All good things come to an end

We returned to St Albans, once again receiving a lovely warm welcome. We spent the weekend just relaxing and chatting. I paid one last visit to the market, and walked around this nice town.

It was time to wind down and get organised to return home. The first job was to sell our trusty chariot, our little Citroen Picasso. We took it along to our favourite St Albans mechanics - Goldcrest Motors - and asked if anyone was interested in buying it. One of the mechanics said that he knew someone who might be and he'd be in touch. On the way back we spotted Rebecca, the previous owner of the Picasso. We stopped for a chat. She still missed the car although she has a new car now. We told her that we might have a buyer but that it would probably be sold for scrap after the tax ran out in November. The next day we had to return to Reading to deposit all of our belongings, to be sorted out and packed ready to fly out.
Cleaning out the car revealed a little treat. When we bought the car we were delighted to find the handbook, but since the first week we had been unable to find it again. We presumed that we had inadvertently thrown it out when we cleaned the car. There it was in the glove box - in a grey folder, in the grey lined glove box, under the MOT certificate. A bit late but at least we can return it with the car.
That evening in Reading we got a phone call from Rebecca wanting to know if  we still had the car - her boyfriend's car had blown the engine! She made an offer and as her offer beat the other by 50 quid we agreed to deliver it to her in the morning. (She didn't want it to be scrapped any more than we did).
So bright and early next morning - it had been a while since we'd been up with the commuters - we  drove back to St Albans and by 10.00 am we had the cash and were back at Jim's house.
We spent a few hours with Jim, Joy and Claire before bidding them a fond farewell and being driven back to Reading by my kind brother who had driven over just to collect us. We had intended to get the bus Heathrow, then bus out to Reading but John's offer saved us around 30 pounds each.
The next day I started packing - a daunting task. When Pauline came home from work we took time out and went out for a drive in rural Oxfordshire. We stopped for lunch at The Waterfront Cafe, by the Thames, in the village of Benson. A lovely setting and a nice cafe too.

 After lunch the five of us, John, Pauline, their daughter Kate and us two walked along the river and then crossed the Weir and sat gongoozling again at Benson Lock. This lock is operated by a lock keeper, probably because it's on the River Thames not a canal.  The sun was shining and it was really pleasant, Kate and Pauline were lucky enough to see a kingfisher on the river bank.

That evening we went out again, this time we found the Cunning Man pub in Burghfield. We arrived in the evening sunshine and had thought of eating al fresco but down by the canal the temperature had already started to fall so we had a quick change of mind and ate inside.
The next day - the day of departure - arrived. We persuaded John to drive us into Reading so that we could change our remaining Euro and Pounds into Aussie dollars - (the Post Office would give a much better rate of exchange than anywhere at the airport).  John took the opportunity to quickly show us a hidden side of Reading - Forbury Gardens. What a delightful place. A haven for workers at lunch time I'm sure.

Then it was down to business - packing. I did discard some things, 3 pairs of shoes, a pair of shorts, 2 pairs of trousers and a toilet bag. I put out 3 shirts, 1 T shirt and assorted toiletries to donate to a charity shop but Pauline mentioned that they could use them at the nursing home where she works, so they were donated to there. Then when all was packed we weighed the bags!!!! At the last minute I took out one large (4kg) item and put it in my carry on bag, then it was done.

