Postscript

General Wolfe dies on the Plains of Abraham in New France.

Plaque to General James Wolfe in St Alfeges Church in Greenwich.

A stain glass window in the same church.

Thursday, May 25^th.

Fly home day… Bruce walked with me to the station where I took the tube to the Elizabeth line. This is the new line that connects directly to Heathrow. We said our goodbyes and I took the train to the airport. I was there in plenty of time and actually had to wait for the baggage drop off to open for my flight. It was easy going through customs and I found a nice quiet area by my boarding gate and updated the last two blogs entries. The flight was okay with an aisle seat. So I settled in but couldn’t really sleep. The plane was on time and when I landed, I went and waited for my luggage. Shayna was on her way to pick me up and wanted to know where I’d be. The carousel was not moving, and I didn’t really know what to tell her, not very helpful when she is trying to negotiate airport traffic. Then there was an announcement that NONE of the luggage for BA093 had been loaded on the plane!! We were told to come to the desk and collect a form. The desk was beside the carousel and there were probably 200 people who were confused, angry, upset… total chaos. They gave us two forms, one was a customs declaration form to fill out about lost luggage so that they could get our luggage through customs if and when it arrived, and a second to fill out and check status at home. Meanwhile I’m trying to find a pen and Shayna is still circling. Really hard to deal with both issues. I couldn’t phone her as the SIM card I took out of my phone was in the lost bag. When I finally got the form filled out and handed in I rushed upstairs, told her what pole I was standing at and waited. It was not the happy arrival either of us had hoped for. What a shit show. 

We got talking and couldn't figure out how a whole planes luggage could not be loaded... what were the baggage handlers thinking? ...  When I phoned my travel agent she said 'they must have had a better, more lucrative offer for the luggage space'... interesting thought... we'll probably never know.

So there I was, no luggage and heading out to the Berkshires in Massachusetts with Shayna early the next morning. Most of the clothes I wanted were in that case, along with my two medications and the SIM card for my phone! We made due and had a really nice holiday. My Dad called on the following Sunday to say that my bag had arrived at the house... thank goodness for that.

The last day in Greenwich, Bruce took me to St Alfeges Church to show me the crypt of British General James Wolfe of the Plains of Abraham fame, who died at age 32 in battle against the French lead by General Montcalm (who also died on the battlefield). This from Wikipedia:

The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec was a pivotal battle in the Seven Years' War. The battle, which began on 13 September 1759, was fought on a plateau by the British Army and Royal Navy against the French Army, just outside the walls of Quebec City on land that was originally owned by a farmer named Abraham Martin, hence the name of the battle. The battle involved fewer than 10,000 troops in total, but proved to be a deciding moment in the conflict between France and Britain over the fate of New France, influencing the later creation of Canada.

Ironically, the church was closed for a music recital. Bruce went by the next day and it was open, so he took the photos above and forwarded them to me. Thanks Bruce!

Greenwich Tour

The cable car from south to north London across the Thames.

My personal guide.

The O2 Centre.

The old cranes of the dockyards, and the new cranes of building.

The tourist.

The Cutty Sark, the fastest tea schooner.

The officer's lounge.

Last year: Shackleton in the Antarctic...

This year Franklin in the Arctic, some of the artifacts from the discovered ship.

Pam meets us in the pub.

From their balcony.

Wednesday, May 24^th.

