Day 4 - London / Devon

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Day and – London / Devon

After once again waking up with a hangover I left shepherds bush and headed for the Portobello road markets In Notting Hill. This has to be the biggest combined market I have ever been to. You start at the southern end of Portobello road walking thru antique arcades. Of course there are the normal stalls selling typical tacky souvenirs but once you get into the shops themselves you could spend hours looking around. Further down is the fresh food market mainly filled with locals and has some of the best hot food stalls right in the middle of the street. Further along and you get to the markets which have everything for second goods to clothes to people doing portraits. The best part was the old man who was walking around with a jack russell on his shoulder!

Next I caught a bus (yes the big red double decker one) to Paddington station. sitting up stairs up the front is a little freaky at first because you feel like the driver should be there! The streets are pretty tight, even on the bus route, and vans just stop in the middle of the road to unload, so the bus driver had to squeeze through some pretty tight spaces. I think Brisbane bus drivers would definitely struggle with this! I forgot to say yesterday, in London if you park illegally they don’t send a tilt tray to remove your car, instead they have a flat bed and a crane. They simply park beside the car in question and strap some chains around the wheels then lift the car straight up onto the back of the truck. Pretty funny to watch!
Paddington is pretty cool, they have started to restore the massive overhead roof and the finished section is so bright and clean compared to the old sections which look like they haven’t been touched since the days of steam! The train ride to Devon was excellent. the train was pretty much full but lucky the person that booked the seat next to me didn’t show up so I was able to spread out. Once out of Paddington station the trains quickly pick up speed and fly through the countryside, and through the stations! And these aren’t even the fast trains!!! The view out of the carriage window was excellent, firstly going through the outer suburbs of London, and then over past the rolling countryside of the west, which is lush and green.

I arrived in tiverton at about 3pm where Claire was waiting for me. We headed back to Barnstaple where I caught up with Amy and had dinner at her place. From there it was off to town for dinner. Barnstaple is one of the oldest towns in Europe apparently (I’m still waiting for Amy to give me a guided tour!) and all the streets are really tight with most having only just enough room for two small cars to pass, and the rest being one way. The pubs are nice with a good atmosphere and the drinks are cheap! Usually 2 or 3 pounds for a pint or spirits (thank you good exchange rate!)

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