The Long Odyssey is Almost Over

Saturday October 29th
In Which our Long Odyssey is Drawing to a Close

We were both very conscious that today was going to be our final full day in London. By mid afternoon tomorrow we will be at Heathrow Airport, awaiting the start of the very long journey home. Neither of us felt like doing anything too energetic. After 10 weeks of almost constant physical activity and travel, we both were feeling fatigued and mentally drained. It was time to go home and we were ready.

Although the sunshine had disappeared, there was still no sign of either wind or rain. We crossed Bayswater Rd and wandered back into the Kensington Gardens. This time we decided to continue to Kensington Palace, most famous for being the royal residence of Charles and Diana. It is obvious that thousands of people still make the pilgrimage to this place to pay homage to Diana's memory. Near the Serpentine there is a Princess Diana memorial fountain and walk. It seems a fitting tribute to someone who was so affectionately regarded by the British people.

We paid our own form of homage to Diana by having an impressive morning tea in the palace tea rooms. We even went against all our normal travel principles by buying some souvenirs from the gift shop. (What an admission).

Our wanderings then took us out of the park and into Notting Hill where we stocked up on baguettes and fillings for a picnic lunch. Although Hyde and Kensington Parks are really amazing places, they do suffer from a shortage of seats and it took us some time to find a free seat for our picnic. It happened to be right alongside the Round Pond and we were worried that we would be overrun by thousands of hungry birds. I made an early statement by stamping my foot and making a raucous sound to let the birds know that the lunch was ours, not theirs. It must have worked because we were about to share a lovely time together, reminiscing about the adventure we had shared together. It really had been something special.

Since we will be starting our return journey tomorrow, this will be (almost) the final entry in this blog. I hope that it has been informative and entertaining for anyone who has been following it over the past 70 days. We now look forward to seeing you all again in person.Read more