Hampton Wick "Chase Lodge Hotel"Geoff Burt Yesterday we drove from Swanage, hauled our cases etc up the steepest and narrowest set of steps we've seen so far, returned the hire car to Avis at Heathrow airport and caught a train in to London. Quite humidly warm and by the end of the day of wandering and refamiliarising ourselves with the transport system, we were both knackered. Today we experienced one of the special adventures of the trip. Prior to leaving, we booked tickets for the Chelsea Flower Show in London. Oh, yeah. We've all seen flower shows before, but this one is huge and every exhibit is breathtakingly good. Even if you are not a gardener and you can afford it, visit the Chelsea Flower Show in the last week of May - if you time ... read more

We write this on Saturday night (May 19) after an eventful day of driving. GPS (Navman) was instructed to take us via the shortest rather than fastest route so we saw many narrow country roads and consequently very few large towns where we could fill a rapidly emptying fuel tank. Just made it to a town called Corby. Not a Sharelle in sight! Our overnight stop was made at a working farm complete with about 6 large and small housedogs, a cat, sundry pigeons, budgerigars, chooks, ducks, geese, peacocks & hens, sheep and pea hens. On the way we visited the first of Pat’s requested “Midsomer Murders” filming locations. More to be visited tomorrow. BTW the B&B owners told Pat that John Nettles (“Midsomer Murders” star) has stayed for extended periods during filming in the ... read more

UntitledGeoff BurtEverything went well regarding the current car hire and we've now reached the Lakes District of England not far south of Scotland on the west coast. Today we went on a full day mini-bus tour around the area and we don't remember any of todays views from when we were here in 1976. Old farts like us have bad memories! The views were spoiled by the first day of rain we've had, but you can't have everything. The rain was not heavy, but constant. The scenery is not unlike the Scottish Highlands but just as memorable.... read more

It’s Friday, May 11 and we have our hire car. First stop at the 8 step lock series lifting boats from sea level to the Calladonian Canal eventually linking with Loch Ness. We’ve reached Portree on the western side of the Isle of Skye and the vistas along the way were breathtaking. We liked the rugged scenes in Ireland when we went there, but this part of the world looks wonderful. The plan is to tour Skye for the next few days then return to Fort William for an overnight stop before we bus to Glasgow and pick up another hire can. Somebody please be kind enough to be honest and tell us if these blogs are too much and/or too often. ... read more

Our major excursion on Sunday was a trip to the top of the tallest man-made structure in the world - the CN Tower. Won't bore you with the details but the tallest observation deck is way up there. Pat & Geoff took the lift to the first level - in a lift with glass walls that ran up the outside of the tower travelling at 22kph - then we waited in line to travel up a further 100 m to the tallest observation point the Sky Pod (marked on the photo) Great view, but Geoff's balance was skewed and vertigo spoilt the experience somewhat. Pat was keen to step onto a glass floor and look down 350 m but didn't. GMB didn't get anywhere near it. We polished off our final day doing some window ... read more