RwooV: Great Success

This weekend we made our way up to the Lake District. We had planned on going the weekend prior, but it didn't quite work out. That ended up being a good thing. I had the day off this past Friday, so I had a whole day to make preparations.

First of all, Friday was a very productive day for me. I booked flights for Dan and Jenny's wedding in September (multi-destination flights that take us to the middle-of-nowhere Wisconsin, then days later to Minneapolis, then back to Manchester were somehow cheaper than the Manchester to Minneapolis flights that left earlier in the morning and had longer layovers. I'm not complaining.), which will also give me a chance to meet up with the guys for a trip to the cabin (the real cabin, no offense, Adam). I also had a chance to do a good deal of cleaning, go to the auctions, and turn my Daewoo Lanos into an RV.

My excitement with Daewoo camping can be coupled with my disappointment with how expensive hostels and hotels are in Europe. I love traveling, but I don't like spending my money on places to sleep. Yes, a comfortable bed can be priceless at times, but the vast majority of the time I will gladly sacrifice a bit of sleep quality in order to be able to travel twice as long with all of the money I am saving on lodging. Sleeping on overnight trains is my ideal way to go. Get on a train, hang out, go to sleep, and wake up in the next city. With that being said, train travel in Europe is more expensive than driving your own car. Even with gas at around $8/gallon (£1.15/L), one can save money by driving. Kind of backwards in my opinion, but trains are still popular, so what do I know. At any rate, if one can drive one's own car, that means more freedom to travel away from the train routes, the ability to store one's things without having to haul them around in a backpack, and free lodging.

As for how legal sleeping in a car is, I can't say. Because of that fact, I wanted to make something for the car that would keep people from being able to see in without looking too obvious that someone is sleeping inside. My solution was to add black curtains on the sides and back as well as one of those metallic sun blockers for the windshield. If I park in a neighborhood outside of the city center, I should blend in nicely and not have to worry too much about crime. I'm less enthusiastic about trying to find a hidden corner in the middle of no where, because a car in the middle of no where automatically raises suspicion. I am a fan of hiding in plain sight (my only major concern being the condensation on the windows). With about £10 worth of material, my Daewoo became an RV that most people wouldn't suspect. The RwooV will hopefully serve us well.

The trip itself was a good time and got off to a good start. As we were leaving my flat, a police officer was standing outside my door. Oddly enough, we were just debating the legality of having alcohol in a car in the UK. Everyone else said it was legal, but I said that I wouldn't feel comfortable until I read the laws on that. Kevin told me that he talked to the police and they told him it was cool. Then he opened the door and the police were outside.

The reason for the police visit was because of the kids in the neighborhood (the ones who have so far destroyed my hedge, broken a window, broken three sections of my fence, tore shingles off of my shed, have sworn at me, thrown rocks at me, waived their genitalia at me, etc etc). At any rate, the policeman (with a social worker standing next to him) told me that earlier that day they were vandalizing someone's property and the old man who owned the place came out to take pictures of them. Well, the "children" broke his camera and beat him up. I'm not sure how badly, but the cop said that it was bad. Because of that, they were seeing if anyone else in the neighborhood had any issues with them. I was happy to tell him about all of the troubles I had. I'm not sure what they do about terrible children here, but I hope they are removed from the neighborhood. That would make my summer much more peaceful.

The drive to the Lake District was two and a half hours of increasingly narrow and steep roads. Around 11:00pm we found a place just outside of Glenridding, next Ullswater lake, to park. We spent a while looking at the stars before putting our window shades in place and calling it a night.

The next day we had a picnic on the beach for breakfast and slowly made our way to the hiking trails. We made a lot of stops along the way, but eventually we were making our way up the hill.

After an hour and a half of hiking we were at the top. We stopped for lunch and began our hike down.

The trees were a bit think and the hill steep due to taking a goat trail rather than a wider path, but we made it to the lake level fairly quickly and walked back to the cars before it even started to get dark. All in all, a very pleasant, sunny day of hiking.