kenmyhre

London

Posted on November 6, 2025 by kenmyhre

This is being written mostly on my laptop at home in Calgary. It is a bit more wordy than my other posts from this trip, in reaction to the struggle of writing on a 15 year old tablet that I used for the other posts. It is just not fun, I’m sure it showed.

Oct 20-26 London

Arriving

The train from Stratford-upon-Avon to London’s Marylebon station was direct with only a few stops. I had a good seat with a table, the advantage of getting on early; each station added more passerngers. Marylebon Is one of the smaller London train stations, but the architecture still places it’s existence in the 100 year plus category. As usual I had some time to kill before my guesthouse check in time.

When I left Marlebon it was raining which confuses my sense of direction, so I flailed a bit getting to the Wallace Gallery; chosen because it is walkable from the station and free. I am sure the rain contributed to the number of visitors on this day. As I was struggling to stuff my bag into a slightly too small locker and figure out how to set a combination a young, possibly 10 year old, boy left his friends and patiently helped me. I love these little interactions that have kept my faith in people, often young, everywhere I go.

I was most attracted to the 18^th century Dutch and Flemish but the collection is broader than that and is very extensive. I am always amazed when I stumble into yet another gallery that I have not known about to find it filled with incredible art from centuries ago. There is, seemingly, a long list of people who had the inclination and resources to gather these collections, usually in the 100s of pieces. I guess that is still going on today. A double good experience killing a few hours on a rainy day.

To cap it off I happened into an Asian food chain, Wagamama, and had a great curry. I was able to find another Wagayama some days later and had a pork belly ramen, equally as enjoyable.

Lotus Guesthouse

I was unaware that my London guesthouse (two days to start, six to end the trip) was attached to the Jamyang Buddhist Centre, which is an active temple with monks in residence and aspirants who come to learn Buddhist ways and attend prayer sessions in a variety of prayer areas.

A few Buddhist images as I approached and keyed in my entry code was my first clue, the next was my room. Tiny, space for only a few things, a single bed, a picture of the Dalai Lama on a book shelf and white brick tiled walls and ceilings. It was a place for meditation. Over my time here I came to really enjoy it as a place to return to from my day out and about in London. I read a lot, wrote a little, drank a little red wine (not encouraged here) and planned my next day. These are my monk things. The bed was great as was the shared bathroom and shower, and I frequently used the kettle and fridge in the hall. My cell mates, who I rarely saw, were all women I think. The security here was very high. I attended one prayer session, but I don’t think any of the others were guests. They all seemed to be regulars. I had two underground stations about 10 minutes away, but I did walk in or out of London’s centre a number of times. Most would probably not do that as it took an hour or more to walk.

The British Museum

My six day London itinerary was pretty loose, but one thing I have almost always done while here is to spend some time in The British Museum. It is the fourth most visited museum in the world and was my first significant museum, 61 years ago. On that visit, I was in the first few days of what was an open-ended world walkabout. I was interested in everything and my visit to the museum would help me figure out where my walkabout might go. After having been up and down all the corridors and into so many rooms stuffed with antiquities gathered, often nefariously, from every corner of the world, I staggered out at closing time completely exhausted. I’m sure I learned a lot, but I think the most important thing I learned that day was to have a specific plan when doing big museums. In my wanderings I have visited the three more visited museums (The Louvre, The Chinese National Museum and the Vatican) and others that I would put in the same category, but The British has remained my favorite.

On this visit I decided to just walk the halls for a while, not stopping to study many things, with no particular area of concentration. I did slow down a bit in the Prehistoric Europe area because of my visit to Stonehenge and Amesbury, and I always stop and have a look at the Lewis Chessmen and the Hutton Soo Helmet. My walking cadence stuttered a bit as I passed in front of the French Impressionists, still my preferred painting genre. I spent three hours, which I think is a good limit for me and it was relaxing because I didn’t have a specific topic to study. A part of my enjoyment came from sharing my experience with 100s of kids, mostly in school groups in their school outfits being shepherded about by teachers or parents. They were having no end of fun, even though they obviously had study assignments which they were usually doing in groups. How fortunate to have a resource like this.

The Natural History Museum

I came up out of the underground into sun backlighting a 15 m high dinosaur standing among semi tropical plants. Rising behind and above the towering 150 yr old Natural History Museum shone golden in the morning sunlight. The picture stopped me in my tracks. There are countless 150 yr old stone large buildings in London. You must go to see this one. It has been termed a cathedral to nature, and my ability to describe it obviates any attempt to do so. It was built to house the natural history items of the British Museum 150 yrs ago and spun off at that time as its own museum. The main entry area, rising about 4 floors to an open vaulted highlight with balconies, a flying buttress arch and wide sweeping staircases attracts people to just walk or sit as in an amphitheater. 100s were doing so the whole time I was there. Birds, animals, plants are carved everywhere into the columns, balustrades and walls. Anywhere you stand if you look closely a 150 year old gargoyle will be staring back at you. Everything appears to be beige sandstone. It is actually brick covered in terracotta. Terracotta was chosen to better resist the horrendous coal dust that choked everything in London at the time. It also meant that more nature caricatures could be made much more quickly. It worked very well, it looks like well-preserved carved stone to me.

Here again you can only absorb so much. In my three hours I spent time with whales, with coral, with birds and at a showing of this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year. In a large room, illustrating size differences, a Blue Whale, a Tyrannosaurus Rex, African and Asian elephants, hippos, and various porpoises among other large animals were suspended from the ceiling so you could walk around underneath them or look at them from all sides on the two levels of balconies that carried other sea life. The bird area probably had much less than 1% of the museum’s collection on display. This might be said of all the areas, but I will share a story on the bird side of things in a bit. Notable for me was a good look at the Dodo bird and a pair of Ivory Billed Woodpeckers, both very extinct. I also took a picture of a 2-D tree about 1.5 m square that had many 100s of hummingbirds in all activities filling every sq cm.

The Wildlife Photographer of 2025 competition just finished. The competition is on the web – check it out. The event I went to displayed the top 100 and the winners of about 5 categories of the 60,000 submissions. I spent a lot of time here.

Like the British Museum there were tons of kids here. I was reminded of the things that attract most excitement at those ages. There were crowds of kids at things gross or scary such as a tangle of snakes or a truly aggressive shark’s gaping mouth.

My bird / Natural History story comes from a book called The Feather Thief. An American student at Oxford was a world class fishing fly-tier. The elite fly-tiers will use bits of feathers from exotic birds to tie the ultimate fly. It is illegal to trade in these kinds of feathers, and so these elite fly-tiers cannot tie the iconic flies of history or create new masterpieces. In the book our protagonist found his way into the ornithology section of the Natural History Museum, which due to the millions of carcasses of 95% of the world’s bird species has been spun off to a separate museum in Tring, UK. At the time of the book’s publication the feathers of just one bird carcass of a bird-of-paradise could be sold (illegally) for about $2,500. The museum had 100s of carcasses of that bird, and similar numbers of the 100s of other exotic bird species of interest to the fly tying world. Yes he did break in and get away with 100s of carcasses. He used a few feathers himself to tie some very special flies but did get caught when he yielded to temptation and began selling them. These museums have a lot of stuff.

Tate Modern

The final museum that I visited, out of the close to 200 in London, was Tate Modern. It is in a spectacular modern building on the south bank of the Thames, close to the Globe Theatre that I passed without checking to see if my bike, stolen there 11 years ago, had returned. My attraction to modern art is like my attraction to early European Art – about 10%. That is I am attracted to about 10% of what I see. But in these great museums the skills on display are exceptional, and my level of attraction increases. I am mostly attracted by the imagination and ingenuity of the multimedia type pieces, which at the Tate can be very large. But mostly here I turned out to be attracted to the juxtaposition of the visitors with the art and with the building elements itself. At least that is what my photos indicate.

Matilda

My intention had been to go to one play while in London. I would rather have gone to a play at Stratford, but that did not work out. On the day I visited the British Museum I walked into the West End Theatre District. Without having planned to do so this was the area I ended up returning to more than any other of the central London districts. On this day I was looking for a ticket office. There are a number of kiosks, mostly around Leister Square, selling tickets. I just asked “Do you have any tickets for tomorrow afternoon?” The vendor showed me a list, only a few out of the dozens of shows on. I picked Matilda, in part because I had already walked by the Cambridge Theatre a number of times. I paid 50 pounds, that with commission and I do not know what else turned out to be a bit over $100 Cdn on my visa.

The next day, after my Natural History visit, I made my way to the theatre and stood outside in line for about 10 minutes with mostly mothers and kids. My ticket took me on stairs round and round up to the uppermost balcony, so dark that I actually had to just stop. An old man probably not too many decades younger offered to help me up the very steep steps to the very last row. It is an exaggeration to say that I watched things looking between my legs, but that is what it felt like. There were no empty seats that I noticed. I do not know what you have to pay for a better seat at night or on the weekend, but my seat was fine and I enjoyed the afternoon a lot. During the play I did worry a bit about how I was going to get down again, it felt like I should rappel down, but I made it without plunging over the balcony edge.

