We're Here! Arrival St. Bees

Over the ocean. 

Flying into Dublin. 

We walked out to the plane in Dublin. Jo Anne going up the stairs. 

Flying into Manchester England from Dublin. 

So, after getting to the airport in Manchester, we made our way to baggage claim where my bag came down the carousel right at the beginning. Then, we waited, and waited, and waited for Jo Anne’s bag to come. After about 20 minutes of waiting with no new bags coming off and only a few people left waiting, we were thinking it was time to go to the claims counter. Then we saw a new little group of bags and lo and behold, there was hers at the end. We rejoiced and gave thanks and headed to the train station. We were pretty sure we would not make the train as we had only 30 minutes to make a very long walk, go up and down in the lift, get some cash from the ATM, print our tickets from the kiosk, and find the correct platform 

As you can see from the photo, we made the train with 8 minutes to spare. 

Manchester architecture. 

I’m going to apologize right now for the number of pictures I took from the train. I weeded through them and will post only about half so you aren’t horribly bored. 

One of the first of many sheep pics (I’m sure)

Love all the old train stations. 

The Irish Sea

We will be climbing those fells (mountains) in the background over the next few days. 

Another old train station. 

Furness Abbey - destroyed in 1537 during the English reformation under the orders of Henry VIII. Founded almost 900 years ago in 1123. Once the largest and wealthiest monastery in northwest England and the second largest Cistercian Abbey in England. It was built almost entirely of the local red sandstone. More about this red stone to come. 

We changed trains in Barrow-in-Furness, going down and then back up in the lift to platform 3. 

More of God’s incredible creation. 

Tide going out and sun setting over the Irish Sea. 

The train at St. Bees, our final destination today. 

The old train station 

We made it! We survived the lengthy travel from Texas to the west coast of England. A delayed flight from Lubbock for Jo Anne, where she met me in Dallas as they were boarding our plane, removal of pre-board passengers due to air conditioner problems, a delayed flight from Dallas, then on to Dublin Ireland, a change of airlines to fly to Manchester England, a 4 1/2 hour train ride from Manchester to St. Bees, with one change of trains. A total distance of over 5,000 miles. It's a bit surreal after all the planning and waiting, but here we are in St. Bees, Cumbria, UK.

I am so grateful that our inn is less than 500’ from the train station so we don’t have to drag these heavy bags very far. However, it was all uphill. 

The Manor restaurant

The Pub

The Inn

Our room 

View from our room over the garden

Jo Anne ordered steak and ale pie and I had vegetable soup. Unfortunately, we were so hungry we neglected to take a picture of our food so the closest we could come was this one from the website. Instead of mash, it came with an orange mash that we assumed was sweet potato but when tasted, we knew it was not. I suggested it might have turnip in it and come to find out it was swede (an orange turnip), sometimes called neeps. 

We met another couple at dinner who are starting the C2C walk tomorrow. They are not taking any rest days, but walking straight through over 17 days. They were younger than us. 

We checked into our lodging for the next two nights, The Manor, after a long couple of days, and we are exhausted but the adrenalin keeps us going. It's a nice country inn with 8 ensuite rooms and we decide to stay here for dinner since it's already late in the day and we're ready to eat and settle in for the night. Besides it's rated as the number 1 place to eat in St. Bees. I think there are only three places to eat total. Praying for good a rest. Tomorrow we will explore.

And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”        Exodus 33:14