This is a blog about 1500 miles worth of travel in 6 days.
Gideon Reeling’s Assistants recall road trips of their youth; so often prompted by the necessity of arrival at big family events. These auspicious occasions would so often be twinned with unexpected visits to places of interest; strange half remembered museums, and peculiar B&Bs or campsites, lesser-spotted relatives &cetera.
There is a wedding we must get to on 21st March 2009.
Two of Mr Gideon Reeling’s assistants set out with a will early in November with a vehicle from Vauxhall Cars, a suitcase full of er.. disguises, a small semblance of a plan and a week to play with. We originally intended to go all over the U.K for our Great British Road Trip. Unfortunately we were rather ambitious in our calculations- not only in terms of the time available but also in terms of the money we had available to buy petrol and food and sweeties and the odd place to stay.
So, in the end, our journey was determined by some pre-ordained places on our wish-list and by the locations of our friends’ homes around the country.
And we only made it to English locations, sadly- though there is one destination in Scotland that we are crest-fallen not have made it to. SO, if you manage to make it there then we shall provide you handsomely with points- which we will conjure up from the ether. http://www.kelburnestate.com/castle/graffiti_project.asp

We don’t really expect teams, who enrole on our Great British Road Trip, to complete the entire journey that we covered or to attempt it in the stupid time-frame that we allocated to ourselves.
We expect, rather, that you go out into bits of England, see some friends perhaps, see some places you’ve never been to, have a laugh with some fellow travellers, come back, go to work or study hard or sit about doing whatever you usually do, be normal and then maybe go away somewhere else a couple of weeks later or…..
well, you can make your own vague semblance of a plan and stick to it- or make it up as you go along.
Our vague semblance of a plan started very close to home on a sunday

KEW BRIDGE STEAM MUSEUM A Major Victorian Water pumping Station between Brentford and Kew. Full of unfeasibly large Victorian steam engines and a nice semi- permanent exhibition on the history of water in London and the UK- baths, and diving boards and 17th Century Elm Pipes and gas fired coppers with mangles attached: the engines come to life on Saturdays and Sundays and are glorious. Jim loved the visit, he’s a proper boy who wanted to be a train driver when he was an actual boy so it must be pretty good. We went on the day that the model railway enthusiasts were having a fayre, with a y, which was fascinating stuff. Our favourite train spotter was an 8 year old boy chasing a model train around the track with the greatest look of wonderment on his face and showing no sign of ever tiring of trotting round the massive track to support his favourite engine. There were many, many bobble hats and not a few boiler suits too. Go: wearing a Fred Dibner ensemble to gain extra points and on a weekend and beatbox or sing a song to the rhythms the engines chuck out…..

Up the road is GUNNERSBURY PARK MUSEUM, its free to get in and open in the afternoons. There is an original Victorian Kitchen- open on spring and summer weekends that is breathtaking- if you like old things. The Assistants have close associations with Gunnersbury and love it a lot. There are permanent exhibitions, Victorian Carriages and changing exhibitions regularly. It’s the old 19thC country seat of the Rothschild family and was once the summer home of Princess Amelia- George III’s daughter- who we are told ‘spent many happy hours in the ornamental dairy, playing milkmaid’. Its located in a big Park which stretches from Chiswick to Acton.