In the afternoon John drove us to the airport, we had a good straight run down M4. The day before a truck had overturned spilling its load over the lanes forcing all traffic down to the hard shoulder only - chaos. Today we were lucky.
We arrived nice and early and went straight to a check in desk - no queue. Then it was the moment of truth - weighing the bags......... 1st bag weighed 27kgs (Heavy tag attached).
                                     2nd bag weighed 23kgs.
                                     3rd bag weighed 9.3kgs.       Lucky we each had that 30kgs allowance!!!
Then it time to go through security - usually a long drawn out affair but the notice said that the current time to pass through security was 3 minutes. We went through, and it was true - no queue, we were through in no time at all. Then it was time to sit and wait. To use up our last pounds and pence we bought coffee and then had a sandwich (this might have been a mistake).
Finally it was time to board and then we were away.
It's a long haul from Heathrow to Changi, Singapore at the best of times but a few hours into the flight Michael felt unwell with stomach pains, then he got 'd and v'. It must have been that chicken sandwich at the airport - bloody European food!!
 The stewards were very attentive and kind but basically all they could do was provide sick bags and fluids. They asked if we'd like them to arrange transport for us at Changi as it's a long walk between Terminals, 'yes please'. So when we landed we waited until all passengers were off then we were helped off and got a ride on an airport buggy to the Passenger's Special Services lounge. When it was time to board the flight to Perth they took Michael down to the gate, and down the air bridge to the plane, in a wheelchair - first on board. By now Michael was just getting nausea and was very tired so he managed to get some sleep. The hostess opened a can of lemonade and put it on one side with his seat number on it and every time she saw his glass was getting low she'd top it up with some 'flat' lemonade. When we were nearing Perth we asked if we could have a wheelchair at Perth to get through immigration as didn't feel able to walk there or indeed stand in a queue. Although it hadn't been arranged beforehand, and we had left it late to ask the staff contacted the ground staff and we had a chair and 'driver' waiting. There were 3 wheelchair passengers off the flight and we all were pushed through to the front of the queue at immigration and our lady waited with Michael whilst I collected the baggage, which was already riding around on the carousel. We didn't like to shock Graham, our neighbour who was meeting us, by having Michael pushed out in a chair so he stood up and leaning on the trolley we were escorted to the front of the customs queue and we walked out.

The journey home did seem like a long way, we have got used to it but we can see what visitors mean now.
When we got home we had a brief tussle with the keys but were soon back in residence. It was around 2am when we tumbled into bed. Gosh it was quiet and dark- we'd almost forgotten how quiet it is here. We can see how some European visitors find it strange. In Europe you never have total silence, there's always some noise - traffic, sirens, alarms, animals, people, and there's usually street lights. We fell into a lovely sleep but were jolted awake a few hours later by a massive thunder and lightning storm overhead. This passed over quite quickly and the silence returned, we slept on.
Late the next morning we checked out the car, found the keys and drove into Guilderton to dutifully vote in the General Election. Later on I drove into town to get food for a few days and then we settled back in.
We are gradually getting back to normal, and we'll make a start on all the weeds soon.
We have about 3 weeks before we're off in the motorhome - maybe that will be another blog!!
A Bientot!
A big thank you to everyone who has put up with us, helped us, nurtured us and supported us by reading this. Thank you all.

Been there, done that - gdsf

The next morning it was time to load up the car again and head north to Salisbury.
As we drove north from Blandford Forum we passed the site of the "Great Dorset Steam Fair" at Tarrant Hinton. There were already hundreds of caravans and motor homes parked and the Fair grounds and display vehicles were in place. The fair was ready to start tomorrow.
In Salisbury we found a parking spot and walked into town and the information centre. We asked about getting a B & B within walking distance of the town, walking distance to the station, with off street parking and within our price range.(We upped our  price limit by a few pounds).The very nice gentleman found somewhere for us and gave them a call, we were in luck - they could take us for 3 nights. We wanted 3 nights to give us a chance to recover from a day at the fair and to see around Salisbury. We were even able to buy tickets for the fair at the 'advance purchase' price. What a pleasant, efficient office.
The plan is to get the bus from outside the railway station to the fair tomorrow morning, at 9.15am and spend the whole day at the fair seeing everything. Then we can have the next day to recover and sightsee around Salisbury Cathedral and town, but if we have to (and want to) we would be able to return to the fair for a second day.
The plan went perfectly - we got the bus out to the show grounds and were delighted that the bus left the road for the parking area, and the bus stop was close to the entry gate.
We walked around and saw all of the vehicles on show

- a whole area of military vehicles,

commercial vehicles, vintage cars and motorcycles.

Fields with agricultural machines at work (and play)

We didn't go on any of the fairground rides or buy any of the 'bargains' at the auto jumble.