I had no idea what the play was about when I chose it, other than that it was a musical. Gradually the story began to emerge, as the set evolved and the actors, mostly kids, flew on and off the stage. I understood very little, and nothing the kids said. It was loud enough but with the music, the speed of speech and things happening, the constant verbal support from the audience the sound hitting my old brain was as if coming out of a mixmaster. I just enjoyed the production, the action and the howling reaction to everything by the hundreds of kids in the audience. Gradually I recognized the play. Matilda, about 9 years old, has at best neglectful parents, attends school where she has a wonderful teacher, Miss Honey, but the Principle makes life for the teachers and kids a nightmare. Finally after 2 1/2 hours the Principle runs off into oblivion, the parents are taken away by authorities and Matilda gets to live with Miss Honey happily ever after.

The play, by Roald Dahl, has been running for 14 years and apparently there are 4 sets of child actors at any given time. My appreciation was enhanced by finally recognizing the story from a Netflix version I had seen not too long ago. Great afternoon. It is not hard to see why theatre is a large part of the tourist attraction but also life for Londoners, who I think were in the majority on this day.

Winchester

Winchester is a bit more than an hour SW of London’s Waterloo Station, the closest train station to my guesthouse. I went to see the Cathedral, visit the town and possibly a friend’s brother, which didn’t work out. I used my Britrail Pass to get there. The cathedral was booked by the University of Winchester for graduation, so I didn’t get inside but I had a good look at the outside. I talked with some of those waiting outside for their turn, which made up for not getting inside. As I didn’t pay to access the cathedral I walked up the hill to visit Winchester Castle and have a look at King Arthur’s round table. Some people question Arthur’s existence, but here is his round table; what more do you need. For further support there is a great statue of Arthur near the end of their High Street, at one time the longest high street in England. You can research the use of the term high street if you like, but in Winchester it is in part a nice market street where I bought a slightly warmer hat for the crisp autumn days.

The Parks

The parks running through London are like pearls on a string. I learned 11 years ago on bike that you can link Hyde, Green and St James Parks together, and with only a little street walking add Regent’s Park. Ok maybe the last is best done on bike. On my last Saturday I set out from my little Kennington guesthouse early and walked past Waterloo Station, deviated to Westminster Bridge, past Big Ben, found my way to St James Park and Buckingham Palace, into Green Park and then finally to Hyde Park. Once in Hyde Park I had to scuttle off to find a WC which I found in a Hard Rock Café, where I had a lovely inexpensive late breakfast.

Now very much more relaxed I ambled around Hyde Park for quite a while. It was a sunny 12C day and the parks were being enjoyed by many. I did a little photography trying to catch a little of the ambiance that these parks add to my appreciation of London. The water birds on The Serpentine drew my attention. The Mute Swans, the Moorhens and Coots, the gulls, all floated over to see if I would violate the request to not feed the birds. The Cormorants and one Grey Heron ignored me on their perches. The most attractive to me were a pair of Great Crested Grebes busy searching the foliage on the edge of a small island. I had only one distant picture from Australia, so this was a good addition to my birds, I guess my only new or improved bird photo of this trip. Not that I came prepared to really find new birds.

With all the people out, finding a free Santander bike was a bit of a challenge. I finally snagged one from the same rack at the North end of the park that I usually used when I stayed close by 11 years ago. There are now a number of other suppliers of town bikes, mostly electric. They all seem to run off cell phone apps. I used my visa card and for one 30 minute ride I paid about 1.5 pounds. For less than 4 pounds for a day I could have as many 30 minute sessions as I wanted. I only needed one. I wanted to ride back down through my parks and drop the bike off near the Waterloo Bridge. In part I just wanted to enjoy the bike ride and in part I didn’t have the time or energy to walk back. Some of the paths through the parks are pedestrian only, but there are plenty for bikes. There is some navigation as you cross the intersections between parks and there was a little road riding to get to the Thames, but it wasn’t long before I was used to the bike and the way things move here. I wish I had more time to do more bike riding in London, but I am going home tomorrow.

Walking London

Not much to add here. I love it. It is very easy as long as you always look both ways. Many others are walking, there is always a place to stop for coffee, a beer, a meal, some window shopping. I go into a lot of bookstores, and sometime search out one using google. I didn’t find any good used bookstores this time, I think because I didn’t try enough. I went in to a Brompton store to look at their new 20” version. If you are a bike nerd you know what a Brompton is. You see more Bromptons here than anywhere else. Big men (others too), riding along the streets on tiny wheel bikes or pushing a neatly folding bike along underground corridors. I want a Brompton, but need one like a hole in the head. It is the ultimate commuter accessory. My watch app told me that my daily walking steps on this trip was over 13,000, but that in London it was closer to 20,000.

Summary

So that’s it for this trip. It was great. I had questions about the kind of travel I can and might do and some of those things were answered. The trains were great, but if I wanted to walk in the country more or do some special photography, I think I would rent a car or even more preferably a travel van. The hostel system is still great, but possibly because it was low season. If you like pubs, bookstores and rolling country there is no better place to travel. I took a lot of pictures, but I am not enthused about them yet. Perhaps when I get around to working on them they will sparkle a bit more.

‘til next time..

Ken

Posted in Britain, London | Tagged england, europe, europe, London, travel, uk | Leave a comment

The Lake District

Posted on October 20, 2025 by kenmyhre

Oct 10

I left my Canterbury guesthouse after breakfast for the 4 minute walk to Canterbury East. There are two stations in Canterbury. I was heading north and my first train was to Victoria station, London. I’m not sure if you can train north without passing through London but I couldn’t find a way. The problem is I had an underground connection to get to Euston station, which is not covered by my Britrail pass. I was heading to Northampton. I am not sure how many rail stations serve London, but I think I have gone through at least four and I am sure there are more.

So why am I going to Northampton? I wanted to try at least one midland city and couldn’t come up with a good reason to choose one, so I scanned the premier rugby schedule to see if any of the cities I was thinking of visiting had a rugby game on the weekend. The Northampton Saints won, I was off to visit their city. To be clear, I did not think it would be worth the effort going to the live game, but I booked it and then decide what would do when the time came.

My walk to my guesthouse in Northampton was to take 20 minutes, but after10 minutes I was still 20 minutes away according to Google. Obviously I was off track. Thankfully I was now on a bridge crossing a small river, which helped me orient. Even so it took some serious compass-map work to get my head straight . The grey day didn’t help. This was one of those guesthouses that is very exacting about check in. I had a code and it jusf would not open the door. They always have a phone # to call if you need help. I have no phone. Then a guy came out the door; i stuck my foot in the opening and asked if he could help. He looked at my email message and pointed out that I was 10 minutes early.

I have had a whole range of check in times on this trip and some stick by it and some are not so fussy. It is all a bit annoying, I think the worst are these guesthouses that are run completely without encountering anyone; all electronic.

My walk through Northamption so far didn’t tell me much. I had walked through some industrial areas including a big Carlsberg brewery, a big park and into a residential area. I found a high-end pub for a £24 lasagne and beer so when I went to bed I had no idea what I would do on my day in Northampton. The one difference from the south is that there was a little heat from the radiators. This helped with my clothes washing,

Oct 11 Northampton

I left my guesthouse heading towards what I hoped might be the downtown on a little pathway between the houses across the street from my place, it lead into a very unkempt old Norman church yard and then into a back street. Immediately, no more than 200 m from my guesthouse I came to a pub that at 830 was busy so in I went. It was a Wetherspoon, which I now think is a chain eatery, and I think the place I liked in Eastbourne was also a Wetherspoon. I had a small breakfast and all the coffee I wanted for less than £5.

Out on the street I found the commercial district and walked around for a while. I was not going to walk as much today to give my knee a little rest. After a trip back to my place for a while I headed out onto a different street and came across a rugby pub, so in I went to enjoy watching, with local supporters the Northampton team win their game. I had looked into going to the game, but it was too far away and the logistics too complicated. The pub experience was just fine.

Oct 12 To The Lake District

I had figured out the walk to the train station and it was very easy and pleasant on this Sunday morning. I had a close to 5 hour 3 train ride day to get me to the Lake District. The longest segment was on a London Glasgow train. If I had bought a full Britain pass rather than just an England pass I would have squeezed in a Glasgow visit. It will have to wait.

I am somewhat familiar with the Lake District having spent time there 11 years ago, and I am back now because I enjoyed it so much. The Windermere train station is a bit above the town of Bowness which sits on Lake Windermere. I am booked into the Windermere YHA, which is well out in the country not close either the town or the Lake. I walked about 30 minutes along the main road hoping for somewhere I could spend a couple of hours. My check in time is 5:00.

When I got to the little road that was going to climb up about a km to the hostel there was only a service station, so I back tracked to a hotel that looked possible. As it turned out they had a Sunday roast dinner to which I added a beer. The steep walk up the hill to the hostel took another 20 minutes, along a quiet rock wall lined road. It turned out I could have easily spent time at the hostel if I had arrived early, but then you never know.

I am staying in hostels in the Lake District by booking 4 or 6 bed dorms, the cost £30 or a bit more per night, twice that of a dorm bed. This I think is only possible in off season and then only during the week. I feel this is a great way of getting the hostel advantage in a private room.

