August 5, Sunday - Last minute packing and preparation for the trip. Everything loaded into the van by 6 pm. Arrived at the Calgary airport by about 7:15 pm. Check in went very smoothly - the lady only charged me $50.00 for Machak, and was very apologetic about it. I knew I would be charged, it is the new policy unfortunately, but I potentially could have been charged a lot more. Machak cleared the oversized baggage screening just fine.

My parents waited with me for a little while and we had a bite to eat. Then I headed into the boarding area. I cleared the screening just fine and we boarded right on time ... in fact, they kind of rushed us on.

We took off early because a very nasty storm was approaching over the mountains and the Calgary airport was on the verge of closing down for the duration of the storm! We got away just in the nick of time!! I think we were one of the last flights out.

The flight felt long. I'm used to a stop-over after a few hours, but this was nearly 9 hours straight through. I slept about 4 hours and dozed a bit more than that. They fed us twice - a snack and a big breakfast, which I nearly lost. And I worked on my Sudokus.

August 6, Monday - The flight was a bit bumpy in the beginning because of the storm and then again toward the end (while I was eating breakfast), but fairly smooth in the middle. I felt fine all the way through until breakfast, and then I desperately wanted to land already. I'm always pleased when the wheels touch down again, but particularly if I'm having a rough flight.

Going through customs and collecting my bags was almost too easy. The place was practically deserted, although I should mention, so was my flight. I had no one sitting beside me, and everyone was spread out all over. I suspect most of my flight went on to connect with other flights instead of going into London.

Machak came around on the carousel, to my surprise, and a lady standing beside me helped me lift him off. When she lifted, I think she was expecting the box to be quite a bit heavier than it was ... she nearly fell over backward and made a surprised comment, "Oh, it's light!". My other bag came through a moment later.

I know there is more to Heathrow than Terminal 3, and I suspect that there is more to Terminal 3 than just the floor I remained on, but wandering all over the place with a bicycle box, and somewhat slippery cycling shoes is not easy. So I remained in one small area, writing in my journal, working on my Sudokus, and watching people go by while waiting for Rowan whose flight was not supposed to arrive for several hours.

Watching the people was amusing ... it would be quiet, and I'd take those moments to walk around a bit. Then all of a sudden, half of China would pour into the terminal, and I'd retreat to my little bench by the side. Then the flood of people would subside for a bit, and I'd dash to the shop across the way, and suddenly the terminal would flood with a third of the population of India, and I'd dash back to my bench. It's a busy terminal!

Rowan arrived early! I was expecting him at about 8:00 or 8:30, and he actually arrived about 6:00 and got through customs with no trouble at all. It was quite a surprise when he sauntered over to me during one of my little excursions around the terminal! :)

We set off immediately for Earl's Court hostel. It's a long walk to the train station through the tunnels, but we had our carts for that part of the journey so it was OK. But when we got to the station, we had to abandon our carts. After getting our tickets and dragging everything to the platform, we loaded it all onto the train ... and then took it all off again. The train had a broken window and was being taken out of service. Then we loaded it all onto the next train. This was getting to be a bit of work!!

We arrived at Earl's Court Station all right, and I ventured out alone into the night to locate the hostel. It wasn't too far away, down side road off a busy road lined with places to eat and little shops, and seemed quite nice. We were given a small cabin in the garden ... up a flight of stairs, and down a flight of stairs.

I returned to the station to help Rowan bring the rest of the stuff to the hostel. That was a bit of a challenge because of the weight of our stuff, because of the awkwardness of my bag (I'll have to think of a Plan B for that), and because of the fact that the bicycles were still in boxes. Suddenly the distance felt much longer! Once settled in our cabin, we went out to a Subway for supper.

August 7, Tuesday - We packed everything into storage, and then caught the train further into London to find a Brooks saddle for Rowan, and to see some sights. The only other time I have been in London was for about half an hour after dark, cycling briskly from one station to another. I caught a glimpse of all sorts of things then, but didn't get a chance to really see anything.

Finding a saddle proved to be a little bit more challenging than we had assumed. I think both of us thought that all bicycle stores in London would carry Brooks saddles, but that was not the case. In the end we did find one, but Rowan had to settle for black instead of the honey color he wanted.

And then we began seeing the sights. The first place we stopped to take photos was Westminster Cathedral with its unexpected architecture influenced by the eastern Roman Empire.

