We're Awake Now!

After arriving in London, we took the Heathrow Express directly to Paddington Station.  From there, we took a taxi to our hotel.  This is something that we should have taken a picture of, but were not quite awake enough to remember.  Four adults, four bags and four backpacks all stuffed into a London city taxi was not unlike trying to stuff as many people as possible into a phone booth.  I have decided to not give too much detail on the hotel of choice.   E's first choice, while being quite tasteful, was a mere $650 per night.  The more practical side took over and we opted for the just under $250 for two small rooms just across the street. What that would afford in the U.S. is obviously not London's idea of anything even remotely close.  Enough said - one night was enough and we already had reservations to take the train north to Carlisle to visit relatives in Wigon, Cumbria.   Of course, even though exhausted, sleep only comes in mere short intervals.  Heading to bed between 7 and 8 p.m. was nice, but waking up at 11:30 p.m., 2:00 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. because it was afternoon at home and hunger was creating quite a distraction, was rather annoying.  However, there is a reason that facebook chat is great to have when your friends back home are awake.  Thanks to those of you who distracted me with a chat and the suggestions for how to induce sleep.  Listening to music via headphones helped and sleep finally came a mere one hour before getting up to head to the train station.

The train ride from Euston Station to Carlisle was 3 hours and 15 minutes.  Of note, the distance from London to Carlise is 261 miles.  The first stop was Preston, which is 158 miles away, which we reached in under one and a half hours.  This translates to a speed of approximately 120 mph.  We traveled through some of the area that we had hiked during our Coast to Coast hike in 06.   We were collected by Andrew and Victoria, who kindly drove us to the home of relatives David and Margaret Ferriby.   We had our traditional English tea, and took a walk into Wigton center to pick up fish and chips for a late lunch.  After that, exhaustion again took place and we all crashed.  It is early evening here, so the tea kettle is on once again as we all wake back up.  We will rest up here and visit for a couple of days.  Maybe see a few local sights in nearby areas.  

Our plan is to take the train to Glasgow early in the week to stay and then start the West Highland Way hike.   More details on that later.   For now, Wigton is our home away from home!