Bicycles, Motorbikes and Planes, Oh My!!!!!

Bicycles, Motorbikes and Planes, Oh My!!!!!

One thing I enjoy about traveling in and about London and other parts of Europe and Asia  is the ease and availability  of the public transport. Yes there can be closures for various reasons, but between the  transport and walking all things are very accessible. In most of the US good public transportation is sorely lacking. 

Speaking of walking toady according to the Fitbits we walked over 15000 steps and covered well over 7 miles. 

Today we woke after a solid 6 hours of sleep so or walking dead / zombie portion of the trip is over. This morning we made our way to the Waterloo Station and took the South West Trains to Weybridge. The Jubilee  Line had a service interruption for engineering reasons so we had to travel via a roundabout way. 

In Weybridge we were met by Albert and Anne, more cruising friends. They took us to the Brooklands Museum. The Brooklands Museum is located on world’s first purpose - built motor speedway. Much motor sport history was made at Brooklands. Those were the days when 150MPH was fast. 

With the advent of WWII aviation moved to the forefront and the race way was closed to manufacture aircraft. The aircraft section had a wide range of aviation memorabilia. The highlights for me were to see a Sopwith Camel, Wellington Bomber, a very nice display about the 617th RAF Bomber Group ( the Dam Busters) Vickers and Hawkers. I enjoyed walking through this bit of history. 

One thing which was brought to the forefront of this transportation evolution, it the strong tie between motor car racers and the Aviation. It was a time when men tinkered to develop and design something which would go faster. 

There is also a Stratosphere Chamber, built to test various engines and other bits of machinery to assess the ability to operate in a cold high altitude. The size of this chamber can not be described, other than really big. 

A great display of Motor Bikes and London buses, and a large display of various British aircraft,

Dam Busting Ordnance, 617th Display 

Bang Bang Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang We Love You 

We had a very nice Sunday Roast in the Members Club House. The day was also highlighted by a special event. It was the Ace Cafe Ton Up day. The Ace Cafe in London is  birthplace of cafe racers and is held as an icon in the eyes and hearts of motorcycling enthusiasts. Many motorbikes showed up for the day. One could see many classics, like Norton, Triumphs, BSA, and more. 

Our Duffy Bear found a buddy named Bertie Bear, the mascot for the Brooklands Museum. 

We made our way back to London and decided to do some walking about, so we walked from the Waterloo Station to the Embankment Underground station.   We commented to each other about how crowded things seemed. We have become used to being in London during the less crowed off season. 

Duffy and his new buddy Bertie Bear. 

We got back to the hotel and decided to walk to the 10 Bells Pub for a drink. Afterwards we walked across the street to the Spitalfields Market. We found a bakery booth selling the last of their goods. We had a cherry tart and a custard tart. Wlaking back to our hotel we were drawn into a Malaysian cafe where we had a pork steam bun, very tasty. Chatting with the server we learned about coconut jam. This was served on toast with butter. A nice creamy coconut flavor. We are now back at our room for the night planning for our day of watching the Tour arrive in London.   

The Ten Bells Pub. 

Look a Cabbie Shelter, for a Bacon Sandwich!!!!

Look Kids Big Ben!!