Interesting non-theme park travel reports

[Matt N]

Hi guys. We may visit a lot of theme parks on here, but I’m sure many of us visit some interesting non-theme park places as well. With this in mind, I thought it might be fun to have a thread on interesting non-theme park travel reports, to show off some of those interesting places that don’t have creds in them!

I’ll get the ball rolling, as I’ve been on a little adventure of my own today!

Today, I ventured on my first ever trip to Scotland with my family. We’re staying for a week in a rural village within the Trossachs National Park in central Scotland, but on our way up, we stopped in to see The Kelpies in Falkirk.

In essence, they’re two massive metal horse statues. You might have seen them in the intro to BBC News, and they’re a similar sort of thing to the Angel of the North (as I understand it… I’ll admit I haven’t actually been there). They’re really impressive structures, and they’re set in a lovely park called Helix Park! You can pay to have a tour and climb The Kelpies themselves; we didn’t on this occasion, but it did look like you could have a fairly comprehensive tour! There’s also a visitor centre at the side with a cafe and gift shop, and to get back to your car, you can also walk alongside a nice canal.

It’s not exactly a full day visit, but for a stop of 45 minutes or so on our long drive up to the Trossachs, it was a nice stop and I’m glad we went to see these impressive structures. Here are a few photos I took from various different angles:

I also took a few other picture highlights from the drive up. Firstly, I took a picture of the Scottish flag as we passed the Scottish border for the first time on the M6 (I apologise for the blurriness… it was hammering down with rain when we drove into Scotland):

I also took another angle of The Kelpies from the M9 motorway, as well as a very blurry picture of Stirling Castle that can just about be seen in the background. This was apparently where Mary Queen of Scots grew up, and from a distance, it actually looked like a very nice castle:

I also photographed our first seen loch of the trip, Loch Lubraig. For what my mum referred to as a “small loch”, it was surprisingly long!:

Scotland may lack major theme parks, but on first impressions, it looks like a beautiful country! As a comparison, the area we’re staying in looks a bit like the Lake District, but more wooded compared to the rocky landscapes of Cumbria. It should be a nice week, and I’m interested to see what the slice of the UK above Hadrian’s Wall is like for the first time!

I’m not sure I’ll be visiting M&D’s while I’m up here, though…

 

[East Coast Mariner]

Great idea for a thread, @Matt N . I do like the Kelpies.

I hope I’m allowed to do a TR from April this year. There’s not much I enjoy more than a village-to-village walk, and I had wanted to do one from Newport for some time (Newport in Essex, near Bishop's Stortford), to the village of Wendens Ambo.

The only trouble is, I knew it was going to be a long one. I like to keep my walks between 5 and 6 miles, which is the normal length of a circular walk between villages. The problem here was that there is a huge estate in between - Shortgrove Park - and so this was going to be longer. Over 7 miles, which is not an enormous trek, but there were absolutely no shortcuts available.

Nonetheless, I decided to do it. Newport Village Hall was kind enough to allow me to park there, and so I set off down the extremely historic High Street. West Essex is an amazing part of the country, full of stunning villages. It’s a disgrace that Stansted Airport was allowed to be built there, in my opinion.

https://flic.kr/p/2rdviTc

After a look in St Mary’s Church, it was time to truly begin my adventure. There is something I love about churches - all that history and culture, combined with a great sense of peace. They are often the biggest building in a village, like a mini castle. On walks, they are a sanctuary where I can shelter from the weather and eat my snacks in the porch.

But I had a long walk ahead of me, so it was time to press on to Wendens Ambo. I walked north along Whiteditch Lane, then along the Saffron Trail through farmland. And before long, I was on Rookery Lane.

Here, I had to join a footpath. The trouble is, it’s not all that clear on Ordnance Survey maps exactly where you join this path. To the untrained eye, it looks like a long, unimpeded lane. However, about 10m of it is private land (no fences, gates or signs though), and you technically have to go round it on a very short east-north-west route. I didn’t know this, and just walked down the lane, prompting the woman who owned the house to come out and berate me. I quickly dashed to the public bit so she couldn’t turn me back!

https://flic.kr/p/2rdwkVz

Through some fields, I joined Duck Street and walked along the lane. There is a building called Frenchman’s Hole, which I thought was a bit strange. I then joined Church Street, which is really quite a stunning array of cottages.

