Girls On Tour and sundry other adventures

April 9, 2022 (Day 9/10) Sadly our last day in Halifax arrived so off we went on the train to London. Fun was had at Kings Cross Station having our photos taken at the Harry Potter Platform 9 3/4. We quickly dropped our bags at the hotel and headed out for a 3 hour walk around London including Chinatown, Soho Square Gardens where we saw a wee Tudor house reminiscent of Shibden Hall, on & off the tube, changing of the guard at 10 Downing Street, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and walked along the Thames.  Our evening began with a lovely dinner with my friend Peter who I met on a 1998 cycling trip in Australia. We have kept in touch all of these years but I had never met his wife Katie. It was as if I had known her all of those years.  Sadly, the dinner was not long enough but they are now living south of London so I will hopefully have the chance to visit them next time. We dashed off to the Novello Theatre which was 3 minutes away, to see "Mamma Mia", my favourite musical tha

 Day 7 - April 8, 2022 We left our long driving day until Friday when most ALBW events were over.  After seeing a trailer for GJ series 2 and finding out one location was Riveaulx Abbey , it was on the top of our list to visit. Enroute to Riveaulx, we came upon Monk Pond Farm with the cutest & largest gnome we've ever seen!  As we drew closer to Riveaulx, we drove through a small village called Scawton that was lovely & picturesque. I was navigating and tried to withhold my screeches of panic as the car scraped way too closely to the bushes alongside the narrow roads! I applaud Julia for her skillful driving that I would NOT have attempted. As I was looking at the directions on my phone, Julia gasped as the Abbey suddenly appeared.  It is absolutely THE MOST STUNNING place I have ever been and I felt extremely emotional being there as we wandered beneath the arches with the blue sky & sun shining. We enjoyed afternoon tea, scones & Devon cream as we gazed at the Ab