Motor homes and forgetfulness

So we were off to a UK camping show. We were on the road by 9 am and followed the extremely clear and well posted signs to the show ground. We parked in the first line of cars, near the gate and were buying our tickets at 9.31 (the show opened at 9.30).The first vans that we saw gave us a bit of a shock,

                                                                       'How much is it?'
Then we realised that all the vans were second hand. Turns out that these shows are where the dealers showcase their stock, no the manufacturers, they have a bigger national show later in the year.

We enjoyed looking into these English vans, with their carpets, large windows and roof vents, ovens and the 

lack of an electric hot plate - only 3 gas rigs.

                                                  

 But the shower areas, bathrooms really, were much better than most Aussie vans. We spoke to a couple of dealers who suggested that we buy one to bring back to Aus. telling us that people do it all the time - must look into that, thought Customs had too many restrictions.  

After the complete packages we wandered around the stalls, there were some items not seen in Aus and some of the 'usual' ones. The prices varied from 'you must be joking' to 'Are you sure?'. Some things were only a few dollars cheaper so not worth the excess baggage to bring home but we did get a few little items.
This show was the 'Motor home and camping show' so there were no caravans or tents on show but it was still a big affair, probably about half the size of the Perth Caravan and camping show which does include caravans and tents.

We had lunch at the show and then went back to Sidmouth. After a cuppa on our balcony at the B & B, Michael had a rest after a full morning's walking (and shopping) so I walked into Sidmouth and spent a little money on a few souvenirs.

For dinner we had rolls and yoghurt from the supermarket and I washed it down with a nice Californian Sauvignon Blanc.
Then we packed up ready to leave straight after breakfast the next morning.
As we went down to breakfast I had a feeling that I'd forgotten something and as we left the room to go to the car Michael asked me if I was sure that I had everything - well 2 days later I discovered what it was that I had indeed left behind - the adaptor for the power plug on the computer - I'd unplugged the plug on its own, so now long computer sessions, just email checks until we source another.

Tourist trams and delightful donkeys

Next morning was a little milder, it was still windy but not actually raining so I was able to take a photo from the room window.

We enjoyed a lovely 'full English Breakfast' and then drove through town to the town to the Seaton Tramway.There was no car park at the Tram 'station' we had to pay and park at the town car park (parking is a contentious issue in Seaton, local businesses are against it as trade has suffered but the current council persists in it's belief that it's a good thing).

We got the tram out to Colyton via Colyford, travelling along the side of the river Axe, through farms and marshlands.

We travelled inside the carriage on the journey out to Colyton, passing through Colyford which is notable for it's T E Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) connection - Lawrence used to buy fuel for his motorbike at the local garage. There is a fine Victorian  iron and concrete mens toilet on the station platform, no longer in use but not yet decrepit.

At Colyton we disembarked and perused the merchandise (no purchases) before re-boarding the tram. For the return trip we braved the elements and rode upstairs!!

There was lots of birdlife on the river and marshlands, egrets, ducks and ducklings, seagulls and lots of pheasants including one who almost got run over so reluctant was he to leave the track. There were lots of rabbits around too - Michael wished he had a gun! The trams ran every 20mins so we passed others on the track.

                    If you think the trams look small - you're right, they are actually 1/2 (half) scale.
The Tramway is one gigantic model railway, one man's vision and probably Seaton's greatest claim to fame.
The council, of course, vigorously opposed it.

Back in Seaton we extricated ourselves from the upper deck and then got the car and drove along the coast to the village of Beer. Another lovely Devon coastal village with steep narrow streets and lovely cliff views. We then continued west towards Sidmouth stopping off at the Donkey Sanctuary.

The Sanctuary was started in 1969 by Elisabeth Svendsen with 38 donkeys, in 1973 it was registered as a charity and it was in that year that they were bequeathed 204 donkeys. To date over 14,500 donkeys have passed through the sanctuary's various farms. It has grown into an international enterprise with sanctuaries in many other countries including Ireland, Egypt, Kenya, Mexico and India.

Entry and parking are free! Naturally we made a generous donation and bought some merchandise.

We had lunch is the very nice Hayloft restaurant and were amazed at the English attitude to dogs (an anagram of the word gods). Dogs were welcome at the sanctuary, on a lead, but their welcome inside the restaurant shocked us.

