Day 17 - Back to London

Beer drunk: 0 pints, Wine: 2 glasses
Distance walked: couple of miles

Got up late and had a leisurely breakfast which was pleasant. No worries about getting an early enough start so I couldn't easily covered the distance required.

Our B&B host very kindly offered to hang onto our suitcases and meet up with us at the railway station later in the day so we could do a little sightseeing before setting off. However, the OtherCouple and TheQuartet had much earlier trains than mine so we all said our good-byes after breakfast, which was a shame. I enjoyed the company of them all. These walks always provide a good opportunity to meet other people. I've also had plenty of good advice and encouragement from everyone I've met. I've been firmly told I must try the real, i.e Wainwright's, Coast to Coast. I think I'll do some walking in the Yorkshire Dales or the Lake District first.

I pottered around Prestatyn for a bit - although frankly there isn't much to see. I went down to the seashore and sat and watched the waves roll in. It was high tide now and the sea was right up the the sea wall. Prestatyn would not qualify as a beach resort by Australian standards. After a bit, it started to rain (see previous comment about beach resort qualification) so I ducked into the cafe near the start/finish point. It turns out they keep a book that walkers who have done the trail can sign, so I added myself to the list and spent some time pleasantly reading the comments other had written. I like to think that this book will end up in some archive somewhere, but I suspect when it gets full it will just get tossed.

Eventually I headed off to be reunited with my suitcase. The B&B hostess said the meeting point was the seats by the M&S entrance. I duly waited there - and waited. About 10 minutes passed the appointed time I began to panic. Do I head back to the B&B and risk passing my host on the way or do I keep waiting? It turns out there are two entrances to M&S and my host was at the other. Fortunately he came by to check the alternative one and so panic was averted.

The train journey back to London was a fiasco. The trains had tiny luggage racks at the end of the cars that were all full when I got on. Due to the narrow shape of the train car, the overhead racks were just for decoration. Even if I had enough upper body strength to lift my case over my head, only a thin handbag could fit in the overhead racks. When I got to my reserved seat there was a mother with her young daughter seated in my spot. I debated making a fuss but just sat myself and my case in a pair of empty seats further along.

At the next stop a woman got on who had a reservation for the seat I was parked in. I refused to move since I had nowhere to go and she gave up and sat elsewhere. A few stops later a man got on with reservation for the seat my case was occupying. I pointed out I have nowhere else to put it.  He replied "But...." and then visibility deflated before moving on. The English are just too polite for their own good. Fortunately the train never got more than half full so everyone got a seat, even if it wasn't their assigned one.

Finally we got to London, where my nose was out of practice with modern living. I sneezed every 5-10 minutes for the first 2 hours.  Sheep shit may be fragrant but it clearly isn't as bad as traffic pollution. My hotel, St Athans Hotel, is housed in a row of converted terraces. It is run by a group of young Eastern Europeans - Romanians if I had to guess. About half of them in the office were actually working while the other half (all male) were propped up, decoratively, against various walls and/or pieces of furniture.

My room wasn't actually in the house with the sign but a few doors down. The hotel seems to own about 4 of them but they don't seem to be internally connected. My room was right at the front, on the ground floor, so it was a bit noisy (no double glazing) but otherwise it was fine. The room was clean and tidy and there was plenty of hot water. Also, I could walk around all three sides of my full sized double bed. For a London hotel at this price point that is positively spacious.

In this area, as well as Euston station, there is also the University College London, so there are dozens of cheap (for London) eateries around. I settled for one of the many Italian places around purely because it had a row of tables at the front set up for solo diners, which I found welcoming. I started with bruschetta with a trio of toppings - red (tomato), white (mozzarella) and green (pesto). This was a little disappointing as the bread was a bit soggy, the tomato a bit under-seasoned and the cheese rubbery. For main I had spaghetti with a sauce made from wild boar simmered in red wine and brandy which was delicious. It had too much sauce by Italian standards and as this was an English Italian restaurant, rather than an Italian Italian one, bread was not automatically supplied but still, it was very good. For dessert I had tiramisu which was a bit dry. This was a shame as it was made in the traditional style and if the proportions of mascarpone cream, coffee & biscuit had been better balanced it would have been very good.