United Kingdom

We woke up from probably the best night's sleep so far, even though it was only 6 hours. Breakfast was a continental buffet, very ordinary, definately nothing special. Afterwards we made tracks to the Earl's Court Underground station (aka the Tube) where we caught the District line to Victoria & swapped to the National Rail lines where we met some of the London saints on platform. Will met Darren Seeto for the first time, and we both met Matt and Nicki and daughter Sam, Louise & her husband (sorry forgot names!), and Rita & Wayne. Once we arrived at Beckenham Junction we walked together to the meeting which was 1.5 blocks. There we met Pr Bill & his wife, their grandson Nathan, Mick, Maria & also Avril who some of you would know. Pr Chris Young & his wife Heather were away visiting Greece, along with Julian Henwood who was "probably at work" according to Seeto!
The meeting was very enjoyable - choruses were a little different & we both were able to give our testimonies & we had to sign the famous visitors book!

Then before we knew it we were dashing back to the train station to head back to Victoria. On the way back Rita was telling us about her brother (Peter) they have been praying for, which gave us both a little chuckle (some names always seem to get paired)!
We had some lunch at the station as we said goodbye to the London saints & went on our way with pamphlets they had given about what to see & what not to see. We ended up taking the tube to Marylebone where we walked up to Madame Tussauds (Baker St is closer we found out) which is the Waxworks museum - hundreds of artworks made to look like particular celebrities including movie stars, cowboys, heroes, sports people, royalty, world leaders & music stars. Then taking us through the Age of Terror / Horror and events which occurred such as murders. We found the place to be OVERcrowded making it almost impossible to take photos. Here we purchased a souvenir - a photo in crystal of ourselves.
We headed back to the Underground and travelled back to Embankment swapping there to go to Earl's Court. We walked back to the Ibis where we had a rest then went down to the restaurant for dinner. Then to bed as Trafalgar had informed us we would be woken at 4:30am!!!

We slept in until 11:30am ... it was lovely since we had a late night & Meredith couldn't sleep. We went down to the hotel bar for an OJ and toasted sandwich. Then we purchased 3hrs of internel time at the hotel since the price was reasonable - checked email, updated our blog, and tried to upload photos but we ran out of time!
At 4ish we left the hotel going to the Metro & we waited for the 4:30pm train to the airport.
We checked in & went through the airport looking at shops then grabbing a quick bite to eat at Maccas - watching planes land and take off. Afterwards we headed to passport control & security - Will getting frisked again. Then into our gate where we lounged for approx 90mins as our flight was delayed. While waiting we were entertained by a very energetic tubby little toddler who had everyone's attention. We boarded at 7:15pm - taking off at 8ish (the flight had 35-40ppl max) we landed at 9:20 with the 2 hour backwards time difference.
Once we landed we went through passport control again where they asked lots of questions - Will got chastised for letting Meredith go to a different counter, while she was chastised for not keeping an eye on her man! We got on the Underground which brought us into Earl's Court & we walked a few blocks to the Ibis. Once settling into the room we went & found dinner - though proved difficult being 11:45pm - though we came past a KFC which was open. We had dinner (no chicken salt on the chips! and they have baked beans instead of pototo & gravy) then passed a shop buying chocolate then headed back to the Ibis where we jumped on the net for 20 minutes(1 pound each). Then off to bed which was nice & soft compared to the night before.

