14th - Hever to London and then 14th - 18th of September, 2025 - London!

 Devastatingly sad to end our Tour this morning but lots of fun to be had before we left.

Sarah, Adam, Estelle and several of our new passenger friends left direct from Hever, so lots of sad farewells and promises to stay in touch. I hope we do, we had a wonderful group!

Sad farewells

Photobombed by Henry VIII

David came to say goodbye

David (Henry) came to say goodbye to us all and you won't be surprized, from the top knot on his head, to learn that he also does educational appearances at schools, Festivals, Events and private functions as a Viking as well as being Henry VIII. Henry would be horrified, but the rest of us think it's fantastic!

We were dropped at Waterloo Station and then all went our separate ways. Personally, I don't see why we can't start all over again from the beginning.

I checked in and then spent the afternoon at Borough Market. Bought lots of fresh fruit, including chocolate-covered strawberries - that's healthy, right?! Yum, but also, unless you want food you don't need Borough Market. It was amazing to hear all the hawkers selling their wares, very My Fair Lady, but it really is all food. Still, I have 4 weeks in a car ahead of me, so of course I needed to stock up on fudge.

Spent Monday with Melissa. Marley stayed at the hotel resting, so Melissa and I wandered all around Covent Garden Piazza and the West End in general. We listened to an Opera Singer busking in Covent Garden, shopped in the marketplace and watched a street performer who kept promising to walk across a rope tied to 2 columns on one of London's beautiful old stone buildings (sacrelige!) but never quite got there and whose dog Tricky, was much more of an attraction that the street performer - and all he did was keep standing up and walking away so that every time the performer turned around Tricky was gone. So cute! I might be missing Amos and Gus a little - oh and Ian too of course, although no rope walking for him.

In the evening Melissa, Marley and I went to Mamma Mia together. That's 3 West End shows. I am a) really blowing the budget and b) having the time of my life (oh wait, that's Dirty Dancing, completely different show and one i haven't seen yet). Mamma Mia was great. I've never heard of Maz Murray who played Meryl Streep's movie role, but she was amazing. Everyone was good, but she was several steps above everyone else. Apparently she's been doing it forever and is finishing in a couple of weeks, so we were extremely lucky to see her. YaY.

On Tuesday I took myself to Southwark Cathedral which, it turns out, is literally right beside Borough Market. The Cathedral was closed because they are filming in there (bummer) so what else could I do but console myself with another cup of chocolate-covered strawberries. Totally not my fault.

So, I went looking for The Wild Table of Love. I found it! I loved it!

Then I took myself to Buckingham Palace. Wrong timing to see a Changing of the Guard, but my only window to visit, so off I went. Walked through Green Park to get there and am completely head over heels for London's green spaces. Chased squirrels (seriously, stalker-chased one who refused to pose for a photo) and eventually sauntered out the other end to the Palace like I own the place. It was pretty quiet, not too many tourists, so I got a good look right at the front through the fence and managed to get my best-ever view of The Queen Victoria Memorial in all its glory. Mindblowingly brilliant!

As I was heading back over to Green Park I was standing in the front row waiting for the pedestrian lights when 2 policemen on motor bikes followed by 4 cars and 3 more police passed by. The first car had the casket of The Duchess of Kent, covered by the Royal Standard and the following car was full of people, presumably family, but I wasn't quick enough to register who anyone was. Besides, it felt disrespectful to be gawking at mourners who were following their loved one's casket, Royal Standard or no Royal Standard. I must say I was surprized that no traffic was stopped, no fuss was made, just this small funeral cavalcade, passing by Buckingham Palace. I probably wouldn't have even noticed what it was if it had been crowded and I wasn't standing right by the roadside. I've certainly had my fill of life-long memories this trip.

Wednesday was my day in Greenwich. Melissa and Marley decided to come along with me, so we headed off on the Thames River cruise down to Greenwich. It took forever, so it was nearly lunchtime by the time we got there but we still had plenty of time to catch a guided tour which went for about an hour and a half and was heavily focussed on the Naval history, more so than the Tudors. Understandable given that post-Tudors Greenwich was incredibly Royal Naval heavy but I still wanted more info on Henry and Anne! We did see the spot where the pier was that Anne would have boarded the boat to take her to the Tower of London when she was arrested, and there was a model showing the footprint of the original Tudor Palace, but the guide definitely wasn't up on his Tudor connections and quickly changed the subject if Marley, Melissa or I asked a question. At one point he showed us a glassed off cross-section where you can see down to the tile floor and stone walls of the old Chapel. According to our guide, that's where Henry and Anne had their "secret", very quiet wedding before the annulment of his marriage to Katherine of Aragon, but I dunno. That's not where I thought it was. I remember dad getting so furious when he would tell us something and Lisa, Mark or I would spin around and say "is that right, mum?". Used to drive him nuts. All I wanted to do at Greenwich was ask "Is that right, Adam?" or "Is that true, Sarah?". Still, it was undoubtedly a ye olde floor, so maybe he was right. Guide probably knows more than I do!

The Painted Hall is also definitely worth a mention. We missed the guided tour of that one, but apparently every picture tells a story and is absolutely fascinating. We just admired it without knowing, or hearing any of the stories. I bought a Guide book. Must read up on it. It's certainly beautiful!

Tudor floor of the previous Chapel - did Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's stand on this spot for their "private and intimate" wedding? I dunno, I need to check with Adam or Sarah. This Guide, Hugo, is nice but I get the feeling he doesn't really have a clue. NOTE: this picture is looking down at an underground floor, not up at an arch and ceiling.

We went out for a lovely dinner and then, very sadly, said our final farewells. Melissa and Marley are flying home tomorrow and I'm headed off on my driving tour. I went back to the hotel and had a very early night. Slept almost 10 hours!

Thursday was a very quiet day for me. I had to swap hotels so had a leisurely morning, then checked out and have sat catching up on my very belated blogs! I'm heading now for my airport hotel so that I will be Johnny-on-the-spot to collect my car tomorrow morning, head straight back to Hever for the History Festival and begin my solo adventure. Bring it on!!