Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson
Videos: Christer Lundstedt
Tuesday 26th of July
08.02 Problems and questions pile up here in room 126 at Hotel Ibis Budget Manchester Centre. We will arrive in Liverpool at 10.30am and the check-in at our hotel is from 2pm. Can we leave the backpacks in the storage at the hotel? Christer has just been asked to check in online for an upcoming accommodation in Middlesbrough. There is no time now. There is not enough space on the train when passports and such are needed. We must remember to check in after 14.00 today.
08.43 The room here at the Ibis Hotel has been small. Toilet and shower are in separate, phone booth-like spaces and the bed is narrow. However, it has been good to sleep here and that is important when you are on tour. Also, it's a really cheap room.
08.54 For the last time we can eat blackberries from the bushes along Sparkle Street. We are on our way to Piccadilly railway station.
09.13 The rails thump as a train passes on track 14 here at Manchester Piccadilly station. It is long but it must pass for our train to enter.
09.25 It is not the last time we have loaded the backpacks onto the shelf on board a train. There they will be until we reach Liverpool. Today we travel with Northern Railway.
10.04 Some places we pass have inviting names. The station we were at just now, Rainhill, does not belong there. Christer has seen a sign on the platform with the text Home of the Locomotive Trials and we remember that it was in these areas that John Ericsson and George Stephenson competed with their locomotives Novelty and Rocket in October 1829.
10.45 The train with us on board stopped at the terminus Liverpool Lime Street. Stopped I did as well. This happened because the gates at the exit closed around my large backpack. I came through after a bit of a struggle. Now we are sitting in front of the large event building, Saint George's Hall. Further way away there was just a wedding couple. Well, at least the bride. We certainly haven't seen the groom.
14.11 Our newest home is The Hanover Hotel (http://www.hanover-hotel.co.uk) here in Liverpool. It sits next to McCartney's Bar and is located on Hanover Street. Here in the room there is a carpet and two beds for us. In addition, there is a white kettle. The colour doesn't matter, the important thing is that we have a kettle. We also visited Liverpool in 1999, but we remember very little of the stay then. Now we will spend the night in the city and hopefully manage to do a lot more than then. There are a few different theories about the city's name. The name Liverpool may come from the Welsh (Cymrian) Llyr Pwl meaning "the place by the marsh". The city was founded in 1207 and today has 486,100 inhabitants. Scouse is the name of the local dialect and also of the population of Liverpool. It has its origins in the dish lobscouse, which in Swedish is called lapskojs. It was originally a stew that sailors ate.
17.51 It's time to move on. We want to see more of the Albert Dock area. In the River Mersey the water level is low. It feels like it's often low tide when we visit different waterways and coastal strips. When is high tide?
20.14 The food arrived quickly. However, there were two completely identical dishes. My right was wrong. I asked and the waiter apologized and brought my food out.
Wednesday 27th of July
At Manchester Piccadilly, waiting for the the train that will take us to Liverpool.
The train has stopped at the station in Rainhill.
We get off the train at Liverpool Lime Street station.
Christer outside Liverpool Lime Street.
We are ready to take the first steps out in Liverpool.
We visited Anfield Road during the visit in 1999. Today we´ll stay in the city centre.
Liverpool Cenotaph in front of Saint George's Hall.
Williamson Square and St John's Beacon.
Lord Street, Liverpool.
Christer takes a break at Costa Coffee.
Liverpool Town Hall.
Many destinations to choose from.
Wall of Fame on Mathew Street.
John Lennon stands at the Wall of Fame and The Cavern.
Hard Days Night Hotel, Liverpool.
Liverpool Beatles Museum.
Eleanor Rigby sits on Stanley Street.
The Hanover Hotel, Liverpool.
The sun is shining on the Sugar House Steps.
Liverpool Sign.
Christer at Salthouse Quay.
Love padlocks along the River Mersey.
Ferry crossing The Mersey.
Royal Albert Dock, Liverpool.
Royal Liver Building, Liverpool.
Liverpool musicians are celebrated on a Lambanana sculpture.
The four members of The Beatles at the Liverpool Waterfront.
