The Journey to London

 

We are on our way

As I outlined in yesterday's post today is like a bonus day of our holiday as we make our way to London ready for the onward travel to France and Spain tomorrow.

The day started quietly while Drew went into work from 7.30am to Midday and I filed emails and cleared everything from my mailbox with regard to the Parish Admin duties I volunteer for. 

One of our very kind neighbours, you know who you are Jayne, came across and offered to give us a lift to the station, but we had to explain that the walk to the station is part of the holiday experience for us - even though heavy showers kept passing over Tongwynlais. 

This idea of the walk first became part of our tradition when we travelled around Southern Europe in 2012 and again when we did the same in Northern Europe in 2023.

So, in line with the tradition from those past blogs here is the photo of me leaving Tongwynlais.

We left the house at 12.15pm and arrived at Taffs Well Station at 12.35pm.

Taffs Well to Cardiff Central

Taffs Well station, just a mile from our home, is an easy walk. While some dark clouds passed over, it was also a dry walk, thankfully. The station has changed a great deal in recent years, with the addition of the South Wales Metro Depot just across the road from it.

The 12.48pm train arrived bang on time.

It is one of the new modern trains that serve the South Wales Metro.

The train arrived in Cardiff Central at 1.12pm - exactly as advertised.

This is an hour before the time we would have arrived if we had taken the the train recommend on the tickets. But we like being early and had caught this earlier train to start the holiday with a coffee and a snack at Cardiff Central. 

This was a Chicken and avocado baguette for me with an Americano.

and a Cheese and Tomato Baguette for Drew with a latte.

We are on platform 2 for the 2.18pm train to Paddington by 2pm, just to be sure!!

The train arrived on time and departed on time too. Given the closure of the Seven Tunnel, as mentioned in yesterday's post, the train is taking the scenic route to London via Gloucester (and skipping Bristol Parkway) but once we are aboard we can sit and read our Kindles. Drew is reading a book by Mo Hayder while I'm, in preparation for this holiday, am on the third in the four book series about Napoleon and Wellington by Simon Scarrow. I'd completed his 24 book series about the fictional Romans Cato and Macro during my Easter break this year. 

 

The journey continued and the lovely views of the Severn caught our attention as did the magnificence of Gloucester Cathedral as the train moves past it. Sadly no great photos as the reflection in the train windows means they aren't useable.

 

We returned to the normal route at Swindon arriving in Paddington at 5.11pm. 6 minutes later than the scheduled time. 

The RMT strike on the tube meant a number of lines were closed, putting extra pressure on the ones that were open - the platform from Paddington to Kings Cross/St. Pancras was very busy as was the train.

We arrived at St. Pancras at 5.40pm and walked to our hotel for the night. The Holiday Inn Bloomsbury, where we arrived at 5.55pm.

Captain Jack, our fellow traveller since 2004, had a very comfortable bunk in the clean, fresh hotel room.

Links to Wellington

I mentioned above that I'd been reading Simon Scarrow's books about Napoleon and Wellington, so I was surprised to walk out of the Holiday Inn at 5.45pm and see the name of the pub opposite - The Marquis Cornwallis - this name was familiar to me from the book I'd read in the last week. 

The Marquis Cornwallis pub founded in 1804 was named for the First Marquess Cornwallis - Charles Cornwallis - famous for losing the last battle (the siege of Yorktown, 1781) in what the British called the 'Revolutionary Wars in the 13 Colonies' and the Americans call the 'War of Independence'.  

Cornwallis became Governor of India in 1786 and was there when the Young Arthur Wellesley, of whom we will hear much more this holiday, arrived in 1797 to make his name as a Army Commander in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, 1798-99 by which time his brother, Richard, had replaced Cornwallis as Governor.

Dinner with the gods

While I'm sure we would have been fine turning up at the multiple restaurants around this part of London on a Thursday night, I had booked tonight's restaurant a few weeks ago, so we were sure we had somewhere to eat if things were busy. 

I'd seen that there was a modern Cypriot restaurant called Apollo (hence the god reference in the title of this section) just across the road from the hotel. It looked more like a cafe from the outside

but inside it was well decorated and had a large open plan kitchen which you can just see behind Drew's head in this photo, with a image of Apollo beside him!

While we ordered the staff brought us a crisp plate of crudités, these were sliced carrot and turnip drizzled with lemon juice and salt, very simple, but crunchy, tangy and delicious.

Drew, who spent a placement year in Greece during his degree, decided to opt for Halloumi, the greek fried cheese, for his starter. This was creamy with fresh lemon juice across it. It squeaked like good Halloumi are supposed to (or so he said!).

I'd opted for the chargrilled Octopus in olive oil and Mediterranean herbs. It was crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside, full of delicious flavours - I suspect I'll see more Pulpo (as the Spaniards call it) when we get to Galicia, which is famous for it, but it was nice to start the holiday this way too.

Drew's side dish was Pita bread,

which was served with his Moussaka. He really loved his moussaka with its layers of minced beef, sliced potatoes, courgettes, and aubergines, topped with a rich, creamy béchamel sauce and baked in a clay pot - Earthy and delicious.

I choose Kleftiko for my main and I couldn't have been more happy with it. The slow-cooked leg of lamb infused with Mediterranean herbs (Bay leaves, thyme and oregano) was served with golden roast potatoes and vegetables, similar to a French ratatouille, but with crisp crunchy cucumber too. A lot of meat, but a delicious flavour.

I even 'borrowed' some of Drew's Pita bread to mop up the sauce. So, the bone was stripped of all its meat and the plate cleaned in advance of being washed-up.

For dessert Drew had Baklava. This filo pastry, filled with chopped nuts, and sweetened with honey was a perfect end to a great meal - claimed as native by both Greek and Turk, Drew doesn't care who invented it, but is glad they did. It was served with three green grapes.

I chose what the menu simply described as Fresh Fruit - and that is what it turned out to be. Lovely fresh chunks of Melon, Watermelon and a bunch of grapes, truly the nectar of the gods. A deliciously refreshing end of the meal.

We completed the meal with a mint tea for Drew

and a black coffee for me.

We were back in the hotel by 9pm and having uploaded the photos from earlier in the day on to Flickr, we went to bed at 10pm. Hopefully to sleep well and see what tomorrow brings.