On the Buses

Today, 29 April, was All Change on many of London's bus routes.  Three of the routes involved went through Brixton, so it was a no-brainer to travel on them and see what had changed.  The Swan Whisperer did a parkrun, and I did tai chi, and we met up outside Brixton Library at 10:30 to catch our first bus of the day, the no 3.

Now, the 3 used to go to Horse Guards (back in the day, it went further, up Regent Street, I think, but can't really remember), but from today it goes to Victoria Station.  It really wouldn't be the sensible option normally, as it is a lot longer than the 2, which is the main bus between Brixton and Victoria; however I can see that it does provide useful links once you are in Kennington.  Instead of turning left after crossing Lambeth Bridge, it goes straight on up Horseferry Road and Artillery Row before turning left into Victoria Street, and so to Victoria Station.

Our next bus was a no 11.  This used to be the best bus in London, running from Chelsea all the way over to Liverpool Street Station, and it was the route you recommended to tourists as a great way of seeing many of the sights without having to take an expensive tour.  I believe much of its former route - up Whitehall, along  Fleet Street to St Paul's Cathedral, and so on, has been taken over by the 26, which we need to explore sometime.  Anyway, its new route after Victoria was very dull - straight down Victoria Street, over Westminster Bridge, and so to Waterloo.

The next bus that interests us is the 59, on which I used to commute to Russell Square when I was working in the area.  Alas, no more - if I want to go to that area by bus in future, I'll have to change at Waterloo on to a 68.  However, the bus does now go over to Smithfield and St Bartholomew's Hospital, turning right at Holborn and going along High Holborn, Chancery Lane and Newgate Street to get there.  Our journey was slightly spoiled by the driver's forgetting that the bus stop at Waterloo had changed, so we had to run to catch it, and then the driver, presumably annoyed with himself, was grumpy.

By the time we got to Smithfield, it was about 12:00, so we decided to walk back along the route to Red Lion Square where the rerouted 133 now starts.  It, too, used to go to Liverpool Street, but now goes to Holborn instead.  It was a lovely walk along a part of London we really don't know at all.  With distant views of St Paul's Cathedral

north from Holborn Viaduct

and distant views of the Post Office tower (now, I believe, known as Telecom Tower):

When we were nearly there, we stopped and got some lunch in a nearby Prets, and then found the first stop for the 133.  Unlike the 3 and the 11, not all the bus stops have been updated to reflect the new routes.  This one had, though: 

but in fact, the 59 and the 133, which both start in Streatham and go through Brixton, are going in opposite directions along the route!  The 133 now goes past St Paul's Cathedral, which will be useful as and when we want to go to that area.

We had great fun this morning, but in many ways I'm not impressed with TfL's route changes.  So often now one has to change buses instead of a route going directly.  TfL will say it's not a big deal since you don't have to pay another fare, but that's not really an issue for people with passes, etc, which I think a majority of  people have, except tourists and those who no longer commute regularly.  But really, it means that one will have to allow a good ten minutes longer for a given journey, and what about those with mobility issues, heavy luggage, or small children?  What if it's raining?   Fares are not the only issue!  

Still, we had fun, and maybe one day we'll do the trip in reverse - starting with the 133, walking back to Smithfield and taking the 59 as far as Waterloo, then the 11 back to Victoria and the 3 back to Brixton!

Another day on the river

 My family have developed a very nice habit of giving the Swan Whisperer Experience vouchers for Christmas, which we then like to redeem around the time of our wedding anniversary.  This year, my sister gave us tickets to the Abba Voyage concert, which we went to last week and both thoroughly enjoyed. It was amazing, and I do recommend it if you ever get a chance.

Meanwhile, my mother gave us the treat of a champagne afternoon tea at the Courthouse Hotel, Soho AND (it came as a package, but was two separate Experiences really) a day trip on the Thames with City Cruises.  We redeemed the afternoon tea on Friday, which was our anniversary, and very good it was, too! 

