England Diary

02-03-2011 Wednesday
Depart KL 11.55pm
Arrives Heathrow Thursday 5.25am

3-3-2011 Thursday
Arrived at London Heathrow Airport, picked up hire car and then picked up Payphone sign at Reigate, Surrey. Drove to Carol's to pick up the safe Dave'd ordered for the mhome before we left OZ and some paperwork she was holding for us. Carol had lunch ready for us which was nice, and even though we were pretty tired we enjoyed it and the company. Kira (her daughter) had lunch with us too.
Stayed the night at a Days Inn on the M3.

4-3-2011 Friday
Passed by Stonehenge on the way to storage. Road closures around the site.
Went to Wilton to pickup the M/Home, stored since September last year in one of a number of huge metal sheds (an ex army complex) with other mhomes and other big things and the shed wasn't even half full!. The old guy serving us there, also called Dave, was a real source of humour for us - kept saying "..that's all right then" although it sounded more like "..ats owite then.." Dave and I have been continually saying this phrase in our daily travels and having a laugh. The battery was flat so rang the RAC (which we also joined before we left OZ). Mark, the RAC guy, got the mhome started but said the battery probably wouldn't hold a charge. We were concerned that if we snuffed it on the way to the caravan park we wouldn't be able to get it started again so he offered to follow us there as it wasn't too far. He even ordered and took the payment for a new battery with the RAC for delivery to Coombe M/H park Salsibury but not til Monday. Cost GBP123. He was just so helpful and made it very easy for us - a good ambassador for the RAC.
We both went shopping finally about 4pm (in the hire car) and had to buy everything from scratch - sheets, duvets (doonahs in Aus speak), pillows, towels, and food. Spent GBP 311. No cheap buckets around here. Dave was very good as he normally doesn't go shopping with me but he had to as it was a big shop - 2 trollies full. It took a while and we finally had dinner (ready made indian) at about 8.45pm. We were quite tired understandably. We stayed at this park for 4 nights - it is a lovely park and well looked after.
5-3-2011 Saturday

Went on the park and ride bus to do some more shopping in a different shopping centre in Salisbury, to look for some specific things we couldn't get at the first shopping venture. Made some enquiries at the Post Office. Lunch at Boston Tea Party.

6-3-2011 Sunday
Dave went off to the flea market this morning. I had laundry to do and wanted to spend the day squaring away everything in the mhome - all the shopping stuff plus we hadn't unpacked our bags properly yet into cupboards and we were leaving Coombe on Tuesday to start our trip.  

7-3-2011 Monday
Expect new battery. Return rental car. We are finally mobile again. Returned the rental car. Total cost GBP230.

8-3-2011 Tuesday
Left Coombes Park with a note for Margaret to contact us when the parcel arrives.
Drove to Portsmouth and looked briefly at the Maritime Museum, Nelson's Victory, Warrior, Mary Rose.
Average fish and chips.
Sorted out some banking and uploaded the Departure/KL Photo Album.
Collected Joy's bike at about 8pm and then drove to about Stoney Cross, partway between Southampton and Bournemouth.
Roadside sleep with the truckies on the A31. Traffic is noisy, but we didn't notice it cos we was tired.

9-3-2011 Wednesday
Had a brief look at at the nice beaches and beach shacks in Bournemouth; obviously a popular Summer holiday destination. The beach sand there looks a bit more like the sand that we are used to seeing in Australia. We had a nice long walk to Corfe Castle near Wareham.
We paid for National Trust membership there; our membership cards will be posted to Carol's, so we will pick them up when we are back near London.
Corfe Castle between Wareham and Swanage - (N.Trust1).
Stayed the night at Lookout Leisure Park. Fire hose hot showers - would've knocked a toddler over!

10-3-2011 Thursday
Left the "Free Range Kids" M/H Park.
Emptied waste tank.
Drove to Swanage, then back to Corfe Castle to see the Railway Museum but closed.
Lunch at the Bankes Arms hotel with potato and leek soup.
Headed to Yeovil and couldn't find a M/H Park so we asked at the "Halfway House Inn and Country Lodge". They let us stay in their car park; by the pond. Lamb's liver and bacon (without gravy) for dinner. Very reasonable food/drink price.
Have to catch up on showers etc on Friday.

11-3-2011 Friday
Drove to Yeovil and the Fleet Air Arm Museum. Excellent even though it was Dave's second visit within 12 months.
No time for the Auto Museum.
Drove to Taunton where we stayed at a "farming" Park - Tanpits Cider Farm - had to pay 30p for a 4 minute shower with not much space to put your belongings!
Joy had too many R&Cs and wasn't very well.

12-3-11 Saturday
Drove to Williton to see the Bakelite Museum which was very impressive and extensive. Continued our drive through Minehead to stay with friends, Malcolm and Angela Percival, one of the Tippacott farms at Malmsmead, Brendon in the County of Devon. The best way to get there is via Porlock which has a steep climbing road - Porlock Hill, which the motorhome was taking well until we came to a particularly difficult bend which was not only sharp but steep on the bend as well. Because of this and the length of the motorhome, one of the front drive tyres (front wheel drive) was raised and left contact with the road surface, causing the other front drive wheel to spin helplessly with us going nowhere. After laying a bit of rubber we had to stop (Dave thinking we'd burnt out the clutch). I got out and Dave backed down the road a little and gunned it to drive into a 'safety stop patch' for vehicles on the right side of the road on the bend. The m/home stuck out part way into the down going lane and luckily 2 vehicles (with 2 couples around our age) stopped to help us. With one of the other ladies and me watching the opposite directional traffic, the others helped push the m/home back out and we drove back down the way we'd come. I (Joy) was scared greatly and we were so lucky to have good samaritans stop and help us.

We then rang Angela and got the best directions for a different path. Going across the moors (Exmoor) was further complicated by there not being mobile accessibility right through to their place. Part way across however Joy's mobile got a signal and we were able to ring Malcolm who was to come and meet us. He wasn't sure if our motorhome would fit their small roads/area. It did but only just and then we had the next difficulty driving into their driveway - again the gradient of the road and going into their driveway was a bit much and the towbar ground on the road for about 4 feet with Dave pushing it hard to get it into the driveway. Then he had to drive it up between the house and the stone barn with very little room on either side and again laying a bit of rubber getting it up a slope to the back area where there was a lot of room to store it.

We stayed for 2 nights but we both didn't sleep well, worried about how we were going to get back out onto that same bit of road, and it was going to be up hill as well! It was a beautiful place but for me (Joy) my appreciation of our stay was marred by that experience. We agreed that we're going to have to be extra careful where we take the m/home in future. That night, Malcolm and Angela took us to an Indian Restaurant in Lynton for dinner.

13-3-11 Sunday
The Percivals drove us around today, over that dreaded Porlock Hill area (and it didn't look as scary then) to see Selworthy Church, where the "landed gentry" had their own seating box above the ordinary folk. We walked around its gardens and yellow painted National Trust cottages, Dunster Castle (N. Trust2), visit an antiques/2nd hand shop, had coffee/tea and scones with jam and cream at a lovely restaurant, and walk around Watchet Harbour's boats mooring area and watched the local steam train come in and steam off. It was a lovely day topped off with a home cooked meal with some veges out of Angela's vege garden.

14-3-2011 Monday
With trepidation we headed off - we did get out of the driveway without much trouble (was better going back out the driveway) so that was great. We luckily had a good run out of their area and back over the moors with Malcolm following us to Simonsbath in case we ran into any trouble (as no mobile coverage). Angela gave us a half dozen eggs from her ex battery hens which now roam free and live a better life.
Continued our drive down through Barnstaple down the west coast down to Bude where we're stopping for 2 nights at the Bude Meadows caravan park where luckily, they don't have too many vehicles on site yet (our vehicle being too long for any of the 'pitches') and we were able to stay on the roadway near some unoccupied grassy sites. Any grassed area was still too soggy for our heavy vehicle.

15-3-2011 Tuesday
Today we rode our bikes for the first time and I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't a problem for me (Joy) - just a comical sight for everyone else! We rode to Widemouth Bay - a very pretty coastline and nice sand even though a fairly
dark colour. There were a few people walking their dogs on the beach and must be a popular place for swimmers as there was a lifeguard hut there. Went back to the park and had drinks and nibblies and made some plans for our next leg of the trip. It was nice just to relax and not do much for the day.

16-3-2011 Wednesday
Drove down to 'budiful' Bude town and walked around the shops and to the coast line ocean view. Viewed the Bude Blizzard of 1891 display and on the way back, bought cornish pasties (for the first time this trip) for lunch that were also 'budiful' - so much so that we bought 2 more, cold ones for another day. We thought it fitting to have pasties as we were in the County of Cornwall where they were originally invented for the miners' lunches - with a thick crust so the miners could eat them with dirty hands and throw away the crust (clever)! Then drove down to the town of Tintagel to see the Old Post Office (N.Trust3). Walked to the large Camelot Castle only to realise that it was actually a Hotel, not the real Tintagel Castle, which we did not end up seeing. A nice quaint little town with lots of shops and big emphasis on the Camelot/King Arthur/Merlin theme. Left to head off to Port Isaac (to find a park for the night) which we put in the sat nav and soon realised it was taking us down the smaller and smaller roads, closer to the coast, which we have learned is not big m/home friendly. We stopped and decided to turn around which was nearly impossible - but luckily there was a house close by with a flat front yard of stones with no cars parked on it, its fence being just chain on a few removable metal posts - perfect for turning around - phew! Couldn't find an open caravan park anywhere for the night so parked in a designated beside the motorway parking which we've done a couple times so far and expect to do more frequently in the future.
17-3-2011 Thursday St Patrick's Day
A mobile food van parked in front of our mhome on the beside the motorway parking area this morning - Miss Minnie's Munchies (there were a couple signs left there saying the van would be there at 8am so we left space for it). No we didn't buy anything.
We drove off early (about 9am) and headed to Port Isaac which was a pretty good drive as far as stress levels are concerned and got a park fairly easily for the mhome - especially good as the town is right on the coast and generally there's a lot of narrow roads to those towns. If we were in the middle of the summer season, we would not have been able to get a park especially as the mhome takes up 2 parking bays (we pay for 2 too) - so far we've been lucky to get these easily. We walked around to the area where Doc Martin's show in the fictional town of Port Wenn is filmed - found out that only the outside scenes are filmed here for a few weeks (as they know what's needed ahead of time from the script) and the inside scenes are filmed in nearby village/s and school. We saw Doc Martin's surgery, Louisa's accommodation with the 'blue door' not far from the school which is actually a restaurant 'The Old School Restaurant' I think it is, and lastly Mrs Stichel's pharmacy. It was this shop I picked to go in to ask the question about if there was a brochure anywhere to say which buildings were which Doc Martin's show's buildings and the shop owner told me it was his shop that was used for the pharmacy! This shop was actually a lolly/fudge/souvenier shop and this man was the one who told me how they only film the outside shots in the town for a few weeks. We bought some kippers and beautiful scallops with the roe on as it's a fishing village.
Drove to Padstow, also on the coast, which was also an ok drive and as there was a bike hiring place there we got our bikes out and went for a ride. Our sat nav has truly been invaluable (most of the time).
Headed off towards Newquay but decided to find a caravan park and luckily did find one that was open and could take us - Trethiggey Holiday Park (open 10mths of the year) - this one has lots of rabbits running around and Dave's out now trying to catch one for rabbit stew (ha! ha! fat chance). Some parks are only static cabins and some parks might have a problem taking our big heavy vehicle. It's nice to get into a park about 3pm so we can take time to relax with a couple drinks and nibblies before we need to get dinner ready.

18-3-2011 Friday
Left about midday - had some light rain overnight and some good rain this morning, clearing by the time we left. Drove to Newquay, had a little walk to a large stone war memorial with a big stone cross on a grassy mound overlooking the water, down to the fishing harbour, did some shopping at Sainsbury's and then drove off to St Ives. Luckily the first holiday park we went to here was not open yet - I say 'lucky' because the young lady there directed us to the Ayr Holiday Park (open all year round) which is located very close to the main town of St Ives and she knew the best roads to drive on for our mhome. Her directions were great because the roads were ok and we didn't see one caravan sign to this park (saw a couple others) and would never have found it. We started to get a bit skeptical about its existence as we seemed to be too close into the town for a caravan park to even be here and too close for us to be able to turn around with roads getting smaller! We did miss a turn but were able to turn around fairly easily, luckily. But finally there it was and we had a million dollar view and so decided to stay 2 nights. We had a fabulous view of the water and overlooking the town of St Ives - the sort of view we've been looking for but as yet hadn't found.
Then there's the shower block which rates a special mention - the best in the UK, probably the world!! The floor is heated and it's so lovely and warm in there, the sensor lights come on when you go to wash your hands, and it's so nicely painted with a high pitched wooden lacquered ceiling - it's worth the walk from the mhome in the cold, you look forward to it!
Below is the well known poem citing the name of the town of our stay (Dave found it in his 2003 Travel Guide of Britain and Ireland).
"As I wos going to St Ives, I met a man with seven wives.
Each wife had seven sacks, each sack had seven cats,
Each cat had seven kits. Kittens, cats, sacks, and wives,
How many were going to St Ives?"
- Only one, of course!

