Michael and Pam's Travels Our European Motorhome Adventures and other Travels

Wildhill and a day in London. 2015 🇬🇧

We have had a couple of days in Wildhill now, settling into the early morning walks up to Essendon winding back through the hills and dales.  Followed by a wonderful breakfast looking over the garden.  The rest of the each day has been getting the Hymer ready for the season and a long drive.  During the past few months I made a few purchases, having things delivered to Wildhill.  We have added LED lighting to some of the fittings as well as a reversing camera compatible to our Garmin GPS monitor.  We have also replaced all the small plastic fittings that hold the doors and hatches in place.  Most of these were showing their age from the sun and weather.  The most complex installation was fitting an external fill point for the LPG system.  We did have a couple of refusals to fill our Gasit LPG system in France last year as it required the hatch door to be opened during filling.  Anyway with the fitting of an external fill point that issue is negated.  I will add some more detail to the ‘Our Hymer’ page in due course.


The Hymer on the driveway at Wildhill, lots of little maintenance things to do.
The Hymer on the driveway at Wildhill, lots of little maintenance things to do.

Then came the big clean up.  Nine months of dust and some Spanish grime left from 2014.  Nothing a few hours or so of vacuuming and spray n wipe could fix.


Mmm...bacon, grilled tomatoes and butter portobello mushrooms on home made bread would be nice, thanks
Mmm…bacon, grilled tomatoes and buttered portobello mushrooms on home made bread would be nice, thanks Swaraj.
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We try and catch a day in London before and after our European wandering, so today it’s the Imperial War Museum.  We organised ourselves Oyster Cards a couple of years ago (the British version of the Opal card) and just top them up each year as needed.  There is no seniors gold opal card here and we are always a bit shocked by the public transport costs.  Our fares to Kings Cross return are ÂŁ18 with another ÂŁ6 on the tube.  However the system is excellent and we arrive at Elephant and Castle Station 35 minutes after departing Potters Bar.


Great name for a pub, funny name for a tube station !
Great name for a pub, funny name for a tube station !

London SE11, UK


The Imperial War Museum.  Just a short walk from Elephant and Vastle.  Free as well.
The Imperial War Museum. Just a short walk from Elephant and Castle. Free as well.
A pair of 15" guns from two different HMS Battleships in the forecourt of the IWM.
A pair of 15″ guns from two different HMS Battleships in the forecourt of the IWM.
V1 flying bomb and V2 rocket on the right of frame.
The main gallery of the IWM. The V1 flying bomb and V2 rocket on the right of frame.
Supermarine Spitfire, surprisingly small aircraft, certainly no larger than a Cessna 172 from my flying days.  Mind you a Cessna didn't have a V12 supercharge engine.
Supermarine Spitfire, surprisingly small aircraft, certainly no larger than a Cessna 172 from my flying days. Mind you a Cessna didn’t have a V12 supercharge engine.
The WW11 gallery had some wonderful exhibits including a Russian T34, but this BMW sidecar with machine gun caught my eye.
The WW11 gallery had some wonderful exhibits including a Russian T34, but this BMW sidecar with machine gun caught my eye.

These are the centenary years of the Great War and a special gallery on its history was most impressive.  Lots of short movies and pictures all very interactive.  Lots of memorabilia of life in the trenches.  However is was difficult to take any photos due to the lighting and the number of people moving about.


Heavy machine gun
Heavy machine gun

After a coffee its time to head off in search of lunch.  We catch the tube back to London Bridge and walk down through Borough Markets.  It’s packed with wonderful looking food stalls and lots of people, we try to get a table but the lines are long and it’s standing room only.  So we make our way down to a pub on the Thames for fish n chips and sit for an hour watching the world go by.


Borough High Street, London SE1 9AH, UK


Borough Markets, definitely on our list for lunch on our next visit.
Borough Markets, definitely on our list for lunch on our next visit.

We make our way over the Thames to Monument Station, back to Kings Cross.  Then the express back to Wildhill.


Next to Monument Tube Station is guess what ? A monument.  It's to the victims of the great fire of London, so you learn something everyday.
Next to Monument Tube Station is guess what ? A monument. It’s to the victims of the great fire of London, so you learn something everyday.

Anyway sadly our time in Wildhill is over for now and we are off to Dover and the ferry.  Be safe.


Michael and Pam


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