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I had hoped to post daily updates during the walk itself, but our days were long and by the time we stopped we were usually ready for dinner, rest, and bed. It was a great trip, although by about halfway through it became impossible to avoid thinking about coronavirus, and the news updates, both general and specific, came thick and fast.

We wound up spending two full days in London, which was relaxing. We had no trouble booking more nights at our hotel, indeed there was only one small boutique hotel which was full on our whole trip. West Norfolk and the Norfolk coast were great places to be during the unfolding pandemic. London was less crowded than usual, everywhere. Our favorite restaurants had plenty of available tables, the streets were less packed with people, and the buses were light. Not so empty as to feel eerie, but definitely noticeable.

We’re coming home to a city and state with few reported cases, unlike other parts of the country. TheH is postponing his upcoming trip to California; our county has quite a few cases and the university has required cancellation of all non-essential travel. So no Midwest meetings for us this year either.

The UK is taking a less draconian approach to controlling the virus than most of Europe, about which I have mixed feelings. We have done what we can to mitigate our exposure while here. But given we’ve been in a major city with crowds, taken the (amazingly clean and half-empty) Tube to Heathrow, and then are flying on two full flights through two more airports, we’ll limit our contact with other people for at least a week once we’re home. We have friends as well as family of friends and colleagues who are high risk and we don’t want to be transmission vectors.