The Last Day, the Franklin Pub and the Flight Home

The Sir John Franklin Pub.

Enjoying a nice bitter in a pewter tankard.

Reflection of me in a portal.

The county of Kent was bombed heavily in the war and this beer is named after the British planes that fought back.

With the plaque that Michael Palin left to mark the historic expedition.

Bruce and Pam enjoying some excellent sushi.

Bruce bottled up.

My ice cream treat.

Monday, May 26th.

We had a lazy morning before Bruce and I went by train to the Sir John Franklin Pub. We had both read the book Erebus and Terror by Michael Palin and were interested in this pub because he had dedicated a plaque here in commemoration of that fateful voyage where 129 men eventually lost their lives in the Arctic seeking the Northwest Passage. The ships sailed from docks that were here, but are no longer, when they sailed on May 29, 1845. We had a couple of pints and reflected on that voyage and ours to the Arctic before heading back to meet Pam at a restaurant called Sticks and Sushi. We had a great meal, and had some fun with the waiters. They brought me a piece of ice cream on a plate that said ‘happy birthday’. When I looked puzzled they explained they enjoyed meeting me… go figure. Back to Bruce and Pam’s place where we all went to bed early as we were tired.

Tuesday, May 27th.

John called and we had a chat about our Stans and Caucuses experiences and then Bruce joined us and as usual the three of us laughed a lot and began to think about future plans. Then I gave Bruce the Northwest Passage video trip that I’d downloaded from YouTube and we watched that a couple of times before he took me to Canary Wharf where we had a last coffee before he put me on the correct Elizabeth line train to terminal 2 Heathrow for my flight home. The flight was long but I watched the Bob Dylan movie, finished reading my Silk Road book, listened to music and did two sudoku and then I was back in Canada.

Thus ends another great adventure with John, Bruce and Adventure Canada. There will be two more posts before I put this to bed, a brief history of the Silk Road and a complete trip summary, so please stay tuned.