ABC Tour – City Tour & Congestion

TUESDAY 5 JULY & WEDNESDAY 6 JULY

Tuesday was our day of exploring London on a big bus.  You travel around the city and can hop on and off at different points.

We took in all the famous sights.  Big Ben.

The Houses of Parliament.

St Paul’s dome is such an important part of the skyline.

Over the Tower Bridge.

The wonderful view from where we had our picnic lunch.

We then went on the river cruise part of the tour.  The Tower of London.

A tour ship was visiting in the Thames.

Of course the London Eye is the new major item on the skyline.

Westminster Abbey.

Then we went for a walk past the Marble Arch.

This morning we went to visit the Victoria & Albert Museum.  The main exhibitions I wanted to see were the Textiles and Furniture.  Well the Textiles section is currently closed and being moved to a new site and won’t reopen until 2013.  The furniture section is closed until 2012.  Oh well, nothing we can do about it.

Next stop was Harrods.  The toy department was fun to visit.  Rather flash toys.

The interiors are spectacular.

Then we visited Liberty.

The famous Carnaby Street.

Mick hates crowds.  He was very brave to face this.

Today is the last day of our time in England.  It has been a fantastic eight weeks.  Tomorrow we catch the train to Paris. 

ABC Tour – Completion of Motorcycle Leg, Catching a Train, Cycling

MONDAY 4 JULY

Unfortunately, as predicted, Olga had to be towed the last mile or so from the B & B to the shipping depot.  A sad way for her to end her journey.

However, we are just thrilled with how she went over the full trip. In the end she did 3,717 miles, which is 5,982 kms.  To put that in perspective, it is the equivalent of riding from our place to Perth and halfway back again, with plenty of narrow, windy, steep, rough roads, albeit over eight weeks.  When she gets home she will need a new back tyre.  The back shock absorbers are shot, the brakes and clutch need attention, and of course, there is the problem in that she won’t run and just cuts out.  The setup of the sidecar has to be redone as well.  Mick will be itching to get started by the time she arrives home in early September.

It was a bit sad saying bye bye.

After we waved Olga bye bye we caught the train to London Town to start the next phase of our journey.  We are here for three nights.  We are staying in the Queensway area, which has a handy street of restaurants nearby, the tube is close and then there is the added benefit in that we just have to cross the road, go through the hedge and we are in Kensington Garden.  It is a lovely green space and the hustle and bustle of the city seems miles away.  This is where we spent our afternoon.

We wandered into Hyde Park and saw signs to the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, so thought we would go and have a look, expecting a fairly traditional fountain.  Not so. 

It has all different textures as it wends it’s way around.

The signs say that it is a place for quiet reflection and you are welcome to sit on the edge of the fountain and dangle your feet in the water, but there is to be no standing or walking in the fountain. 

Well, I don’t think anyone read the sign.

However, everyone was enjoying themselves in the glorious hot sunshine and looked so happy. I’m sure that Diana, being the people’s princess, would have been delighted.

If we didn’t have shoes and sock on, we too would have been joining in the paddling.

We were both in true holiday mode this afternoon, strolling along, eating ice cream and sitting and watching the world go by. 

There were heaps of people cycling, which  looked like a rather pleasant way to get around, particularly as the parks are pretty well flat.  We noticed quite a few bikes with a blue guard over the back wheel and eventually came across this.

The deal is that you pay one pound to access a bike for a day.  In addition, if you only use it for half an hour it is free, up to one hour for one pound and then goes up according to how long you use the bike.  You can return your bike and then get another bike during the day and you only pay for the time you are on the bike, as you have already paid the access fee.  Everything is paid by credit card, so they can charge hefty overdue or non-return fees.  All too simple.  We had to give it a try.

Now, I used to ride my pushbike everywhere up till my late teens, but I reckon it would be 25 years since I’ve ridden a bike.  This was going to be interesting.  There was quite a bit of wobbling to start with and it seemed quite hard.  Remember, I’m really unfit.  Then Mick suggested that we raise the seat.  What a difference that made.  It all came back and away we went, mind you quite slowly.  It was such a great feeling being on a bike again, and no helmets required here either.

Yes, here is the proof that I really did ride a bike.  Sure makes my butt look big!!  I wonder if I’ll discover muscles that ache tomorrow?

Not only were there lots of cyclists, there were also quite a few inline skaters.  This group had some fairly  tricky moves.  There were also some people on traditional roller skates.  Now that I have relived the feeling of cycling, I am itching to see if I can still skate, as I also used to do a lot in my teens.  I might have to dig out my skates when I get home, sweep out the shed and see if I can still do it.  That will not be a pretty sight.

We continued our walk to the Albert Memorial and had to take the holiday happy snap.  A great finish to the afternoon.

Tomorrow we will explore the big city on a Big Bus.

ABC Tour – Cantankerous Cycle

SUNDAY 3 JULY

Today was to be relatively relaxed, wash the bike and some clothes and sort out what goes home and what stays.

Mick dropped me off at the laundromat and then went to wash the bike.  He would collect me in an hour or so.  Washing done, I waited….. and waited.  After two hours I started to think that something was wrong.  I waited.  Eventually, I borrowed a man’s mobile phone, but of course, Mick’s didn’t have his with him.  I called the B & B, no they hadn’t seen him.  I waited.  The man with the phone left, but after a while came back.  He had gone down to the car wash and found Mick.  The bike won’t start, would I like a lift to the B & B.  Yes please.  Nice man.

I had been in quite a bind, as I had three bags of washing plus my bike helmet, so too much to carry home.  The laundromat is in a residential area and I had no way of calling a cab.

