As I started writing what should have been the April 2019 post I realise that despite trying to catch up to real time i’m actually slipping behind. Post COVID lockdown we got back on the road on 4th July touring the UK, something we started on 1st Feb 2020 and I haven’t even got close to posting about it. On the road there is so much to do and see and therefore time to write and post is diminished…. or am I just getting lazy as predicted from the outset?
So, we have a cunning plan…. you get the gist of what we have been doing in London (…”pub crawling” I hear my mum say … and she isn’t far wrong… there is always a pub nearby in London, regardless of what you are doing and its a great way to meet people and get to know the place), so we are going to heavily precis the next 10 months with pics and a little text; only elaborating on really significant “stuff”…
April 2019 to May 2019 – Précised
April 19, our first month of retirement, was naturally busy and what a great time to be in London with all the parks and social spaces brimming with the optimism of spring.
The just opened Vinegar Yard in Bermondsey, south London was worth the effort to get there – the guy that makes mechanical art for Glastonbury has a workshop and exhibition there. Through the London Cornish Pilot Gig folk we’d heard about the Cornish takeover night at Sun Tavern, Covent Garden (first Wed every month I think).. great fun and pasties shipped from Cornwall :-). I had a couple of days playing golf with some friends at Princes Golf Club in Kent. We watched the Oxford v Cambridge Boat Race from Hammersmith – great fun. We took a tour around Kensington Palace and the Queen Victoria exhibition (worth a visit). For Sal’s birthday we had a lovely meal at the Potting Shed, a cracking subterranean restaurant that we’d stumbled on a week or so before on Dorset Square give it a go.It also has a very nice boutique hotel attached. We had a lot of fun watching the bird feeders attached to windows at the back of the flat.. twitchers in the making :-). We took the train down to Hampton Court Place and toured the beautiful palace and grounds and we had a day down at Greenwich. There was an Elizabeth 1st re-enactment at Queens House where I think she was born. It’s free to enter and there is an amazing art collection including the original Spanish Armada painting. The Maritime Museum is well worth it when down at Greenwich and the trip back to town on the Clipper is a must. Manchester Tribute band night at there Shepherds Buch Apollo was fun.
At the end of April we treated ourselves to a retirement holiday to the Maldives for a week then the plan was to have a week touring Sri Lanka. Sadly the Easter bombings meant that the Sri Lanka element didn’t happen so we stayed for an extra week in the Maldives. we thought 2 weeks might be too much but as you chill down day by day to snail pace it was fantastic.
Highlights of May 2019 were: Tower of London, Grand Designs Live, walks around Hyde Park and along the Regents Canal to Coal Drops Yard, the fantastic new development at Kings Cross, a weekend in the New Forest watching Oli nail a half iron man, some more time in Cornwall seeing mum and cliff walking from Mullion to the Lizard (with my sister)
Roger & Sally's Travel Blog & More 