Special memories of our time in England



Funny signs & place names:



How much  fun would it be to have this as your address?



Not sure if this would be better or worse to hit than a roo

Door frames that Grant kept hitting his head on, more lumps and bumps than I can count:

The angle isn't too good on this but with a gutter depth of only
a couple of inches you can see how low the door frames often are.

Beautiful gardens & individual specimen trees:

 Narrow lanes sometimes with cars parked on one side and two lanes of traffic trying to squeeze through:

Cream Teas - fruit scones, homemade berry jam with clotted cream:

Cruis'n the Coast

The day started out fine & sunny but as the publican said at Pevensey 'it's not cloudy or raining YET', in England you have to add yet to every comment about the weather. She was right too, we enjoyed beautiful sunshine as we drove along the south coast to Brighton but it wasn't to last.

A bit further along the road as we rose out of a valley there was a magnificent view from the top, at the golf course (typically the golfers had the best view in town) so I was able to get more great photos.

On route through a gorgeous inland village called East Dean, we passed a cardboard sign for a local product market on the village green. Couldn't resist - had to drive a couple of kilometres to find a spot to turn around on these unbelievably narrow roads but it was so worth it - what a fantastic little township, cute as a button, bustling with local people and a well-presented market place on the green and in the village hall. Everything from fresh sausages to hand knits were on sale, even some smoked fish and fresh fruit & vegetables to boot!

Newhaven was the next port of call, literally, as it was an historic port. Fabulous harbour & some great boats in the marina. We walked up the hill to the Fort which had fortifications from the wars and a magnificent view back along the coastline towards the town of Seaford and the white cliffs of Beach Head which continued all the way along this coastal strip, it is still fine & clear.

View as we approached Newhaven

Brighton was the next town we stopped in and when we arrived it was fine with a mild breeze but that was only a figment of our imagination, the wind picked up to a roaring gale, the clouds rolled in - now we feel like we are in England, this is more what we expected!!



The wrought iron arch is the last remaining original,
one of many that had lights on them when the pier opened.

Naturally we couldn't go to Brighton without walking out on the pier, it was great just like a really loud, crowded and busy Luna Park. Must admit I had a bit of difficulty walking on the wooden decking as it has gaps between the boards and you can see the water - it was very high and scary. I stuck to the non-slip metalplate nailed near the centre of the pier, I'm such a chicken at heart.

We had a lovely lunch of tomato rolls, bananas & a cuppa with a shared rock cake while we sat in the park at Brighton, just watching the passing parade of people. It's amazing what you see if you just sit still for a bit. One thing we saw was a group of policemen in exercise gear & harnesses attached to a Police Bus which they were pulling along the road & round the roundabout, there were also about 6 or 8 at the rear of the bus pushing. Not really sure what they were doing but maybe some sort of charity thing, shame I didn't have the camera ready.

After Brighton we trundled along the coast through Hove, then the industrial port areas of Portslade-by-Sea and Shoreham-by-Sea, the lovely towns of Lancing and Worthing, then to Middleton-on-Sea where we turning inland to eventually arrived at Chichester. We stayed here, at The Nags Head, great little room at the very top of the roof space. It was the last room available so we were quite lucky as we had already tried a couple of B & Bs. It's a busy university town as well as having a Roman Town Centre, so budget accommodation was a bit hard to find but we were happy because it was within our budget and included a full english breakfast so BONUS!

The cathedral at Chichester proved to be a wonderful find, not only was it free, whereas you pay for most National Trust sites it was absolutely gorgeous, wonderful stained glass, tombs a thousand years old and woodwork, just fantastic.

Away from the coast a bit for an inland route through some of the South Downs National Park before arriving at Portsmouth where we braved the traffic (what a nightmare) and parked before walking to the Historic Port. We chose to take the harbour cruise which was great, I didn't even get seasick. There were lots of Naval vessels in port and the commentary was really interesting. That was an hour well spent. What a fascinating place...