Bruce and I left for a tour of Greenwich at 10. He had made up the whole itinerary. First, we got on the iconic red double decker bus and then a train to the O2 Arena. It was originally constructed as a temporary structure called the Millennium Dome, but it got repurposed as a multipurpose arena including concerts because it has excellent acoustics. As we were approaching it two of London’s finest stopped us to say hello. We found out they were just doing community awareness and visibility, but we had a great talk with them. They were interested in Canada and one of them was from South Africa, so he was interested in our trip. We talked to them for about ten minutes before they moved on. Then we took the cable car that takes people from south London to north London across the Thames. It was a very comfortable, relaxed ride with plenty of views including some of the old dockyard areas. I also saw a cable wakeboarding site like the one in Florida. Then we walked across a bridge where we could see planes taking off from the London city airport fly directly over our heads. We continued our walk to the next spot- the Docklands Museum. This was housed in some of the original dockyard warehouses. It was a free museum that Bruce had been to many times before, so he had a coffee while I explored. London has been a major trade city since the Roman times. There is a lot of history here involving all the things that came through this port from timber, grain, tea, sugar and sugar cane, slaves, cotton… there was a panel explaining the animal trade in things like beaver pelts, tiger skins and elephant tusks. During the blitz of the Second World War Germany bombed the dockyards heavily but never managed to full stop the trade and supply chain of the Allies. With the advent of container ships in the 60’s the Docklands and all their cranes fell into disuse as the ships couldn’t come that far up the river. Today some of the cranes are used as b’n’b’s. Then we walked to Canary Wharf and to the train to take us to Greenwich. We went to the Cutty Sark Museum where again Bruce had a drink, and I went through the three decks of the ship. It was the fastest schooner in the world in its time. It was only replaced when steam engines drove ships. It was used to carry tea from India to Britain at the height of the tea trade. The first ship to reach London with the new fresh crop every year would receive a higher price for its cargo, so fast was a huge benefit. We tried to go to St. Alfeges Church where General Wolfe’s crypt is but it was closed for a private function. Then we went to the Maritime Museum where we wanted to see the Poles Exhibits. There they had some artifacts and information on Shackleton who we learned about on our Antarctic voyage and Franklin who we will learn more about on our upcoming Arctic voyage. His two ships the Erebus and the Terror have recently discovered where they sunk in the Canadian high Arctic. That was a fitting end to our tour and my trip. We went to a local pub by the Greenwich Market and enjoyed a couple of beer while waiting for Pam to join us. Then we went to Billy’s Restaurant, and I treated them to a good meal. Then back to their place to watch a bit more of that show and go to bed. All that is left is to fly home tomorrow. That's it for now, I'll be home enjoying the summer until August when I will be sailing to Alaska and then joining John and Bruce as we sail through the Northwest Passage in reverse. So, stay tuned!

A Tour of London on the Thames

Tower Bridge

Changing of the guard.

Looking down the Mall towards...

Buckingham Palace.

We got thirsty.

My tour guide.

Westminster Abbey

St Paul's Cathedral...

and its dome.

Tuesday, May 23^rd.

Today Bruce and I took the UBER shuttle service catamaran up and down the River Thames. It’s interesting to see the sights of the city from the water and it’s actually a faster and easier way to get around. The boats are very powerful and fast, until the speed limits of the busiest centre of the city section. Bruce is a history buff and is a font of interesting facts, dates and trivia. He enjoys sharing and pointing out what he knows, and I was very happy to be educated. We got off Tower Bridge in the centre of all the main sites. We got there in time to watch the changing of the guard, walk down the Mall towards Buckingham Palace, walk through St James Park observing birds, to the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. We stopped at an old pub and had a couple of pints. There was a bell on the wall that rang when the House had to vote and any MP’s there would leave their beer and run back to vote. Then we walked over the Millennium Bridge to St Paul’s Cathedral. We had thought about going in, but they wanted 24 pounds each, so we gave it a pass as I have been inside before. We got back on the UBER shuttle and rode it east to the end before returning a few stops to the Greenwich stop. We had walked for a few hours and what with the beer we were both well and truly tired, so we headed back to his condo. Bruce made us a veggie pasta dinner and we hung out with Pam watching a ‘reality’ show about British couples in a race across Canada, silly and fake but interesting, before retiring early.

Back to London and the Royal Observatory

Paddington Station platform

The Royal Observatory

Explanation of the Meridian Line.

One foot in the east and one foot in the west...

General Wolfe who defeated the French on the Plains of Abraham.

Monday, May 22^nd. Happy Birthday Dad!

