Codeshare: my trip to Bletchley Park

[RooFlyer]

St Albans has a parkrun, as does any British town or village, really. Naturally, it's a priority for me, and I skip some of the BookCrossing fun so that I can notch up another event, another nation, another statistic on the page.

How are you doing on your Parkrun alphabet? You can get a Z from Zeehan in W Tas.

 

[Bundy Bear]

How are you doing on your Parkrun alphabet? You can get a Z from Zeehan in W Tas.

Zillmere for the Z in Brisbane, I am working for my 2nd parkrun alphabet, Zeehan is a touch too far away from an airport in Tasmania.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Oh nooooo! You rotter! I

It's a reference that sneaks up on, you like a house.

 

[Flyfrequently]

Late to the party @Skyring but enjoying your travels immensely as usual

 

[Skyring]

How are you doing on your Parkrun alphabet? You can get a Z from Zeehan in W Tas.

Nine more to go, and most of them fairly easy letters. I did Zillmere last year, and at the first-timers briefing the volunteer looked around, "Ah, any tourists here?"

Most of the attendees were tourists, as it happened, and we were only there for one reason.

I'm kind of sorry I didn't take this up years ago during my years of serious travel. Not to worry, there are more important things in life than accumulating some of the sometimes frivolous challenges of parkrun.

 

[Skyring]

Zillmere for the Z in Brisbane, I am working for my 2nd parkrun alphabet, Zeehan is a touch too far away from an airport in Tasmania.

There are a couple in the Netherlands. They could be easier to get to …

 

[Bundy Bear]

There are a couple in the Netherlands. They could be easier to get to …

There is a new parkrun just outside of Amsterdam and a friend in a running group chat suggested I could fly there for the weekend, another Z

 

[Skyring]

A few words about the BookCrossers. That's most of us above. There were a hundred all told, but some weren't present for the final group photo. Together we ransacked all the bookshops in town, and there are some excellent examples in St Albans, then just after the photo was taken, we cleared the hall and set off on a "release walk" setting free books that hadn't been taken from the book buffet tables or were intended for wild release.



If you see a bag or a backpack, it's full of books.





As noted earlier, St Albans is a remarkably pretty town, um cathedral city. Charming houses, shops, pubs, and parks abound. We walked around much of the old town, our guide making remarks about "herding cats" as we paused to leave books in likely – and unlikely – spots, photograph same, and pause here and there to read historical plaques, photograph same, say hello to passing dogs and ducks, photograph same, and so on until we fetched up at the Clock Tower, the symbolic centre of the town.



Those with keen eyes may be able to spot a book here and there in the landscape. My AirBnB is just out of sight beyond the right side of the Clock Tower and the building on the right with the vegetated eaves is The Boot pub, quite popular at all hours.



A glimpse of my bay window beside the scooter sign but I really wanted to highlight the plaque marking the site of one of Eleanor's crosses nearly 750 years after her death. Her grieving husband, King Edward I, erected a series of ornate monuments to mark the nightly resting places as his wife's body was carried from Nottinghamshire to Westminster Abbey. Three of these survive more or less intact, and there is a well-known reproduction of the final memorial at Charing Cross, which owes its name to the since destroyed Eleanor Cross that graced the long-since-engulfed village of Charing.

This was pretty much our final stopping place as well. More BookCrossers began their journeys home, and we latestayers went off to enjoy a traditional Sunday roast at a nearby pub, which also happened to be hosting a Beer and Cider festival.



My pub grub above, including a fluffy boulder of Yorkshire Pudding, two generous slices of perfectly tender beef, and a pint of local cider.

We enjoyed a long, lazy lunch before heading off for a welcome cone or tub of icecream in the summer afternoon, and dispersing to pack or nap or browse yet more bookshops. Or all of the above. I think one or two gathered for yet another meal, but I was full of food and drink and I needed to prepare for the day ahead, where I would pack up, look through a few places in London with my mate Swen, and we'd then board our flights at Heathrow for home. A couple of hours for Swen, three days for me.