Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson
Videos: Christer Lundstedt
Monday 20th of June
09.10 The morning is here at Central Hotel (https://www.cityandcentral.co.uk) in Norwich. A new week begins today. Now during breakfast we watch ITV's news. It's 8:10 a.m. there in the studio. Do they avoid DST or is it Greenwich Mean Time (UTC)?
09.39 Soon it will be time to return to the traveler's everyday life. First, everything must be put back in the backpacks. How can the space in them vary from day to day, it's the same things going down. Sometimes there are large empty spaces and sometimes it can suddenly become crowded in there.
10.07 We have checked out and are on our way to the city's bus station on foot. It's almost time to roll on through England. We walk the same way as we did on the walk back last night but in the opposite direction. We follow Prince of Wales Road, Castle Meadow and Red Lion Street on our way to the station. At the latter street we ended up behind a young couple who were discussing with each other. To make the girl understand what he meant, the guy chose to regularly kick and hit his girlfriend. She seemed used to it and accepted it all. One can only hope that this relationship ends soon.
10.36 In the public address system, we are asked to use the pedestrian crossings. Now music is heard, "I heard it through the grapevine" with Marvin Gaye. We sit in the sun on a bus station bench and wait for our bus to show up. Today we will go with First Bus Suffolk & Norfolk's extra nice bus called excel. It is claimed to be extremely comfortable and runs between Norwich and Peterborough.
10.47 When buying a bus ticket on the bus, I was asked if I was single. Pretty soon I understood that the question was rather about whether I wanted a single ticket. Now the bus leaves.
11.39 Brick houses dominate the surroundings around the bus. We will soon arrive at the Swaffham Market Place bus stop.
12.24 King's Lynn bus station is the place where the bus stopped right now. How long will we be here? How long is it left until arrival in Peterborough? On its way into town, the bus drove through a city gate, the South Gate. The bus just had room to get through. King's Lynn has a population of 48,556 and is located in West Norfolk. The town is often referred to as just Lynn.
16.43 Now that's enough with the room stay and gathering ofinformation. It's time to investigate the next city on our English trip. If we counted correctly, this is the sixth city we visit.
19.15 After a lot of thinking, we have walked home to our hotel room to, if possible, find answers to the questions that were just raised. We are not very hungry. Our KFC lunch remains in our stomachs and keeps us quite full still. In addition, the range of restaurants in the immediate area is rather sparse.
Tuesday 21st of June
Beautiful surroundings by the river Wensum in Norwich.
Our morning walk ended at Norwich Bus Station.
The Excel bus offers good comfort and good legroom.
We travel through King's Lynn.
Peter has arrived in Peterborough.
UCKG Church, Peterborough.
From Town Bridge we can see the River Nene.
Peter is waiting for his order at KFC.
The Queensgate Hotel, Peterborough.
Weston Homes Stadium. Peterborough United play their football here.
Peter in Peterborough.
Plenty of swans in the River Nene.
Christer by the river Nene, Peterborough.
The Lido outdoor pool.
Along the Gravel Walk on the way to Peterborough Cathedral.
Summer flowers at the cathedral.
On the church grounds.
Peterborough Cathedral.
Peterborough Guildhall.
Saint John The Baptist Church, Peterborough.
08.32 Some sounds familiar to travelers are heard this morning. It's the chatter from the shower and the gurgling of a yogurt being shaken. Both things are important to get through this day. We have slept the first and only night here at The Queensgate Hotel in Peterborough. Breakfast is served at the hotel but it costs extra. We eat in the room instead.