After the shock and the lunch we walked to the outer paddocks and the Poitou donkeys. Poitou are French donkeys used to breed mules but the advent of motorised commercial transport saw their decline and Poitou were placed on the 'endangered' list. This has now changed and Poitou are safe, the Sanctuary has successfully bred Poitou. They are really beautiful, big creatures. (We miss our donkeys!)

We reluctantly took our leave of the Sanctuary and carried on westwards into Sidmouth.
We took the easiest option to find a B & B - went to the information centre and asked them to find one that fitted our criteria, (free parking, ensuite and available for 2 nights). This service is free, you just pay the information 10% of the total bill. We then paid for 30 minutes parking and took a stroll along Sidmouth Esplanade. It was what you might call - bracing!

We were pleased to see that we were not the only ones rugged up for the UK summer.

Then we drove out to the B & B where we were welcomed with a pot of tea and a chat by our hosts Stan and Julian. On their recommendation we ate at the Swan Inn that evening. Great food and huge portions; we took another stroll along the Esplanade and wandered back via some lovely streets. We were delighted to find a 'ford' in the town and Michael was itching to get in the car and drive through himself. (another day).

We had time to wander and window shop as there were few people around and even fewer cars.
In UK at the moment one of the most popular tv programmes is "Springwatch". It features hidden cameras in a bird sanctuary showing birds' nests and the progress of birds nesting and the eggs hatching. The current shows show the chicks 'fledging. As we walked through the Sidmouth streets the noise of the seagulls was really loud, we looked up and spotted a pair of gulls attending their nest on the roof of Lloyds Bank, then we saw 4 little heads appear. Our very own Springwatch - then one of the chicks walked up the tiles of the roof, gettting ready to 'fledge'. Who would have thought that you could make a popular peak time tv programme about birds - it's more popular than Coronation Street (Neighbours)? It really has placed nature back on people's agenda, what a change from the UK of our last visit.

After another good night's sleep we headed off after breakfast, a few miles further west to 'West Point Arena' just outside Exeter and the 'Camping and Motorhome Show', but that's the next blog.

Summer's over

Saturdays and Wednesdays are market days in St Albans. A great street market with stalls all along the length of the main street, our personal favourite is the 'cheese van', but this Saturday it was so cold that we just had a quick walk up and down the length of the stalls and headed home. Back 'home' where the heating's on!
In the afternoon we drove over to visit my old school friend, Cheryl and her husband Bob. It's always so nice to meet up again, there have been too many years in between. We were fending for ourselves that night for dinner and we over indulged in fabulous German Rye bread and an assortment of delicious cheeses. (and I confess to a couple of glasses of Italian Pinot Grigio). The next morning we were all supposed to be going to a car boot sale, but only Jim braved the cold weather, he said we didn't miss much, it was too cold for a lot of people.
I then spent time organising a couple of our side trips, we finalised our trip to Berlin, flying out and back at reasonable times and finding an hotel - we'll see when we get there next week how well I did.  I checked out all options regarding Ireland. We decided to take the car over on the ferry, from Fishguard in Wales to Rosslare in the south east of Ireland. By taking the car over we can indulge ourselves by visiting some of our favourite places. Gosh this internet is grand isn't it? One click and I've spent hundreds of dollars!
Monday, the start of another week and it's time to leave St Albans, head back over to Reading and then westward and down to Devon. We took Jim out to lunch in Watford (Joy is unfortunately in hospital). We went to a place called Jimmys - all you can eat buffet with lots of dishes to choose from - Indian, Chinese or Italian. We couldn't try them all but we all gave it our best shot, and what we did have was very nice.
After lunch Jim went off to visit Joy, Michael and I had a little shop in Watford before heading back to John and Pauline in Reading.
 Dinner that night was fish and chips - we are going to have to stop eating!
The next day, despite the rain, we caught the bus into central Reading for more shopping. Michael was finally lucky in his search for some nice jumpers, and we've got our eyes on some items that are on the list to buy in September with any spare cash before we fly home. In the afternoon I borrowed John's printer and  printed the documents for the car and the ferry booking and re- organised the suitcases.
We are ready for the next adventure.
Wednesday we were all packed up, most of the clothes in one big bag and a smaller bag with just enough for the next few days, and on the road by 10.30am.
 The summer sunshine has deserted us and the showers started soon after we left Reading. We drove across country, using A roads (main highways that pass through towns and villages rather than M roads, motorways that bypass towns, have limited access points and everyone zooms along with nothing to see. Motorways are great when you need to get from A to B in a hurry but we are meandering - enjoyig the gorgeous scenery). We drove past Stonehenge - (Got Michael to stop the windscreen wipers so I could grab this shot).

