Which is why today has felt like the most adult, dull day of the whole trip. Preston ring road, if I never see you again before I die that’s fine by me. I feel sorry for the things I said about  Lancaster now, a true jewel in comparison.

So in the absence of posting a tonne of photos that look like this;

interspersed with a proper pub serving beer I haven’t had since my student days;

followed by more very dull roads,

I will rejoice for a second that the dull urban environment did at least mean we had pavement the whole day. 

For the rest of this post I will ignore 99% of today’s route and remark instead on some of the conversation we’ve had about the differences we’ve observed going south from Scotland.

People

It is a stereotype in the UK that people “up north” are much more friendly than “shandy drinking southerners”. The advice given to visitors to London includes “don’t even look at anyone on the underground” and “don’t take it personally if a local seems rushed or distant.” In contrast, people from the north of England are “known for their warm hospitality and straightforward humour” so you should “expect friendly banter”. However, we either look like psychotic murderers or COVID has a lot to answer for as we have not been overwhelmed with friendly banter. The BnB owner in the Highlands in Ballachulish was really friendly as a fellow film buff like Mark, but the staff at the Hinds Head hotel here, south of Lancaster have surpassed most places we’ve been so far.

A brief conversation with AI suggests that hybrid working post COVID has mixed northern and southern communities, coupled with the outcomes of the pandemic hitting urban versus rural communities differently, so that tends to be where the divide sits now, rather than geography.

Food

This does seem to have been more stereotypical with a LOT of meat eaten, the further north we have been. Porridge has been a Scottish breakfast staple, the first time it was not a mandatory part of breakfast was the first hotel past the border. Tonight, we are firmly in the world of salad and vegetables again and haggis is but a memory.

Environment

This is a biggy, as in Scotland has been huge: both in the scale of the scenery and its ruggedness/apparent desire to kill us. The further south we have got, the flatter the hills have been, the wind is gentler, everything is just a bit calmer and less deadly. The ratio of Mira electric showers to zebra crossings should be a new metric for the extent of urbanisation versus wilderness. If getting a powerful shower plumbed in effectively is hard, you are likely in a place that is not populated enough to require a zebra crossing and vice versa. We’ve seen one zebra crossing north of the border with Scotland and only one Mira shower south of it.

As we are now three days past half way, it’s going to be interesting to see what is a North versus South difference, versus urban/rural or just regional variation in any of these factors. 

The biggest regional variation I discovered today was via an American colleague of mine, who was curious to know if we are doing “Inn to Inn travelling” which is not a thing in America. Inn to Inn just sounds like a normal weekend in the UK, but is actually a version of what we are doing with luggage carried between stops for you. We have a whole industry here in the UK, and it’s working: on the West Highland way no one seemed to be carrying their luggage. It made us wonder when does “inn to inn holiday” end and JOGLE adventure start?

For now, just enjoying the journey. All 35km of it today.