TO LONDON:
We left our Denver hotel with plenty of time to park the car, take shuttle to terminal, check our bags, and get to the club room. There was a glitch in our Parking Spot reservation but it was quickly sorted with some excellent customer service. Breezed through check in and security and then to the UAL Club Room.
Our flight to London Heathrow was very nice being in Polaris Class. I had one of the best airplane food meals ever. It was a Bison Meatloaf with a spicy tomato glaze. This is a special entree prepared by the Denver UAL kitchen.
We both got some sleep during the flight and soon we arrived at Heathrow. We went quickly through passport control and our bags were out in a timely manner.
Off to the Underground we went. Taking the Piccadilly Line to Kings Cross/St Pancras station.
Our lodging for the night here in London is the Crestfield Hotel. The rate was very good and the location is 1/2 a block from the train station.
The room is small and typical for a small European hotel. Basic and very adequate for one night. We figure the small room will prepare us for the tight quarters of the narrow boat. I will l also mention there is no lift, no worries it’s all good.
We stashed our bags in the room and headed out to the London Canal Museum. The London Canal Museum has an area where you can see inside a narrowboat cabin and get a feel for the size. One can learn about the history of London's canals, the cargoes carried, the people who lived and worked on the waterways, and the horses that pulled their boats. There is a huge Victorian ice well once used to store ice imported from Norway and brought by ship and canal boat to be stored. This unique waterways museum is housed in a former ice warehouse built in about 1862-3 for Carlo Gatti, the famous ice cream maker, and features the history of the ice trade and ice cream as well as the canals. There exhibits on canal locks and the men who built the canals.
There are also excellent displays of canal boat art work. Traditional canal boat art is called Roses and Castles. It features bright, hand-painted clusters of roses and other flowers alongside romantic, fairy-tale castle landscapes. Boaters painted the artwork on the their narrowboats themselves, specifically the cabin panels, doors, and functional items like water cans and buckets.The style started in the 19th century as a source of pride and identity for the working boat families.
The Museum does offer canal boat cruises based on different themes and the season.
The local pub named Millers was recommended as they serve good food. We did make a stop and had their fish and chips for £9. The portion was large and we could not finish it all. The quality was very nice and would definitely recommend and we will probably return.
Next was making our way to St Pancras station to pick up our train tickets. The ticket collection machine directed us to the ticket office and we soon had our outbound and return tickets in hand.
I should mention we will be traveling by rail to Falkirk on October 1 and then return by rail after our canal boat sailing. For us, rail is a fun way to travel about the UK as the service is usually quite good and the fares very reasonable.
We are tired from our travels and will soon probably crash and have an alarm set for the morning.
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