19-3-2001 Saturday
Convinced Dave we should stay a 3rd night as it's so beautiful here and there's not too many places where we stay more than 1 night. Went out late morning riding our bikes down ('down' being the operative word - will be walking and pushing the bikes coming back) to St Ives town - very small, narrow, up and down streets but cars drive on them all the time. It certainly was a test for my (Joy) bike skills (which aren't all that great yet) and the front and back bike brakes, especially as there were a few people and prams out and about today being Saturday and such a lovely sunny, blue sky day. A couple young guys walked past us in shorts and t-shirts and one said "it's good to get into shorts again" and the other guy said "tell me about it" - while we still had our long pants and sleeves and were glad of it! We rode and walked around the main Harbour/Wharf area and as the tide was out every man and his dog (and yes I mean dogs - so many people have dogs here) were walking on the wet sand and kids playing in the sand. There were a lot of shops lined along the cobbled road ('esplanade' we'd call it), but enough only for 1 car) and one of these shops was an all types of cornish pasties shop. As it was very busy/popular we bought one for lunch (very nice, had more meat in it than the one at Bude) and sat and watched all the activity going on, on the beach - someone even flying a kite. It was very pleasant and relaxing.
We then checked out where the train station was for tomorrow, made our way to an area called The Island (which is still attached to the main land) where we could see our holiday park up on the hill, and then made our back to the holiday park via a coastal track (more like a goat track but was still easily managed by us walking the bikes) and 3 gates. Luckily, we met a guy coming the other way who informed us we'd gone past the upward turnoff to the park. This certainly was still a shorter way back to the park than if we'd gone back through the town - and very scenic. We felt we'd done some steepish bits of road and coastal track but didn't get puffed or tired (and muscles ok) so we feel we've developed a better level of fitness than when we'd left home, which is good. We certainly have been doing much more walking and other incidental exercise.

20-3-2011 Sunday
Had a lazy morning and only left the park about 11.30. We wandered through the St Ives cemetery which is quite large and easily seen from our park. It takes up quite big area of prime real estate, right in the middle of St Ives - it wouldn't be a surprise if there'd been moves afoot to move it to make way for business developments. We then caught a train that travels on a line that only consists of 5 stations, St Ives to St Erth, where we got off and caught another one into Penzance. We walked around its wharf, another obvious fishing/crayfish town (like St Ives ) and then around the town - not as hilly or narrow roaded as St Ives. It was a nice relaxing day and we were glad when we got back as the road up to the park is quite a steep one.

When we got back Dave moved the mhome to another flatter spot in the park because we noticed our fridge wasn't working (the freezer things were starting to thaw) and it was probably because we were not level and we'd been here for 2 days and nights. We had used some ramps to raise the front up but it wasn't enough. This had probably happened before (ie. the fridge not working properly because we were on a bit of a slant) but usually we'd have only stayed one night so it wasn't a lasting problem that we'd noticed. Now we'll be a bit more careful.

21-3-2011 Monday
Well, didn't we pick the best days to be in St Ives and the best one to leave - it was very foggy outside this morning and you couldn't see the town or the ocean at all! It was hard to tell there even was a town there. We headed off down toward Penzance on our way to Lands End. Before we left Dave had planned to rotate the tyres as the front ones, being the drive wheel ones (and also the ones we laid a bit of rubber with on our Porlock Hill debacle), had a bit less tread on them than any of the back four ones. However, he had trouble shifting any of the nuts at all. So when we were refuelling in Penzance we noticed a tyre place nearby. Luckily they had the time to do the rotation while we waited and when it came time to pay, the guy said there was no way to bill this service in their billing system (strange) and said we could give a tip or something else. So we offerred a dozen beers or some money and the guy who did the work was happy to take 20 pounds, which we were very happy with albeit very surprised.

We headed off to Lands End the westerly most point of the UK. The fog had cleared on the way there but as we got a couple miles out of Lands End there it was again - which was a bit sad as there's really nothing else to see there except the ocean and its surrounds. We walked around a bit and then had lunch there of yes again, cornish pasty but this time with chips. The pasty wasn't as good as the ones we had at Bude or St Ives but it was ok. Off again to Porthcurno to see the extensive and very impressive Telegraph Museum. At the start of World War 2, officials looked at the strategic importance of the cable station at Porthcurno - it was at the very centre of British communications and would become more important if major offices in London at Moorgate and Embankment were destroyed. It was decided to re-site the cable station underground. An ambitious plan was devised to dig tunnels (reminiscent of the tunnels used in the war effort during WW2 at Dover) into the granite hillside which was hollowed out, and a wooden structure built inside. The tunnels were air-conditioned with careful temperature control to ensure that the sensitive instruments used in telegraphy would operate accurately. A generator was also installed to ensure a continuing power supply, and heavy blast-proof metal doors coated with gas proof paint which changed colour on contact with gas, were used. An escape tunnel out to the top of the hillside (via 120 steps) was also built to ensure that the staff could escape if a bomb fell at the main entrance. The tunnels were brought into service in June 1941, having taken a little less than a year to build. Apparently the enemy knew this important communications establishment was in existence with 5 German bomb attempts being made but the bombs all fell on a nearby farm. Apparently 4 bombs detonated but the fifth one didn't and (the story goes) a farm boy traded 3 dozen eggs for it (very scarce at this time) to the soldiers who'd come to retrieve it. This inert bomb now stands in the museum, donated by the family.

Left Porthcurno about 4.45 pm which is a bit later than we like to try to find a caravan park but luckily we found one fairly quickly a few miles away - Cardinney Caravan and Camping Park at Crows-An-Wra (open all year round).

22-3-2011 Tuesday
This morning before we left the caravan park, we went for a 20-30 min walk to a very interesting ancient village called Carn Euny. We wore our 'wellies' (wellington boots that we'd bought in OZ) as it was quite muddy and rocky in places and we had to walk through farmers' grazing fields. The first traces of settlement on these grass covered ruins, date from the 5th century BC - during the Iron Age. For some 500 years, the village was formed of relatively simple Iron Age 'round houses'. These have now completely disappeared - with only the circular drainage gullies and postholes surviving to be excavated by archaeologists in the 1960s. As part of this early settlement, a remarkable underground stone chamber with an entrance passage was built. This distinct type of monument, found only in the far west of Cornwall, is known as a 'fogou', deriving from the Cornish word 'ogo' meaning cave. One of these underground passages is still intact and we had to crouch down like cavemen to walk through into an area where we could stand up, and there appeared to be a fireplace in there. The original function of the fogou us unclear. It may have been used as a place of refuge, or perhaps as a cellar for cold storage.

After a 20 min walk back we drove to a nearby car park from where we did a 15 min walk uphill to Chapel Carn Brae (N. Trust4) (no cost) which is the most westerly in Britain, and on a clear day, gives panoramic views to the Isles of Scilly, Cape Cornwall and Lizard Point. In the medieval period, a hermitage and chapel stood here, giving the hill its name. On the way up we saw 6 Dartmoor wild ponies in this area, and a sign warned not to approach or feed them, and to rest assured they were well looked after by the local farmer. It was only a 10 min walk on the way down. We saw the Lands End airfield off to one side with a grass runway - good luck with that when it's really raining or windy!

From there we drove to the Levant Tin Mine and Steam Beam Engine (closed in 1930) between Trewellard and Pendeen near St Just. We seemed to be on some small roads but it was a 'B' road (not a minor one) and when we got behind a big bus, much bigger than us, I felt really good because if he was ok to be travelling on these roads, we didn't have any problem! This is the only Cornish beam engine anywhere in the world that is still in steam on its original mine site. The famous Levant engine is housed in a small engine house, perched on the edge of the West Penwith cliffs. It was restored after 60 idle years by a group of volunteers known as the 'Greasy Gang'. We didn't get to see the engine in action unfortunately, as the (N. Trust5) site was not open today - only Friday this time of year but we walked around the area and were able to recognise the landscape of a mining area. We could see close by Geevor Tin Mine. As we walked around, we watched a clear day being transformed very quickly before our eyes, by a visible rolling mist - it rolled in much faster than we were walking and created an inhospitable atmosphere - time to go.

Drove to Marazion where St Michael's Mount is only accessible at low tide. We arrived in time to walk (about 10 mins) over the causeway to the Mount, take a few photos and wander back before we would've been cut off until the next low tide. Still home to the St Aubyn family (which runs and maintains it in partnership with the Trust) as well as to a small community, this iconic rocky island is crowned by a medieval church and castle - the oldest buildings dating from the 12th century. There is also an Island Cafe, the Sail Loft Restaurant, a National Trust shop and The Island Shop offering local gifts and artwork. Time was getting on - it was after 3.30 and we'd had quite an active day since 10.30 so would be glad to get to a park soon. On the walk back to the van, we asked another m/home driver in the carpark if they knew where there was one and luckily, he directed us to the one they'd just stayed at - Bone Valley Holiday Park (open all year round) at Heamoor near Penzance. We would never have found it without the address (in our trusty sat nav) as there weren't any real signs on the way. It's a small park with a lovely, helpful couple named Sean and Jean Brickwell managing it, and the loveliest thing when we pulled up was Jean asked us if we'd like a cup of tea or coffee which she made and brought over to us when we'd finished putting the van on the site. The other couple who directed us here, told us Jean had made them a cuppa but it was still a surprise when she asked - and a great welcoming thing to do - good promotion for the business. We've never experienced that before and probably won't again.

23-3-2011 Wednesday
Drove to Lizard Point (N. Trust5) (no cost as didn't go into the lighthouse), British mainland's most southerly point, a wave-lashed headland where some of Britain's oldest rocks twist snake-like into the strong current and tidal races. This promontory is the turning point of one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, and its jagged reefs have presented a hazard to mariners for thousands of years. Early sailors, viewing the lizard-like shape of the Point, might have given the landmass its curious name, while geologists might imagine it has been inspired by the reptilian appearance of serpentine rock. It's more likely however, that 'Lizard' derives from the Cornish 'lys' ('court') and 'ardh' ('high'), suggesting an important ancient settlement. The view was breathtaking and we saw and read the history of the old Polpeor lifeboat station closed in 1961. I was a bit worried with the narrow one way road (with high rock and vegetation sides) on the way in to the car park - we only just fit but it wasn't very long and the carpark had plenty of room - phew!

Drove on to Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station (not far from Helston) - the world's largest satellite station. Over 60 satellites grace the premises, where a visitors centre features exhibits, films, live web cams, and a shuttle tour through the satellites' perimeters - shame it wasn't open, so we just climbed up on top of the mhome outside the gate and took some photos - we asked first of course, in case they came out to arrest us.

Continued on to Gweek (not Geek) even closer to Helston, to the National Seal Sanctuary which of course I really enjoyed as I love the animals, zoos, etc (Dave suggested it to get on my good side and earn some brownie points). It is Europe's leading marine sanctuary and home to seals and their pups, sea lions, otters, and penguins. It was great! A lady gave us a talk during a feeding session at each of the penguin, seal and otter (only 2 of these) enclosures. There's an animal hospital (but no patients today) and nursery. The sea lions were the most interesting - lying, sleeping on the side of the pool in the afternoon sun, like they've just had a big Sunday roast dinner - while the cheeky youngsters were still playing and frollicking in the water and making all sorts of blowing, squealing and snorting noises which made us laugh.

Left there about 4 pm and headed off toward Falmouth, looking for a caravan park. We didn't see any on the way to this lovely seaside place which was a pity and the streets started to get a bit small in the town for my liking. We were able to head back out easily enough toward Truro where we soon came across a nice park called Cosawes Park at Perranarworthal.

24-3-2011 Thursday
Drove to Falmouth again - I was a bit worried about going back down to Falmouth with those small streets in the town but Dave felt it would be ok and wanted to see the beautiful harbour and also Pendennis Castle. He skirted around the town centre where we had the problem yesterday and even though some of the streets appeared worrying, we had no problem. On the way we stopped on the roadside and watched the workers down on the large docks where big boats are repaired/refurbished - not a docks for shipping goods in and out of the country. It was very interesting for both of us, as it was so big with about 10 cranes of various sizes around the dock - the largest being a very old one manufactured in 1958 that could hoist 48 tons - it was gianormous!! On the same site was a business Pendennis Yachts. We watched for about half an hour and decided we should move on.

We moved on to Pendennis Point where we bought an ice cream in the car park from a Mr Whippy type van. Their vanilla ice cream is yellow like banana ice cream is back home, not white. The man said it depends on the mix - he said his is the proper Cornish mix which gives it the yellow colour. From the Point you could see all around Falmouth Bay where some very big ships come in. It was quite windy and cool while we wandered down the steep steps to Little Dennis which was the first Tudor fort to be built on the headland. It was part of Pendennis Castle (E. Heritage1) up on the hill, to which we then walked (about 10 mins). The way in that we walked, took us part way around the top of the high moat (the enemy side of the moat) - never done that before. The site is under the control of the English Heritage which is a government agency. We decided to join it as there are different sites than are under The National Trust which we joined at the beginning of our trip. The castle wasn't just a normal castle as others we've seen. It has withstood a journey through 450 years of wartime history - Cornwall's greatest fortress. It has protected Cornwall against foreign invasion from the time of Henry VIII right up to the Second World War. The defences of the castle have constantly evolved over the centuries to face new threats. One of the staff gave us a guided tour which was really informative, showing us aspects of the dry moat around the castle, the underground magazines where we relived a Second World War air raid, and the guns of different periods on display. We all hope there will be no need for the military to take command of the castle again but the English Heritage is on 48 hour standby if the need ever arises. We spent close to 3 hours by the time we left.

We had planned to travel on toward Truro but as it was getting late, we decided to make our way back to the same park we stayed at last night which was closer and we knew was a nice park - Cosawes Park at Perranarworthal. This ended up a good idea as on Thursdays in this park, there's a little fish and chip van that comes on site for the day so that's what we had for dinner (my night off although it's not hard to do a meal in the m/home).

