Travelling to the UK during Covd-19

Pandemic Travel

Travelling during a pandemic is tricky business. There are many Covid-19 tests to do and restrictions to abide by, and they change so rapidly it is hard to keep up. It’s even trickier when things happened in the family and you are needed. However I also have family overseas that I’ve not seen for many years, so I went ahead with a solo trip to England to visit mum.

The last time I visited the UK in 2013, almost 2 decades ago! Still a student in Physical Education College (PESS). 

Blitzy wanna go along, the bag is actually big enough to fit him!

Spending time with mum was the priority, but there are also other adventures to pursue while in England. She stays in Gorstage, Cheshire, a rural countryside between Manchester and Liverpool that non-British probably never heard of. I didn’t quite appreciate the rural-ness of it when I visited almost 20 years ago, but I am different now. There are many trails, waterways, and small towns with nice cottage houses that you read about in Enid Blyton books when you were young. The cold, gloomy and short winter days used to feel dreadful, but now I appreciate the coolness of it. (I adapted quite well, switched off my room’s heater after a few days).

Ordered the Salomon Sense 4 Pro from https://www.sportsshoes.com/ and received them in UK.
Watch the review!

Ordered the Salomon Bonatti Waterproof running jacket from https://www.sportsshoes.com/ as well. 
Fantastic jacket for races.

Exploration on a Brompton

First day of arrival I stayed at home, partly because I couldn’t go anywhere till I got my negative PCR test result, but more so because I planned to stay home and do nothing for a day. Next day John brought me to explore nearby trails on bicycles and I rode on his Brompton, first time on a Brompton. The trail runs along Weaver River, which is connected to Mersey River. We passed by Dutton Locks, John explained to me how it works to lift a boat up and down a river. It was a leisure, scenic ride which introduced me to the natural beauty of Cheshire and the cool temperature of its winter. Didn’t feel cold but somehow my toes were frozen.

Watch the video!

Tryna unfold the Brompton without much success.

Brompton is set up and ready!

Cycling along River Weaver.

Up on a bridge with a railway track in the background.

Wirral Way Trail Run

Next day I decided to do a long trail run because the weather was supposed to be sunny and warm. I was dropped off at Hooton train station, ran along Wirral Way (an old railway line) and was picked up 19km later at West Kirby station. The weather forecast couldn’t be more wrong, it was cold, rainy and there was also hail at times. Fingers were completely frozen during the run, couldn’t even open the wrapper of my energy bar. The run/walk and stops to remove/put on rain jacket took about 3 hours, quite an experience! It was a baptism of winter, coz the days that followed were all more tolerable (even though some days were colder).

Watch the video!

Start of Wirral Way Trail. 

Trail head!

With mum who dropped me off at trail head (and would pick me up at the end). 

Fighting wind and cold. There were occasions of hail as well. 

Chilling at home

Next few days were spent doing (my kind of) typical daily routine: eat, run, internet, sleep. Sometimes mum and I will go Marks & Spencer to get her groceries, and I will buy chocolates. Chocolates are great in winter, could leave them on the table and they don’t melt. Mealtimes are the highlights of the day, it’s always a surprise what mum whips up in the kitchen. She’s happy too because she is not only cooking for herself (John doesn’t like most Asian food).

My bedroom snacks from Marks & Spencer. 

Movie night at Manchester.

Love the Fish & Chips, so huge!

Last lunch before we headed to London for my flight home. 

Sandstone Trail

Soon it was time to explore Sandstone Trail, a 55km walking route from Frodsham in the north to Whitchurch down south. It followed a sandstone ridgeline, through a few forests, farms and roads. Initially I planned to use 4 days and spend 3 nights in B&B along the trail, but many accommodation places were closed due to winter, and they could cost more than 100 pounds per night. Decided to accept mum’s offer to drive me home every afternoon and send me to the next start point every morning. Of course, I also get to shower, enjoy yummy breakfasts and dinners and sleep on comfy beds every night (on the 3^rd night I stayed at a B&B for less than 100 pounds and it was awesome as well). Sandstone trail is an easy walk, not much elevation but some sections were very muddy. Could be done leisurely over 3 days walk, or 1 day if you run most of it. I wasn’t very comfortable walking into farms where I felt I was intruding into the farm animals’ space, which included sheep and cows. One particular cow wasn’t very happy about my presence and chased me out of the farm (or maybe he just wanted to play? Don’t know and don’t want to stay to find out!)

Watch the video!

The Bears Paw pub is the starting point of Sandstone Trail. Supposedly you should get a pint before starting any hike. 

Clearly marked signposts along the way. 

The trail goes along a sandstone ridge, which is how the trail got its name. 

War memorial to remember the soldiers from Cheshire who perished during the war. 

View of Cheshire from a hill. 

Whatcha lookin at?!

