Next Stop: Sherwood Forest

Once we finished our lunch at Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, we started walking back toward the center of Nottingham. Our bellies were full and we were happy. One of the challenges of moving around a large and busy city like Nottingham with 10 people is getting everyone from point A to point B. I think Nancy and I were a little ambitious when we planned our trip. We ended up leaving the pub about 8 minutes later than we had planned. This set us behind on our journey so we all walked very fast. The problem is that we often were separated at intersections - if you notice in the picture above, Isaac, Joyce, Mike and Carla ended up separated from the rest of the group at this point in our journey.

Having the city map, I was in the lead. I knew we needed to get to Victoria Shopping Centre which is where the bus stop to the forest was. I ended up taking one wrong turn, which I didn't think was too bad considering the streets are not well identified and they are all quite curvy. We made it to the shopping centre with minutes to spare. As we went from bus stop to bus stop, I felt like I was on the TV show, the Amazing Race. What we came to find out was that the bus that takes you to Sherwood Forest comes to a bus station behind the shopping centre. By the time we got to the bus stop, we missed the bus by about 2 minutes. Because Sherwood Forest is 45 - 60 minutes outside of Nottingham, the bus only comes every 2 hours. So we had 2 hours to kill before the next bus arrived. Many members of our group decided that they really didn't want to wait 2 hours for the next bus, so they started making their way back home. The picture of the sign below pretty much sums up what happened to our group :) The good thing about it was those who wanted to go home felt free to do so and those of us who wanted to continue with the journey carried on and everyone was happy with their day.

I just love the signs here!

Nancy, Abby, Isaac and I decided that we had made it this far and we were not going to let anything stop us at this point. The 3 Johns stayed with us for a while but they ended up deciding that they wanted to go back too.

John Rice, John Richards, and John Chattham Rice (Jack)

Before they left, I had to take their pictures - too bad John Layer wasn't with us, then we would have had 4 Johns in the picture :) Jack, the littlest John, was worn out!

Isaac, Nancy, Abby and I decided to kill a few minutes in the mall and get some ice cream. After all, we hadn't eaten enough at lunch, and all good Brits love their sweets! So we ventured into the shopping mall.

Isaac eating ice cream

We went to this really neat toy store. The toys were fun to look at. They also had an adult section of "toys" which were pretty funny. We found boob job card games and pasta in the shape of penises. Isaac purchased an eraser that looked like a rubber duck. What you need to understand before you look at the next picture is that they call erasers rubbers over here...

We thought the duck was too cute and the box just struck as being really funny, so we had to purchase it - I think Nancy and I have the same sick sense of humor :) The other funny thing that happened at the shopping centre is Abby lost her tooth while she was eating her ice cream. Her missing teeth are now in the pattern of the letter "L", which I reminded her is the shape of my room :) After we tired of the mall, we went for a walk outside. It never ceases to amaze me how many American stores are in the UK. We saw Claire's jewelry store, Baskin Robbins, Subway, McDonalds, Bath and Body Works, and we even saw an Aldi's store!  During our walk, we saw quite a bit of graffiti. This was very convenient because Isaac had art homework in which he had to put together a collage of graffiti. So we took some graffiti pictures on our journey and killed 2 birds with 1 stone, or maybe I should say arrow since we were in Nottingham.

Cool Nottingham Graffiti - a business's name on a garage door

The bus finally came at 1500 (3:00 PM) and so we continued our journey by boarding the Sherwood Arrow bus to Sherwood Forest. The bus ride to the forest took about 60 minutes. We met a young couple on the bus who was also going to Sherwood Forest. They had been given some wrong directions, so they also missed the 1:00 bus and were basically in the same boat as we were.

The bus went through several quaint villages and the scenery was beautiful. Much of the trip was actually through the original forest. Now an important thing to remember is that following the invasion of William the Conqueror, a Norman King, in 1066, any land that was not developed and could be hunted upon was considered a forest. So although parts of the forest are wooded, there are some parts that look more like fields.

Isaac stops to read about insects on the walking trail, which disgusts Abby!

While King Richard was off fighting the crusades, Prince John, Richard's brother, ruled the land. Prince John was a Norman who hated the Saxons and he wanted to take over the land that belonged to the Saxons. So he had the Earl of Huntingdon killed. The Earl's son, Robert Locksley, was labeled as an outlaw and took the name Robin Hood...or at least this is how the legend goes. Robin Hood and his Merry Men (Friar Tuck, Little John, Will Scarlet, and Much the Miller's Son) went through the forest, hunting the royal deer and helping people in need. In these times, you could not hunt in royal forests because the land and everything on the land, including animals, belonged to the king. Robin Hood and his Merry Men were real hoodlums :)

Robin Hood and Little John fighting on a bridge in Sherwood Forest - why is Little John called Little John when he is bigger than Robin Hood????

