Wed, 18 Jun 2003

author Tim	location Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, Wales
posted 22:23 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 2 ( all photos )

Rosie Runs, across Wales ( 6 photos )
This morning, the helpful and apologetic mechanic had another look, declaring the problem to now be the clutch slave cylinder. Sounds interesting, just get us a new one please! Once again, nobody in town had the part, so it had to be shipped in from London on the parts round. That eventually arrived around 1pm, by which time we were even more sick of Yeovil and just wanted it all to work. The mechanic took it for a decent length drive before declaring it ok. That remains to be seen, but no problems thus far.
We took a different road today, avoiding the jinxed A37 and instead driving down to the M5, then taking the bridge across to Wales (the nice lady at the toll gate noticed that even though our vehicle was technically a van, we were using it as a car and charged us only £4.50 - otherwise it would have been £9!).
Funny thing happened. Last time we were in Wales, the weather was horrible even though the surrounding days were fine. The same happened again today. Constant, dreary drizzle of the type we haven't seen for quite some time.
Anyway, we saw less of what we intended, but are now at the ferry port in Fishguard, camped in the parking-lot, where we cooked dinner before getting up to date with our journals and trying to get a few hours sleep before the 3:15am ferry.
All being well, we should touch down in Ireland tomorrow. Where we expect the weather to pick up, having left Wales.

author Tim	location Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, Wales
posted 22:23 BST 18/06/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 2 ( all photos )

More Yeovil ( 1 photo )
Having Tuesday morning to kill, we walked back in to Yeovil to see if it was any more exciting in daylight. There were markets, and the beautiful church and gardens in the middle made a great place to sun-bake (we almost have tans again!), but in truth we ran out of things to do fairly rapidly. Or, more truthfully, Yeovil ran out.
Struggling by now, we found an Internet cafe where I attempted to explain to a local how I wanted to plug my laptop in to his network. Three "experts" later and I just took the cable and did it myself. That's where the last update came from.
Down the hill to Weatherspoons (one of the big chain pubs here, but they're actually very good), we sat and did some puzzles and read for a while until we got a phone call that Rosie was ready! How over-joyed we were!
It was further walk back to the mechanic that we had thought, but we arrived, sweating yet looking forward to getting back on the road.
We did so, but luck was not on our side. Sure, the clutch was fantastic (from how well it works now, it must have been half way gone when we bought it), but by about twenty miles out of town, I was having a lot of trouble getting it in to gear - at one traffic lights I had to start in third as nothing else would go in!
Clearly this could not go on, so we once again pulled off the road (we had abandoned the prospect of the Eden Project and Cornwall by this time and were heading straight North) into another, smaller than Yeovil town called Midsomer Norton. I just managed to get into a side road, but it wouldn't go into reverse, so Liz had to push!
"At least we will be able to see a town that isn't Yeovil", I spoke way too soon. It was agreed with the insurance people that going back to the mechanic who already knew what had been done was probably the best bet, but there was little chance of me driving it this time. So, we waited around for a (different) mechaninc, who took a quick look before loading Rosie onto a flat-bed tow-truck, bound for none other than our favourite town Yeovil. Joy was us.
Through the twenty miles of winding (beautiful, it must be said) countryside, holding our breath as we just made it under a low bridge, we sat in the back of the tow truck looking behind us at Rosie's big VW badge. "At least we will save on fuel".
Opting to camp in the grounds of the mechanic (we weren't desperate enough to go back to the Preston Hotel, even if we didn't have to pay for it), we cooked our first meal in the van and had a great night reading and relaxing - what we had long-imagined our trip had been like. Except it was in an industrial estate carpark outside a mechanics in the back-streets of possibly the most boring town in England.

author Tim	location Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, Wales
posted 22:23 BST 18/06/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 2 ( all photos )

