Tuesday 16 Sept: London – Canterbury

The highlight of the day was, of course, meeting up with Lynn and Hans in Canterbury, catching up on the past few months and talking about the weeks to come.

But before we left London, we headed to the Houses of Parliament to climb Elizabeth Tower (aka Big Ben). Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take photos during the tour but I pinched a few from the internet that reflected what we saw.

On the way we decided to drop in at St Pancras … and recognised this car that was in the same parking spot that it was in when we were in London at about this time last year. When I googled it, I discovered that it hasn’t moved from this spot in over four years and nobody knows anything about it!

Deja vu all over again! The hot pink McLaren 570S

Known as the Elizabeth Tower since Queen Elizabeth’s diamond jubilee in 2012, this iconic landmark is more commonly known as Big Ben, although it is actually the main bell that is Big Ben, not the tower.

The Elizabeth Tower stands 96 meters (316 feet) tall, featuring 334 steps to the belfry where the Great Bell, (Big Ben) is housed. We climbed up to the belfry and got to walk behind each of the four clock faces

As with our previous tours last year, the starting point was the fantastic Westminster Hall where Queen Elizabeth lay in state in 2022.

A new addition is a green House of Commons bench

Off to climb the Tower…

A view down of the 334 steps we took to reach the belfry. Fortunately we had a few breaks on the way up for information sessions from our guide, Arthur, on various aspects of the Tower and clock’s history and workings.

The clock’s mechanism. Arthur, explained that on August 5, 1976, it suffered a catastrophic failure due to metal fatigue, causing parts of the mechanism to shatter and a weight to fall uncontrollably. The resulting damage stopped the clock for nearly nine months with the intensive restoration work completed the night before Queen Elizabeth’s jubilee… their deadline.

Up more steps to the belfry where we saw the four quarter bells and the Great Bell, aka Big Ben. We were there at 11am so heard the chiming, watched the strikers ringing each bell including Big Ben’s 11 notes and felt the reverberations through the metal frame. Fortunately we’d been issued with effective ear protectors!

Fun facts about the clock faces: the 10s are represented by an f not an x, the faces are now illuminated by 50 odd white and lime green LCD lights that replicate the colour of the old gas lights that historically lit the clock. It was a fabulous tour, well worth the effort involved.