Peter visits the Mayflower Restaurant.
07.31 Christer just started the morning by saying something uplifting, namely the word helium balloon.
09.03 It was a continental breakfast today. We are eating it inside McCartney's Bar, which is connected to our hotel. We see a problem as there is no staff at the reception. Our idea was to leave the backpacks in storage here at the hotel during the day. What do we do now? Ideally, we don't carry the luggage with us. It really takes the fun out of it when you go on an excursion. 09.50 Hip and hooray! We could leave our heavy luggage behind. We just had to wave in a girl from the bar who then helped us. Now we sit in the sun and wait for the bus to depart. Today we will revisit another city that we visited in 1999. It will be Chester, a beautiful city that has existed since Roman times. 10.05 Just as we sat down, the bus started its journey towards Chester. It will be another English destination where we will be but not sleeping. There will be a few of these this summer. Today we travel with Stagecoach on line X1. 10.10 The Birkenhead Tunnel (or Queensway Tunnel) under the River Mersey has curves, small slopes, lighting and stretches 3,2 kilometers under the river. Last Easter we were in a tunnel with a roundabout in the Faroe Islands. What happens next? 10.22 We are now on the other side of the Mersey in Birkenhead. The area/peninsula here is called Wirral. We passed here in 1999 on our way to North Wales. The Liverpool area's third best football team, Tranmere Rovers, comes from this area. Liverpool and Everton are considerably more famous. 10.52 The journey continues and the passengers enjoy themselves with a little of each. Some are talking, some are reading and on the lower level a boy sings that "The wheels on the bus go round and round". We cannot deny that. 11.44 There are many pwho want to get off at Chester Zoo. 23 years ago (August 1999) we walked here from central Chester. It's one of many crazy walks we've done over the years. It can be added that there was a bus trip back. After all, it is a distance of almost 8 kilometers.
Christer makes his choices from today's breakfast.
Yesterday's match could be seen in McCartney's Bar.
By bus under the River Mersey.
We have arrived at Chester Bus Station.
Chester Cross marks the city's most central point.
Typical houses in the beautiful city of Chester.
12.04 Just in time we reached Chester's bus station, Chester Bus Interchange. We're going to be here for three hours before we take the bus back, right? Yes, we don't wait for three hours at the bus station. We're going to see the city too.
12.28 After looking at a narrow boat that was about to turn in a channel, we took the direction towards the center. We entered through one of the gates in the city wall, the Eastgate. Here in the center are beautiful half-timbered houses and a guy with an incredible singing voice. He sings songs from musicals and other things. The place he chose for his performance is Chester Cross, a place where four streets meet and which is historically the center of the city. During Roman times there was a camp here which was named Deva. The emperor Vespasian founded it in 79. Then it became a city here and already in 689 Chester got a cathedral. Today there are 88,513 inhabitants living in the city. 12.39 Shall we continue listening to the singer or drink coffee at Costa Coffee? We do both and are sitting at Costa's outdoor area. Now we can enjoy listening and drinking. We drink good coffee, listen to quality music and watch the street life along Watergate Street. 13.20 I have just patted the bronze statue of the little elephant Janya. The statue is a gift from the city zoo. We are close to the Town Hall and Chester Cathedral. Behind us sits a man with a to say the least troublesome cough and makes noise. 14.01 It smells good from the exhaust behind me. It comes from a restaurant unknown to us. I am sitting and Christer is standing at a bench near Newgate and some Roman remains. Chester has a very well-preserved city wall that runs all the way around the city centre. It began to be built by the Romans and was reinforced during the Middle Ages. Unfortunately, we don't have time to walk it like we did in 1999. 14.11 More remains from the Romans have been seen in the Roman Gardens. After seeing gardens and the remains of a bathhouse there, we are now at the amphitheater. There is not much left of anything, but it was a few years ago that it was built.
Eastgate Clock, Chester.
Chester has many beautiful buildings.
Eastgate Street, Chester.
Ye Olde Boot Inn opened as early as 1643.
We take our coffee break outdoors.
Chester Cathedral.
