London from the air

...from a helicopter in fact!  :)

We had a nice slow and lazy start to the day, then checked out of our hotel around noon.  I popped to the Tesco next door again and bought us some lunch, then we drove to the Redhill Aerodrome, parked up and ate it before meeting up with my brother when he arrived.

We met our lovely pilot, got all signed in, and then up we went.  It was just the four of us, in what looked like a tiny helicopter, but did feel reassuringly substantial once we were in it.  We flew over the Surrey countryside, then up over Morden and southwest London, and then along the wiggly line of the Thames.  None of my photos is particularly great, as they all look a bit hazy and washed out, but visibility was great - about 50km, according to the pilot.  It was just a half hour flight, and we came back via countryside, rather than back over the city, but it was brilliant.  Our pilot was great, too - pointing out every interesting sight he could think of, and explaining everything he was doing.

We chatted to my brother for a short while when we got back to the airfield - lovely to catch up with him - then my Mum and I set off back to Somerset.  Had a pretty good drive and got back at dinner time.  Absolutely knackered!  A bit of dinner perked me up though, and I then went over to my sister's - and stayed until 1:30am, oops!  Had a lovely evening with her and her family though, and just a little too much of her home brewed wine...!  So great to have seen all my family in one day :)