Upon arriving at Heathrow, we stayed in Maidenhead (highly recommended: The Bridge Cottage B&B). We figured why pay London hotel rates for what are just “jet lag recovery” days? We’ll go into London after our current stay in Exeter, and then return after some other travel to be in London on election day.
We landed at Heathrow just over 24 hours before the total airspace shutdown. It was eerie, as Maidenhead is overflown by aircraft regularly, due to its proximity to the airport. In fact, just about noon, one plane evidently in a holding pattern, had flown rather low right over a park where I was reading by the river. That was the last plane I saw or heard–it suddenly got very quiet. Only later did I learn of the shutdown. We really got here just in time!
Maidenhead is famous for its bridges, especially this rail bridge:
Of course, not everyone has ready access to a bridge:
The locks on the Thames are interesting:
One of the best things about Maidenhead is the ready availability of Brakspear.
Given that this trip is electoral tourism–er, field research–I should point out that Maidenhead is in a safe Tory constituency.
How long did you plan to stay in the UK? Could you be inconvenienced by the volcano?
Seed planted by Ed — 19 April 2010 @ 08:43
Bitter, Gold, or Triple?
Seed planted by Jack — 19 April 2010 @ 13:36
The Bitter, on cask of course.
From the website, it does not appear they still have the ESB, which I have had on cask in past years. The Bitter has long been their classic, in any case.
We’re not scheduled to fly to Israel till 10 May. A short sidetrip to Dublin next week is looking a bit iffy, however. Unless we make the ferry a contingency plan.
Seed planted by MSS — 20 April 2010 @ 12:37