Urban Explorations in London

Left my map and compass at home for this mini-expedition into the heart of the urban jungle, that is London. As much of the journeying would be on foot, we travelled refreshingly light, with just the bare essentials; a toothbrush, spare t-shirt and a cashcard. Supplies were easily and readily attained en-route and with a bewilderingly abundant choice. Caffeine, alcohol and pizza, seem to be most favored by the natives we encounters and we were very happy to try everything on offer - most of which seemed very exotic coming from North Wales! Navigation underground is also fascinating process, with some of the cleverest maps around; we were happy to have Andy leading the way though...

The journey began in earnest at Euston Station where Andy met us...

And swiftly transported us to Notting Hill. There was no carnival, but the market on the Portobello Road was in full swing and packed with interesting stalls - I was especially excited to find an antique map shop too, but was several hundred pounds short of being able to make any purchases. Ended up in Brixton for the evening for dinner.

Sunday started off with a very agreeable lazy wake-up and a classic London brunch at a suitably trendy cafe. A full on hipster fry up and a mug of coffee set us up for another great day of sightseeing. 

The cityscape around Canary Wharf is as neck craning as some of the mountain skylines that I've seen and in some ways, just as beautiful to look at.

Down by the river Thames, we went to have a look at the ship called the Cutty Sark. I'd never seen it before (only the model that Great Uncle Ken made from matchsticks). It's pretty impressive and must have taken some serious skills to sail.

We took a walk through the Navel College at Greenwich which is home to yet more splendid buildings.

Then up to the Observatory where the views get hard to beat.

We spent at while next to Greenwich Mean Time having a rest and checking out the view, before leaving Andy and setting off to find Tracey and Chris.

After being met with a champagne reception last night, today we've been on baby sitting duties. We still managed to get out and about, when we a took James and Daniel out for walk in the park. I got a bit of exercise too as there are some surprisingly steep hills in London.

Clare even managed to squeeze in a bit of business work too with some 'help' from her new office assistants!

Before leaving, I managed to pop into the British Library, where Captain Scott's Blog (known as a diary back then) was on display! Amazing to think that it was written from his sleeping bag in a tent somewhere in Antartica over one hundred years ago!

And so ended a fantastic mini-break with some wonderful hosts, lots of laughs, some fabulous foods and probably a bit too much coffee. And so much more tiring than exploring in the mountains! I'm shattered!