Howells in a Castle

Saturday 1^st October 2016

Today’s weather was more typically English. Predicted maximum today is 17°. The morning started with clear blue sky but in the time it took us to get up two floors in the lift from breakfast it was grey, cloudy and raining.

We decided to do one last load of washing, which should be the final lot until we get home.

The rain eased off about 11:00am so we set off on the tube to Notting Hill to have a look at the Portobello Road Markets, which was very crowded. The markets run the full length of Portobello Road and each end is blocked off to traffic. There were a lot of antique shops and arcades selling every thing imaginable. We spent some time looking for walking sticks and Lynne settled on a Victorian timber stick with a silver top. The silver has a hallmark and the fellow we got it from said he thinks it dated to 1901.

There were plenty of other lovely antiques but we would have struggled to get them home.

We had a sandwich in a pub in Notting Hill then headed back to the hotel at 2:00pm for a cuppa and to wait for Hearther & Michael to get back from Guildford.

The four of us set off at 3:30pm for one last look at London from The Thames. Had dinner in the Founders Arms pub on the South bank of the Thames then walked back across the river via the Millennium Bridge, more commonly know as the “wibbly wobbly” bridge as when it was first opened it swayed from side to side. After walking round St Paul’s Cathedral was got back on the tube and headed back to the hotel. Tonight is our last in London so we need to pack and get organized for the next leg of our UK trip to Liverpool tomorrow morning.