Stonehenge, Rosie throws a Clutch ( 28 photos )
By all rights, our body clocks told us that Monday morning was time for work. Not so, we had something else in mind - a trip to Stonehenge! To be honest, we had expectations held reasonably low on this one. Plenty of guidebooks have commented about how you are so far from the stones themselves that you might as well be somewhere else. Well, we were pleasantly suprised by it all.
Sure, there were way too many tourists there (it has to be said - the Americans certainly don't do much to fight-off their stereotypes when they travel in large groups, talk loudly, and generally complain about anything they can find), and it wasn't as good we felt as many of the sites we had seen up in Orkney, but we can now say we have done it.
In stark contrast, nearby and relatively unknown Woodhenge we visited earlier had nobody there but us, and we could walk all over it. This was not as visually impressive, however, the visible posts being concrete replicas of where the wooden ones were found to have stood.
It wasn't too far out from Stonehenge, in the rough direction of Cornwall, that I started to notice something was not all right with the Big Red Bus. We lost a lot of power climbing hills, and it seemed to get worse and worse. By the time we had jumped off the main road looking for the nearest town and landed in Yeovil, I had surmised the problem was with the clutch.
We limped in to the centre of town, and both agreed we had made a good decision in taking out Motoring and Travel insurance with the Caravan Club. We rang them up, they found us a local garage and directed us through.
Cutting out a lot of boring detail, we eventually found a garage not far out of the town centre who had the replacement clutch on overnight order. That sorted out, we only had to work out what to do with ourselves! First job was finding somewhere to stay. We stumbled on the less-than-impressive Preston Hotel, which provided average rooms, average food, and above average bills (Well, we have just started getting used to £8 per night caravan sites, so £55 is a big jump). Luckily, this was all paid for under the insurance, but we didn't like the look of the food on offer, so took a bus (number 001 - there's not many bus routes in Yeovil) into town to see what Yeovil was all about.
Honestly, not much. They have a pub called the Alice Springs, complete with over-the-top Steve Erwin-style Aussie-isms, but it was closed. As were plenty of others around town, and we had just missed the coffee shops. Later, as we wandered back to our hotel, we noted that the most lively place in town was the Yeovil Conservative Club. No joke.
In the mean-time, however, we made ourselves the first customers (and, actually, second-to-last) at what must be the biggest hotel in town. Ordering a drink, we grabbed the local paper for a read, and a "what's on" guide. Is it just me, or is it a bad omen when an already-thin guide to a city's night-life is half-filled with jokes? Not even funny ones, just ones obviously picked to fill the space so that perhaps visitors would not notice that there was nothing to do in such a place.
Eventually deciding that since our dinners were being paid for by the insurance, we would order as extravagantly as the town could provide, we went through to the lushly-appointed yet still somewhat lacking Dining Room, where the lights were turned on for us, and the CD player fired up with what we later found was Yeovil's only CD - a dreadful muzak compilation of concert-band mutilations of perfectly good pop music.
We ordered a food, then noticed with amusement that we were the only ones there. Not even a bartender was at the bar, just us and the muzak. We chatted about our poor luck with the van, and hoped that this was to be the worst of it.
The food arrived just as the Only CD finished, so the waited went over to change the CD. Only he didn't - he just pressed Play again. Wonderful. The food made up for the disappointment however, and the thought that we didn't have to pay the bill made it even better.
Somewhere during dinner, The CD finished, and a different bar-person decided that Play should once again be pressed. How we managed to sit there any longer I don't know, but by the time the CD finished again, we left. As we were waiting for the bill, I reached over the bar and pressed Play - somehow, this was what Yeovil wanted.

author Tim	location Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, Wales
posted 22:23 BST 18/06/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 2 ( all photos )

Hillside ( 9 photos )
(Continued from Working in London 2)
We said our goodbyes, then found our way back to the motorway. General aim for that day was pretty basic - get to Hillside Caravan Club site in one piece, relax, and organise the van a bit.
This all worked just fine, as we enjoyed our first relax in the sun with our outdoor chairs, a walk around the beautiful site, and a dinner at a great little nearby country pub with a fantastic and large outdoor section. Weather has been great!

author Tim	location Elswick, Lancashire, England
posted 21:18 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 1 ( all photos )