09.17 It is almost time to check out from this hotel as well. A new one awaits us in the next city. 10.01 There is a lot of activity in central Peterborough and also here at the bus station. We are currently relaxing on a metal bench. A girl here at the bus station is talking on a handsfree. She talks loudly about the new anxiety pills she got. They are pink and not white and she hardly dares to take them with her. 10.26 We just bought a ticket each to Cambridge. It is a journey that includes a bus change but something may have gone wrong. We asked for tickets to Cambridge but mine says Trumpington and Christers says St Ives as final destination. The tickets were cheaper than expected so it is doubtful that the driver did the right thing. Today's bus company is Stagecoach. We travel on line 904. 10.41 An elderly gentleman just sneezed and now he's blowing his nose. The bus runs through the village of Stilton, perhaps best known for its cheese. However, the cheese is not made here nowadays. 11.29 The bus turned in and stopped at the bus station in Huntingdon. So far today's travel is going just fine. 12.05 In the small town of St Ives we have changed buses. To be on the safe side, we bought a new ticket each. It was not a major expense. Christer's ticket was for here, but not any longer. Trumpington, where my ticket was to, is some distance from here. Now we drive on a separate busway that cuts straight through the landscape. It is like a track and no other vehicles are visible. Now we travel with bus B towards Cambridge.
We travel through North Cambridgeshire on bus 904.
Christer travels with Stagecoach.
We didn't get to see much of St Ives.
Peter changes buses in St Ives.
Peter has ordered coffee and a sandwich from Stir in Cambridge.
Acorn Guest House, Cambridge.
12.29 We first went to Cambridge North railway station. Now we travel towards the center along Milton Road.
12.40 The bus was left before the final stop. The stop we got off at is quite close to the future home here in Cambridge so we thought it was unnecessary to go all the way to the final station. 12.59 While waiting for check-in, there will be a coffee or light lunch at Stir (https://stircambridge.co.uk), a café opposite the Acorn Guest House where we will be staying. Our room should be ready at 14.00 so it is appropriate to sit and enjoy here in the sun and wait with good coffee and sandwich. 13.40 There was more and tastier food than expected. Now we´ll go for a walk and look at the local area before check-in. 14.02 During the walk to the accommodation, we met a man with a red phone in his shirt pocket. Arriving at Acorn Guest House (https://www.acornguesthouse.co.uk) we rang the doorbell. Then the man suddenly appeared from the street. He wondered if we had called and promised he would come and let us in. The door was then opened by a surprised lady. The gentleman showed up, took over and checked us in. We were given information about the city and a key to room 11. The room seems lovely. Here we now rest for a while. 14.33 Good news! Christer has found a pair of freshly washed socks left behind in the room. Worse news, the toilet in the room is difficult to flush, to say the least. 14.41 Now we can't rest anymore. It's time to go out. The university city of Cambridge has a lot to offer.
Peter in the room at Acorn Guest House.
Chesterton Road, Cambridge.
Boats in the River Cam.
Some students paint the beautiful landscape at Jesus Green.
At Jesus Lock in River Cam.
Swans are fed from a riverboat.
14.52 Now we will try to get as much done as possible in this one afternoon and evening here in Cambridge. The sun and heat can take some of our energy, but it's June and a long bright evening so we hope to catch up on some. It is +24°C today. Cambridge is best known for its university, which was founded as early as 1209. The students are divided into a large number of different colleges which are scattered in the central parts of the city. There are many famous people who studied in Cambridge. Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawking and John Cleese are just a few of these. Today, there are 149,907 inhabitants in Cambridge. The students are approximately 25,000.
15.09 Our walk has taken me to a bench by the River Cam, the river that gives its name to the city of Cambridge. Now Christer also sat down. A number of barges are moored in the river. More precisely, we are in the Jesus Green park. In the grass next to us, three young ladies are sitting down painting. 15.49 We continued walking along the Cam where we saw people punting. The punt is simply a low boat that you stand in and stake, paddling your way forward. Now we have arrived in the central parts of the city. We just passed Magdalene College and Magdalene Bridge. Next to us where we are sitting now is Hardy's Original Sweetshop. Opposite is The Round Church. It is one of the country's four round churches. I don't know in this now where the other three are. This one was built by the Knights Templar in the 12th century. Behind us is St John's College where six prime ministers and also the author Douglas Adams have studied. 16.10 Imagine if we were allowed to look into a college area, maybe let in by a porter, a gatekeeper. These gentlemen in plum tops that we saw in the TV detectives Morse and Lewis from Oxford. 16.34 We didn't get to go in and visit Trinity College but we did get to see a porter in plum jam, they really exist. Now we take a bench break a bit away from Clare College. Outside Clare College we saw brown cows grazing. 17.07 Now we have also passed Queen's College with a special porter entrance. Now we are at King's College and Great St Mary's University Church. We are now as central as you can get here in Cambridge. This is the heart of the city. There are a lot of people in motion on this sunny summer day.
