We have not been across the pond since late 2011. Deb's illness precluded any long haul flights. However, since her remarkable recovery, we have been traveling a lot for the past year. In the spring of 2014 we visited Albuquerque, traveling via Amtrak. We did some impressive hiking while there, too. Then, in September of the same year, we rode the train all the way from Detroit to Los Angeles and back, once again with some impressive hiking accomplished.
In April 2015 it was time to try our luck crossing the pond again. This was my 12th visit to London and vicinity, and our plans for this trip were centered around walking. England has the most civilized walking available on the planet. We are currently chipping away at two long distance paths. One is the Capital Ring, which circles London in 15 segments, approximately around Zone 3. It is about 75 miles long. The London Loop, the second trail, originally in 15 segments but now broken up into 24 parts, circles London approximately around Zones 5 and 6, and is about 140 miles in length. We began walking these trails several years ago, and were now ready for more. The rationale for these paths is to find as many parks, woods and commons as possible, and steer the route in and amongst them. More on the paths later.
Though we are Canadian, we live in a border city across from Detroit. We usually use Detroit's airport when we wish to get away. However, this time mostly due to a rapidly deflating Canadian dollar, it was cheaper for us to fly out of Windsor to London, via Toronto. This meant flying with Air Canada, a first for us. While the departure and arrival times were similar between Toronto and Detroit, we had a much better choice when coming home.
We arrived at Windsor's little airport around 3 pm, departing at 4 pm for Toronto. It is a short flight in a small turboprop. Our luggage (one medium suitcase and one small suitcase) had been checked through to London. We had boarded with a small backpack each, filled with Clif bars and Lara bars in case our vegan meals had been messed up by the airline. Our flight took us over Michigan on the west side of Lake St. Clair, then back into Canada over the bridge at Sarnia. We also came right over downtown Toronto on our approach to that city's airport.
12,000' over the Bluewater Bridge, looking towards Sarnia from Michigan
Downtown Toronto, on our approach to the airport there.
Midtown area of Toronto
Once we touched down in Toronto, we taxied for just over 15 minutes to get to our gate, which seemed pretty distant from the main gates. Our plane was a small one, and we had to go down its steps, walk outside across to the terminal, then back upstairs to get where we needed to be. We walked at least 15 minutes indoors to get to the international terminal. Our i.d. was checked every time we passed through a door. When we finally arrived near our London gate, we were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the terminal. Copious amounts of I-Pads were available, free of charge. We had about 45 minutes to wait before our plane began to board.
Back in the mid 1980s, when we first began crossing the Atlantic (Spain, Denmark, England), we chanced upon a book detailing how to overcome jet lag. This condition had affected us for days on our trip to Spain, and our return home. We tried out the detailed plan for our Denmark trip, and it worked perfectly! Used by the US rapid deployment services, and even by presidents, we now have access to the best kept secret on how to travel comfortably across time zones! It requires a bit of discipline, but is worth every effort. Anyway, the program required us to drink 2 or 3 cups of strong coffee and/or tea immediately after 6 pm, and then to set our watches to London time (11 pm) and try to sleep.
We were pulling back from the gate around 6:15 pm, in a plane with 9 seats across a row, separated by two aisles. Our window faced north as we flew. It was a good flight, we got our meals, and it was pretty quiet. However, neither of us slept much if at all. Not to worry! Lying still with eyes closed and breathing slowly is nearly as good as sleep, believe it or not.
We were in Heathrow Terminal 2 by 7 am, quickly passing through passport control. Our luggage was already on the carousel and we breezed through HM Customs. We decided to have some herbal tea at the Costa Cafe after exiting the secure area. It helped us relax and gather strength for the trip to our hotel. Caffeine was not allowed for us today. For the second time we would be staying at the Jury's Inn, East Croydon, probably the best place to stay in London. Though way the hell out in Zone 5, there were fast trains to Victoria Station every few minutes. We could be in central London in about 25 minutes after leaving our hotel room! More about London Transport later.
We used the Tube to get to Victoria Station from Heathrow, and we were there around 9 am. We were only 25 minutes from our hotel, but our room would not likely be ready until 1 pm or so. We sat and enjoyed another cafe stop at Victoria Station, then caught a train towards East Croydon. It made only one stop, at Clapham Junction, but what a stop it was! The train, which had been quiet and nearly empty until then, suddenly filled with Watford football fans. They were merrily on their way to Brighton to watch their team play. Our car filled with costumed and beer-drinking fans, all in high spirits. Deb and I had been alone in a six-seat section, but were soon joined by happy fans.
We struck up a conversation with three older gents and a younger lad. If Watford won today's match (noon, and on the telly) they would advance to the premier league (they ended up winning the match 2-0). It was a jolly ride to East Croydon.
We were able to leave our suitcases at the hotel, and we went off to explore a bit of Croydon. A large section of the High Street is pedestrian only, and another area of road was closed down for a fruit and veggie market. There are also two shopping malls, as well as pubs, restaurants, theatres, small shops and cafes, all in a pretty compact area. Our local pub would become The George, just a few steps from the hotel. We ate lunch here then went back to the hotel. Our room was ready and we checked in to #711. By London standards this was a big room, and the bed was extremely comfortable. We had free wi-fi in the room, a table and chairs, a huge desk, a widescreen TV, tea, coffee, and a bathtub and shower. We lay down and rested. Our London friend would be arriving at 3 pm and we would be off on our second mini-adventure of the day.
The Whitgift Almshouse, Croydon, has been
helping the poor since the 1600s.
Detail of Almshouse courtyard.
Street scene, Croydon
Once Caroline arrived, we headed out for our afternoon adventure. Leaving from East Croydon Station we caught a train to Caterham. Our travel cards were good for one week, and would get us on buses, trams, trains and the tube in Zones 1-6, any time of night or day. These cards are handy, inexpensive, and indispensable to us. Caterham has its own branch line, and is the final stop. The town is situated in a valley that leads up to the North Downs. It is in Zone 6, being a considerable distance from London. However, even on weekends, there is a train every 15 minutes!
The main shopping area is right outside the station, along with the East Surrey Museum. We visited the little museum, speaking at length with some of the elderly volunteers, who, as expected, were rather knowledgeable about local history. We explored the small shopping area, had tea at a cafe, then walked uphill to see the local church. Caterham is a pleasant place to spend an afternoon, with a few pubs I wished to visit. However, as per the jet lag program I had to keep alcohol to a minimum today, so we skipped the pubs this time.
East Surrey Museum, Caterham
St. John the Evangelist, Caterham. Note the waxing moon.
We try to travel during non-astronomy weeks, when the moon
is too bright to observe well with telescopes.
Portico insert, St. Johns.
The trick to surviving Day 1 abroad is to try and stay awake as long as possible. We enjoyed a late dinner at The George back in Croydon (I had two half pints of ale, which came with the meal), then returned to our hotel. We lasted until just after 10 pm before succumbing to our battle fatigue. Tomorrow we had a big walk ahead of us, and we needed our beauty sleep.
Cont'd in Part 2
No comments:
Post a Comment