how to make Welsh cakes now too...a bit like a scone mix but with egg, pressed out, cut into circles and cooked in a frying pan…mmmmm :P

I had originally planned to have only stayed here for two weeks but it grew into three as I had a bit of trouble finding another host to go on to, and Keith and Angie kindly offered for me to stay on. I had planned to check out somewhere further north, mainly the Lake District or the Yorkshire Dales National Park or somewhere like that, but all the hosts I emailed were either busy or I didn’t even get a reply – with uni students finishing their exams now I guess everyone is keen to be up in this area for the summer so hosts have been bombarded with requests I think. I was going to have to head up to Edinburgh a bit earlier than planned but I finally found a host that was free at short notice. I’m now heading to a place called Kirkby Stephen, north of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It’s just for five days but I’m just really glad to be able to see one more bit of the country before settling down again in Scotland – I want to find a flat and a job in Edinburgh and stay till at least April or around there.

Here is an overdue list of where I’ve been in the last two months

• 2nd-18th April: Small pig farm in Woolsery, Bideford, North Devon. Saw Clovelly, Bideford and Hartland Quay
  
• 18th April - 2nd May: B&B in Penzance, Cornwall, with a bus tour out to Land's End and St. Ives village. Also saw Mousehole, Newlyn, Porthcurno beach, Porthleven and Marazion
• 2nd - 4th May: Stay in a hostel in Bath for two nights, include 1/2 day trip to Stonehenge and Lacock village
  
• 4th - 5th May: Stay with Louis and Claire at their place near Oxford
• 5th - 6th May: Stay in a hostel in Cambridge for a night to catch up withTom
• 6th - 13th May: Cut flowers and salad vegetables business in Gissing, near Diss, near Norwich city, Norfolk. Saw Norwich city.
• 13th - 20th May: Family home with large non-commercial garden (chickens, bees, 2x pigs) by Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire. Saw Lincoln city.
• 20th May - 10th June: Family smallholding in Llansantffraid, on the English/Wales border, near Birmingham. Went to check out Birmingham for the day to catch up with Jamie from London.
• 10th June - 14th June: Family smallholding in Eden Valley, North Yorkshire, near the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales National Park