London bound…
Thursday 28th December Day 159
In real time it’s Friday 29th December and 16.24pm and I’m sitting in Luton airport in a booth whilst we wait for our flight. ((does this mean you are officially not on holiday then and are actually in work mode since you’re supposed to be going to jersey to do ‘research!’)) well, I wouldn’t go that far brackets. It’s a mixture of work and pleasure, although even the work part is pleasure. Hopefully a friend on the Island is taking me on a tour of the island so I can have a look at some of the locations. We will be visiting some of the locations via bus as well but my friend has done the walk which is featured in the book so great for me to get first hand experience… right back to yesterday and leaving the boat…
Travelling to London…
Today is the day that we leave the boat for 16 days. The longest we have left the boat since we bought it. It feels like leaving a child home alone for the first time.
After an absolute shocking night trying to sleep amid the rain and the wind which felt like we were in the middle of a tornado at times it really felt and sounded that bad. It felt as if someone had picked up the boat and chucked it back in the water.
We of course have to empty the toilet before we leave and get rid of the rubbish. We also drain down the water from the pipes just in case. Our pipes are plastic so very unlikely to have any problems and at the moment the weather doesn’t look like it will go below freezing but better to be sure. We then put the window sheets in and move things which could get wet if there are any drips and the standard bowls under the duck hatch. Without further ado and butties made, jobs done, we finish packing and leave the boat hoping it will be okay when we return.
Thankfully the bus is on time to get into Stafford and so when we arrive, we head for some coffee and toast ahead of the train. Anyone who travels in the UK knows the worry about getting a train or any form of public transport. You just cannot rely on it and sure enough we check the trains and it seems every other train is either delayed or cancelled due to a tree down on the tracks which I’m not surprised after last night’s terrible weather! Luckily for us it hasn’t affected own train which is on time but because of the other cancellations the one we get on is ram packed but as we have booked our tickets in advance, we have a reserved seats but we do have to ask someone to get out of our seats. It’s direct to London Euston so we can relax which is good as our bags are so heavy. We decided not to pay the 42 million pounds ((Don’t exaggerate it was only about £45 for 1 bag to check in!)) Disgusting that’s more than the bloody flight so everything has gone has hand luggage so we are hoping the bags won’t be too big! We will see.
We arrive into London and get into the rush of people all trying to get where they are going and lots of confused people going in all directions. We finally realise we need to leave Euston station and get to Euston Square which is part of the underground network. I’m not really a massive fan of the underground. I would rather use the buses but this is the best option from here. We soon arrive at our stop Aldgate and then it’s a short walk to our Travelodge hotel. We are all checked in, bags dumped and back out in record time and go to wander the streets of London. We head for St Catherines Dock and Tower Bridge area. It is SO busy. Probably many of the people are there for the NYE celebrations and it’s actually quite a nice day so hence why so busy. Tower Bridge never fails to impress. I will tell you a story about that tomorrow as this blog is already getting a bit long ((A bit!))
When we arrive at St Catherines dock we are wandering around looking at the massive yachts and widebeams moored and then see that the bridge starts rising as a boat is going into the lock so enjoy watching that. When we come to London on the boat we won’t come to this docking area as the boat goes from Limehouse. It’s exciting to think that one day… and maybe soon we might be going under Tower Bridge on our boat!
After a long wander around we head to the pub to meet my friend whose apartment we are staying in Jersey. We then wander the streets once again ((you will be getting a reputation)) and find a Pizza Union restaurant which we have used before. There are a few in London and the pizzas are amazing and very reasonably priced. Then it’s back to the hotel as we are both shattered and are in bed by 8.30pm!
Day done… until tomorrow. x
