Off to London for the week and one day from a tragedy

Wednesday 31^st May to Wednesday 7^th June 2017

Safely moored up in Lemonroyd Marina, we could finish the packing and finalise the boat to be left for a week; we were even driven to the railway station by the lovely Marie who runs the marina – such service was very much appreciated – it did allow everything to run a bit more smoothly.

We managed to catch the 9:10 from Woodlesford to Leeds and we were still early for the connecting train to King’s Cross – a 2 hour trip on Virgin East Coast – after that we negotiated the Underground (which really is quite easy as we found out last year and before) – we had bookings for a couple of rooms for a week at Chiswick Premier Inn – we got a good deal on it all.

So we dropped off our bags, booked in for both us and also for Mitch and Sara, who would be arriving around 16:40 from Paris on the Eurostar.

Plenty of time to get back to St.Pancras and meet them as planned.

They had come through all of the way from Champagne and with it all being by train, they were not tired at all – not like plane travel (and international at that), there was no need to arrive a few hours early.

 

Sara and Diane were certainly happy to see each other; Mitch was just ignoring it all

The closest that they were getting to this attraction

As it was now the start of the peak hour(s) we opted to have an early dinner – at the same, Pizza Union (Pentonville Road) that we had used in April, before battling the Underground out to Chiswick.

Sara was keen to try an English Pub – her first trip to the UK – so across the road we went to The George and Devonshire – a not atypical pub – pretty much what you see these days, but it was lovely enough for Sara to get an idea about it all – and really it was a lovely pub anyway.

We had a rough plan of things that they wanted to experience and where it was necessary we had suggested some timetabling – so it was on Thursday that we headed off to Watford to see all of the relatives and for them to meet Sara and catch up with Mitch again.

 

A chance to relax and meet the relatives

Nikki...

...and David...

...and cheeky Phil...

...and Lisa and Pam

It was such an atypical English day – yes, the sun was out in force – the new home was on show and we also got a chance to see how the renovations were coming along; plenty of food, plenty of drink and plenty of talk – a lovely day for everyone.

But we needed to get back for all our sakes – even we were feeling a bit on the tired side – but TfL had a last thing in store for us – there were some signalling problems along the path we wanted to take and so we made our way back via central London, but it had been a great day out.

Friday was a day predicted to be a bit unpredictable – there would be sun, but equally there was a strong possibility of heavy downpours and a thunderstorm. It was important to keep the early momentum up in their trip and cross some things off their list of “must-sees”.

First call was at Buck House (the palace), then the Mall, Trafalgar Square, Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.

The crowds were out as usual; the guards as well

close to the gates

and a sneak peek through

In front of the Australia column

The Horse Guards on the Mall

Looking out over St.James Park

and in Trafalgar Square - last time  Mitch was here was 2000
and the pigeons were all still there

We hadn't seen this memorial before - and for the women in all wars

One of the icons of London - we were not surprised
with the look on Sara's face when she turned the
corner and first saw it

Across the river and a stroll down along the Thames on the southern side, taking in lunch at The Mulberry Bush – a great place for something to eat.

Then it was on to The Globe and the Golden Hind II and around the corner was Borough Market, where we had never been – Mitch recognised it from an earlier trip – it was here that everything HIT! – the promised thunderstorm rolled in and luckily we were under cover, because it really pelted down.

The Golden Hynd II

The Globe Theatre - something they both wanted to see

Borough Market - why this shot - Sara's middle name with the one "l"

Tragic to think how this would have looked just a bit over 24 hours later

We stayed at one of the pubs for a little while whilst it continued to rain.

After we finished our drinks and the rain had retreated, we decided it was time to move on and off we strolled across London Bridge.

The storm had passed but those dark clouds in the distance, came back.
metaphorically speaking, the following day

Our idyll on this Friday was tragically not the case when senseless violence engulfed the area on Saturday night (just a day later), when 3 terrorists inflicted their idea of vengeance on innocent people.

No amount of understanding can comprehend the reasons why these people find it necessary to do what they have done.

Extremists of any cause or any religion cannot be allowed to threaten our way of life simply because they do not like it.

It is important to understand that these people are EXTREMISTS and in no way represent the good people who follow a faith built upon peace and understanding – if you are in any doubt about it, compare these people today, to those who ran around covered in white sheets for almost a hundred years in the United States – they are exactly the same – terror in the name of any religion is simply TERROR.

Before those events in the evening on Saturday, we had a day out at Kew Gardens whilst Sara and Mitch were catching up with friends on Saturday afternoon and evening in Soho.