25-3-2011 Friday
Drove to Truro today as it was time to do a big grocery shop at Sainsbury's. I'm loving seeing the different things available (to Brissie) at this shopping chain and Tesco's. We then drove down through St Austell to Charlestown and as it looks quite interesting we decided to find a park and stay for 2 nights at East Crinnis caravan park (with free internet access as it's early in the season for them) at Carlyon nearby. We arrived about 2pm and decided to go for a bike ride back to Charlestown and the interesting things we'd seen, but went in the wrong direction out of the caravan park premises and wondered why the road didn't look right to us, as the way we'd driven in. By the time we realised, turned around and went back it was getting a bit late so decided to ride back to the park and do the big ride tomorrow. I was happy with this as the road we went down on, wasn't bike friendly really - a bit busy and the side was not forgiving if we needed to ride onto it - a bit high. Time for nibblies and drinks and relax for the arvo.

26-3-2011 Saturday
Rode our bikes this morning down to Charlestown - nice ride, quite a bit of ups and downs but we took it easy and it was nice. We walked around the small but peaceful harbour and sat and just watched for a while, watching people fishing off the pier, the pidgeons (more like the size of the ones at home, not the big fat ones we've seen elsewhere), and enjoying the relaxed atmosphere. There was no wind (for a change) and even though it was cool, a couple had their deck chairs, reading material and picnic hamper on the beach of small stones, as is so common in the places we've been so far - not the sand like we have in OZ. Having experienced the recent cold, harsh winter that they've had, I can understand them taking this opportunity to enjoy the beach on this lovely day. We have been lucky so far - we've had fairly good weather, only a couple days with light rain which didn't last long and didn't interfere with our sightseeing. There were 2 tall ships docked (with masts and a mass of sail ropes) which were impressive and appeared as though they were there purely for the tourist value. There was a shipwreck display nearby but we didn't go into it. There was a nice hotel right down on the pier to which we saw many people walking, for Saturday lunch. It would've been nice to lunch there but we had a way to go back and there was the markets we passed on the way down, which we wanted to explore.

27-3-2011 Sunday
Drove to Eden Project just a few miles down the road today. The Eden Project has been described as the eighth wonder of the world, an exciting, inspiring playground in which to explore our relationship with nature. It has the biggest rainforest in captivity and 35 acres of plants and exhibits. We spent about 3 hours there and really enjoyed it. It's hard to describe it all in a few words. First and foremost, it's a garden, the most amazing incredible garden you'll ever visit. Then it's cutting edge art and architecture - the world-famous Biomes, which include the largest conservatory in the world. It's a living example of regeneration and sustainable living. The site was previously a clay pit which has been turned into a paradise and it's run in ways that won't harm the planet. There are 2 main big, whitish, honeycomb shaped structures called Biomes that put you in mind of gigantic golf balls - a bit alien looking to me. They were the Rainforest Biome and the Mediterranean Biome. As soon as we walked into the Rainforest one, we were hit with the normal, tropical humidity just like in Brisbane in summer. We walked up the many steps to the Rainforest Outlook, close to the inside top of the Biome where we could look down on all the trees and plants typical of any rainforest. We were 30 metres (100 feet) up, experiencing such humidity created by big blowers (35 degrees C), and reaching a platform via a suspended metal staircase that was designed to sway, giving the feeling of a suspended rope bridge. It was very hot, and we were profusely sweating like on one of our hot summer days - I was regretting wearing my fleecy track pants! We saw the 25 metre Kapok tree, straight and slender with not much foliage up the trunk, and the lady confirmed that it was the tree from which kapok is taken and used for the filling of pillows and the like. Kapok is the fluffy stuff taken from the seed. This Biome also had plants, sculptures and exhibits to do with West Africa, tropical South America and tropical islands.

The Mediterranean Biome covered The Mediterranean Basin, South Africa, California and Citrus Grove. Outside these Biomes were many gardens with interesting sculptures make from metal, and there were animal ones (horse, and pigs) make from driftwood - really well done. A 6 metre high sculpture called 'WEEE Man' (standing for Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment) depicted a man made entirely of stuff we throw away - washing machines, vacuum cleaners, jugs, toasters, electric knives, computers, etc, with computer mouses (mice?) for his teeth - quite good. A 4 metre high sculpture called The Seed looked like a giant white egg (from an alien movie - can't get away from the alien theme I'm afraid) was sculpted from a 167 ton solid piece of granite which took 15 months to find. I suppose it's a symbol of life, or something from which all life springs as is so much represented by this whole establishment. The gardens are absolutely beautiful with many daffodils, all kinds of amazing breath-taking tulips and so much more. Many plants were not yet in bloom but will gradually unfold over the coming summer.

28-3-2011 Monday
After 3 nights at East Crinnis caravan park with fairly relaxed days, it is time to move on. Drove to the seaside town of Fowey pronounced 'Foy'. Walked around for over an hour down the steep narrow streets and took a 10 minute ferry ride across the water to another town Polruan and back - on the small ferry boat Polruan ferry. Of course, went past a bakery with Cornish pasties so had to have one for lunch - Dave chickened out having one but had a little bit of mine which I gave grudgingly! Finally found a Tourist Information Centre that was close and open so we could buy a camping and caravanning holiday parks book, instead of just stumbling upon them, which we've done so far. Continued on to the town of Trebyan to view Lanhydrock house and gardens (N. Trust6) but of course today is Monday and the house is closed Mondays, so we walked around the extensive, beautiful gardens consisting of many magnolia, rhododendrons and camellia trees among many gardens of various plants, flowers and tulips, most of which haven't yet fully bloomed - it will be spectacular when they do. Fianlly found Mena caravan park for the night at Lanivet about 4 miles out of Bodmin. Drove to the seaside town of Fowey pronounced 'Foy'. Walked around for over an hour down the steep narrow streets and took a 10 minute ferry ride across the water to another town Polruan and back - on the small ferry boat Polruan ferry. Of course, went past a bakery with Cornish pasties so had to have one for lunch - Dave chickened out having one but had a little bit of mine which I gave grudgingly! Finally found a Tourist Information Centre that was close and open so we could buy a camping and caravanning holiday parks book, instead of just stumbling upon them, which we've done so far. Continued on to the town of Trebyan to view Lanhydrock house and gardens (N. Trust6) but of course today is Monday and the house is closed Mondays, so we walked around the extensive, beautiful gardens consisting of many magnolia, rhododendrons and camellia trees among many gardens of various plants, flowers and tulips, most of which haven't yet fully bloomed - it will be spectacular when they do. Fianlly found Mena caravan park for the night at Lanivet about 4 miles out of Bodmin.

29-3-2011 Tuesday
Drove to the town of Bodmin this morning and visited Bodmin Jail, largely in ruins on the edge of Bodmin Moor. It was originally built for King George III in 1779 and was built with the help of the prisoners who brought 20,000 tons of granite from Bodmin's "Cuckoo Quarry". A Naval Prison part was opened in 1887 and was used for the detention of Navy personnel. It was closed in 1927. It had 6 floors to see, connected by stone, spiral staircases. It was very cold in there so I can only imagine how freezing it would be in winter (seeing as this is Spring at the moment!). It was very depressing as well, considering how so many of the prisoners were in there for committing crimes for stealing a loaf of bread, or potatoes or something similarly minor and were serving such a serious, severe sentence. Even children were put in there amongst adults who'd committed much more serious offences. Unless you were of the privileged part of society, you could easily end up in jail doing hard labour for a long time or even be hanged - just because you might steal food to stay alive! There are a lot of bad things about our society today but I think I would very much rather live in today's world than the oppressive, dark and demoralising world of those poor people. On a lighter note, one sign spoke of how the authorities suggested that the prisoners should have a bath of tepid water at least every 3 months but this was brushed off as 'not necessary' by the magistrates that decided those things!! Yes, make them have a bath every 3 months whether they need it or not!!!

As we were leaving, a demonstration on executions (hanging) was being given (for a fee) but we'd had our fill by then. The jail had a bar/restaurant which you walked through to the jail entry and was lovely and warm, especially lovely when we came back in from the jail!! It was also lunch time and there were wonderful smells of roast meals which I would've loved to stay and have but we had to get back to our car park which is a 'pay and display' - risk of getting fined if go past your time. These car parks are very common in towns, and need to be as the streets are often so narrow and don't have room for cars to be parked there as well. We walked around the lovely St Petroc's Church in the middle of town with grave stones dating back to the 1880's. In the same grounds was the ruins of a much older church; it looked quite in keeping with the religious site with the old walls and lovely plants with a small blue flower just growing in the walls.
We decided to go back to the same park we stayed at last night - Mena caravan park at Lanivet. We had some cold pasties in the fridge that we'd bought from the markets and had to be eaten, so we heated them up for arvo tea instead of nibblies - very nice!

30-3-2011 Wednesday
Well it's raining this morning, which they did correctly forecast, so Dave got out there with the broom (bought for this purpose at the markets the other day and carried home strapped to his bike) and washed the m/home down - very effective and water economical. The rain is only light to medium and did clear by early afternoon. We drove to Cotehele House and Mill pronounced 'Co (like 'so') -teel' (N. Trust7) at St Dominick near Saltash. Cotehele House is a Tudor house with many stories and legends, festooned with tapestries and adorned with textiles, arms and armour, pewter, brass and old oak furniture. Outside there are formally planted terraces, other gardens and two orchards planted with local apples and cherries. A triangular shaped 18th century Prospect Tower stands in the middle of a field about 2-300 yards from the main house. It has fantastic views which can be seen from the top after a climb up a long spiral, wooden staircase, the only thing inside this structure. The working mill is an atmospheric reminder of the recent past when corn was ground here for the local community. A range of outbuildings includes a traditional furniture maker and a potter, along with re-creations of wheelwright's, saddlers, and blacksmith's workshops. I bought some wholemeal flour that'd been ground at the mill. Their flour is also sold to local businesses and used in the on site restaurant and nearby hotel.

We'd already booked in for 2 nights (but ended up staying for 3) at the Dolbeare caravan park at Landrake. We'd left the mill late (about 4.45 pm) and had trouble finding the park so finally got settled in by about 6.45 - so no time for nibblies today, just straight to getting dinner.

31-3-2011 Thursday
This morning we left the mhome behind in the park, walked for about 20 mins to the bus stop and caught the bus into Plymouth which took about 30 mins. It was really nice to not have to worry about finding a park wherever we're going and then have to be mindful of the time we've got to be back, as the carparks are nearly always "Pay and Display" which means you put your money into the machine and get a paper receipt, with the time on it by which you have to leave - so you're constantly watching the clock. Plymouth is a very big town on the coast and is where the famous sailing ship the Mayflower left in 1620 to take the pilgrims to colonise America and landed at what is now Massachusetts - these pilgrims went voluntarily, unlike most of our predecessors who were transported involuntarily as convicts. There was another boat, the Tory, that left here in 1839 to take more people to New Zealand. As we were walking around the esplanade, some artillery type guns starting firing off about 6-8 shots from the military establishment called The Citadel. We felt there must have been an exercise in progress as there was a couple of big Naval boats out in the harbour.

From there we walked up to a big grassy area on a hill, called The Hoe. We don't know how it got its name (making a few jokes along the way) but the area was obviously a very respectful place with a few monuments recognising the 2 World Wars and the many countries that participated (on our side of course). There was also a monument of Sir Francis Drake ('Frank' as Dave keeps calling him) and explorer who was the first man to circumnavigate the globe in his boat the 'Golden Hind', defeated the Spanish Armada and made many journeys for Queen Elizabeth I. He was born near Plymouth of humble beginnings (eldest of 11 children - no television! - he wasn't Catholic) but ended up wealthy due to his work for the Queen. We had lunch at a nice seafood restaurant and it was nice to get into the warm and out of the wind and the rain that was starting. The day was overcast from the beginning but there was only light rain all day. We caught the bus home (back to Dolbeare cara park) about 4.30 pm and the nice man who worked at Cotehele Mill who gave us all the mill information yesterday, got on the bus on his way home and sat next to us. So we chatted all the way til we all got off at the same stop, as he lived in the same town where we were staying.

1-4-2011 Friday
Woke to quite an overcast, cold and gloomy day but not much rain which happened overnight. It was a gloomier day than yesterday so we were glad we did the outside at Plymouth thing yesterday. We drove to see Buckland Abbey (N. Trust8) near Yelverton in Devon. Lucky they didn't pick another nearby town called 'Crapstone'! Buckland Abbey was home to Cistercian monks, who built the Abbey and the incredible Great Barn about 700 years ago. They were known as the white monks as their robes were white, just plain material. They farmed the then vast estate and made cider with a giant, impressive press which resides still in the barn. One information wall poster told of how the people drank mostly cider back then, believing water to be unhealthy!!! - how times have changed!! Apparently the cider back then was not as alcoholic as some of them are today - just as well, otherwise they wouldn't have got any work done! They also ground their own flour and baked their own bread.

Henry VIII decided to close this and many other abbies, having split from the Catholic Church and believing that too much money was tied up in these places - and obviously the money was better in his coffers! The Abbey was sold and converted into a home by Sir Richard Grenville and then bought by Sir Francis Drake. Over this time, the owners did their own renovations - being Protestants and not valuing the Catholic significance of the building, they demolished part of the Abbey for their respective home preferences. The Abbey is very much now a memorial to Sir Francis Drake, housing many items associated with him and his voyages, especially the famous Drake's Drum. 13 drums were made for his voyages and they were played at the start of his battles, signalling his approach like a battle cry, and due to his past triumphs, their sound struck fear into the Spanish enemy, providing a big advantage for Drake. This drum on display was the 13th (numbered on the side in roman numerals) and the only known one left in existence. He was known as 'Draco' for dragon due to his successes and the Spanish parents would threaten their children with 'Draco' if they were being naughty.

