Planes, planes planes!

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Geo: 52.044, -0.699569

On Wednesday night we walked across the road to the Rose of India. We meant to go to the restaurant next door, The Golden Curry, which I had checked on the internet and it had been given high praise. However, we walked in the wrong door and then felt we couldn't just walk out again when we realised our mistake. In the end we were very glad we stayed. The restaurant was run by two Bangladeshi brothers and though we were the only dine-in customers for the night there was a constant stream of people arriving for take-away.

The food was great. We had Samosas and a tandoori plate to start. The meat was particularly good, tender and flavoursome. This was followed by Prawn Jafaezi and Balti Chicken with pilau rice and excellent Naan. We washed it down with a very nice Chablis. We chatted to the owners and thoroughly enjoyed the food. In the end we had after dinner drinks, a Baileys for me and a whisky for Fletcher. The Maitre D' then gave us a refill on the house. Very generous. Repleted, we returned to our room and though trying to stay awake I fell asleep about 8-30pm.

Thursday morning, after a coffee and toasted sandwich at the nearby Costa Coffee shop we set out to visit RAF Duxford, the Imperial War Museum's collection of aircraft. We had made use of the inbuilt GPS system in the car and I put Duxford in as our destination. We soon found that we were being taken towards Oxford which was way off where we should have been going. I reconfigured the destination and put Cambridge in which was very close to the airfield. The lady directed us to retrace our "steps" and now, going in the right direction we soon found ourselves in Cambridge, but an hour later than we expected. We parked and went for a stroll. It had been a number of years since I had been there and it was now close to lunch time. After admiring the lovely old buildings we found Bill's, a modern bistro/restaurant and ordered lunch. I had an excellent Sea Bass in an Avocado and tomato salsa which was delicious and very fresh. Fletcher had a fish pie which he really enjoyed. We then past King's College. It is a magnificent sight with the chapel towering above the other buildings.

Once back in the car I found the right entry for Duxford and we were soon there as it is only 8 miles from Cambridge. This is an impressive complex. We were told to head for the Air Space Hangar first as the Concorde they own was open. This we did. Walking in to this vast building I was amazed to see so many aircraft packed into the area. We walked past many military and commercial planes there. Fletcher was particularly taken by a TSR2, the British equivalent of the F111. We boarded the Concorde to have a look inside. This was the third one built and used only as a test aircraft. I was amazed at how small it was inside. The back section has been fitted with seats to show how it would have been configured when flying, The plane had lain dormant for 20 years and when they switched it on, all instruments sprang into action immediately. Not bad!!

From there we went outside to visit the other hangars. Along the side of the still working airfield were several commercial planes which have been restored. We went up into a BOAC VC-10 and walked through. It looked like the plane The Beatles had arrived in from England all those many years ago. There was also a Handley Page Victor which was one of the 3 British bombers in the 50s and 60s as well as a Flying Fortress and a Catalina. The American Hangar was closed for Renovations but I did enjoy the Battle of Britain Pavilion which had a Hurricane which were the main fighter aircraft at that time as well as a Spitfire and a shot down Messerschmitt. Many panels and videos recalled the events which saved Britain from invasion in 1940.

We also visited a display of how Duxford operated as an air base during the war as well as the Air/Sea exhibition containing flying boats as well as planes and helicopters which operated from aircraft carriers. We had seen a huge Sunderland flying boat in the first hangar and these others were just as impressive. The final icing on the cake was the appearance of a real Spitfire which flew low over the field and then put on an aerobatics display. We chatted to a 95 year old who was watching this. There had been a special function there for Veterans and they were wearing their medals and berets. He was very sprightly and was interesting to talk to.

Back in Bletchley we walked to a local pub, the Eight Belles which had been lauded as a “Gastropub” on the internet, Unfortunately, it did not come up to expectations in the food department. However, we had a Chilean Sauv Blanc which was very nice and only 13 pounds (about $A28). They also were about to have their weekly Quiz night. We stayed, although due to the “local” nature of many of the questions we did miserably. It turned out to be a fun night!!

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