Oct 13 Ambleside

It was very misty and cold enough that I wore a light sweater and my heavier anorak as I joined the road I and continued on up to Troutbeck not far up from the hostel. The road grade continued around 8% so it wasn’t long before my anorak found its way back into my bag. At Troutbeck which did not seem much more than an old farm, a post office and an inn I turned onto Robin’s Lane, which soon became gravel and then too narrow for vehicles, but still it climbed through rock lined fields mostly with a few sheep, now above most trees. I was getting a few mist pictures but the possible views down into the Windermere valley, if there, never appeared.

I passed in and out of a few fields, each with it’s distinctive gate that allows walkers to access the walking routes. I was following a route to Ambleside described on a sheet provided by the hostel.

This was the kind of walking I was hoping for here, my last visit was all about getting up as many mountains, or fells as they are called, as possible. I don’t feel comfortable doing that now because of my gimpy hip and knee. But even if those were better my balance problems mean that I want to stay away from any tricky walking. On I went, there was little chance to go wrong, and I knew that I would eventually come down out of the hills into Ambleside.

My one concern was that I had come up a long way and that I had, by my reckoning, not much walking distance left to get down. Sure enough, the trail down began switch backing it’s way down often over wet rock outcroppings. Two trail runners passed me near the bottom. They would have flown over these sections without hesitation. I had also passed a few groups coming up from Ambleside, who probably had no trouble; nor would I have had much trouble going up. It is now much easier for me to go up. The small pack I am carrying is no trouble on easy walking terrain, but here it added to my lack of confidence.

I made it down without tripping or sliding awkwardly, but my performance did not build much confidence for further walks. Still it was a good walk for me. I took a further couple of hours to visit Amblesidec, have a snack and then walk back along lake Windermere a ways to where the hostel sits looking out over the Lake.

Oct 14 Hawkshead

I have booked the next two nights at Hawkshead YHA. To get there I have three options. Bus, walk back through Ambleside and then on, or take a 15 minute ferry to Wray Castle and walk from there. The day looked nice enough to rule out the bus and the walk through Amleside would be mostly on busy roads so that was out. So, the ferry it is.

This would not be a long walk so I caught the 11:00 ferry. I can’t check into the hostel before 5:00. My walk would take about 2 hours, a bit of time at the castle and a couple of hours in Hawkshead.

And that is how the day unfolded. I didn’t spend much time at the castle, but made up for it by ambling very slowly along the very quiet roads. I took quite a few pictures and spent some time trying to get a very vocal bird that I heard often along the way.
All of Hawkshead village’s buildings, mostly white plastered, seems to be converted to tourist service of some sort. I walked all streets, visited a Beatrice Potter museum and an old Norman church. I had soup and coffee when I got there and an ice cream when I left for the mile walk to the hostel. The walk wasn’t as interesting as yesterday’s but maybe more in line with my abilities.

The mile walk to the hostel was similar to the walk over from Windermere but now Esthwaite water is across the trees on the left and it poked it’s head out a few times. I had same beer and chicken burger I had in the Windermere YHA; it is a good £5 less than anything else.

In the lounge I made hostel bookings at Grasmere, back at Amble side and then out of the lakes to Stratford-upon-Avon for two nights. This will finish off my meandering as I am then booked in London for the rest of my time here. It was a bit of a struggle to get affordable places at some of the other places of interest. On my list were Liverpool, Leeds and Cambridge.

Oct 15 Hawkshead

I had a quiet day. No hurry after breakfast, just some reading and researching. It is nice that all of my travel choices have now been made. Mid-morning I did the walk back into town. Not carrying my pack I could wander around and in and out of the little shops easier. There is a little bookstore there that with my pack I couldn’t turn much or bend down at all. Today I could do a better job. I am now getting close to the end and so I’ve allowed myself to consider buying some books, but nothing in Hawkshead appealed; it is truly a tiny shop. I did buy some things at the grocery store however, particularly since I will be staying at a couple more hostels.

While I am here let me share some of the reasons I prefer staying at British hostels to most other places. I did not come expecting to say in so many. Cost is a major issue for me, but that has not been the main reason I have been staying in hostels. I have been booking mostly private rooms, which means that I have a room with 3 to 6 beds. The cost has been £30 -£60 a night. Normally if you book a shared room it is £15. I did this twice early on. The first time, in Bath, it was very crowded and not great. It was actually a YMCA, not an YHA The second time was fine. Still, as all the other hostels I was heading to gave me the choice of private I took it, I think during peak times this is likely much harder to do.

The YHA hostels here all have the same pretty high standards of service and cleanliness. One of the beds I had was too short, but otherwise fine. The bedding is always very nice. In comparison the guestrooms in the same price range, £40-£75, have been not very nice. I have had 4. Hard to find and get into, poor beds and no interest at all.

In the hostels I meet people; most are elderly travelers, some walkers, but there have been some families with kids, which always makes things livelier and more enjoyable. I have been able to buy meals, which I usually do, but I could make my own, which I did once so far, and I do make my own coffee and now tea.. Hostels always have information on the area, guesthouses not so far.

I have a more expensive guesthouse in London and the one I stayed at in Canterbury also jumped to that higher level. I’m still not sure though that more money makes for a better experience, particularly for solo travelers.

Oct 16 Grasmere

After breakfast I walked leisurely down the road to Hawkshead for the last time. This time I stopped a few times and headed down a side road for a ways trying to get a picture what Merlin calls a chaffinch that I have been listening to for the last few days, but I was still not successful. I have a few shots from Norway and it is probably the same bird, but I will keep trying.

In Hawkshead I caught the bus passing through Ambleside to Grasmere, where I am booked for the night. This was my first bus while here and if my knee was even a little less sore I would have al least walked part way. I am hoping to walk from Grasmere to Ambleside tomorrow, and since that promises to be off the roads for part of the way I decided to save myself for that.

On my last trip to the Lakes I stayed at Grasmere twice for I think 4 nights and did a number of fells from there. There are cars on the streets here but it is still pleasant to walk most streets, it is much less hectic than Ambleside seems. I had an expensive steak pie when I arrived and then walked until 4:30 before I walked up the hill for a few minutes to the hostel. It was so nice to be back here. This was the place I came to two days after my bike was stolen in London and my bike trip was squashed. I had been charmed by the ride in on the bus from the Windermere train station, the lovely old hostel building and the people in it. It was exactly what I needed. I think I spent about four nights here out of the ten I spent walking the falls at that time. All of those old feelings came back to me as I walked up to the old building nestled in the forest above Grasmere .

Oct 17 Ambleside

After a nostalgic evening in Grasmere I was off walking out of the village on a quiet road on the west side of Grasmere Lake, stopping often to photograph the fall colours muted by the soft grey day. I took a few shots of an lovely stone house with its garden that I am sure I captured 11 years ago. After less than an hour a sign took me through a stile onto a trail that dropped down to the lake. I sat at the end of the lake for a while appreciating the view across the Lake to Grasmere and above into the mists that just revealed the fells, likely Langsdale, above.

Continuing on, now with more other walkers most with dogs, the fall colours now more prominent than. even a day or two ago. I headed off on one possible trail that proved a bit rough for me; after making my way through a couple of muddy spots where stepping from rock to rock tested my balance issues too much I turned back and took the easier path. I had another choice to make, but the signage had me take the less preferred trail, I came to realize later.

I walked on a good walk-way beside the busy road as it passed along Rydal Waters. This was the least preferred option for me because of the traffic, but it did yield some photos of a photogenic tree in Rydal Waters. An interesting aspect of the Lake District for aliens* such as myself are the geographic names. There are of course many old Norse words like thwaite, beck, fell and so on. Rydal Waters indicates that it’s size is in between a lake and a tarn. (* would Mr Trump call me an alien? probably)

As I passed the end of Rydal a small road with signage for Ambleside took me away from the busy road. This would add a bit to my walk, but time was not an issue today. A couple carrying a child came off of a trail that joined the road. I had seen this couple when I was sitting beside Grasmere Lake, so I could have stayed away from the busy road had I known the trails better.

This back road into Ambleside was quite busy with walkers but almost no vehicles; good choice . I got some pictures of a little European Robin, that I had first seen here 11 years ago. I was again surprised at how small it is; smaller than a sparrow, tiny compared to it’s namesake the American Robin, which of course is a thrush not a robin.

I stopped in Ambleside for yet another steak pie, which I was able to stretch into two meals by carrying half of it onto the Ambleside hostel where I spent my last Lake District night. It has been great… again.

Oct 18

I took 2 buses and three trains over about 7 hours to get to the YHA a couple of kms outside of Stratford-upon-Avon, where I will spend my final two nights before London. This was certainly my most complicate travel day. The plans changed during the day as two connections were not made. The positive aspect of the day was a confirmation that Google does a pretty good job of helping connect to buses as well as trains.

I have generally not used buses much mostly because I wanted to walk as much as possible, but where I walked within towns it would have been possible most of the time to take buses, and Google could be used to help.