Finally, I had reached Wendens Ambo and the Church of St Mary. I came here once before, and it really meant a lot to me to return. Sitting on a bench by a tree, eating my snacks, I prepared for the rest of the walk. A friendly lady approached and told me the history of the place. It used to be two separate villages - Wenden Magna (Great Wenden) and Wenden Parva (Little Wenden), with “Ambo” meaning “both”. She kept trying to get me to go to the pub, but I’m afraid I’m not one for having a beer when I’m walking! (And certainly not driving, it goes without saying.)

https://flic.kr/p/2rdviTh

Trying to keep the walk as short as possible, I went along the Royston Road and London Road, rather than use the footpath (which really would have extended my journey). Thankfully they both had pavement. Joining the Wenden Road, I walked along and the terrain became less built-up again. Hearing the toot of a steam train in the distance, I knew I was near Audley End.

It was finally time to begin the return journey - a very long straight section of well over 2 miles with no real branching paths (or at least none that would be useful to me). I turned south and headed down Beechy Lane. This pleasant track lived up its name, with plenty of small/medium Beech trees. I wonder if it was planted as a horse “ride” between Audley End and Shortgrove Hall? With the latter to the west, and no public access to it, it would have to remain a mystery.

I continued south through Brakey Ley Wood and onto Harcamlow Way. I was enjoying my walk, but there was only one problem - it was becoming very hot. Struggling up the hill and very much exposed to the heat, I headed for the shade of Rosy Grove. Here it was indeed cooler. I also ducked under a large Ash tree that had fallen across the path.

Finally back into familiar territory, I crossed Debden Water and made my way through a wooded valley. Soon, I was back in Newport. It had been a great walk, but the heat had almost caught me out at the end there. Back at the Village Hall, I was treated to the spectacle of a huge Red Kite flying by. Looking at the car thermometer, it said 27-degrees, which was a lot warmer than forecast. So, in the unlikely event it’s ever disputed, I am willing to testify in court that (at least in some places) it was 27-degrees in April this year!

I got some more snacks out of the car and sat in the park eating them. It had been a great adventure. There’s something I love about the scale of Old England. You can easily plan a circular walk between two, or even three, villages. This, though, had been one of the better ones, and I hope to be able to do many more like it.

 

[Matt N]

Half way through the week, we’ve really been getting around central Scotland! I don’t think I’m going to do a full park day-style trip report of any of our days, but I’ll provide a few highlights, if anyone is interested in hearing about my first Scottish trip.

On Saturday, we headed for a 10km(ish) walk around the village where we’re staying (Killin), taking in Moirlanich Longhouse, the ruins of Finlarig Castle and the southern bank of Loch Tay as well as the Falls of Dochart. There is something I find strangely peaceful about water, particularly waterfalls, and this was a nice walk that took in lots of different sights. The area we’re staying in is lovely, and there are some beautiful landscapes! It was also a reasonably flat walk, which is good if you’re concerned about inclines when walking:

On Sunday, we headed west to see Loch Lomond. We firstly stopped at the Loch Lomond Shores complex in Balloch, which I’ll admit wasn’t anything to write home about. There was a historic steamboat undergoing restoration, which was pretty cool, but other than that, it was a pretty generic shopping centre. I must admit, though, that I didn’t know that Merlin operated a SeaLife centre in Loch Lomond, so that was an interesting surprise to see while walking around (I didn’t go in, seeing as we went to what feels like tons of SeaLife centres when we owned Merlin passes)!:

After that, though, we headed to the village of Luss, which was much nicer. With the almost fairytale-style houses and the views of Loch Lomond, it was an absolutely beautiful village that was well worth a stop at; it almost looked like something out of a postcard! As we were walking down the main street, we could even hear a bagpipe player in the background; we only needed somebody wearing a kilt and it would have felt like the most stereotypically Scottish experience we could have had:

On our way back home, we stopped in at the Falls of Falloch, a waterfall in Inverarnan. This was a lovely detour, and it was quite an impressive waterfall as waterfalls go!:

On Monday, we headed north into the Cairngorms to visit Blair Castle, near Pitlochry. Now I’ll admit that I don’t go overly nuts for castles, stately homes and the like, so this wasn’t a day of the trip I was most enthused by, but this was nice enough as castles go and it was an enjoyable visit. The former occupants of this castle definitely enjoyed hunting, as there was an almost perturbing amount of deer antlers and guns displayed around the castle! We also saw some nice gardens and an interesting wooded area with some ruins and some of Europe’s tallest trees, standing at up to 46m tall. That’s the sort of tree Alton Towers needs to plant! As with Luss the previous day, there was also a bagpipe player out in the main courtyard; walking towards the castle with the bagpipes playing and seeing the Scottish flag flying on top really did enhance the feeling of Scottishness! On a side note, the gift shop also sold some children’s books written in colloquial Scottish, and I’ll admit that trying to read through the likes of The Gruffalo’s Wean was interesting, to say the least:

Today, we headed on another walk around another waterfall, visiting the Burks of Aberfeldy. This is a waterfall in a forest, probably best known as the inspiration for the Robert Burns poem of the same name. It’s a nice enough waterfall and I thought the walk was nice enough, but the walk is quite steep with quite a lot of steps, so maybe not one for if you don’t like steep inclines and steps when walking (my mum struggled a bit). On a side note, there’s apparently a statue of Robert Burns, but we couldn’t find it anywhere…:

On the way back, we also stopped to take in the views at the northernmost bank of Loch Tay, in the village of Kenmore:

So far, then, it’s been a nice week. I have enjoyed seeing Scotland for the first time; this means I’ve now visited all 3 countries in Great Britain and am only missing Northern Ireland within the wider United Kingdom!

