England
24th April, morning in London Last night's concert was one of the most enjoyable I've been to. We sat in the choir
seats behind the orchestra and it was a new experience watching the orchestra from that side. It was a good programme
too: Rossini: Barber of Seville Overture; Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante for Viola and Violin; Brahms: Symphony No.2.
26th April, London, morning 28th April, afternoon in Malham We then headed across to the Yorkshire Dales, starting our Dales sojourn with a visit to
Shipton, mainly to buy some juice! Then a short way on a very busy A road after which we were very glad to turn on to an
unclassified road which meandered between dry stone walls and flocks of sheep. Eventually we reached Malham
where we found a farmhouse B&B on the outskirts of the village. After settling
in we spent the next few hours following narrow roads up and
down very steep hills all around the southern end of the Dales. We were enchanted by the lambs which are much younger here than
they were on the Continent or further south. Tomorrow we head off ultimately for Wrexham to spend the night with Janet's parents.
29th April, evening in Wrexham 4th May The lilacs are in flower and are beautiful. We decided to come home by bus, but it took so long that eventually we got off and caught a tube.
We watched a bit of TV and then had supper and went to bed early.
What a relief to be back in a civilised country! At Heathrow we phoned the Olivers but they couldn't
take us that night, so we phoned our regular Salvation Army Hotel, but they were full too. Fortunately
there is another Salvation Army Hotel about a block away from St James's Park, right opposite the James
Hotel, and they had a vacancy! Very clean and comfortable, as expected. We walked from
there to Festival
Hall to book seats for a concert. London really is looking beautiful, with flowers and trees in full bloom.
We walked through the park and also along Victoria Embankment and past Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament.
Feeding birds in St James's Park.
St James's Park.
Buckingham Palace from St James's.
Looking towards the Horse Guards' Parade from St James's.
The Memorial to Sullivan on Victoria
Embankment.
The Thames from the Embankment.
Westminster Bridge, Houses of
Parliament and the Clock Tower.
Graffiti under Waterloo Bridge.
The Clock Tower housing Big Ben.
Westminster Abbey.
We went for another lovely walk around London, covering much the same ground before heading for Frances and Alan. Alan was at the
underground station to meet us, which was very nice because, as Gerald and
Elaine can testify, it's quite a long walk to their house with heavy luggage! In
the evening they had their British Army friend Kieran and Jane, his wife,
around. Kieran had been in Zimbabwe as part of the first British Army
integration personnel there, and he paid us a visit at Falcon, so we had met him
before. They stayed VERY late and we collapsed into bed at 3.00 a.m.
Yesterday, after a late start (naturally!) Frances and Alan took us out to the R.H.S. gardens at Wisley.
They really are beautiful, with blossom trees in full bloom. The alpine house was quite the best I've ever seen, although their orchid
collection was very small. Owen, the King's eleven month old son, enjoyed the outing as much as anyone, being pushed up and down the grassy slopes
in his pram!
Above, Wisley R.H.S. Gardens; below, Frances, Alan, Owen and Ann at Wisley.
Schizanthus at Wisley.
Today we pick up our car and head firstly for the orchard region of Kent, and then we're spending the night with the Olivers.
27th April, Witham
We picked up the car at about midday as it's a rather long and complicated bus journey from Ealing to New Malden. We then set off south to the orchards,
where, in fact, not all that much blossom is out yet. The apples need another week or two; but it was pretty countryside and by chance we picked up
and then followed the R.A.C. Blossom Route signs (we had been following the A.A. route from our atlas). Then back towards London, under the Thames
through the Dartford Tunnel and then east towards Witham. We arrived at about 4.00 p.m. and found Randi and Jennifer at home. Pete had gone into
London to put Anthony, (Geoff's son) onto a train, and he got back at about 8.00 p.m., by which time Ingrid had got back from work. David goes to
college doing Theatre Design in London. We had supper rather late with the result that Ray is very growly this morning! It has been lovely seeing
them all - they are such a warm and friendly family. After breakfast we will head north.
Apple blossom in Kent.
Oast houses in Kent.
After successfully finishing our business in Bury St Edmunds we deaded for Yourkshire. The journey was very pleasant and uneventful. Around Lincoln the tulip fields were quite a sight!
Tulips near Lincoln.
Lincoln Cathedral.
Monk Bar in the City Walls, York.
The approach to York Minster.
York Minster Library (once the Archbishop's Palace).
Bell Tower of York Minster.
An altar in York Minster.
A window in York Minster dating from 1310.
The River Ure, North Yorkshire.
Above and next four photographs below, Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire.
Drystone wall on Pateley Moor, Yorkshire.
Foster Beck flax mill, seventeenth century, near Nidderdale.
Malham village.
The road up to Malham Tarn.
