Day 42 London 28 May 2018

Went to Hampton Court Palace today which is on the outskirts of London. The train we took from Waterloo Station wasn’t crowded at all until after about four stops at Clapham Junction at which point tourists descended on to the train. To buy tickets it seemed ironic that it was quicker to pay cash then to prepay. It was expensive, 25 pounds for us to get in but there was lots to see and they had a lot of re-enactors engaging people.

Here kids are helping to decorate a cake for King Henry. It was a very good day and well worth it.

We explored the elaborate gardens that included the Great Vine, planted in 1768 and is the largest vine in the world. Just imagine, Captain Cook had not yet arrived in Australia.

It's a big vine!

Day 41 Saltash, Devon to London 27 May 2018

We stopped at the picturesque Buckfast Abbey which celebrates its 1000^th anniversary this year.

We had a petrol stop and our driver Trevor filled up the coach with fuel. Five hundred and thirty pounds later…

 Can you spot us in the reflections?

Now to Stonehenge. A lot of people visit and it is well set up. The coaches used to just drive up and deposit their cargo right next to it. Now there is a visitors’ centre and you catch a shuttle bus to the henge. You can walk but it’s about 30 minutes (two kilometres).  It was good but it would have been more impressive if you could have gotten closer. It is impressive that they are still a couple of lintels.  We both prefer the Ring of Bogdar on the Orkneys. 

They now have a reconstructed village and showed how to move the blocks.

Mileage for the trip was 8,000 kilometres which was quite surprising but I guess that’s a little under 400 kilometres per day. We said our hurried farewells and took a cab to King's Cross where we will stay the next two nights.

Day 40 Plymouth 26 May 2018

We walk around the town and checked out the monuments. There was a memorial to Napoleon who had been held captive awaiting exile to St Helena.

 These are the steps that the first pilgrims on the Mayflower walked down before leaving for North America. And yes they did take advantage of the advertised fish and chips offer.

 The oldest lighthouse in the world.

 Sir Francis Drake.

 Napoleon's memorial.

 The fortress that is currently occupied by the Royal Marines.

 One of the oldest pedestrian crossing in the world.

A railway bridge designed by the great Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Stunning.
It was from this viewpoint that US soldiers embarked for D-Day in 1944.

We stopped for lunch at a little seaside town of Looe. One of our party was attacked by a seagull who made off with part of her ice cream. It was crowded due to the good weather and being a Bank holiday weekend. Every man and his dog was there, literally. You could have a small scoop for your dog as well.

After lunch we visited Polperro a small seaside village, a smaller version of Doc Martin’s. A charming Cornwall sea-side village. Transport is restricted to residents. You have to walk down and up or catch a converted milk float.

We had a farewell dinner with our tour buddies.

Day 39 Cardiff to Saltash, Cornwall 25 May 2018

Today we left under dark skies to go to Bath. There we visited the Roman Baths that were excellently presented. Elizabeth purchased an elegant limited edition tweed coat and then we visited the Bath Cathedral which has a problem with a subsiding floor.

Leaving Bath we did drop in to the Wells Cathedral which has a wonderfully ornate facade.

We stopped to walk over a bridge that dates back to the 12th Century.

We saw the Wellington monument from a distance.

Some of the roads were quite picturesque.

Look it actually does exist...good one Barnaby.

We then stopped in Glastonbury which has quite an alternate population. Saw bits of the ruins of the Glastonbury cathedral.

The roads through Devon were amazingly narrow and quite hair-raising. Luckily we were sitting at the front of the bus.

Went through the Dartmoor Moors. There seems to be a difference between the Upper and Lower moors, the later being more forbidding and devoid of trees. There were also Devon ponies.

Caught a glimpse of Dartmoor prison, which houses 650 of the highest security prisoners in the UK.

A bridge that the famous painter Turner painted.

For dinner most of our tour went to a local restaurant that was only accessible by taxis. A few of us did not go and had a meal at the Golf Club instead. The food was good and we really did not want a three course meal.  It was a very long day but an excellent one.