After he dropped me off, I went to the car wash (only about 100 metres from the B & B) and found Mick.  There is only one car wash and they use a high pressure hose.  Mick specifically requested that they don’t wash up under the bike with high pressure, so they promptly did!!!!!  Mind you, they didn’t do under the mud guards without being prompted.

Of course, now water was where it shouldn’t be and Olga wouldn’t start.  He tried to dry it all out but we ended up pushing her back to the B & B.  This afternoon she has started, but won’t run.  We’ll see what happens in the morning.  She may go that final mile under tow.  Such is life.  Poor Olga.

ABC Tour – Circumnavigation Complete

SATURDAY 2 JULY

Today is our last day travelling on Olga and it is a lovely day to be riding.  Lots more crops as we travelled along and many getting close to harvest.

Oxburgh Hall is a National Trust property we would pass on our way south, so we decided to call in.   We were a bit early for opening, so firstly, we had a look around the old parish church.

There are interesting terracotta screens inside.

Oxburgh Hall has some lovely gardens.

The moated manor house was built in the 1500s and some of the family still live in one wing.  The family are Catholic so underwent incredible persecution for many years.

Can you imagine that the hall was to be demolished in 1951.  It was sold to a developer by the then owner, who was going to demolish and use the bricks for a housing estate on the site.  The owner’s mother lived overseas and when she heard about it she came home and put a stay of execution on the sale.  Some of the family sold their homes and scraped together enough money to buy it back.  They found it too much to maintain, so in 1952 gave it to the National Trust.  Unfortunately, many of the inclusions had already been sold, as had much of the land.

There is  a priest hole in one of the towers.  It is hidden under a latrine.  Mick climbed in there and said it was really awkward.  If you were found to be hiding a priest all your land would have been confiscated and the priest hung, drawn and quartered or burnt at the stake.  This priest hole was never discovered.  However, the fellow that built it, and several other priest holes, was arrested and tortured to death.  He didn’t reveal where he had built them.  Brave fellow.

See that flag on top of the gate tower.

Well, this is the view from up there.

There are heaps of chimneys and their designs are all different.

In 1828 the discriminatory laws against Catholics were repealed and the family built a chapel.

Many of the fittings date back to the 16th century and were brought in from Europe.

That will probably be the last National Trust property we will see.  It has definitely been worth becoming members.

On the road again we were so pleased to see this sign.  We had made it back to Felixstowe.  We were both really happy to have achieved this, but also breathed a sigh of relief, as Olga had started to cough and splutter a bit at times over the last couple of days.  We had both been counting down the miles.

We spent the afternoon sitting by the sea on a clear blue day.  See that strange little thing on the horizon.

 

It was an oil drilling platform being towed in to Felixstowe Port.  Rather large.  Mick zoomed right in with his camera and it is like a factory.  Just as well the sea was calm.

There were lots of people on the beach and many beach huts were being used.  There was a cool breeze, but quite a few people were swimming.

Meanwhile, all the time ships were coming and going from the port.  Felixstowe is the busiest port in England and the third busiest in Europe.  I think our bike came over here on a Hanjin ship.  We counted 6 containers high on this one that we could see. What a huge load.

Tomorrow we will get Olga ready to send home and us for the next stage of our trip.

ABC Tour – Cathedral, Concert

FRIDAY 1 JULY

Another day of just toodling along.  The weather is definitely improving, which is good.

We found another Cathedral today.  We haven’t visited one for a while.  This one is Southwell Cathedral.  Southwell is just a small town, but this is the cathedral for Nottingham.

Southwell Cathedral dates back to Norman  times and is in wonderful condition for its age.    It is quite small for a cathedral.

Apparently it wasn’t badly damaged during the Civil War, maybe because it was rather plain in design.

It is so different seeing a barrel ceiling, rather than something really ornate.

The chapter house is a feature.  The ceiling is stone, but there is no central column.  There are large buttresses outside which support it all.

The tops of the columns have detailed carvings and some have secret little creatures hiding in the leaves.  An elderly parishioner pointed them out to me, which was nice.

The landscape is really changing today.  Lots of crops and we are starting to see lots of market gardens as well. It is amazing the difference in just a few days.  You could be in a different country.  Well, I suppose technically we are compared to Scotland.

Our ride was only quite short again today and we ended up in King’s Lynn for our last night on the road.  In 2007 we stayed here for our first night on the road.  We didn’t get to have an explore then, so we made up for it today.  The South Gate is an impressive entrance into the town.

The really old part of town is mainly along the river.  There are some incredible old buildings.

The Guild Hall is famous as being the most intact still existing.  It is used as a theatre now, so you can’t go in and have a look around.  The chequered facade is created by alternating pale stone and flint.  Very effective.

Several of the old buildings fronting the water are now pubs.

I loved looking down through the many arches into the courtyards.

While we were wandering in the afternoon we noticed a stage being set up on the back of a truck in the Tuesday Market Square.  After dinner we went back there.  It turns out that the local festival was on.

Initially a local band, “The Yesterdays” were playing.  The did 60s covers and were rather good.

The headline act was “Howard Jones”.  Mick and I wondered “Who?” Well, he started to play 80s style electronica style music and we still asked “Who?”  Then as the set progressed we suddenly we said “Oh!  Now we know who he is”.

I have even found a little Youtube clip that someone posted of the night, so if you too are wondering “Who?” you will  also have an “Aha” moment Click here to see it.  There are actually lots of his well known film clips on Youtube.

Now, when we wandered around the town it was light and we just stumbled upon the market place.  After the concert, when it was quite dark, we had to find our way back to the B & B.  No roads are straight in King’s Lynn.  We knew we had to find a big park and then we would be right, but we couldn’t find it.  We ended up asking a couple and they ended up giving us a lift home.  We weren’t too far from where we should have been, but being so late all the lights had been turned off in the park anyway, so it would have been a very dark walk.