We woke up again to another lovely full English breakfast. Following that we packed & checked out - stopping in town for some photos & car snacks.
Then headed east for Goathland for the Heartbeat set (3 hrs in travelling). We got to the top of the moors coming into the set of Heartbeat which obviously excited Meredith more than Will. We parked the car & walked along the Goathland / Aidensfield shops taking photos & looking at particular features ... not all the set is in Goathland, other places include Whitby & Pickering.
Meredith went souvenir crazy buying postcards, magnets, books & a minature tray - which according to Will has no meaning or purpose. Afterwards we walked up to the Goathland Hotel (aka Aidensfield Arms) for some lunch while looking out at famous Burnie Scripps Garage / Funeral Parlour. Meredith had some garlic bread while Will had a Cornish Pastie, which Meredith thought was deadly! Afterwards we walked up to the main shops & had an icecream before getting in our car & driving through - stopping at the school & sighting the train station. We left Goathland at 3:20pm heading towards our next stop LONDON!
Eventually moved on to bigger roads. This was a little depressing as the views were nowhere near as picturesque - but a relief on the drivers side, as the narrow winding roads were a little mentally draining! At least 200 miles (5 hrs) of driving with a few stops along the way for lollies, and another for diesel at 'Esso' (I think we used to have these in Australia?)
Ended up at the 'Thistle Hotel London Heathrow' which is very close to the airport! Probably the biggest room we've stayed in so far, but not sure if it's the nicest (but close - looks shabby from the outside but looks can be deceiving)! Dinner in the restaurant - Lamb rack for Meredith, Pasta for Will - both at 3/4 then bailed! time for a good night's sleep before the next part of our adventure begins!

We woke up to a lovely full English breakfast, also very tasty. We then planned our day which consisted of many hours of driving. We took the road which went to Ambleside then to Coniston, Langdale Rd which was very narrow & felt like you were trekking through farms with grids, and steep roads - surprised there are not more safety measures! Still nice views, streams, and humpback bridges. Finally we came to the Roman Fort - well it's called that however you get there and you need to hike from the carpark up the hill over a muddy stream, then a few ditches which appeared damp but very boggy! Meredith was leaping spot to spot to get across, but her left foot accidentally got bogged jumping over which made the rest of that walk miserable. Then we get to the fort to find out it's not an intact fort - just the remains & foundations of the fort which made the walk up "NOT WORTHY". But luckily Meredith is a good sport - or acts it. We headed back towards Wendermere which took us a good 1h40m to our room at 'The Fairfield' where Will was loving enough to wash Meredith's pants and socks while she washed her shoes! (Actually written by Meredith!)
Then again a rest before dinner which turned into a 6pm - 4am rest. Sleep again then up and at em at 6:55am

Breakfast at Rick's again. Checked out, left our luggage at the hotel and took a quick stroll to the National Galleries of Scotland. Lots of paintings, sculptures, statues and intricate furniture. Quite nice, but neither of us are really the arty type! Alot of the paintings were different artists interpretations of popular parts of scriptures. Most of the artists must have been male as there were an abundance of bare breasts!

Went and got the car from the parking station, then did a few laps of the block looking for a parking space. Gave up, put the hazard lights on in a no parking zone. Meredith went and grabbed our bags while Will stayed vigilant at the care in case the abundant parking police came by!

We then travelled through the busy streets of Edinburgh heading west toward the motorway to Glasgow. While Meredith tried to take some photos it was difficult! We had a toot break at a huge 'Leisure park / McDonalds / KFC / Cinema Complex' off the motorway - it was huge, and randomly in the middle of nowhere!
We headed into the busy streets of Glasgow finding a parking station which evidently was attached to the biggest shopping complex in town, where we had lunch in the Food Gallery (Jacket potatos again - is this a national food second only to Haggis?)

After lunch we went for a walk outside the complex down Glasgow mall. We headed to The Lighthouse the highest point from which we could see all of Glasgow. The gallery was fairly boring - however Will climbed the billion stairs in the viewing tower - and took fantastic photos of all Glasgow including St Andrew's Cathedral. Meredith came about enough to be able to go up by lift - to the indoor viewing platform. We then went back to the car via Sainsbury's to grab a few things.

We the tried to get out of Glasgow - GPS not totally reliable. We travelled the motorway to Penrith then came through the road around the lake - no words can describe it apart from Picturesque. Reminded us of the show Heartbeat, apart from the mountains. We came a Bowness -on- Windermere. It was a low village with old pubs, restaurants and a church which faces onto the lake. Our B&B style Hotel was up the Hill but our room was beautiful - very old English style. The four-poster bed was very royal and the bathroom well snazzy (shower with mobile piece, two person showerhead and back jets to create a spa mist with massage pebbles underfoot. We then headed to dinner at an old pub 'The Albert' which at which we had a lovely meal. On the way back to the B&B we stopped at Tesco to get some Jelly Tots and an icecream.