Trip to the UK June 2019

On Friday 21st June 2019 I flew to London. Will and I usually travel to the UK in December, so it was very exciting leaving NZ during the height of winter for a change, and getting to experience a UK summer.

I arrived at Heathrow on Saturday morning and my friend Nicola picked me up from the airport. We had a super slow trip back to her house near Blackheath with the M25 barely moving. That did give us time for a good catch-up though! That night she took me to a party at her friend Paddy's place right on the Thames. There is nothing like adorable puppy cuddles to help get over jet-lag!

Her friend's apartment had stunning views over the Thames.

From Paddy's we walked a short distance along the river to the Greenwich Yacht Club which Nic is a member of. We enjoyed a lovely BBQ and bonfire on the beach with some of her friends before catching a bus back to hers.

 We had a chilled Sunday morning before taking a walk in Greenwich Park

There was a free arts festival underway so we stopped and watched a few of the acts, including an experimental dance troop set up in front of the Cutty Sark.

 

 We also enjoyed a good wander through the Greenwich Market

That evening Nicola drove me to Stratford which was going to be my base for the remainder of my time in the UK. My friend Geoff owns a lovely 2-bed apartment conveniently close to the Stratford Town Centre. He was away on a big overland trip through North America and had very kindly given me use of his apartment. It was a shame I couldn't catch up with him (although I had seen him earlier in the year when he was back in NZ) but it was brilliant having a base with such amazing transport links.

I certainly intended on making the most of my time in the UK, so Monday morning I caught a train to Stroud in Gloucestershire. Here I stayed the night with my old Reading Rugby Club friends Becs and Rhian, and their adorable 6-year old twin boys Xander and Otis, plus 2-year old Yuuki who I hadn't met before.

Rhian was working and the older boys were at school, so Becs, Yuuki and I walked to Ruskin Mill for lunch. This is an amazing place which caters for both young people and adults with special needs. They run lots of courses and there is also a cafe, farm shop and a shop selling arts and crafts created by the students. Yuuki was very content dozing in the shade while Becs and I had a great catch-up over lunch.

After lunch we had a walk around the beautiful grounds.

 

 

That evening we all headed up to Coaley Peak for a BBQ dinner

On Tuesday I travelled back to Stratford and had a chilled afternoon exploring the local area.

I had a lovely day on Wednesday hanging out with Nic in Stratford. We took a nice long walk through the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, site of the 2012 Summer Olympics. I really do like the design of the aquatic centre.

The guy on the phone in the photo below is two-time world champion and olympian diver Tom Daley.

The main olympic stadium is now West Ham United's home base.

 

The park is vast and as well as the two olympic venues mentioned above, it also contains the Copper Box Arena, as well as the Lee Valley Velodrome. There are also lovely garden and wetland areas to enjoy.

 

 

 

Thursday was a very exciting day for me (I could barely sleep Wednesday night!) as I had a ticket to the matinee performance of Hamilton the musical.

The show was amazing!!! It is definitely my new favourite musical, taking over the spot previously held by Les Miserable which I was also lucky enough to see on the West End. I am very keen to watch it again (but this time with Will) when it tours Australia in 2021.

It was a stunning day in London so I made the most of being in the city centre before heading back out to Stratford.

Above is 'Little Ben'. Big Ben is currently undergoing major renovation expected to take 4 years. It started in 2017, so isn't expected to be up and running until 2021. I do feel sorry for tourists making a 'once in a lifetime' visit to London, as it is such an iconic landmark.

I just happened to be walking past Buckingham Palace when the 'Changing of the Guard' took place, so I stopped and watched for a while.

It was really nice spending time in London during the summer. As I mentioned previously, when we go back to visit Will's family it is usually during winter time, and even though I lived just a half-hour train ride from London for 6 years, usually I would be off exploring other parts of the world during my school summer holidays.

 

 

 

I had a chilled day on Friday, catching up on mundane things like washing etc. and also spending time at the HUGE Westfield Stratford City (the fourth largest shopping centre in the UK). That evening I met up with Nicola and we had dinner with friends of hers who live in an incredible 15th floor penthouse apartment on the banks of the Thames. I guess being involved in sailing circles she knows a lot of pretty well-off people, many of whom live close to the river. We went up to the apartment roof for more amazing views. Below are the Thames flood barrier gates, designed to keep London from flooding.

Straight after dinner we drove north to Walton-on-Trent in Derbyshire to spend a couple of nights with Claire, husband Mike and little Jess. A heatwave had been forecast for the weekend and there were a LOT of people getting out of London. By leaving later we managed to avoid the worst of the traffic, although it still took a while getting out of the city.

On Saturday we went for a walk to a local park area on the river Trent before it got too hot. I took the above pic for my mother who LOVES canal boats!

After stocking up on supplies, the rest of the afternoon was really only good for two things... Eating and drinking! Claire and Nic were literally the first people I met when I started teaching in the UK back in 2001 (I even shared a flat with Claire for a year), and they have been my best UK buddies ever since...

 

 

On Sunday (not too early in the morning after the excesses of the previous day) we spent some time exploring Lichfield, a beautiful cathedral city not far from Claire's place.

 

The medieval cathedral was most impressive

 

Below is the birthplace of Samuel Johnson who wrote the first English dictionary.

We then went for a lovely stroll around the sprawling Beacon park, where Jess made the most of the impressive playground.

 

After that it was back to London. Monday was another relaxed day, as early on the Tuesday morning I had a flight to Bratislava, Slovakia, ready for the European leg of my adventure.