Thoughts on the UK

My walk through Dorset went well, with only 2 days of rain out of 9, and I also visited lots of Thomas Hardy sites, plus Jane Austen's house, Kew Gardens, and Hampton Court Palace (despite major train problems and having to walk the last few kilometers to get there).

I haven't unloaded my pictures from my camera yet, so I thought I'd write about a couple things I noticed.

The faucets: sinks with separate hot and cold faucets look really cute, but when you want warm water you realize that mixing valves are actually quite handy. Some of the hostel sinks were really small, so putting the stopper in to mix hot and cold water was tricky since it's hard to scoop up water with both hands in a tiny sink. I'm not missing the separate faucets.

Salt and pepper shaker confusion: I'm convinced all English people are using salt and pepper shakers incorrectly. At every since B&B I stayed in (there were quite a few), they all had the salt in the shaker with fewer holes and the pepper in the shaker with more holes. My mom was quite specific about salt going in the one with more holes (since people generally salt their food more than they pepper it), and the French also use their shakers that way. A quite Google Shopping search seems to confirm that salt goes in the shaker with more holes.

Pub food: I ate in quite a few pubs, and I decided to try some of the pub classics along they way, which in Abbotsbury, Dorset included lamb sausages with mash and mint gravy. I don't understand why the English are still putting mint in their gravy. Maybe a hint of fresh mint is nice, but the gravy I had was nice except for the mint. Why not basil, or rosemary, or oregano? Those would go better with savory meaty flavors, and rosemary is great with lamb.

Cider: some pubs had 20 different kinds of cider, including local Dorset cider in carbonated or un-carbonated versions (I tried the uncarbonated, which tasted nice, but also a bit like alcoholic apple juice, so afterwards I stuck with carbonated). And then the next village pub I tried only had 2 on tap.

English breakfast: I need breakfast everyday, and with 20+ kilometers to walk each day I was happy to have full English breakfasts at each B&B. Towards the end of my trip though eggs, sausage, mushrooms, tomato, hash browns and toast after being urged to have some cereral or yogurt or fruit, was too much and when I was staying in Dorchester I copied someone I'd seen in a previous B&B and asked for eggs on toast (the eggs are scrambled). After trying it, I still don't see the point in putting the eggs on the toast. Scrambled eggs are good, so is toast; you don't have to put one on top of the other.

Expensive bus and trains: I took buses a handle full of times during my trip, including one to avoid a long detour of the Coast Path due to a cliff slippage, and I was always surprised by the price of the ticket. I don't think I took a bus for less than 2£50 for a single. When I left Dorchester to go to London, I learned that the price difference between a single and return to London Waterloo was only 1£ (ticket was 56£ if I remember correctly)! I had my Oyster card for the London Underground, and while I thought it was overly expensive, I did check my ride history on a machine at the end of my trip and learned that on one of the days in London I hit the daily maximum amount, and my last 2 rides (a bus, then underground) were free.

Mixed bag for trains: I had several delays due to signalling problems, and the last day there were major problems to get out to Hampton Court Palace, but there were always lots of trains. For my day trip out to Alton to go to Jane Austen's house there were trains for London or at least Woking every half an hour. In comparison, small towns in France the size of Alton might only have 6-10 trains for the entire day, if train service hasn't been canceled. My first day of walking I took a 2 wagon diesel train from Exeter to Exmouth, and on boarding the conductor announced that two of the stops were by request only, meaning passengers had to alert the conductor they wanted to stop there. I don't think any French train line offers optional stops like that! Despite all the signalling problems and delays, train travel in England is arguably better than in France because of the number of trains and the dense network.