London…again:

After all the rain in Peterborough and all the mud, we back to London for a couple of days, again to the Crystal Palace campsite which is so handy to the centre of London by the No 3 bus. No dramas with the bus this time - no change of destination halfway through, no shouts from the driver to run.

Sunday was forecast to be 'wet and windy', not exactly enticing us outdoors. We have had exactly this for weeks now and the idea did not fill us with excitement. A day in with the computer, the books and the washing!

On Monday, the weather was forecast to be 18°C and sunny so it was the first day I did not wear my down Michelin man jacket since buying it. We bussed ourselves into town and opted to join a London Walk to Westminster Abbey. A huge group showed up, no doubt all out for the good weather, but fortunately we were split into smaller groups for the tour itself. Joining the walk meant getting a big reduction on the entry price (at £17 normally each a bit steep - including the Walk, it was £16 for each of us) as well as bypassing the gargantuan queues that stretched several blocks.

The Abbey is smaller than I imagined, certainly much smaller than many cathedrals and large churches we have seen in the last year. But it is full of interesting stuff: gravestones and plaques galore from Isaac Newton to William Shakespeare, side chapels with military regalia and Queen Elizabeth the first interred, saintly shrines, a magnificent quire for the choir and windows, carvings and cloisters.

And the day remained wonderfully sunny while we lunched in a pub and wandered Oxford Street. Dare I ask: can it last?