The lift for the tree-top walk at Kew Gardens

Kew Palace - where George III spent many months recuperating from his illness

The un-renovated kitchen...

..and the top floor, which they will leave as is - in it's almost original state

The important room of the house - the reading room

As we watched in BBC news, all of the events unfold, we were very concerned about both Sara and Mitch – fortunately they were nowhere near it all and about to head back – the disruption to tube services caused them a little inconvenience but this was not an issue for them – especially compared to what was happening.

They arrived back just after midnight, to our relief – to make sure that they were there.

Messages had been sent to people that we knew and they knew advising that we were all OK – the facebook people initiated the “I am Safe” messaging to contacts and we took advantage of that – we still had people from Australia emailing and messaging to make sure and they had family from the US doing the same.

Sunday, was not a good day, in light of the previous evenings tragic events and like all others we have to commend the bravery shown by so many to help others – in most cases complete strangers – and to the families and friends of those who lost their lives we send our deepest sympathies.

We did however try to make some degree of normality try to return to our lives – we visited Camden Markets – another item on the list – so many people around and getting back to normal; we wandered around, had some lunch, watched the boats through the locks – we were tourists as well.

After that it was back on the Tube and we found a place for an evening Sunday roast – The Old Ship, right on the Thames at Hammersmith – another thing for Sara to experience and enjoy.

Life is about new experiences and learning about other countries and cultures and we have had Sara leaving her American ideas at the door and seeing how it all happens here and she we enjoying it immensely.

On Monday, we were off to The Tower of London – such an iconic building – a symbol of strength and power from by-gone days.

It was not that long ago that Diane and I had been here, but we didn’t mind the chance for another visit and using our 2-for-1 tickets, it was much cheaper than the normal prices.

We found areas that we had, naturally, seen on our previous visits and other areas that we had not seen before – it really is such a remarkable complex with a fascinating history that you could not tire of seeing it again and again.

Diane had been hoping to be able to take Sara to a performance of “Phantom” in the West End and so we headed for Leicester Square – alas the only tickets available were all single tickets – separated seats – so no performance that night – but time for dinner and we had one last surprise for Sara – a quick visit to Harrods – just so she could say she had seen it on the inside and of course they all found something to buy and get a unique green Harrods bag.

Home again – we are really exhausted from all of this touristy stuff – must be getting old or something like that.

The head barely hits the pillow, for me, and I am asleep – and apparently I snore loud enough to keep “she who must be obeyed” awake for some time – I have to believe her only because she must be obeyed.

Tuesday came; we all had breakfast at one of the cafes on the High Street in Chiswick – called the Cowshed – have to say the breakfast was beautiful, but the price would help with their bottom line.

After that we would be heading separate ways for the day – it was important that they had time for themselves to see things again and also to catch up with some more friends and we had a couple of things that we needed to take care of whilst we were down here.

So it was a relative easy day for all of us – I have to say, I am quite enjoying this holiday thing and feel that making it a permanent arrangement would not be such a strange thing to finally do.

Wednesday was our last day here, and again we had breakfast together, this time it was another easy and long time together, talking about a lot of things that had happened in the last week and things that would be happening in the future.

When it was finally time to say goodbye to them, it was a bit sad, but also happy as we knew that they would be heading back to carry on with the things that would help to start to change their lives for now and for the future; we would be heading back north again and return to Ferndale and continue our travels for the remainder of the year.

By the time that we were back on the boat, they had been in the air for less than an hour, 

with a much longer trip back to LA.

We came across this whilst we were in London and really thought nothing of it except that it might have been a play
on the name of a tantrum-throwing actor, but apparently

if you look at the following it was all official-like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHLOEjxWy68 

Homeward Bound and on we go.

Tuesday 25^th April to Thursday 27^th April 2017

Our train was not due to leave Brussels until 12:52, so even with a late(ish) breakfast and coupled with a late checkout of 11am, it allowed us to have a bit more of a wander around.

 

Sad to say but there is graffiti in nearly every place we have visited

So we exited the hotel and headed in a mainly northerly direction and found ourselves back at the canal – some type of gravitational field operating in that regard; but this time there was actually a barge using the lock and so we hovered around watching it all – it was just like any single lock that we would have done a thousand times – except about 100 times bigger and it was all operated by a lock-keeper in the control room.

She's a bit larger than Ferndale, but the same process is followed

Lock full, gates open and then they come out

The ropes were just a little bit bigger than we would have had onboard at any time.

Slowly the water rose and then when ready, the gates slowly opened; there was no rush of water from the prop, but just enough to move the barge forward – certainly sticking to the 5 kmh speed limit.