2-4-2011 Saturday
We didn't really see or achieve too much today. Drove to a town called Lee Mill a few miles out of Plymouth, to a mhome dealer to buy a few bits and pieces we needed but they couldn't help us with much. We were directed to another town Ashburton to a better parts provider but didn't have much luck finding it and ended up driving through the small streets of this town which we didn't like. So we gave it a miss and drove on through Torquay and finally found a caravan park a few miles north at a town called Shaldon - Coast View Holiday Park - very expensive considering the very ordinary caravan pitches and facilities - their main business seems to be static holiday cabins, of which there were many. It was a little bit hilly getting in but once we got up on our site we were on top of a hill with a beautiful ocean view. As it was only around 2pm we walked down to the seaside town below (the day had cleared up nicely after an overcast start), quite a steep walk down around the edge of a golf course, which is right on the edge of the hill overlooking the water (great view but they'd need to have a lot of golf balls as they'd lose a lot!). We walked on the beach and around the village and ended up having an early dinner in a pub beer garden, overlooking the beach. We slowly walked back up the steep walk and relaxed on our deck chairs with a drink outside our home, whilst admiring the great view - of course, we took a photo of us enjoying this!

3-4-2011 Sunday
We were finally able to do a big grocery shopping trip today - found a nice big Sainsburys near Newton Abbott with a nice big car park which means we could fairly easily park the mhome in the far corner of the car park, where we take up a few parks but are not really in the way of the other shoppers - makes for a less stressful time for me shopping inside (Dave stays with the mhome). I miss being able to just jump in my little car and run up to the shop when I need to. After that we drove back down to Torquay, which we didn't really have time to see yesterday. We drove along the esplanade and found a free street park for the mhome which was wonderful and unusual.

Torquay has a lovely big beach front, with lots of room for people to stroll and for bike riders. It's also fairly flat along most of the waterfront so we got our bikes out and did a fair bit of riding (our bottoms have now recovered and coped better with this ride). The tide was out so we walked on the sand for a short distance. There were so many little restaurants and cafes and you could often smell the nice aroma of fish and chips cooking as you rode past. There were many gardens with lovely flowers but mostly beautiful tulips of many colours, everywhere! So far we've only seen these sorts of gardens at National Trust places like Lanhydrock or Cotehele - not in public places. We rode out on a long, wide jetty which we noticed had white painted, wrought iron seats all the way along both sides, instead of railings - it looked great and provided lots of seating for walkers.

After we put our bikes away we sat inside the mhome and shared a mid afternoon snack/late lunch of a pork pie, whilst we looked up the next caravan park to stay at. I've mentioned how we've had a few pasties but I'd forgotten to say we started on the pork pies when we first got here - we tend to alternate now except the hot pasties often win out during the cooler times. We drove to the Beverley Holiday Park (for 3 nights) at Paignton which is beautiful with mhome friendly flat areas and lots of better pitches for about half the price of the last one we stayed at, and with a fabulous ocean view as well!! We felt we lucked out today, with everything - it was a very nice day! Time to celebrate with an afternoon drink and enjoy the view.
 

4-4-2011 Monday
Left the mhome behind today (at Beverley Park - Paignton) and rode our bikes from the cara park down the very steep hill (16% gradient - seems more than that!) and on to the beach area. There were a lot of those little beach one room buildings (with the coloured doors), which seem to be typical of English beaches. We spoke to a guy sitting outside his and he said some are run by the council but some (as his was) are owned or leased (not sure which) by individuals for their exclusive use in the summer. He said they have to pay for them (huts) to be stored away for the winter by the council and then brought out again for the summer. They're not allowed to sleep in them but have their chairs and other personal items in there. I fail to see the attraction actually unless you're the sort of person who's happy to spend lots of time there - I suppose with the sort of winters they have, you're so glad when summer comes, that you might just be satisfied with doing that. We had lunch in a local pub and walked around the local shops. It took about half an hour to cycle back to the bottom of the road where our park is and then another half an hour to push our bikes back up the steep hill! Time to relax and appreciate the view - at night all the pretty lights of the town down below look like a Christmas tree. We really enjoyed the day - not having to drive anywhere.

5-4-2011 Tuesday
Well last night - didn't it blow its socks off and rained!!! During the night our big van was really rocking, and not in the biblical sense! There is an elderly couple in the little caravan next door to us - it is a a box type thing that is only about 10 ft long, about a third the size of us and I was worried that it might blow over during the night. I don't know why Dave laughed at me! I thought we'd be doing an aged rescue in the middle of the night! Anyway, it was still there this morning so that was good as they're a nice couple - Dave and me in 20 yrs!

So this morning it was quite overcast and showery so we were in two minds with our plans for today. There seemed to be a break in the clouds so we decided to bite the bullet and do what we'd planned. Of course, that break in the clouds was purely an illusion although the weather at least, was really only showery, not pouring rain, so it didn't really interfere with our plans. Those spray jackets that Aunty Ann gave us for Xmas for the trip, have come in really handy! We'd decided to do The Round Robin tour which was a 25 min bus ride from Paignton to Totnes, a 1 hour cruise down the Dart River to Dartmouth, a 10 min ferry ride across the river to Kingswear, and then a 30 min steam train ride back to Paington. We caught the local bus to the main Paignton bus station and walked to the train station nearby, to buy our Round Robin tickets. We hopped on the bus to Totnes just as it was leaving.

The skipper doing the commentary on the cruise boat was very entertaining and when we disembarked at Dartmouth, Dave and I walked the 25 min walk to Dartmouth Castle (E. Heritage2). We then walked the small streets back down to the town centre where we had yet, another Cornish pasty for lunch (a lamb and mint one this time - the first deviation from the traditional one!) while we were waiting for the ferry back to Kingswear. There really wasn't anything interesting to see at Kingswear so we went in to the Dart Hotel for a drink, right at the ferry drop off. The train station, where we were to catch the steam train, was also right at that spot so had plenty of time for a drink in a nice warm, traditional style, English pub. The steam train ride back was very relaxing and a nice finish to the day. The train travelled over a couple Brunelian viaducts (the name for railroad bridges, for which the famous railroad designer, Brunel, was responsible). We bought a takeaway dinner and caught the local bus home.

When we got on the local bus for the ride home, I said to the bus driver that we were at the Beverley Park so could he let us know when the closest bus stop to that was. He said "..yes, no problems sheilah..." and we both laughed. I can't hear my accent of course. When people ask where do we come from I don't say 'Australia' anymore because people say 'I know that but where in Australia?'

6-4-2011 Wednesday
A beautiful sunny morning - I spoke to the elderly gentleman in the 10 ft van next door. They're both in their 80's and love doing this caravanning around for much of the year, even going over to Europe, especially France and Spain but making sure they go home and hole up until the school holidays are finished. In winter a lot of English people go to Spain as it is so much warmer and it's not far away.

We drove to a bike shop in Exeter to buy an over the handlebars basket for my bike, so nowI can put my handbag in it, rather than Dave having to carry it in his back pack (it is too hard to ride with it around my neck). It is nice to drive in towns that have mhome friendly streets. We continued on, on the M5 motorway (a major motorway and very easy to drive on) to Chelston to a mhome business to buy some bits and pieces we needed. On again to a seaside town called Burnham-on-Sea where we went to a Rugby Union Football Club that has powered caravan pitches right next to the football field. Dave had found this place accidentally last September when he'd bought the mhome and was looking for a place to stay. It was a weekend and footy season, and so he got to watch a couple of games without having to drive anywhere - he was in heaven (although he prefers league to union). We hooked up about mid afternoon and as it was a lovely sunny afternoon, we got the bikes out and rode to the town and seafront. On the way back we popped into a pub called The Hungry Horse and had an early dinner - no cooking for me again today - bargain!! Another lovely, stressless day - bonus!

7-4-2011 Thursday
Drove to Glastonbury, reputed to be the birthplace of Christianity in England and the seat of Arthurian myths. A centre for hippies and spiritualists, and legends say that King Arthur, Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea and Saints Patrick and Augustine have all visited. We walked up the 521 ft (173 metre) Glastonbury Tor which is basically a very big grassy hill which features a simple tower at the top, built in 1360. Many myths about the Tor;

- that it is the resting place of the Holy Grail;
- the spot where the Messiah will return;
- that it's the Isle of Avalon, where King Arthur sleeps;
- another claims it to be a passage to the underworld.

Visitors have been coming to the huge mound's windy top, a pilgrimage site since the 6th century. There were many steps leading to the top which would've taken about 15-20 min with a couple stops to catch our breath. Of course, we found later that there was a shorter climb on the other side of the Tor. Oh well, we needed the exercise but I don't think I'll be too interested in climbing any more Tors unless there's a very good reason. It was a breathtaking 360 degree view of the town and pastures below. On the way to the Tor, a tiered garden of flowers and climbing vines on Chilkwell St. houses Chalice Well, the purported resting place of the Holy Grail. These days Glastonbury is best known for the annual music festival - must book and pay 12 months in advance.

Moved on towards Bath - where we would like to spend a day roaming around as it's touted to be one of the most beautiful spots in England. Caravan parks seem to be scarce here but we finally found a nice one for 2 nights - Newton Mill Holiday Park at Twerton about 3 miles from Bath.

8-4-2011 Friday
It was another beautiful sunny morning and we rode our bikes on a bike track along the Avon River about 5km into Bath. We chained up the bikes and walked around the town, with buildings that are unusually placed so that there isn't the usual pattern of streets that allows you to easily recall where you've been (more on that later). We made our way to the Roman Baths. Early in their occupation of Britain, the Romans built and used, for over 400 years between the first and fifth centuries AD, an elaborate complex of baths to house the curative waters at the town they called Aquae Sulis which later became Bath. The remains are remarkably complete and among the finest in Europe. It was built around the natural hot spring which rises at 46 degrees C. The spring is the only one of its kind in Britain. A piece of the building stone on display has a date chiselled onto it of 79AD. The Romans believed the goddess Sulis Minerva resided in the hot springs and she could grant peoples' wishes and heal their illnesses. Some of these wishes and curses have been recovered from the spring. Tradition promised that if a curse floated on the water, it would be visited back upon the curser. The Romans neatly avoided this by writing their ill wishes on lead. Other things were cast into the spring to please Minerva, like coins, jewels, etc. Statues of important people such as Julius Caesar and Emperor Hadrian, were placed around the main big bath.

The Roman Baths are a splendid model of advanced Roman engineering. The museum has numbers of displays on Roman building designs, including central heating and internal plumbing, and excavation finds that were inadvertently uncovered by sewer diggers in 1880. Lead piping was used to channel the hot water to the various bath rooms. I wondered how many of these bath goers died from lead related poisioning/diseases, due to regular immersion in these waters transported by the lead pipes(?) We were very impressed by the museum and the way that they had integrated the original building remains into a restored building. Video presentations also helped build a picture of what you were looking at, into images of what it would have been like 2000 years before. We easily spent a few hours walking around the various displays, listening to the very informative commentary on the individual audio hand held devices provided.

When it was time to go back to our bikes, we wondered if we'd find them as we seemed to take a few turns and then there was the stucture of the town (as previously mentioned). We joked about how maybe our 2 poor memory half brains might just make 1 full one and we'd hopefully find our way. We found the bikes pretty easily as it wasn't far but then we had trouble retracing our steps down the streets to the bike path. Luckily a man stopped who'd seen us earlier and thought we might be having trouble. He pointed us in the right direction (which was the opposite direction by the way) and then we were ok. We stopped at the Dolphin Inn Hotel, which was right beside the bike track, and had dinner.

9-4-2011 Saturday
We drove for a few hours today to get closer to a town called Bromsgrove where there's an Avoncroft swap meet for telephones tomorrow morning. We stopped along the way at the Heritage Motor Museum near Stratford-Upon-Avon. The Centre is home to the world's largest collection of historic British cars. It was very impressive and extensive and we spent about 2 and a half hours viewing all the motor vehicles from early 20th century to modern day - from the T model Ford to the Astin Martins that James Bond drove in his movies. Dave was a bit dismayed that there was only one Rolls Royce on show - a 2002 model.

Some interesting facts :-
When the first cars appeared on British roads (and would've been a similar case in Australia), only the rich could afford them. Far beyond the finances of most, the average cost of a car in 1900 was 5 times the average annual wage. For another 2 decades, cars were only for the wealthy. Slowly, the advances in the motor industry meant that the cost of producing a car began to fall. With Ford's introduction of mass production methods in 1913 to manufacture the model T, the campaign to get the world on wheels had begun. Together with Austin, Morris really opened up the car market after the First World War. Morris slashed the price of his cars by half to ride the economic depression of the early 1920's and Austin, to stave off bankruptcy, introduced the Austin Seven - a 'big car in miniature' and price. At last, the public could buy a small car for less than the annual pay packet.

We drove to our caravan park, Clent Hills Camping and Caravanning Club Site (for 3 nights) at Romsley near Bromsgrove.

10-4-2011 Sunday
We drove to the Avoncroft Museum near Bromsgrove today where they have an annual telephone swap meet - lots of people with lots of bits and pieces for phones and also whole phones for sale. Dave travelled over here last year to go to a big phone (estate) auction and coincidentally this swap meet was on within about a week of the auction so he could go to it. He also knows Malcolm (one of the sellers here) through the phones and his (Dave's) book buying and selling. Malcolm owns a phone shop in Cheltenham and bought some of Dave's books to sell in his shop. He and his wife Angela, are the people we stayed with for a couple nights in Devon, at the beginning of our trip, where we had the debacle with that bad Porlock Hill experience and driving between their house and barn (with not much room)! - very worrying time but very nice people.

