Our 2012 travels: London, Cambridge and home

We left Béziers the following morning (February 16) at 11.30 on our way to London. We set out on a local train (TER) which runs from Perpignan to Avignon via Béziers and Montpellier. The train stops at several small stations after Béziers: Agde, an old fishing port; Sete, France's largest fishing port; Frontignan a wine village near Sete. Our TER train was a modern train very, practical, quiet and comfortable and with loos that can accommodate a wheelchair, unlike the minuscule loos on the TGV. At Montpellier we changed onto a TGV, the high speed train to Paris, Gare du Lyon.
We took the RER through Paris to the Gare du Nord (2 stops) and then on to London St Pancras at 7pm where Helen picked us up. Nick had some homemade soup waiting for us then we wandered down to their local pub, The Shaftsbury for a welcome English beer.
The following day, we amused ourselves, shopping in Crouch End, cooking etc.

This is Helen's studio from the flat

and visiting wildlife, a jay

and the foxes are back we saw two together making funny noises!?

James joined us on Saturday evening for a meal at a vegetarian restaurant in Primrose Hill and on Sunday, we met Jill and Terry, neighbours in France, at Coventry Garden.

Although the sun was shining, there was a cold wind and so we moved from coffee to lunch to tea rather quickly, not the weather for a stroll along the South Bank. This is the cafe in the crypt of St Martins in the Fields in Trafalgar Square where we warmed up over cups of tea before going our separate ways home. We will see Jill and Terry again in France shortly.

On Tuesday we left Helen and took a train to Cambridge. John spotted this ancient railway shed as we waited at Finsbury Park station.

We called into the Cambridge University Computing Service (where Pat worked for many years) at tea time and caught up with a number of friends and colleagues.
In the evening we ate with Brian and Rachel at a Japanese restaurant in Cambridge which has opened since we left.

The following day, Rachel took us to Anglesey Abbey to see the snowdrops. We were surprised by the number of people there on a Wednesday morning; there were two coaches and the car parks were more than half full.

As always the gardens were lovely with some very interesting planting obviously designed for winter viewing.

The water mill was in action grinding flour, lovingly nurtured into working order by local enthusiasts. Rachel discussed the finer points of bread making with the millers having been a bit disappointed with her initial results with their flour.

When it started to rain, we retreated to a nearby pub and had lunch in front of an open fire. Rachel then very kindly drove us to Luton airport for our flight to Nîmes.
We took the airport bus from Nîmes airport to the railway station and just caught our train. We arrived back at Béziers station where our friends Marian and Tony had left our car. Immediately opposite the station is a rather good restaurant, L'Ambassade. It was 9.30 and the restaurant had just one table left, so we enjoyed a very good meal.
So now we are back at home and the weather is wonderful with temperatures reaching 20 degrees during the day. We have eaten breakfast and lunch on the terrace since we got back.