The sheet number of the steam engines was AWESOME.

I really didn't know that there were so many in existence. We sat and watched a parade of steam vehicles - cars, fairground wagons, steam rollers and agricultural wagons doing laps around an arena.

We walked around some huge machines pumping steam, we wandered through a few fairground rides, merry-go-rounds and bumper cars then we turned a corner and were amazed to see a whole line of hundreds of smaller (but still huge) steam engines!

We were told that before the show opened there were already 3,700 caravans (and motor homes) on site, and they were arriving continually all day. The fair covers 600 acres. The story was that by the end of the 5 days, just on ticket sales, they will have made 4 million pounds!! Added to that are the fees from stall holders - what a massive affair.
By 3.00pm the soles of our feet and our knees were starting to complain.(The ground was very hard, with coarse stubble and flint stones). We had seen all that we wanted to, we had 'done' the fair in one day.
We headed out to the bus stop and were relieved to find the bus already there waiting for the 3.15pm departure time, so we had a comfortable wait for the right time.
We were back at the B & B by 4.10pm, with our feet up.
That evening we walked into Salisbury and had dinner at 'The Thai Orchid' restaurant, which offered an evening special - 2 courses for 9.95 pounds, with free tea or coffee. Good choice - it was excellent!

The next morning and we could have a lie in - up at 8.15am. If it wasn't for the fact that breakfast finished at 8.45am we would have slept longer.
After breakfast we were in no hurry to go wandering so sat in our room reading and relaxing. We walked up to the Cathedral late morning.
The Cathedral Close is a really beautiful place and the Cathedral is just stunning.

It is huge, the details in the carvings are incredible, and inside the amazement continues. The Cloisters in particular well breath taking. I found it difficult to imagine that it was built by hand - no machines, cranes, only the manual labour of craftsmen.

(Personally though, I found Hereford Cathedral more inspiring.)

We wandered around town, doing what the tour brochures advised - holding our heads up, looking up at the wonderful buildings.

After a light lunch we walked around some more then decided to buy some fabric we'd spotted, to cover the motor home seats back in Australia. Good fabric is just so hard to find back home and this was a really good deal. The assistant was very helpful, even suggesting our postal options for getting the fabric home.
As it was quite a heavy package we went back to the B & B  rather than carry it around town.
After a few hours rest, and a cuppa, we went back into town to complete our look around and have dinner - Indian tonight.

The next morning and it was time to leave the holiday touring behind, time to head back to St Albans (then Reading) and sort things out ready to fly home.
We took a slow, scenic route via Devizes, Marlborough, Oxford and Aylesbury arriving in St Albans early afternoon.
We have ticked all the 'things to do' boxes, we don't have anything or anywhere that we haven't done or at least tried to do. We have time left for more family and friends and of course - packing.
Thank goodness for that 30 kgs baggage allowance.

Delightful Dorset - N S E & W

Our first full day in Dorset we spent the morning catching up with chores, I sorted out the bags (and rubbish) from the car and did the washing, Pam pottered in the garden. Then in the afternoon we revved up the 2 CV and headed South (wards) to Norden.  Norden is just a 'park and ride' at the start of the Swanage Steam Railway. Pam dropped us off for the station and she then drove into Swanage to meet us.
This preserved line runs from Norden down to Swanage through the Isle of Purbeck (which isn't really an island - it's still attached to the mainland).
This railway runs both steam and diesel locomotives, our train was drawn by a 'Battle of Britain' class steam loco. We were surprised by how many carriages were on the train, it was the full quota - just like 'the good old days'. There weren't many people getting on and we had a carriage to ourselves, it was great.
 It really did take us back in time - soot particles in the carriage, in our hair and in our eyes - fabulous!

There was a haze hanging over the coast so we didn't get long, clear views but in a way that added to the atmosphere; especially as we rattled past Corfe Castle up on the hill above the village of Corfe Castle itself.

Pam was waiting on the platform for us as we arrived in Swanage. We then all strolled along the Esplanade by the beach and harbour before finding a little cafe for dinner.

