Europe/UK 2023

 Exmouth Market for breakfast at Sweet and my first full English breakfast … I generously donated my tomatoes 🍅 to Anne!  No 63 bus to Farringdon and Elizabeth Line tube to Bond Street. Selfridges for a gift voucher  and guess what we came across …? Surely not Christmas already!! Then made our way to Covent Garden via some significant attractions on the way.                              Oxford Circus                                   Regent Street                                  Piccadilly Circus     Les Miserables is still playing after all these years in Leicester Square.                         China Town was pumping!                                Finally arrived at Covent Garden. However, being a Saturday there were so many people, we decided to flag-it for a week day and hopefully a bit quieter. Made our way back to Granville Square via Kings Cross.  Down to Exmouth Market for pre dinner drink with Olivia and Callan, then yummy Vietnamese on Kings Cross Rd. 

 Sun was shining when we arrived in Padstow. Found cafe with nice views of town … and a good flat white! ☕️ A lovely small fishing village, similar to the other Cornish towns we have visited, but obviously slightly more well known due to a certain chef … Rick Stein. According to my sources, Rick Stein has 5 establishments in and around Padstow. We stumbled across 2 of them and had a lovely lunch at his cafe. Anne had the Vietnamese poached chicken salad (delicious!) and I went for seafood and the crab cakes, also very good!                                    Crab cakes                         Vietnamese chicken salad Locals and holiday makers eating Cornish ice cream and pasties, sitting in the sun as we headed back to the car. Nicola and Robert dropped us off at Liskeard Station and we caught the train back to Paddington and made our way to Granville Square and a cooked dinner - thanks Olivia! Then watched the All Blacks beat Italy 🇮🇹 before heading to bed.  A big day from Looe to P

 Quiet day in Looe today. Walked into town after breakfast for a coffee then wandered and took a few photos.                           Low tide this morning                    Lovely memorial for WW1 soldiers The weather has cooled since being in Looe but still around 18 degrees with bursts of sunshine. Not bad for autumn. In the afternoon we drove to Lanhydrock Estate, 900 acres and part of the National Trust, near Bodin.         A very grand entrance to Lanhydrock House

 Caught the train from Looe to Penzance this morning. Walked down to Looe station with Olivia as she was training back to London.  Changed train at Likesheard and a very scenic trip south to Penzance.  Unbeknown to us, we had headed into the first storm of the season … Storm Agnes! Very blustery but the rain was holding off at this stage. Time to take shelter and the Admiral Benbow was the logical choice with a pint of English bitter! By the time we came out, the rain had set in, so a swift move to a very cool cafe we had spotted earlier for lunch. Penzance upon arrival … plenty of cloud and wind.                           Came across this pub                Penzance under blue skies after lunch. 2.50pm train back to Looe. Had to wait at Likesheard for 40 minutes for connecting Looe train. Although the weather wasn’t great the scenery was lovely and we had a nice look around Penzance.