We carried on along country roads to arrive in Shaftsbury in Dorset at lunch time. We have been to this lovely old town before but didn't realise just how many op (charity) shops there are in town. We went to at least 6, and we got some CDs to listen to in the car (Beachboys, Jamiroquai, and 'Non-stop party under the sun').
Shaftsbury is home to Gold Hill, made famous for its setting as the location for the 'Hovis ad' on tv. Last time we were here it was a lovely warm day and we wandered down the hill and along all the lovely old streets, passed quaint thatched cottages.

 Today it's raining and 13 degrees C so it's just a quick photo stop, lunch and those op shops before getting back in the car and continuing on. The weather got a little worse as we neared the coast and the light  showers degenerated into constant showers, in fact I think we were driving through cloud cover.

Our destination is Seaton on the coast near Lyme Regis. We decided on Seaton because it's marked on the map as 'home of the Seaton tramway'. Definitely worth a look.
The road to Seaton was lovely but was somewhat spoilt by the grey skies, rain, strong winds, grey sea and heavy mist. Along the seafront a lot of B & Bs had 'No vacancy' signs up, we wondered if they were booked out or had themselves gone off on holiday before the peak season, but I spotted a grand guest house right on the sea front and we checked it out. The Beaumont. Very nice, a beautiful clean room with a nice en suite and sea views - shame about the weather. (Couldn't take a photo from the window this afternoon as the rain on the glass is all you can see). The forecast is for gale force winds tonight and a better day tomorrow, we shall see.

Wheels on fire...rolling down the road....

We have wheels, and yes, it is a Citroen.
  (It's the one on Michael's right - they're really common.)

We've spent three days messing around with MOT and tax and insurance and we've even given the car a thorough clean inside and out! (We were going to get it valeted at a car wash but the price of 65 pounds sent me into shock. Michael negotiated it down to 55 pounds but I still said no - around $100! I'll do it myself and spend that money on myself.)So this morning we grabbed Jim's vacuum cleaner, sprayed and scrubbed the seats and carpets and got rid of all the usual stains associated with children and car seats.
Now we're ready to roll.

When we start rolling  and where we roll to we haven't yet decided but if they have wifi you'll learn about it.
In the meantime we're enjoying the sunshine and Jim's garden.

Brass bands and Roman days

The English countryside is so pretty, especially at the beginning of summer - the Hawthorn / May flower is in full blossom and the hedgerows are a mass of colour, but travelling any great distance through the country using anything other than the motorway system involves a long, slow, tiring, hard drive. So we used the motorways to travel from Reading up to the Midlands and onto Shrewsbury (pronounced 'Shrozebury').
Shrewsbury is where my mother was born, where John and I grew up and where I went to school. Charles Darwin was also born there.
This modern sculpture that Pauline is standing under is supposed to represent Darwin's work and the ecology of evolution.  Can't see all that but it is nice anyway.

As the traffic has increased the road system has changed but the town itself is still pretty much the same, with its' wonderful medieval history, Tudor black and white buildings, and fantastic streets and 'shuts' (narrow lanes) with names like: Dogpole, Mardol, Gullet passage, Pig Trough, Pride Hill and Wyle Cop.

The town park is the Quarry, down by the river, and in the middle of this large splendid green parkland is a sunken garden, The Dingle.

The Dingle was a popular spot for my parents to sit and contemplate their future when they were 'courting'. The paths through the gardens still have lots of couples, young and old, enjoying the flowers and the sunshine. We remembered Mum and Dad as we wandered along the paths and enjoyed the sights and smells of the shrubs and flowers.
As we left the Dingle to wander further around the Quarry a Brass Band started up in the bandstand - glorious. The music could be heard all around the park and out onto the nearby streets.

We walked up the main pathway past the War Memorial and out of the main gate to St Chad's church. (Memories of Founders Day services at school.) St Chads, built in 1790 is famous for being circular rather than built in the shape of a cross. (It seemed smaller than I remember, when we schoolgirls were all packed in to the pews, but it is still a glorious church.)

Later in the afternoon I surprised myself by taking Michael, John and Pauline on a little tour around some of the town, including the house my mother was born in. I have obviously taken in more information than I thought  from when Mum used to take me to places and tell me some of the history of the place and some personal anecdotes.