I likely will not use all of my 15 train days that I bought from Britrail. In part because I stayed in The Lakes longer than expected. I am not sure if the pass saved money, but I really enjoyed each travel day just getting on trains and even changing my route that day if I wanted. The trains themselves have been great; usually lots of room, good bathrooms, pretty good adherence to their time promises. Much of the writing I have done was on trains. There are many different train companies and while slight differences, nothing that is problematic. A very good choice for me.

Oct 19 Stratford-upon-Avon

I took the local bus into town and back again at the end of my visit. Today is the most rainy day that I have had so far. I had hoped to see a play at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, but there was no play on this Sunday, and likely there would not have been tickets anyway. After walking the streets and visiting the birds on the banks of the Avon I did join a tour of the theatre.

Both the main 1000 seat theatre and the smaller 400 seat Swan Theatre have been redesigned is recent years. In 1986 the Swan was changed to the old Shakespearean notion of a platform stage projecting into where seats would normally be in the old picture frame type. The seats rise three levels up on three sides. All of the audience are much closer to the players and the players are now playing to a more 3 dimensional audience. This was so successful that in 2010 a three year renovation embraced the same design for the main theatre, but in that case they also included no end of mechanics and modern technology that allow very involved productions. Revolving sets, flying actors and so on. We also toured backstage and saw a bit of what goes on before and during a show.

An interesting thing happened as I was waiting for the bus . I was leaning against a wall a bit out of the light rain and an elderly Asian with a big camera quickly turned and snapped a picture of me, reversing the normal roles for me. Am I now a subject of interest?

The whole town revolves around Shakespeare. Good visit.

Off to London

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South England

Posted on October 10, 2025 by kenmyhre

Oct 3
It was drizzling when I left the Penzance hostel at about 8 o’clock for my 20 minute walk to the train station. I was beginning an eastward move, initially to Plymouth. It would be a 2 1/2 hour single train ride. The grey day followed along giving not much to watch slide by the train window. When I disembarked the drizzle had matured to fine rain. I changed into my raincoat and brought out the cover for my pack, for the first time this trip.

I had picked Plymouth a few days ago as my next destination in large part because of it naval history. I now know that the national naval museum is only open one day a week and it is not one of my days. The weather is not great and I was hoping for a good museum. So my expectations are not great.

I stopped in at a McDonald’s for a while and then spent sometime in a Waterstones, the wonderful British bookstore. I was getting out of the rain and killing some time before I could get into my BNB, still about 20 minutes further away from the town centre. Finally the rain let up and I finished my walk to the BNB. It is actually an Airbnb, but doesn’t provide the second b.

I made the return trip back in to the centre to find something to eat, getting familiar with Plymouth. I still didn’t find a good route to the harbour. Perhaps tomorrow it will look more interesting.

Oct 4 Plymouth

I had a long sleep as there was no hurry to get going this morning. But I was still out at 9:30 it was sunny cold and quite windy when I left. Instead of walking back to where I had been yesterday I headed down to the waterfront. I found a cafe that was open and I had poached eggs and coffee. I think this is better than the full English for me. Continuing to the waterfront I found what I would call the tourist part of the harbour. There were more restaurants and a few tourists, as cold and windy as it was. I found a memorial to the Mayflower and what are called the Mayflower steps where the first North American settlers climbed onto their ship in 1620. And then I went into the Mayflower Museum for some further edification.
Much of the layout of the waterfront is unchanged from the 1600s when the Mayflower departed with 102 people hoping to create a new life and for some, religious freedom. It was not a peaceful settlement as history related in the museum illustrated.

I was hoping to see more signs of the British navy as it is purportedly stationed here, but it must be hidden off someplace less obvious. Still the waterfront was more attractive than advertised.

My wandering took me to The Box, billed as the prime attraction in Plymouth as it proved to be. It is a museum with lots of community type activity on this Saturday. I enjoyed art, natural history and Plymouth history .

It was now approaching 2 pm, and time to find a rugby pub. It took three pubs before I found one showing the South Africa vs Argentina game being played at Twickenham in London. Very good game with SA winning by 2, retaining it’s world #1 status.

Plymouth was just fine to spend a few days when the weather was not ideal. I walked over 17,000 steps each day here.

Oct 5

I am moving on to Totton, and I need to make specific train connections, as only a few stopped at Totton each day. So I was up early to make the 45 minute walk to the station. It was chilly and cloudy but no rain. Totton is on the outskirts of Southampton and I am here because of its proximity to The New Forest.

I had a good first walk around the head of the long sea inlet that makes Southampton a great harbour. Snowy egrets and a tit showed for me. To complete the day I found a nice pub that,let me order a Dominos pizza from next door.

My guesthouse was run by about 4 young people who tried very hard to make my stay good. The downstairs bathroom doesn’t help my reaction, but it was still better than my Plymouth version.

Oct 6 New Forest

I had a breakfast croissant at Costa and then by bus us to Lyndhurst, the centre of an area of national trust lands now a national park. The walk I picked was a circle walk, starting mostly in a grassy meadow with many of the ponies the area is renowned for. I wandered off on different pursuits, picking out a few birds along the way. There were trails everywhere, but it was easy walking anywhere. I headed for a large bunch of trees, crossing a field that was getting a bit more standing water that I easily could get around.

In the trees I made my way toward an opening where a couple of ponies were grazing. The standing water patches were now harder to get around and I couldn’t get into the open field. Soon I was onto a little patch of dry ground and couldn’t get off. Luckily a tree anchored the ground I was on so I could hold onto it and probe with my stick. Every where my stick just plunged in. Lots o grassy tufts, but they just seemed to float on the muck. Finally I just had to plunge in. I tried a couple of quick steps trying to skim across to the next likely spot but I was in up to my knees. I got out but it took a half dozen steps in knee deep mud that seemed without a base. Scary.

Once onto gravelly trails again I took my shoes and socks off, washed my shoes off a bit with my remaining drinking water. The socks would get dumped later in the day. I walked my way out and onto the bus back without socks in my shoes.

I later bought a pack of three socks that would over the days help clean the smelly muck out of my shoes, washing them at night. What lesson here, said the spider to the frog as they sunk in the pond …”I am who I am”…whatever.

More time in The New Forest could be had, possibly on a rented bike.

Oct 7 Eastbourne

I am spending only one night at Eastbourne, and in many ways that is too bad. My room is the best value I have had so far. My own ensuite 3 story walk up, 75 m from the long sea walk, many good affordable eateries. Eastbourne, like Brighton about 15 kms nearby, is an old sea-side destination. It has a long sea walk, tiny beach houses exemplifying an older time, a long entertainment pier with a grandiose Pavilion, and many hotels built before and after the 40s. Many of these old hotels are now much out of fashion which is why they are cheap and good for me.

I walked all of the sea wall, right out to the white chalk cliffs, had a Guiness at the Pavilion enjoying the gulls playing with the breeze sweeping over the decks. I imagined that 60 years ago, when I rode my brand new bike through these same towns that I am now riding trains through, gulls, likely ancestors of these gulls, played the same wind games and swept the same decks for scraps.

In a big “free house” I had a great steak pie and beer for less than £10. Eastbourne was a delight.

Oct 8

I was on my way to Canterbury but was stopping off at Rye. Rye is one of the quintessential British village that Asians and would be photographers like me are attracted to for its photogenic streets. On my couple of mid-morning hours there I took some street photos, had a croissant and coffee, visited two book store and bought a one £1 book. Probably the latter was the best result. One of the best features of Britain is the wealth of Bookstores, both new and used.

Village photography. I’m not doing too well. No doubt there is an artistic creativity that factors in, but possibly my biggest drawbacks are planning, timing and patience. I arrive in Rye mid morning on a sunny day and leave two hours later. The harsh shadows put one side of the street in dark shade while the other side was in bright sun. To get better photos I would need to put more effort into getting here in better conditions and be prepared to wait for those conditions to occur. I think the best shots I got were probably some of the details that I could take in either sun or shade. But I did see Rye and it is indeed lovey and if you are a good photographer a fine destination.

I arrived in Canterbury about 1:00 walked to my guesthouse in about 20 minutes to leave my bag. About 10 minutes got me back into the old town to the cathedral. Canterbury Cathedral is possibly my prime destination for south England, largely for it’s historical role. Tomorrow is the day that I have designated as my cathedral day but the ticket people indicate that my £18 ticket is good for a year. So in I went to get the lay of the land and plan my full day. I did a quick run through the main buildings, took a few shots and found out when I could get a tour. I also walked the old town streets for a while. It was very busy with large groups of students, both on their own and with I supposed to be their schools. I would come back later, at dinner when many had left.

My guesthouse, I have gone a bit more upscale here, is lovely. Crisp white sheets, four pillows, big fluffy towels, plush sitting rooms, and so on. I’m tempted to stay longer than two nights.

Oct 9 Canterbury Cathedral

Breakfast was high-end continental, with lots of coffee to fire me up for the day. My tour started at 10:30. We wandered purposefully throughout the many buildings getting snippets of information on dates and special stories on various parts of the building and on the different characters that affected things over the centuries. Each guide probably has their own stories they like to share. They all seem to be older and well informed.