A stake boat like this is called a punt. They are common in Cambridge.
Bridge Street, Cambridge.
The Round Church.
Outside Trinity College in Cambridge. On the left, Newton's apple tree is hidden.
Punter at Trinity Bridge.
Peter rests at one of the few quiet places in central Cambridge.
17.47 We also passed Christ's College with its ornate gate and then we went to a small kiosk near the bus station on Drummer Street to buy ice cream and soft drinks. Now we are sitting on a bench in the park Christ's Pieces. In front of us is a well-watered course for bowls. Bowls is a British precision sport similar to boccia and boules. It is played on grass or on an artificial surface with similar properties to artificial grass.
18.22 For the sake of variety, we have changed the bench here in the park. We have also seen a man who started the sprinklers at the bowling alley. 18.44 A young lady took a fight with the sprinkler system, she lost. We are thinking and planning where to eat tonight's dinner. It won't be here in the park anyway. 19.09 We first investigated various restaurants along King Street. It offered Turkish and Bengali food and much more. However, the price level was quite high. On the other side of the river on the way home, we instead found the budget restaurant Riverside. Here it will be Mixed kebab with rice for Christer and kebab in bread for me. 20.18 Full and satisfied after a meal with large portions we then went to the Spar supermarket near where we stay. There we bought something for tonight and also breakfast for tomorrow morning. 21.08 The upcoming train strike in the country makes it difficult for us. There is a lot of pressure on the few train tickets available. Probably we will have to restructure our plans for the upcoming stay in London. June 23 and June 25 are days when very few trains will run. Enough of that, first we'll plan what we'll do tomorrow.
River traffic at Queens College, Cambridge.
King's College Chapel.
The University Church of St Mary's in Cambridge.
Christer in central Cambridge.
The beautiful gate at Christ's College.
We visit the Riverside restaurant.
21.45 It turned out as we thought. There's a lot to see in Cambridge and we've seen a lot too. However, it is difficult to take in what is what from all the university buildings, churches and chapels. It would have been interesting to have more time here and delved a little more into the history of the city and everything that happened here. Now we drink evening coffee, eat cookies and roughly plan the coming days. Unfortunately, we cannot get the remote control to work for the room's TV.
22.28 We have a plan about what we will do tomorrow. The other upcoming days in London and the excursions we intend to do from there are more in the air at the moment. We get to prioritize and change the order of what we intend to do. Something that made it tricky for us is that the bus tickets on National Express are basically sold out. Cheap bus tickets will become expensive train tickets if we are going outside London. You just have to bite the bullet and pay. 23.55 Here in the room, we book train tickets online before they get even more expensive. We are booking for a trip on the 24th of June. We´ll go to Canterbury at 11.10 and back to London at 20.03. G4KBX37K is the code we must provide to the ticket machine to receive the purchased travel documents.
Wednesday 22nd of June
08.43 Another kettle has been switched on to prepare morning coffee, mainly for me. Christer usually starts his coffee drinking later in the day. The rest of the breakfast is already arranged.
09.18 The morning radio selection on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire is varied, to say the least. First came a female presenter who mentioned that she had a new boyfriend, could any of the listeners inform her husband about this. Then something was said about them breaking into the studio in the morning. Now it's a report about a woman from St Ives who must have been in some sewing/seamstress competition on the BBC. Is all this true and serious? 09.52 The sun is shining outside. It will be a hot day today. Soon we will also be outdoors, doubtful whether we will shine on the other hand. Today we will first walk a longer distance to the railway station. 10.09 We cross the River Cam again, this time on a large wide bridge, Elizabeth Bridge. 10.33 A bench in the shade is great for backpackers like us. Children in yellow vests are being trained in using bicycles on the street next to us. Clear instructions are given regarding the position of the shoulder blades as well as leg angles when getting on and off, etc. We ourselves lack bicycles and are in the park St Matthew's Piece. 11.21 I am now sitting on board the train, slightly sweaty. It will now be a short journey north. 11.43 We are there and not as sweaty anymore. We are sitting on a platform at the railway station in Ely.
