Some of my favorite trips have been to places where we walked/hiked a great deal. I love city walking as well and Paris is one of the great walking cities.
I've been thinking about how we (Americans) deal with strangers and the patina of politesse we apply to interactions. It's a pale replacement for true camaraderie as you point out.
As a Brit I would suggest it's better to adopt our approach of being grumpy towards everyone unless we've known, or at least seen, them for at least a week. Then we might begrudgingly offer a brief nod as we pass them. Well, the ladies tend to be friendlier!
It's funny, but we found the Brits pretty darned friendly ... perhaps because the ones we saw were all either walking around on the fells or sitting in a pub.
Yay to friendly people! I was born and brought up in the south of UK, but Mum is from the north, and every summer on our long drive to the Lake District to visit my grandparents my brother and I would become more horrified the further north we got, because 'Mum's started talking to STRANGERS in SHOPS again....!' By the end of our summer we would both have changed from tight-lipped southerners to quite relaxed and sociable children! 🤣
(Caveat: I'm sure we're ALL friendly, wherever we're from. 😉 But I feel there's often a barrier to showing that friendliness; to wearing it on our sleeve, as it were, to be in a position to be comfortable addressing people we don't - yet - know. Or maybe that's just me! 🤣)
Oh my, that’s funny, the “mom talking to strangers in shops” bit! That is my mother: she wants to talk to everyone (and usually it’s to tell them about herself). Either that, or she wants to talk about people, in a voice that is just slightly too loud ... but I digress. Our friends are a mixed-Brit couple: Chris from the north, Siobhan from the south, so perhaps they’ve found a good balance. Either that, or most of the Brits we ran into were in pubs and people are just more garrulous there.
I don't know if it's true all over the US, but I'm often irritated when I go to buy a coffee and this stranger asks, "So, what are you up to today?" I often want to say "none of your damned business," but of course I don't. I like the Parisian way better.
Weeellll, I'm going to disagree with everyone and say that I like friendly people. I don't interact with many people on a daily basis, so if I can quip or banter with a stranger who is happy enough in their job to maintain a good attitude and try to engage with humanity, I'm in. The alternative is mopey curmudgeons and robot kiosks. No thank you.
The track sounds very exciting. I've often thought of booking myself on something similar. I love Paris. Your depiction of them is about right, though they tend to get friendlier if you at least attempt to address them in French. Isn't the Lake District glorious? You can see the colours of the hills change through the day. Did your friends take you on any Wainwright walks? He mapped all the walks and wrote and illustrated his books by hand. Of course they might be out of date now
That's funny--they had all the Wainwright books and insisted that we read his descriptions before we went. Really interesting. The track stuff was stellar, really the realization of a long-held dream. I'd highly recommend it, though I don't know if I'd start at these two tracks.
You know, I was reflecting on why I made that comment about not starting at those tracks. I've been "track driving" for a number of years, very slowly building up my skill such that I feel comfortable driving really hard on a racetrack with other cars on the track. But there's a whole range of ways to get started, including like the one you mention. The way we approached Spa and the Ring is, we're going to drive at our limit, so that's really different. All the major sports car makers offer one- and two-day programs.
Both of my brother-in-laws like to race. One of them has been down south with his Corvette for a driving school and the other raced old Ford Fiestas in college on an oval course. I know nothing about cars, but I also know I like to drive fast. I could not race because I would only want to have the pedal glued to the floor. I do not have the disposition for the finesse required.
In my youth that's how I approached life. Max speed. Max power. Max everything. I wonder, Tom, if being forced to slow down has made us better people for it? I look forward to hearing more details about your trips. I'm fascinated by what constitutes walkability.
Yeah, you'd get cured of the max speed impulse pretty quickly on the racetrack--there's a lot more finesse involved, at least on the road courses. I think I'll write about this one first, but the walkability question is really intriguing to me.
Sounds like you had lots of fun. I think you would miss Mother Land. “USA” if you moved permanently. After being abroad for Three months I was so happy to be back in the USA I cried when I set foot on US soil. Now I don't want to take any more vacations abroad.
