Off to auspicious start....as most of our trip will be on the railways, we head to our local train station for the 20 minute ride to Cardiff....only to find the trains have been cancelled. so we board the bus provided and head to Cardiff...in a very roundabout manner...it ends 2 hours later due to roads being closed at Caerphilly...so we leave Wales as we know it only too well......in a state of chaos.

The next leg of the trip is as all good journeys should start...on The National Express Bus....dreadful weather along the M4 sees us finally getting to London at 7.30pm....a laborious 4.5 hours......

We check into The Dover hotel in Victoria and head out to meet up with old pal Ian Kirkpatrick...we sample the hostelries around Victoria and part company at 10.30pm.....as we need to have an early start.........we've got to be up at 4.30am!