Then today we went on the river.

We didn't actually profit very much from the Hop-On, Hop-Off, as the cruises only stop at 2 places between Westminster and Greenwich, which are the London Eye and the Tower.  But we went down to Greenwich, which was a lovely trip in itself. 

We were hungry when we arrived, and there is a branch of Zizzi just by the pier, so went in there for lunch.  I had Chicken calabrese 

which was delicious, followed by an ice-cream sundae.  Also delicious!  Then we went for a walk around the Cutty Sark

and the old Royal Palace (now a university and the National Maritime Museum),

and then back to catch the next boat back upstream.  There were superb views,

but oh dear, the live commentary was dire - almost the same jokes as going down, but badly delivered, and he was totally patronising about the women (who he called "ladies") who built Waterloo Bridge.  I was very unimpressed, and even if I'd had any cash on me would not have left a tip.

We had planned to get off at the London Eye, but it didn't stop there on the way back, so we got off at Westminster Pier, and then walked up to Whitehall through the public subway at Westminster Station, and then eventually - it was rush hour by then - on a bus home!

Early spring holiday, 8 March 2023

Sangatte, Pas-de-Calais. 

This holiday is very nearly over. The drawers, which less than two weeks ago were bursting at the seams with clean clothes, now have just one or two sad garments lying around on the bottom - clean clothes for tomorrow, and the "spares" that have not, thus far, been needed. 

It began to rain last evening while we were parked up at St-André-de-l'Eure, and rained on and off all night. I do rather love lying in bed listening to the rain on the roof! 

I decided to go and buy the bread and croissants for today's breakfast, enjoying such sights as St-André-de-l'Eure had to offer en route.

Sadly, the first bakery I came to, the woman greeted me pleasantly enough but then absolutely refused point-blank to take a "foreign" credit card, and was really rather rude. The French have this image of being rude to their customers, but until now I have never found this to be the case. So I went across the road to the local Spar, which had lovely fresh baguettes (still warm) and the croissant and pain au chocolat I wanted, and the young man who served me couldn't have been nicer. 

After breakfast, we used the services and then drove on for what seemed like ages up to Abbeville, so I could do a Last Shop in the Hyper-U there, getting various bits and pieces for my mother to enjoy sharing with my sister as well as stuff for us. By the time I had done that, lunch was really rather late! 

After it, we set off up the motorway in the pouring rain, but just before we turned off to Sangatte, we saw that the ground was covered with snow!

We quite thought we had left all that behind in the Massif Central! We knew, of course, that it had been snowing in the UK, but didn't realise it had also crossed the channel. Fortunately the roads and so on were clear, so no problems. 

And so tomorrow we will be packing up and heading home. Unlike our holiday this time last year, we didn't find the spring. It is much later this year, and I regret not having packed warmer clothes! But eventually the spring will come, and in May we hope to be off again to Oberstdorf. 

Early spring holiday, 7 March 2023

St-André-de-l Eure. 

I felt a very great deal better today, although not up to walking into Montrichard as well as round it and back again. The Swan Whisperer did go in first thing to buy fresh bread and croissants - the first time we have had them this holiday, and found a large car park in the middle of town so that we could drive up there and park up while we went for what could only be described as a potter around the centre, and, briefly, along the Cher. 

When we got back to the WoMo, I nipped into a very convenient Carrefour City and bought eggs, which we needed, and then it was time to drive on another couple of kilometres to this aire, at St-André-de-l'Eure. The SW went for a walk that was longer and duller than he anticipated, but I expect the town centre will be rather nice. I might volunteer to get up early and get the croissants tomorrow, which will be the last full day of our holiday, so will have to include a mammoth shop! We do already have tomatoes.... 

