The Worcestershire Beacon

One of my daughters has just moved to Malvern in Worcestershire so I thought I would go for a quick visit before I head back to Oz in a month's time.
On the day I arrived it was a dull, wet and windy day so we had a look around the town. Malvern is a lovely Victorian Spa town set right at the foot of the Malvern Hills. Much of the town retains its original Victorian buildings and many of the residential properties are well maintained Victorian houses. The town is full of small businesses. There are loads of art galleries, framing shops and artists material outlets, along with a large choice of cafes and tea rooms. Of course there were quite a few tourist around as this is a popular tourist destination.
We popped into The Bluebird Tea Rooms and had a cream tea that comprised of freshly brewed tea in a bone china teapot and bone china teacups. There were little triangular shaped sandwiches with the crusts cut off and our choice of filling. To round it off there was a fruit scone, lashings of clotted cream and home made jam of your choice.

Feeling rather full we looked around the town. Here is one of the local hotels

 

The museum

 

One of the local shopkeepers who cut some new keys

 

The Winter Gardens

 

The next day the sun was out and so we drove to a car park that was already a fair up the Worcestershire Beacon hill. Some of the houses by this car park have great views.

 

Looking back across the Malvern Hills.

 

The view to the west.

 

Here is the beacon.

 

Later we went to 'The Kettle Sings' for lunch followed by a drive back to the town and a trip around the many antique shops.
It is a great place.

Peewit

Greenwich cruise

On Friday we were supposed to experience a mini Indian summer so I decided to take a trip to Greenwich and take a look at the Harrison clocks and the Prime Meridian (0 degrees longitude).
It was a foggy start to the day and when I arrived at Waterloo station the gloomy sky was still apparent.
The London Eye must have had poor views from the top but it was still busy.

 

 

I bought a ticket (£6.25 return) for a 60 minute cruise on a boat down to Greenwich which stopped at the Tower of London on the way.
We set off with the grey skies persisting so rather than take photos I listened to the commentary given by one of the crew. The hour long guided tour was humorous at times. As we passed under London Bridge we were told that it was the fourth to be there. The previous bridge that had been sinking in the mud was sold to an American for one million pounds. It was taken apart and shipped over to Arizona back in 1970. Our guide reckoned that after we had this current bridge for fifty years, we would sell it to the Aussies. A bit further downstream the sunshine began to appear and we passed a glass building and were advised that this was the HQ of the British Window Cleaners training centre. Here it is :-

 

Later we came to the Prospect of Whitby pub that is a well known meeting place for artists. Our guide had been there only last week and had met Vincent Van Gogh and offered to buy him a pint. Vincent declined as he “already had one ‘ere”.
The guide told us that his dog had recently passed on and that he was going to buy a pair of goldfish. He was going to name them ‘One’ and ‘Two’, so that if ‘One’ died he would still have ‘Two’ left.
At Greenwich I walked up towards the observatory. I passed the Queens Building on the way.

 

Looking up the hill.

 

At the observatory I spent some time in one of the museums looking at the Harrison clocks. These were the first really accurate timepieces capable of surviving long sea journeys back in the 1700’s. It was possible to determine longitude using one of these chronometers.
I also took a good look at the Prime Meridian and like thousands of others before me, straddled the line with one foot in the East and one in the West.

 

Me in reflection.

 

I could see that it was a long way around the globe to Sydney.

 

At five minutes to one I saw the signal ball being raised.

 

At exactly one o’clock the ball fell to provide a time signal for all those mariners who wanted to set their chronometers to 12.00 GMT

 

I had an ‘al fresco’ lunch and then wandered around the various observatory buildings that offered an impressive view over part of London with the Naval College at the bottom of the hill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I strolled down the hill in the warm autumnal sunshine.
At the bottom of the hill I firstly visited the very impressive National Maritime Museum.
Inside the museum

 

 

Having spent 90 minutes here I walked over to the Naval College.

 

Much of the college was fenced off and had been taken over by a mass of tents and vehicles. This was for the filming of the latest “Pirates of the Caribbean” production with Johnny Depp playing Captain Sparrow. The horses and coaches that had been used in the film were in abundance. I took a few pictures of the large sets.

 

 

It would seem that part of the college is used by musical students and I could hear many of them practising on their instruments as well as some singers working out their voices.
Having spent a very pleasant few hours in Greenwich I had got the impression that you really need to spend a week there to fully appreciate all that was available to be seen (mainly with no entrance fees). However I decided to catch the ferry back to the London Eye.
It was sunny for the entire cruise back to Westminster and I was able to take a few photos.
Canary Wharf

 

Tower Bridge

 

London Mayor's office

 

The wibbly wobbly bridge that now obscurs the only good view from the river of St Paul's Cathedral

 

Bricks can look good

 

Cleopatra's needle

 

London Eye and County Hall

 

I actually got off the boat at Westminster Bridge by the Houses of Parliament and walked over the bridge to County Hall. From there it was only a short walk back to Waterloo station where I was able to join the rush hour travellers and stand up for my entire rail journey home.

 

Some strange people in London

 

Peewit