Just one of the boats they had 'sitting round' left over from the Battle of Trafalgar

On the road now for a quick trip to Bournemouth & our next couchsurfing host, Mark. He is a lovely chap and is currently training for his next marathon so super fit, cycles everywhere he goes & runs every day. Last night there was a couchsurfers' get together at a local pub so we went along to meet a few locals and enjoy a cider or two. Lovely people, they are having a campout on Saturday night, shame we won't be here to tag along. They were all chatty and jovial and wanted to know everything about Australia, had a great time but it was a late night.

Mark knows the area like the back of his hand and recommended a wonderful coastal walk that began & finished at pubs. OMG the views were breathtaking, the hike was about 6 miles (not kilometres they don't have that organised over here yet) so it was just about my limit, I don't think I could have managed one more hill and that brewed ginger beer at the Scott Arms overlooking Corfe Castle was just fantastic. Enroute we enjoyed a home-made pastie & a cool drink at the cutest stone village so far. It was called Worth Matravers & the pub was the 'Square & Compass' which is quite famous for its homemade pasties.



The view from Houts Tout



Thank god we came down those steps not up them,
I doubt I would have made it!

With Bournemouth disappearing in the rear view mirror we stop off at Lulworth for Grant to go on a couple of hour hike (I decided to rest up at the cafe, tourist information office, museum and gift shops at the start of the walk, any excuse for a shop) to Durdle Door.

We arranged for me to pick him up at the end of the hike, unfortunately he came out a different exit to the main road & couldn't see me parked only 100 metres away (those blasted hedges can be a real nuisance even if they are gorgeous) and then walked all the way back to the original starting point. Then he rang me! Anyway all is well, we found each other in the end which is the important thing.

I am very glad I didn't try to go on the walk with him as it began with a very steep climb up a hill that had rough steps hacked into it, Grant tells me it got worse!! He loved it though & enjoyed being able to set his own cracking pace. We were reliably informed that it might take up to 4 hours, Grant did it in less than 2 so you can see he strided it out.

Our last real stop for the Saturday afternoon was West Bay, where we had fish and chips on the beachfront looking at Gold Top cliff, the highest cliff on the south coast which gets its name not from flowers as I guessed but rather from the colour of the rocks of the cliff itself which are a gorgeous gold.

Our next CS host lived in a small village called Buckfastleigh near the Dartmoor National Park. What a lovely lady, she prepared a delicious meal for us on the Saturday night and we chatted 'til very late about Australia, world politics, Britain's financial woes.......etc etc. A nice hot shower & hit the sack, perfect!

Now is that orange house cute or what! Had a converted barn & had an office in the neighbour's roof space,
it is called 'air freehold' only in UK where space is at a premium!

On Sunday we spent the day driving & sightseeing in Cornwall, such beautiful coastline & townships. We covered quite a few miles & although we do prefer to dawdle around, this time we had a lot of ground to cover in just the one day so decided to travel on the scenic routes wherever possible.

The Coastal Walk which runs all round the coastline here is wonderful and everywhere you go you see hikers, young and old (surprisingly there are lots of teenagers walking too, great to see them not stuck to their playstations). Negotiating some of the narrow lanes with hikers & parked cars (how they fit into some of these spaces defies the imagination) is an experience in itself.

We detoured into the largest tourist attraction in the UK, of all places it's The Eden Project (not a Disneyland like you might expect), they have built gigantic domes to house the world's largest indoor rainforest and a Mediterranean Garden & to develop recycling, sustainability, eco friendly products etc, etc. It was expensive to go in and to do it justice we would have needed a couple of days really, so after watching some of the free presentations and having a freetrade hot chocolate & sharing a slice of cake we hiked back up the hill to carpark 'Lime 3' that was enough exercise on its own for one day. The gardens along the walkway (mountain climb might be a more accurate description) were a mixture of edible flowers, herbs, spices, fruit trees and decorative vegetables, if you were hungry you could just have grazed all the way there & back again, the plants all had plaques telling you what they were, where they came from and what they can be used for too which was really interesting.

The main shopping street in Buckfastleigh, what a hive of activity!!

We took our host out to dinner at the local pub, The Abbots Inn, on Sunday night we had a lovely meal I chose the chicken, mushroom and leek crumble with salad while Grant had the chicken breast stuffed with cheese and spinach on a bed of mash with vegetable. Gosh it would be easy to eat out every night, the food is just wonderful!! Anyway the pub was great, wood paneling all round, stone heaths which in the winter would be roaring with a log fire and outside there was a babbling stream with trout, exactly what you would expect from a country pub. Luckily it was a nice stroll home, those alcoholic ciders that Grant was drinking really make you drunk in no time flat. Another late night, I will have to stop this or I will end up sleeping in past 6 am....ha ha.

