#solotraveller – Page 3 – Over 50 Aussie female solo traveller USA road trip and beyond

Abbey Road/Hyde Park/Kensington Palace

I started the day with a more recent history, the 1960s with the famous Abbey Road Studios and crossing. It is a great spot to people watch. The drivers in the area are very patient with the idiots who stop in the middle of the crossing, who could easily wait until there is a break in the traffic but, no, too stupid. I was fortunate today was not a very busy day so got a few shots in. It was the warmest day I have had in London but not warm enough for me to go barefoot.

Did you know that the Abbey Road Studios were opened by classical music fame, Sir Edward Elgar? While people watching I met an icon of the Studios, Lester, who has been working in the studios for 52 years!!

The walls out the front of the studios are filled with grafitti messages from around the world with a large message, appropriate for this current time “Free Ukraine”. I of course added my own little message. The Council paints over them from time to time to allow for new messages to be posted.

Some of the architecture around Abbey Road.

Next stop was Hyde Park. Much larger than Sydney’s Hyde Park, not as large as New York’s Central Park, but too large to do all in one day. From the Italian Gardens which I stumbled across.

Princess Diana’s Memorial Fountain, Kensington Palace and Gardens. Princess Diana’s Memorial Fountain reminded me of the water ride Diana and her boys at a fun park. A beautiful memory of a special time she had with her boys.

I love squirrels and there are several playing in Hyde Park.

One of the benches in Kensington Gardens with a quote from Alan Rickman known as “Snape” amongst many other charachters, caught my attention.

I don’t quite understand the quote. Did he predict his own demise?

On my roadtrip in the USA I had many “wow” moments, particularly of their natural landscape. We often speak of the Americans doing everything bigger than everyone. Well, I think when it comes to historical architecture, London has amazing bigger “wow” moments. So many amazing buildings but today, just 2, The Royal Albert Hall and Queen Victoria’s memorial to her husband The Albert Memorial. They are so huge with so much intricacy, it is hard to beat the “wow” factor. Kensington Palace isn’t so little

Tower of London

What a magnificient historical palace. There is so much to see and learn about this palace which dates back to 1078.

So much gruesome history which many of know about the beheading of queens such as Anne Boleyn. Strange standing in the spots where these people’s lives came to a tragic end.

The Crown Jewels are the highlight. What amazing jewels and unfortunately you cannot photograph them but this is a link to what you see. Crown Jewels. The diamonds are so big they look fake. The collection is valued at around 5 billion pounds ($AUD9 billion). The sceptre diamond on its own is worth 400million pounds ($AUD700 million)

You must do the tour with one of the Beefeaters or Yeoman Warders of the Tower of London. Did you know that to be a Beefeater you have to have served at least 22 years in the armed forces, be a former warrant officer or senior non commissioned, plus hold the Long Service and Good Conduct medal and when accepted the whole family lives in the grounds of the Tower of London! Clive was our tour guide. Very entertaining but he is not “just” a tour guide. This is a part of the role of a Beefeater.

The moat around the Tower of London is being prepared for a sea of flowers, well 20 million seeds will be planted, for the Superbloom Platinum Jubilee celebration.

White Cliffs of Dover and Dover Castle

A short 45 minute bus ride from Canterbury is the town of Dover famous for their White Cliffs. A further 35 minutes by car is a view of the cliffs along the coast which I did not get a chance to experience, although I think the photos below the Dover Castle are quite epic. Can you see the Dover Castle lookouts in the cliff?

The walk along the shore front of Dover

The Dover Castle looks majestically over the town. The view from the hill is pretty spectacular, looking out to Calais in the distance some 27 nautical miles across the English Channel. I didn’t get to see much of the castle as you need at least 6 hours to do it right. However, I did the secret tunnels of the castle which were importantly used during WWII. Unfortunately you are not permitted to photograph anything in the tunnels so you will have to take my word for it that I went.

A few pics around town and St Mary’s Church.

Canterbury Kent

So much history. The Canterbury Cathedral was founded in 597 and following a fire was rebuilt in 1174. It is the most famous Christian structure in England. The photos I have taken are just a tiny bit of this beautiful historical town. The history includes Romans, Normans, Saxons eras. By the way to my GPS friends, The Kings College here is the oldest school which is still in existence.