About 400 metres up from the lock was a lift bridge – no windlass required – we had spotted one of the lock-keepers head off earlier on his bike to get the bridge ready for the barge to carry on beneath it.

Lift bridge - you can see the road level on the left - the operator is in that little
room on top of the bridge

There is always someone wanting to "photo-bomb" the photo

That was some excitement for us – to see how the bigger boys do it all – might have been nice with a Dutch barge doing all of that (even in Belgium).

After that we carried on back to the hotel; a last check in the room and then we were checked out and off around the corner to the station.

Through the Border Controls for both France and the UK and it was a relatively short wait and we were in our seats and pulling out of Brussels – we had had a lovely time.

 

We came when it was a bit dull and cloudy, but on leaving
Brussels the sun was out again

...and we looked out on Belgium for one last time on this trip

The scheduled stop at Lille was delayed as we waited for a connecting late train, after which we were off again, through the tunnel and in a brief time we were coming into St.Pancras – just 20 minutes behind schedule.

 

Back in Endgland and here we are crossing the Medway

We already had the train tickets to take us back to Lincoln – funny thing is that we took 2 hrs and 20 minutes to get from Brussels to London, but it was over 2 hours and 30 minutes to get from London to Lincoln (our connecting train at Peterborough was waiting and we caught it with just a minute to spare).

Not exactly sure where we are here, but there are certainly narrowboats down there

We were back on board Ferndale by 6pm; the fire was lit and the unpacking began; the solar panels had done their job, but we put the engine on to take care of the washing and by 8pm we were all sorted but a bit knackered as well.

The following day we took the boat back into Lincoln – it was actually easier and cheaper to do that than catch the bus, taxi or even a hire car.

The tickets that we had previously bought for Lincoln Cathedral and the Castle allowed us a return visit so we decided to use those as well as pick up Diane’s medications that we had left to be prepared before we left.

 

This is for Diane's sister Vivienne

It was to be one last trudge up the hill and later on, one more down – we took Marilyn’s advice and had our walking poles with us and they made it easier.

For the castle it was another walk of the walls and we took some time to have a look inside the County Court House – it was a trial regarding an injury matter to someone in the Lincoln Hospital but held interest for both of us – so much so that we stayed a fair while longer than we first though we would – plus it was a great deal warmer inside than out.

 

Just cannot get over how over-powering the cathedral is in comparison to the castle

The second Motte and Observatory 

The County Court House

At the lunch recess we headed out and across the way to the Cathedral where we had a bite to eat and then headed upstairs to see the Library/Reading Room – the design and construction of this was handled by Christopher Wren (of St.Paul’s fame) – the inside was just fantastic as were the volumes on display; the staff were extremely helpful and whilst Diane was engaged with a young man who was enthusiastically telling her all about the library and the books, I was discussing travel in Russia with the woman who was also there to answer any questions – I think that it was predominantly about the library, but we drifted to Russia (as you do).

 

And the Australian Coat of Arms in Lincoln Cathedral
and part of the WWII memorial

After that we were off again, and down the hill, and back to the boat where we were thankful that the fire was left lit and it was cosy and snugly warm inside.

We spotted this and the one below earlier in our stay in Lincoln but I hadn't
included them into previous blogs....

....talk about making sure that you can see behind

Diane thinks that there may have been a bit of train lag (not jet lag mind you) from our return travels – I just think that we were tired after walking more than the equivalent of a marathon whilst we were away.

We did sleep rather well on Wednesday night.

Thursday was moving day – we had seen enough of Lincoln and we were ready to continue our cruising travels and our rough itinerary that we had – this, of course, meant that we had a bit of a cruise to Torksey.

It was only 10 miles and whilst we didn’t open the after-burners we still managed it in just over the 3 hours.

The lockie was right where we first moored up, getting some grass cutting done and advised us to move down close to the lock ready for the next day, and we ended up mooring on one of the water points – we were later on joined by three other boats – so it was all the normal thing to do.

On good advice from Jennie we headed to the café and had cake and coffee which was lovely.

Looking from our mooring at Torksey - ready for tomorrow

We were now ready for the next adventure of the river tomorrow.

13 Miles

YTD:  280 miles (451 km), 154 Locks, 13 Tunnels, 3 Lift Bridges, 3 Swing Bridges

Total: 4912 Miles (7905 km), 3305 Locks, 137 Tunnels, 69 Lift Bridges, 175 Swing Bridges

Walking distance so far: 41.9 km (previous) + 5.3 km (Tuesday) =  47.2 km (Total)