After yesterday's second bite at the Limestone Way, it was well and truly time to knuckle down, and get packed and sorted, because today we're off again.

In true Tern style, getting organized involved lots of running round, colliding on the stairs, occasionally undoing what the other one had done, and stopping to have a big argument as a consequence. Eventually, we were done.

Which meant it was time for goodbyes. I hate goodbyes. They're just never good. But it was definitely better to be saying goodbye until February rather than saying goodbye until this time next year.

Worth mentioning was our final Derbyshire meal at The Spanker, near Heage Windmill. One of the advantages of this place is that they have a "smaller plates" option. Not that small, mind you. But at least smaller, which is ideal for dinner time. Mine was the small "parmo". I've not had this cheese-topped chicken dish since we lived in Australia (where it's called a parma).

This morning we left at 0700. Another quite sad departure. It's been nice here. I like the village, with its shop, bus service, pub, and network of walking tracks. And I like the little house:





We were heading for London, but were calling in first at Goodrich, Herefordshire, to see some friends we'd missed on our way up the country.

Another misty morning. And the roads were a total zoo. Several emergency stops to avoid rabbits and pheasants. Fortunately, everyone survived to tell the tale, even the really silly ones.


And here's Goodrich, with the first sun anyone's seen in Britain for a couple of weeks:



We had a good catch-up, and a stupendously good roast Sunday lunch at the local pub:



From there it was a smooth run to Heathrow, where we handed over the hire car, and took their shuttle to the terminal.

It's undeniably hassly getting into London from the airport. You can take the train to Paddington, but that's super-expensive. You can take the ordinary tube, but that's terribly slow. Or you can take the Elizabeth Line, which is a more expensive tube option, but is supposed to be better. I wasn't massively impressed, and wouldn't rush to do this again. True, you don't stop at every lamppost, as you do on the normal tube. But you still stop at an awful lot of lampposts. And -- extraordinarily, given it's a service that starts at the airport -- there's no dedicated luggage space. So, as soon as ordinary passengers start boarding, it becomes crowded and awkward very quickly.

Rucksacks and underground services are a bad mix. When we got off at Farringdon, therefore, we decided to walk the rest of the way, rather than changing to another tube. It wasn't that far to the hotel, and outside the station was our first lit-up Christmas tree of the season:






The last two months have seen us inscribing a wonderful figure-of-eight round a fair swathe of the British Isles. We've had a good time, with a run of fair weather, and very few problems to contend with.

Tomorrow, Phase 2... Here's hoping for similar good fortune.