Salisbury

The drive from Winchester was rather long, due to some traffic and an accident we encountered along the way. Rain was the main factor for the accident as it was a sudden down pour. It appeared no one was hurt, but it looked like 3 cars were involved. We found the campsite with little difficulty and since the day was getting late and we were tired from the drive and our short stop in Winchester we decided to just hang out in the van and do some research and play some games.

Winchester

We have our route planned out all the way until we take the ferry over from Scotland to Ireland. This made our morning much easier and the drive very pleasant. It was cool today but I still managed to wear shorts and since we weren’t doing much walking today, I wore my sandals too. Once we found a place to park for the hour we ventured into the small downtown area of Winchester in search of the great hall that holds King Arthur’s round table. The hall was located away from the main strip and up on a hill. The table was not what we expected. It looked very childish and it was hung up on a wall. The hall itself was empty except for a set of chairs. Julie really liked the ceiling in the great hall, but I was rather disappointed with the whole venture. What I did like was walking in the pedestrian zone and listening to two young busker’s sing a Green Day song.

Windsor Castle

Julie and I were both exhausted when we woke up so it was no surprise to us that we ended up leaving for the Castle much after lunch. The train ride from the campsite was a short one and it was very easy to find the front entrance to Windsor Castle. There was no lineup as we were just arriving for last admission, just before they shut the wickets down. The castle itself isn’t all that impressive, it’s still nice, but what makes it famous though, is that it’s the largest inhabited castle in the UK and one of the Queens official Royal residences. Based on the wonderful location and the traffic gardens it’s no wonder she uses it as a retreat. The inside is like any other castle we have been in. Rooms are themed and you would have to be daft not to figure out what the “themes” are. The dinning hall was our favourite room out of all that we saw. We also managed to squeeze in a very quick walk around the doll house. This doll house is huge, took over 3 years to make and even has hot and cold running water in its sinks, toilets etc. The day was nice so we decided not to hang around too long. We did enter the visitor gift shops and found a set of China ware we both felt my Mom would love. Since the one plate we looked at was just £150, we decided that it would remain a nice idea. Our penchant for missing trains in London continued today and made what could have been a 3 hour tour, more like 5 hours.

London Day 2

With my knee being sore we missed the train once again heading into London. However, the day before I spoke with a train guard and he told us if we headed in the opposite direction we would get to London Waterloo station faster. So we decided to try this today after missing the train. To our luck it worked and we managed to be early. Today’s free tour is focused on Old London and it started off (late) in front of the Tower of London. Our tour guide was the same guy we had yesterday so this time we got his name, Dave and learnt he is from Australia, went to college in Canada and is now living in London. His accent was a mix of all these. We then walked over to a great viewing point along the Thames to see the Tower Bridge. To our luck while Dave tried to give us some history on it, it was opening to let a boat pass. This apparently only happens once or twice a day. He also pointed out that someone should have told Fergie that she was dancing (ridiculously) on the wrong bridge for her song London Bridge. From here we walked under the London Bridge (it actually had the name on it so you wouldn’t be confused). He also pointed out Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre across the River. He then took us to the City of London, dubbed “the city”. In this small area inside London you can find government buildings that handle the currency and welfare of London and is completely separate from London. We also saw the courthouse that recently held McCartney’s divorce, this courthouse only handles high profile cases. From here we went into what he considered another city inside the City of London. The area is set aside for lawyers to study and work. The area was so quiet and peaceful it was hard to believe you were still in London. We then passed by a church that was once of the Knights Templar. More walking and we came across St Paul’s Cathedral before we crossed the famous wobbly bridge (it isn’t wobbly anymore, and its official name is the Millennium Bridge). He finished off the tour outside a church that still had WWII damage on its exterior. From here Julie and I decided to head to Convent Garden to a bar/restaurant Phil had suggested to us, called the Maple Leaf. Julie and I indulged ourselves with poutine and nachos and washed it all down with a pint of Sleeman’s IPA. While Julie had a Belgian waffle covered in Maple Syrup, I had another pint, this time Labatts. I’m not sure which Labatts, but I was told it was similar to Blue and it turns out it wasn’t. Covent Garden is absolutely packed with people and show performers. You could probably hang out in this area all day and not become bored. As it is, we took off for a tour of the Tower Of London and to our dismay we missed the last admission by 30 minutes. So that left only one thing left to do. Visit platform 9 ¾. Julie and I did the photo opt while others waited for their turn. While we were in the station someone was pick pocketed. It was sort of funny, because the guy started yelling after the man that snitched it, a police officer was nearby and walked over to the yelling man, when the man turned he bluntly said, “Get him!”, and the cop took off in an instant. We didn’t stick around to see what would happen. We headed back to the van to rest, as we needed to visit Windsor castle the following morning.