The Museum has a small building with working exchange equipment which demonstrates the now outdated step-by-step equipment. The equipment is maintained by members of the THG (Telecommunications Heritage Group) of which Dave is a member. Outside there are on display, about 15-20 telephone boxes which would cover the whole range made since about 1900 through to the modern internet terminal model. One interesting one had a combination of phone and on the other side of the box, had a place to post your letters and slots to put money in to obtain stamps - it wasn't very popular and only 50 were made - sounded like a good idea to me! Dave wants to buy one - another one - we already have 3 in our back yard! There are also on display, call boxes that would be located on the side of the road, for people to use when their vehicles break down - for companies such as AA and RAC (like RACQ). In addition there was the 'Police Box' with that written across the top, for the bobbies (police) to use to contact their station, pre mobile phones and 2 way radios. This Police Box was the model used for the Tardis on the television show Dr Who.

The Museum also has a lot of interesting old buildings (nothing to do with phones), most of which have been donated and painstakingly taken apart and moved here, and reassembled by volunteers. Some of these included:-

- an unusual large barn with sides that have been woven with thin timber, just like a large basket weave, and the main
posts were large and curved inwards more like an arch (obviously cut from a large curved tree), and then the rest of the
barn built around this arch shape;
- an old church built in the late 1800's;
- a granary (for storing grain) built on cylindrical brick posts;
- a building with a big press and a horse driven grinding stone for crushing fruit and making cider;
- a blacksmiths' building with about 10 individual areas for 10 blacksmiths (a sign showed there were real blacksmiths'
training courses available);
- cottages that used to house whole families whose main income was through the making of nails (even the children were
involved in the process) - over 130 years ago this is how nails were produced, not by big businesses;
- there were pictures of a structure called 'The Anderson Shelter' which just appeared to be a corrugated iron, igloo
shaped structure outside the house somewhere, into which the family crowded when an air raid was expected during
WWII - from the picture I find it hard to understand why they thought a bomb wouldn't destroy it.

It was a lovely, warm and sunny day (to get cooler in the next few days) so when we got back to the park and hooked back up to power, we got our bikes out and rode about a mile down to the local pub (Marston's The Sun) for a nice dinner. We were glad it was mostly down hill on the way back!

11-4-2011 Monday
It took us a bit over an hour to drive about 40 miles north west to Ironbridge, a town so called because the world's first iron bridge was erected here in 1779 over the River Severn. Britain's best-known industrial monument, the bridge gave its name to the spectacular wooded gorge which, though now tranquil, was once an industrial powerhouse and the cradle of the Industrial Revolution. Ironbridge Gorge is now a World Heritage Site. At the beginning of the 18th century, Abraham Darby I pioneered the process of using coke, made from local coal to smelt local iron ore. But industrial expansion was hampered by the lack of a bridge over the Severn, which had to be a single span to allow for barge traffic. Abraham Darby III cast the bridge in his Coalbrookdale foundry, using 378 tons of iron. It continued in full use by ever-increasing traffic until closed and designated an Ancient Monument in 1934. We walked up and over the bridge, the surface of which was quite angular, like an upside down V - good that its traffic was only people, animals and horses and carts. A toll was charged for every person, child, animal and cart - a Tollhouse sat at one end of the bridge.

We walked around the quaint little village and spent a bit of time in the local antiques shop, which had quite an extensive range. There are ten Ironbridge Gorge Museums, including the Coalport China Museum and the Jackfield Tile Museum but the one that interested us was the Coalbrookdale Iron Museum, home of the foundry that produced the iron bridge. We drove about a mile to this museum and spent over a couple hours there. One whole floor traces the history of the foundry and its progressive changes, the smelting processes, and films of the different moulding processes. The next floor up were all exhibits of iron products of all kinds - one fancy iron table with four sitting hunting dogs at the corners, holding the table on the backs of their necks - it weighed over 830kg! Other fancy exhibits included statues of people and animals, hall stands, umbrella stands, wrought iron bench seats with fancy patterned backs, fine patterned plates, and even stove/oven combinations that are still in use today (and would be very expensive) - all made out of iron. Outside not much is left of the foundry, most of the buildings are gone but the remains of the main furnace have been housed in an A-shaped building about a couple hundred metres away from the building that contained all the exhibits.

Part of the museum was also the Darby houses (of the founder's families) but we didn't have time to see these. We'd been here since midday, it was already 5 o'clock and we had over an hour's drive yet. We stopped at the nice pub down the road from the park and once again had a nice dinner - no cooking for me again tonight! Bonus!

12-4-2011 Tuesday
Today we didn't do any site seeing. We had a long drive down to our next caravan park and some shopping to do so we decided to make that all we'd do today. We've realised that if we try to squeeze too much into a day every day, we can end up too tired, weary and cranky and that's the quickest way to kill the holiday enjoyment, especially on one as long as we're doing. So we drove most of the way and did our shopping at a town called Tewkesbury, We then continued on a few miles down the road to our park - Brooklands Farm Camping and Caravanning Club Site (for 3 nights) at Alderton (although it isn't a farm - some sites are with a few caravan pitches, but this one isn't).

13-4-2011 Wednesday
Lucky we didn't need to rely on a bus service to go anywhere! - there are 2 bus services per week from Alderton (where we're staying) to Tewkesbury (the biggest main town about 10 miles away) at 10.57 am every Wednesday and 9.32 am every Saturday - imagine if you missed the bus! You'd have to wait 3 or 4 days for the next one but worse, imagine if you missed the one back home! Imagine the bus driver when he was given his work schedule - he probably would've said "What! every Saturday!?" There is a large lake bordering the park and you can fish in it if you pay for a permit - about $10 per day or $40 per week during daylight hours only. That appears to be the way here - you have to pay for a permit to fish anywhere - very unlike OZ.

Today we drove around part of the Cotswolds which is the name given to a large area encompassing many villages and pastures - the name "Cotswolds" means "sheep enclosure in rolling hillsides" and we certainly saw many sheep and their baby lambs in rolling hillsides. We seemed to see many twin lambs and their mothers, as if because they are twins they are put into special enclosures - maybe it is normal for sheep to have twins but I don't remember seeing such a concentration of them before. We agree with one guide book we've got that says, 'you see about 100 different shades of green as you drive around'. We first drove to a town called Broadway (not the famous or showy one) which seemed lovely so we got our bikes out and had a lovely ride and then walk around. Everything was quaint and beautiful, many little boutiques and restaurants/hotels. We then drove to Broadway Tower up on a hill, the top view of the tower purported to be the highest point of the Cotswolds (but we didn't go inside). The tower was built as a 'folly' attached to the estate of a Lord (built for his wife) - we've seen this reference before in the same vein i.e. 'folly' 'for his wife' - but not sure if the normal meaning of folly is what we know it as today or whether there's another meaning (maybe a more noble one).

We then drove to villages called Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter - very beautiful, charming, complete with bubbling stream and centuries-old footbridges, totally opposite to what their names suggest. Time to go back home for afternoon drinks and nibblies and put our feet up.

14-4-2011 Thursday
We had a nice relaxing day today. Left the mhome at home today and rode our bikes down to nearby Alderton and just rode around the lovely village. A lot of the houses had a good bit of front yard - we thought if we had to move to England, this would be a nice place to live (of course, that's 110% not on the cards). We had a lovely lunch at the Guardian Arms Hotel with a couple drinks but not too many as we had to ride home. Don't know if I've mentioned it before, but you often see here a hotel being called a 'Free House' which we don't understand yet, but will find out. When we went to go home, I had a flat front tyre. Dave pumped it up which was enough to get home and then we found the cause being an offending bit of thorn off some plant. The tyre went down promptly after the thorn was removed. We'll have to get a puncture kit and fix it (that's the Royal 'we' by the way - Dave will actually be doing the work - and I will be supervising).

15-4-2011 Friday
Drove to Cheltenham this morning, walked around the biggish, busy town with many mobile sales shops, eateries and other book, clothes and grocery shops. We dropped in to Malcolm's phone shop, called "Telephone Lines" in High Street - seems every town has a High Street, just like I've noticed at home every suburb seems to have a School Rd. We bought a few things we'd wanted, like a puncture kit, and I finally found a copy of The Hobbit which I'd been looking for, for a while. We then drove on to Cardiff (Caerdydd in Welsh) the capital of Wales (Cymru). This is the first time for me in Wales although Dave has been here before. I saw the name of a Welsh town (in our camping book) which was 20 letters long and only had 3 vowels in it! Another one was 8 letters long with only 1 vowel - they certainly make frequent good use of the consonant letters - d, w and y.

The caravan park, the Cardiff Caravan Park (3 nights initially but decided to stay a 4th) is basically right in amongst the streets of the main town itself, which surprised us and it was a very unlikely approach - it never ceases to amaze me how after going down such narrow streets, there is all of a sudden a caravan park that can house about 80 caravans! As we're here for a couple days, it will be nice to again, leave the mhome at the park and either walk or cycle to the places of interest. First job this arvo though, is Dave to fix my bike puncture so we can ride.

16-4-2011 Saturday
We walked into the main town of Cardiff this morning along the lovely walking/cycling track beside the Taff River. Roamed around Cardiff Castle for over a couple hours - a remarkable site with a history that spans over 2000 years. Again, a very good presentation of the castle with hand held audio commentary at various spots. The castle houses wartime tunnels, used as air raid shelters in WWII. The castle went through many transformations over hundreds of years - a Roman garrison, a Norman stronghold, and finally a Gothic fantasy under the joint partnership of the owner, the 3rd Marquess of Bute and the eccentric architect William Burgess. Burgess' designs were very ostentatious, theatrical and colourful. The furniture was beautiful with inlaid patterns. The ceilings were incredible - a work of art all on their own. The Marquess of Bute appreciated the medieval style but enjoyed the modern comforts such as central heating.

Cardiff Castle stands in the city centre, with Bute Park stretching behind it along the River Taff. Eastward along Park Place are the Civic Centre, university buildings, and the National Museum. We strolled up to the Central Market where merchants sell tasty treats of all sorts and everything from wigs to Bibles. We had a late lunch there - I had chips, mushy peas with gravy and faggotts - a rissole shaped meatball made with liver and probably breadcrumbs among other things - it was lucky I liked liver (I didn't know what it was when I'd ordered it). We bought some kippers (for breakfast) from a very interesting fishmongers' stall - they had a perpetual shield on display "Best Fishmonger" as one of the fishmongers had won it last year - the shield went back as far as 1962. We wandered back home this time, through Bute Park with its lovely flowers, especially the tulips.

17-4-2011 Sunday
We rode our bikes into town for breakfast at 10 am at McDonalds so we could access WiFi as the park doesn't have it. We then rode down to Cardiff Bay which is quite big, beautiful and very eventful, with only recreational activity going on, including boating - no commercial fishing boats and their crab pots, which we have seen in other main towns. There were playgrounds for the kids and a merry-go-round and plenty of eateries. We went for a 15 min ride on an inflatable speed boat thrill ride. It was a lot of fun - the driver drove fast, zig zagged and went round and round in circles til he made a whirlpool and then drove straight through it so we bounced. He'd deliberately drive over other boats' wakes for the same reason. There were boats that did a more sedate boat ride for those who preferred. Another boat did a safari ride but we didn't find out what that was. There were wide areas for people to walk leisurely and for cyclists. There was much provision made for cyclists and we endeavoured to ride right around the bay but ended up cutting across the bridge which led us back towards the city centre.

On the way we passed over where there were 3 locks which allowed boats in and out of the freshwater bay. The bay is blocked off by these locks so the tide never goes out. Fresh water is pumped into it from the river and fish are put in there but the cormorants come and eat a lot of them. Salmon also come there in the spawning season and artificial waterspills have been developed to mimic the fast flowing rivers so they can swim upstream. We also passed a man made white water rafting watercourse that ran in a continuous oval shaped circle. There was seating so anybody could just go in to watch through a protective mesh fence. We arrived back in the main part of town at about 3.30 and had an early dinner at the Prince of Wales pub - a lovely pub. We got home about 5 pm and have had enough bike riding for a couple days, until our bottoms recover. It had been a lovely sunny day and we did enjoy riding around this lovely town - it would be a nice place to live.

From 17/4/2011 to 8/5/2011 we were in Wales - diary is on the Wales page

9-5-2011 Monday

Delivered package to Manchester Airport. While we were waiting in what looked like a side area on the motorway (but not a lay-by), the traffic police told us that it was a criminal? offence to stay there. They were very helpful though and actually gave us an escort to a safe area where we could park the M/H.
After that a fairly short drive to Burrs County Park site (CC) in Bury, Lancashire. Got in for 2 nights even though reception was closed for the day.

10-5-2011 Tuesday
Burrs Park site is reasonably close to the town and a nice bike ride so that is good. Rode in to Bury (Berry) today and had a short look around for other transport etc (to Manchester). It was a trendy looking town centre with a trio of great trumpet players busking in the mall - a nice atmosphere with plenty of shopping options. Their (Wednesday) mid-week is supposed to be one of Britain's best, boasting over 350 stalls. Burrs Mill was a water driven factory built in the 1790's by the Peel family for their cotton spinning activities. It is ruins now but the remains have been preserved and the layout is still recognisable. The blue brick viaduct to control and divert water is still carrying water and is used by kayaking enthusiasts. It is interesting to see water flowing at different levels and the early ingenuity used to control the amount of water that was needed for the mill wheel.

