Day 13 and life on the M25

I felt like I was living the dream at dinner. From Aust, Johnny had booked dinner at the River Cottage Plymouth. It was set in the imposing grounds of what was the Royal Nay’s vast provisioning warehouses on the waterfront. Of course a lot of the area las been turned over to luxury accommodation but dotted around were high end eateries and pubs. When we arrived there was a confusing system for parking. Number plate recognition software snaps you and then you pay at a station at the exit. We could not see the camera and when we did go to pay, the pay station was in darkness. Plymouth. RC was fabulous. I even had a chance to try the elderberry bubbly that Hugh made to welcome the farmers to his summer feast. The entrée was a shared plate of tiny pork pie, pork scratchings and local mussels. We sounded like the doggies crackling our way through the pork. Johnny and I both opted for fish mains. He for mackerel, which were presented as if they were leaping out of the water into a fisherman’s net. I had the Hake on a mountain of crab mashed potato. I followed on with panne cotta with a head of sour fruit jelly and berries. Johnny had chocolate mousse cake. All excellent fare and a really memorable experience. There was a film unit filming throughout the night as RC is up for some local tourism awards and the film formed some part of the event. Breakfast at the Drake was good but I thought that after all the indulgent eating I’d better stick to the fruit and yoghurt. We breakfasted in what must have been the main drawing rook of an elaborately plastered and timbered room. Most of the grand buildings in the street were once the homes of high ranking sailors, merchants and political people. So many of them are now B and Bs or made into luxury flats. We got on the road as soon as possible as we knew we had a long drive back to London. Never believe the sat nav!!! Where it promised a journey just under 4 four hours, but with only a couple of pit stops to pick up sandwiches and take away coffee it still ended up taking 7 hours 15 mins. We got stuck on the M25 just outside London and only moved 10kn (if that) in an hour. We kept consulting the internet for shortcuts and John made a brave choice to dive off and approach Kentish Town via the M4. I'm sure I've seen a range of British comedies where boring twats endlessly discuss British transport routes but I now understand why. We got all seasons on the way home. We had th dark grey clouds and heavy rain pounded the roof of the car. Then fluffy clouds and blue skies. Then blazing sun that forced us to abandon the top layers we were wearing. Then of course, the whole things over again! We are from Melbourne and used to weather that can’t make up its mind, so we took it all in our stride. We arrived home at 4pm tired and wanting a nap but who could say no to the girls who were demanding a walk. We just took them around the corner to Rochester Gardens but the park was full of big dogs and they didn't seem to be enjoying it so we soon walked home. Tonight we will meet Britt and Will at the Unicorn and Lion for a quick snack before we go to the local theatre’s production of Macbeth.