14.32 It's time to take Stagecoach on the same route back north to Liverpool. However, the day and the journey do not end there.
15.37 The return to Liverpool is approaching. There we have some assignments to complete before we travel on to new goals.
17.12 The first mission is complete. We have dined at KFC in a small restaurant on Great Charlotte Street. We needed to find food quickly and efficiently. Then you have to choose agility over finesse and quality. 17.43 The next assignment is fixed. We have bought provisions in the form of drinks and baguettes at Greggs. We need some kind of nourishment when we arrive late tonight. 17.52 The backpacks were kindly waiting for us where we left them this morning. Now we say thank you and goodbye to The Hanover Hotel and head towards the river and the ferry. 18.27 Isle of Man Steam Packet Company (https://www.steam-packet.com) will take us from Liverpool to Douglas on the Isle of Man. It was an interesting check-in to the ferry. At security I had to send the following through the x-ray machine, my big backpack, my small backpack, my belt, my watch and my glasses! Christer carries his large backpack on board. However, I was asked to check in mine. Maybe I should have refused that offer. Now we lose time in the next port. 18.48 The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and their vessel HSC Manannan will now take us out to sea (Irish Sea) and to the Isle of Man. The island is one of many British territories with a somewhat peculiar status. They are self-governing in many areas, but defense and international relations are handled by Great Britain. They are subject to the English royal house but are not part of the United Kingdom. Crown Dependency is the official name for the island's status in the kingdom.
Chester Town Hall.
The bronze elephant Janya is a gift from Chester Zoo.
Newgate, Chester.
Chester Roman Gardens.
We say goodbye to Liverpool.
On board HSC Manannan.
20.42 The journey at sea is undramatic and goes well. We follow the semi-finals of the women's Euro 2022 football. The Germans are currently leading 1-0 against France.
20.48 In the final seconds of the first half, the French equalised. Now I'm going to buy coffee. 21.00 The coffee served in a paper cup was hot and tasty. 21.53 Soon we will reach the jetty or whatever it is called where this journey ends. The Germans get to play one more match, it will be in the final against England. They won 2-1. Alexandra Popp scored both goals. It was certainly poppular in Germany. 22.20 We have arrived in Douglas on the Isle of Man. My backpack came almost last on the luggage belt. Now is the time to put the long legs first. 23.00 is the time when check-in at the hotel closes according to the information we received. Estimated walking time there is about 30 minutes. 22.32 We trot parallel to the sea as fast as our legs and bodies can handle. We don't want to sleep outdoors. We should make it. 22.45 We have arrived at the hotel. Hey, how fast! You can be quick when needed. 23.05 Checking in at the Trevelyan Hotel (http://www.trevelyanhotel.co.uk) was easy and smooth. Two helpful women checked us in and some other guests who had arrived on the same boat. Finding room 58 was all the more difficult. First we went one floor too high, then when I put my backpack down I blocked the stairwell door for a guest who wanted to pass by. Sure yes, it's a narrow corridor so we can't get past with our backpacks on. We then went down one floor and found the door to the right corridor. Now in the room we are going to eat the sack lunch we bought at Greggs. 23.26 We have a cozy room but oh so difficult to get there. There is also no working WiFi up here with us. It'll probably be a good stay anyway.
The way to the room.
Finally arrived in room 58.
Thursday 28th of July
07.51 We have slept well at the Trevelyan Hotel in Douglas on the Isle of Man. Islands seem to be the theme of this year's travel. Last Easter Roberth and I were on the Faroe Islands and this year we have been to Great Britain, Ireland and now this island. Soon we will take a back track through the labyrinth in the hotel and have breakfast. Our shower is interesting. If the shower hose gets stuck, no hot water comes out, only cold water. During the morning there has been thunder here on the island, but the weather seems to have stabilized.