11-5-2011 Wednesday
Market day in Bury with a huge indoor/outdoor area where there is reputed to more than 350 stalls. Interesting cheeses and traditional Black Pudding made mainly from pigs blood. Tried a hot one from a stall with their own manufactured mustard - Hot. Alan's dog went up to the dried dog food stall and put her paws up to the bins to check out what was available, and after a lot of thought, finally chose what looked like small pigs trotters. After that, back to the M/H with Black Pudding and cheeses to try one of the local "Real Ales". There is a growing movement in Britain toward traditionally brewed organic beers from small breweries; the local had "Light Brigade", from the Leyden Breweries at Nongreaves, near Bury.

12-5-2011 Thursday
Manchester. Pretty average and cool weather today, but after a brisk 25minute walk from the park in to Bury, it soon felt reasonably warm. The rail/tram journey from Bury took about 25minutes. The trams are run on the old railway lines until they get to Victoria station and then on the roads like a conventional tram line, terminating at Piccadilly station.
All the usual shopping complexes for a large city, but also some very interesting and ornate red brick buildings including the Royal Exchange Theatre. The town centre also has it's own observation wheel - the Wheel of Manchester giving good views but unfortunately a lot of it is of the banks of air conditioners on the modern buildings; views not as good as the London Eye or York. Had two separate pairs of ticket inspectors checking everyone's tickets on the one short journey.

13-5-2011 Friday
Just shopping and maintenance day today followed by some hours catching up with our Travelog Internet update.

14-5-2011 Saturday
Uploaded the Travelog update covering the period from Easter to 8/5/2011.
Miserable weather to start the day but at least there are no touristy things planned for today. Just a long drive from Bury (near Manchester) to Leamington Spa (just South of Birmingham). Staying a couple of nights at a (CC) small "Farm Stay" site; Manor Farm, Plough Lane, Bishop's Itchington (don't you just love some of these addresses), near Warwick. The atmosphere is lovely, surrounded by the farm animals, sheep, cattle and horses. Hope to be able to do a bike ride tomorrow to the National Vintage Communications Fair; The NVCF is an antique-type collectors fair specialising in early technology and featuring thousands of rareand collectable items such as early radios, television receivers, gramophones, telephones, classic valve hi-fi and all manner of electrical and mechanical antiques & collectables.
Established in 1992, the fair is held in late Spring and attracts over 200 stallholders (dealers, private sellers and clubs) from the UK, the continent, and the USA.

15-5-2011
After around a 6 mile bike ride to the Manchester Exhibition Centre spent about 4 hours looking at antique (and some modern) communications gear; radios were at the forefront, but there were also a good number of displays and sellers of telephones. Didn't buy too much because of shipping costs, but prices looked OK.

16-5-2011 Monday
Drove the short journey to Warwick to stay for a couple of days and look around and see Warwick Castle. Reputed to be one of the finest in Britain. Well presented with lots of staff dressed in period costumes. Good figures depict the life of many of the past occupants.
Stayng at the CC site at the Warwick Racecourse; just have to look right/left when driving over the track on race days.

17-5-2011 Tuesday
Just a look around Warwick township with it's many Tudor style homes. Even some buildings with bare support timber and unpainted walls; Unlike the common white walls and black painted timbers. Went grocery shopping without Joy and spent £3.42 for milk, bananas and a bit of ham. Rode the bike around the Warwick racecourse - must be about two miles.
Small bike repair and sort out the SatNav mounting.

18-5-2011 Wednesday
Drove the 75 miles to Henley-On-Thames with a short stop at Banbury Cross for supplies. Shouldn't have stopped here; got a parking fine £80 ouch!!! Staying at Four Oaks CC park for 2 nights.

19-5-2011 Thursday
Spent some very enjoyable hours riding in and around Henley and along the Thames. A very nice area and the Thames used a lot for recreational boating and rowing. First rode upstream to see the Henley Lock which was quite busy with vessels waiting to go up and downstream, then rode over the Henley Bridge built (1776-1786) to the Hambleden Lock further downstream. The boat owners don't part with any money to pass through; costs are included in their annual boat registration fees, a bit like Queensland's public boat ramp fees.

20-5-2011 Friday
50 mile drive to Newbury showgrounds for the Motor Home and Caravan show. Met up with Alan/Jill/Meg again. The night entertainment was OK. The Elton Jon impersonation had the right visuals, but his voice was about as close as Dave's to EJ.
The show is just huge; there must be around 2000 campers (mostly Motorhomes) parked up on the grounds for the weekend. It is a "sale" show primarily, but campers also look at it as a big social event.
Bought a 6 metre fibreglass flag pole to fly our Aussie flag; pictured in our next update around 5 June.
Also gave Alan an Australian flag for when we next beat the Poms at Cricket or the Rugby World Cup.

21-5-2011 Saturday
Just wandered around the show and got a quote etc for changing our M/H over to LPG fittings and bottles etc. Unfortunately the standard bottles used in the UK can't be filled on the Continent so we had the replacement fitted at the show. This will then allow us to fill up at any petrol station (with three different adapters) through Europe.
Bought some nice sausages from "Giggly Pig"; Welsh Dragon, Spicy Garlic and Hickory Smoked.

22-5-2011 Sunday
Last day of the Show

23-5-2011 Monday
Drove around 70 miles to Swindon to check out M/H storage; signed up for a few months.
Another drive then to Salisbury to pick up our lost parcel containing books, shoes and some other heavy items. Posted from home early January - should have taken 6 weeks, but actually took 14 weeks to arrive.

24-5-2011 Tuesday
Today made the trip to London for a few days. Staying at Wyatts Covert (Denham) until Saturday morning. The park is OK but unfortunately couldn't recommend it as it is very noisy from an airstrip right beside us. The engine noise is so constant that it must be take-offs, choppers etc but also it must be engines being run for testing etc.
Fitted the Fiamma exterior door locks to the main door and the two "garage" doors.

25-5-2011 Wednesday
Had a nice long bike ride today to find the Denham railway station, then along the narrow boat tow path on the Grand Union Canal between Widewater and Denham Locks. The Narrow Boats are a big thing here; passed a "marina" that would have had two hundred moored

26-5-2011 Thursday
Took the train in to London - Marylebone Station; takes me back to playing Monopoly. Unfortunately it turned out to be a miserable day with plenty of rain and thunder and even a bit of hail. Just had time to walk over Westminster Bridge to see Parliament House just as Big Ben struck 12 mid-day. Was going to line up to see Westminster Abbey but then the sky really opened up plus strong wind so waiting outside in line didn't look too attractive.
The train services on the underground were in a mess; apparently someone went under a train - sad but it sounds like it happens a bit. Got a train to Wembley Central and then walked (again in the rain) to Wembley Stadium station on the Chiltern Railways line. Wembley Stadium looks very impressive.

27-5-2011 Friday
To London

After our 3 months or so back home, we return for the rest of our journey.

 7 & 8-9-2011 Wednesday & Thursday 7&8-9-2011 Wednesday & Thursday
We caught our 2pm flight from Brisbane to London with Thai Airways, and a 5 hour tiring stop at Bangkok, where we did a lot of walking all around the airport shops to kill time and give our muscles some exercise. The first leg was a bit over 8 hours and was broken up by being able to watch movies and tv shows on individual screens. The second leg was closer to 12 hours, and on an old 747 which had very little audio and no TV facilities at all except for a big screen for everyone, on which nothing was shown until close to the end of the trip, and then it was a movie that looked a similar vintage to the plane we were in! I suppose they didn't think anyone would use those facilities much as it was a 2am Bangkok flight. We were a bit worried on take off - the plane took so long to get off the ground and on actual takeoff, it rattled and shook and made so much loud noise that we were afraid it was going to fall apart and leave us all sitting on the tarmac! The landing was not much better with a very hard touchdown - again, surprised it didn't break apart!

We hired a car and drove about 60 miles to where the M/H was stored at Swindon . On the way we stopped and bought some groceries. We also bought a small generator for those times over in Europe, where we're without power for a few days - we'll be able to use the microwave oven, computer and recharge the habitat batteries which power the lights and TV/DVD player inside the M/H living area. The M/H started up ok which was good after sitting for 3 months without being started. We stayed at a Caravan and Camping Caravanning Club (CCC) certified site which is a pub - The Bell Inn catering for only 5 caravans/mhome at the back. We did some unpacking and walked to the pub for a drink. We'd planned to go back later for dinner after we had a nap but we slept for 3 hours and then didn't feel like going anywhere. We were fairly shattered so just stayed in and had an early night.

9-9-2011 Friday
I was to drive the rental car, following Dave in the M/H, back to the rental car place this morning but the M/H wouldn't start for some strange reason. So Dave said to me to drive the car back on my own about 20 mins away, using the GPS, as it was to be back by 9am, while he tried to work out the problem. I nearly had a heart attack as I've never driven here on my own plus I had to fuel it up on the way! For a fleeting moment I thought maybe Dave was pretending he couldn't start the M/H, testing my mettle - but then I dismissed that silly thought. He wouldn't do that deliberately(?) Anyway I stayed calm and did it, luckily without a problem and got there at 8.55am. Dave turned up not long after, having quickly solved the problem (mmmmm???). We then drove to a M/H show at the Bath and West showgrounds of a town called Shepton Mallett.

On the way we passed a 4 wheel drive vehicle which had come around the corner from our left and didn't go far enough over onto his side of the road and as he passed us, his and our side mirrors banged together. We couldn't stop there and then and it was a little while before we could pull over to survey the damage. The indicator and the bottom part of the 2 part mirror were hanging by their electrical wires, and were swinging away as we were driving to a safe spot, sometimes banging on the door. Luckily they both still worked and Dave did a patch up job on them and the broken black hard plastic holder with some duct tape.

There are thousands of motorhomes here - owners who come along to stay for the weekend, look around at the new M/Hs for sale, the associated businesses and socialise. There are many of these shows held here in England throughout the summer.

10-9-2011 Saturday
A pretty overcast day and rain expected for the whole weekend. Dave had trouble starting the generator we bought and a couple guys came over, at separate times, to help. It took a while but they finally found the problem - annoying that so much time was spent on a brand new product to get it going, but it wasn't convenient to take it back to where we bought it. We had our big Aussie flag flying off a long flagpole at the end of the M/H as a lot of people do - flying their own country's flag that is. We think that's why these guys probably took pity on us and came over to help us.

11-9-2011 Sunday
10th Anniversary of 9/11 - hope the recent threats don't come to fruition. We walked around the show today, looking at the many different types and makes of M/H, dodging the patchy rain as it came and went. It was a nice liesurely day and weekend.

12-9-2011 Monday
It blew fairly fiercely and rained a bit overnight. We were parked on grass and had a bit of trouble getting out. A fellow M/Homer came and gave us a push and it wasn't long before we were right. We drove to Richmond (not far from London) where Dave's cousins, Carol and Gillian, live with their families. It's amazing that we were able to park so easily overnight at no charge (in Dukes Ave), in the inner suburbs of London. It was a short walk to Carol's home where she gave us a lovely lunch and then later, along with Gillian's husband John, drove and walked to a lovely cafe overlooking the Thames. That evening we went to dinner at a vegetarian restaurant with Carol and her husband Richard.

13-9-2011 Tuesday
Drove to Folkestone where we bought some books at the Vicarious Books shop - books that show us the 'Aires' (pronounced 'airs') which are mostly free camping grounds in Europe. We then drove to our Caravan Club site called the Black Horse Farm which wasn't actually a farm at all but probably so named after a pub with the same name, about 300 metres down the road. The town is called Densole. This site isn't far from Dover where we will catch a ferry to Dunkirk in France, tomorrow morning.

14-9-2011 Wednesday
Left the park early this morning, about 8.40am to drive to Dover Harbour for our 10am ferry with the Norfolk line (DFDS) to Dunkirk - a 2 hr trip. We had to lock and leave our vehicles and they weren't accessible during the trip. We enjoyed the comforts of the 1st class lounge where we had coffee, OJ and bikkies all included, and the free internet if we'd wanted it. We had a lovely view out of a large window and watched as the White Cliffs of Dover disappeared behind us.

BACK TO ENGLAND

29-5-2012 Tuesday
Drove 100ks north and then west to Calais (France) to catch the ferry back to Dover (UK - England). We got this big grilling from the passport border control UK people at Calais because I'm on an Aussie passport (Dave has a British one) and haven't got a flight ticket booked back to OZ. (They're afraid I'll want to move to the UK illegally - little do they know!) We explained that we didn't have a return flight booked because we didn't know when we'd be going home - we were retired and on an extended holiday. The guy seemed to find that very unusual, that we would be away from our home for so long! We said we've met lots of people who are doing what we're doing, having an extended holiday through Europe. I suppose border control doesn't actually talk to many of these people because a lot of them would live in EU countries, and there's no restriction on their time in EU countries and no questions asked about what they're doing and for how long. We seemed to be there for a while, trying to convince him we're not trying to move permanently to the UK, although Dave could with his British passport. We didn't have any of these in depth questions crossing any of the countries' borders we visited in Europe, even when we went back into an EU country from a non-EU one. Sometimes it's hard to convince people that they should let you come into their country to spend your tourist dollars. He finally approved my entry and I understand he was just doing his job, to discern whether you're a genuine tourist or a potential illegal immigrant, but it does make you feel unwelcome.

On disembarking from the ferry at Dover, and seeing the beautiful White Cliffs of Dover again, we drove 142ks north-west to London and a town Richmond in Surrey, and our overnight stop (wild camping) on Dukes Ave, not far from Dave's cousin Carol's and her husband, Richard's place. We joined them for a lovely dinner and enjoyable evening. John, Carol's brother-in-law joined us for dessert. After dinner we had a pleasant stroll with Carol down to the Thames River.

