I wasn't expecting this to be a three-parter, but I guess I have a lot
to say about Britain. After all, it was my home for three years. It might seem
like a brief span of time, but it was crammed full of so many experiences, both
good and bad, that it seems like a lifetime. I was grateful for the few days
Chris and I had together to revisit the south of England, as it brought back so
many of those good memories for us.
Chris' Backyard
The coast of Cornwall is a special place for me. Back in 2008, Chris and I had
explored different places along the western coast. Though the seaside villages
were quaint and cozy, it was the old stuff which appealed to me the most. When
you come from the American Midwest, where the oldest building in your town is
150 years old, the age of ruins in Europe can boggle the mind. To my utter
delight, on that trip in 2008, I found out that Cornwall is steeped in
Arthurian legend. I've never been particularly big on the whole King Arthur
legend, but the mystery surrounding it has always intrigued me. Though it's
widely known that such a person didn't exist, there are elements of truth to
the legend. No doubt there were real people and events which inspired the story
of Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere. As so much information was lost in the Dark
Ages (the early Medieval Period when few written records were kept), we will
never really know the true story of Camelot. Still, visiting places like
Tintagel Castle on a high cliff above the sea, it's easy to envision it as the
residence of a powerful king and his sorcerer. Tintagel is hands down one of my
favorite places in Britain. It ticks all the boxes for me with its rambling mix
of Roman and medieval ruins and cliffside/island location. Tintagel also comes
with a cave, named Merlin's Cave, underneath the castle. There's a narrow cave
corridor you can walk through to get to the pounding sea. There is also a
nearby church on the cliff with a graveyard which sports weathered Celtic stone
crosses. There was something about that humble stone church that spoke to me
back then, and I went in to kneel before the candle-lit altar. I had been the
only one in the church at the time; Chris had stayed outside. I could hear the
pounding of the surf against the cliffs, as well as the howling wind. I didn't
utter a prayer in that church, rather I soaked in the feel of the place. There
is no doubt that Tintagel resonated with something inside of me, and its one of
the most inspiring places I've been to. There's a story inside of me I still
need to write about what may have happened in this dramatic setting.
So why I am bringing this up, seen as how Tintagel wasn't on our itinerary this
time around? I suppose it's to evoke an air of mystery and wonder when
describing Cornwall. It really is a magical place. Though my husband grew up in
Cornwall, he fails to appreciate the history of his home county. Chris is more
of modern history enthusiast—anything after the French Revolution. Kings,
castles, standing stones—bah! Ancient history. I suppose when you grow up
surrounded by ancient ruins, you might have a blasé attitude about the age of
things.
After spending the night in Newquay, we headed back through the interior of
Cornwall. Inevitably, we ended up in Liskeard, Chris' hometown. We stopped at
Moorison's to buy some lunch, then we drove through Chris' old neighborhood. He
paused the car outside of his mother's house. She may have been in there. We
played around with the idea of paying her a visit. After all, I have never met
the woman. The less said about that situation the better, as I respect Chris'
privacy concerning his family. However, I think it's safe to say that if I
didn't meet my mother-in-law then, I will never meet her.
We kept driving and ended up at a park at the end of the street. We sat on the
swings and ate our lunch. After that, Chris drove us to the Minions, a
wonderfully named village on the outskirts of Liskeard. I wasn't sure what
there was there to see, as we started walking across what seemed like a barren
moor. There was the chimney from an old tin mine in the distance, serving as a
reminder of Cornwall's industrial past. However, as we continued on, we came to
a standing stone ring. The Hurlers, Chris told me. Stone circles can be found
all over Britain, though none quite as impressive as Stonehenge. Stonehenge is
the only one you have to pay to see, and is protected behind a fence (thanks to
the hippies who kept trespassing on private land). It's quite fascinating to
come across these rings in the middle of a field with no fence and nobody
around. You can touch the stones and lean against them and do whatever you
want, though I think it's safe to say you can't dig them up.
According to Wikipedia, the Hurlers are actually three separate stone rings.
There isn't a ton of information on them, other than they seem to be aligned
with the sun. I circled them several times, touching them (I've read books on
ley lines across Britain, and though I can't fully subscribe to the idea, it
still doesn't hurt to think these stones have special powers), before we
continued on towards a pile of rocks. The pile of rocks turned out to be quite
a massive assemblage of rocks called The Cheesewring. I suppose this geologic
wonder is named this because some of the rock stacks look like cheese presses
(though I've never seen a cheese press so I couldn't tell you how accurate this
is). Now that I'm studying geology, I can tell you how cool these formations
are. Essentially they're slabs of granite that have been weathered, resting on
top of each other like a stack of plates. I wish I had had some knowledge of geology
back then to really appreciate them. To have a rock formation in the middle of
a field is quite remarkable. There must have been some heavy-duty weathering
going on to smooth the granite into layered slabs. Sedimentary rock, yes I can
see. But granite? I can only imagine that this part of Britain had been
underwater at one time. Maybe I'll go back there someday and study them closer.
As it turns out, there is a lot of granite to be found in Bodmin Moor, the area
outside of Minions. We followed a path that led us to a series of rock
quarries. One of the quarries had been filled with water. Chris said that he
used to swim there when he was a kid. In fact, this whole area had been his
playground as a kid. This was unbelievable to me that this was the first time I
had heard about stone rings and piles of rocks in his backyard. What did I say
about blasé?
Now the only thing I have left to see in Cornwall is Brown Willy. That'll be on
our next trip through.