I’ll just share a little here. I am sure each of us also retains different things and are attracted to different kinds of information. The first British Christian church was built on the site of the cathedral about 600 AD. Construction on the cathedral that stands today started in 1077 and was primarily, after some destruction, fires and the like, was finished in about 1400. Although repairs, improvements and such never really stops. Much of the stained glass was destroyed by Oliver Cromwell in the 1600s in his putitanical zeal, and the Victorians installed many that are there now. Further stained glass was shattered during WWII, along with other destruction. Some interesting panels to replace that destruction was done by a Hungarian in the 1950s. They would be considered shamelessly “woke” by our conservatives today. There are no end of memorials and statutory to honour people and events throughout British History.

I was most interested in hearing and reading about Thomas Beckett, Thomas and Oliver Cromwell, the Black Prince and Henry VIII, and some more common people of the times. The pilgrimage related to Thomas Beckett makes particularly interesting reading, should this be of interest. I was also interested to hear that during the bubonic plague the monks cloistered themselves so completely that none of them died, while thousands outside perished. There must be thousands of stories. Walking the halls the stone flagstones show dramatic wear, particularly noticeable on stairs. You can’t help but think about the thousands famous, infamous and otherwise that have walked there before you.

I am now off to the Midlands…

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South West England

Posted on October 2, 2025 by kenmyhre

While in London I will need to figure out how to get around. Mostly I use the tube or the underground. I have never figured out how to use the bus system which is very extensive and I’m sure probably more efficient than the underground for short trips. My last time here was when I had my bike stolen and I began to use the street bike system which was wonderful for me at that time. This time I will also try to figure out how to use the bike system but for my first couple of days I will mostly walk a bit and use the underground. I have only a few things to do before heading out.
I will have to initiate my esim for Britain and I need to activate my Brit Rail Pass. These are the two primary electronic systems that I will use extensively while here. Only a few days before I left I discovered that Fujikina, a photography show, was being held in London while I am here. There is one session now and one session in the week I’m in London before I go home that I am interested in. So I have enrolled. Finally I have to figure out the train system and get to the right station for my first train booking which is to Bath in Southwest England

Sept 24

I arrived at Heathrow on time, about noon. It took 3 trains to get to Kennington Station and 10 minutes to find the Lotus guesthouse in the Buddhist temple a little South of the Thames. The new London underground system that I used involved setting up Google Pay . That done, you touch your bank card to the reader when you enter and leave the underground. I believe when you reach some maximum for the day it stops charging. I probably used the wrong train out of Heathrow. My first day’s charges were about $55. I headed out and found a pub meal. Early to bed. Walking Heathrow and the underground gavww me my 10k steps.

Sept 25 London

I was awake about 4 o’clock and finally got up at about 6. It was still dark but i was on my way heading north toward the centre. After close to an hour I saw a nice looking hotel with people eating. It was now about 7:00 and so I went in and had a buffet breakfast, but did not do it justice. Continuing on I joined walkers bikers and runners in the stream of people heading in all directions on their way to join the day. The sun was going to shine today, but it was still 10C chilly. I crossed the Thames with many others crossing equally in both directions. I was surprised to see many Bromptons among the bikes. I think I should buy one.

Entering Covent Gardens, most street level businesses are restaurants and such serving business and tourist customers. I just kept walking Back down along the Thames for a while to Big Ben, then reversing again to Trafalgar Square. Spent some time in the National Gallery. Meandering continually into various of central London districts, I had a late lunch near Leister Square, the theatre district. Mid afternoon I ran out of gas and returned by tube to my guesthouse. Another pub dinner and bed. This had been a 25,000 step day connecting a few places very distant in memory, mostly preparing for my visit in a few weeks. Underground charges for one train and about four stops was about $5.

Sept 26

This was Fujikina day, but I was in Covent Garden where it was held early enough to have breakfast and walk some of its photogenic streets. Notable amongst these is an area called 7 Dials where 7 roads meet in a little circle. I am moving on after the show so I have my pack with me. My little shoulder bag with camera and what I need for the day weights 6 lbs. My pack with all my stuff adds 15 lbs. I can walk around all day without much problem as many of my days will be like this.

The photo show was ok. The first session was 5 photographers talking about mostly their youtube efforts. The sound system didn’t work well for me. The second was a presentation by Thomas Heaton who gave a slide type show on the filming of a National Geographic show featuring him on a railway trip from Kunming in China to Laos. This was better, and I could discern most of the presentation. I had a chance to talk with Thomas a little.. After the show I plunged back into the underground popping back up at Paddington station for my first official train trip, to Bath about 90 minutes away. My underground charges for that day were about $11, for three trains about 1 hour of travel.

My flex rail pass will give me 15 days travel over the next 2 months. I click on the link I was given, choose the travel day and a pass is sent. I store it on my phone. During that travel day I wave it in front of a reader entering and leaving stations and to conductor’s hand readers as many times during that day as I wish. There is a different pass for each day.

Sept 27 Bath

I am staying at Bath for three nights. During my Friday to Monday time here at my chosen pub I watched the Europeans narrowly beat the US in the 2025 Ryder Cup. Coincidentally on my last trip here the 2011 version had the same result. Of even more interest for me, with less satisfying result, the English women beat their Canadian counterparts in rugby. The pub crowd was quite raucous during this game, drowning out the lone, but one, Canadian supporters.
My first full day in Bath I just walked, appreciating the mammoth Cotswold Limestone buildings reflecting the time of the Romans. I didn’t enter the old Roman bath or the Abbey. I walked the Avon canal for a while and headed in for the early rugby match.

Sept 28 Stonehenge & Avebury

The main reason for the Bath visit was to pick up an all day but tour to Stonehenge, Avebury and two scenic villages. Trains do not go everywhere, but as I really wanted to visit the two prime Neolithic sites in Britain and as local bus connections are sporadic after much deliberation at home, I chose the tour. It turned out to be a very good choice. There were 18 of us on a full bus, the driver-guide was very good and most importantly, his sound system was perfect. I could even follow his jokes.

The tour meandered through the rolling hills of the Cotswolds and the flatter Salisbury Plains covering parts of the counties of Wiltshire and Somerset. Almost always on quiet back roads, lined with stone walls and hedgerows, through small villages, accompanied by Dan’s stories from history, geography and nature intermixed with his eclectic music and pretty humorous jokes.

There were thousands of visitors at Stonehenge. Shuttle buses took us a km to the mammoth stone circle, where we walked well away from the stones around the outside. A few of my photos were of the antics people went through to have their pictures taken holding up the stones in their hands or other such poses. It takes half an hour to walk back along the road. My walk took a bit longer because there was a forest to visit, some birds to pursue and a barbed wire fence to climb. The new visitor centre is a great improvement apparently on the one Bill Bryson writes about in “…Small Island”

Avebury has hundreds of standing stones in possibly three circles, the centre of which is the village with shops, houses and a pub. While the stones at Stonehenge are up to 4 metres high and 25 tons and are shaped into square pillars, at Avebury they vary significantly in size, up to 3 metres high, much less weight and are not shaped. Still you can walk amongst them. Like the stone circle I went to outside of Keswick on my last trip a couple seemed to have moved in and were having a séance of some sort. There are lots of mystical stories about stone circles, no doubt beneficial for those more attuned to the earth’s vibrations than I.

The Cotswold villages of Lacock and Castle Coomb have acted in numerous films and TV shows, and were no doubt scenic sites for British travelers before film days. We had a out an hour to amble in each.

Sept 29

It took three trains for me to get to Okehampton on the northern edge of Dartmoor National Park. I changed trains at Bristol and Exeter, both large cities that have many attractions. Oakhampton’s attraction are: it is a small town, on the railway, with a hostel, on the edge of a place that I can go for a walk in the hills.

I arrived a bit after noon. The hostel is almost part of the train station, and they let me check in at that time, something that rarely happens in bigger places. And up I went, on a rough trail, across a trellis bridge over the busy highway, through fields of ferns and sheep, through gates that allow walkers to cross all land in Britain. I did not know how I was going to enter Dartmoor when I headed out, but the land soon opened up. I was on a small road system leading into hills that would do just fine. I wandered a bit on this first day, entered a military reserve and got to the top of one of the smaller hills. I also picked out a possible hill for the next day.

The nearest pub to the station and hostel is about a km downhill into the town proper, which added to my hill walk made for a good walking day. I had one room mate for my two nights here.

Sept 30 Dartmoor

Another fine day found me back up to the military reserve, but now there were red flags flying and an old guy at the gate told me there was shooting in the reserve. After some negotiations he let me head on up a bit west of where he thought the training was going to happen. Not far on I could see about 8 soldiers marching up the road on a neighbouring hill. I was not really sure about this, but on I went.

Coming to a pass the gravel road petered out and so I headed straight up. Soon I was navigating through larger rock outcroppings, and it was a bit steeper. Now this was not steep but I was getting a bit fatigued, I had not stopped for about 2 hours, and so I felt shaky. If I fell the only thing that could happen is hitting a rock badly. “Canadian Mountain Man Killed on Darmoor Fall”. That would be too embarrassing.

