Today was the last of my museum days (for this trip), so it was on the train from Bedford down to St Pancras station, using the E. Midlands train. 35mins for 50 miles (80Km) including 2 intermediate stops, if only we had a train service like this in Victoria.

I had decided to visit the Cabinet War Rooms (CWR) and HMS Belfast today as both were on the list of wants, (not Jane's of course). So after getting off the train and running into my cousin in the middle of St Pancras station, which given the throng of people passing through was pretty amazing really, I jumped on the tube having decided to get off at Oxford Circus and walk down Regent St and through to Horse Guards parade, and then to the CWR, as I arrived in Horse Guards parade I was fortunate to see they were about to perform the changing of the guard, and there was also a Challenger tank on display.

Following the short diversion it was off to join the queue to get into the CWR, luckily we are traveling just out of peak season so the queue was less than 15mins to get into the museum. As I was queuing I overheard others talking and mentioning it took about 1&1/2 hrs to go round the displays, needless to say I was there for almost 3hrs, and still did not see everything.

As part of the overall experience was an exhibition on the life of Winston Churchill, all of this is well documented and accounted for the bulk of my time in the museum. Other notable exhibits include the kitchen where Churchill's personal cook made all his meals, he had brought her from his home to ensure he always had his favourite food. The communications room from where instructions were sent out or reports received, you can see they had different coloured phones for the different functions.

It was then time to make my way over to HMS Belfast, so back on the tube and off to London Bridge station for the short walk to this museum.

HMS Belfast was completed just before WWII and saw service right up until the early 60's including service during the Korean conflict. It is one of only 3 vessels remaining which took part in the D-Day bombardment fleet. Whilst following the self guided tour of the ship a Brazilian ship tied up alongside and there were preparations being made for a reception for the crew aboard Belfast.

The forward turrets of Belfast, currently pointed toward London Gateway services on the M1 motorway (formerly Scratchwood)

After a couple of hours of clambering over Belfast it was time to start making tracks back to Bedford, and given I was so close to Tower Bridge an the Monument I decided to walk over the bridge and then through the city to the Great Fire of London monument.