Day 25 - Hurley, Gatwick, London, London Eye.

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Up at 6.30am and out of the camp in a nice clean camper by 8.15am, We had just enough petrol to get to the BP down the road from Gatwick. Traffic was heavy and our "1 hour trip" took 2 hours. That included a slight detour when we missed our off ramp for the A25. I was driving along and saw a sign pointing to the A23 to Gatwick and asked Tanya if we really were getting off at the number 4 ? She said yes. We continued, then she turned the page of the notes ! Fortunately we only made a 4 mild detour.

Got to Gatwick BP and put 63 litres of Diesel in a 60 litre tank. I then dropped Tanya at the Airport so that I would know exactly where she and the kids were and there would be no repeats of last time. Train back to London and this time we found an extra set of lifts that we didn't see last time, which saved us about 65 steps. Got back to the Mayflower at 1pm. Checked in to one our rooms but the other one was being cleaned. We were happy to dump our stuff and were checking in an hour early. Went up the road and got some burgers for lunch.

From BK's we headed in to London proper and the London Eye. It has rained consistently here since 6am this morning. Not heavy rain, but the type you would still go out and walk around in. The type that if you needed 80 runs in the last hour of play, you would bat on and expect to get them. Only thing is, after 8 hours of it, there was puddles everywhere, as everying is on clay soils here. Consequently we ended up with some wet feet.

We arrived at the Eye and got our tickets. The ticket lady said that the queue was the shortest they have ever had in history. There was no queue at all. We walked up and the 12 of us in a group got straight on. The view is impressive. Got some good photos of the kids in the bubble, as well as video, but had to wait for 3 other groups who monopolysed the best spots early on. Photos of the surrounds not so good because of the rain, but I think I have taken 1600 photos since getting here. The kids loved it and spent loads of time looking over the edge and watching the "little" people down below. Even Tanya managed to get up and walk around for a few seconds ! We got about a third of the way up and an announcement came over saying we were not to worry, but we were going backwards for a while. It looked as though some people had suddenly changed their mind and needed to get off. At the end of our "flight", they offer you to get over in front of one of 4 cameras and have your photo taken. At this point I was knocked off my feet by a French couple who were rushing to get their photo taken. At the end of that, they didn't buy it anyway !

While I was buying one for Christopher, I noticed that the 2 bubbles after us were actually empty, so it was a quiet day.

By now it was 3.30pm and I offered to take the kids to the National Gallery, which we hadn't done, but they declined. We walked across London Bridge, got some photos and then got on to the District Line at Westminster.

Back in our room and showering, and we have 38 pound for lunch after I brought the petrol today with my Mastercard. The kids are thinking, all you can eat, at Pizza Hut.

Later. Turns out the Pizza Hut Tanya thought she had seen, wasn't. Found a Pizza place though, so 2 large pizzas, 6 deserts and coke from Sainsbury, and we have 13 pounds to by some sandwiches to take on the Eorostar. After that, it is on to the Euros !

Just had a look at the weather for Paris for the next few days. Rained today, but then fine and 18-20 till Sunday. Blessed !

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