Monday morning after our goodbyes we drove to Exeter via the Dartmoor National Park, OMG, what a starkly beautiful place that is. High hedges, narrow roads but then it opens out into wide expanses of nothingness. Next thing you go down into an overgrown hollow, over a stream, past stone farmhouses with signs out the front saying - BEWARE, CHICKENS ON ROAD or a real classic BEWARE, SHEEP LYING ON ROAD.

The first slopes leading to the moors, green & gorgeous

The moors - stark, barren, windswept and cold as hell

Again there were lots of empty cars left by hikers out for the day on the moors. It was clear & fine but the wind was bitter so they are a hardy bunch these POMS. After we left Exeter we stuck to the main highway for a while, the M5, then we veered off onto the lesser known roads again, that is much prettier and the pace more sedate. Glastonbury, Frome, Trowbridge then into Seend to meet our final Couch Hosts for this trip. Malc & Jen are just delightful, in their two weavers cottages joined to make one home.

Grant trying to open one of the locks in the Caen Hill Lock Flight,
a long series of manual locks (29 in fact) that rise 79 metres.
Apparently it takes 3 and half hours to negotiate.

Next morning after a short bus trip and a very scenic train trip we arrived at the Bath Spa railway station, we started by doing an open top hop-on, hop-off bus trip round the town to get our bearings jumped off at the Roman Baths and joined hundreds (well it seemed like hundreds) of French high school students for our audio tour round this incredible site.

One of the tales regailed on the bus tour was of people bricking up their windows
 in protest, when the king tried to tax glass. Thus the old saying 'daylight robbery' 

Water this colour would never be allowed in Moree! 
Fortunately no one is allowed to bath in this muck....

The Bath Abbey was our next stop, again a magnificent structure, gosh I love those ceilings and the woodwork is exquisite, such workmanship. Arthur Phillip is buried in Bath and there is a plaque in the Abbey commemorating his life with an Australian flag hanging over it.

A quick stop for a Bath Bun at Sally Lunn's bakery (the oldest building in Bath and still going strong) and a quick cuppa, very nice, this clotted cream is a great invention so yummy (must be low cal too I bet). Grant & I parted ways then, I went to the Fashion Museum and he walked to the Bath Fire Station to chat with the local brigade members. Guess who I ran into at the Museum, that's right, the busloads of French kids. Thank goodness they were more interested in the modern stuff while I wanted to see the period pieces and the wedding dress display. The oldest dress in the museum was from 1660, now that is quality fabric and workmanship!

We met up again one & a half hours later on the Pultney Bridge, with its shops along both sides. We jumped on the first hop-on, hop-off bus that came by as the wind was bitter and it was starting to spit with rain. By the time we got home it was pretty wet but we had had a great day out.

Pultney Bridge, like the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, is one of just a few
bridges in the world with the shops built as part of the original bridge

On Wednesday we went driving again this time to the Avebury Stone Cirle, Castle Combe (voted the prettiest town in England and used in loads of period dramas because it has no visible power poles etc), we had lunch at the Pheasant's Inn and headed home via Devizes and the flight of locks in the canal.

Not a power pole or modern item in sight except the downpipes
and the road.

The time has come to turn our heads towards home now and to work our way back to Ashford to return the hire car on Friday afternoon. Thursday we went to Lacock & visited its famous Abbey and township. This was constructed in 1190 with renovations made by subsequent owners until the 1850s. The Lacock Abbey's current claim to fame is that it is the location used for the Hogwarts school in the Harry Porter series. Gosh I love those arched ceilings! We spent hours here wandering round the huge structure and its gardens not to mention the small township that is still occupied. I doubt there was a straight wall in the entire place but all was forgiven with the flower pots, window boxes and climbing roses all in bloom. 