Early spring holiday, 6 March 2023

Montrichard, Cher

When I told my mother on the phone that I was very well, I meant it. But, alas, as the evening wore on I started to feel rather dizzy and faint, didn't want my supper, and then couldn't sleep. So although I felt a bit better this morning, I wasn't able to walk round Lac Ponty, which I had been looking forward to doing, and, in fact, haven't left the WoMo all day. And to add insult to injury, I misprogrammed the Satnav and we ended up in the middle of nowhere after a very long drive. Found a Camping-Car Park not too far away, so we are here for the night, but ut is not the dairy farm we had intended! 

No photos today, so here is one the Swan Whisperer took the other day of the Pyrenees from Rébénacq. 

Early spring holiday, 5 March 2023

Ussel, Corrèze

It was a bitterly old night again, and a sharp frost this morning. After breakfast, we went on a lovely ramble round La Cavalerie, which has a lovely section inside the ramparts.

Lots more photos on Facebook. 

After this, we had planned to drive into Millau, but found in time that the Auchan there isn't open at all on Sundays, so we made a quick trip to the local Spar on the outskirts of La Cavalerie for milk and bread - I scored a lovely fresh baguette, still hot; at lunch I was just eating it by itself, it was so good and fresh! Lucky I picked it up as I went into the shop, though, as by the time I was ready to pay, they had all gone! 

We decided to drive over the Millau viaduct 

instead of going through the town, and then continued up the A75, trying unsuccessfully to listen to our church's Zoom service, but the preacher's microphone wasn't on and we could only hear the hymns, so eventually turned it off and listened to Gospel hymns on YouTube music instead! We came off the motorway to drive up to the Garabit viaduct - quite why we didn't just go into the aire, I do not know, but I wasn't driving! Anyway, we were lucky enough to see the one train a day (presumably there is one in the other direction, too) go over it. 

The Swan Whisperer took it upon himself to change where I had originally planned for us to spend the night, and we are alone in this campsite just outside a town called Ussel, in Corrèze. We are by a lake, and I hope to walk round it in the morning - it is not as big as the Ramée at Tournefeuille. It is called Lac Ponty, which amuses me as when I was at boarding-school, that was our name for the loo!

It was a very scenic drive to get here, and I have taken far too many photographs, which will be in a separate post on Facebook. 

Early spring holiday, 4 March 2023

La Cavalerie, Aveyron

Lovely to wake up at Mas Alart this morning!

The Swan Whisperer went for a run, as he always does here. After breakfast we said goodbye to our hosts, and headed on. First port of call was the local Lidl. In hindsight, I should have walked there - it is only about a kilometre, if that - and let the Swan Whisperer pick me up, but that didn't occur to me. 

After shopping, we drove down to the beach at St-Cyprien, and walked down to look at the Mediterranean. The SW dipped his hand in, as he had done in the Atlantic at Hossegor a couple of days ago. I find walking on sand too tiring, so went back to the WoMo once I'd taken a few photos. 

We drove a little further to the fishing village just outside Canet-en-Roussillon, which we had been to before, and enjoyed a walk around it. We had hoped to go on a trail to what was called a "grau" on the beach opposite, but again it was all sand, so we just took a photo of what looked like a stone pier.

It was very windy when we walked north along the lake, and we were glad to turn back. Not a long walk today, only about a mile, but enjoyable, nonetheless. 

It wasn't quite time for lunch, so we drove on to Toreilles and had hoped to have lunch beside the sea there but, alas, the road ends some distance from the sea. So we ended up parking in the reception area of a closed campsite to have our lunch! 

Although we had a long way to go today, the Satnav said it was only half an hour longer if we didn't pay toll, so we decided to do that. We drove cross-country (although the roads were excellent) to Beziers, where we were able to get on the A75 and drive up it almost to Millau, where we have parked up in the village of La Cavalerie, which we did drive through last time. The SW has explored - sadly, the local bakery is on its annual holiday, so still no croissants for breakfast! And tomorrow we will explore before heading north.