Day Fourteen - London - 24 May

It was the last day of our holidays in England before setting off for a couple of days in Singapore to break our journey home. It was a hot and hazy day and it quickly sapped our energy. We stored our luggage at the hotel and headed via the Underground to Greenwich to see the Cutty Sark and the Royal Greenwich Observatory the home of the Prime Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time. It took us about an hour and a half to get there via three different train routes.

On first sight the Cutty Sark looked larger than we expected at the end of Greenwich High Street on the edge of the Thames River. By the time we arrived it was very hot and our view down the Thames was restricted due to the haze. It was very hot within the boat’s hull and it didn’t take Henk nor I long to realise we needed to have a break in the café and have a cool drink. When we recovered we felt we could go back and tour the remainder of the boat.

The name Cutty Sark comes from a Lowland Scott’s term for a ladies’ short shift. This garment was worn by the witch Nannie in Robert Burn’s poem Tam O’Shanter. Tam was chased by Nannie and he just managed to escape, but not before she pulled out the tail of Tam’s horse. The figurehead of the Cutty Sark is Nannie the witch with an outstretched arm with the horse’s tail. There was also a display of a large number of ships’ figureheads at the Cutty Sark exhibition.

The ship has been beautifully restored and is now three metres above the ground floating with supports over the refurbished dry dock. We then moved onto the Royal Observatory at the top of the hill. We decided to go through the park rather than through the main street of Greenwich. Unfortunately, the signs to the observatory ran out and we had to ask several times for directions. Making it more difficult was the large equestrian arena which is being built in the park for the Olympics. We had to walk around this before climbing the hill. By the time we got to the top we were very hot. The view from the hill down the Thames was very good despite the haze.

We lined up with everyone else to place one foot in the west and the other in the east before setting off to the Observatory exhibition. We returned to the hotel by five o’clock to be organised to get to the airport for six o’clock. This is the last of our holiday blog. We have had a wonderful and varied holiday touring the Isle of Wight, the Channel Islands, waking from the west to east of England on the Coast to Coast walk, East Anglia and finally London.

Day Thirteen - Cambridge to London - 23 May

Today was part travelling, part sightseeing and then catching up with friends. We left Cambridge at nine thirty and we had a good drive down to the Jury’s Inn at Hatton Cross which is very near Heathrow Airport. I drove and Henk directed me with the help of the car’s GPS and we arrived at about eleven o’clock. We decided to drop our bags at the hotel first and then take the hire car back to the company at Terminal 5. The hire company dropped us off at our hotel so we needn’t had come to the hotel first. We were concerned about having to drag our heavy bags onto public transport to get to the hotel. We were keen to get into the heart of London and walked the five minutes to the Hatton Cross Underground station near our hotel getting off at Kingsbridge.

It took nearly an hour on the train which brought home to us how big London is. We emerged from the station onto the very busy Brompton Road and close to Harrods. We spent about twenty minutes in Harrods and it all got a bit too much for us. It was very crowded and we were hungry as it was getting close to two o‘clock. We could only see a few genuine shoppers with the majority being tourists like us.

After having lunch in a little café across the road from Harrods we regained our energy and we ventured back and did some exploring of the massive and very stylish store. At the end of each sale the shop assistant asks do you need directions to any other section. In a section called “Cheap and Cheerful” I found a cardigan I liked for a mere three hundred and ninety-five pounds! There was a statue of Lady Diana and Dodi Al Fayed with the inscription “Innocent Victims”.

The windows of the shop were celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and each major designer had designed a crown. They were all very stunning. There was also a replica of the Queen’s beautiful Coronation gown in the window.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon at nearby Hyde Park. There were many people making the most of the very warm, sunny day with quite a few hiring deck chairs and sunbaking. Late in the afternoon we set off on the Underground again to Clapham Common to meet up with our friends, Alexander, Anna and Lachlan.

We arranged to meet at six thirty. Alexander and Anna have been in London for a year and Lachlan was in the city to attend a friend’s wedding. Alexander and Anna decided that rather than go to their very popular local pub, The Windmill, that we should have a picnic on the Common and make the most of warm evening. They were very organised and had the food and drinks ready for us. It was a good move and very relaxing. There were many people around the very large Common doing the same thing. Lachlan had to leave earlier to catch a couple of trains to where he was staying north of London. It was lovely to catch up and exchange news. We left Alexander and Anna at about nine and we arrived back at our hotel at about ten fifteen.

Day Twelve - Cambridge - 22 May

Today was the best weather we have experienced since arriving in the UK seven weeks ago. It was both sunny and warm. We have had sunshine on a couple of days but it was cold. We walked from our B&B into the centre of Cambridge to get some exercise. It took thirty-five minutes and we then spent all day walking. We made the most of the sunshine and caught a punt on the River Cam which runs through Cambridge.

It’s a small tributary of the River Great Ouse which we came across in Norfolk. We decided to hire a punt with a guide rather than try and do the punting ourselves. The tour covers 1.6kms of the River Cam known as the College Backs as you pass the backs of the colleges.

