"Let the adventure begin!" I said standing on the platform at Bangor train station.

It was a departure from our usual mode of transport to the airport. Normally we wouldn't trust the rail network with getting us there on time! However, today we were leaving a day early, so we had some room for delays.

We weren't travelling alone either. Our good friends Sonya and Garry were joining us on this trip. It began almost ten months ago, one drunken evening, at two in the morning, when we got talking bucket lists.

"I'd love to see Machu Picchu" said Garry.

"OK, let's do it" said Julie who had just woken up .

And that was it, The Orange Marmalade Society was formed. Intrepid's Classic Peru tour booked, flights booked, all to coincide with our 38th wedding anniversary. 

So, here we were, waiting for the 13:15 Avanti West Coast to London Euston.

It arrived on time. As soon as we boarded, we shuffled down the aisle with our rucksacks still on our backs so we could secure a table seat, marking our territory with our bags.

It was a direct train which took just over three hours to reach London. It was nice to sit back and relax knowing, barring any leaves on the track, that we'd be there by 16:37!

Half an hour later at Colwyn Bay we were relieved to see Garry and Sonya waiting on the platform. We settled down to sipping champagne and grazing on a feast of snacks. I had even made some orange marmalade sandwiches which I hid under my hat, in a tribute to Paddington Bear, who we had adopted as our mascot for this trip.

Julie had bought a guinea pig themed colouring in book which kept Sonya amused for most of the journey.

"You know you're going to have to eat one!" we joked.

When we got to Euston we grabbed our luggage and hurried off the platform as if we were in a race, swept up with all the other rushing commuters . 

I needed to use toilet which was lucky because when I checked myself out in the mirror I noticed I wasn't wearing my hat! I had left it on the train. I felt such a fool!

I ran down the platform, then down the carraiges of the empty train until I reached our table. There it was, in plain sight, on the table! How did I leave it behind?

I was so happy I hadn't lost my favourite hat.

From Euston we caught a taxi across to another train station, called Paddington. The story of the bear is that he was found here and was named after the station. It was nothing more than a coincidence that we were here. The Heathrow Express leaves from Paddington station so we had booked a hotel nearby.  

But whilst we were here, we made the most of its connection to the bear.

We searched out a bronze statue of Paddington, below the clock on platform 1 and we all had our photographs taken with him. We were getting some funny looks from passers by but we didn't care.

There was another Paddington themed bench nearby but that was just an image of the bear painted onto it. Still it was worthy of another couple of photos.  

The premier inn was literally opposite the station so we didn't have far to walk. Check-in was automated, we only had to enter our details on the touch-screen and it created a room key for us. It worked really well.

After an hour we met back up with the Jones' in the foyer and walked a short distance, literally just around the corner, to an Italian we had found online, called Bizarro. It was the bizarre name that drew us in at first. The menu had all the standard Italian classics.

We hadn't booked. I didn't think we'd have to, but when we arrived the place was full. It was certainly a very popular place. It wasn't looking hopeful when I asked for a table for four but we were in luck. "Follow me" said the waiter and we headed downstairs, which was also full but had one table for four available.

To start  I ordered the arancini con spinaci e ricotta from their specials and Julie had the garlic prawns. She thoroughly enjoyed them.

For our mains Julie had what was described as a "baby chicken" but we assumed they meant poussin. It was served whole and spatchcocked, with roasted potatoes. For her, it was the perfect meal.

I had pennette melanzane. It looked like regular penne pasta shapes to me, I was expecting something shorter and thinner but regardless of this technicality the aubergine in a tomato sauce was absolutely delicious. 

We finished the meal off with a perfect tiramisu. Bizarro was a big hit!

The night was still young and after we paid our very reasonable bill we visited a pub called The Bear. It was also very busy, and was standing room only for quite a while. I tried a stout that sounded really interesting. It was called an Imperial Stout, barrel aged in rye whisky barrels and this was the "vanilla edition". 

I hadn't noticed its strength but when I tasted the thick syrupy pint I knew it was going to be a challenge to finish.

I gave up a third of the way down. It was actually disgusting, like drinking creosote! I went back to the bar and found out it was 11.9% !

Shortly after 10pm we did the sensible thing and called it a night. On the way back to the hotel I couldn't believe my eyes when we came across a tea party, with a gorilla as head of the table, a rhinoceros as its right-hand man, followed by a zoo of animals like a lion, zebra, chimp, koala, hippo, girraffe, bear, elephant, a dog dressed in a suit and a hare with breasts as the dinner guests.

"Oh my God, what was in that beer?"

(It was known as The Wild Table of Love by artists called Gillie and Marc.)