A few more familiar faces ( 25 photos )
Awaking in the Cotswolds once again, we breakfasted, then headed off to nearby Broadway, where we had dinner last time we were in the area. This time, we took in some touristy shops which were even more outrageously priced than the rest of England.
Most of the day was spent covering lots of miles on the motorways. Lunch was at a services at Stafford. This wasn't far from Stoke-on-trent, where apparently my Grandmother's father was born and raised before coming out to Australia. I wanted to go in and take a photo or three of the house, so needed to find my way around. How else would a poor Aussie do this? Why, by taking a photo of the map in a newsagent for later reference, of course!
Unfortunately, my plan fell apart when the street name I had actually occured three times, with no further information. Perhaps we can find out a bit more and try it again later.
Going once again with what we knew, we are staying at Thornton House, where we have been before. We remembered it as expensive, but were quite happy to find our memory had failed us.
We passed the afternoon wandering around Blackpool. Happily, now out of the tourist season, it wasn't all that bad. The "illuminations" (lots of flashy light things all along the promenade) are now finished, and most of the endless amusement arcades are closed for the winter.
What we did do was spend a few pounds playing various strange amusement games - shooting, driving, playing air hockey and of course in the end loosing lots of our hard-earned.
Weather has been fantastic today - we took some pictures of one of the most amazing sunsets we have seen for a long time, bought some "rock" candy and then drove back to the B&B.
A little later we attempted to find some dinner. First pub (the one just across the road) said "we have just taken over and will serve food in December". OK, back in the car and on to the next - "we have just taken over and will serve food soon". Third time lucky, we ate at a suprisingly reasonable chain pub where we ate more than we really should have, given the huge breakfast we have ordered in the morning.

Tomorrow we head to visit another friend of Margaret's in Barrow-in-Furness, before arriving late in the day back at Carlisle at Peter's place. That's almost our "South England" leg of the trip over.

author Tim	location Wormington, Worcestershire, England
posted 17:35 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 1 ( all photos )

The Manor Farm, take 2 ( 27 photos )
Today we drove quite a distance - much more than we expected to, at any rate.
Leaving last night's accommodation, we drove not far at all to the totally unique sea-side town of Clovelly. The entire town is built on an extremely steep piece of the land, winding itself down to the harbour. The cobble-stones are regularly serviced by donkeys in summer - the only vehicles which could make it would be four-wheel drives, and the laneways aren't wide enough! We managed to get in just before the visitor centre opened - lucky, because the £3.50 charge just to wander around the village (ok, you get to watch annoying historical videos as well) is pretty steep.
We ventured next straight through the middle of Exmoor Forest. Another picturesque place, yet different to Cornwall and Devon.
A quick leg-stretch stop at Dunster before we found a pub doing Sunday lunch off the beaten track at Bradley Green. Since Margaret is now addicted to the concept of Sunday lunch, there was no way we would be allowed to miss out. Luckily, it was a fantastic meal, no dinner needed tonight!
We next headed up to the one place we had any real desire to visit - Portishead. Why? Because there is a band named that, of course! On the coast next to Bristol, there is nothing of real interest there, but we had a good time feeding the ducks at a lake by the sea.
Jumping back on the Motorway, we thought we may have some luck finding a B&B near the town of Stroud - possibly in the area around Leonard Stanley. No luck, however, and as we evaluated our options parked in a bus stop near the closed "i" in Stroud, a thought struck Liz. "What about the Manor Farm - are we close to that?"
The Manor Farm is the one B&B that we call a "lucky find" constantly. Horses, dogs, cats, and of course great hosts, we last visited here on the 21st of September. Half an hour later, we arrived and found accommodation was actually available. A long day's drive finally at an end, we are now not doing too much at all.

author Liz	location Wormington, Worcestershire, England
posted 18:11 GMT 17/11/02	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 1 ( all photos )

Watergate, Boscastle ( 14 photos )
Today has been a beautiful day weather-wise. The sun has shone nearly the whole day, and it has been very pleasant driving along.
We started out driving through a nearby village called Cadgwith, which is an old un-changed fishing village, and also happened to have some of the narrowest streets we have driven through.
Heading North, we went through Helson, Redruth and Newquay, and then stopped for a while a Watergate Bay, where Mum used to come for holidays with her parents. The beach there was a "surf beach", and although it had some medium-sized waves, it wasn't a patch on Cronulla. The towering cliffs either side of the beach were awesome to look at as we walked along the sand.
A little further North, we came to Wadebridge where we had lunch in a village cafe, before driving on again and stopping in a village called Boscastle. This was a beautiful place with a steep winding road going down to the shops and the tiny harbour. We spent a while looking around the shops, walking by the river down to the harbour and watching the ducks.
The rest of the afternoon was spent driving further north through farmland, and a short while looking for a B&B. We are staying in a really nice farm B&B (the farmer was in the middle of milking the cows when we arrived!) in Horn's Cross near Bideford.