Don’t get me wrong, I definitely wouldn’t visit for the creds. Our nearest is a go-gator at Blair Drummond Safari Park in Stirling. I thought adults couldn’t ride those, but 42 people on Coaster Count have apparently ridden it… can any Scots or kiddie cred seekers from elsewhere in the UK enlighten me?

But if you’re a fan of walking and pretty landscapes, Scotland is an undeniably beautiful country! I’ll admit I have been surprised by how much we’ve had to drive (it’s almost been like one of our trips to Florida in that most days are punctuated by a drive of 30 minutes minimum each way to do our activity of choice), but looking at the map, we have covered a surprising amount of central Scotland within one week! We’ve been to Loch Tay, we’ve been to Loch Lomond in the west, we’ve been to Falkirk further south, and we’ve even briefly been up into the Cairngorms!

We’re off to the Scottish Crannog Centre tomorrow before taking a boat safari on Loch Tay, which should be interesting…

 

[#BringBackWindstorm]

A few days ago, I decided to make the trip to the Austin area to see the 4DX showing of the F1 movie. This trip also originally included a visit to Loro, a famous Asian steakhouse, and D'Lites Ice Cream. Along with these destinations, I also went to see the current progress of the COTALAND amusement park, which is coming along nicely.

I left the area around 3 PM when the traffic was quite rough for a while until it started to clear out as I was heading towards a fuel stop at Buc-ees. The station was a zoo with lines around the pumps, and the parking lot was nearly full. I didn't get any merch or food due to time constraints, which was a wise decision, as the store had medium lines for the cashiers. As I headed towards COTALAND, the traffic began to open up as the quick way to get to the park consists of a Toll Road. The alternative consists of smaller roads that have been known to bottleneck traffic during the venue's large events.

The next stop after seeing the progress, I would set my course to the Loro restaurant, where I also found a rare sight: a COTALAND advert. Apart from a photo I saw on Twitter X, that was the only known photo of a billboard featuring the park. Right next to the billboard was indeed the Loro steakhouse, which had amazing food, but with time ticking down and 5 peeps in line, I had to quickly devise a plan to have dinner. This plan would take me instead to P. Terry's, which has some amazing fries similar to In N Out/Five Guys (favorites) and a decent burger. As I was driving towards the next destination, I spotted two Jaguar Waymo vehicles, which are fully self-driving.

Post P. Terry's, the second to last stop, was D'Lites Ice Cream, which is based on low-calorie flavors and an amazing variety that changes every week, something that I love to see for Ice Cream parlors. I ordered a combination of Cookies and Cream with Chocolate, which tasted nearly exactly like standard soft serve. The toppings consisted of peanut butter chips and M&M's. This meal was eaten rather quickly as my 7PM showing was drawing close.

I arrived at the theater at 6:52, one of the three theaters in Austin to feature the 4DX system for movies. There were many people hyped up for the film, both on social media and in person, were peeps were wearing uniforms based on their favorite teams. I was somewhat late but that did not matter much due to the previews and trailers. Some did stand out, such as seeing some of the sponsors that were featured with APX GP ie Expensify. Another ad that I saw that sparked some conversation was the collab commericial with KFC, where a person nearby me spoke about the McDonald's collab, which features exclusive 1/43 die-cast vehicles, but were only sold in South America. There were also 4 Goodyear ads that played before the film started too.

I will avoid spoilers of the film, but in 4DX form... Oh man, it was an experience. There were smooth transitions when there was an areal shot to being in the vehicle felt like being on a wooden coaster. There were light blasts of air that existed in the seats as well to give realism. Scents were also used as well where I would smell grass during the peaceful sequences to oil during the race scenes. For anyone who is interested in this, do not hesitate. I highly recommend!

Considering the hot weather that exists in Austin, I would love to see a location of the D'Lites Ice Cream at COTA during their largest events. As for a COTALAND suggestion, a 4DX theater showing films where a vehicle takes center stage would be amazing to see, as many films I have experienced in 4DX have all but been vaulted.

Likely, the next time I head over to a city that feels just like my old home, it will be the time COTALAND opens, which is getting closer by the day.