09.20 It wasn't easy, but we made it to breakfast on the ground floor. It was a classic full English breakfast. The majority of the other breakfast guests had gray hair. In the local Celtic language Manx, breakfast is called anjeeal. Now we think about the day ahead of us. Will we come back here or not during the day? Will there be an afternoon rest/siesta or a full day on the go? 10.43 We found our way out of the hotel and have started walking along the Queens Promenade towards the centre. We really went far last night. Just passed yet another world war monument. It had many different names. Now we are sitting in front of a yellow theatre, the Gaiety Theater and Opera House. 11.02 Cash has been withdrawn from an ATM in the city centre. As with the visit to Gibraltar and the Channel Islands, we want to see a specimen of the local currency, in this case the Manx Pound, British pounds issued here on the island. The Isle of Man has a population of 84,069 inhabitants and of these 26,677 live here in the main town of Douglas. Formerly ruled by Vikings and from Scotland, the island has been under English control since 1399. 11.25 Now that we have walked along the pedestrian street Castle Street, we sit down at North Quay and watch boats. Some distance away, a colourful dolphin jumps in the form of a work of art. We have also bought souvenirs from here on the island. For myself, I have bought a tie with the island's symbol. It is a so-called triskele, a three-legged symbol. Christer has bought a t-shirt.
We have finally made it down all the stairs.
Christer will have breakfast at the Trevelyan Hotel.
We are lowering the average age in the breakfast room.
Trevelyan Hotel, Douglas.
Queens Promenade, Douglas.
Christer examines a war memorial.
11.36 We have now been to the railway station Douglas Station and purchased a single ticket each with the steam locomotive-hauled train to Port Erin on the southern tip of the island. In just over an hour, we will be leaving to travel. Now we hope to find a café to visit before then.
11.48 While waiting for departure, we went back another way. Along it we saw the statue of George Formby and his ukulele. He was not born here but has recorded both film and music with connections here to the Isle of Man. Now we're at Spill the Beans Coffee House for coffee and a local chocolate cake. 12.19 After a while it became crowded in our café and an older gentleman wanted to share a table with us. We had finished our coffee and decided to leave to give him more room to maneuver. 12.35 We and a few other travelers are currently waiting to be admitted to the platform. Soon we will go with an old-style train. 12.50 Now our journey begins. We've traveled a lot by train over the years, but I think this is the first time we've had a steam locomotive as the hauler. The Isle of Man Railway Company is responsible for this service. 13.02 We have our own small compartment in this train. It's beautiful views. Sometimes there is a smell of gunpowder smoke coming from a parlor gun. Now we are at the station in Port Soderick. Some on board use the train to get to smaller villages, others are tourists just like the two of us.
Interesting sculpture in Douglas.
Isle of Man bench.
Boats in Douglas Bay.
Christer rests at North Quay.
We have bought train tickets at Douglas Station.
Peter is having coffee at Spill the Beans Coffee House.
13.25 Talk about time travel! One moment we are trudging through a rural landscape and everything feels like the early 1900s. Suddenly the train honks and poof, honking and flashing barriers, cars and modern houses pass by. We have done various rail journeys in recent years. Last year we drove the dressin ourselves on Småland rails and five years ago we made it all the way to China with the help of rails.
13.42 We have arrived at the terminal station Port Erin and have stepped out of our compartment and off our train. We are on the southernmost part of the island and here it is peaceful with a beautiful view. Here in small Port Erin there are 3,730 inhabitants. 13.51 I am now sitting on a bench with a solar panel. It was a fun train ride here, but we'll probably take the bus as we're going back to Douglas. 13.54 A really pretty car is parked in front of us. It looks both new and old at the same time. After an online search, we found that it is a 1991 Nissan Figaro. 14.45 At Co-op Food Port Erin we each bought a small snack. Now we sit on a bench with a memorial plaque to Alan Mills from Barnsley. From here there are beautiful views towards Port Erin Beach and the sea. 15.06 While we were sitting and looking at the sea, we were visited by a seagull, a seagull that was very curious about us. A passing lady thought it would soon start begging for food. She herself had a seagull in her garden. It basically ate out of her hand. In addition, she had a small dog that used to chase the seagull away. The dog had not hunted since leaving South Africa, she claimed. 15.32 We are back on the solar panel bench. In addition to seating, it also offers internet surfing and phone charging. More like this please!