It is hard to imagine that walls built like this have managed to survive
almost a millennium

That is it for England for the moment, tomorrow we will spend half a day getting to Heathrow to catch our flight to Bergen in Norway.  The next update will be after our cruise of the fjords in about 10 or 12 days, see you then folks.

Ye Olde ENGLAND

What a rush that Eurostar trip is, it seemed like only a few minutes spent enjoying the french countryside and we found ourselves on the other side of the channel & catching a taxi to pick up the hire car.

Naturally the first task was setting the GPS to find our first couchsurfing host, Harold. He lives on a small family farm in Barham, bit of a jungle with multiple delapidated buildings but if you ignored the outside the interiors were just fine and we had a lovely chat round the fire before a very comfortable night's sleep.

A day spent walking round Canterbury was first on the agenda for the UK. We started off with an historic cruise along the Stour to orientate ourselves, very interesting. Then the Cathedral, the Roman Museum and ruins (amazing mosaics), Saint Augustine's - the birthplace of christianity in the UK, a walk on part of the city wall and a wander round the ruins of the Norman Castle. All this was interspesed with breakfast at a cafe & lunch at the Dolphin Pub. 

With aching legs we headed back to the car and it was off on a bit of a scenic drive round the countryside, picture postcard at every bend, before dinner at the local (the Duke of Edinburgh) and home for a fireside chat & hitting the sack.

What glorious weather, we definitely brought the sunshine with us!

A day at the seaside, if that is what you can call shingle. Tankerton, with its cute little beach huts literally hundreds of them in colourful rows overlooking the Estuary, Whitestable, Margate, Ramsgate, Sandwich, Deal and every village in between. We had a lovely day, trundelling through the area, touring Deal Fort, window shopping, eating bread rolls on the top of a hill overlooking the ocean, just another perfect day. Made even better by the fact that we weren't walking all the time.

Deal Fort

The evening turned into a late one as Harold held a belated birthday party for a friend and about 20 locals turned up for a BBQ and a few ales/wines. It was just lovely, what a eclectic group of friends, one man who had spent the first 53 years of his life in Wollongong of all places, he is planning a cycling holiday in Germany with his wife this summer, the 'birthday girl' is a music teacher and her son, who is woofing here with Harold at the moment too, is a great pianist so there was live music and singing round the piano. A few drops of rain didn't deter anyone we just moved into the barn, then back out by the fire when it stopped. One of the guests was a chef so he whipped up a storm of lovely salads.

Farewell to Barham, Harold, his brother Ralph & sister Phillipa (how traditionally english are those names eh!) and off to Dover to wander those classic White Cliffs, it was surprisingly hot, slapped on the sunscreen, chatted to a 'copper' while we kitted up for the walk. 

Our first view of Dover Castle from the main road, had to stop for a photo op! HUGE

We did however, before we started the walk, succumb to the temptation of a serving of 'Kentish Cream Tea' at the information office/tea rooms. Yummmmmy, fresh baked fruit scones (the lady had to shout out to the cook to see if they were out of the oven yet, they don't come any fresher than that). Grant chose blackcurrent jam since the tea was officially for him and the two scones were served with clotted cream (OMG) as well, then a pot of tea (which held over two cups full) and a jug of milk. I had a coffee and we shared the scones since we are both dieting!!

Our diet morning tea, at least we did share it

The heat was a bit overwhelming really but we managed to walk a couple of miles along the cliff tops, the views of Dover Harbour were amazing. Although there was a little haze we could make out the coast of France and the Channel was a hive of activity with ferries, cruise ships and freighters plying back & forth. I overheard one english lady say it was more dangerous to cross the channel that to drive on the motorway, that wouldn't surprise me. Something we did find unusual was the number of people sitting on the top of the cliffs with chairs, picnic baskets and binoculars just 'ferry spotting', that is an upmarket version of 'trainspotting' I guess, maybe they just grow out of one activity and into the other as they get older.

The white cliffs of  Dover, it is impossible to do them justice with a simple photograph

A quick stop at Dover Castle for a photo opportunity. We didn't want to do the tour as we were short of time, it was quite expensive and we have seen quite a few castles now so there is a limit. Magnificent structure though, you can see it from just about anywhere as it dominates the skyline and to top it off it is in wonderful condition.

