Nottingham
20 and 21st July 2009

We'd packed up all our worldly possessions, cleaned the house, and given back the keys, and we were on the train to London. We said our goodbyes to Benfleet (they weren't emotional at all!) and begun our newest adventure. We arrived into Fenchurch Street Station to find Hannah's pal Belinda, stuck on the platform, unable to carry her all her stuff down the stairs. It was a fairly humorous tube trip, trying to watch the girls carry their backpacks, massive suitcases and all the other bags up and down the stairs and onto the train, We were lucky enough to be able to dump most of our stuff not coming travelling with us onto Matt and Jodie in Chelmsford and Jess in London, earlier in the week. Made for less stressful travels. All 4 of us then jumped onto the same train. Although we were heading for Nottingham, Hannah and Belinda we're stopping off to dump all their stuff at Belle's brothers house in Kettering, which happens to be on the same train line!

Finding spots on the train to put all our bags was difficult and we had to keep jumping up to move them around as people got on and off the train. I was able to briefly connect to my mobile wireless internet and find the final days score in the Lords test - devastating.

We said our goodbyes on the train to Hannah and Belinda, then relaxed for the final hour of the 2 hour journey to Robin Hoods land. We arrived into Nottingham, and, thanks to my organization in printing out some google maps, we were able to find our hostel with ease. If we had have followed the hostels directions we would've been lost in an instant. We opened the door to the hostel, and were confronted with the longest, steepest set of stairs I've seen in a long time. I think they went up three floors, We checked in, and headed up to our dorm. They'd stuffed up and put us in a 6 bed dorm, when we'd booked into a 3 bed room. After a quick complaint the guy shifted us into another 6 bed dorm, but there was no one else in it! Score! He figured it would be easier to do that, rather than try to figure out how much money he owed us!

After dumping the bags, we set out on the streets of Nottingham. The people wandering around we very 'different'. On our walk up to the castle we found one couple standing in the middle of the street, yelling at each other until they were both blue in the face. A bystander decided to butt in, then he copped it from both of them! We made our way up to Nottingham Castle, which is built on top of a big rock, and wandered in through the gates. We knew we were supposed to buy tickets and pay to get in, but there was no one at the booth, so we just walked on in. The grounds and gardens of this place were incredible. Robin Hood and Maid Marian sculptures made out of thousands of tiny little flowers. There was a cricket ball flying towards some stumps sculptures made out of flowers also. We climbed our way up to the top of the hill and into the castle. It houses a bit of a museum among other random things. A quick look around inside and I was bored already. It wasn't very exciting, so we headed out the door on the other side of the building to where we came in. Dan found some big board that you had to wind up and it would tell you a story. I turned the knob, nothing happened, so I walked off. Not Dan. He was determined to get this thing going, so he stood there and cranked the wheel and cranked it and cranked it, until final he heard some little voice, telling him some s***ty story about the castle. By this stage I'd wander the whole way round the outside of the castle and had to go back and collect him. It was here that we were first approached for our 15 minutes of fame. Some woman with a microphone came up to us and introduced herself as someone from BBC, and if we wouldn't mind if we did a quick interview with us. She just wanted to know about why we were in Nottingham, and where we were from and what not. Strange, but OK, we'll play along.

After the castle found the Robin Hood statue. Dan kicked the kids that were playing on it off, so he could have his photo taken with it. Then we walked down the hill to find "Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem"; apparently England'[s oldest pub. It was pretty cool, as its built into the side of the rock, and has little tunnels and passage ways carved into the stone. We stayed for a pint, and checked out all the odd little things in there. There was the "pregnancy chair" - apparently all women who sit in, fall pregnant soon after. Needless to say, I did NOT sit in it!. There was also the "Old Galleon", a model boat covered in cobwebs and housed inside a big plastic box. I overheard some people talking about it saying that "whoever touches it dies", hence why it's in a big display cabinet..

After the pub we headed back to the hostel to do some research. Find somewhere nice for dinner and check out movie times. We stayed for a drink and had a chat to some of the others staying in the hostel.

We ended up just going down to the cheap pub down the road, then made our way up to the cinemas to watch Bruno. A completely wrong and inappropriate movie, but damn hilarious. It was then back to the hostel for the night.

Next morning we got up, showered and headed off for some breakfast. Back to the same pub as we had dinner at (It was only 3 pounds for a decent breakfast) and then it was up to the Galleries of Justice Museum. We went on an actor lead tour, which was quite funny. I was tried in the massive courthouse on counts of witchcraft. I was sentenced to be tied up and thrown in the lake. I float, then I'm guilty and need to be hung, or if I drown and die, then I must've been innocent. Didn't look good either way. We were lead down into the 1800's gaol and copped an earful about cricket and QANTAS from the next actor down there. (Damn Dan wearing his Kangaroo's shirt today). We continued the tour, looking at more cells, gallows, washing rooms, exercise yards and all the prisony stuff. My favourite thing in there was a big box, and a crank, in which the prisoners were made to turn. It served no purpose, except punishment. If the guards were feeling mean, then they'd tighten the screw inside it, making it harder for the prisoners to crank, hence the guards nickname of "Screw"!!! Just as we were leaving we were found by a different woman, who also worked for BBC and asked if she could interview us. Twice. In 2 days. We must've had signs around our necks. Dan crapped on to her for a while, he even managed to talk about Ned Kelly, and finally we said our goodbyes to BBC lady. Hopefully one day we will get paid for our interviews.

After the museum we boarded a bus, which was going to take us out to Sherwood Forest. Have I mentioned that it was cold and raining pretty solidly today? An hour stuck on a s***ty bus that made me feel sick, and we ended up in the bush, wet and muddy. We looked in the visitor information centre and then through the little Robin Hood story room they had up, and set off on the blue path to find the 'Major Oak'. Story goes, that Robin and his pals stayed inside the tree for a few nights. It is a nice story, but I believe Robin to be completely fictional. Dan on the other hand, walked the entire path, with a grin, expecting at any time Little John or someone to jump out of the bush and scare him. After 30 minutes trudging through the red mud and rain, we arrived at the Major Oak. And it was simply a big tree. Held up by various supports and wires. We looked at the tree, then walked back through the mud and the wet to the visitor centre. We called into the little café there for some lunch, then we waited in the rain for the bus to come back and pick us up. I slept for nearly the whole hour back into Nottingham. We did a quick stop off at the supermarket for something for dinner, then we just spent the evening chilling out at the hostel, checking emails, catching up on Neighbours and Packed to the Rafters and reading and so on.

It is now the morning of the 22nd (Happy Birthday Mum!) and we're on the train to Manchester, where we'll stay for the next 3 nights. This is a s***ty train. Loud man on phone screaming at someone in a foreign language, annoying teenagers playing music through speakers and babies. Arghh. I hope the 2 hour trip passes quickly!