London - Eventually

Thursday, 8 July, 2010

Cheshunt (Lee Valley YH) to Earls Court, London

Today was the end of our car hire and we were due to return the car To Earls Court by 10:00 am which according to a printout of roads to follow, it was about 21 miles from the hostel to the depot and to allow for slow traffic we gave ourselves 1 ½ hours to complete the trip. The way roads are marked in the UK makes it very easy to navigate by following the road numbers and there isn’t any need to know the street and road names and the directions usually don’t includes names.

The directions made navigation simple and the traffic was moving freely so when we were about ten miles from our destination we stopped to fill up with petrol, right to the top, as the tank would still show full when we arrived. All went well for around another five miles when we had to turn off the A503 onto the A4201 for a mile and then onto the A501 for a mile and then three other “A” roads to arrive at Earls Court.

We were starting to congratulate ourselves on how well we were doing and we were going to arrive at the depot on time, when our confidence was dashed, there wasn’t an A4201 signposted or painted on the road, so we turned in what we hoped was the direction we needed until we were totally lost. The only road number we spotted was for the A502 but that was in the wrong direction. Stopping to ask for help we were sent in the opposite direction and after several more twists and turns we arrived back almost to where we asked for help.

Taking a different direction we spotted a sign for the A503 in the direction we had come from and arriving back at Campden we made a “U” turn and started again, with the same result. We again sought help and we were told that where we had turned left previously we should have turned right, this was alright until we arrived at the intersection to find it was one way and we had to turn left but after a few right hand turns we were able to enter the road we wanted. Driving along crossing Harley Street, past Madame Tussauds and over Baker Street we thought we were back on track until we entered the Marylebone Flyover which wasn’t on our directions and appeared to be taking us to a motorway. Panic!!!

By now we were resigned with having to pay an additional day’s rental for a late return when we saw a slip road and an Earls Court sign and luckily at every turn, Earls Court was either painted on the road or there was a signpost pointing us in the direction. Eventually we found ourselves in Earls Court road and a right turn brought us to our hotel where we double parked to unload our luggage on the footpath and I set off to find a service station and the depot and when I arrived I was nearly 1 ¾ hours late. Listening to my tale of woe they didn’t charge me for the late return.

Walking back to our hotel I found that Ann had been assisted to take the cases inside and was checked in to our room, after lunch we walked around to the underground station to purchase Oyster (travel) Cards, so we are set to find our way to Hampton Court Palace tomorrow for the flower show.