Category: Driving All the Way – England

Road trip in England.

A Quick Visit to Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City UNESCO World Heritage Site

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 sweet surrender No Comments

Before we head to the next destination, we did a quick stop at Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City UNESCO World Heritage Site which is a riverside location in the city centre of Liverpool, England. We all know Liverpool when mention football, this time I had the opportunity to visit Liverpool not for the football though.

Source of Wikipedia:

It is part of the Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City UNESCO World Heritage Site, which was inscribed in 2004. As well as a collection of landmark buildings, recreational open space, and a number of memorials, the Pier Head was (and for some traffic still is) the landing site for passenger ships traveling to and from the city.

It’s definitely a must-visit for tourists, so many of them! Even coming in bus load of them.

Left: Royal Liver Building, the most recognizable landmark in Liverpool. It was the tallest in the United Kingdom from 1911 to 1961. Truth to be told, I didn’t even know all these landmarks until I’m doing this blog post hahaha!! You can imagine how carefree I was, didn’t even care where we visit and what’s around. No prior research was done too. Was just tagging along.

Right: When you’re there, you will see the The Wheel of Liverpool with the height of 60m. It is also known as the Echo Wheel of Liverpool due to its close proximity to the Echo Arena Liverpool.

The Royal Albert Dock Liverpool is a complex of dock buildings and warehouses. This is the first structure in Britain to be built from cast iron, brick and stone, with no structural wood.

In other words, it was the first non-combustible warehouse system in the world. WOW! Ok… WOW! Now I know… I didn’t know at all when I was there. Hahaha… Look what we found?!?! The portrait of The Beatles made with jellybeans!

This is parts of the surroundings. No idea what are those buildings LOL!!

Left: Love The Beatles, then you should visit The Beatles Story where you can learn all about the Beatles and their history.

Right: The Beatles Statue is surely one of the most photographed statue in Liverpool hahaha… So many people! I didn’t take a photo with them, just too many people waiting for their turn.

Look! A huge cat! You will surely spot this sculpture there. It’s known as the Ship’s Cat. It is entirely made out of milk bottles by Faith Bebbington. Actually there’s also Super Rat sculpture nearby too but I didn’t take the photo because of the angle and people around blocking it too.

Lastly, Museum of Liverpool can be seen on the left of this photo. Didn’t visit though, just quick stop for toilet break at one of the nearest buildings and take photos of The Beatles statue.

In fact there’s a lot more to see in this area but we do not have the luxury of time for that. Would recommend you to stay nearby if you do not drive. Many accommodations around the area too.

Still a long way to go to complete my July trip… Guess it will stretch till 2019 hahaha… Osaka trip in August still in queue…

Driving All the Way - England, Going Places

Knowsley Safari Park

December 1, 2018January 9, 2019 sweet surrender 2 Comments

If you are in Liverpool, you can visit Knowsley Safari Park which is 26 minutes away(If you are using a Sat Nav, enter the postcode L34 4AN). It’s my first time visiting a safari park. After over 3 decades, I finally visited one!! Hahaha… Sounds so suaku…

It’s a great place for family trip. How often can you be so up-close with wildlife? It’s a 5-mile wild animal safari drive and it is the longest in the UK. It’s currently home to over 750 fascinating animals. It was drizzling when we were there. Luckily I had my new camera with me otherwise I couldn’t take good photos of the animals.

You have to drive very slowly in there and do not open your window! Don’t ever ever provoke or feed the animals. This is how up close it can get! The monkeys are all over the car! Ours too! We had to wait for it jumped off from the car to continue driving. The park rangers will be around to help if it’s not getting off your car.

The gate price is Â£17.50 for adult(16 years old and above), child(3 years old and above) ticket is priced at Â£13.50. Children below 3 years old is FOC while 60 years old and above is Â£13.50. You can even get 10% off if you purchase your tickets online.

Due to the rain, many animals didn’t come out. When the rain got smaller, more came out. We just drove slowly and enjoyed the view.

We were lucky the lion and the lioness were out from the bushes and took a stroll. Oh my… I really love the photo… They’re dating. So sweet… Aw… The photo would look better if not because of the rain. How often can you take a photo like this?!?!