author Tim	location Cury, Helston, Cornwall, England
posted 18:09 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 1 ( all photos )

Down at the other end ( 11 photos )
It doesn't seem like long at all since we were up at John O'Groats - the far North-East corner of the British mainland. Today, we're near Land's End.
This morning saw us drive down to Land's End, which is the most South-West point of the mainland, and famous for the fact that people attempt the Land's End to John O'Groats journey in the silliest ways possible. Walking backwards, riding unicycles, in old cars, etc.
A quick stop on the way was in Penzance, which suprised us in not really being all that interesting. We stocked up on some medicine, junk food and the Lord of the Rings DVDs.
Land's End has been turned into a tourist Mecca (hardly suprising, since the same company owns both this and the similar bunch of self-appointed "attractions" at John O'Groats). A significant place, but otherwise just another piece of land that we had to pay £2 just to park at.
We spent the afternoon at another old friend of Margaret's, Lindsay, who lives in a tiny village called Mawnan. They bought an old sheep barn from a farmer and proceeded to turn it into a fantastic house, something we all admired quite a lot. Could happily settle down in a place like that somewhere in the far future.

Tomorrow we start the scenic route North to Carlisle. There's quite a few plans in place for possible places to stop at.

author Tim	location Cury, Helston, Cornwall, England
posted 18:09 GMT 15/11/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 1 ( all photos )

Fowey, Helston, Lizard Point ( 11 photos )
We left out from Kingsbridge, heading again generally West. First stop was at the picturesque harbour town of Fowey. Built on a very steep cliff-side, we parked right at the top then walked down and had a good look around the town itself, along with a morning-tea snack. Just made it puffing up the hill back to Percy before it started hailing so hard we worried about dents! No damage however.
Next down the road was the larger town of Helston. Following the trend, it too had a steep overall design, however this was a steep narrow main street, not near the water. Lunch here.
Quickly back to the car before our parking time ran out, we drove onwards to the Southern-most point of the mainland, Lizard Point. Nobody else braved this one for some reason, so I wandered around in the rain for a little before seeing their point.
After trying a few small towns for B&Bs (including Helford, a extremely compact village built around a river with the narrowest roads yet), we eventually settled at Tregaddra Farmhouse, a wonderful B&B run by a fifth-generation farming family and an armada of kittens. A little on the expensive side, but wonderfully appointed with four-poster beds and all the country-house works. So we decided to stay here again tonight!
Dinner was down the road at The Old Inn in Mullion. Unfortunately Margaret has a bad cold (and no drugs to help at the time), so the slow service there didn't help matters much.

author Tim	location Kingsbridge, Devon, England
posted 18:35 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 1 ( all photos )

Lyme Regis, Exeter, Kingsbridge ( 19 photos )
Sorry for the slackness of the updates here - we ate up all the phone credit doing the photo uploads, and had to find a convenient place to recharge it. Thanks Liz for the update - I know people get sick of hearing from me all the time. Sights on Margaret next.
Today we awoke to find it had been raining all night, but the weather was now ok. The sun behind the chapel on the hill next to the blue sea was a great sight to see (and of course photograph).
We headed towards Lyme Regis, a place Liz remembered from a previous trip. An hour's wander around the town produced some interesting finds, and was worth the effort.
Heading Westward through Devon, we next went to Exeter - one of the biggest cities for miles. We took advantage of a "Park and Ride", and had a good look around the very impressive cathederal there, as well as taking in a lunch.
Heading then South, avoiding Torquay, we are now staying in Kingsbridge, not too far from Dartmouth. The town is quaint, but we are totally blown away by the friendliness of the hosts. After ringing, we got directions and arrived to find the guy standing outside with an umbrella in the pooring rain, waiting to guide us in! Tea was forthcoming, along with many chats about relatives and in Australia, before a recommendation for a great pub in town.
Due to the weather, I dropped the ladies off at the pub before spinning around the one-way system (another very common arrangement) many times looking for a place to park. Despite protestations, I braved the rain to pick them up as well. Would have sounded much more sincere if Liz had have typed this bit :)
Still no major plans for tomorrow - who needs plans?!?

