Tuesday 22 January - Travel Paris to London then pubs

The weather forecast for Paris was for sleet and snow - not the best for Eurostar.  We left for Gare du Nord in good time in clear weather. Our train arrived only five minutes late from London. However, by the time we had boarded there was a coating of ice and snow on the ground.

Gare du Nord

High speed trains tend to throw up ice and ballast during snow storms and speeds are reduced to lower the risk of breaking windows.  So it was that all the way to the tunnel speed was reduced to 165 km/hr instead of 280 km/hr. This part of the ride seemed very slow and monotonous although Mary mentioned that is was indeed possible to enjoy the countryside which wasn't flashing past. It is surprising how 100 miles an hour seems slow on these trains!

Of course the reduced speed meant that we had lost our booked path through the tunnel but even so train control was good and we made it through to our stop at Ashford International at the allowed speeds without stopping or slowing appreciably.

Leaving the tunnel into England was dramatic. We had blue sky and sunny weather all the way to London and the Kent countryside was at its finest. I spotted four Oast Houses just after Ashford. This was quite a feat seeing that we were back to our normal speed of 189 mph.  Being a Kentish Man, I was happy when we crossed over the Medway into my territory. Kentish Men are born west of the Medway, those born the other side are Men of Kent.  We are supposed to hate each other. The only Man of Kent I really knew I certainly didn't like.

We arrived in London St. Pancras only 25 minutes late which was pretty good considering the weather in France - and we did not have any commitments in the afternoon. The Piccadilly line took us quickly to Gloucester Road where hotel check in was smooth in spite of the hundreds of wannabe international teachers milling around.

The rest of the day was spent in pubs.

We started first at the Stanhope Arms which has in interesting, if eclectic, choice of beer

Beavertown Neck Oil Session IPA was a full flavored IPA served in a glass with several skulls on it.

The Stanhope Arms only serves standard pub food so we made do with a packet of crisps but we wanted a better location for dinner later. So we went down to the Hereford Arms, a Fullers pub, which has an excellent kitchen with everything prepared on site.  The intention was just to make a reservation for later but Mary said. "What would Pat do? She would have another pint."  So it was that I had a pint of Fullers London Pride and Mary had another glass of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

Hereford Arms in the afternoon

 Turns out the barmaid was from Bordeaux.

After a quick trip to Waitrose we went back at the hotel, unpacked and rested in preparation for the evening meal at the Hereford Arms.

We had a table by the window and were greeted by the restaurant manager who was from Poland. The menu changes frequently and choices are difficult. We started with a pint of Cornish cider and more New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

The starter was a pastry tart with goad cheese on a bed of sauteed onions

I had a very large duck confit with chips and red cabbage

Mary had bangers (pork) and mash. Look carefully to see the three sausages hidden in there.

Flourless chocolate square with coffee ice cream

Sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream.

We all agreed that all the problems of the world could be solved if we fed everyone sticky toffee pudding.