Lovely to hear your mind's wanderings. Parisians don't care about being liked is so spot on! I like them, too, and that whole ethos. We took a trip to the Lake district last year where my husband has relatives, but my son was 3: too big to carry and too small to walk far. Alas, we made it to the Beatrix Potter museum and a few good pubs! Now you've given me reason to go back. Beautiful photo.
We drove right past the Beatrix Potter museum (and all the Wordsworth sites) and just wandered in the fells. Apparently it gets a little overrun during the weekends, but we missed that.
Never did track driving, but I did drive the Autobahn. Same thing except without the professional instruction and longer straightaways... lol Oh, and we were driving a Renault Scenic with three kids in the back, so we never did take full advantage. Mostly, we stayed in the middle lane because we were routinely passing people on the right, but not fast enough to be in the left. When we did pass, it was humbling. I'd check my left mirror first and then check all the others. Then I'd check the left again -- and three or four times a Porche or Ferrari had come out of nowhere in literally a second. Loved it.
But oh! to do a racetrack. Sounds like you did it right!
hmm, we are talking about two different kinds of sport driving, it's true. The Autobahn is fun, but I think of it as a way to get from here to there. Sport driving is a different game, trying to push the car to it's limits in braking and cornering (and accelerating) on a race track. But I don't think I'm being very clear about that distinction, I realize.
Nah - I was being tongue-in-cheek there. As I say, I've never been on a track before, so I really don't know. But driving on the Autobahn certainly *felt* the closest to sport driving I've ever experienced.
I can't wait to hear more. The Lake District in the UK is definitely on my list. I just think I have to start to like walking more. :-) Slowing down to speed up...that's a concept to really think about. The last trip I took last May, I refocused how I traveled. Instead of being in such a rush to "get the picture". I stopped and made myself be present in the moment. I took fewer photos, but have a better memory of the place. I had forgotten why I traveled somewhere along the way, and I think I found it again.
Boy, I thought the Lake District was just exquisite--but you know my tastes in adventure: off the beaten path, exercising hard. Still, I think you could really enjoy it without walking 12 miles a day.
Rebecca, we DID sample the Grasmere gingerbread and the weird mint stuff, I forget the name. And I especially thought of you when we took the one rainy day we were there to drive north to see Hadrian’s Wall and to walk over to Sycamore Gap, which was vivid in my mind thanks to your story.
Kendal mint cake! Very sustaining for fell walking - Grandpa used to have a slab of it in his pocket, and he would slip us little shards of the the stuff whenever we slowed down! 🤣
YAY to Sycamore Gap - I'm so pleased! We're going to be working up there again later in the year - can't wait! Jim calls that tree 'the most photographed tree in England'! And no wonder - it's so striking.
The Queen's funeral had been held earlier in the day when we went. For that reason - the fact that the date had been designated a bank holiday at such short notice - it was really busy!
Your walks in northern England sound (and look) incredible, Tom. What an amazing trip. I’d love to visit Paris someday and give a racetrack a whirl. Thanks for sharing this.
Haha there's walkability, and then there's 32 miles in 3 days... Never saw the sparkling water fountains in Paris, unfortunately, but overall, found the Parisians quite pleasant and friendly. Sounds like a great trip!
Enjoyed this post!
Some of my favorite trips have been to places where we walked/hiked a great deal. I love city walking as well and Paris is one of the great walking cities.
I've been thinking about how we (Americans) deal with strangers and the patina of politesse we apply to interactions. It's a pale replacement for true camaraderie as you point out.
As a Brit I would suggest it's better to adopt our approach of being grumpy towards everyone unless we've known, or at least seen, them for at least a week. Then we might begrudgingly offer a brief nod as we pass them. Well, the ladies tend to be friendlier!
It's funny, but we found the Brits pretty darned friendly ... perhaps because the ones we saw were all either walking around on the fells or sitting in a pub.
