One Adventure Ends, and Another Begins

Our Peugeot outside our hotel in Thirsk

This year’s vacation in England offered us many unique experiences, and I’ve tried to share the most memorable ones with you.  Inevitably, I fell behind in my recording of important events.  By the time I finished extolling the wonders of Holmfirth, we were packing up and leaving Thirsk.  Our rented Peugeot took us all over Yorkshire and North Wales before we returned it to Manchester Airport. 

In the process, we explored five National Parks: the Peak District, North York Moors, the Yorkshire Dales, the Lake District, and Snowdonia National Park.  We visited Askrigg, where the building used for Skeldale House was shot for the TV show “All Creatures Great and Small,” and Portmeirion, where much of “The Prisoner” was filmed.  We visited an important building from Beatrix Potter’s life, and climbed up and down the numerous winding stairways of a thirteenth century castle. 

We visit beautiful and remote Askrigg.

Throughout our journeys, we ate some amazing food, and brought home cookies and candy to savor in the coming months. 

Then there was the long journey home.  It consisted of arriving early for our flight to Heathrow, a long layover, and an even longer flight back to San Diego.  During the latter, I watched three movies, read the second half of a Time Travel novel by Stephen Fry, and ate a chicken salad sandwich while being shaken by turbulence. 

Although I tried several times to drift off, I got no sleep.  Still, I’m always wishing I could cram more hours into each day: that one I got an extra eight!

We saw lots of horses in England.
Some larger than others.

My sleep patterns are slowly settling down.  More importantly, I’ve dived back into my dragon novel.  Refreshed and renewed, I’m working at it harder than ever, and once again enjoying the process of creating and fleshing-out my fictional world.

While I’ve enjoyed blogging exclusively about our travels over the past couple weeks, now it’s time for that aspect of my life to return to normalcy as well.  While I'll continue writing about our time in England, there are also so many books I want to write about.  By delving into what I’ve read, I remind myself of what made each story special, and am able to share that experience with you.  Of course, there are also the TV shows and movies I look forward to discussing, and important events (such as the recent passing of Ray Bradbury) to cover, but my primary aim has always been to primarily discuss the fiction I’ve read.  Those stories enriched my life in so many ways, in addition to inspiring me to attempt some of my own, and I yearn to share my affection for them with you.

No matter how wondrous, each adventure must end,
if only to make way for another.

I hope you’ve enjoyed our journey together, and that you’ll continue alongside me into the future.  I cannot foresee all that we will discover, but I promise to make those adventures as interesting and fun as I can. 

Thanks for being my travel partner,

Dragon Dave