We are waiting at Douglas Station.
Today's train company.
Christer rides a steam-powered train on the Isle of Man.
Beautiful views from the train.
We have arrived at Port Erin.
A locomotive that many wanted to photograph.
15.57 We had to wait quite a long time but now we are on our way back by bus with final destination Douglas.
16.17 Our bus has reached Castletown, a really cozy little town by the sea. We realize that there is much more to see here on the island than we have time for. 16.31 Just passed a retirement home for horses, Home of Rest for Old Horses. It is a new phenomenon for us. 16.53 We are back in Douglas and have got off the bus in the centre. It's nice to have fresh air and leg room. We now take a bench break before going home. 17.05 We and some teenagers are in a blooming beautiful park next to the promenade. Douglas Promenade Gardens is the name. 17.15 Now we have taken pictures of statues of a group whose name starts with Be and ends with -es. Two of the members are dead. I'm talking about the Bee Gees. The brothers (Maurice, Barry, Robin) Gibb in said
Port Erin Beach.
View towards Milner's Tower.
A boat has become a flower box.
Douglas Promenade Gardens.
The Bee Gees, a group with links to the Isle of Man.
We walk home during the afternoon.
18.20 Now we have finished browsing the internet and we have climbed stairs and walked in corridors. In other words, we are back in room 58. It is time to unwind after an intense and interesting day.
19.36 Now we do something that I wonder if we have done before on any of our trips. We cover the preliminary talk before the opening of the Commonwealth Games (Commonwealth Games) in Birmingham. 21.05 We have left the hotel to stock up on calories, nutrition and energy. There will be a late dinner at the China Town restaurant (http://www.chinatown-iom.com). The ordering options are limited by the fact that they want a whopping £4.50 for plain rice. Here in the restaurant it is calm and quiet. 22.03 It was good and not too expensive because we both chose noodle dishes to avoid the outrageous price of rice. Now we are back at home in the room. We only had one day here on the Isle of Man. It is both the hotel price and the time schedule that make us not stay longer. It won't be a late night tonight. We have to get up early to catch the ferry tomorrow morning. 23.01 After trying local milk, local beer is now to be tested. The milk testing was filmed and we have now made a long series of films where different types of milk are tested. We have done this in e.g. Mongolia and Kazakhstan. 23.27 Now the night's sleep awaits before we have to climb down the stairs and travel on tomorrow morning.
Tonight we eat at China Town.
Calm and peaceful in our restaurant.
Tonight's Chinese dinner.
The evening beer is local.
Friday 29th of July
06.50 We have slept the second night in the room at the Trevelyan Hotel. It's another departure morning, another day when everything has to be packed up. Why am I unpacking so much when it's just going to come down again anyway?
07.30 It has become time to trot off in the sunshine. It's a stunningly beautiful morning and how often is that not the weather when you have to leave a place? Unfortunately, we don't have time to eat any hotel breakfast this morning. 08.01 The walk was nice as we had the sun above us. We have arrived at the Isle of Man Sea Terminal. Now I have to prepare for check-in, baggage drop and security. 08.25 What was the use of preparation? We were asked to go through security. Now we are on board the ferry Ben-My-Chree, another vessel of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company (https://www.steam-packet.com). 10.23 We are sitting comfortably in seats 49 and 50. Wait, haven't we had those exact seats before? I think it was on a bus or a train. We just passed a platform out at sea. What kind of platforms are there in the Irish Sea? Oil? Gas? 11.17 The crossing continues. It is calm and quiet in the lounge and also out on the sea. 11.56 We have reached land. Through the loudspeakers, the passengers are asked to remain seated until further notice. 12.20 We got off the ferry in Heysham Port. Heysham is a small town with 16,229 inhabitants just south of the much larger Morecambe. Now we walk towards a bus stop. 12.51 The first stop we came to was closed, not in operation. The reason was ongoing road work where the bus normally has to drive and stop. Sometimes it doesn't pay to plan based on Google Maps. Reality catches up. In the end, however, we have found a working stop. We hope that a bus finds its way here and also stops.
On the way aboard Ben-My-Chree.
