The UK:

So, getting from Paris to London… That was probably our first really painful airport-related experience on our trip thus far. Pretty lucky, in the grand scheme of things that it didn’t turn out worse. We discovered when we arrived at Charles De Gaulle airport that our plane was delayed by at least an hour, but expected to be possibly hours (and we were also early, huzzah). Apparently there was a fire in the Rome airport, preventing our flight from leaving there and coming to Paris. As a result, British Airways needed to send another from England, and also needed to staff it with virtually no notice. However, they managed to sort things out quite admirably, and got things underway about an hour later than originally intended. After possibly the longest time spent taxiing on the runway in history, we were off.

We got to London in no time. I expect the pilot was really hoofing it. But when we got there we were treated to an unexpectedly slow line getting through immigration. It took us well over an hour to get through the line. Mostly because there were next to no staff and hundreds of people waiting in line. Our line had 4 staff, then 3…then 2…then only 1. (While the line continued to get bigger.) The line for those with european passports was about four times longer (although they did have more staff). I’m counting us lucky that we got through in the time that we did. At least no one in the line really lost it at any of the staff. Or the staff at the people waiting in line. A couple in front of us had two young children who had passed out in their arms. I can’t imagine waiting in a line for that long toting an unconscious child.

Nath met us at the airport to help us get into London after our flight. Very considerate. Even more so, considering we were in immigration for what seemed like forever. By the time we got the train from the airport, the Tube was already shut for the evening (yes, we were that late), so it turns out that it was very handy having Nath around. Before we left we tried to find Paddington bear, but he wasn’t where we expected him to be. Sad face. No Paddington bear for me. We ended up getting a black cab to Nath’s. How good are black cabs?! We managed to fit all three of us and our tonne of luggage in (although, only just). An impressive feat. Way more practical than the traditional sedan design of cabs at home.

London:

We stayed with Nath and Rach in Notting Hill for several days and explored a bit of London. What a fabulous location to live. Right in the middle of everything. Tube or bus is very convenient, but walking is still totally an option. Imagine that… Being able to walk absolutely anywhere worth going in the London area (if you were so inclined). I have to admit to being at least a little bit jealous. Especially of the beautiful parks. They even have squirrels. They aren’t even super neurotic squirrels (like in Atlanta). You could probably even pick one up and it wouldn’t object (much). One was even curious enough to inspect Nath’s hand for non-existent food. I was very surprised. I had come to the conclusion that super neurotic was the only kind of squirrel in existence. Seems, that is totally not the case. I could have wandered around the many parks for forever. Large enough to feel like being out in the country, and designed to look natural enough that you could believe it.

Unsurprisingly, Murray took the opportunity and assembled his bike to go riding around London with Nath. Saw all the sights in one fell swoop. It’s too bad I don’t ride, since riding a bike is a great way to see a lot in not much time. Although I expect it is probably a bit difficult to take photos at the same time. We did a bit of sightseeing on foot as well, visiting all the usual spots one is expected to see. We were really lucky, in that the weather was warm and it was nice and sunny for most of our London visit (although, still considerably colder than France at times). It was possibly busier than usual, since there was a cycling event on in town; every man, woman and child were on their bikes and busy choking up the streets on their pushies. Road closures galore. Even still, London is certainly a beautiful city with a whole lot of history. Much more multicultural than expected as well. Walking around the Notting Hill area we noticed that it was quite easy to walk for blocks without hearing anyone speaking in english. Very odd.

Once our time in London was up, we were off to Winchester as our home for the month. Mostly because living in London was (as expected) rapidly burning a hole in the proverbial wallet. So, it was time to collect our hire car and be off for the countryside. As it happened, the whole car hire experience was no bueno. We walked to the car depot to find that the computer systems were down, so the hire place drove us to another depot. This depot was packed to the rafters. Many, many angsty people waiting in line for cars which, as it turns out, were nonexistent (or at least, existing, but not in the location they were expected to be). Poor people had booked automatic cars and there had been some sort of booking fail. Many more people wanting autos than cars available, resulting in a queue where things had more or less ground to a halt. We eventually got our car (mostly because it was manual) and made it out of London, after burning most of the morning. Many others, did not.

On the way to Winchester, Murray took us for a drive through Richmond Park. He had already visited with Nath and cycled his way around it and deemed it worth taking me to see it (mostly because the park is inundated with deer). True enough, it certainly was inundated with deer. Most definitely more deer than I’ve ever seen in one place at one time. Herds of them, everywhere. Even unconcernedly cropping grass right on the roadside. I could have quite easily prodded one from my car window. Deer. Utterly. Everywhere. Loved it! Wonderful to see.

