We woke earlier than necessary (7:00) for our 8:45 taxi ride so I turned off my alarm and slept a bit more. I had already laid my clothes out last night, and managed to fit even the thicker things in my luggage so I knew it would go quickly this morning.

I finally rose at 7:30, and made my Nespresso coffee, got dressed, and packed. Still more time to spare. So I sat around a bit, checked email and Quicken — just killing time, really.

Finally it was time to head downstairs and check out. Our taxi driver was already waiting for us. Dan said, “I hope we didn’t keep you waiting long,” but he didn’t answer, so who knows? The drive took a while due to traffic and the distance. I don’t know why we had the idea initially that the airport was closer to the city, as it was definitely not! But still we arrived nice and what I think I’ll call “patty early”. We checked our luggage and raced through security. Here they have you take out laptops and iPads, but nothing else. Both Dan and I triggered the thing that means they have to check us out. For me it was my barrette and Dan had a shirt with a side zipper and that triggered it. They are pretty darn careful here. I actually appreciate that, as sometimes I’ve gotten through with all sorts of things I forgot to remove and they don’t catch them.

We made our way to a lounge to see if we were allowed in (the AerLingus lounge was closed due to renovations but I read that we’d be allowed in the other one here … maybe). Sure enough, we qualified, even without first class or anything. The lounge was pretty tiny, and we were allowed to stay for two hours only, but since our flight was boarding in about 1 1/2 hours that wasn’t any issue. The real reason we wanted to get in was to get free breakfast. We are cheap that way.

As you can see above, Dan had what they call the full English, or is it full Irish? Hm. I didn’t do the meat or tomato and even with what I chose it was a ton of food. As you can also see, sitting in a lounge is so exciting Dan can hardly contain himself. The other people in the lounge looked equally thrilled to be there. Killing time is a riveting experience.

We decided to amble to gate 6, where we were to board our flight. It didn’t take long to hear the announcement that Group 1 was boarding. Alas, we were Group 2. And then, horrors! — Group 3 gets to board with us. Now how distressing can that be?

Okay, it wasn’t at all distressing. So never mind.

We were in row 2 of the plane, with another passenger in the window seat while we were middle and aisle. The flight was completely uneventful. At least for us. One man had to console his crying infant for quite some time. As this photo shows, Dan wanted our pants to match. Or maybe it was an accident. You decide.

And then we landed. Hello again, London Heathrow! At least for a very short time. But oh my, was it hot out! Cork was too warm already. This is “too warmer”!

We weren’t sure what to expect since we were coming from the EU and entering the UK. I’d been told by someone on the Rick Steves group that we could expect nothing, and that person was correct. No passport control or anything. So after getting our luggage we made our way to Heathrow Express.

Into that train we went for our fifteen minute ride to London Paddington.

We were going to have no problem connecting to our next train so I even asked at the station if we could change the ticket to an earlier train but that would have cost something so instead we went to the Mad Bishop and Bear in the station and had some bites and drinks. I tried the non-alcoholic G&T and it was surprisingly tasty! I should have taken a photo of what they used because I’d try it at home. Too late now, though.

Our train departed precisely at 3:23. Our seats were in the “quiet car” — I had reserved them (for no cost) but clearly there were loads of available seats. Right before we departed the station a couple came in with their cat (in a crate) and proceeded to yak. And yak. And yak. I don’t know if they didn’t realize it was the quiet car or if they didn’t care, but no one pointed to the sign. Quite different than another trip we were on when a woman acted as the Noise Police. She needed to be on our train! They got off in Reading though, so silence was then enjoyed.

We had a five or six more stops. I don’t really count them carefully, but I did pay attention because I sure didn’t want to miss our stop! Sometimes I did take a quick station shot. Just because, as well as other rather shabby shots out the somewhat dirty window.

And then we arrived. Hello, Moreton-in-Marsh!

We begin tomorrow on a week-long walk. I would love to say this will be a very easy walk compared to some, but it’s so darn hot I think it will still be challenging. Still, I am looking forward to it.

We walked to our lodging, provided by Cotswolds Journeys since we used them for this walk, checked in, and made our way to our rather large room.

And then the real fun for today: we met up with Greg and Jan! (My brother and sister-in-law.) They are joining us for the walk. I just hope we don’t melt.

After we met up we headed to dinner at the Black Bear Inn. I thought I might be done with fish and chips, but nope … had ‘em again. Food was plentiful, but hey, we have a 7 mile walk tomorrow, so there’s that.

We finished and walked back to our lodging.

And then it was G&Ts. It was just too hot not to. Trust me. (I grabbed this photo below from Greg’s What’sApp post. I’ll try and get the actual photo later.)

After drinks we said our good nights and went to our rooms. I’m hoping we can manage to sleep, but we’ll see. At least I have a fan in my room! (I’m not talking about Dan.)

For now, though … ciao! (I wrote this even more quickly than usual so I hat to think about the typos.)