Days 21 & 22 Tuesday April 30th & Wednesday May 1st Around Shenfield and then to Penzance

 Two days combined as we were doing personal stuff and travelling by train.  After sorting ourselves out with breakfast etc in No 6 we were ready for our first day back in blighty.  We had some tasks to complete over the next two days which we could only do on the mainland.  Initially Ruth drove us to Chelmsford whilst Ian had to work 😒.  We had a brief meeting at a hotel concerning a gathering later in the year.  We enjoyed a cup of coffee and then drove back to Shenfield.

I & R's azalea

I & R's rhododendron

We had some lunch and in the afternoon Christine went for a walk with Ruth and Ian as I stayed at the house to do some blogging.  We later enjoyed a very nice meal which Ruth had prepared.  Christine took some good pictures of some of their outside plants. We talked some more and Ian and I watched Ipswich Town win a very important game (actually Ian slept through half of it).  It was soon time for bed.   

In the morning we were soon mostly packed.  We breakfasted, finished packing and Ruth and Ian drove us to Shenfield station.  We said our fond farewells and we hope we will meet again soon.  We caught the Elizabeth Line straight to Paddington which was so much more convenient than changing (stuck in the lift at Stratford previously!).  We were at Paddington in very good time and waited in the lounge until our train arrived.  There was some signalling problems around Newbury which delayed subsequent movements and so we left about 10 minutes late on a shorter train but we were lucky and found seats.  We were provided with refreshments for the journey to Plymouth but they dried up thereafter.  The delay became worse and we arrived in Penzance about 30 mins late.  Not good but by our recent standards very acceptable.  We checked into the adjacent Premier Inn, sorted ourselves out and went down for dinner.  It was not brilliant - typical pub fare - but went down well. Tomorrow we have things to sort out in Penzance and on Friday we go home - I shall combine those days into one blog.