On the way across the Irish Sea.
Peter is waiting for the bus in Heysham.
We had our lunch at KFC in Morecambe.
Morecambe Promenade.
No dogs allowed on Morecambe Beach.
12.56 Our wish has been fulfilled. We are sitting at the back of a bus on our way into Morecambe.
13.23 The bus drove us to a stop at Central Drive in Morecambe. Now we wait for the KFC queue to be shorter. We have chosen a simple option for today's lunch, the kind you choose when you have to go quickly and you have bags with you. 13.51 It was filling and good again at KFC, fast and smooth and easy to order and pay in advance via a screen. There are plenty of people who want to eat here. 14.05 Towards the end of our KFC time, the following conversation passed between a father and son:
- Where is grandma?
- She is shopping.
- Where's mom?
- She is at home.
- I don't like you dad.
Cheapside, Lancaster.
Millennium Bridge, Lancaster.
Lancaster Priory Church of Saint Mary.
Lancaster Castle.
By bus heading out of Lancaster.
We roll through the town of Garstang.
17.10 We have finally found it, not Pepe's bodega, but the castle here in Lancaster. It is on a hill and is not visible until you are right in front of it. When it is photographed, we are done with this town. It's a really tough uphill climb to the castle, which was built in the Middle Ages on the same spot where the Romans built a fort long before.
17.29 We are back at Lancaster Bus Station waiting for the bus, hopefully a double decker, to be here soon. We have one bus ride left before we reach today's final destination. 17.56 Yes, it was a double-decker. Now it's off to the next bed-filled building. 18.11 We have been driving around inside Lancaster University where our bus route passes. It seems like a lovely place to study and many of the students seem to be of Asian origin. Some are really dressed up. Is there an exam coming up? 18.24 There is a queue in our oncoming lane. Right now, even our field is standing still. 18.55 After a small detour, we are back in the queue. 19.15 The traffic is finally picking up speed. We are heading into Poulton-le-Fylde. 19.23 In central Poulton, the church bell rings. The bus is stationary. The driver is currently smoking. 19.43 Hello Blackpool! Now we are finally here after a slow, slow bus journey. It is once again Stagecoach that was responsible for the transport today. 20.09 Christer found his way to the small Bel-Reve Hotel on Hornby Road. In a small box with a code we found keys to the front door and room 2. According to the booking papers we have a triple de luxe room with a bunk bed. In reality we have a cramped room with a double bed. The deluxe consists of a private bathroom. Blackpool, which is a popular tourist destination here in England, has lots of hotels, guesthouses and Bed & Breakfast places. The standard is not impressive. Blackpool with 144,132 inhabitants has a long history as a holiday/seaside resort. Since the 1960s, however, tourism has had a downward trend with increasing air travel to the Mediterranean.
Peter has got off the bus in Blackpool.
Saint John's - Blackpool Church.
Bel-Reve Hotel, Blackpool.
20.36 After a long day, it's nice to just rest in the room. However, we need to eat something more before this day ends. We'll see if we can find something that's open.
21.33 Around the corner there is a small grocery store, McColl's. The selection was lousy, but there we bought something simple to eat tonight and a yogurt breakfast for tomorrow morning. At the moment and just now, we have decided not to watch any football match tomorrow. It simply becomes too stressful and complicated. In addition, it will probably be rain. 22.47 We have started to get a handle on how the day will be for us tomorrow. As mentioned, there won't be any football. Otherwise, we should have time to do what we set out to do. 23.40 Now some bad news! It is not possible to enter our travel website resedagboken.cc. Reference is made to missing data. Apparently, an email has been sent to an e-mail address that Christer no longer uses but that existed when the page was registered. When he did not respond to the e-mail, the website has been shut down for the time being. There is some new bureaucracy behind this, nothing we can blame the provider One.com for. We'll see if this can be resolved on the road or if we have to get home first.
You can see 112 photos from July 26 in this photoalbum.
You can see 73 photos from July 27 in this photoalbum.
You can see 117 photos from July 28 in this photoalbum.
You can see 62 photos from July 29 in this photoalbum.