Peter on Elizabeth Bridge.
Bicycle lessons at St Matthew's Piece in Cambridge.
Christer rests on a bench in Ely.
Someone is giving away old DVD movies.
Jubilee Gardens, Ely.
Boats in the River Great Ouse.
12.08 We left the railway station behind us and started walking towards the center here in Ely. We make a small day trip here before heading to London in the afternoon. Now we are making the first of many supposed bench breaks here in the city. There will be more of them when we carry our backpacks. We are at the Jubilee Gardens park. Next to a dustbin, someone has placed a box of DVD films. You are free to come and bring some films with you if you so wish.
12.27 Ely is a small town of 20,333 inhabitants best known for its beautiful cathedral and statesman Oliver Cromwell who lived here in the 17th century. Now Christer has emailed me the afternoon train tickets. Time for a little curiosity. The town of Ely is named after eels. Once upon a time, opium poppies were also grown here. The children here calmed down when you gave them poppy tea from poppies, not something to recommend perhaps? 12.50 Look, another British river. We're down by the River Great Ouse looking at all the riverboats that seem to be being used as extra holiday homes. Speaking of water, I'm thirsty. It's +27°C and we're carrying our backpacks around in the heat. 13.11 After seeing the city's great cathedral (Ely Cathedral) from 1083, it will now be a burger lunch at the simple Street Café (https://street-cafe.edan.io) on High Street. 13.55 Satisfied but a little dissatisfied with the small hamburgers, we moved on. Near the cathedral, a Russian cannon was seen with a flower tassel in the muzzle and draped with two Ukrainian flags. The cannon is from the Crimean War in the 19th century. The town received the cannon as a gift from Queen Victoria in 1860. The bench we sit on now has a plaque. It is in memory of Phyllisa James Clark with regards from the family. 14.40 We passed the beautiful house where Oliver Cromwell lived with his family (https://www.olivercromwellshouse.co.uk). Cromwell led a rebellion against the British monarchy and was head of state with the title Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland from 16 December 1653 until his death 3 September 1658. There was a brief period of republic after the execution of King Charles I and Charles II later on the throne. Now we cool off by ourselves at the train station at Ely Food Station with coffee for both of us and a Sprite for me too. We sit here and take it easy. In front of us, people are being dropped off or picked up by various cars, private as well as taxis. 15.10 Now we are ready to return by train to Cambridge. There will be a short stop before the journey to a capital I've seen before but personally never slept in. 15.26 Inside the train compartment it is shady and cool. It's not bad at all.
Market Place, Ely.
Ely Cathedral.
Lunch at Street Café.
Peter on High Street in Ely.
A Russian cannon from the Crimean War with Ukrainian colors.
Oliver Cromwell's House, Ely.
15.53 We make a short platform bench stop before going to the right platform and then on to the train to London. On the journey here, the conductor did not want to see our tickets. He thought he had seen enough of those today.
16.24 We got on board and also sat next to each other on the train from Greater Anglia which will take us from Cambridge to London Liverpool Street. Now it's mostly just a matter of waiting and going along. 16.58 We are now in Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire. At home in Sweden, the government has passed its budget. The evening press claims that in midsummer it will be over +30˚C all over the world. We think they refer to all of Sweden, it seems more likely. 17.16 The train stopped at Harlow. We are back in Essex. We stayed here in Harlow for a few nights on a Christmas break trip in January 2007. It was London that was our destination but we stayed at a hostel in Harlow because of the cost of accommodation. 17.52 We have arrived in London and got off at Liverpool Street Station. It was difficult when I had to pass the turnstile out of the platform, but I got out. Now we have tried to solve single tickets on the underground, but the least we found was a day pass. Hope they apply in 24 hours from now. 18.04 After a bit of walking and searching, meager information, we found the right platform. 18.50 At Euston Square station, the turnstile machine swallowed our day tickets. That's what happened with those tickets. We need to delve more deeply into how the tickets work on the public transport. It is not the same system now as it was fifteen years ago, not entirely unexpected perhaps? Now we are in room 203 at The County Hotel (https://www.thecountylondon.co.uk), one of the few accommodations in central London that has a reasonably acceptable price level. Here, however, we do not have WiFi in the room (only in the lobby) and we share the shower and WC with other guests. Add to that that no breakfast is included and that there are only two tubes of instant coffee in the room. Lucky I brought a can of instant coffee. 19.23 We take it easy in the room and check on the internet which restaurant options are available in the immediate area. The advantage of Google Maps is that it works even without an internet connection if you have previously downloaded the current map. We are located in the Bloomsbury district just south of the major railway stations, Euston King's Cross and St Pancras.
