The last weekend in September seemed to mark the end of what the English call "summer"--occasional sun and chilly winds. Fortunately, PAB and I had planned on a "mini break" (the English actually have a term for weekend vacations) for this last weekend, before school and (presumably) work started for me. The end of my summer of "do nothing" :) We chose the English Peak District as our destination, and brought along two other couples, friends from PAB's Masters at Cranfield. Our little party consisted of 4 French, one American and one British. As it turns out, the French made crepes, the American made sandwiches, and the British made a traditional English breakfast (bacon, eggs, etc.), so we all lived up to our country's respective expectations :)
We left for the Peak District on Friday, and after a slight problem with the map (PAB kept waiting for the toll of the M6 toll, not realizing that there is no toll until you get off, which happened to be 6 exits after our intended exit!) we arrived in the charming village of Hartington in the South of the Peak District National Park. F.Y.I. the difference between a "village" and a "city" in England--a city has a cathedral. I think in the U.S. the difference is whether you can find John Deer tractors on the main roads in the village ;)
The weather was PERFECT, our cottage was ADORABLE (see above pictures!) and there was an apple tree literally sagging with its delicious fruit! England started to take on some of that charm the Romantic poets had so unfairly made me expect. The cottage had three large rooms, a full kitchen, a living room with a FIREPLACE (not the electric, fake one that adorns my living room in Houston, but an actual fireplace with a hearth and wood and a poker!), and a state of the art kettle, everything one would expect from the perfect British cottage :) We ate outside the first night, a "plancha" (a kind of French grill) with chicken, pork and sausage, and some kind of delicious tomato sauce they make in the South of Spain! We had wine galore and saucisson and chorizo for appertifs, who said Europe wasn't LOVELY?
Saturday we took advantage of the gorgeous weather (which I am very grateful for now, as the sky has gone back to its natural grey and drizzly state) and rented bikes. We planned to take the Tissington trail (an old railway line) down to the reservoir and then back up the High Peak trail. On the Tissington trail all was wonderful and gay, the ride was mostly downhill, we took our time and had a relaxed lunch (supplied by the brilliant American sandwich maker). The view on the trail was absolutely gorgeous, quaint hills with stone marked fields, cattle and sheep. We even had a cow block the road as we biked through the hills (again see pics above). We made our way to the reservoir and realized that it was closely closing in on mid-afternoon, the bikes were due back at 5:30, and we had completed less than half of our journey. We then began a race back to where we had rented the bikes, unfortunately having to make up for all the downhill on the way there on the way back. Not surprisingly we didn't make it back at 5:30 (or even at 6), but the bike renters were nice chappies, and gave us back the full deposit (perhaps out of pity when they saw our tired and dirty faces). We calculated that in total we had done 31.5 miles!!! I guess my training for the MS150 was not in vain...Saturday night we celebrated our "Tour de Angleterre" and Fabienne's birthday with cake, champagne and poker!
Sunday we cleaned up what little damage we had done to the cottage, took some apples from the tree (okay 30, but I didn't want them to go to waste!), and headed to Bakewell for the legendary Bakewell tart. Bakewell is the largest village in the Peak District, and has all the tourist charm one could ask for. I would definitely recommend the Peak District to English travellers, but ONLY if the weather is nice! 31.5 miles is trying in good weather, deathly in rain.
And after a wonderful mini break, it's back to school! So far, my classes are WONDERFUL, I like the professors (nothing beats British humor) and the material is interesting. AND (drumroll please)...I found a JOB! I will be working part-time (20 hours max with my student visa) at an organization called PARN. Check out there website:
http://www.parnglobal.com/
because until Tuesday I won't know exactly what the company does. But as for me, I will be going back to Marketing and P.R.! I will keep you updated on the progress at work :)
Until later gators! Tata!
