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Lochgilphead (and a large part of Scotland) – My final stop
I stayed with family friends for a few days in Lochgilphead. We ended up travelling all the way to Southend (I never expected I would get that remote in Scotland). I took photos on the journey to Lochgilphead, to and from Southend, around Lochgilphead, a walk around a Loch and the journey back to Glasgow.…
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Glasgow
I thought Glasgow would be a bit more impressive than it was. It wasn’t exactly run down or modern. It was just unorganised. The city centre is a nice place to visit but is spread out weirdly. The rest of the city wasn’t as impressive though and could have used an update. I wanted I…
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Edinburgh
It was tough to decide if Edinburgh was my favourite place I had visited. In the end I think I still prefer Birmingham as it has a mix of modern and old architecture. Edinburgh was very small in terms of city centre. The rest is mainly housing. I took all the bus tours I could…
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Berwick-upon-Tweed
I spent most of my time in Berwick-upon-Tweed sitting by the river. There weren’t really that many places to go. I ended up walking to the outskirts of town to visit Tesco’s as there wasn’t really any supermarkets in town. Only a small convenience store and a Greggs. Steps Taken 15,881 Accommodation and Travel YHA…
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Alnwick
I ended up timing my stay in Alnwick perfectly as it allowed me to watch the Jubilee on a big screen at Alnwick Castle (I originally thought that the castle grounds would have been free to entry but unfortunately I still had to pay). I spent the entire day exploring the castle so didn’t have…
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Newcastle (And Surroundings)
I decided to spend a few nights in Newcastle as the hostel was cheap and there were a lot of surrounding places for me to visit. I decided to stay in the Newcastle area for the first few days. I thought Newcastle would be more modern. But it was an average place. There were certainly…
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Middlesbrough
I had higher hopes with Middlesbrough over Hull. I figured that because it was larger it would be more interesting. But it was still very much residential. The University helped to make the place look modern but the surrounding area just felt very dull. Steps Taken 20,487 Accommodation and Travel The Baltimore Hotel £34.99 Middlesbrough…
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Hull
I didn’t expect much from Hull. I mainly visited just to see what it was like and have it as a stopping point on my journey. It’s certainly not a big place. I managed to cover most of the high street quite quickly. I then covered the shopping centre (that was VERY empty) the next…
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York
I decided to spend a few nights in York as the hostel was very cheap per night. Tech topic It allowed me to do some Docker and Kubernetes management on my homelab. I’m not sure what changed, but my Pi responsible for reverse proxy traffic went offline again. Not sure if it’s an overload error.…
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Manchester (Deansgate and Blackfriars)
Whilst I managed to visit much of Manchester on my first night I didn’t manage to visit much of the lower part of the city. By returning to Deansgate, I managed to explore some of the canal and railway history surrounding the engineering museum (which was closed). Blackfriars allowed me to get an idea on…
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Chester
When visiting Chester I debated about going to the zoo. But I decided to fully cover the old city buildings and Roman architecture. Plus it saved on the zoo entrance fee of £30. My accommodation was about 40 minutes walk from the city. The main road had some nice houses but the side streets were…
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Liverpool
I always thought fairly negatively of Liverpool. Not sure why. But upon visiting it’s a nice place. The only complaint I do have is that the YHA Hostel is located right near the clubs. It made trying to get some sleep a bit difficult. They also had multiple clubs so you weren’t just listening to…
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Manchester
After a long train journey I arrived in Manchester. I didn’t explore too much of Manchester the first night. I mainly stuck to what I would assume is the large business district and some of the high street. There are certainly a large amount of large businesses like Nationwide and Co-Op headquartered there. I continue…
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Back at home temporarily
Whilst my parents are on holiday for a week I’m looking after the plants and catching up on some IT projects. After looking at Unreal Engine 5 for so long I gave in and bought my first graphics card (RTX 2060 for £305). This allows me to run Unreal without having to worry about fps…
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Belfast
I decided to go to Belfast to use up an EasyJet voucher I had left over from Covid lockdown. By going from Bristol Airport it allowed me to swap to my smaller bag. This allowed me to save on baggage cost. Steps taken: Unfortunately due to my phone having to be run in super power…
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Norwich
I went to Norwich to visit my sister whilst she was at university (free accommodation!). I spent a long time exploring Norwich. I have been there in the past so I tried to avoid the areas I has seen before. But I still didn’t have enough time to cover it all. There were areas that…
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Doncaster
I went to Doncaster to save on accommodation costs. It wasn’t originally on my list. I didn’t find the town centre too interesting but I did enjoy the area around my accommodation. They had a nice looking lake and islands. Steps taken today: 16,954
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Leeds
I spent 2 days in Leeds (I had to kill time before I had to head back down to Norwich to visit my sister). As usual I was more interested in the canals and docks. I spent quite a while just chilling out by the water. I stayed at an Ibis budget hotel. It certainly…
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Sheffield
If you want to reach the main city centre from Sheffield, you have to climb a fairly steep hill. The station had a grand water feature setup. It must have taken them ages to find the perfect level for each waterfall. I was feeling particularly cold that day so I wanted to kill some time…