30-5-2012 Wednesday
After a morning cuppa with Carol, we drove 37ks north to a town Denham (England) and Wyatts Covert Caravan Club Site for 2 nights. We just relaxed for the rest of the day.

31-5-2-12 Thursday
We had a pleasant ride down the road and along the Grand Union canal, where we saw a long boat pass through a loch, controlled by gates. Along the canal bank, we passed wild ducks with baby chicks and a couple of Canada geese with 4 ungainlychicks. As we passed, both the adult geese hissed at us, warning us to keep away from their brood. There were many of these long boats tied up along the canal wall, and appeared like they were lived in. Afterward we rode into the small, old village of Denham - very pretty, picturesque and well kept.

1-6-2012 Friday
Drove 21ks south to Windsor Castle in the town of Windsor. The castle is the Queen's official residence, a complex of a few buidings and actually looks like what you would expect a castle to look like, with defence walls and a moat, albeit it dry and now hosting a garden. We took a tour of the castle, firstly going into the Queen Mary's Dollhouse exhibit, built in 1920 for Queen Mary who liked miniatures. The dollhouse was not meant to be played with, just looked at, and is rather large, by normal dollhouse standards, about 3.5mx2m and 2m high, with 4 levels. The bottom level is a garage whilst the other levels are what a lavish, many roomed wealthy/royal house of the time would look like. Miniature furniture and wall paintings were meticulously made by craftsmen and painters, and real electricity and working plumbing were connected (who knows why). The cutlery on the long set up dining table, was made of real silver and there was a safe room with real miniature crown jewels.

The following is information retrieved from the internet:-
Offering a unique peek into the high-end lifestyle of the Royal’s is this enormous doll house which is currently on display at Windsor Castle. Built in 1924 for Queen Mary by renowned architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, this doll house is a piece of art. The beautiful house is inspired by Princess Marie Louise, Queen Victoria’s grand-daughter, who asked Lutyens, the architect of the Cenotaph, to build it for Queen Mary. What will amaze you about the doll house are its intricate detailing and the wide range of contents which include Lux flakes by the kitchen sink, electricity, running water and even a lift. On the kitchen table is a tin of Coleman's Mustard and Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce. There is also a landscaped garden complete with a functional lawnmower designed by famed gardener of the time, Gertrude Jekyll. In the garage are parked six 'horseless carriages' including a Daimler limousine and the Rolls Royces. The house which is a piece of art itself house works of art, 750 to be precise, spanning from Victorian and pre-Raphaelite.

Next we viewed the State Apartments, many rooms with old beautiful furniture and paintings, some of the rooms still being used today for various official functions. There were rooms with ornate, fancy weapons like pistols and swords, suits of armour and glass cabinets with different sets of fine Royal china. One of these sets was the Rockingham set, an unusual collection including comports with stems having the appearance of leaves, vines, fruit and vege, flowers, very delicately and finely made. Apparently they took years to complete. Lastly we visited St George's Chapel (named after St George and the Dragon) which is a working chapel, and where members/knights of The Royal Garter are inaugarated - the Queen and Prince Charles are members of this select and prestigous society. King Henry VIII and one of his 8 wives, Jane Seymour are buried in the chapel, along with many other Royals, and King George VI and his wife, Elizabeth, the Queen mother to the current Queen Elizabeth II.

Afterward we drove 90ks north to a town Milton Keynes and Gulliver's Camping for 1 night. The Queen's 60th Jubilee, 60 years since her coronation, is on this weekend so the roads are rather busy with people travelling from all over the country to be a part. The camping park is right next door to a family fun place that has a number of animals. From our van we could see through the fence a large, black Clydesdale type horse with 2 small brown Shetland ponies as companions. It was rather a funny sight. The Shetlands could almost walk under the belly of the big horse without bending. We could hear sheep noises too but couldn't see any as they seemed to be inside or on the other side of a building.

2-6-2012 Saturday
Drove to the nearby Milton Keynes Museum which was very good. It was set out like a little town, with separate buildings to house different exhibits, showing products and technologies, spanning the last 100 years or so. The telephone museum was first, with some of the old equipment set up so the kids could use it. There was a farmhouse with some of the items in a sitting room being a pianola (piano operated by pedal power to play paper rolls, producing music); an old wooden standing clock that has one hand only (not broken, just works on quarter hours timings), a very old wind-up gramophone type box that produces music, not with records, but with a large round flat metal disc with holes in it (I suppose a bit like an old music box); and a beautiful, ornate, black and gold painted telephone hider, used to hide a telephone from view as phones in years gone by were not considered something to be on show, very different from today. There was a street of shops including a grocers, pharmacy, haberdashery, dentist, post office, and butchers. A printing shop had several old printing machines on display with the smell of ink evident as you walked in. Another building housed transport vehicles - a big renovated tram, carriage complete with horse, a gypsy like caravan, old bicycles and children's tricycles, and old postal/telecom trucks. It was a wonderful display, fully operated by volunteers.

We then drove 126ks north to Nottingham (England), and a small nearby town of Car Colston, staying 2 nights at the back of The Royal Oak Public House, in a large field with quite a few other mhomes and caravans - most with lots of Union Jack flags flying to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Of course we took the opportunity and had dinner at the pub.

3-6-2012 Sunday
Well it rained pretty much all day, but lots of flag waving people and boats turned out for the Jubilee celebrations on the Thames. We drove 18ks to the town of Nottingham to take a tour of the Galleries of Justice Museum (based at the old courthouse), which details the history of the harsh penalties and living conditions for prisoners over 200 years ago. Severe sentences were imposed for minor offences, with many being condemned to death or transported to America and Australia (about 162,000 between 1787 and 1868) til the late 1800's when the practice was then stopped. A convict ship exhibit detailed the history of hardship and life aboard a ship, on its long 8 month voyage to the colonies. One of the punishments was for people to be put down into cells low down in the ground and forgotten about, and pretty much left to die. These cells were called 'the pits' which explains where the saying comes from - when we say something terrible is 'the pits'.

We then walked down the road to take a tour of the City of Caves, which is a system of caves carved out of the sandstone, underneath the streets of Nottingham. These caves are now underneath a shopping centre, built with care so as not to damage the caves below (after a long battle was won by the public to preserve the caves). The sandstone is very easy to carve out but at the same time is very strong whilst compacted. There were many rooms where people lived and a tannery business was in operation at one time. During the WWII the caves were used as an air-raid shelter.

4-6-2012 Monday Bank Holiday in Britain for Queen's 60th Jubilee
A beautiful sunny day today which is good because it has dried up the grassy field a bit, which we were parked on and we were able to drive out without a problem. Drove 30ks south to a town Melton Mowbray which is famous for its pork pies (to which we are partial), and Stilton cheese (a blue stinky cheese to which Dave is partial) - both of these items originated in or around this area. We were able to find a nearby, large, car park which could easily accommodate our vehicle, and we walked to the Jubilee show (like our Ekka on a smaller scale) which was on for today only. We saw a barber shop quartet sing 2 Australian songs (Matilda and Bound for South Australia - a convict song, appropriate for where we were yesterday). They wore bush hats with hanging corks and bushman beards while singing these songs. They had a showing of old, beautiful, typically English, classic cars and by comparison saw a demonstration of the typically big, American, Monster trucks with the loud, high, big wheeled vehicles which could drive over a pile of old car wrecks - it was fun to look at. We bought some famous pork pies and some stinky Stilton cheese before moving off to the lovely old town, just to walk around and enjoy.

We did some shopping at a nearby shop before enjoying a nice early dinner at one of the Wetherspoons chain of lovely pubs which has nice, reasonably priced meals (which our English friends alerted us to). We then wandered back to our mhome and drove about 80ks north to a town called Worksop and Clumber Park Caravan Park for 1 night. The park is pretty full to capacity with kids everywhere, BBQs all cooking, all celebrating the Queen's Jubilee holiday. A group nearby our van were taking a photo with masks of the Royal family which looked quite good - the Queen (of course) (Liz), Prince Philip (Phil), Prince Charles (Chuck) (but no Camilla - I think that's saying something), Prince William (Bill), his lovely wife the Duchess, Kate (no nickname for the lovely Kate), and Prince Harry (just Harry) - it looked great.

5-6-2012 Tuesday
Drove 70ks north to Leeds (England) to pick up an antique telephone item Dave bought and then 80ks west to a town called Bury and Burrs Country Park for 6 nights; it is a short tram ride from Bury into Manchester. Burrs Country Park is a unique spot surrounded by recreational parkland, preserved remains of the old cotton mill, canals where people relax kayaking and of course a nice English pub. There is even a steam train service passing close by - very nostalgic. We'll do a few things but are looking forward to having a bit of a rest, and enjoying not doing much.

6-6-2012 Wednesday
We drove 92ks east to Barnsley (England) to visit lovely Winnie, the widow of Dave's cousin. It was the first time for me, meeting Winnie. She made us some lunch and we had an enjoyable visit. We talked about where we'd been in our travels and when we mentioned Devon, she told us she'd been to Porlock Hill and got a fright from it, although they were only in a car. We related our Porlock Hill nightmare story that we experienced last year in March (2011), when we first started our trip in the mhome.

7-6-2012 Thursday
Rainy day for most of today so we decided to stay indoors. We ventured outside for dinner at the Brown Cow pub which is a few steps from the gront gate of the park.

8-6-2012 Friday
We put the mhome in for a service and MOT this morning, and as the rain was still falling it was a good day for a ride on the Heritage Railway - the East Lancashire Railway. The steam train takes about half an hour and stops at 5 stations, on a track only used now by the heritage service. It's run by about 600 volunteers and 15 paid employees. The old style carriages are like what you see on the old movies, and we enjoyed the pleasant ride through the green countryside and old towns. Our train ticket also gave us entry to the very good Transport Museum which housed renovated double decker buses, normal buses, trams, steam roller, a Model T Ford among others. There were old train signs and interactive items for the kids. After picking up the mhome and doing some grocery shopping, we went back to the park where our lovely English friends, Jill and Alan were waiting for us. We'd met them a year ago when we were in Wales and organised to meet up with them, here in Bury, where they live. We had dinner together at the Brown Cow pub.

9-6-2012 Saturday
Still a rainy, bleak and windy day. We heard on the news this morning that there's been flooding in Wales in the town of Aberystwyth - we were there in April last year (2011). People have had to be evacuated from some places in the town and a couple of caravan parks, that are located on the river. Dave and I walked to the big market place in the main town of Bury around lunch time. The markets has everything from detergent to clothes to fruit and veg, and meat and fish shops. Among other things we bought some black pudding which Bury is famous for, and to which Dave is partial. We had some nice fish, chips and mushy peas for lunch before we walked back home to the park. We were lucky, with only a sprinkling of rain here and there, and it only came down a bit heavier when we were not far from park. We got together for drinks and nibblies with Jill and Alan early in the evening.

10-6-2012 Sunday
The sun has finally shone through this morning so Jill and Alan (and Megan, their lovely Jack Russell dog) took us for a walk through the nearby park with a river running alongside. The area used to be occupied by an old mill, which used the running water to operate their water mill. The park contained some wooden 'trolls' which were characters, carved by local school kids (with assistance) and placed throughout the park area. Afterwards we all enjoyed drinks together and then a (motor)home cooked dinner.

11-6-2012 Monday
After having a cuppa with our friends Jill and Alan and saying goodbye, it was late morning. We picked up a few things at a mhome spare parts business before driving 115ks north-east to York (England) and a certificated site (Caravan and Camping Club) at the back of The Lord Nelson pub for 2 nights.

12-6-2012 Tuesday
Rode the bus into the beautiful town of York and visited the church of St Michael le Belfrey before walking next door to the York Minster, the largest Gothic cathedral in Britain. In this building, the first complete printed English Bible was translated in 1535 (by Miles Coverdale). There were many stained glass windows and it's estimated that this cathedral holds half of all the medieval stained glass in England. The Great East Window constructed in 1405-8, is the largest single medieval glass window in the world - it's as big as a tennis court! We climbed the 275 narrow spiral steps up to the top of the Central Tower for a great view. The steps grow even narrower the closer you get to the top. They use a counting system to make sure everyone in the group has reached the top before they allow anyone to start descending because the staircase won't allow passing traffic. It was a treat wandering through the Shambles, a quasi-medieval, shopping district with narrow, cobbled streets and quaint, wonderful shops. We walked along, on top, of part of the 2 and a half miles of medieval wall. We explored a great second hand shop where Dave spotted and bought, 2 Castlemaine XXXX beer pulls (for connection to a keg at a pub bar).

Going home we caught the right number bus, but not the right direction. When we found out, at the end of that route, we then had to stay on the bus and go back into York before it then took the route to our destination. We ended up riding the bus for 2 and a quarter hours, arriving back at 5.45pm. It was good the bus driver didn't charge us for another round trip but I suppose he realised we were just a couple of dumb tourists and took pity on us. Considering all the bus and train routes we've successfully navigated in the many cities over the last 9 months, we were surprised we'd made this basic mistake - just goes to show anyone, no matter how experienced, can always make a mistake. At 6.30 we met up with Dave's cousin Alan and his lovely wife Carol and walked a few minutes to their nearby house. We spent an enjoyable evening with them and were treated to a nice home cooked dinner.