Look at them! Never been so close to these animals.

If you don’t want to drive, you can also take the Baboon Bus which will be another charge.

After the drive, we went to the other section of the Safari Park. There’s Sea Lion Display, Animal Talks, and Flight of the Talons around the park.

Here’s a short video that I took of the Sea Lion Display.

Walked around the Wild Trail to look and learn about various animals. First time seeing a real giraffe. Wow… They’re indeed tall!!

There’s also Tiger Trail! When we were there, we didn’t get to see the tiger, it’s hiding somewhere. Many people had given up spotting the tigers. Then suddenly, at the corner of my eye, there it was!! I zoomed in to take that photo. They were in the middle of the enclosure, partially hidden by the grass. They were relaxing under the tree.

There’s a lot to see. We spent at least 5 hours there! If you happened to be around Liverpool or Manchester(45 minutes drive), you can include this as one of the places to visit, not only it’s fun for children but also adults.

Driving All the Way - England, Going Places

The Picture House, Liverpool

November 5, 2018April 18, 2019 sweet surrender 2 Comments

Ok… Let’s get back to my UK’s trip post. We went to Liverpool and stayed at The Picture House (322 Scotland Rd, Liverpool L5 5AE, UK). Since we went there over the weekend, it’s quite quiet at this area. We rented a car to Liverpool and this accommodation has free parking for guests but very limited and very narrow. The parking is a bit hard to find, apparently the entrance is just at the side of the building, you have to rely on the mercy of the one at the reception to notice you to open the roller shutter to get into the parking ;p

The living area and kitchen is quite large. The apartment we stayed was a 2-bedroom apartment with 2 bathrooms. It can accommodate 4-5 adults, someone will just have to sleep on the sofa. The apartment has key electrical appliances such as microwave, oven, coffee machine, fridge, washing machine cum dryer, stove, and TVs. Ok… the kid and the bunny not included *LOL* WiFi is included.

Bathrooms are spacious and came with shampoo+shower gel and towels. There’s no vanity kit provided if I’m not mistaken, you have to bring your own.

For the bedrooms, you’ll get TV in each room, that’s pretty cool.

Almost everything was fine except the cleanliness. The spare quilts and pillows in the cupboard were a major concern to me. I found hair, blood stain, dust, and some crumbs on them. Good thing the sofa is not fabric, it would be worst. The sofa was dusty and can see bits and pieces of whatever-those-things-are in between of the cushion. It will be perfect without the cleanliness problem. I’m very particular in this aspect. At least places like bedroom, bathrooms and the kitchen were clean at least to the naked eyes.

Oh one more… Be prepared that it’s not soundproof. You can hear everything from outside the road and even from other apartments. It’s popular among youngsters to have parties there. Do expect rowdy crowds.

Will I recommended this place? Well… It’s one accommodation in Liverpool that you can consider if you travel in group and don’t really mind about the things I’ve mentioned. It can fit many people in one apartment and the rate isn’t too bad. I personally won’t go back to stay though, not suitable for family with young children and those looking to have a restful stay.

If you are interested, you can check out Traveloka to compare the prices from different OTAs to get the best rate possible, not just for this property of course, others too, maybe you can find better ones there.

Driving All the Way - England, Going Places, Review It!

A Day in Yorkshire Dales

September 11, 2018October 3, 2018 sweet surrender No Comments

Some of you might have noticed that I was away for 3 weeks in July. I went to England for a long deserved break. My first time there was during summer 5 years ago. This time, I also went in summer. We went to North Yorkshire. One of the places that you can pay a visit there is the cheese factory.

The Wensleydale Creamery(Gayle Lane, Hawes, Wensleydale, North Yorkshire DL8 3RN) is based at Hawes in Wensleydale in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. This is the home of the famous Yorkshire Wensleydale cheese and a popular Visitor Centre.

The creamery is a great place for family. You can find a mini museum showcasing old equipments and items used in the olden days of cheesemaking.

You can see people working in the factory making cheese at the cheesemaking gallery. Didn’t take photo of it because no one working on Sunday hahaha!! However, you can find cheese and butter making demonstration just next to the museum. Again… No photos because it’s not allowed.