There is a tour of the Cathedral which costs £14 but I went into the Cathedral for free as they have an Evensong service every afternoon at 5:30pm. The service brought tears to my eyes as the choristers brought memories of attending Evensong when my sons were in the chapel choir of Newington College. I was the “robes mistress” and I looked after the boys’ 80 robes and surplices. My washing line looked very interesting on wash day and it was one time I didn’t mind ironing as I enjoyed hearing the boys rehearsing. Try to get along to the Evensong at Canterbury Cathedral. I enjoyed a historical walking tour with Canterbury Guided Tours around the town which included the outside of the Cathedral. Highly recommend this tour.

Walk around the Westgate Gardens and while sitting imagine this place back in medieval times. Westgate Tower is the last of 7 towers standing. The other towers were removed in the 1700s to make the roads wider!

Some of the pubs and shops which date back to 1000s and earlier

8 Palace Street Canterbury built in 1400s

Rail ticket lesson

Left London to explore another historical area, Canterbury. This post is to inform some of the down side of travelling solo with check in and carry on luggage and taking public transport. But also last night I googled the wrong Hotel and ended up on the wrong bus and at 1am there was limited services back to my hotel. I was stuck at St Pancras station, Ubers kept cancelling and so I took a London cab. I had heard they are pricey but did not expect to find out with my first mistake in London. An Uber was £5 and the cab cost me £28. That was a very expensive mistake, but, all part of travelling.

This morning was another day. Leaving the Park Plaza Hotel in West London there is a ramp up under the Western Road and up to Park Royal Station. This station is not step free access. So I had prepared myself to have to carry my luggage, luckily down a set of stairs. But Londoners are very kind and there was a lovely young man who helped me with my luggage.

The train wasn’t too difficult to manage as most of the London trains do not have a large gap between the train and platform. If there is, most platforms have accessible access where they have raised a portion of platform to meet the train entrance without a gap. I took the tube from Park Royal to Kings Cross St Pancras station, walked to nearby St Pancras international station, took a lift up to Platform 12. Signage is very clear at all stations. The trip was to take 2 hours so luckily there are toilets at St Pancras and as there are 4 steps up to those, I rolled my luggage into the accessible toilet.

I have registered my credit card to be used as an Oyster card. The London equivalent of the Sydney Opal Card. So at St Pancras International I swiped my card. Normally TfL works out your daily spend on the proxy Oyster card and there is a cap each day. However, the UK has several train lines which are not linked to the Oyster card. The fast train on the South Western Rail Line (SWR) is separate. Now this is one of the lines where if you book your ticket in advance you can save a lot of money. I did not know this and I paid £37 one way. The conductor was very kind to explain how it all works and assisted me to download two more apps – Trainline and National Rail. I paid the £37 and an additional £5 for a return ticket to London which is valid for a month. Once I leave Canterbury I will have to go back to London regardless so that I can get a train to the next major city. Their ticketing is so complex. The conductor who has been on this job for 12 months said he was still learning all there was to the UK rail system.

London

London reminds me of New York but with older buildings. Lots of people, lots of restaurants, pubs, so much to see. The photos do not do the place justice. I did a London Ghost Walk and Spooky River Thames boat ride. These tours are a great way to see London and to learn some of this city’s history.

Tottenham Court/Oxford Street

Met up with Jo whom I met on a South Pacific Cruise a few years ago. She showed me around where she grew up in the Oxford Street area and took me to a lovely pub lunch. The Jack Horner is a traditional English pub in the West End. Jo is my first UK cruise buddy catch up.

Little Venice/Camden/Jack The Ripper

Today is a lovely sunny day in London. 15°C!!! After -1C a few days ago, this is heaven. My hotel Park Plaza is so lovely and warm, the shower hot and great pressure. I feel great after the last week of freezing I was feeling very grumpy. I chose a beautiful day to start off in Little Venice. Did you even know there was such a place in London? I took the tube to Royal Oak and then walked to Little Venice. Look at these homes!!

Pretty Little Venice.

I took the Little Venice Regent’s Canal Water Bus to Camden tour which is a unique perspective of life along the canals of London. The tour takes you along the London Zoo and you get to see many beautiful mansions owned by various entertainment industry celebrities.

the only and oldest Chinese restaurant on the canal

On arrival to Camden you may be greeted with the pungent smell of marijuana which lets you know you have arrived to a bohemian area. Marijuana is illegal in London, although as in many parts of the world, I expect a smoking offence is not worth the police work involved. The market is buzzing with stalls of food and colourful shops to cater to the eclectic mix of patrons.