Next port of call was the Battle of Britian Memorial on the road between Dover (where the ferries cross) and Folkstone (where you go underground to France via the tunnel). What a moving memorial it is, so beautifully maintained & the massive list of those killed in just a few short months certainly brings home the futility of war but also the bravery of the few.

Grant had watched a documentary about flying spitfires etc and wanted to visit the Battle of Britain Museum too, which was only a short drive from the Memorial, so I am finishing the typing of this section of the blog as I wait in the carpark. Planes and war memorabilia don't really interest me but Grant loves that sort of thing and he will enjoy the visit more if I am not there nagging him 'are you finished yet'.

Oops, didn't make it to Brighton as we had planned, so we are staying at a pub in Pevensey on the coast between Hastings & Brighton. Had a wonderful dinner though and the room is really nice too.

Wee Wee, PARIS

Never thought we would finally make it but here we are, all settled into our bedsit and feeling quite at home.  After the very long and exhausting trip (38 hours from start to finish) we managed to walk round the neighbourhood a bit, buy a few essentials like cereal and milk and a few pieces of fruit to keep us going and then hit the sack at a reasonably early time for Parisiens but plenty late enough for us to have a solid night's rest.

We were going to need that sleep for the day we had planned for Thursday 5th.  About 9am we headed off to the metro station, got a 'visitors 2 day pass' each and our map of the train system and we were off.

First stop the Louvre, no we did not go in, for a couple of reasons, believe it or not, artworks no matter how famous are worth wasting hours standing in a very long queue that wound its way aroung the courtyard and we are not really art buffs anyway and the beauty would have been wasted on us really, we were happy just to marvel at the architecture, what a place! 

From there we walked along the Quai (path beside the Seine) and crossed the Pont Neuf (means new bridge when in fact it is the oldest in Paris) onto the Cite Island in the centre of the Seine.  Here we visited Notre Dame Cathedral and the Sainte-Chapelle, both wonderful but we chose to go into the Sainte-Chapelle because of the long queues again at Notre Dame and I wanted to see the magnificent stained glass ceiling & walls of Sainte-Chapelle.  To get into the Sainte-Chapelle we had to go through security as if we were at the airport again because the entrance also lead to the Law Courts etc where there was a very large police presence.

Next spot to visit was the Champs Elysees, we caught a train from Pont Neuf station to get us a bit closer as it was a very long walk and we were beginning to grow a little leg weary.  We did however manage to walk the full length of the road, about 3.5 kilometres the guide book said and it felt every metre of that, of course that Haagen Daas icecream helped keep me going to the very end.  The Arc De Triomphe now that was worth the walk!!

A very 'yummy' french policeman then helped me find the way back to the train station to get us to the Tour Eiffel.  Again well worth the walking and the sunburnt nose, a magnificent structure, one that looks even better in real life, the photos do not do it justice, I had never noticed all the curly-cues and decorative iron work before, I though it was just a plain metal mechano-set type structure, but that is not the case.

By now we were really feeling the 'pain' and headed for home, only a few stations and one change of lines and we were stumbling up the steps from the underground to our neighbourhood.  Picked up some strawberries, tomatoes, mandarins (from Morocco) and a couple of apples from one of the local fruit shops, a bagette and an apricot pie thingy from a bakery, there seems to be one on every corner. 

We squashed into the two person only lift  & headed for the 6th floor, what a relief to be home.  Trouble is we plan to do something similar tomorrow. 

Friday arrived and again we were off for a day of fun & adventure.  First stop was the Quai near Musee d'Orsay to catch a ferry for a sightseeing trip up the Seine and then along the Saint Martin canal.  Saint Martin's is the largest canal in Paris and we went through 9 locks to end up 26 metres higher than we started.  It was a glorious spring morning on the water and the two and a half hour journey with commentary & funny anecdotes was great.

Grant has decided that we can afford the $12,000 a year it costs to moor a houseboat in the canal as a permanent yet mobile home but unfortunately we cannot afford the actual boat.  You will see from the photo that they are mostly pretty classy so our 10 foot fishing tinny just won't cut the mustard so to speak!

