The Henson Journals

[110]

Monday, October 8th, 1928.

I left the Castle at 9 a.m., and motored to Bury St Edmund's by way of Piercebridge, Catterick, Doncaster, Wetherby, Retford, Newark, Sleaford, King's Lynn, & Thetford, arriving at 4.45 p.m. We stayed for an hour at Newark to rest and get lunch. The Ram Hotel served us well. Thus the whole distance of 230 miles was traversed in 6 hours 45 minutes, which works out at about 34 miles per hour, not a bad average, but the roads were very free of traffic, and though we were held up at no less than 6 level crossings, we were at none of them held up long. The weather which was dull & threatening at first, improved steadily, & we ended up in brilliant sunshine.

A numerous dinner–party, the members of which were introduced to me, but left in my memory neither their names nor the picture of their persons, fitted the evening: & when the guests had gone, mine host the Archdeacon smoked & talked until past midnight. He has just returned from Constantinople, where all things are becoming new. The unveiling of the Turkish women, & the general abandonment of the fez by the Turkish men have gone far to obliterate the distinctiveness of the city's aspect, but the marvellous situation is unalterable.

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