Coffee break at Ely Food Station.
We are at Liverpool Street Station in London.
Peter on the street Endsleigh Gardens in London.
We will stay four nights at The County Hotel.
Our room 203 is simple but spacious.
Peter has dinner at The Bumble Bees.
20.17 After filling up on coffee, we will now leave the room to eat dinner and to buy breakfast. Once again, we stay in a hotel where we can prepare our own breakfast.
20.51 The bumble bees on Tavistock Place we will serve our dinners. The small restaurant The Bumble Bees will serve us lamb and chicken. 22.12 There were no gigantic portions, mainly my dish was small. However, we were full. Next we bought breakfast at Tesco Express on Bernard Street. A tired man in the store urged people to use the self-service checkout. The reason? Not pure kindness as you might think. He asked another customer to buy the soda he had for cash. Now we are back in room 203. 23.04 At the previous accommodation, the remote control did not work. On this we have no remote control at all. Clicking the screen buttons on the room's TV does not help. Well, we didn't come here to watch TV.
Thursday 23rd of June
08.32 We have slept the first night here in London. During the night I woke Christer up by calling out jorå in my sleep. Now that we're both awake, we're thinking about how to solve it with the underground. Do we buy a day ticket or can we travel with cheaper single tickets than we managed to do yesterday? In any case, it will be a full day here in London today. The original plan to visit Watford, Luton and St Albans just north of London has changed due to the rail strike that started today.
09.39 This is another morning I have managed to both shower and eat breakfast. Outside there is rain in the air. 10.23 Christer has received important information via e-mail. The door code for the upcoming accommodation in Brighton is 1020. However, this is on Sunday. Today it's Thursday. Now we are on our way out. 10.34 It is becoming routine here at The County Hotel to sit for a while in the lobby to get an internet connection. Now we have updated ourselves on news and looked a bit on Facebook. 11.10 The rain is still on the ground and the benches are wet. Otherwise, the sun is shining again. We are having a bench break on our way to what is more interesting. We are sitting at London's oldest square, Bloomsbury Square Garden. It was built as early as 1665. The square is today a park where interesting people gather. Besides the two of us, there is a homeless man here with lots of possessions. 11.58 We have passed the British Museum and passed close to Soho. Now we have arrived at Trafalgar Square. There are a lot of people here and a big stage is set up. West End Live is the name of the event which is entertainment offered completely free of charge. It doesn't look at all like it did the last time any of us were here. At least we recognize Lord Nelson on his tall pillar. The armies of pigeons that used to be here, however, are gone. 12.15 It's time for another classic attraction here in London. We have arrived at Piccadilly Circus square with its giant flashing advertising walls.
The lobby of The County Hotel.
Outside the British Museum.
Seven Dials in Covent Garden, London.
Trafalgar Square hosts West End Live.
Piccadilly Circus, London.
Christer in Green Park.
12.35 Finally we take another bench break. We have walked street after street in search of a suitable place for coffee or lunch. Now we have stopped in Green Park.