After the cruise we enjoyed lunch of bagette with fresh sliced tomato under the shady trees beside the canal then hightailed it to Sacre Coeure for a very quick visit.  It was pretty crowded and quite hot but we did look in the basilica and enjoyed 20 minutes admiring the view and listening to some very talent buskers who were holding court on the steps.

The next visit was a bit on the unusual side and doesn't really sound like us but it was very interesting and we enjoyed  it.  We went to the Catacombs where in the 1840's they transferred the bones of over a million of France's dead  when they exhumed a mass grave near a local hospital which the Doctors felt was contributing to the ill health of the community.  They filled up the quarry/tunnels which had been created about 20 or more metres below ground (under the sewer pipes and the underground too) when they quarried rock for the foundations and construction of some of Paris' most famous buildings.  Macarbe decorative patterns were created with the bones & skulls, it was fasinating.

Then home for a quick refresh and out to dinner tonight. I probably won't get online tomorrow as we are travelling via Eurostar train under the Channel to the UK. 

Sunning ourselves in Queensland

Ha, ha, it hasn't stopped raining, well drizzling anyway, so much for beautiful one day, perfect the next.  All we can hope is that the 'perfect' part happens tomorrow for the outdoor wedding of our niece Bree at 2pm Saturday.

We have a lovely 8th floor unit overlooking the passage at Golden Beach near Caloundra and have done all the visiting family type jobs so now we are just relaxing with a red wine and a plate of cheese and biscuits, watching the kite surfers in the passage.

I have been frantically knitting trying to finish the jumper that I started a year ago for Toni, don't want to miss another winter and I think she will need it in wet and dreary Nimbin.

Only a couple of days to go ... have done a bit of shuffling of items in the backpacks, but generally we are happy with what we have packed.  Am waiting for the sleeping-in to happen, have been waking up at obscene hours of the early morn' for months with plans spinning in my head and I had hoped that would finish once we got here, unfortunately it hasn't happened yet but there is always tomorrow morning. You know me, the eternal optimist!

I will attach a photo of the view if the sky clears enough to take a decent shot......

The rain disappeared & we finished our time in Caloundra with a couple of lovely fine days.

Finished work....yeah!!

It is Good Friday and both Grant & I have finished work, now it is time to really get stuck into those last minute jobs.

The dining room table looks like a bomb has hit it, all the stuff is supposed to fit in our backpacks and our daypacks and to be honest I think we will be able to achieve that.  Once the new stuff came out of its wrappings and was repacked into ziplock bags or storage cubes it didn't look too intimidating, admittedly we haven't hit the wardrobe yet so there is still plenty to fit in, nothing important, just our clothes!  Travelling light has its good points, just have to chose a couple of favourite items that mix and match and we're done. Joggers & thongs/masseurs that completes the shoe department, few pair of undies and socks, a warm coat, some thermals and a scarf for me and beanie for Grant and that's it.  Nothing fancy but serviceable and above all else practical....sounds like me doesn't it?

What happened to the last three months?

Oh my goodness, what has happened to the time, the weeks have just flown by and it is down to the last few days.  I can honestly say I never thought we would ever get to the point where we counted in days!

Our time in southern England is organised, I think!  Our trip from Paris to Ashford International Station via Eurostar is still to be booked but I have the hire car organised and have arranged some couches to surf, there are so many truely lovely people in the world and we are looking forward to meeting some of them.

One of things I don't think we had really considered in the early days of the planning, is the cutting of ties with the life we have in Australia, our family, our friends, our home, our possessions - the things we have worked our whole life to achieve, this trip is a very big step and I expect there will be times of great homesickness over the year.  Missing the birth of our first grandchild will be heart-wrenching, thank goodness for Skype, at least we will be able to see her and watch her develop in those first months, just want to be home when she starts to walk, that would be nice.

Back to planning...with family members now choosing to live in our house while we are away, we no longer have such a massive packing up task ahead of us these last few weeks.  Toni will be home for Easter and she will help with the backpack packing decisions, having done almost 9 years on the road herself I am sure she will say 'get rid of half this junk Mum, you won't need it & you won't want to lug it round the world with you'.

Unbelievable, but it is my last day at work tomorrow and although I am sad to be leaving the lovely people I have shared the last two years with, I am excited by the prospects of what the year holds for us!