LOCATION: London to Salisbury
What's happening?
A repositioning day. Time to pack up and leave this foot loose and fancy free stage of the trip behind us. Got a date tomorrow morning with our tour guide. Our planning included this relaxed exit from London and entry to Salisbury - we had given ourselves a full day to make the train trek.
The Adventure
Grateful that we had given ourselves plenty of time because we have now discovered that a Sunday timetable is different from a weekday. No problem - just different.
Said goodbye to our Greenwich digs and were now faced with the challenge of wheeling the suitcases and carry ons (complete with food and wine stores) along the streets, lifting them onto buses and trains and finding nooks to store them for the journey. Given the recent experience the @McPhees in their trip to Bath - where they became separated from their luggage - we weren't letting ours out of our sight.
Definitely shoulder to shoulder and crushed on the city trains but no-one seems to mind - everyone just steps around you and your luggage and with the constant flow of events in London, seems like every second person is dragging luggage of some size onto the train.
Our Salisbury direct train didn't exist on the weekend - needed to break the journey and hop on a connection on the SouthWestern. There was planned maintenance on the first leg and the train was diverted to a slightly longer route which added 10 minutes to the journey. By the time we jumped out of this train, made the two lift rides to get to the appropriate platform, we popped up on the surface just in time to wave to the back end of our train. Literally missed it by 30 seconds.
There are always staff on the platform to help. Problem sorted. Next train was in 30 minutes - ironically from the platform we had just exited. Two lifts back, a bit of food and even time to retrieve a jumper from the suitcase. The train was freezing.
Arrived rested, warm and fed in Salisbury at 2.50 for our 3 pm checkin. Actually, the timing was perfect because had to make the 10 minute drag of the luggage through the cobbled streets, down the laneway and over the bridge to find QUDOS our home for the night.
A country pub - with rooms overhead. Needed to tune our ears because the accent here is a little thicker and stronger but the "lad" behind the bar got us sorted, carried our luggage upstairs (phew) and we were pleasantly surprised by our totally refurbished room with a big window, cool breezes and every comfort.
Had plenty of options to explore in Salisbury and after all the hustle and bustle of London, this town was virtually three blocks. The square, our place south of the square and the Cathedral north of the square.
Set out with good intentions just on 5 pm amd didn't get any further than the square when we spotted a Fone Revive store that was open. Walked in and explained my phone issue to him and his response "Yes, we see it all the time, usually takes about 40 minutes to fix. Let me have a look."
And so the "fix" was initiated. So much for his 40 minutes. So much for closing at 5:30. He worked on the phone trying all the usual tricks to bypass the "phone wet or dirty - remove charger" error message, to no avail. At a few points, he was sure it was done, only to have the warning alarm beep again.
I think after the first hour, it became a point of personal challenge! He wasn't going to let it beat him. At 7:14 he declared victory - but needed to have the phone reach 15% charge and then wanted it to be kept on charge. Meant another sprint back to QUDOS for @Mac to retrieve the portable charger!
At 7:30, and after paying £20 we left his store with a phone successfully charging and turned on! How generous was that man! And lucky @Mac had fortified himself with a double-double and had been training.
Left us time to follow the crowd to the green outside the majestic Salisbury Cathedral. Hundreds had gathered in the twilight for an evening of music. Chairs, blankets, wine, dinner and snacks were the norm as the locals gathered for a Sunday of music.
Of course the Cathedral was closed by this time and definitely no access to the Magna Carta, but we wandered the grounds and hallways.
Back in the square for a quick chicken dinner before heading back home for the umpteenth time for @Mac.
The phone was still charging which was a definite plus in the technical department. The major challenge now was to get the shower going. It was tricky. A digital dial that we have not seen before not sure how @Mac stumbled on the solution to get it going - but as usual, he delivered.
Settled in for our first cool night which guaranteed a great night's sleep.
A moment 💋 for our vicarious adventurers the @Littlens
Survival Barometer
Steps: 6 898
@Mac has so many more becaise he was running backwards and forwards between the hotel and the phone shop
Weather: 28 degrees - so cool!
Can you believe that?
A little background from Co-Pilot.
Weird and Interesting Facst about Salisbury Cathedral
🕰️ The cathedral was built fast — suspiciously fast
Rapid construction — The main body of Salisbury Cathedral was completed in just 38 years (1220–1258).
Medieval cathedrals normally took centuries, so finishing one this huge in a single generation is almost unheard of.Because it was built so quickly, the architecture is unusually consistent — no weird stylistic mashups from different eras.
🗼 The tallest spire in Britain… held up by medieval “scaffolding”
The spire — At 123 metres, it’s the tallest church spire in the UK.It’s also too heavy for the foundations. The medieval builders added internal wooden scaffolding that still supports it today.The spire leans slightly, and the pillars beneath it visibly bow — you can see them inside the cathedral.
🧪 The world’s oldest working mechanical clockMedieval clock — Built around 1386, it has no face.It just rings a bell every hour, like a medieval time‑keeping machine.It’s so old that it predates minute hands, second hands, and even the concept of “precise time.
📜 One of the best surviving copies of Magna Carta
Magna Carta — Salisbury’s copy is considered the best‑preserved of the four originals.The handwriting is so perfect that experts think the scribe was basically the medieval equivalent of a calligraphy influencer
🧱 The builders used cheese as mortar
Cheese mortar — Medieval masons mixed curdled milk and cheese into mortar to make it stronger.It sounds ridiculous, but casein (milk protein) actually is a decent binding agent
"Count me in for live music!"
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