12.57 Our walk through the park has been stopped by a downpour. We are currently standing by a tree and waiting for better weather. We are on our way to Buckingham Palace, home of the British Queen Elizabeth II. Wondering if she can invite us for a cup of coffee? Buckingham Palace takes its name from the Duke of Buckingham. The original Buckingham House, which was the building that forms the core of today's palace, was formerly a large private palace built for the duke in 1703. 13.20 After seeing the Victoria Memorial and Buckingham Palace, we starts to feel it in both backs and stomachs that we have walked many kilometers without any food and drinks. The legs need rest and we need lunch. Right now we are sitting on a wall outside The Queen's Gallery. 13.56 We have finally made a decision about where to eat. We probably won't find cheap fantastic restaurants in this part of London. We are at Pizza Express (https://www.pizzaexpress.com) on Victoria Street. Here there are Italian pizzas with some odd ingredients. Pizza Express is a British chain with restaurants around the country. 14.48 After some coffee after the meal, we will now continue to see London again. 15.08 The churchbells are constantly ringing. We have arrived at Westminster Abbey. This is where the royal stuff happens. Coronations have been performed in this church since the year 1066. 15.18 The bells from nearby St Margaret's Church continue to ring continuously. There seems to be a wedding going on in the church. We have seen a bridal couple and a group of finely dressed people. It's probably not a simple butcher who got married considering the number of guests and their attire. Now we look towards the Parliament (Palace of Westminster) with the Elizabeth Tower. In that tower, the clock Big Ben usually chimes at regular intervals. The tower is called Elizabeth Tower since 2012.
Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace.
Buckingham Palace.
Christer is eating a Calabrese pizza at Pizza Express.
Westminster Abbey.
Wedding in St Margaret's Church.
Peter at Parliament Square Garden.
15.44 We have passed various sights and famous places in the vicinity of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. We first came to the entrance to the Churchill War Rooms, the underground headquarters where Winston Churchill ruled the country during the Second World War. Christer has visited it before when he was in London with his father in 2008. We have also seen the memorial to the victims of the terrorist attacks in Bali in October 2002 and also the Prime Minister's office 10 Downing Street, cordoned off and well guarded.
16.05 There was then a walk through the Whitehall area. We photographed a guard on a horse and also Monty, not Monty Python but the war hero Bernard Montgomery. Now we are benched in Whitehall Gardens for a while. We also recently saw some policemen with horses who took a break so that the horses could graze behind the Ministry of Defence. 16.27 We take a short break by the Thames opposite the London Eye. We are so slowly on our way home. 16.45 While Christer checks the upcoming walking route, I look towards the Thames and write this. There are, to say the least, plenty of boats out on the river. We have walked a lot today and still have a few kilometers to go before we are back at the hotel again. 17.53 On the way home we saw a wedding party. Were these the ones we saw at the church earlier today? Most likely. We strolled through Covent Garden before reaching our home quarters again. Now we are going to post some of today's pictures online. 20.08 After rinsing off the outside in the shower and the inside with coffee, it's time to go out to eat some kind of food.
Churchill War Rooms.
Guards Memorial at St James Park.
Guard at Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall.
War hero Bernard Montgomery (Monty) is celebrated.
The London Eye by the River Thames.
Whitehall Gardens.
21.31 We have made a valiant attempt to find a dinner restaurant but gave up. There was no affordable and reasonable alternative in the immediate area. We looked, among other things, in The Brunswick Centre, a shopping center near our hotel. Instead, we visited Portland Food & Wine to buy something to eat in the room. Before we eat, however, upcoming train tickets must be bought. At the sandwich shopping, I was about to buy a tuna sandwich. Not so smart if a man like me is allergic to fish.
21.57 We have connection and network connection in the lobby. During the lobby stay, an old fashioned man in a red jacket and black hat appeared and said good evening. He looked like someone who used to go around shouting that everything was fine. 22.20 We consume what we bought and have a simpler evening meal here at The County Hotel. Baguettes and British milk will now be rounded off with muffins and coffee. 22.38 We plan a little for tomorrow. It is a day without a train strike so we intend to make a trip down to Dover by the English Channel. We also hope to visit the seat of the English Archbishop, Canterbury. 23.21 Another day is coming to an end. We're starting to get into the travel life. It's nice that we have more than one night here in London.
River Thames.
Peter at Victoria Embankment.
An interesting hotel guest.
You can see 50 photos from June 20 in this photoalbum.
You can see 93 photos from June 21 in this photoalbum.
You can see 46 photos from June 22 in this photoalbum.
You can see 97 photos from June 23 in this photoalbum.