Our guide was very good covering the history of the buildings and bridges as we passed them. We probably saw the Cam Backs on one of the best days of the year; we couldn’t stop taking photos.

The Bridge of Sighs and King’s College Chapel were the standouts along the way. The Bridge of Sighs is a very pretty little bridge completed in 1831. We had a late lunch with good views of King’s College Chapel and then moved onto the Cambridge University Botanic Garden which was about a ten minute walk from the city centre. It was a much larger garden than we expected sitting on forty acres and our brochure said it had over eight thousand species.

It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon and ideal to walk around the gardens. Once again we couldn’t stop taking photos of the lovely flowers and gardens.

We decided to go to the King’s College Chapel for Evensong at five thirty and we had an hour to kill before lining up to go in. We were feeling quite hot and ventured into a coffee house to cool down. We had an interesting time listening to a Chinese lady being tutored in English at the next table. The Chinese lady was practising English for an exam and had to describe photos placed in front of her. She couldn’t say “squirrel” and kept saying “squarell”. After ten minutes the tutor said it wasn’t important and she may not have to use the word very often. I think the next time Henk and I see a “squarell” we will think of the Chinese lady. Evensong was a service of forty-five minutes and the choirboys sang beautifully. Some were so tiny they could hardly see over the choir stalls. Following the service and thanks to a taxi driver we found the biggest UK Wetherspoons pub in an ex-cinema in Cambridge and had a great salmon dish for dinner. We love Wetherspoons pubs as they are cheap and cheerful, the standard is always good and they have WiFi. We caught the bus home and we were back at the B&B at eight o’clock which gave us time to repack before heading to London tomorrow morning.

Day Eleven - Ely to Cambridge - 21 May

We had a leisurely breakfast and then drove thirty minutes west to Cambridge arriving at our accommodation, Caroline Guesthouse about ten thirty. We were able to park our car at the front of the house and immediately caught a bus into the city. The bus stop is across the road from our accommodation and one comes along every ten minutes so Henk has found a good location. The bus took about ten minutes to get to the city and we found a tea room to fortify ourselves for a bus tour of the city. The bus was a hop-on, hop-off one giving a commentary as we motored around the city for one and a half hours.

Henk and I like doing these tours as they give a good background to the city and plenty ideas of where we would like to visit. Cambridge is a lovely university town with beautiful stone carved buildings comprising thirty-one colleges and thirty-one thousand bicycles. Apparently the students aren’t allowed to have a car and consequently there are bicycles everywhere and very few cars in the city centre.

After lunch we visited the magnificent King’s College Chapel. It was built in the late fourteen hundreds and early fifteen hundreds. The carved wooden screen between the nave and the chancel has the carved initials of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.

The chapel has the world’s largest fan vault which looks so fine it’s difficult to believe that the vaults can hold up the building. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to tour the remainder of the King’s College buildings as it is exam time.

We moved onto the unusual and small Round Church building which goes back to 1130AD and makes it one of the oldest buildings in Cambridge. It was built following the First Crusade and is one of only four remaining round churches in England. At four thirty we called it quits and caught the bus back to our accommodation. Our host was waiting for us and he was very efficient with the paperwork and breakfast orders. He recommended the pub called The Rock about a twenty minute walk away and it was very good and obviously popular with the locals. We watched the second episode of the Seven Up series which I have been watching since I was twenty-four years old. The participants are now fifty-six and it’s fascinating to see what they are doing with their lives. Tomorrow we do more exploring of Cambridge before moving onto London the following day. It was another cold and overcast day but tomorrow’s temperature might be a bit warmer.

Day Ten - Ely - 20 May

We spent the majority of the day at Ely Cathedral which is one of the seven Wonders of the Medieval World. We had a leisurely breakfast, Skyped Henk’s parents, phoned my sister, Sandra who is holidaying in Cornwall and then set off for the Sunday service at the Cathedral. It was a cold day and the Cathedral was not heated. The service started with a procession of the twenty-four boy choristers who live within the precinct and is one of the few remaining residential choirs. Their voices rose high through the Cathedral and it was lovely to hear. The service lasted one hour and twenty minutes and the sermon was on “choice”. Henk’s choice was probably not to have gone to the service but it was good to see the Cathedral during a service! At the end of the service my legs were stiff from the cold.

We walked around the Cathedral and then joined a tour of Ely’s Octagon Tower which is described as a wonder of medieval engineering. Our elderly tour guide asked if any of us was scared of heights and Henk bravely put up his hand. We were to discover later there were a few more! The present octagonal tower replaced the earlier central tower which collapsed in 1322.

We initially climbed a narrow stone spiralling staircase to the high first floor and thought that wasn’t so bad. We then climbed on narrower stone stairs to come out on the edge of a lead roof with a half metre walking platform and an open railing alongside. We had to walk along the platform to a low door to go up more narrow steps. It was on the platform that we found the others who didn’t like heights. It was a long way down to the grass below. We climbed inside to the side of the tower and stood behind the large painted angels which can be seen from the altar below.

The guide opened a couple of the large wooden panels and we could see way below to the church floor. From here we climbed very narrow spiralling steps to arrive on the tower’s lead roof.