I was up at 7 to pack, get organized and had breakfast with John and Lindsay. She is off to work and John has an online course this morning. He dropped me off at the Exeter St David’s train station. It is always hard for us to say goodbye to each other but at least this time we know the next time we’ll be together: we’ll meet up on September 1^st in Yellowknife in preparation for our Arctic trip; so that made it easier. I had bought a ticket last night to London Paddington for 9:43. I was at the station early and wasn’t really thinking or paying attention and boarded the 9:15 train. This was not the train I was supposed to catch and was a rush hour train and thus more expensive… oops. Not sure what the conductor will say… I am sitting on the train in a melancholy, reflective mood watching the lush green English countryside go by while listening to England’s greatest musician, Steven Wilson. I had a great time with John and Lindsay, great to see him and meet her. The conductor went right by me… When I arrived Paddington, I saw a little kiosk that said, ‘fares to pay’. I figured that meant I would have to pay a surcharge of more than 30 pounds if I exited the turnstiles, so I decided to stay on the platform for a half hour. I saw a group of young school children eating their lunch on the platform and fell to talking with their teacher. She brought them to London on a school trip for a week! They are going to museums, sight-seeing and to a play. Great to see teachers doing good things. Then I exited and found the Elizabeth line train to Canary Wharf. When I got on there was an announcement that there were ‘severe’ delays, but it left about three minutes later. When I got to the Canary Wharf station, I got a text from Bruce saying when he got to the Canary Wharf station they told him the line was closed for some reason. He went home and sent me new instructions how to get there via another route; but I arrived anyway. Remember I had no SIM card in my phone, so I was lucky to have WIFI provided by the rail system. Anyway, he sent a message telling me to take another line and get off at Greenwich Station where we successfully met up. We walked back to his place and had a cup of tea. It was now about 1pm, so we headed out to explore. We walked up the hill to the large and lush Greenwich Park, where we saw a statue of the British General Wolfe who defeated the French General Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham thereby wrestling control of Quebec away from the French. He became a hero for the British since that lead to the British taking Montreal as well and gaining control of the French colonies. Then we walked through it to Blackheath and then to the Royal Observatory which is housed in the park. The museum is dedicated to two very important scientific disciplines. The first was about how to know where you were when sailing away from land. Once you are on the open seas, landmarks are no longer available for navigation. ‘By 1700, sailors had already worked out their position north and south (their latitude) by using the sextant, but still lacked accurate instruments or methods to calculate their east-west position, known as longitude. With growing international trade, the lives and valuable cargoes lost in shipwrecks made solving the longitude problem urgent for all seagoing nations.’ In 1714 the British government offered huge financial rewards for a method of determining longitude at sea. One solution was an accurate and portable sea-going clock. One self-taught clockmaker and carpenter named John Harrison took up the challenge and over the next 45 years devoted himself to the task. The museum shows the four stages of development of his clock which went from huge and incredibly complex to the final ‘H4’ model which looks like a large pocket watch. He had to account for the ship’s motion and temperature changes. It is said to be one of the most important machines ever made. The second part of the museum was dedicated to the observatory where they had models of different telescopes used over the centuries, up until the last one that is still mounted here and was used for ‘weighing double stars, measuring the diameter of planets, Saturn’s rings, comets and the changing magnitude of variable stars.’ Got that? Amazing what they discovered. One of the astronomers that worked here was Edmund Halley, of the comet fame. We stopped at a pub and had a couple of pints, then tired and hungry we headed back to his condo. We met Pam there and he made us a pasta dinner. We had a relaxed night of talking before an early bed.

Exeter Cathedral Experience

 

The spectacular knave.

Sunday, May 21^st.

When I got up I decided to go to the city centre and revisit Exeter Cathedral. I had been there before and knew it was beautiful. Since it was Sunday I went for the 10 am service. I sat at the back and listened and watched the routines and procedures. There was a full choir and a full sized pipe organ. The acoustics and the sounds of the organ were incredible. I recorded a bit to remember the beautiful sounds of the choir and the pipe organ, but I as I was doing it, a man came over and said 'you're not recording are you?' and I said no and put the phone away. So, I lied in church... wonder if I will be struck down or have to wait for my punishment at the pearly gates. I left before the end and returned to John’s place. We left shortly afterwards to go to his sister Chrissie house in Exmouth, about a half hour away. We had a very pleasant afternoon. Her son Rob and his wife and their two kids popped by to say hi and pick up their two dogs. I and a nice with Chrissie’s little dog Maya. We had a great bbq of chicken with salads and a relaxing visit on a beautiful sunny, warm afternoon. Chrissie gave me a little gift of coasters and a hat. We got home about 6 and I spent the rest of the evening relaxing and watching a bit of TV with them.

