A visit to the Palace

The day before we were due at Buckingham Palace, we went for a walk along the Thames.
These modern apartments were just being built, by the Vauxhall Bridge

Battersea Power Station in the distance

We walked towards the Houses of  Parliament

I love this memorial to the wartime Special Operations Executive

The London Eye against the grey sky

Some of the mechanisms

The bright lights of a roundabout pierced the gloom

 We crossed on the Golden Jubilee bridge

...and on past Nelson's Column,

...pausing to admire the horse-drawn "carriage" (plastic, I think)

...and on we walked, down the Mall

We had a particular destination in mind

Buckingham Palace. We just wanted to check its location, ready for the next day.

And so, the next day found us in a taxi heading again to Buckingham Palace.

Except, this time, we were to go inside those gates.

There were lots of people queuing in the inner courtyard. All very smartly dressed 

These are the loos!

Daughter enjoying a joke in there.

We had to surrender our phones then, but we do have a few pictures of the big event,

These prints were sent to us last week

Outside, reunited with phones and cameras, people queued for official and family pictures

...as well as investigating real carriages, not like yesterday's plastic one!

The poor Beefeaters posed for hundreds of snaps!

That's the OBE itself

Daughter Ruth takes a picture

All three of us

What a great day!

Llangollen in the rain - nicer than it sounds!

Last weekend, I was in Llangollen - amazed by the amount of water in the River Dee

There are quite a few tourist shops - but all quite nice (not too much tat!)

The Santa Special train was just leaving the riverside station

Queues for the next train were already forming

Fake snow on the station walls!

Here it is, the start of my walk. No, not the cafe with canal paintings...

...but the Llangollen Canal itself. We'd been hoping for better weather for photos as this is a lovely stretch 

Unlike everywhere else I've been, the Winter Moorings here were busy (maybe because they have electric hookups) 

I liked the grassy head!

A lift bridge

It was a murky day...

... but on the positive side, there were still some flowers blooming

Just past the bridge, we met some ramblers - 41 of them

Very determined, but they had come from the Wirral, 40 miles away, so I suppose they felt they had to walk. (Same reason I was walking!)

Amazingly green for December

There are some high hills hidden in the mist here.

Looking down the Vale of Llangollen

Not very often that I see speed cameras on the canal!

On our return, we noticed that this side of the lift bridge was bright green with lichen, whereas the other side was clean and white. 

Back in Llangollen, we admired the Christmas decorations on the narrow boats

This walk would be stunning in good conditions - my original plan was to get the bus to Chirk and then walk the 10 miles back along the canal to Llangollen. But that can wait for another day: the aqueducts at Chirk and Pontcysllte Aqueduct will hopefully make it a great future trip. As it was, we walked out for about an hour, and then turned back the same way - making it a 5.5 mile walk

A cosy cottage in a stormy Wales

The best made plans ...

We planned a walking weekend in Wales. But the weather had other ideas. Luckily, the place we stayed in was fantastic, and made up for the lack of walking. 

I don't normally show where we stop, but this place, Plas Uchaf, was exceptional. We booked it through the Landmark Trust (click for more info). 

The house was built about 1400, and was once a baronial hall.

This table was about 13 feet long! We could have had a real feast, but we had fish and chips!

It was lit by lamps, rather than ceiling lights, and the main hall is open to the roof, as you can see.

This was when the rain eased a bit: it was torrential for almost the whole day.

The stove kept the place very warm and snug, even though the hall was massive. (The underfloor heating helped)

The window sills were big enough to sit on

Difficult to give some idea of the scale, but I stood against the end wall: the roof was probably about 20-25 feet up. The windows you can see are in the bedroom, from where you can look down at the hall.

Sitting area by the fire

Looking into the kitchen

Looking into the hall. We spent time reading: there was no television (I know!) 

The low door: even I had to stoop

For a moment, the rain stopped, just as the light was going

Night time: from the outside, the house looks quite ordinary: it isn't! 

The Landmark Trust rescues historic buildings and renovates them for holiday lets. You can stay in farms, castles, water towers, follies (including a pineapple), thatched cottages and many others, all over the country, including remote cottages on the Island of Lundy. Some get very busy, and are booked years in advance. They are also often quite expensive, but the winter rates are cheaper - and what better than to stay in a place with a stove or open fire when the nights are cold? 
Channel 4 recently showed a few programmes on the Landmark trust and its work