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Nottingham
I wasn’t really sure what to expect with Nottingham. It’s a fairly modern city as it has a tram network (if fairly small). There are certainly buildings that are very old. One of the pubs has supposedly been there since 1240. Obviously you have Nottingham Castle. Which sits on some interesting rock formations and is…
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Peterborough/Leicester
Peterborough I didn’t spend long in Peterborough as I only had just over an hour to kill before my next train arrived. The High Street was very nice and had a nice market square. I spent most of my time walking around the Cathedral. Leicester Leicester was a lot larger than I expected. In my…
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Cambridge
Cambridge was a long journey from Birmingham. Nearly 3 hours (there isn’t a direct rail track). It gave me time to repair my main Home Lab Pi over TeamViewer. It took longer than expected as the DNS didn’t want to resolve (I now have a backup VPN). When I got to Cambridge, I decided to…
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Northampton
I didn’t get up to much in Northampton. I mainly wanted to rest up for the day. Once I got to my hotel at 3:30pm I didn’t leave. I needed to give my feet a chance to rest. It also gave me a chance to wash and dry my clothes. Todays Step Count: 15,290 Food:…
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Wolverhampton/Birmingham
I decided to visit Wolverhampton for the day as it was nearby to Birmingham and I had it on my list due to a nice looking church/cathedral. The park was nice but I didn’t find much else to look at. I walked a bit further into the housing estates to see what they looked like…
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Birmingham
Today I finally got to explore Birmingham properly. I always thought of Birmingham being very run down for some reason. But it is a very modern city with lots of great historical architecture. I started off by visiting the Jewellery Quarter, It had more housing and a few businesses but nothing interesting apart from the…
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Gloucester/Cheltenham (GCHQ)
On my way up to Birmingham I decided to make a day stop in Gloucester and then Cheltenham. I was interested what the places were like as they are about the same distance from Bristol as I currently am. I found that both places were very small and whilst they had some history to them,…
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Back home for Easter
I decided to avoid all the high Easter costs and decided to come back home. This was likely going to happen as I had to attend a family birthday. I will be heading out after Easter back on my journey up the country. At the minute I am currently clearing out all the duplicate photos…
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Slough
When I mentioned that I was visiting Slough I got a few confused responses. A valid opinion if you were visiting for the tourist sights (there aren’t many). However, if you want to go on a datacenter hunt then it’s the perfect place to go. Marked and unmarked buildings. I still can’t believe I racked…
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Reading
I decided to visit Reading to get an idea on what the tech sector looks like there. I thought it would be bigger based upon reputation. I spent most of my time walking around the high street or houses. I did find the main datacentre location on the morning of day 2. It seems like…
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London
I decided to visit London as my sister was originally going to pick up her passport. In the end this didn’t happen due to delays. I ended up visiting all the popular tourist spots. Surprisingly I haven’t really seen many of them considering how often I have been to London. The popular places I wanted…
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Bodiam/Middlesbrough
Bodiam Middlesbrough After finishing at Bodiam and getting my bus back, I was on my way to Middlesbrough. It was quite a long journey and after the steps at Bodiam my legs were tired. 7/4/22: I will update the details on costs and food later. I keep putting it off. I just need to get…
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Hastings
I didn’t explore Hastings as much as I have other places. I just had more of a birds eye view. I visited the castle, walked down the hill through the old town and back along the seafront to my hotel. Beyond that I just wanted a chill evening after spending the day visiting multiple locations…
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Southease/Newhaven/Eastbourne
Today all my plans went out the window (this is becoming fairly common). I had intended to visit a National Trust house. In southease so I stayed in a remote YHA hostel. But upon waking up I noticed that the house only opens on Wednesday. To change up my plans, I decided to go to…
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Brighton
When I first started out on my journey I had intended to skip Brighton as I’m not a big fan of beaches and I don’t drink. Both things that it is famous for. In the end it ended up having cheap accommodation and was a better stop for me to travel to. Room My room…
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Isle of Wight
I decided to visit the Isle of Wight for a short trip to Ryde. I can’t say I was exactly thrilled with the places to visit. Had I stayed longer I may have been able to explore more of the Island and appreciate it more. My main goal of the day was to ride the…
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Portsmouth
Now we are in full journey mode. Southampton was great but Portsmouth seems to have more of a modern and lively atmosphere. It’s also a lot larger in the city center. I didn’t have enough time to see it all. There are lots of places to shop and very modern looking high streets. Yet they…
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Southampton
Starting off with my first official stop in Southampton. I had considered attending university here in the past but decided on Plymouth instead. Journey: Train: 2h20m Walk: 15 mins History: There first major piece of history is the city defences. My favourite though was the old railway architecture. I spent ages trying to work out…
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Wales
Starting my journey out with an unscheduled visit to family in Wales. They have a large amount of land and their own stream and small forest. Below are some images of interesting moss, the stream and the badgers den mound.