We made the long trip back to Salisbury, driving by Stonehenge but not stopping
(we have seen it up close and personal twice, plus you can see if from the
motorway). We opted for a night of reliable comfort at the Premier Inn. We have
stayed in countless Premier Inns on roadtrips across Britain, and they have
never failed to provide a comfy bed with the best duvets and pillows around.
Also, Chris and I are suckers for the Harvester, the chain restaurant which
comes attached to just about ever Premier Inn. A family-style carvery, it's not
the most elegant of places, but when you're on the road, it's just what the
doctor ordered. This was to be our last night together in travel-mode for a
very long time.
One Last Goodbye
We rose early in the morning, before the sun, to return the car to
Heathrow. From the airport, we entered the world of mass transport, the thing
that has always turned me off about London. The Tube—I hate it. It's convenient
enough (especially after living in Manchester where the trains run every hour,
which means if you miss one, you have a long wait until the next one), but it's
the maze of the underground and the heaving mass of humanity which makes me
uncomfortable and out of my element. I found it daunting the first time I was
in London; I found that if you pause for just a second, you risk getting mowed
over. Chris loves it. London is the whore he constantly longs for. He's an
absolute natural in the city, blending into crowds with ease, whereas I'm
claustrophobic and anxious about flowing with the human traffic. I will never
get used to it. Needless to say, I was relieved when we ascended from the rat
hole of the Tube and passed through wide green openness of St. James Park to
Buckingham Palace. We had some time to kill before catching our bus to
Manchester, and the Queen's residence is close to Victoria Station. We joined
the crowd of tourists at the gates and watched a guard do his pointless paces.
It was the first time I had seen this exercise. It looked utterly ridiculous to
me. Funny how tourists see this and somehow think this encapsulates British
culture.
Chris was happy to revisit Victoria Station as it brought back so many happy
memories for him (not so for me), and we found our bus to Manchester. We could
have taken the train; it would have been quicker. But we were looking to save
money, so it was one last bus journey for us. We had done this bus trip before,
against our will, when we had flown back from Greece and had been redirected
due to Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland
erupting. Instead of Manchester, we had landed in Gatwick and been put on a bus
to Manchester. It had been a long ride then. After all our bus journeys through
Asia, this one should have been a piece of cake. But, for some reason, the last
leg of a journey is always the longest.
It was bittersweet when the Pennines came into view. We were back in the North,
the cold, hard, gritty North. Yes, I suppose that the North is harsh when
compared to the green, gently rolling hills of the South. I suppose I always
picture it sunny in the South, though this is just a dream scenario in my head.
When I think of the North, I think of rain, red brick, and abandoned mills. Of
course, the North is so much more than that. Manchester is a cultural hub,
particularly with its music scene. Who doesn't know about Madchester—Manchester's
cultural heyday? Well, I suppose I didn't know much about it while living in
Northern Illinois, but boy did I learn about it after living in Greater
Manchester. Manchester taught me so much about music; I came to appreciate
music I hadn't listened to before: The Stone Roses, The Verve, Happy Mondays,
Joy Division, New Order, James, The Smiths... well, I suppose I knew some
Smiths' songs before leaping across the pond, but I never knew they were from
Manchester, nor did I care. But now when I hear these bands, I hear Manchester.
I hear the grit, the industrial grind and the red brick. And I love it. I
fucking love it. If nothing else, Manchester opened the door to different types
of music for me, and offered a new catalog of bands which I had been secretly
craving (and no, I'm not including Oasis in there—pretentious wankers).
As the bus followed the spine of the Pennines, I felt a draw to the landscape
and also sense of dread. My time in the North had been tainted from the start
with psychological trauma (and a serious physical injury). I remember returning
to Manchester in 2009 after spending a month in the States. As we drove through
the wet, dark streets of Ashton-Under-Lyne, a severe depression descended, and
an immense feeling of dread. This had to do with where we were staying at the
time, in Dukinfield, which was Ground Zero for my trauma. I felt a prisoner to
northern England and to all the bad memories. Thankfully things got much better
after moving to Mossley, my real home-sweet-home in Britain, that quaint
storybook village on the edge of the Pennines. Just getting away from red brick
made a huge difference to my sanity.
It would be interesting to see what kind of effect the North would have on me
after all this time. I have a different perspective on things, and Alaska has
pretty much restored any sanity I might have lost. I also have my faith in
humanity restored. For a long time, I felt as if the North had chipped away at
me, much like the weathered granite in Bodmin Moor. I was hardened and roughed
up. Perhaps I still have an edge of hardness, as it's something I will always
carry with me as a souvenir. But being toughed up is a good thing as well; I
don't go prancing through life like I once did, thinking that the world was all
rainbows and butterflies. Of course, living in Alaska, some of those
butterflies and rainbows have returned, so I have a bit of both sides now,
which is a balanced way to be.
I can't say how Chris and I spent our final moments together. We stayed a few
nights with his sister, Danielle, in Ashton-Under-Lyne. Her little rugrats kept
us entertained and exhausted at the same time. Chris had an interview in
Manchester and I went for one last visit to Mossley, climbing that impossibly
steep hill in order to visit people and places I had come to love.
It was one more goodbye at the airport, as Chris came to see me off. In a
history of airport goodbyes, this one was significant, as we didn't know when
we would next see each other. I felt confident that we would play our roles
successfully, and Chris would receive his Green Card in due time. There was a
long journey still ahead of me, and for Chris, who would be navigating the maze
of American bureaucracy. But there was a long journey behind us as well. Not
just our world travels, but the time we had spent together in Britain. The pubs
we had sat in, the drinks we had shared while engaging in hours-long
conversations, the nights out in Manchester with friends, the music festivals,
the spontaneous vacations in Europe, the road trips, the countless miles
traveled together...
We had come so far. And still had so far to go.