We Brits are friendlier the further north you go. Actually, Londoners became much more friendly during and since the Olympics in 2012. 😅
Yay to friendly people! I was born and brought up in the south of UK, but Mum is from the north, and every summer on our long drive to the Lake District to visit my grandparents my brother and I would become more horrified the further north we got, because 'Mum's started talking to STRANGERS in SHOPS again....!' By the end of our summer we would both have changed from tight-lipped southerners to quite relaxed and sociable children! 🤣
(Caveat: I'm sure we're ALL friendly, wherever we're from. 😉 But I feel there's often a barrier to showing that friendliness; to wearing it on our sleeve, as it were, to be in a position to be comfortable addressing people we don't - yet - know. Or maybe that's just me! 🤣)
Oh my, that’s funny, the “mom talking to strangers in shops” bit! That is my mother: she wants to talk to everyone (and usually it’s to tell them about herself). Either that, or she wants to talk about people, in a voice that is just slightly too loud ... but I digress. Our friends are a mixed-Brit couple: Chris from the north, Siobhan from the south, so perhaps they’ve found a good balance. Either that, or most of the Brits we ran into were in pubs and people are just more garrulous there.
I don't know if it's true all over the US, but I'm often irritated when I go to buy a coffee and this stranger asks, "So, what are you up to today?" I often want to say "none of your damned business," but of course I don't. I like the Parisian way better.
I feel this. Bostonions are a bit colder by nature but even there it is a bit scary at times.
I'm with you Tom. I don't like people enough these days and often don't want to interact at all. I just want my coffee.
Weeellll, I'm going to disagree with everyone and say that I like friendly people. I don't interact with many people on a daily basis, so if I can quip or banter with a stranger who is happy enough in their job to maintain a good attitude and try to engage with humanity, I'm in. The alternative is mopey curmudgeons and robot kiosks. No thank you.
One thing I will say, is I can't stand it when massage therapists talk to me. 😂
And hairdressers.
Just pamper me already. That's what I'm paying you all this money for. 😜
At certain stores, the cashiers ask, “Do you have any plans for the weekend?” I like to say, “Yup,” and leave it there.
I am definitely going to use that one!
The track sounds very exciting. I've often thought of booking myself on something similar. I love Paris. Your depiction of them is about right, though they tend to get friendlier if you at least attempt to address them in French. Isn't the Lake District glorious? You can see the colours of the hills change through the day. Did your friends take you on any Wainwright walks? He mapped all the walks and wrote and illustrated his books by hand. Of course they might be out of date now
That's funny--they had all the Wainwright books and insisted that we read his descriptions before we went. Really interesting. The track stuff was stellar, really the realization of a long-held dream. I'd highly recommend it, though I don't know if I'd start at these two tracks.
The Wainwright books are so interesting even if you're not going on a walk. We have one or two here and I love dipping into them occasionally. Why would you not start at those tracks? In GB it's possible to book these 'experience days' like this: https://www.buyagift.co.uk/driving-experiences/five-supercar-driving-thrill-at-a-top-uk-race-track-br-10270540.aspx but yours sounds more hardcore
You know, I was reflecting on why I made that comment about not starting at those tracks. I've been "track driving" for a number of years, very slowly building up my skill such that I feel comfortable driving really hard on a racetrack with other cars on the track. But there's a whole range of ways to get started, including like the one you mention. The way we approached Spa and the Ring is, we're going to drive at our limit, so that's really different. All the major sports car makers offer one- and two-day programs.
Sounds great, Tom
Both of my brother-in-laws like to race. One of them has been down south with his Corvette for a driving school and the other raced old Ford Fiestas in college on an oval course. I know nothing about cars, but I also know I like to drive fast. I could not race because I would only want to have the pedal glued to the floor. I do not have the disposition for the finesse required.
In my youth that's how I approached life. Max speed. Max power. Max everything. I wonder, Tom, if being forced to slow down has made us better people for it? I look forward to hearing more details about your trips. I'm fascinated by what constitutes walkability.
Yeah, you'd get cured of the max speed impulse pretty quickly on the racetrack--there's a lot more finesse involved, at least on the road courses. I think I'll write about this one first, but the walkability question is really intriguing to me.
Sounds like you had lots of fun. I think you would miss Mother Land. “USA” if you moved permanently. After being abroad for Three months I was so happy to be back in the USA I cried when I set foot on US soil. Now I don't want to take any more vacations abroad.
