THE LONG ROAD NORTH

Monday, November 07, 2011 London, Heathrow Airport Hotel

We all met in the dining room this morning at 8:30 am for breakfast before our long trips. It turned into a much longer meal than we’d intended as everyone hated to say goodbye. Our English friends had the day off and were not pushed for time as they were headed east towards their home while we had the long journey north to the Motorway and then west to Heathrow Airport.

It was nearly 10:30 before we finally hugged goodbye and got one last photo of Lavinia’s purple hair under her blond hair. It makes a very stylist statement as you catch a glimpse now and then when she swings her hair! Time was spent showing each other our rooms in the Inn; especially our room with the secret door. We did ask the desk clerk and she said that the Queen Mum did indeed “use” the room during her visit but she didn’t know if she actually slept there or maybe took a nap. For our story…let’s say she did. Nancy’s room was the smallest but one of the cutest with low ceilings and another beautiful four poster bed with a massive carving on the headboard.

I was itching to leave as I knew we had a long morning of country roads ahead of us. Lavinia was giving Barbara lessons on her GPS system and we just about left her!! Peter had turned it on to make suggestions for our route north to the Motorway. Off we went on two lane roads heading north and west. Check out the odd barns with a cone on top in the photos. In and out, up and down, stopping for directions occasionally and finally after over an hour we found the M20 just north of Maidstone. We had sprinklers all morning so it was constantly on and off with the wipers.

Stopped along the M20 for a couple of gallons of gas to get us to Heathrow and then drove in following the signs to Heathrow Airport. When we arrived the fun began figuring out how to get to the Ibis Hotel on Bath Road. Several different roads and finally some directions from a road crew working on the roads; we found the hotel….checked in and put all of our luggage in our rooms.

Back in the empty car we headed for the Rental Car Return down the road following directions from the hotel and on our map. Again…a few wrong turns and one illegal U turn and we were home! It was so nice to see the “Return Rental Car” sign. We were almost two hours late but as far as we know we are okay. No accidents or tickets that we know about! Always saw signs about hidden cameras on all of the roads so one never knows what might come in the mail. But, I think we’re okay.

We took the shuttle bus back to the Terminal at the airport and caught the Tube into Covent Garden in London. It was an hour’s ride but rather pleasant to let someone else do the driving!

We walked out of the Tube Station to huge red balls of varying sizes suspended above the street, a large green reindeer with a red nose and a large Christmas Tree in the center of the square. Christmas is really in the air!

Did some shopping for lunchmeat forks in the antique mall and then searched for a place to have dinner. We checked with Punch & Judy’s but they were out of lasagna already this evening. Then we found Crème de la Crepe that looked good. We each had a ham & cheese crepe with greens; very good and then shared a dessert crepe of snicker bars and bailey’s crème.

Our last items to purchase were extra suitcases to take home the shopping items. Finally found some duffel bags and then went over to listen to the musicians that had began to play. A large instrumental group entertained the crowds and they collected a sizable amount of coins as they had fun with the audience. Everyone was tired so it was back to the Tube for the hour ride back to the airport. Decided to take a taxi over to the hotel rather than wait for the bus. Good to be back at the hotel.

The plan tomorrow is to visit Windsor Castle in the morning and then head into the city for a last visit before we fly home on Wednesday.