A multi-day tour, ideal for seniors and boomers, takes lovers of the Ian Fleming espionage books and movies into the world of James Bond in honor of the 100th anniversary of Fleming’s birth. Also offering one-day James Bond tours is London Taxi Tours.
Highlights of the 4-day tour:
Day One – London
It begins in London, where visitors see where Fleming worked and lived. Among the sites are headquarters of the intelligence communities. With a guide that was created by a Soviet spy, tourists uncover places that have authentic espionage connections, places used by the spies for covert surveillance, plus “dead letter drops.” As a bonus, there are stops linked to famed Cold War spying scandals, including the Soviet Embassy, as well as various Bond film locations. And before dinner? "Martinis, shaken," as the brochure for the tour explains..
Day Two – Dover
In London, the tour visits the Imperial War Museum with the country's lone permanent espionage exhibition plus another celebrating the life of Ian Fleming. On route to Dover, travelers see lovely Kent countryside from Maidstone to Dover and through Canterbury. It's the same route Bond in Moonraker covered while on the trail of the bad guy, Sir Hug Drax. Visitors stand on those very cliff tops beside Dover, between Kingsdown and St Margaret’s Bay where Bond fought Drax.
Day Three Bedfordshire
This includes Goldfinger sites at nearby Sandwich Golf Course, to which Fleming belonged, and a tour of this coastal fishing village. After crossing the Thames, the group goes to the county of Essex, said to be “littered with secret bunker sites designed to hide nuclear facilities or international eavesdropping centres,” according to the tour company. The day ends at “a real jewel in the crown of espionage history," Bletchly Park, home to the famed Enigma code breakers of World War II.
Day Four
The final day includes a stop at the national Cold War Museum for a look at new permanent exhibition hall, set among the hangars at Royal Air Force Museum in Cosford. Among the exhibits:
- Britain’s bombers and other aircraft suspended in flying attitudes;
- A display of military hardware;
- Postcards sent across the borders of Berlin
- Film posters, album covers and toys, as well as models of important tanks and planes.
- Exhibits about events such as the Berlin Airlift, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Space Race. The exhibition also includes a section of the Berlin Wall.
On route to London, there is a visit to the Pinewood Film Studio and some of the public places that have been utilized in filming Bond movies.
Complete details are available at Back-Roads Website. For London Taxi tours, see this description.
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