 |
| Bushy Park |
During the past week we were treated to the best weather
since we have been in London! But it was
a brief window of relative warmth as the temperatures dropped back down to
freezing yesterday! We keep saying to
ourselves that 32 degrees just isn’t that cold.
But believe me – it feels bitter.
I’m not sure whether this is because there is so much moisture in the
air even on a relatively dry day, or whether we are simply not acclimated to
colder temperatures. Whatever the
reason, we both are hoping for warmer weather again soon.
We were able to take great advantage of the warm weather and
went for several long walks. A week ago we
walked on the Thames National Path east toward the Thames Barrier. This colossal structure was built in 1984 to
protect the London area from flooding due to high tidal surges. This walk was through a very industrial and
not particularly attractive part of London along the river. But the day was beautiful and we finished it
off by returning to Greenwich and visiting the National Maritime Museum. There we went to a fabulous Ansel Adams
exhibit that left us both a little homesick!
The next day walked west on the Thames Path from our flat
into the city to London Bridge. This was
a very historic walk with great views of central London. We passed Deptford where Sir Frances Drake
and others set sail on their journeys of exploration. We walked by the area from which the Pilgrims
set sail for the Netherlands in their initial journey to escape religious
persecution and had lunch at the Mayflower Pub in Rotherhite which is
nearby.
On Monday we did one of our long training walks for the
Camino. This was a 12 mile walk on the
London Loop from Kingston on Thames to the Hatton Cross tube station near Heathrow
Airport. The day was spectacular and
this was a beautiful walk. The first
half was through Bushy Park which is comprised of land given to Henry VIII by
Cardinal Woolsey. Henry built one of his
most famous palaces – Hampton Court – on this land. We did not visit the Palace this past week
and instead enjoyed the extensive grounds.
Portions of the park are pretty wild and contain many deer. Other parts of the park are elaborately groomed
gardens. We had wonderful sunshine all
day and really felt as if spring was close at hand!
The past few days disabused us of thoughts of an early
Spring, however. On Wednesday through
Friday we visited with our friends Robin & Ruth in Wembley. Ruth, Tom and I went for a great walk on
Wednesday afternoon to Harrow School (the alma mater of such famous folks as
Winston Churchill and Jawaharlal Nehru.)
It was a sunny walk but the temperature was starting to drop --
foreshadowing the cold to come. Thursday,
a bitterly cold day, we went out to Bletchley Park where British mathematicians
and linguists, including Alan Turning, broke the Enigma Code used by the German
military, and developed precursors to modern computers to quickly decode
messages. It was a fascinating look at
important WWII history.
This coming Monday we are off to Devon for five days. Our wonderful London landlords are letting us
stay at their Devon Cottage! They
normally rent the Cottage when they are not there, but cannot do so next week
because they are having work done on the chimney. Our only responsibility while there is to
light the fire (to keep the chimney warm and dry)! With temps in the 30’s this should not pose a
hardship.
Here are pictures from the past week. The Thames Path -- London Bridge to the Thames Barrier, Greenwich on a Sunny Winter Afternoon, Bletchley Park -- Home of the code Breakers
Liz
No comments:
Post a Comment