The “Dartmoor Tors” are granite outcroppings left behind as the softer rock wore away over the millennia. There are hundreds spread out across the moor, often at the top of the hills. I was wandering around the Tors at the top of my hill, looking for pictures, camera in hand, when I tripped on a rock that jumped out of nowhere. On the way down I spotted soft grass where I threw my camera and found another grassy spot for my body. Still very embarrassing, but at least I kept it out of the news. I have promised myself not to walk around rock fields head in the air. I was now hearing a rat-a-tat-tat, that normally I would attribute to a woodpecker, but as there were no trees and as I wanted to stay out of the news I thought that I would had down on the opposite side of my hill.

Back down I had a nice coffee, a bit of a rest, a walk along a river valley and mysteriously a 7 pound beer and fish and chips. A pub meal and beer have always been more than 12 pounds so far. . This was a great two days for me.

Oct 1

Moving on west I took 3 trains to get to St Ives, in Cornwall. I just wanted a look and I could get there by train. I was hoping I could walk out of town along the cliffs. Not to be. St Ives is a beach town, with hotels, guesthouses and restaurants rimming each of its beaches. Very pretty but the steep cobble streets make for poor walking, and I could not find an easy way out of town. After a beach side fish& chips I was back on 2 more trains to Penzance for two nights.

Oct 2 Penzance

My day in Penzance was marked by a bit of change in the weather. It was not raining when I left for my walk, but I was prepared. I walked back down through town past the rail station and onto the seaside walkway that leads to Saint Michaels Mount. This is an island castle in the Penzance Bay. Given the grey day it was not very scenic but it was mostly about the walk for me. I shared the walk with bikers runners dog walkers and even one or two optimistic fishermen. It was about a 2 hour walk. At low tide there is a causeway that can be used. I arrived about 2 ½ hours before high tide and there was no sign of the causeway. Boats cross over, but I didn’t plan on spending 36 pounds to visit the castle so I hopped a bus back to Penzance where I walked for a few more hours. I also had coffee at an old historic sea water pool that has been upgraded recently.

I have headed as far west as I am going, I have averaged about 14,000 steps a day so far, hopefully I will continue to find good walking.

I will try to send this off now. ..

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England 2025

Posted on September 22, 2025 by kenmyhre

On my last trip to Britain, in 2014, I went with three objectives. The first, to cycle from Lands End to John O’Groats.(LEJOG) This is an iconic bike trip that takes about 2 weeks, traversing from the extreme South to the very north of Britain. LEJOG has been done thousands of times, I was going to do it fast (for me), and so I had my best high-end bike.

And then I was going to cycle down to Glen-Eagles in Scotland to meet with my son and his family to watch the Ryder Cup. Finally I would carry on cycling back and forth south from Scotland to London to end my 2 month trip.

This plan went awry when, on my second day, the best bicycle I’ve ever had was stolen while I was watching Shakespeare at the Globe Theater in London. After a fretful evening castigating myself a new plan emerged.

I headed out in the morning to find different maps and better walking shoes, and I bought a train ticket to the Lake District where I had a wonderful 10 days walking the fells.

I then connected with Owen at the Ryder Cup. He had brought me another bicycle from home so I still had almost a month biking in Northern and Central England parts of Scotland and Wales. Other than the stolen bike this was great trip, I very much enjoyed the countryside, the walking, the biking, the people, the pubs and the history. And so, I’m going back.

In preparation for this trip I pulled up my blog from 2014. It is quite extensive, but you might find it interesting to read some of it. I did, and it has encouraged me to make entries this time as well. (2014 Britain Blog)

So I’m heading off to in effect continue 2014. However this time my primary mode of travel will be a Britrail Pass. I will focus mostly on Southern England but possibly popping around to visit a few other cities and places that I have not been. Possibly I’ll pop up to the Lake District to walk a bit if the urge coincides with the weather.

When not on the train I will be walking. In 2014 I was still fairly driven and could walk and bike fairly well. At 84 I am sad to say things have slowed down a bit. One test for me is whether or not I can adjust to the difference and still find ways of satisfying my need for a little bit of adventure. That need didn’t suffer the same deterioration as my body.

I will do a little photography, but I am only taking a small camera and a few light lenses. I probably won’t include any photos in my posts until I get home. I will search out historical sights, places of literary interest, scenic countryside and villages. Getting to walking regions will be high on my agenda but a bit of a challenge will be using public transport to get to trailheads. Responding to interesting opportunities that pop up is probably what I am most relishing.

Hopefully I will be able to post some interesting experiences…

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East Africa Birds – 1

Posted on April 25, 2025 by kenmyhre

For seven weeks Rich King and I visited Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia, largely in search of birds. Rich is a casual bird lister, I try to be a bird photographer. I hesitate to give either of us these labels because neither of us was ever very proficient at these pursuits and as octogenarians diminishing faculties have further eroded our capacity in these pursuits. But we keep trying and that is really the goal. Rich could probably add 500 birds to his life list from this trip except that he has travelled and worked in Africa many times. Similarly only about one half of the 300 species that I was able to get on the trip are new to my photo collection. Mostly however we are both happy to observe or capture birds new or not, particularly in a region so different from the northern climate we live in.

In other posts on this site I have and will share some of the experiences that we had. In this post I will begin to share with you photos of some of the species that I was able to capture representing the breadth of bird life that we encountered. I utilize taxonomic Orders, Families and Genera to group the species that you are free to ignore if you wish to just appreciate the images. The birds know no borders and so we saw and snapped many of the species in more than one country.

Uganda was where we started our trip and where we had our most complete birding experience, thanks to Mamaland Safari and Tony Byarugaba, an owner and our incredible guide, and so the lion’s share of the birds we got came from there.

To get a better look at photos on my site just touch a photo and it will fill your screen, spool through the gallery and the x to get back.

Acciptiformes

The family of Hawks ,Eagles and Kites, always high interest for me, has some 250 species on all continents except Antarctic, 80 in Africa

Fish Eagles, Snake Eagles, pure eagles, buzzards, and so on represent just a few of the many genera in this family. Of interest is the grouping of old world vultures in this family, but new world vultures have their own family, indicating greater taxonomic differences.

Anseriformes. Bucerotiformes

There are just these two Ground hornbill species. We saw about six of the 62 members of the Hornbill family. The Egyptian Goose was certainly the most frequent member of its family that we saw.

Charadriformes

I captured 26 species in this order that contains many shorebird families. The most interesting for me were the lapwings where I got 7 of the 23.

These two species were often seen together in the same way American Avocet and Black Necked Stilt are in North America.

Some that are within familar families to us and some new.

Doves, Storks and Mousebirds

Three families from different orders. On our trip I was able to photograph 9 of the worlds 353 species of doves-pigeons, 6 of the 20 storks and 2 of the 6 mousebirds.

The storks might be familiar to some but a mousebird?

Coraciiformes

We saw species from three wonderful families in this order. The 117 species of Kingfishers are found on all continents except Antarctica. Sadly in Canada we only have one. On this trip I got seven and chasing them around the world over the years I have found twenty five.

The Bee Eaters are an Old-world and Australia family of 31 species that are wonderful to observe. Like the Kingfishers they often return to their perch facilitating both watchers and photographers, and of course their wonderful colours make them easy to spot. I think all species nest in mud banks so it is a wonder they are always so clean and natty.

The final family for me in this order is the Rollers. Another Old-world family of 13 species, of which I will share only two. Seeing one roll is a treat that I have only seen in Zimbabwe many years ago; capturing it on film is a goal I can only hope for and it might bring me back to Africa again sometime.

And a few More

Cuckoos are a large family that I don’t have much experience with. Like our Cowbirds some species in the family are brood parasitic; meaning that they lay their eggs in other species’ nests.

Some very different birds.

A couple from the more familiar Falcon family

Finally, for this post, I will share two cranes, from the family of 15. They were at the top of my list of birds sought on this trip. The Gray Crowned was great for me as I have many photos from the first three countries. The Black Crowned a bit of a disappointment as I only had one sighting from very far away. The much cropped photo is just good enough to show some of the differences.

I will soon add a few more families…

Posted in Birds and Animals, East Africa, Ethiopia, Kenja, Tanzania, Uganda, Uncategorized | Tagged africa, Birding, birds, nature, photography, travel, wildlife | 3 Comments

Ethiopia

Posted on February 26, 2025 by kenmyhre

We are now home from our seven week four country Africa trip

Our Ethiopian venture began February 10^th with our flight from Dar Es Salaam. We were picked up by Tefera Alemu who had put together Rich’s trip before Covid and who would look after us for the next two weeks. The next day Anteneh, our guide for the first and last day of Ethiopia, gave us an introduction to the modern city of Addis Ababa and to it’s extensive market. A great window onto the people, products and customs of the country. This was followed by an Ethiopian Injera meal and coffee at the Tafera home. I had tried Ethiopian Injera many years ago, but had not practiced eating without tools for some time. I should have. More on this later. The coffee practice in Ethiopia is also different, but in this case more easily handled by a coffee addict.

As in my brief note on the other three countries on this trip, at this time I will only touch on a few highlights of my reaction to our Ethiopian leg.

Tafera and Yelew, our driver were at our hotel before 8:00 the next day and we began our drive to see a small part of the Ethiopian south. The prime tourist attractions are in the north and are focused on the Coptic Church, the world’s second oldest Christian Church and the cities of the old Ethiopian Empire. The south for us will be on birds and the culture of a few of the many traditional cultures that still survive and in some cases flourish.