The cow who blocked my path. Watch the video for unedited footage of encounter with cow
(link above). 

The frame marks the end (or start) of Sandstone Trail. 

Pro hack: How I fixed the magnetic Insta360 Go2 onto trees using a reflective tape (metallic inside). Gives a good 3rd party perspective in my videos as I walk pass. 

10k Time Trial

After the hike it was time to shift my focus to more serious running. I wanted to do a 10km time trial to see how I would perform in such cold weather, perhaps I could set a new season best timing. Although heart rate was lower in the cool weather, I found myself breathing harder than usual. This could be because I was not used to breathing in cold air. Nevertheless, set a new 10km season best of 52:31 (previously was 20+secs slower). Am satisfied, nice run around many rounds of an 800+m loop.

Fastest 10km in the last decade. 

Big Xmas Half Marathon Trail Race

2 days later I toed the start line of a half marathon trail race, known as Big Xmas Trail Race. Intended to do a slow easy run and just soak in the Xmassy vibes and thrill of an in-person trail race (most races were still virtual back in my home country). Temperature was 2 degC, the coldest day of the trip, even local Brits found it cold! It was also very foggy which made the trails look like some enchanted forest (Enid Blyton books again). 10km into the run, I felt that my body had finally warmed up. I was feeling relaxed, and pace was pretty decent (average pace about 6:10min/km). I decided to ditch the slow easy mentality and moved 1 gear up to sub 6min pace. Didn’t feel breathless, maybe because the body had sufficiently warmed up? Anyway, it always feels good to have energy left in the tank, run a negative split and overtake others in the 2^nd half. Finished about 23.5km at 6:04 pace, probably my fastest ever in a trail race. There was warm mulled wine given post-race, kudos to organisers, badly needed that as fingers, face and ears were frozen. As much as I wanted to linger longer to cheer the remaining runners and enjoy the Xmas atmosphere, I couldn’t as it was freezing cold! 

Watch the video!

Gear flat lay before race. So much for less than 3hrs of running. 

Nicely designed bib. Notice Rudolph is also running? 

Misty "enchanted" forest trails along most of the route.

I love how the locals dress up specially for the Xmas season, especially this group of elves. 

Finally finish after fingers, face and ears have become frozen!

Beautiful medal, so much effort in designing!

Beeston Castle

The next few days activities felt more like what a typical tourist would do. We visited Beeston Castle, an old castle nestled on a crag along Sandstone Trail (but was closed when I was hiking). I am quite a history buff and was intrigued by the castle’s colourful warring past. I imagined archers shooting arrows through the slit-windows and soldiers sword fighting on the fields. Great that John knows a lot about UK’s history and was able to satisfy my curiosity.   

View from the outer castle wall.

Inner walls of the castle. 

Fusion meals

Having an Asian mum in England means having a cultural mixture of East and West. Meals were either Asian, Western or Fusion. Although she used to be a Singaporean, she was more into Hong Kong pop culture and movies (that’s where I got my HK influence!) I was happy to learn that the cinema in Manchester were showing Anita Mui (the movie), in Cantonese! I have watched the movie in Singapore, but it was dubbed in Mandarin, so we decided to catch the movie together! Mum still retains her HK “roots” by watching HK drama on her tablet every night before going to bed.

Bo Lo Bun, am I in Hong Kong?

Chee Cheong Fun breakfast, Malaysia?

Miso Soup, Japan?

My typical breakfast, milk with cereals. 

Breakfast made by mum, usually with lots of fruits.

Dinner affair, chicken with lots of veggies

Toast, cheese, ham and eggs. Favourite!

Hot dogs for breakfast, took some as lunch for the Sandstone Trail hike. 

Guinness is from Ireland, just across the sea.

One of the yummiest dinners, pork chop by mum!

Pizza at a mall, so huge we only finished half of each piece!

Dinner at The Bickerton Poacher Hotel, braised pork to replenish all the burnt calories! 

Finally a full English breakfast at The Bickerton Poacher Hotel.

Watch live EPL football matches

We also did what Brits do, watch live football! I had not seen any full football match for a very long time, let alone live. In the 2 weeks in UK, I watched Arsenal play against West Ham, against Leeds (Premier League) and against Sunderland (Carabao Cup). The Gunners won all those matches, scored 11 goals and only conceded 2, I’m happy! Come on you Gunners! 

Time to say Goodbye

Just as I was getting used to living in UK, it was time to say goodbye. Leaving mum in UK to be reunited with my family in Singapore is bitter-sweet, and inevitable. Don’t know when I am able to visit UK again, with the pandemic any chance to travel at all is precious (Singapore just announced a temporary suspension of Vaccinated Travel Lanes to all countries till Jan 20th 2022). Hopefully travel plans in August 2022 will happen, then mum, John, Esther and myself will drink beer in the beautiful valley of Chamonix!