London to Chester

Note: Below is a link to a complete photo album usually about 60 photos relating to that days blog entry. I have added one for each of the previous blog entries beginning with London the 1st day as well so please go back to open those photo albums.


Photo Album located here:http://tinyurl.com/clgbefw
Copy link into browser window or highlight, right click and select open in new window or tab to view, if the tiny url does not work try
https://picasaweb.google.com/cawinger6/Aug29Chester?authkey=Gv1sRgCM752uTesvK8Tw

Wed Aug 29 after a terrific final day in London where we walked through Hyde Park, The Natural History museum and the Albert and Victoria museum we boarded a train and headed for Chester where we will be picking up the motorcycle. The weatherman predicted steady rain all day but he was nice enough to pause during the time we were walking with luggage to and from various train stations. The decision was made to spend the night in Chester rather than have the first day and night camping in wet weather.
We started by meeting with Sam Broome the GM of Bill Smith Motors. This is the company that received the motorcycle and trailer and made it ready for us to travel on. Sam was nice enough to meet us at the train station and provide a tour of the city and deliver us to a hotel close to town. Once settled in we decided on a walk around this wonderful city. Naturally shortly after leaving the hotel the skies opened up and it started pouring. A brief pause for a hot chocolate and brownie allowed the fast moving storm to pass and we began again.
The city proper is surrounded by a wall that was built for fortification originally by the Romans in 70AD. It was made of dirt and wood but strengthened by stone only 30 years later.

Inside the wall stands Chester Cathedral which was built in the 7th century. It takes up an entire city block.

Deb and I walked on top of the wall the entire way around the city. This truly an interesting place and worthy of a visit. Tomorrow we will pick up the bike and begin the road adventure.

Touring London

Photo Album located here:http://tinyurl.com/cjkkfs7
Copy link into browser window or highlight, right click and select open in new window or tab to view. If the tiny url does not work try coping both lines below together.
https://picasaweb.google.com/cawinger6/LastShotsInLondon?authkey=Gv1sRgCKvBsMuJpZKREw

We have had a terrific two days so far. A few things to know should you decide to come to London. A good pair of walking shoes is critical and ‘waterproof’ would be a bonus. Know the exchange rate for the dollar to pound. American Express and Travelex in the airport will rip you off. There are places in town that provide commission free exchanges. TEB, Travel Exchange Bureau is the one we used.Sunday morning we got a very early start. Transportation via the tube, Underground rail service, is pretty easy to negotiate. Upon reaching the city the first order of the day was some food. A stop at Pret A Manger provided us a wonderful hot chocolate and the best croissant Deb has had in forever. We also checked out the train station for our trip from London to Chester on Wed. Once we found that, we went looking for one of many doubledecker open bus tour lines. Golden Tours was the choice as they offered 48 hours hop on – hop off service including a river cruise and a walking tour. All of the tour lines offer multiple routes, but it’s possible to end up riding through the same areas in the heart of the city more than once. We considered that a good thing just because there is so much to see and grasp. There is an interesting mix of old and new. Old going way back as London Tower has it origins in about 1076. During the next several hundred years many significant additions were made. It is a major tourist attraction that we chose not to go through thinking to do it justice would take a full day.

A dinner stop at Garfunkel’s after spending the day riding the bus and walking the city found us returning to the hotel after 10pm. Deb had to work on some of the photos and it was quickly midnight before the lights went out on the first full day exploring the city.

Monday started much later as we needed to catch up on the sleep we lost traveling ‘across the Pond.’ It was near noon we left the hotel to get to town. A stop at the Stanhope Arms for a full English breakfast got us started and then we headed off for a walking tour of the famed Jack the Ripper’s trail. This was an interesting tour into the seedy side of London including some of the actual sites of the brutal slayings in this never solved case. It started with the interesting fact that London at the time was a city of 1 square mile with a wall built around it. The slayings all occurred outside the wall in what would probably be considered a red light district. There were a total of 5 killings over just a few months and then it stopped and the killer was never found. Dinner was at The Britannia, where the fish and chips were excellent. Then the tube back to the hotel and once again it is well past our normal bedtime.

Tomorrow we will move closer to town in preparation of the train departure on Wed.

Arrived London - First Day

Photo Album located here:http://tinyurl.com/cqx3367
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Sitting at the computer desk in our room at the Sheraton, it is 5:30 am local time Sunday morning, 9:30 Sat night in Cal and 12:30am Sun in Fl as I create this post, but not connected to the internet. I will go shortly to the lobby and use one of their free connections. In the room they charge $15.00 for the first hour and $30.00 if you go beyond that for the day.

The flight over could not have been any better. It was nice to be treated like a person on an airplane again. We arrived in London even a few minutes early and made it through the hassle free Customs entry in no time at all.

They allowed early check in at the hotel after which we started out for a brief walk. A trip to England just wouldn’t be right without rain and we had left our rain jackets in the room because it seemed warm so a forced return was in order.

Once in the room the sleep bug started calling so a short nap took up the next two hours before we started off again.

We managed our first tube ride, the London underground rail system and into London we went. A short walk over to Buckingham Palace and a sense for how to get around and then back on the tube. Yesterday was to experience getting about so we aren’t wasting time learning that today when we begin sight seeing in earnest.

More details finished

It has come as no surprise that things not previously thought of have popped up. Last week I received an invoice for Custom fees and docs, which had to be paid with a wire transfer in GBP(British Pounds).
Along with the Customs docs we have received the insurance documents for the bike and trailer, made train reservations to get to Chester and pick up the bike. We have arranged hotel accommodations for the first 2 nights in London which will allow us to see some of the city and maybe relocate.

The one thing we had not managed to get as yet was some saddle time for Deb leading up to this trip. She has managed only 2 rides since January, so a quick trip to Oregon was scheduled. We planned a nice 3 days to get up to Portland traveling only a couple hundred miles per day and camping the first two nights. Oregon has terrific State Park Campgrounds. During the trip we discovered our camera has failed and the timing of that could not have been better. It allowed us to find and purchase a new camera prior to traveling and having to pay the 23% tax they impose in Europe.

We are 10 days from departure and things are progressing smoothly. I will try to get one more post done early next week before we catch our plane to London.