Then I took a bit of a walk to St Pancras Old Church. This has been a worship site since the 4th century.

I found The Hardy Tree on Atlas Obscura which intrigued me so I added this to my list of quirky to do. The Hardy Tree has headstones which were moved by author Thomas Hardy. My photo doesn’t do it justice but click on the link above for a clearer picture and history.

I then realised I was close to Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station. I could not go to London without visiting.

Last but not least for today I went on a Jack the Ripper Tour. Ripperologist Tom took us through the historical part of Whitechapel and the sites of the gruesome murders. He was very informative and entertaining and included some very graphic photos. He had a good balance of humour and seriousness sharing the life of Whitechapel during that period and information of the victims with utmost respect. Thank you Tom. I look forward to the Haunted tour of London.

From Watford to Vauxhall

My day started with a lovely breakfast made by my airbnb host, to sustain me for my next train trip with my luggage. The host kindly dropped me off at Bushey Station thinking it had a lift. I felt so daunted by the stairs I was to lug my luggage up by hand, I took an Uber to the next station which had a lift. I had to psyche myself up for the train changes at Euston which doesn’t have a lift but an escalator, and a staff member insisted on helping me. On the way so many people asked advice and he was so very patient and assisted everyone. I then got to Green Park station changed for the Picadilly line to Park Royal station. All those trains were very easy getting on at the accessibility carriage. The trains are so good that they provide step free access and was very helpful for me with “too much” luggage. Except when I got to Park Royal and there were stairs I nearly cried. There was a lovely Jamaican woman who came straight up to me and took one of my bags up the stairs. I have found nothing but helpful people in London. The train system is complex but so far everything is working fine. I am staying at the Park Plaza hotel. Very trendy, in an industrial area but easy to get around.
After a rest I found a Meet Up group going to a comedy show at the Vauxhall Winter Gardens. I tried to contact them but decided I would try and take my chance and just turn up.

I had dinner in the winter garden and spoke with the comedy organiser who said the event was free but if you pay £5 for a ticket it would get you a free drink. I wasn’t drinking alcohol so I decided to just enjoy the show. I found the Meet Up group organiser and she stated that I could not join the Meet Up group attending the comedy as I didn’t pay the £10 fee. I was quite confused as I didn’t understand what the fee was for if entry was £5 for a drink. Well I found my first inhospitable person in London. She told me I couldn’t sit with the group as I didn’t pay £10. I realised later that she had made money from all 12 people attending. Needless to say I won’t be attending any of those group events.
But, things happen for a reason. As I was feeling a little sorry for myself, I made my way to the comedy show and someone came up to me and asked if I wanted to go to a drag bingo show. I love drag bingo and go often in Sydney. I was given a free ticket and the host was an Australian, Sheila Simmonds and she is a friend of my Sydney drag friend Miss Prada Clutch. What a fabulous night!!

Sheila sent a message to Prada which was a hoot.

I was at table with a lovely couple Victoria and Simon and I am trying to work out a way to gatecrash their wedding in Wales in June. I love attending gay areas around the world and didn’t realise that London’s is Vauxhall. Another unexpected spontaneous fun night in London.

Bletchley Park

I took a 30 minute train ride from Watford to Bletchley.

I had watched a fictional series called “Bletchley Circle” and discovered it was based on a real place called Bletchley Park. Bletchley Park was a top secret home where World War II codebreakers worked, 8000 of them. The work they did effectively reduced the term of the War by 2 to 4 years. Fascinating place, particularly if you are interested in mathematics, coding and decoding messages not only in English but German and Japanese. The story of how they recruited the coders, engaged fake spies and developed the machinery to fast track the decoding. This place would be of interest if you are a computer nerd, a mathematician, have an interest in World War II, appreciate a beautiful house built in 1883 and see how it all came together.

Memorial to the Polish mathematicians who cracked the German Enigma code

To finish off my day and my final night in Watford I went back to the Load of Hay for a final drink and a game of bingo. I was one off three times. However, once again I experienced warm hospitality from the staff and patrons. When in Watford, pop in for a drink. Thanks Load of Hay.