13-6-2012 Wednesday
We drove into York to pick up the beer pulls and then drove 60ks to Scarborough (England) and West Ayton Caravan Club Site for 1 night. After checking in we drove to a nearby, vary large park and ride and caught the bus into the lovely seaside town of Scarborough. We walked along the esplanade and watched kids playing in the sand and having donkey rides - we've been told the primary school kids don't back to school til next week. In amongst the shops and eateries were quite a few entertainment parlours with the usual money eating machines. In the harbour people were being taken for rides in a speed boat and a much more sedate pirate looking vessel. After trying some nice fish and chips at what is supposed to be the famous, James Ramsden establishment (which also has a presence in Melbourne Australia we're told), we walked up many steps and a slanted pathway to Scarborough Castle, built high on rock overlooking the harbour. There is not much of the castle left except for a good part of the Keep and quite a long part of the defensive wall. The grounds are beautiful and green, and well kept, and it was easy to see why a couple groups of school kids were taken there on excursion.

14-6-2012 Thursday
Nice sunny day today. We drove 40ks north to the impressive Whitby Abbey (England), originally founded by St Hilda in 675AD, atop a hill buffeted by shrieking winds and enjoying marvelous views of the bay below. The abbey was burned by Vikings in 867AD and the present structure dates to 1078AD. It is in ruins now although there's a lot more remaining than some ruins we've seen. Bram Stoker was a frequent visitor to Whitby, and the abbey and graveyard are believed to have inspired Dracula. Chomley House also stands nearby, built from the stones of the abbey by Lord Chomley, a chrony of King Henry VIII, who had ordered all the monasteries to be closed down. Chomley was able to acquire the land for himself due to their friendship. Next to the abbey, the medieval St Mary's Church has an impressive interior noted for its box pews, each with their own little door. Some were marked "Strangers' pews" and "Lifeboat Crews". A wall certificate inside noted that the Prince of Wales was here in 1978 for the celebration of the 250th anniversary of Captain James Cook's birth (discoverer of Australia in 1770). Cook did his seaman's apprenticeship in this town. There was a Captain Cook Memorial Museum but we didn't have time to visit it.

We walked down the 199 shallow steps to the lovely seaside town of Whitby, where Lewis Carroll wrote The Walrus and the Carpenter. Whitby also has a quasi-medieval shopping area with narrow cobbled streets (like in York). It was a treat to look in each shop. We found the Magpie Cafe which is reputed to serve the best fish and chips in all Britain, which must be true because there was a line of people outside waiting to be seated - so we settled instead, for a place just down the road. After lunch we made our way back up the 199 steps to the abbey carpark, and then drove 140ks north-west. Not being able to find a camping park vacancy on the way, we stopped in a quiet layby, off the highway in a town called Belsay (England) for 1 night.

Then over the border into Scotland - continues in the Scotland Diary

16-7-2012 Monday
Drove 170ks south to Kendal (England) and Kendal C&C Club site for 2 nights. On the way we stopped at a village called Gretna Green, in Scotland, where young elopers used to go to get married - the age in Scotland was younger than England so people used to run off to there to get hitched. It was very much a tourist place with souvenir shops, a big car park and plenty of tourist buses. After that we detoured to see the ruins of Housesteads Roman Fort and Museum, and Hadrian's Wall - a stone barrier built in AD122 by the Roman emperor, Hadrian, and stretched unbroken for 73 miles from modern day Carlisle in the west right across England to Newcastle in the east, to stop the enemy from the north trying to take over. The Romans had claimed England as part of the Roman empire. The wall used to be 4-5 metres (15 feet) high and 3 metres (9 feet) wide but there's not a lot of it left. Most of the stones have been carted off and recycled into surrounding structures, and the portions of wall that remain stand at only half their original height. Once at the caravan site my cousin, Suzanne, who lives not far away, picked us up and drove us back to her place for a lovely dinner. Afterward, we walked down to the local pub for a drink.

17-7-2012 Tuesday
During the afternoon, after having a nice lunch in a quaint little pub, Suzanne kindly drove us around the Lake District and took us for a couple lovely walks, places we wouldn't have been able to find on our own. On one such walk we had a 360 degree view - magical, even though it was an overcast day. We were glad to leave the mhome back in the park as many of the roads in this area are narrow and winding. Quite possibly the loveliest place in England, the Lake District owes its beauty to a thorough glacier-gouging during the last ice age. Jagged peaks and windswept fells stand in desolate splendour. Serene mountain lakes play host to much wildlife including ducks and swans. Tourism apparently employs 85% of the local population, and has done since the Lake District became England's largest national park in 1951. Little development blights the landscape and we had the pleasure of visiting the largest lake in England, Windermere, and another beautiful spot, Rydal Water.

18-7-2012 Wednesday
Drove 150ks back up north and westward, to a village called Dalbeattie (back in Scotland) and Glenearly Camping Park for 1 night. We're now making our way to the ferry terminal to cross over to Ireland.

19-7-2012 Thursday
After doing some shopping we drove 100ks to Cairnryan Ferry Terminal (Scotland) where we will board the ferry tomorrow at 7.30am, for Ireland. We stayed in a long stay car park at the terminal for the night. We were a little distance away from the ferry and disembarking and boarding traffic, but we could still hear the noises throughout the night.

20-7-2012 Friday
We woke early to drive out of the car park and get in line at 6.30am for the ferry.

Then a ferry across the Irish Sea into Belfast - continues in the Ireland Diary

AFTER SCOTLAND AND IRELAND, WE RETURN TO THE UK VIA WALES

27-8-2012 Monday
No sightseeing today - just drove 150ks south and then east, to Warminster (England) and Longleat Caravan Club site for 1 night. This park is in the middle of the Longleat Estate, with Longleat Safari Park closeby, opened in 1966 and was the first drive-through safari park outside Africa. It is said that in the caravan park here, you can sometimes hear lions roar at night! .....hope that's all....

28-8-2012 Tuesday
We decided not to visit the safari park and drove 140ks south and then east to Wickham (England) (close to Southampton from where we'll be shipping the mhome), and Rookesbury Park Caravan Club site for 7 nights.

29-8-2012 Wednesday
Drove to Sainsburys to get some provisions, although not much as we're using everything up before we hand the mhome over to the shipping company next Tuesday. We then drove about 25ks to a truck wash place down at Southampton docks, to give the mhome a good wash to get rid of dirt, soil and any vegetation before shipping. Unfortunately, the guy was not there until next Monday which was too late for us, so we drove the 25ks back and found the place the caravan park wardens told about - a disused garage where some Polish guys run a car wash business and they did a good job.

30-8-2012 Thursday
We spent the day vacuuming the various lockers/cupboards of the mhome and Dave hopped up on the roof to give it a scrub, where the wash guys yesterday couldn't reach. It was a lovely sunny day today but we got a bit of rain and thunder in the late afternoon.

31-8-2012 Friday Our 21st Wedding Anniversary
Didn't do anything special for our anniversary as still cleaning/vacuuming out the mhome for transport, plus organising storage of the things that are to stay in it on its voyage. Had a go at cleaning the carpet traffic areas, which means most of the carpet actually.

1-9-2012 Saturday 1st day of Autumn here, and Spring in Australia
We picked up our rental car this morning so we could do some sightseeing around this area before we dropped the mhome off at Southampton port for shipping. We drove about 85ks to the Dorset Steam Show that goes for about a week. It was ginormous!! The carpark area and the caravan/mhome camping areas alone went for a few kilometres, which we could see in the distance as we approached. The Show itself, covered a much larger area, and comprised many small and large steam engines driving around in a large field; a Monster Trucks demonstration (ie. normal ute type cars with very large tyres that would fit large mines type vehicles, driving up over several car shell bodies to the elated shouts of the crowd); vintage cars, vintage caravans and other large, assorted, vintage vehicles displays; draft/clydesdale horses and carriages displays; and rows upon rows of stalls selling second hand items of all sorts from tools to china. We're proud to say we didn't buy anything except some lunch.

2-9-2012 Sunday
Spent the day emptying cupboards and getting our bags ready for when we drop the mhome off.

3-9-2012 Monday
We drove about 60ks to a familiar sounding town called Amberley and the Amberley Museum and Heritage Centre - a big open air museum that you can walk around or catch the double-decker bus that goes around the site. The place is largely run by volunteers and has many buildings with lots of exhibits including Telecommunications; a Rural Telephone Exchange; Printing Machine Workshop; Woodturners Shop; Wheelwrights Shop; Railway Exhibition; Electricity Hall; old Radio and TV exhibit and many more. This was the site for a chalk quarrying business and several old kilns were on display.

I've been driving the rental car when we go out so I can get used to it - as I have to follow Dave in the the mhome to Southampton port tomorrow and I haven't driven anything for a year. I was quite surprised that I felt so comfortable driving, so quickly, especially as it's a manual which I haven't driven for about 7 years. It was like riding a bike. I told Dave though, that I'm not going to drive it in London and to Heathrow airport where we drop it off.

4-9-2012 Tuesday
We dropped the mhome off at the port today with a couple hiccoughs.  Normally you can't ship the mhome with any personal stuff inside, only the stuff that is classed as part of the mhome.  After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing emails over the last couple months, we got permission to ship our personal stuff in it, most of which we packed in the lockable garage at the back.  We have a bit of stuff like our 2 bicycles and bike rack for the back of the vehicle, folding chairs and table, folding clothesline, linen, pillows and doonas for 2 beds, extra clothes we brought when we came back over the second time as well as all the souvenir tshirts, a generator, a microwave, camping park books and other books we've collected along the way, etc, etc.....  We also got permission for the 2 gas bottles to stay in (had to be empty which we did), which we paid to change over to LPG last year before going to Europe (can't get the same gas in Europe, only LPG and had to make sure we had a few different fittings for the different LPG pumps). 

When we got to the port and finally found the right place (which wasn't very clear) we were then told we didn't have a shipping note so we had to ring the mob concerned and luckily, one was faxed through easily.  We were also told we couldn't have the personal stuff inside, or the gas bottles unless they had a certificate to state that they were empty.  When we told the guy we had prior permission (as long as we signed a waiverfor no responsibility of loss or damage) he said we should go and see the main guy in an office close by.  Thought we were going to have a fight on our hands, or a very big job emptying and trying to find a way to send our things, but when we spoke to this young man and explained what the things were (stuff we'd used and accumulated over a year), he said he could and would make an exception and approve the stuff inside as well as allow the gas bottles!  Fantastic!  We were so happy and relieved, especially as we were flying out in a few days!  I gave him one of my little giveaway 'made in China' cheap koalas (holding a little Aussie flag on a toothpick) souvenirs (that you stick on your pen) as that wouldn't be seen to be a bribe.  When Dave said give him a pack of the beers we had in the car I asked if that might be seen by the other employees as a bribe.  The guy said no, that wouldn't be a problem so we did - wonderful.

We then drove north 25ks to a nice town Winchester (England), had a nice lunch at a pub and wandered down to the very big and beautiful 13th century Winchester Cathedral, with original 13th century tiles on part of the floor. As well as being mentioned in an English pop song I remember 40 years ago, the cathedral is also the resting place for the famous English novelist, Jane Austen who died in 1817 at only 41 years of age - her grave stone being set in the floor inside the cathedral. The large west stained-glass window was destroyed by Parliamentary troops during the English Civil War, rebuilt in 1660 using shattered glass from around the cathedral - and you can see that it's a mish-mash of coloured and plain glass, no complete pictures as is normally seen in one of these windows. The Crypt - the oldest part of the cathedral and a place of stillness, embodied by the sculpture by Antony Gormley, called 'Sound II'. The Quire had such beautifully carved timber, of beasts and foliage. It was one of the few churches/cathedral that allowed photography, and even with a flash. There were 6 Mortuary Chests containing the bones of bishops, a queen and early kings leading up to the 1100s. There were several Chantry Chapels, complete small rooms/chapels inside the church where the tombs of important people lay and many masses are said for the souls of these people, to ensure they pass from purgatory to heaven (too bad for the unimportant people).

We then drove a further 32ks north to Basingstoke (England) and a Travelodge for 2 nights.

5-9-2012 Wednesday
We drove into the centre of Basingstoke town and walked around. We came across a very good museum, that chronicled the town over the last 200 years with some wonderful displays. There was a large stone coffin (appeared Roman) housing a skeleton that was thought to be of a male around 30 years old, with signs of arthritis. It was unearthed by an earth digging machine while working to prepare land for a housing estate. Another floor housed an archaelogical display which included a mammoth's tusk. We had an early dinner at a restaurant next to our travelodge.

6-9-2012 Thursday
Drove 68ks north-east to Carol's (Dave's cousin) and Richard's place at Richmond just outside London (England). Carol fixed us a light lunch and then drove us to Richmond Park which is 5 miles across and is one of the places King Henry VIII hunted deer. Afterwards, Carol drove us to the park where we walked around the lakes and sat and chatted for a while. The deer are still here and we saw a group of them (males/stags, with antlers) lying down under the shady trees. Carol made the joke that they were having a stag party - ha ha! It's a lovely tranquil place. The Royal Ballet School building, where the world renown Billy Elliott trained and some of the scenes of the movie of the same name were filmed, is located in this park. We went to dinner with Carol and Richard at a restaurant on the River Thames, and watched boats motor along, up and down. On the way home we dropped in on Carol's sister, Gillian, and her family for a drink and dessert.

7-9-2012 Friday OUR LAST TRIP DIARY ENTRY
Carol drove us to Pembrook Lodge, also located in Richmond Park. Prince Andrew and Princess Sarah (Fergie) wanted this lodge for their marital home but the public petitioned against it and so it didn't happen. Drove to Heathrow Airport where we dropped the rental car back and waited for our flight out from Heathrow to Brisbane at 10pm - it is a year to the day that we flew from Brisbane to the UK which was 7/9/2011. We're scheduled to arrive home on Sunday at 7.30am and will probably just laze about and sleep for the rest of the day.