Leaving London to travel by bus to Lincoln (in Robin Hood country) was not quite leaving the bombs behind. It was an eerily quiet tube trip from Acton where we were staying, into the bus station the day after the bombings. The few people travelling (most took the day off knowing that transport would be problematic or because they had loved ones injured or killed)were eyeing each other off warily and looking at each others day packs apprehensively. After arriving at Victoria station we walked to our terminal and were just looking for our departure gate when an immediate evacuation was ordered and police swooped on the area. We were moved further and further back from the bus terminal. Apparently a piece of luggage had been left unattended causing the bomb scare. After about an hour everybody was moved back and we caught our bus to Lincoln.

There to meet us were our friends Heike and Martin who we met in Panama and spent time with in Peru. We were made very welcome for our 3 day stay and we packed a lot of sightseeing, talking and drinking into our 3 days! 

Lincoln is a beautiful city well known for its 12th century Cathedral and Castle and Roman walls. It also has an original Magna Carta on display. Quite interesting to us was that in the Lincoln "Museum of Life" there was a feature on human rights. There was a panel on Australia's bad record in regards to the Tampa crisis and refugees in general! We also visited nearby Bevoir castle where the family still live in gracious style but open up their house and gardens for the tourists on Sundays. Next it is on to Ireland.