London, England to Deal, England 23rd July 2007

We headed out of London by train to Salisbury and via Bath to Stonehenge. Stonehenge is the most outstanding prehistoric monument in the British Isles and is a World Heritage Site. Ancient people mapped the course of the sun and moon to build this monument. 7,000 years ago the area was mixed pine and hazel woodland before becoming downland. The larger stones are called Sarsen stones and were brought from the Marlborough Downs 30 klm away and the smaller stones, known as Bluestones, were from the mystical Preseli Mountains in Wales, 385 klm away. It is believed the stones from Wales were brought here some 5,000 years ago and that they were transported up along the waterways. This is a very interesting site to visit. We headed back to London via Southampton into Brighton. Brighton is England's 'Riviera' and it was great to see the open sea and the blue sky. The beaches are devoid of sand and are fully comprised of medium sized rounded stones.

We visited the Thames River, the London Eye, Docklands and walked across the Millennium Bridge. The ship The Cutty Sark was recently set alight but is currently being rebuilt. We travelled on the Docklands Railway to the Royal Observatory - home of Greenwich Mean Time, and visited the National Maritime Museum which was very interesting - of course anything to do with the sea and Pat is hooked.

We visited the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London and then headed out of London by train to Hastings on the coast. This is the famous site of the Battle of Hastings in 1066. We then stepped back in time and travelled north to the ancient city of Rye, where buildings look as they did centuries ago. The streets are narrow and winding and make for an interesting walking tour of the town. That evening back in London, we visited Chinatown and of course had a Chinese buffet for dinner.

England has been very wet whilst we have been here, however it has not hindered us from touring and site seeing - fortunately we have missed the areas of major flooding. We bought raincoats in Ireland and have certainly put them to good use.

London is not complete without a visit to Marble Arch, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, Windsor Castle, Windsor Village, Buckingham Palace and of course, Harrods department store. At Harrods we hit one of the two sales per year (Pat loves a bargain) and enjoyed lunch and coffee in one of the many restaurants.

Angela arrived home from Hong Kong on Friday - laden down with her great shopping. That evening we enjoyed a Thai dinner cooked at home by Angela's resident cook - Pat. We all had a great laugh the other day - Angela was feeling quite well heeled - she had a cook in the kitchen, a secretary on the computer and the housekeeper was cleaning her apartment!

We decided to have an easy day for our last day in London so Pat, Angela and myself headed out for a leisurely walk along the Grand Canal in Little Venice up to Primrose Hill where we had lunch in the Pembroke Pub. We then walked up to the top of Primrose Hill for a beautiful view across London and on the way home called into the Windsor Castle Pub to say goodbye to Sheila and the crew.

On Sunday 22nd we headed out of London to the beautiful seaside village of Deal on the eastern side of Kent. Sam & Regi have bought the Sondes Lodge B&B just up the road from the ocean, so we checked in for the night. We were greeted by a little black bundle called Rufus at the front door - a four month old poodle cross - he's a little corker! Pat and Sam also worked together at Burton Coal Mine so it was great to catch up. We went out for a walk along the waterfront and visited the King's Head Pub for refreshments. The sun was shining, the ocean was blue and the flowers in all the hanging baskets on the front of the buildings were out in bloom - a truly beautiful day. It was Regi's birthday so we headed out to Dunkley's Restaurant for a magnificent dinner.

Today we will travel to Dover and then take the ferry across the English Channel to Calais in France. So we will say goodbye to Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England and look forward to our travels in Europe.