We continued up the road, past the "new" (1960s) Scotland Yard which is a large, very plain, stainless steel building. I was tempted to take photos, but I wasn't sure what the reaction might be.

And then we arrived at Westminster Abbey, and a few steps further on ... Big Ben. I suspect there was some sort of protest, or something, going on in front of the Parliament because of the tents on the grassy area in the left of the photo ... but I suggested to Rowan that if we'd known camping was allowed right there, we might have brought a tent with us! :)

We walked back through Parliament Square, along St. James's Park, to Buckingham Palace. Now, for some reason I had quite a different impression of Buckingham Palace. For one thing, I thought it was more on the outskirts of London, not right in the middle. I also thought it was a lot bigger and more grand than it was. It's big, but not imposingly so, and it is really quite plain. It was also a surprise to see how much traffic could drive right past it, on all sides.

I did like the gates around the main courtyard area though ... each was for a different part of the commonwealth. We walked through the Australia gate at first, and then as we walked around, we found the Canada gate too.

From there we walked up Constitution Hill, by Green Park, to the Wellington Arch and corner of Hyde Park. Then down Grosvenor Place, back to Victoria Station, where we took a train to Tower Hill.

Tower Hill is where the Tower of London is. Now, once again, I had quite a different impression of the Tower of London. I don't think I've ever seen a picture of it, but I had always imagined it to be a single tower, where they kept people prisoner. It does have towers, but it is a very large and old fortress. The foundations were first laid in 1078, and was added to in subsequent years. The white tower is the oldest part of the Tower of London.

We walked all around the Tower of London, and also took a look at the All Hallows by The Tower, the oldest church in London, founded in 675 AD.; an old Roman City Wall, built in about 200 AD; the Tower Bridge; and the London Bridge.

I found all of it absolutely fascinating!

We rode the trains for a little while longer, and then returned to the hostel to move into a different room, several floors up.

Incidentally, despite the fact that Hostelling International hostels are still called Youth Hostels (YHA) in England, the ages of the people staying at the two hostels we stayed in ranged from young children with families, to the elderly. Hostels aren't just for those in their teens and twenties!

August 8, Wednesday - After breakfast in the garden, we put the bicycles together. That was something of a slow process for some reason, but then you don't necessarily want to rush it either. We put the bicycle boxes in the back of the shed, complete with all the bubble wrap, etc ...... and hope they will still be there when we return in a month's time.

Then we started our journey.

First to the laudromat down the street. A comment on this ... we discovered later that the Earl's Court hostel had laundry facilities in it, and that they were not only more convenient, but significantly less expensive than this laundromat. So, if you are thinking of stopping at the Earl's Court hostel, use the laundry facilities there.

And then on to the Earl's Court station where we headed for the wrong District Line platform. Oops. Then up & down the lifts and ... we hopped in a train going the right direction, but the wrong train. Oops again. A long train ride later (we were on the Circle Line), we finally arrived at the Victoria station with 9 minutes to spare before the train to Dover was to leave.

We got tickets to Dover, and just by chance got into the correct car for the trip all the way to Dover. Partway along, that train stops and splits. Half the cars continue on to Dover, and the other half go elsewhere. They don't make this information very clear, or at least it wasn't obvious as we were dashing for the train with seconds to spare. We didn't discover it until the message rolled across the message board when we were underway ... and then it gave us a few moments of consternation as we tried to determine for sure which half of the train we were in.

It was a fairly comfortable trip, although we did have to adjust the bicycles now and then - a few people seemed disturbed by them.

We located the YHA on the map outside the train station in Dover, and cycled there without too much difficulty. Once there we were set up in the male and female dorm rooms way up on the 5th floor.

My separated left shoulder, which was just recovering nicely, wasn't too happy about all the lifting and carrying I seemed to be doing over the past few days. And my right hamstring was giving me some trouble. This is a part of cycle-touring I tend to forget ... it is a good idea to build up my overall strength, and to cross-train with more walking, before my tours. Rarely do my tours involve simply hopping on the bicycle and riding. There is a lot of cycling, but usually there is also a lot of walking, and lifting and carrying, and climbing stairs, and everything!

We did a circuit of the town and found a fairly inexpensive grocery store where we bought our supper moments before the store closed. Then we had supper outside in the garden ... very nice.