We stopped once for two nights at the wonderful Bishangari Eco Lodge on the remote side of Lake Lagano a few days into our trip. We stayed tow nights due to it’s setting, the people of the lodge and it’s bird life that did not stop. It was to be our crowning birding experience on the Ethiopian leg. Other than that we moved every day. Most days we spent longer in the Land cruiser than my decrepit knees liked.

We drove many kilometers on rough, sometimes 10 kph rough, roads across parched desert like area and sometimes tropical rain forest. But primarily it was parched savannah like countryside, usually quite mountainous. People were everywhere. I think even more than our first three countries people were on the roads; carrying produce, fire wood, water in yellow plastic jugs… When they couldn’t carry things they used donkeys and donkey carts or bikes and motor bikes to help. And they used the roads to move their animals; cattle of numerous types and goats predominantly. Yelew was wonderful at slaloming through the road potholes and animal flocks. You don’t plan on getting anywhere fast in the Ethiopian south.

A highlight for me were our random stops, which could be done almost anytime, anyplace. One was a visit to a roadside farm. The house and Tefe haystacks were protected from marauding goats by rock and deadwood stockades. The family of about 8 were great. I have pictures of all the combinations of these beautiful shy people. The mother brought out plastic chairs to sit on and glasses of a cold drink.

We also visited a man building a rectangular mud, stick and straw house. The traditional norm is the round rondavel type huts that are still abundant. The modern version starts with a wooden frame made of whatever wood can be found. It is topped by a corrugated metal roof. At some point they pour a concrete floor which is about 40 cm deep and locks in all of those sticks at the base of the house. Dirt of any kind is stirred into a paste and straw is added. This paste is ladled onto the inside walls initially and then outside later. The finished product could then be painted any colour in the colour palet. The man we visited proudly told us of the process and his work. It would take him a month to finish, and his friend was building a similar place next door. No building codes to follow here.

Our days also had a number of coffee stops which became, in order of importance for me, a chance to stretch my legs, an opportunity to experience a little of this Ethiopian social tradition and to have some of the strong tiny cups of coffee. Each stop was different, but we always sat on tiny plastic chairs in the shade and waited for the coffee lady to brew the coffee and then pour us each a cup to the very brim full. I would have to pick up the cup with its tiny saucer for the first few sips. We often would have a second and even a third cup in this manner. Each stop was carefully chosen by Tafera and Yelew and was always an important place in the area for men to socialize. In busy areas there would be many coffee places to choose from.

Lunches were also fun. The same kind of places but now, on the tiny table at our centre, an Injera platter was provided. Injera is a thin pancake like bread made of Tefe flour and in this form covers a round platter about 50 cm in diameter. Onto the Injera sauces, meats, vegetables are poured. We would pull off a little of the injera and use it to pick up a mouthful of the offerings. Often more would be brought out. I did improve somewhat during our time and always loved it.

Some people still live in the traditional ways. We visited a number of them. Our visit to the Hamar people was in two parts. We started with a night in tents in the enclosure of one family. Part of this night was a goat, bought from them by Tafera, cooked on an open fire which was served to many of the people in the area. Naturally our presence, and perhaps the goat, brought in all of the kids (people type) who were very curious of these old men. The goat was eaten late in the dark of the evening and everyone took part. In the morning I had tribal coffee which is made from coffee leaves served by the matron of the kraal in her hut. The next night we stayed in a tourist style lodge owned by the Hamar people, managed by an American woman. I was impressed with this tribe as they live with a foot in each of the traditional and modern.

That is all for now. As I process my hundreds of pictures I intend to share a bit more.

Ken…

Some Birds

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged africa, Birding, coffee, food, nature, travel | Leave a comment

Tanzania

Posted on February 11, 2025 by kenmyhre

We arrived in Tanzania on Feb 1, settling in for two nights in a hotel in Arusha. Arusha is the centre of tours into the northern highlands, where most of the animal parks are situated. Rich has visited this part of the world extensively over fifty years ago when he was teaching in Dar el Salaam. We are only doing a superficial visit here because of the extensive nature of our trip, mostly to give me a feeling for the Tanzania Game Parks.

We each went out own way on our one free day in Arusha. Rich headed off to visit a major museum. I wanted to walk the streets a bit, my first real opportunity to do that. My street walking ability is greatly hampered right now, but it is a large part of what I like to do everywhere I go. Walking along the streets in Arusha is complicated by the absence of anything like a real sidewalk. People walk on the side of the road, make their way through merchants and their wares, clamber over road works, dirt and debris of all manner. For the crowds of people it is different; as I stumble along what is like an obstacle course for me they dance across everything without apparent notice of the obstacles.

So I walk slowly, I can’t afford to trip and fall. Which means there is lots of opportunity to look around and talk with the odd person. There are a few people in any tourist area that are selling things, but it has not been obtrusive, and I initiated the conversations on most occasions. I had my small camera and so took a few photos, but mostly I just ambled with no objective for much of the day. The side streets were more pleasant than the main streets, as it was easier for me to walk and my conversations were more relaxed. I have included a shot of a group of guys with old Nikon cameras. One had an opportunity to try my newer model by shooting me with his Nikon buddies. When I needed a break I found a western style coffee shop with a nice place to rest. It is hectic walking but I love it.

Our three days in the parks began at 5:00 am with a two hour drive to a hotel, The Fig Tree, close to the three parks we would visit. We spent both nights and had our breakfast and dinners at the Fig Tree, always nice to not pack up every day, and to get to know people a little.

After a quick breakfast we got into a Safari type vehicle, seven clients and a driver guide, and headed for Ngorogoro Crater, our primary destination. An hour put us, along with about 30 other vehicles, at the gates. Our guide had to take his permits to be cleared to enter the park. The road, now rough unsurfaced, continued to climb to the rim of the crater and then along the rim before dropping into the crater, which is the attraction. As we cleared the deep jungle an open savannah began with some Masai villages, which I could only snap from the window as we whistled by.

We dropped from about 2300 m at the rim 600m to the crater floor, which is flat, open and contains a small lake. The walls of the crater have created an environment that supports a resident family of many of Africa’s animals. Missing are giraffes because the crater does not have the acacia trees that they need.

The three tours we joined, shared with other clients, are not birding tours. Most other clients were more interested in the animals, but the guide did know their birds and so on each tour we did get some birds to add to our collection. Highlights of the Crater tour was the big flat expanse where animals of all sorts were always in view. We saw nine lions in two different places, all indifferent to the trucks filled with people driving by. Good opportunities were had for elephants as well. Thousands of flamingos and other water and shore birds were in and around the lake. This day was great for me as Ngorogoro is a storied wildlife location, and Rich remembered little of his trip here over fifty years ago.

On the following days we visited Tarangire and Lake Manyara National Parks. Each with different clients and a different driver guide. They also teemed with animal and bird life to appreciate. Each day we had a hot lunch that was loaded in the truck in the morning. We had the lunch in a picnic type spot with dozens of other trucks of people. There seem to be no end of different providers of the booking and delivery of these safari offerings. There will also be many higher end safari offerings with remote lodges or tent camps to stay at. We only had time to taste this world, but it was great for me to add this to our birding trip.

We flew to Dar es Salaam, for a four day visit. It was our big city experience on this trip. Dar is not a tourist attraction, but it is where Rich lived and worked for four years, so it was nice to see that through his eyes. Fifty years does change these places though. I had a little more street walking here, enjoying yet another market area.

Onto our last chapter…Ethiopia

Posted in East Africa, Tanzania, Uncategorized | Tagged africa, Birding, nature, safari, travel, wildlife | 1 Comment

Kenya

Posted on February 2, 2025 by kenmyhre

I saw a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills.

Actually I have seen many farms so far on my trip to Africa, even some in the Ngong Hills as we passed through on the way to Nairobi. The farmhouse depicted here is certainly a bit more grand than most farmhouses we have seen, but it represents one of the more influential places in my interest in Africa I realize that there is a lot less cache in just having seen a place like this rather than owning it.

We spent one week in Kenya, we are now just into Tanzania. We entered Kenya at night, on a 12 hour bus ride from Kampala, Uganda. I think I survived in kind of a shellshock. From the horrendous traffic for close to two hours to escape Kampala, two hours stumbling through customs, ,many hours bolt upright in seats without room for legs.

We spent three days/nights in a two bedroom apartment ten kilometers from Nakuru. After the hectic 2 week s birding tour in Uganda and the soul destroying bus ride relaxing in a nice place felt deserved. We ate in restaurants twice in that time, cooked simply and chilled at the apartment making plans and bookings for the rest of our trip.

Our one productive day was with a nice man, Moses, known by the caretaker of out apartment. He came to us as a bird guide and we hired him to take us in his strange van birding at Lake Nakuru National Park, which is why we touched down here as our first stop in Kenya.

