I got to Heathrow with no major problems, only traffic just a little faster than a standstill on the M25. Got to the car park and wasn't expecting to have to hand over my car keys. I'd much rather look after my own keys and make sure they're with me no matter how many times I move my tent around the west of Iceland than hand them over to a total stranger on an industrial estate in west London but apparently that's how it works. Flight was uneventful. My plane wa...

Leaving work at 3.30pm and getting a late flight seemed, at the time (about a week and a half ago) like an inspired idea. It would effectively give me a whole extra day. Once I'd survived check-in (and the less said about that the better), I thought the best way to pass the time at Heathrow would be to have something to eat and I even managed to find a café that was perfectly happy to do a plain cheese toastie. Except that it took twenty minutes to arrive and...

Being picked up at 9.30 meant I actually had a good long slow lazy morning. I finished my packing, read for a while and dragged my suitcase outside and up the steps to find my minibus was already there. I was delivered to the ticket office with my ticket already in my hand - I'd successfully kept it safe for ten days! - and waited for the airport bus. There was a big cruise ship in the harbour opposite. It had been there for at least a day and looked far too b...