 Swanage is on the end of the Isle of Purbeck so isn't 'on the way to' anywhere, it doesn't get passing traffic but was a nice little town with some interesting architecture, nice sea views and at least one good cafe.
After dinner Pam took us home via the Square and Compass pub in Worth Matravers (don't you love these village names - they get better.) The Square and Compass is well known in the area and was bulging with people enjoying the fine, autumn evening. We sat outside, with nearly everyone else, but did have a quick look inside, in one of the tiny rooms, at their fossil museum. There is nearly always a musician playing at the pub and tonight it was Chris Jagger - Mick's brother.
After a drink we walked into the village, which is at the end of the road - you cannot drive any further.
What an idyllic English country village, complete with duck pond.

The next day Michael and I set out to tour North.We went into Dorchester but the rain kept threatening so we abandoned our walk around, went back to the car and drove around town.
On the outskirts of town is the development of Poundbury. Prince Charles' huge architectural experiment. This area was - in a word - awful! It looks like a new housing estate but the proportions are wrong, the style is wrong and it's deserted! Even one of the guide books describes it as being ' looking as if all it's residents have gone out for a picnic'. Shame that it's in Dorchester, a nice old market town with a long romantic history and connections to Thomas Hardy's novels. The two areas do not gel together.

After Dorchester we carried on northwards towards Sherborne and detoured into the village
of Cerne Abbas. Home to the Giant (more on him later).
Another amazing picture book village, we couldn't resist the cafe so had an early lunch before wandering around the streets and laneways. The village of Cerne Abbas was once a thriving village and in the 18th Century boasted 18 pubs!
The Royal Oak was built around 1540.

Abbey Street is believed to have been built around 1400 and contains some of the few medieval buildings still around in Dorset. The church dates back to 14th Century.
The Abbot's Porch was the entrance to the Abbey, built by Abbot Thomas Sam who died in 1509.
The Abbey is sadly no more but the Porch stands alone and proud in the wooded garden of a private house. It is open to view and is quite imposing yet enchanting.

                                                   

Then we drove out to the viewing spot to see the Giant.
His origins are disputed - Iron Age or Roman but the first written reference to him is in Church accounts for 1694 when 3 shillings was paid 'for repairing ye Giant'.
He needs a bit of re-outlining now but is impressive non-the-less.

Then we carried on into Sherborne and were pleasantly surprised, what a lovely town.
It reminded us a little of Eton, maybe because it too has a famous public school and the buildings and streets were a similar layout.

We explored back streets and a few shops before returning to the car and turning south again, but a different road. We passed through villages along the banks of the River Piddle or River Trent (that is it's name, I'm not providing an option it's marked on maps as ' The River Piddle or River Trent')
we passed through Piddletrenthide and Piddlehinton. Then we came to 'The Puddles'.  Puddletown, Briantspuddle, Affpuddle, Turners Puddle and Tolpuddle. We were heading for Tolpuddle.

Every working man and woman owes thanks to The Tolpuddle Martyrs.
One dawn in February 1834 six farm labourers were arrested in Tolpuddle.
Their crime? Trying to get a decent wage.
The charge? Swearing an oath of unity.
The punishment? Seven years, transported to Australia.
The outcome? Free pardons, mass celebrations and then new lives in Canada.

In his defence the 'leader' George Loveless said 
" If we have violated any law, it was not done intentionally. We have injured no person or property. We were uniting to preserve ourselves, our wives and our children from utter degradation and starvation."
The trial was a travesty of justice and the sentence created mass protests, with the Government forced to back down and pardon the men. Their release took longer due to tardy communications with Australian authorities. The martyrs dreadful experiences fanned the embers of trades unions.
In the village of Tolpuddle  the museum is housed in one of six terraced cottages built by the Trades Union Council for retired agricultural workers. The museum shop is in another cottage but the remaining 4 are occupied by retired workers. Each cottage is named after a Tolpuddle Martyr.

After the museum we drove through the village. The famous tree where the six met to hold meetings, is no more but there is a memorial.  Then we headed back 'home'.

