Meeting Idris Elba to the magic of Stonehenge

We spent twelve days in London and I knew it was time to hit the road again. We caught up with family and friends and made plenty of new acquaintances too. A final visit to Regent's Park saw Frida playing ball with the local constabulary and later I showed Iggy the world famous Abbey Road.

I went to my brother's then to say goodbye to him and the family. During that evening, as we were chatting, a group of people appeared right above us on a footbridge. We could see they were on a photoshoot involving an individual. The individual looked very much like Idris Elba. The individual was Idris Elba.

Then from being about eight metres away, they were all of a sudden next to my van. As keen as I was to get a sneaky photo, my ethical attitude wouldn't let me. So with minutes to spare, I opened the side door on my van and retreated to the front where my brother was.

Iggy immortalised in by graffiti artist Deko in London

A trip back memory for James O'Donnell as he travels around England

At this stage you would have thought we were all part of the same group due to our proximity. Seconds later, a smiling Idris Elba was looking into the back of my van. Why? Because Iggy was lying on my bed and at perfect eye level too. My plan worked. He turned to me and with a smile, gave a nod. I gave him the thumbs up, knowing that he knew what I had just done.

Puppy love at Gretna Green and exploring the past for Iggy and Frida

Cream scones, memories and walls from the past along the road

With all our goodbyes over, I left London with a surprisingly heavy heart.
Bognor Regis on the south coast was our next stop for business with my van, then on to Stonehenge and Glastonbury.

We made our way to the beautiful harbour village of Clovelly in Devon's north coast, taking in Bath, Bristol and Cheddar Gorge.

The next few days were spent at Cheltenham, where myself and Iggy were given unrestricted freedom to roam around Jonjo O'Neill Racing stables and grounds plus we got a private tour of Cheltenham Racecourse.

These visits were granted after both venues were told about Iggy's role promoting Donegal, the WAW and Ireland.

This article is the sixth in our series. James O’Donnell is a photographer who lives in Falcarragh with his two dogs, Iggy and Frida. You can find many more of his stories on Facebook - ‘James O’Donnell Photography’ and Instagram - james_odonnell_photography.