London Day 1

I glanced at a local map to see where the train station was located the previous night. I had hoped to have enough time in the morning to get a better idea of how to get there from the campsite. I didn’t, so we ended up walking in the general direction. It did take us longer than planned. We anticipated a 30 minute walk, and it took nearly 45 minutes. This made us miss the train into London, which in turn would make us late for the free tour. The train was more expensive than any other we have used to date on our trip. £28.60 for the both of us, this included all forms of transport for the day including the train there and back. Luckily while we were on the train heading into London we learnt of a faster train we could switch to. We did the switch and managed to arrive just before the tour left its meeting point. We missed the intro, but managed to understand what the arch was for and the nearby mansion. This tour was focused on the Royal area and new parts of London. The tour we will take tomorrow focuses on Old London. Today’s tour started us off at the Wellington Arch and from there we made our way in front of Buckingham palace to watch the Changing of the Guards ceremony. During the off season they only do the ceremony on odd days, this is why we needed to meet this tour today. The crowds of people were impressive for being out of season and the guide said it was mainly due to the fabulous weather they were having (best he has had this time of year). We then cut across a park to walk down a famous street that has many Gentlemen’s clubs. We also passed by the old Royal residence which was mainly red brick and looked to blend into the buildings on either side. After seeing it you can understand why they switched to Buckingham palace (Buckingham palace was built for the duke of Buckingham but he was forced to sell it to the king who had grown quite fond of it). We then walked through another arch that led onto Mall street, which is the official gateway for the queen to enter Buckingham Palace. The street itself is painted red so it resembles a red carpet. The interesting thing about the arch is that the builder had a nose placed high enough for a man on horseback to touch as they rode by, strange, but nevertheless interesting. Then it was off to Trafalgar square, what is considered the center of London. In the square there were two large fountains with funny looking lions. We then walked over to the horse grounds across from St James Park. Here, we learnt that the pelicans in the park have been eating pigeons (video). We could also see a bunker from WWII which is still in use and not open to the public, as was the street where the government homes are located. The Horse Parade area is going to be used in the upcoming Olympics for beach volleyball. It was awful, but we took the guides advice (along with everyone else) to enter another set of gates to take photos of guards. These guards are of the horse division and stand guard of the entry through the gates. To see so many people snapping photos and posing with them was just awful. Out of the 4 guards, only one seemed to enjoy it. We pressed on from here to the very impressive Westminster Abbey and “Big Ben”. This is where the tour finished. Julie and I walked from here to see the famous London eye but not ride it. We decided to head back towards Piccadilly Circus, as there was a very large book store with over 7 floors (Whitestones) and the tourist office was also nearby. We stopped at a Pizza hut for their buffet, as it was only £5.99 all you can eat. We then walked back to Trafalgar square to check out the national portrait gallery before I threw in the towel again. My knee is even worse today after such a long walk and I couldn’t bear to continue any longer.

Chertsey

Our London campsite is actually located in the outskirts of one of the cities suburbs. We had major difficulty locating the Canterbury campsite and hoped this one would go smoother. It did, but we managed to pass it 3 times before spotting the sign. Today we also gassed up the van, £1.195/L making it around $100 Canadian to fill the tank. That is only slightly higher than in Europe, where it was costing on average $80 Canadian. Still, it’s expensive. We decided to take it easy today and head into London the following morning for one of the free tours offered.

Canterbury

We finally made our way into England and the customs agent was kind enough to tell us there was a lot of smoke coming from our exhaust and that we might be burning oil. It wasn’t a complaint so we weren’t offended. Driving on the left side of the road is rather easy, especially when you start off on the highway. However, our GPS figured it would be faster to get to Canterbury if we took a few back roads as well as the highway. The first left and right were weird but I quickly adapted. The speed and distance is another story, so I drove what I felt was a comfortable speed. Thankfully the van is large and slow and I ended up driving too slowly most of the time (but not by much). We signed up for a 3 month membership (available to foreigners only) for £20 at the campsite. If we didn’t join it would be an extra £7 at each location (free camping is illegal and not recommended in the UK). The other camping chain is £40 to join for the year, and again saves you a £7 non-member fee on each stay. The day was starting to clear up and since it was still early we decided to head into town and go explore. But before we did this we used the internet a bit over lunch (10 sites offer WiFi). The walk into town was a short one and when we arrived at the town wall, we couldn’t find a way in. We had to walk for a short distance before we came across a street entering the town centre. Our first stop was the cathedral, however we only saw it briefly from the street as it was surrounded by walls of its own and it was £7.50 to enter them. Since this was really all we came to see, we ended up walking around the town, stopping in a few shops, some book stores and then eventually at a Pizza Hut. They had a new stuffed crust pizza, this time with cheese and pepperoni. I highly recommend it. We have only been in England for 2 hours and we already appreciate the ability to speak and understand others. After lunch we wandered a bit more before heading back to the van.