Winchester:

This month we stayed in Winchester, a town South-West of London. A small flat in a house on Sleeper’s Hill. Somehow, I’d managed to select an abode parked on the top of a hill. Again. Nice flat. Quiet. Cosy. Not too far to walk to the nearest pub, or right into the middle of town (more pubs). Came equipped with the occasional squirrel, deer and a local stray kitty (Toby, who btw, looks a lot like Ninja, and would break into the flat uninvited should a window be left open).

Hill was a bit unfriendly to walk up, but such is life. You’d think I’d have put together by now that “views” also equate to “on a hill”.

We had chosen Winchester so we could explore the numerous AONB (areas of outstanding natural beauty) littering the countryside. It was close-ish to London, but driveable to Cornwall, the Cotswolds, Devon and a bunch of other areas that sounded like they were worth a visit. Winchester itself turned out to be a very pretty area. Full of beautiful tree lined streets, green arbor lanes and lovely old buildings. So pretty. Plus blackberries and apples and plums growing everywhere. It was initially hard to believe anywhere can be so green. Became less hard to believe once we experienced how much rain falls on a regular basis. Unfortunately, our arrival in Winchester more or less heralded the end of sunny days and warm temperatures. Goodbye summer, hello rain.

 

Places we visited:

The Cotswolds:

We went for a road trip to the Cotswolds. It had to be done. Definitely one of the places I most wanted to see while in the UK, mostly because the villages look quintessentially ye olde english to me. And cute. Cute in a way that small towns in Australia will never be. Mostly because a) Australia isn’t green, at least not green like England and b) thatch is several thousand times more attractive than corrugated iron as roofing of choice and c) our housing could never be described as reminiscent of confectionary.  So, we drove out to the Cotswolds to check it out. We didn’t really know where we were going or what to do while we were there. Turns out the Cotswolds are quite a large area to explore. However, the country roads are in great shape and the views over the farmland are much like a proverbial patchwork quilt. Very colourful and precisely apportioned into neat little packages. And yes, it’s confirmed. The villages are seriously cute. There are seriously a plethora of little villages all in varying degrees of cute dotted all over the Cotswolds. It’s hard to believe people live in some of them; they look like gingerbread houses with fairy floss gardens. We stopped at several of the more well documented ones, and marvelled at a bunch more while driving by/through them. In between, the view from the hills were frequently spectacular (in a very bucolic sort of way). We also visited a bunch of barrows (since they are apparently everywhere). They were less exciting, although we did get to climb all the way into one. That was pretty cool. Our trip out for the day was totally worth the drive.

Fort Nelson:

England seems to be crawling with museums. Especially the military variety. Makes sense given the history of the English.

So, being in an English speaking country and all… We decided maybe it was worthwhile visiting a museum. Or possibly even more than one. At any rate, we went and visited Fort Nelson. It’s a museum commemorating the Royal Armouries national collection of artillery. Needless to say, there were a lot of things that go “boom”. Specifically of the big gun variety. Having never been to a museum of this sort, I thought it might be interesting. Also thought it might be terrible, since a lot of the information for the museum was clearly intended for children. Turned out to be pretty cool. Never, ever seen so many cannons, tanks and various explosive etc. in one place. To top it off, exploring the actual Fort (guns aside) was also very interesting. There were also quite a lot of children there. They had a whole obstacle course set up, but only for children. Which is sad, as I would have enjoyed having a crack at it. Fort Nelson made for a great day out. Even better, considering that entry was free.

We were totally set to visit a hovercraft museum as well. Because, hey, hovercrafts. However, the place was closed for renovations. Very sad. Wanted to at least ride the hovercraft over the Isle of Wight, but somehow we ran out of time. One day…One day, we will hovercraft our way somewhere.

New Forest AONB:

Came down here a few times, since it wasn’t too far of a stretch to visit from Winchester without eating an entire day. Even managed a day trip with Nath & Rach and Wendy & Steve. New Forest, like several other AONB areas have plenty of wildlife running wild and free. As in, horses, cows, sheep & donkeys. No fences. I guess they aren’t really wild, but they are certainly allowed to run free. (Absolutely everywhere, inclusive of through towns and on the roads. The  few fences we saw were to keep animals out, not in. Most peculiar.) We visited New Forest to see the wild ponies – cute little guys, although they proved rather elusive – and managed to see plenty of horses and donkeys and their foals. It’s a refreshingly different take on what I consider to be a similar (but more inclusive) idea to our National Parks in Australia. Since the land is more or less dead flat, there are no hiking trails. You more or less enter the land and then have at it. Wander where you will. Bring your dog if you like. Try not to hit the animals with your car. There are even towns inside the “park” area.

Really enjoyed the New Forest AONB. Not that it was even a whole lot of forest, as plenty is made up of flat plains and small towns.  More like occasional small patches of forest (Google maps shows it as all green forest – Google lies). Still, great spot for a wander or a drive and enjoy the scenery.

Anyways, that’s it for this post…