Heading North in Feb...

[madazrx7]

Coming back to England again next year for my Brother's wedding in February. Will be a bit different to last year's fantastic south coastal summer holiday in shorts and t shirts for 3 weeks... what should I expect?
Will probably fly into MAN, visit GF's Aunt in N Wales, then her brother in Catterick, then on to the venue in Cumbria for a few days (it's at a Castle hotel)
It's been 45 years since I had a Winter in England, and never north of Harrow, I'd better get something warmer than my February in Perth WA board shorts?

[altoplanohombre]

Winters never change....dark, wet, cold and miserable but you should spot one or two Monaros in UK to remind you of Oz.

[minimoog]

Unless you're up a hill it's rare that you need much more than (t-)shirt, jumper/fleece and a coat or jacket of some sort. Waterproof of course if in Cumbria. If it's a bad one you'll be surrounded by outdoor pursuit shops so could pick something extra up.

[madazrx7]

altoplanohombre said:

Winters never change....dark, wet, cold and miserable but you should spot one or two Monaros in UK to remind you of Oz.

Probably more than you see here, and more likely to be manual too... I had a VZ CV8, I had to buy it in Sydney (2500Km away) to get a yellow 6 speed.
Not surprising they were popular in England, even the supercharged VXR500 (doesn't exist here)was half the price we paid for a standard one!

[madazrx7]

Less than 3 weeks away now, and I probably put this in the wrong sub section (is there a map which shows the regions on PH?)

Mod note: if this belongs in NW please move for me?

Plans have changed slightly as my girlfriend now probably can't come so just me and my 18YO daughter.

Will be at a loose end in MAN for 3 days before my brother etc head North (unless we get a connection to Surrey for the weekend?)
Wedding at a 13thC castle then a few days in the Lake District.

I'm just heading to the beach, might wait until I arrive to get some more warm clothes

[madazrx7]

I'm still not sure where the NE/NW divide is so I'll continue in here.

Plans have totally changed as my partner (now ex partner) isn't coming so just my daughter with me.

Will be in Gilsland a few extra days now, any recommendations of things to do/see?

Lashed out on some nice hotels which I'll now be sharing with my daughter instead of my GF but trying to look on the bright side and still enjoy it.

[altoplanohombre]

You're sure having an interesting life at the mo.......Gilsland and things to do around it would probably have a better response from the NW region. Hadrians wall and not much else to do up there. Romans had the same problem!!

[madazrx7]

I'll cross post this from a thread "Cumbria PHers" in the NW forum, seeing as I was in both regions (mostly in Gilsland with a foot in Cumbria and Northumberland haha)

Thought I would post an epilogue to my short visit to this forum;

I upgraded the hire car to a Volvo XC60, mainly for the inbuilt sat nav but the AWD was handy too, plus the bonus of fitting my 18YO daughter's luggage in easily...

We were very lucky with the weather for most of our visit, some crisp snowy days, and only a couple of grey wet days. Unfortunately the worst day was the day we were booked to go on the Ullswater steamer, which they cancelled due to the rain and wind. Might have been for the best, I had a massive hangover that day from far too much red wine the night before, I got lost staggering back to the hotel from the cottage my brother and his family were staying in.

A couple of pix, which I also posted in the "official winter 2015/16" thread in the lounge:

Panorama from our balcony, Inn on the Lake, Glenridding



Appropriately dressed for clearing the snow from the windscreen, I spent this entire day in a T shirt in the sun, until the wind picked up ETA: no idea why this one is sideways, it's vertical on my laptop...



Gilsland Spa Hotel



Somewhere along Hadrian's wall



Langley Castle for my Brother's wedding

[g7jtk]

madazrx7 said:

I'll cross post this from a thread "Cumbria PHers" in the NW forum, seeing as I was in both regions (mostly in Gilsland with a foot in Cumbria and Northumberland haha)

Thought I would post an epilogue to my short visit to this forum;

I upgraded the hire car to a Volvo XC60, mainly for the inbuilt sat nav but the AWD was handy too, plus the bonus of fitting my 18YO daughter's luggage in easily...

We were very lucky with the weather for most of our visit, some crisp snowy days, and only a couple of grey wet days. Unfortunately the worst day was the day we were booked to go on the Ullswater steamer, which they cancelled due to the rain and wind. Might have been for the best, I had a massive hangover that day from far too much red wine the night before, I got lost staggering back to the hotel from the cottage my brother and his family were staying in.

A couple of pix, which I also posted in the "official winter 2015/16" thread in the lounge:

Panorama from our balcony, Inn on the Lake, Glenridding



Appropriately dressed for clearing the snow from the windscreen, I spent this entire day in a T shirt in the sun, until the wind picked up ETA: no idea why this one is sideways, it's vertical on my laptop...



Gilsland Spa Hotel



Somewhere along Hadrian's wall



Langley Castle for my Brother's wedding

Anton does a good wedding at Langley castle.

[madazrx7]

g7jtk said:

Anton does a good wedding at Langley castle.

Was a great day, we stayed the night there, the rooms are sensational. Our bathroom was bigger than most hotel rooms!
They certainly knew how to live in the 13th Century haha