London calling

[Tom Dunlap]

At the beginning of April I'm going over to England. This is going to be a bit of vacation and a bit of work. I'll have about six days to get from London to Manchester.

I'd like to know if there are any "Can't Miss" things to do along the way or if there are any tree related stops that I should plan. When I was over for the ISA conference I spent a day at Kew Gardens. That was fantastic. When I traveled I used Thomas Parkenham's book "Meeting with remarkable trees" as one of my guides.

Also, is there any booty that I should get over there that isn't available in the US? I'd rather bring gear home than Pounds.

Thanks for any ideas,

 

[The_Kid]

Tom,
Sorry I can't be of any help in your travels, but when I read about you using Meetings with Remarkable Trees, I was definitely impressed. My wife was kind enough to buy that one for me as an anniversary present not too long ago. A great book, with some amazing trees. Definitely a conversation piece at home and now on the Buzz Board!

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Pakenham has another tree book out. This is about trees of the world.

Here's a link to the Google image search on him:

http://images.google.com/images?q=thomas+pakenham&num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&newwindow=1&sa=N&tab=wi

His first book can be had at many discounters at a good price.

The BBC did many short videos on some of the trees in his book. It was fun to surf past the station one night and see them pruning the beech hedge. I got to walk the hedge. On the woods side and then the street side. Beautiful!

Tom

 

[Yoav]

If you get a chance, theres some gnarly old caledonian pines in scotland. Never seen them, but they are supposed to be quite ancient.

 

[Mangoes]

Can't help much with attractions Tom. Five years ago I visited an arboretum up in Yorkshire called Thorp Perrow. I'm not 100% as to where in Yorkshire. On a related note myself, my wife, in laws and brother inlaw and his wife are leaving for Manchester April 4. We'll be over for two weeks and as a climbing nut I'm planning on bringing my gear. Don't as of yet know where I'm going to climb. At the very least there's lots of rock up there to climb. If your heading anywhere near Wenslydale, Yorkshire send word,and maybe hook up for a climb.