A Relaxed Day in Exeter

John and Lindsay

The reunion of the Africa shirts from 2010.

Saturday May 20^th.

Up at 8 for breakfast and then John went cycling and I went with Lindsay to their community centre and while she did a couple of classes I swam for an hour in the beautiful 25 metre pool. We met up for lunch in his backyard and then went down to the river, where we went for a walk ending at a café where we enjoyed an ice coffee and a piece of carrot cake. Then it was time for their grocery shopping. It’s always interesting to enter a grocery store in another country and see the similarities and differences. They seem to have a lot more packaged food. When we got back we had a couple of gin and tonics enjoying the sunshine in John’s backyard. We had a nice salmon salad for dinner with a few glasses of wine. We got into a sort of music competition with each of us asking Alexa to play one of our favourite tracks. That went on for a while and John ended up showing us his dance steps. We went to bed a bit inebriated and very tired.

Back to Exeter

Having our last breakfast in the van. 

Little Haven and the Saint Brides Inn where we had dinner last night.

The beach with the tide way out.

John in the bigger town of Narbeth where we had stopped to see...

Narbeth Castle, which in its day must have been big and beautiful...

But today is nothing more than ruins.

Makes you wonder where all the bricks and stones went...

Welsh is certainly interesting...

Friday, May 19^th.

I was up at 7 to a cool grey morning. We had breakfast and then packed everything up and began the long drive home. On the way back we stopped briefly at the picturesque town of Little Haven where we had dinner last night to take a few photos. Then we drove to a town called Narbeth to see a castle, but as it turned out it was just a ruin, partial walls and keep and no admission. As we were driving back out of town we stopped at a café and bought a couple of drinks and two ramen bowls – noodles with chili beef. Then we drove out of Wales and back to Exeter through a lot of Friday afternoon traffic. We got there about 4:30. I spent the rest of the afternoon checking WhatsApp and email messages before sorting photos and updating the blog. Lindsay went out to see friends and John made us a pasta dinner. More blogging and talking to people back home and then bed.

Hiking Pembrokeshire Coast National Park

That's Skomer Island in the background where we hiked yesterday.

The chough with red beak and feet, a member of the crow family.

Marloes Sand beach...

and its rock formations.

After 12 hours of walking in two days, time for nap.

Home sweet home.

Thursday, May 18^th.

John and I had a leisurely morning breakfast again and then headed out for a long walk. We walked back to the boat launch area and then back up the other side of the hill and around the headland of Pembrokeshire Coast National Park in a counterclockwise direction. The terrain was gently undulating, and the path well trodden over the centuries. There were lots of different species of spring flowers and gulls flying on the thermals. The views of Skomer were stunning and we could see the shuttle as it ferried people to and from the island. Eventually we came across a beautiful large beach below the path we were on along the cliff edge. We’d walked for three hours from 9:30, so we decided to stop for lunch at a café we were told about called Runwayskiln,  seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The food was excellent and we had a coffee before and an ale afterwards. Then we continued back down the path and descended to the large, rugged beach. There was beautiful flat well packed sand but also protrusions of uptilted sections of eroded sedimentary rock. We wandered around it taking photos for a while and then found a couple of flattish rocks to sit on facing the sea. We both lay down and fell asleep. We had a short nap until I awoke feeling the sun on my face. We weren’t asleep long, but the tide was well on the way back in and threatened to cut us off, as we had to walk around an outcrop to return to the path ascending the cliffs. We continued our walk following the walking path past cows and sheep and cutting across overland back towards our camp. We arrived about 4:30 and had time to relax and have a shower before heading out by car to a restaurant we were also told about by fellow campers, for dinner. It was in a very scenic town called Little Haven. The food was good and we enjoyed a couple of beer before returning just before sunset to our tent. I went for a short meander to the boat launch again to aid digestion before turning in for the night.