The Grand Tour

Saturday 28/04/12 - The Grand Tour begins - Well the big day has come and it's up early to get ready for our latest adventure. We are off to Europe for 5 weeks. A very civilized morning was spent trying to decide what we might need in changing spring weather and then packing it into the 23kg luggage allowance we now have. Bill did have more but tried to keep it down too. Turns out we both did really well and were under weight. Yes, room for shopping, gotta love that. We arrived at the airport with time to spare and after lunch made our way to the gate and it was then I saw our plane for the first time. We were booked on the A380 airbus and all I can say is Wow. It certainly is a very big plane and inside was very comfortable and quieter than any of the others I have travelled on. Our first stop was Singapore for a 2 hour stopover and if you have to have a stopover anywhere then this is the place to do it. Changi airport has been renovated since we were here last and the shopping precinct is bigger and better than ever. Just time for a walk, a coffee and back to the lounge for boarding. Not quite, we have just had an announcement that there is a blackout in the cabin and boarding is delayed for a while. So far it's been about 40 mins but as long as it's fixed and safe we don't really mind that.

Sunday 29/04/2012 - arrived safely We finally left Singapore 2 hours later and arrived in Heathrow at 7.30 on Sunday to pouring rain and a very chilly morning and then joined the biggest crowd I have ever seen at any airport to clear customs. Just getting through took over an hour and then we had to find our hire car. Again this we did with a minimum of fuss and once found discovered that it was a new ford with keyless entry and driving. How cool is that. We set the Tomtom and were finally on or way to Brentwood where we were meeting Auntie Muriel, Gwenda, Nick, Jasper & Paige for lunch at The Eagle, a lovely old country pub with good home style cooking. After 24 hours of plane food (good but plane food) we thoroughly enjoyed our Beef & Guinness pudding. And it was so good to see everyone again. It's been 4 years since our last trip so we had a lot of catching up to do. After lunch we took Auntie Muriel home and then followed Nick to our new home for the next few days. We are staying with them at Pippin's Orchard in L'll Leigh's Chelmsford. At this point we were beginning to flag after our night of flying so we settled in for a quiet evening of chat, a nice glass or two of red and a nibbles dinner before giving up around 10.00pm and headed off to bed.

Monday 30/04/2012 - lunch at Windsor How good is it to have a big sleep after 24 hours in transit. We woke up after having a good 8 hours and were ready to get started on day 2. The morning dawned with blue sky and sunshine and continued all day. What a change from yesterday. After speaking to Beryl & Jane yesterday we had decided to meet up for lunch and Windsor was the chosen destination. After a quiet morning with Gwenda we left home just after 10.00 am with the gps set and one & half hours later had arrived at the right place. How good was that. Beryl was on lookout duty at the car park and once we all met we moved on to Windsor High St. for Lunch. It was so good to see Beryl, Raymond & Jane again and we got a lovely surprise when Brian joined us for a short while over lunch as he was working in Windsor this week. Lunch was at a yummy pasta place called Zizzi and we all enjoyed a little taste of Italy along with the yummiest Pannacotta I have ever had. Windsor is just gorgeous. Such a delightful little town with the castle on the hill dominating the landscape, the beautiful parks below and the city streets full of quirky little shops and pubs. The Thames River flows just past the castle and just wandering around all these famous places gives you such a feeling of awe having learnt about them at school and could never ever imagine actually being there. And here we are - amazing! We finished the day spending a few hours with a glass of red, lovely dinner and more chatting and before we knew it the clock said it was pumpkin time. So it was off to bed for us weary travelers and another good nights sleep was on the agenda. Tuesday 01/05/12 - around Chelmsford.
We woke this morning to the sound of solid rain - again. And it seemed like it had set in for the day. We had a quiet morning at home and then decided to take a look around at the local area by car. Not too far away we came across an old church, St Mary's in Great Leigh's, and as it is a round tower we decided to stop and photograph it. While doing this a car pulled up and asked Bill if he was the photographer from the Chronicle. No said Bill, just a tourist from Australia. The lady, Jan, said she was from Australia but had been here since 1964 and then asked us in so we could get some better pictures. A few of them were meeting there to be photographed in Medieval Costume for the weekends May Day Fayre.

Inside the old church was very cold with it's stone floors but so full of it's history and seeing the 5 folk all dressed up in costume was fun. It's a shame we will miss the fair but I think they will have a great day if the rain stays away. The rain had stopped when we came out, divine intervention perhaps, and we drove on to Brentwood where we were meeting Auntie Muriel for lunch. Cafe UNO was a great choice with a nice Mediterranean menu. We had a lovely few hours catching up and after we had dropped her home we drove to Chelmsford to have a look at the city.

It has just been give city status and is a lovely place to visit with lots of historic buildings and the Cathedral a nice place to take a bit of time out. From there we made our way home again to spend our last night with Gwenda, Nick, Jasper & Paige. We had a great night with a beautiful dinner and a glass or two of red before calling it a night around 11.00pm. We are coming back here on Saturday but the family will be away camping for their long weekend. We will have a day of washing before heading off to France. But for now there are more adventures to be had in England and we are leaving tomorrow for a few days in the Lakes District. So it's goodnight from me now and I'll let you know how we go tomorrow.