We had a good meal at the hotel in the evening, as we were all pretty much walked out (and probably wouldn't have been able to decide on a curry, pizza, pub or steak house.)
We arranged to meet John and Pauline at breakfast around 8.30 the next morning but we slept so well that we didn't wake up until 9.00am. (Can recommend the beds in Premier Inns).

After a nice "Full English" (breakfast) we drove about 10miles out of Shrewsbury to the Roman ruins of Viriconium, near Wroxeter.
Viriconium was built in AD58 and was once a large Roman base of around 4000 people. It gradually fell into disrepair and over the next few hundred years it ceased to be a settlement of any description. The town of Wroxeter is a few miles down the road.
What is left though is spectacular - the tallest surviving Roman wall. It rises 20 feet above the site and is awesome.

There is a reconstruction of a Roman villa too. (Apparently this was built as a project for modern day builders to construct it exactly as the Romans would have and the whole thing was serialised on tv.)

The audio tour of the site is very good, one of those that allows you to tour at your own pace.(just press a button when ready for the next bit of information).

I'm ashamed to admit that this was my first visit to Viriconium, although I have seen lots of artefacts from the site in the museum in Shrewsbury. We all really enjoyed our morning there. 

Leaving the site we went back to the motorway, heading south through Telford, Birmingham and onto St Albans. Where we will be spending time with Michael's brother Jim and his wife Joy.
We made great time, arriving at their house mid afternoon to find an empty house! They drove into their driveway 5 minutes later.
After afternoon tea John and Pauline headed back across country to Reading and we set up camp in Jim's spare room.

First job here in St Albans is to buy a car! The local trade papers have all been replaced by online searches so we scrolled through thousands of ads - then narrowed it down considerably and checked out Citroens (of course!).

You can't be in England without being obsessed with the weather - and the gods are smiling on us. Summer officially began on June 1st - the sun came out on June 1st.
Everyday since then has been glorious, the jumpers are still in the suitcase. The forecast for the weekend is a max of 23! I'm going to have to put sunscreen on the shopping list tomorrow.
(The forecasters no long give 'long range forecasts' - they've got it so terribly wrong in the past. Long range now covers only the next 4 days.)

Next blog - fingers crossed we'll have wheels.

Messing about in a boat on the Thames

Day two, the first day of summer and the sun is shining!
We all went to Windsor and decided to take a 40 minute cruise along the River Thames. We sat upstairs on the open deck and cruised down river passed luxury cruisers, narrow boats, paddle boats and lots of birdlife.

We could see the spires of Eton college and passed the place on the river where the boys used to swim before the  school got a swimming pool.The view from the boat is probably the very best view of the castle. The Royal Standard flying indicating that Her Majesty is at home.

After docking we headed up into the town of Windsor grabbing a sandwich at a cafe in the bustling Windsor Royal Shopping centre. We then walked further up the town around the castle walls - a very large crowd was blocking the footpath and there was congestion on the roadway. The reason - some nob had parked his Bugatti Veyron in the street (in a loading bay!). This gave Michael the opportunity to channel Jeremy Clarkson and several other people were heard to comment on the fact that there was a bigger crowd photographing a car than photographing the castle. If you can zoom the photo you will see that the number plate is from Saudi Arabia so parking fines are obviously non applicable.

None of us were interested in doing a tour of the castle (just as well when we saw the queue) so we just walked around enjoying the beautiful old buildings and ambience.

We then left Windsor, walking across the bridge over the Thames and entered Eton. A stunning little town, with a very different vibe to Windsor. Eton is very much quieter and has more antique shops as well as the marvellous school (college).

Tomorrow June 2nd marks the 60th Annniversary of the Queen's  reign and the main street in Eton was preparing it's celebrations, Union Jack bunting in full splendour.

We were all feeling a little tired by now so we headed back to the car (Pauline was with us and she knew exactly where the car was). We had another great tour on the way home, following the Thames along through some gorgeous villages with really beautiful, really old  houses. We went through Marlow and Henley, names that conjure up memories from childhood books and adventures of 'Messing about on the river' as well, of course, the racing regattas.                                                          

We had a nice relaxing evening  watching telly and tomorrow we're heading North, to Shrewsbury, where John and I grew up. We'll stay overnight and see how much the town has changed in 50 years!!