Cross a small road, you’ll be in another building where you will get to interact with some exhibits and do activities with your children. The viewing gallery is in this building.

Before you end your visit, do drop by the cheese and gift shop. You can try the cheese till your heart’s content lol…

Admission Charges:
Adult Â£3.95
Child Â£2.45
Family Ticket (2 adults & 2 children) Â£9.95

You can check out their website for more details https://www.wensleydale.co.uk/

After visiting the creamery, we went to the town to look for lunch.

We came across Laburnum House Tea Room(The Holme, Hawes, North Yorkshire DL8 3QR) and had our lunch here. It’s a traditional, family run tearoom, serving light lunches, home baked cakes and scones, Yorkshire Afternoon Tea and the Yorkshire Clotted Cream Tea. You can also enjoy a slice of Rich Fruit Cake with Wensleydale Cheese, both made in the village. Aside from having meal here, it is also a bed and breakfast.

Here’s what we ordered…

Jacket potato served with side salad, Â£5.80 each. We ordered Baked Beans with Cheese(left) and Coronation Chicken & Mango Chutney(right). Potato is very filling, don’t underestimate the portion.

Left: Lasagna, can’t remember the price.
Right: Soup of the day with home baked baguette. If not mistaken, we had broccoli and cabbage soup (Â£4).

All the food is freshly prepared when you order hence it will take a bit of time at peak hour. Be patient and wait. The food is quite nice and very filling. Can be shared with another person if you’re small or average eater, one jacket potato or lasagna will be able to fill you two up.

After lunch, we just walked around the town enjoying the scenery.

After Yorkshire Dales, we headed to Liverpool. Along the way, we saw this structure, very big and many people stopped to take photos of it. Frankly, I have no idea what it was. In order to write about this structure, I tried my luck with Google. So… It’s after 2 months back from the trip, then I know what is this structure all about. It’s a viaduct!! Anyway, I’ll just copy the details to share with you from yorkshiredales.org.uk:

Ribblehead viaduct is probably the most famous of the many feats of Victorian engineering along the stunning Settle to Carlisle railway line. Its iconic location in the middle of the Three Peaks makes it a popular photo stop. There are a number of laybys, a tea wagon and the popular Station Inn. Of course the easiest way of getting there is on the train as there is a station at Ribblehead itself. On Sundays during the summer there are connecting bus services to and from Ingleton and Hawes and further afield.

The viaduct was built between 1870 and 1874 with up to 1000 navvies working on the construction site. The viaduct is 400m (440 yards) long with 24 arches spanning across Batty Moss. During construction the navvies were housed in camps close to the viaduct â€“ Sebastopol, Belgravia and Batty Wife Hole â€“ some of which had schools, libraries and pubs. It was dangerous work and disease was also a threat. The building of the viaduct was the inspiration behind the recent TV drama Jericho.

Next stop, to Liverpool we go…

Driving All the Way - England, Food Porn, Going Places

Paris and England Trip (20/6/2013-2/7/2013) â€“ Part 17

September 24, 2013 sweet surrender 2 Comments

2/7/2013, last day in London. Our flight was in the evening so we had morning and afternoon to go somewhere near.

Drove to Warner Bros. Studio Leavesden, I think Harry Potter’s fans are going to be thrilled if they are there. We just drove around the compound and left.

Left: Furry taxi we saw on the road. Not your usual car paint. It’s really furry. It sure caught our attention and the driver purposely drove in sync with us to let us take photo hahaha… So cute! At one point, we spotted a grassy taxi at the opposite direction hahaha… Means there’s grass instead of fur on the car body. Sure an attention grabber, good for publicity. Here’s a video (http://youtu.be/jVoyjeTqauA) of it, the exact same taxi this guy saw as we saw.

Right: To IKEA we went…

Bought some stuffs there and had our lunch there. Love the lemon cheesecake! However, rice and fish & chips were a let down. Others were not bad.

After lunch, we went back to pack and headed to the airport.

While waiting for our flight, we had one last meal in London at Wetherspoons located at Terminal 4 of the airport. Ordered Mixed Grill (Â£12.55) and 14oz Aberdeen Angus Rump Steak (Â£15.45). Hmm… The steak wasn’t as good as expected.