After an hour of very confusing logistics to pay 61 USD each we entered the park. When we sat in our seats we could not see out the window; perhaps a child could. The top did open like most safari type vehicles here, and so we spent the day jumping up and down to see the birds. As it turns out Moses did not know birds. He did spot a few but mostly it was up to us to find and identify the birds. He did drive us all around the park for the whole day and we did just fine. With a guide like Tony from Mamaland in Uganda, we would have doubled our take. As it was we didn’t get many new birds, but it was a lovely scenic drive and I improved on a number of my bird photos. We did get a distant look at a Lion. I am including a shot of a Lilac Breasted Roller that has been my favourite African bird since 1985 on my first trip to South Africa with my family.

Lake Nakuru is famous for its Flamingos and while we did see some the largest concentrations of birds were the Pelicans. I have enclosed a shot of them herding their prey into clusters. They would then, sometimes in unison, dive their long necks down to grab their lunch. Very fun birds to watch.

Our bus trip from Kampala taught us a lesson. To get to Nairobi we hired Moses, in a better car, to pick us up at our apartment and drive us to our hotel in a lovely suburb of Nairobi. It took us three hours and I did not have to be peeled from my seat.

We spent four nights in The Acacia Tree hotel in Karen a district in the south of Nairobi. It was recommended by our Uganda tour companion Ronnie and it was wonderful. In some ways the Acacia tree is fairly normal, but the people, service and contacts that we got there were incredible. We were still somewhat in relax mode but we did get out and about.

One day we walked about 3 km to the Karen Blixen Museum, where a lovely young guide showed us around and explained that the farmhouse we toured is original and that a famous film was shot there. Our guide smiled shyly when, in response to my request, she correctly recited the famous first line of one of my farourite African books. We walked back, stopping at a very fancy place for coffee and samosas. The day was great for me because it was the first time in over three weeks that I have been able to walk a small amount. If you have not figured out the farmhouse by now I give up.

Our big event in Nairobi was a day with a real bird guide, Daniel, in a real safari vehicle touring Nairobi National Park. We got many birds, quite a few new, and I again improved my photos a bit. I have included a shot of the snake bird, the Anhinga, swallowing his lunch. We had watched as his long snakelike neck topped by the fish swam across the pond to the side where he was able to swallow the catch.

Rich took more photos that I have seen him do so far on this trip. We saw lots of Giraffes, a few hippos and rhinos, but the star of this day appeared near the end of the day. We were driving along not really watching for new species much when a Serval, a lovely small cat ran across the road into the tall grass. He disappeared fast but we drove carefully along a few meters and there he was, in the grass staring up at us. We got some good shots and then he slipped back into the grass, appearing in the road with a partner, where they posed for a few minutes for us. What a fitting end to a lovely day.

The next day, our last in Kenya, The Acacia Tree staff had arranged out onward passage Tanzania. We were taxied into the centre of Nairobi where a limousine took us and two females on the five hour trip, crossing the border, to Arusha, Tanzania near Mt Kilimanjaro. We will have one day off and then on to an other venture.

Tanzania

Posted in Birds and Animals, East Africa, Kenja, Uncategorized | Tagged africa, Kenya, safari, travel, wildlife | Leave a comment

Birding in Uganda

Posted on January 24, 2025 by kenmyhre

The first part of this note was sent off as an email Jan 17 after 8 days of travel. I include it now to simply keep my notes together. The remaining days of our two weeks in Uganda with Mamaland were no less hectic, leaving no time to reflect on each day’s activity. I will continue, dated Jan 23, just summarizing some of the high points.

Our trip to Entebbe ballooned from 1 ½ days to 4 days, caused by a late first flight out of Calgary. To summarize, it took an hour and a friendly American bystander to create a new route to Entebbe which arrived Thursday rather than Tuesday. It is a good thing we take long trips. Our hosts for the first part of our 7 week trip is Mamaland Safari, rearranged our 17 day tour and so now we will start on day 3 of the old itinerary.

Each day is hectic. Off before dawn, after dusk into our backcountry lodge for shower, dinner, bed. We have seen 100s of bird species, many big African animals. Our main people connections outside of Tony out guide and Ronnie our driver are the people in the lodges who are so attentive, usually carrying our stuff, sometimes holding an elbow on a tricky part of the path to our cabin. This morning as we birded the grounds of the lodge overlooking the rift valley below one fellow followed with big chairs to sit on and another turned up with coffee and china cups. On the highway between sites we see lots of people action that I sometime get snaps of as we whiz by.

We have hiked in to watch chimps lounging in the forest canopy and have gone by boat along the connector between two of the lakes that the Nile feeds. We shared the water with numerous hippos who can get too close at a time, particularly since along the banks where we can spot the birdlife they like to snooze, just below the surface. For the first time in my birding life I spotted flocks of kingfishers, the pied, as they chased each other, plunged into the river for fish and resting momentarily on the mud banks. Most days we head off early, while the sun rises and creates that golden light, to drive through a national park. Tony will pick out one of the myriad of species this world has to offer from a bush or a mound. Rich with his binoculars usually finds it before me with my camera. We head on to the next one. Sounds repetitive, but then you have to be a birder. We make our long drives mid-day and then usually get some more good birding late afternoon.

I have so many good bird photos that will take me weeks to weed through. For the moment I will share the Grey-Crowned Crane, which might have been highest on my lists for this trip.

Just today, I have finally been able to get my photo backups done. Over 2000 so far. It has been dangerous to go so long, but time and weariness have been hard on me. So no time to process pictures let alone choose any to send.

Jan 23,

I am picking up this story at the Tilapia Lodge on a bay of Lake Victoria looking across at Entebbe, where we started the first night. We arrived last night and will spend two quiet days here before leaving for Kenya. Hopefully, internet permitting, I can post the note.

Jan 16-18 Topi Lodge

The Topi, like the other lodges, is quite isolated in the bush. I would call it African veld. It is surrounded by a high wired fence to keep the lions out. We are on the edge of the Ishasha Rift, in Queen Elizabeth Park. We arrived at the lodge late after having been birding from a boat of the connector between Lakes Albert and Edward, part of the Nile system.

We spent the next day birding from the lodge in our usual way. Out with the early light, late breakfast, birding around the lodge, out before dinner, dinner and bed. The meals were on an elevated platform some 25 m or so from the lodge so we had our watching stuff with us. The evening platform different from the morning one. We always eat outside to the songs of the veldt, crickets and frogs at night birds in the morning.

Our final morning we were back down to the Nile to drive the safari roads of the park. This was the best part of the day for me as the golden light helped me find the birds easier and the photos were a little better. Once birding waned we headed off again. This time to the higher jungle country in the southwest.

Birding the jungle is not as satisfying for me. The birds are harder to find buried in the foliage, but Tony always seems to find some and can sometimes help me find them in my camera.

Jan 20, Bwindi Impenetrable NP… Gorilla watching.

We spent the night in a very basic lodge with only sporadic power, but good service. I was still hobbling badly from my fall 7 days ago, and my cough particularly at night was not allowing much rest. We were at 2400 m; the views on the drive in, climbing hour after hour on the steep mangled roads, did not promise easy walking. The roads, near the end, tended to run along ridges with severely steep jungle covered slopes each side of the road.

We had our orientation and were offered a porter. I was taking a lighter camera setup than I use for birding and two water bottles in a jacket pocket so I didn’t hire a porter. As soon as the steep downhill on indistinct trail started I began to fall behind. With one bad knee I had to lower myself always on my left leg. The right one kind of led the way. I tried to keep up, but rushing led to being tripped up by the vines and an awful struggle to get up. Soon an armed guard was assigned to help. He would hold my hand and helped lower me from one poor foothold to the next. I was still going down one leg at a time and so we were slow.

When we got to a bottom, only apparent by somewhat level footing, the guards found the gorilla group we had been assigned to watch. They were spread out in the deep fern ground cover.

As our group of about a dozen clients and guards moved cumbrously among the gorillas they would tolerate us for a while and then rush off to get some more peace. One silverback broke out of the bush and rushed by in front of me. There was at least one baby, perhaps more. They seemed kind of mournful to me, but they have to put up with this half hour incursion only once a day, if that can be any consolation.

It was a wonderful experience, although I feel badly for taking advantage of their threatened nature. It would be nice if we could leave these peaceful creatures alone, but I guess without our tourist dollars they would be extinct.

I crawled back up the approximate route we came down on. I was slightly better, but still climbing on only one leg dragging the other, and my poor conditioning meant that I could only go up in about 30 m segments before a minute rest was needed.

My guard Constantino, was my saviour. There is little doubt in my mind that I should not have taken on this challenge with my problems. It is humbling to be the poorest walker in a group.

The whole thing took a bit over three hours, much too rushed. We then began the long drive on rough roads back into the somewhat lower world. We spent the night in an old colonial Hotel, The White Horse Inn, in Kibale, and then birded our way back to Entebbe with yet another lovely lodge stay at Rwakobo Rock.

This morning, from our Tilapia Lodge we did what was supposed to be our first day’s tour to Mabamba Swamp to see the improbable Shoebill Stork. We said goodbye to Tony and Ronnie who had become such good travel companions. We have what will be our first time to relax and do nothing for a little over 24 hours before we head to the bus station and on to Kenya.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged africa, birds, nature, travel, wildlife | 1 Comment

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