Breaking the Code.

 Breaking the Code.

On this day we are due to return to London. To expediate our entry in the hotel the Entourage repacked our bags and then the car. After a light breakfast we farewelled our cabin in the Hampshire woods and set off.

The aim was to reach our London accommodation by mid-afternoon. But we would be detouring via Bletchley Park. Our final drive through the countryside was enjoyable. The sun shone brightly and the trees that when we began our journeying were bare and lifeless, adding a hideous quality to the lead grey wet skies that then greeted us, were now leafing out rapidly, almost before our eyes with fruit trees in full bloom. Charlotte was at her very best, guiding us through the picturesque landscape whilst making excellent time to our intended destination without any shenanigans.

For those history non-nerds, Bletchley Park was where the British set up all their code breaking efforts and where the first electronic computers were created. After WW2 the British kept the work a secret until 1974, with all the machines used being destroyed at the end of the war. Surprisingly the buildings around the mansion at the heart of Bletchley Park remain intact though most have been repurposed with some restored to how they were during the war and others used as more conventional museum spaces. Many of the code machines used by the Axis powers were on display, with some of the original devices used by the code breakers. Where those devices have not survived, a great deal of effort has gone into recreating them, including a working "bombe". There also many other displays in which we could have lost Tony for veritable days but the party had only a very poor lunch and was ready to move on.

We reached London uneventfully and it was then that Charlotte had her final hurrah. She led Sandra through some of the busiest, and frankly from the behaviour of drivers and pedestrians, and maddest streets possible. She faithfully got us to our hotel, and even the Hertz office, but not before giving very confusing instructions in more than one instance.

It is in someways sad to part with Charlotte. She has been our guide and companion for almost 3000 miles in this last 3 or so weeks. She has been a source of much frustration, confusion and angst. But she has also shown us much of the countryside that we would never have seen had we stuck to just the major roads. She has shown us beauty, frightened  us and even made us laugh, if mostly hysterically. Adieu Charlotte, you will be missed.

Our current digs is just a short walk from Queensberry Road which is just filled with restuarants and pubs. Tonight we sat down to Italian all of which was much enjoyed.

Quote of the Day;
 "The blob has flown by", Tony, commenting on traffic and badly misheard and misquoted.

Drinks of Note;
Magners Irish Cider - an amber coloured cider with a sweet apple taste with hints of other fruit, almost a pear taste.

Bletchley Park manor.

Some of the "huts".

An Enigma machine.

Enigma rotors.

Hand method of trying to breack the Enigma code.

A 'bombe".

The back of a "bombe". These were created by telephone exchange technicians.

"Hmm. The filing system needs some work."

A German Navy Enigma machine.