The next day Pam was our tour leader and we headed East to some hidden Dorset delights.
We didn't leave until late morning so the first stop was for lunch  -at Downhouse Farm, near Eype.

                                         

Pam discovered this cafe a while back, you would have to know it was there to find it. It's down a lane which at times deteriorated into a rough track and then eventually opens into the farm yard. The tables are outside in a courtyard and the atmosphere and food are great. Being England there were, of course, dogs at every table but they were all very well behaved. The farm dog was asleep next to our table and didn't even notice when a Shrew ran across his paws! It was a great place.

                                                  

We stirred ourselves and left to carry on with the tour. We were heading for the beach at West Bexington when we saw a sign for an 'Open Day'. That turned out to be at a Dorset Chilli Growers property. We stopped and did a tour of the hot houses and then listened to a talk on 'Heat and Chillies' - very interesting and educational. What a pity that we couldn't buy any seeds to take back to Aus.

We drove a little further on, towards the beach, and Pam realised that we were passing the home of one of her dancing group. Their farm was also having an Open Day. They had held demonstrations on apple pressing, sheep shearing, flour grinding and bread making, so we parked up and joined a small group in the garden for afternoon tea. How very civilised and very English it all was.
We had a quick drive down to the sea side but didn't stop for a walk along the pebbles.
It was early evening as we drove across the top of the hills, looking down on Abbotsbury and Chesil Beach, into Weymouth for dinner.

The 'Quayside Festival' was in full swing with the pubs, restaurants and streets packed with people. It was the middle of a long weekend after all. We walked along the harbour and then into Hope Square just off the main thoroughfare. Here we found a nice Ristorante and sat outside people watching. After dinner Pam took another scenic route home (she aims to go a different way each time to maximise the villages that we see, it's great). We stopped at a nice village pub in a quaint village, Preston, with a stream running through it and a lovely duck pond. A lovely end to a great day out.

The next day was the last day of the long weekend and we knew that we'd meet crowds where ever we went but we planned a tour route to hopefully avoid the holiday traffic jams. We were heading West today.
We went to the little village of Tyneham, in the Purbeck Hills. In 1943 the Government decided that the village was needed to help the war effort. The village was to be evacuated and the area surrounding it used to prepare the troops for the D-Day landings. In November 1943, 106 properties in a 12 square mile area  were given one month to leave.The villagers were promised that they could return once the war was over - that never happened.
                                                         


The village is now in the middle of the MoD Lulworth Ranges and is only open to the public 3 weekends out of 4. The road was busy but there was plenty of room in the carpark. We walked around the abandoned village, where the shells of the buildings remain. The church is still intact and has an historic display. It is still used for special services for ex-villagers.

                                                       

After a picnic lunch Michael rested while Pam and I walked down the track to the beach at Worbarrow Bay. Another abandoned village but with no remaining houses. There used to be a large active Coast guard station here but there's no sign now. The beach was crowded but the water looked sooo cold! Fantastic scenery though - really beautiful. It must have been amazing living here.

 Then we drove out of Tyneham, out of the Purbeck Hills into heavy traffic and into Lulworth Cove.
The Cove is at the end of the road, one road in, same road out so we expected heavy traffic.

We parked on the edge of the village and walked down to the sea, in the Cove. It was really busy - people carrying kayaks down to the water, kids with buckets and spades, families (including the dog) slowly strolling along, and young and old alike eating ice-creams. The only seaside feature missing was the funfair!
Everyone was out enjoying the sunshine and the sea air. Hundreds of people were walking over the hill, on the Coastal Path to 'Durdle Door'. The Poms were really getting the most out of this lovely summer weather. We walked down to the beach, which in my view came second to the cove at Worbarrow, then we joined the masses and bought an ice-cream before heading back.

We headed home through more 'chocolate box' villages with equally charming names.
The next morning and our time in Dorset was almost over, time to head North to Salisbury, find a B & B and then tick the last box on the UK wish list - visit The Great Dorset Steam Fair.