 Whether or not you believe in the legend of Robin Hood, I would have to say that Sherwood Forest is an amazing gem and is totally awe - some!

Oak tree along the Major Oak walking trail

Since we only had about an hour to spend in the forest, we decided to walk along the Major Oak trail first so Abby and Isaac could shoot bow and arrows. The people who helped the kids with their archery skills were dressed up as merry men and women. They were extremely nice and patient with all the kids who were there that day.

Abby is the little one in the centre of the picture getting ready to shoot

What perfect form - can you tell he is a Boy Scout?!?

Across from the field where the kids were shooting was the major oak - and boy is it a major oak!

The Major Oak

If you look carefully, you can see that the Major Oak is being held up by metal poles - it looks like a tree on stilts! Experts believe that this tree has been growing in the forest for more than 1150 years. It weighs an estimated 23 tons and its trunk is about 33 feet around. Its total leaf spread is about 92 feet. The poles help to hold the tree up since it is so major-ly big!

One of my favorite Isaac pictures!

Isaac and me in front of the major oak

The walking paths in the park are so peaceful. I could have spent the entire day here.

The trees were totally amazing - every turn of the path had similar trees and similar underbrush, but the views were just spectacular. Having been to the Dover Castle and hearing the stories there about the kings and their hunts through the forests, all I had to do is close my eyes - and I could see the king and all the king's men along with their hounds and horses going through the forest looking for game to hunt.

Looking up into the pine trees

The best part about our visit to the forest was spending it with Isaac, Nancy and Abby. They made the trip so fun. Abby and Isaac had space to run around and play, and Nancy and I were able to join in on the fun. We enjoyed being outdoors and enjoying the beauty all around us.

Presenting the Major Oak!

These trees are huge!

After making our way back to the visitor's centre, we then had to get to the bus stop. The bus we took into the forest was the last bus that came to the visitor's centre in Sherwood Forest. So we had to walk to the next nearest town...

Robin Hood's village sign

Edwinstowe is a very quaint little village. We were sad we didn't have more time to explore it, but we had a bus to catch. St. Mary's, the church where Robin Hood and Marian supposedly were married, is in the village. It sits up high on a hill. Unfortunately, we were not able to get into the church to check out their marriage license! But we did see some really cute cottages and houses. One thing that I love about the English houses and cottages is the doors. The doors are usually unique and some of them are pretty little. It makes me wonder if people were shorter back when the houses were built or if short doors were just in style then.

Abby - minus 1 tooth + 1 Robin Hood teddy bear!

As we were walking back to the bus station, we ended up running into the couple that we met on the bus on the way out to the forest. As we were walking with them, we discovered that they are from Denmark and that they are attending the University of Nottingham. Nancy was convinced that we were going to get lost and miss the bus. I kept reassuring her that I had a great sense of intuition and that I would not get us lost. As we got closer to the bus stop, Nancy was convinced we had missed the bus. We got to the bus stop with about 8 minutes to spare, but after we missed the first bus, I could see why she thought we missed this one. We waited with our new friends at the bus stop and the bus never came. So we decided to stop and take some pictures while we waited.

Waiting for the bus with our new friends

As time passed, Nancy was even more convinced we missed the bus. We waited for 10 minutes more than when the bus was to arrive, but the bus never came. We were all convinced that Nancy must have been right and that we missed the bus. Our friends from Denmark decided to spend the next few hours in Edwinstowe at a pub, and Nancy and the kids and I were trying to figure out what we were going to do next when all of a sudden, poof - our bus appeared out of nowhere! Unfortunately, our Denmark friends had left for the pub and we had no way to contact them to tell them to come back. Then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, we see our friends sprinting back to the bus station. I laughed so hard, I had tears in my eyes. It was just the perfect ending to a perfectly wonderful and adventure-filled day. I really thought a lot about my friend, Bill Stroube, on this trip because I remember the two of us having similar crazy twists and turns on our previous adventures across this beautiful country. 

One last look at the forest :)

As I reflect on this day, I realize again how blessed I am - I must sound like a broken record, but it is true. The friendships we have made and the memories Isaac and I will share forever are so precious. If I had to do this day all over again, I wouldn't change a thing - part of the fun of traveling is the adventure in getting to your destinations and home again. Getting lost gives you an opportunity to see things you would not have normally seen and you get to meet people you wouldn't normally meet. You get to loose teeth and buy Robin Hood bears. You have a great lunch, eat ice cream and have an excellent ale. You get to take buses, see huge majestic trees and meet people from Denmark. As the Muppet's song goes, "...moving right along... footloose and fancy free...getting there is half the fun, come share it with me!" I am so glad that Isaac and my friends shared this day with me. We moved right along and had fun every step of the way!