Truth be told, I was not really looking forward to coming to the UK for 4 weeks. I mean - there is a reason why most Brits leave this island for their summer holidays and stream to southern Europe and anywhere along the Med. and the reason is ...the weather.
In this instance I love being proven wrong though ! From our arrival at Gatwick and the chauffeur driven limo transfer (for 2 backpackers ...how funny that must have looked !) to our departure from London after 4 amazing days of thorough spoiling - the UK has shown itself from its very best side.
We can understand why people enjoy living in London - especially when the sun is shining ! The diversity of its people, the easy transport options, the wonderful green spaces and huge variety of restaurants make this an exciting environment. It also looks so much cleaner than many of the European cities - not sure if this is still from the Olympics clean-up. whatever it is - it is most impressive. Especially when the sun is shining !!
Our good longtime friend from South Africa, Christiane and her daughter Liljana, shared her lovely Balham apartment with us and spoilt us for our 4 days in London. We decided that we had "done" the sights of central London several times before - so this time we were looking at enjoying the green belts around London.
To enjoy the great weather, we were treated by our friend Maja to an interesting day out in Greenwich, via the Thames Clipper from the London Eye, with its Maritime museum (very worthwhile - new respect for the seamen and explorers of old) and a stunning 10km walk along the Thames, from Richmond to Putney, past Kew Gardens - with a lunch stop in an exquisite pub garden along the banks of the Thames for Rekorderlig ( with pieces of strawberry and limes in pint glasses ) and bangers and mash.
Maja and Bill treated us to a very special Chines meal - definately the most tasty Chinese meal we have ever enjoyed.
Charlie (aged 7) - a junior police officer - takes his role very seriously and both Clint and I were arrested rather often for several misdemeanours. Fraser (aged 4) kept us wonderfully entertained. So great to be able to catch a glimpse of them both at this stage of their lives.
On our last evening in London we met up with Pete and Tracey, our friends who had emigrated to the UK about 12 years ago, near St Pauls Cathedral and were royally treated to drinks - those great Strawberry & Lime Rekorderlig Ciders and dinner at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant.
After hearing about all the fines and different traffic rules in London, along with the masses of traffic cameras, we were rather stressed after fetching our rental vehicle (just don't stop in a box !) and then managing to find a parking spot for it in the road near Christiane's apartment (quite a feat in itself!).
Once we got into our car, we were quite happy to set the TOMTOM for our BnB address in East Sussex and leave the streets of London. Driving in London is just too stressful ! Well, we decided that we should be driving back roads to our BnB and not highways. It was amazing ...we could not believe that there could be such small and overgrown lanes that are regarded as roads by our TomTom. We were just really lucky that there were no oncoming cars ! The countryside is just a verdant green with so many beautiful trees. We drove through Kent, where the byline is "the garden of England" , to get to East Sussex. So good for the soul !
Arriving at our destination, we felt that we had hit the jackpot again...a beautiful cottage on a 3 acre property near Bexhill in East Sussex. This is going to be fun.