Footbridge in a drystone wall.
Rocky outcrop from which walls are
built.
Adventurous lambs.
Pen-y-ghent in the Dales.
Limestone pavement near Pen-y-ghent.
We set off for the Peak District on a very cunning route devised by Ann, our navigator,
thus completely avoiding all of the big industrial centres of the midlands.
The national park which contains the Peak District was much the same as the dales and moors of yesterday, with vast open spaces.
The general impression was much softer, though, as there was little rock exposed, and consequently no stone walls which were such
a prominent feature of the moors.
Oakworth en route to the Peak
District.
Electricity cables in the Peak
District.
2nd May, outside Wisborough Green, p.m.
After rather a late start we headed
for the Wye Valley. We went along Wenlock Edge, a lovely forested limestone escarpment. As it was our wedding anniversary we decided to have a pub lunch which turned out to be a little disappointing as the menu was rather limited. Nevertheless we made up for it by having a lovely cream tea (coffee, actually) at an antique shoppe in Weobley (a dot on the map).
Viaduct near Congleton in Cheshire.
Wenlock Edge, near the Wye.
Anniversary Bluebells, Red Campion, Bush Vetch,
Primroses, Greater Stitchwort and Jack-by-the-Hedge.
Medieval BroadGate
(sic!) in Ludlow.
Ludlow Castle.
Timbered building in Ludlow.
Wye Valley.
Tintern Parva on the Wye.
Tintern Abbey.
Tintern Abbey overlooking the
Infirmary.
Porch of Tintern Abbey.
The Presbytery.
View of the Wye Valley from Symond's
Yat in Dean Forest.
Another view of the Wye Valley from
Symond's Yat .
Stonehenge.
We set off quite early from our farmhouse and got into London, returned the car and then caught a bus to Wimbledon where we changed to
tube to Russell Square and the Salvation Army Hotel. The weather had been lovely when we started out but it became duller as the day
wore on. We had lunch at the hotel and then went our separate ways to window shop as it was a public holiday. I had a lovely time
wandering about the old Covent Garden Market which has been converted into a shopping complex. That sounds horribly as if it's all
chrome and glass, but it isn't. The shops are all small and they have managed to preserve the atmosphere of the old market. Then on
to the open air market in Portobello Road where it was business as usual with a lot of the shops open. Next I went to Oxford Street
where I found that Debenhams was open so I wandered around there and finally back to the hotel, where I found Ray was already home.
He can tell you about his shopping and the evening.
There's nothing much to say about my shopping: I bought one record (how unusual!). In the evening we went to a performance of Handel's
Messiah. It was sung by the Stockholm Bach Choir, just under forty strong, accompanied by the London Sinfonia. The Swedish
conductor took everything at a bouncy pace, but the choral climaxes were very weak in the first part. I think he must have given them a
talking to during interval, because it was like a completely different choir for Parts Two and Three.
5th May
Yesterday morning we went our separate ways to shop and met back at the hotel for lunch. After that we took tube and bus to Kew Gardens.
The day had started sunny but the sun disappeared at about midday. We spent quite a bit of time nipping from one hothouse to the next! What we did see was very pretty.
Cymbidiums at Kew.
Bromeliad.
Azaleas and Rhododendrons.
Copper Beech, Rhododendrons and Silver
Birch, Kew.
Tulips.
Lilac.
6th May, Heathrow
We're now at Heathrow and Ray has gone on a voyage of exploration. When he gets back I'll do some exploring and he can tell you about earlier today.
We left our luggage at the Salvation Army Hotel and also handed over to them all the clothing we had brought over
with us not intending to take back. We then set off for Hampstead Heath. It was rather cold and windy but we had a pleasant walk and had our
morning tea and lunch there, and then fed the birds with our excess bread.
Railway bridge in Hampstead Heath.
Mr and Mrs Duck, their children and
the children's uncles.
7th May, Esigodini!!
Our flight left Heathrow 20 minutes late but we managed to arrive at Harare Airport on time. We left late at Heathrow because they were still
fuelling the plane when we were due to take off. We've decided that B.A. offered the worst in-flight service we've ever had on the London to
Africa route. Perhaps it was as a result of our trip over on Air Zimbabwe, First Class!
Customs at Harare was a complete mess. We tried to go through the red route as our pre-departure customs warning had told us we must if he had bought anything outside the country; but we were sent, along with all the other similarly confused returning residents, along the green route, where we had to declare all the goods we were bringing in! What all the visitors must have thought of the "green route" I can't imagine. Anyway, after declaring our goods we were let through (after a few questions about what sort of books I was bringing in!). Our flight back to Bulawayo was uneventful and Mike Laing met us at the Southern Sun as planned. We got home to find we have a new gardener! More
on that and subsequent events in our individual letters to you all.