We stood on the outside of the stained glass windows and the guide told us not to get too close to them as he didn’t want anyone falling through them as they would be too hard to replace! We gingerly walked around the entire sloping roof taking in the views.

There was quite a mist in the distance but nevertheless the views were extensive. It was freezing on top of the roof and I realised I couldn’t feel my feet. It was a relief to climb down the stairs to get out of the cold. Henk and I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and learned quite a deal about the Cathedral. We retreated to the Almonry Tea Room for a late lunch at two o’clock. I had soup to warm me up and thaw out my legs and feet. On the tour one of the people mentioned that they read in a newspaper that this May could be one of the coldest on record. We walked through the pedestrian mall back to our hotel. I read the newspaper and had a long, hot bath and Henk searched online for accommodation for Cambridge. For the first time since we arrived in the UK seven weeks ago we had a Sunday roast. It was good to have some vegetables other than potato and peas which seems to be served with almost everything. Tomorrow we move onto Cambridge for two nights before moving onto London.

Day Nine - Ely - 19 May

We have now moved onto the beautiful small city of Ely which is about an hour’s drive west of Diss and have moved from the county of Norfolk to Cambridgeshire. We hadn’t booked any accommodation as we decided we would do that through the Tourist Information Centre at Ely.

This was not a good idea as they had nothing available in town in our price range and we should have booked much earlier. However, the lady in the TIC suggested we try the hotel called “The Lamb” and we managed to get the last room. We were very lucky as the busyness seems to be because it’s a weekend and there is a wedding in town. The hotel is in a good position only fifty metres from the large and beautiful Ely Cathedral which we will visit tomorrow. Parking at the hotel could have been difficult as the places are limited but once again we were lucky as the Lamborghini car which was attracting a lot of attention moved on and we got the last car park.

We returned to the TIC which is housed in Oliver Cromwell’s house and toured the house with its interesting history of Cromwell’s life. There was also a very good video of the history on the development of the Fens. At the completion of the tour we headed down the pedestrian way to the city centre for lunch.

A busy market was taking place and it had a wide range of food which was very tempting. We headed to a very tiny two storey tea room called “Tea for Two”.

It was very cosy on the second storey. Following lunch Henk and I headed to the Ely Museum and the highlight was a very old film on the lost art of eel catching. Ely’s name is said to come from a word meaning “Eel Island” and taxes at one time were paid in eels. Late in the afternoon I had a nap and Henk spent an hour walking around the paths around the city. After dinner at our hotel Henk and I walked for about an hour around the pretty city with Henk showing me the sights he had seen earlier. We walked down to the River Great Ouse which has little canal boats lining the shore. Everything seems to pertain to eels! The temperatures are low and it is very overcast but we must be getting used to the weather as we would never go walking in Australia in such conditions!

Day Eight - Sandringham and North Norfolk Coast - 18 May

We were on the road at nine o’clock and arrived at Sandringham at ten thirty just in time for morning tea. The traffic wasn’t too busy and along the way we saw all the familiar East Anglia features such as the flat landscape, expansive skies, pink-coloured thatched houses, churches, water towers and acres and acres of large pigs with their little Nissan huts. We now know where the majority of English bacon comes from! We bought tickets which allowed us to tour Sandringham house, the museum and the gardens. We went straight to the house which has been the private home of four generations of monarchs including Queen Elizabeth II.

It was surprisingly “homely” and interesting to see where the Royal Family spend their winter holidays. The older guides in each of the rooms were very friendly and knowledgeable. There was personal memorabilia such as photos and gifts to each other and jigsaws which the Queen enjoys doing for relaxation. The public are only allowed into the ground floor which incorporates a number of living areas and the dining area where the Royal Family have Christmas dinner. Henk and I moved onto the museum which is set apart from the house.

It gave a chronological account of the monarchs associated with the house and had model toy cars given to the Royal Family by car manufacturers and crafts people for use by the royal children. We had lunch at the Stable Tea Room next to the museum. We immediately realised why the tearoom got its name when we walked in as there were four tables squashed into each former stall. It was novel!

We walked around the beautiful gardens and visited the very small but beautiful Church of St Mary Magdalene which is used regularly by the Royal Family and Estate Staff.

It is the church we see at Christmas when the Family go to the Christmas service. It has an exquisite ornate silver alter and personal memorials to members of the Royal Family including the Queen Mother and George IV. We left Sandringham about two o’clock and headed north and drove along the coastline to the east and rounded the corner and headed south. The tide was out and many boats were high and dry when we stopped at Burnahm Overy Staithe.

We could have stopped at all the little villages along the way as they were very pretty with narrow streets. We had afternoon tea at Cley Next the Sea as we were keen to see the windmill on the shore. We found that Cley has not been “next the sea” for about three hundred years due to land reclamation. We also saw Apache helicopters hovering low to the ground near the windmill.

We took roads heading south avoiding the busy Norwich area and arrived back at the house just after six. We had a very good touring day. It’s our last night in the house and we were busy getting organised for our departure tomorrow morning. We aren’t sure if we will stay at Ely or Cambridge or both over the next few days. We will work that out tomorrow.