Lovely to hear your mind's wanderings. Parisians don't care about being liked is so spot on! I like them, too, and that whole ethos. We took a trip to the Lake district last year where my husband has relatives, but my son was 3: too big to carry and too small to walk far. Alas, we made it to the Beatrix Potter museum and a few good pubs! Now you've given me reason to go back. Beautiful photo.
We drove right past the Beatrix Potter museum (and all the Wordsworth sites) and just wandered in the fells. Apparently it gets a little overrun during the weekends, but we missed that.
Never did track driving, but I did drive the Autobahn. Same thing except without the professional instruction and longer straightaways... lol Oh, and we were driving a Renault Scenic with three kids in the back, so we never did take full advantage. Mostly, we stayed in the middle lane because we were routinely passing people on the right, but not fast enough to be in the left. When we did pass, it was humbling. I'd check my left mirror first and then check all the others. Then I'd check the left again -- and three or four times a Porche or Ferrari had come out of nowhere in literally a second. Loved it.
But oh! to do a racetrack. Sounds like you did it right!
hmm, we are talking about two different kinds of sport driving, it's true. The Autobahn is fun, but I think of it as a way to get from here to there. Sport driving is a different game, trying to push the car to it's limits in braking and cornering (and accelerating) on a race track. But I don't think I'm being very clear about that distinction, I realize.
Nah - I was being tongue-in-cheek there. As I say, I've never been on a track before, so I really don't know. But driving on the Autobahn certainly *felt* the closest to sport driving I've ever experienced.
I can't wait to hear more. The Lake District in the UK is definitely on my list. I just think I have to start to like walking more. :-) Slowing down to speed up...that's a concept to really think about. The last trip I took last May, I refocused how I traveled. Instead of being in such a rush to "get the picture". I stopped and made myself be present in the moment. I took fewer photos, but have a better memory of the place. I had forgotten why I traveled somewhere along the way, and I think I found it again.
Boy, I thought the Lake District was just exquisite--but you know my tastes in adventure: off the beaten path, exercising hard. Still, I think you could really enjoy it without walking 12 miles a day.
Very much looking forward to these insights, mate.
Love that description of Parisians. It's so true! They just know where to spend their energy.
Nice story. I definitely want to do some sort of Track day. I did a min one where we drove for 15 mins, and want to do more.
I’d recommend a full track day with instructions to anyone
Welcome home, Tom!
Looking forward to gaining insight from your insights in the coming weeks.
Are you sick of broccoli yet?
Such a gorgeous post, Tom - I've been looking forward to hearing about your trip, and reading this was a highlight of my day!
I love that you enjoyed the Lake District so much! It's a breathtaking place. Did you sample the famous Grasmere gingerbread?
Rebecca, we DID sample the Grasmere gingerbread and the weird mint stuff, I forget the name. And I especially thought of you when we took the one rainy day we were there to drive north to see Hadrian’s Wall and to walk over to Sycamore Gap, which was vivid in my mind thanks to your story.
Kendal mint cake! Very sustaining for fell walking - Grandpa used to have a slab of it in his pocket, and he would slip us little shards of the the stuff whenever we slowed down! 🤣
YAY to Sycamore Gap - I'm so pleased! We're going to be working up there again later in the year - can't wait! Jim calls that tree 'the most photographed tree in England'! And no wonder - it's so striking.
Sycamore Gap is really striking. We couldn’t believe we had it to ourselves that day ... but it really was a pretty pissy day.
The Queen's funeral had been held earlier in the day when we went. For that reason - the fact that the date had been designated a bank holiday at such short notice - it was really busy!
Your walks in northern England sound (and look) incredible, Tom. What an amazing trip. I’d love to visit Paris someday and give a racetrack a whirl. Thanks for sharing this.
The walls were amazing, and so to the different arrangements and gates people made to get over them. Surely someone has made a photo book about it.
It sounds lovely. I can't wait to hear more.
Haha there's walkability, and then there's 32 miles in 3 days... Never saw the sparkling water fountains in Paris, unfortunately, but overall, found the Parisians quite pleasant and friendly. Sounds like a great trip!
Beautifully written, and I can’t wait to read more about it! I would love to take a long walk around England someday. Or Ireland!