UK Road Trip Week 1 - Londinium

After 21 hours flying time, cocktails and movies, flight EK001 promptly touched down into London Heathrow at 12.25pm on a sunny Tuesday afternoon. With all the hoo hah we’ve read about Heathrow’s mislaying of baggage, the underlying question on both our minds as we cruised through immigration was “will our bags arrive?” Fortunately they did and with two large cases in our possession, we sauntered out into UK territory to rendezvous with our chauffeur.

Our seat…

Despite not being cut from the same cloth as Lady Penelope’s Parker, our driver cruised with conviction along the M4 / A4 into South Kensington to our destination on Sloane Ave, Chelsea Cloisters. Photography is a fine art and this was certainly apparent as we checked into our room. Suffice to say this was a Cloister Fuck as our phone box sized room brought back nightmarish memories of our 2 week quarantine stay. The trade off was being given free WiFi for the stay…Marconi would have shit the bed had his invention of the practical radio wave-based wireless telegraph system been as poor performing as our WiFi!

It was great to be back in the Old Dart for the first time in 6 years and for Trace ’twas just on a decade since her previous visit. Having seen the sights on many many previous visits, our primary goal was to catch up with friends whilst in town. With that said, it would be rude not to re-visit a few of the famous landmarks and locations associated with historic Londinium. Here are a few images of our tramping day…

Parliament…

The Wheel…

Having spent a couple of days re-acquainting ourselves with the big smoke, we boarded a train at Marylebone Station Thursday arvo bound for my old hood, High Wycombe. I have so many memories of this town nestled in the rolling Chiltern Hills having resided there for a number of years. Promptly arriving in fair city of the chair, we walked the 15 odd minutes to

the cricket club to rendezvous with the boys for a cleansing ale or three. A great catch up was had later on at Chez Hawkins, the grand residence of Liz & Rob for a lovely dinner with glasses of wine a plenty. The other purpose for the quick in n’ out trip was to collect our chariot from GLK Leasing in Princes Risborough. A massive shout out to KingDog and Gav for recommending the guys from GLK; had it not been for you both, our entire trip itinerary would have potentially been placed into jeopardy with a rental car costing GBP9k.

Having collected our trusty Mazda 3 hatchback, my first task was to re-acquaint myself with the fine art of driving a manual. Clearly these new and improved motors have a sensitive clutch as I stalled twice driving out of the yard. Fortunately Danny & Tom had gone back into the office as they may have snatched back the keys…no drama, like riding a bike they said.

Having quickly adjusted to grasping the shaft, we headed back into London for our final couple of days in the capital. Both Friday and Saturday nights would be spent having dinner with friends. ‘Twas great catching up with Guilia & Lars in Covent Garden at La Goccia and with Tiff & Adam at Radio Rooftop in The ME Hotel on The Strand. Thanks guys for two wonderful evenings.

Somerset House Wheel…

Saturday morning we boarded a train at Waterloo for a day trip to Hampton Court Palace located in Richmond upon Thames, 12 miles (19 kilometres) southwest and upstream of central London. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chief minister of Henry VIII. However In 1529, like so many close to Henry, Wolsey fell from favour, gifting the palace to the king to check his disgrace. The palace is surrounded by architectural gardens that were designed to rival those of the Palace of Versailles (fail) and lakes that the rotund King filled with fish for his supper. Since the reign of King George II, no monarch has resided at Hampton Court. Having fallen into a state of disrepair, Queen Victoria had the Palace renovated and restored in 1838, opening the facility to the public that same year.

Palace Forcourt…

The King’s Seat..

Palace Staircase…

To end our busy first week, we loaded up the Mazda and headed North East out of London to Feering, a small village located outside of Colchester, Essex to spend a couple of days with our great friends Edd & Deb and their boys Alex and Ben. Thanks very much to the Burton family for putting us up, and putting up with us for a couple of nights.

Mersea Island Beach Boxes…

Stay tuned for our week 2 update as we head out to a University city steeped in history as we make our way North along the Norfolk Coast…