author Tim	location Kingsbridge, Devon, England
posted 18:35 GMT 13/11/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 1 ( all photos )

Wareham, Portland, Abbotsbury ( 16 photos )
We were quite suprised to notice as we were leaving the B&B that one of the New Forest ponies was quite happily munching away on the proprietor's front garden and lawn! Everywhere has cattle grids to stop them getting in, but they happily eat anything they can find.
Travelling onwards, we drove through floods to a town Liz had heard had a HSBC bank (she has been trying unsuccessfully to get an account opened to start nursing), while I organised a replacement tail light for the car - necessary in the torrential rain that is all too common.
Next stop was the town of Wareham, where we lunched, rested by the river (which is one of the town's "walls"), and walked a little around the three other actual walls enclosing the town.
Driving South to the Portland (a now-joined Isle off the South coast), we took advantage of the fantastic weather to see for hundereds of miles in each direction from the lookout.
B&B searching time again, and before a successful find, we had to wait for a horse and cart driving down one of the myriad of one-track lanes at one stage. The obligatory friendly wave that you get for waiting in a passing place felt quite genuine - they were very slow.
The final port of call was the small craft village of Abbotsbury. Before the rain made us turn back, we took a walk around the shops - the best of which was a wood-work shop with some truly amazing things in it. Such a shame that we have heard of customs taking wood off people attempting to get back into Sydney. At the prices here, not worth the risk.
Dinner was at the very under-patronised local pub, and from the dinner we could see why. Dessert and coffee instead were nine miles away in the larger town of Bridport.

author Liz	location Kingsbridge, Devon, England
posted 18:18 13/11/02 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 1 ( all photos )

Liz speaks more!!! ( 41 photos )
Today, we were surprised to wake up to rays of sunshine streaming in through the curtains, and the it stayed sunny for most of the day.
We drove for most of the morning, mostly along motorways, but also taking a short detour through a few English villages that are apparently unchanged by time.
After a stop for a cup of tea, we headed into the New Forest. This place is gorgeous. All the trees are golden brown, and there are wild ponies all over the place - even on the road. We are staying in a farmhouse B&B, which has some very friendly horses just across the road.
We spent the afternoon at Beaulieu. We saw the National Motor Museum, where we saw heaps of cool cars (I liked the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost the best) and learnt how they were designed, manufactured and driven. The museum had so many different cars - from the first ones ever made in Britain, to the fastest land speed record wheeled car. They even had a 'Ladies' car, just for me. Unfortunately, it has no reverse gear, so you have to get out, lift the back up by the handle, and spin it around in the direction you want to go!
After a short break for afternoon tea, we had a ride on an old restored red double-decker bus (very bumpy!) and then we went into the James Bond Car and Boat Exhibition. I, being a James Bond nut, had a ball. They have the Lotus from 'For Your Eyes Only', Little Nellie from 'The Spy Who Loved Me', The white shirt Jaws wears, and so much other James Bond memorabilia. Fantastic!
Next, we spent a few hilarious minutes playing with remote control cars on their own miniature dodgem track, until the rain started pouring down, forcing us to run for cover. We had a quick ride around the park on the monorail, and then headed back to our B&B.
Dinner was at a pub just up the road (all-you-can-eat-indian!) and then we spent the evening relaxing back in our room.

author Liz	location Kingsbridge, Devon, England
posted 18:18 13/11/02 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 1 ( all photos )

Liz speaks!!! ( 15 photos )
On Sunday, we left the B&B and drove to Battle, which is just North of Hastings. This is the site where William the Conqueror defeated King Harold for the crown in 1066.
We did a self-guided tour, where we were given hand held radios which talked us through the battle between the two armies. Tim and I walked right around the battle-field site, and it was rainy, so we both got covered in mud. It was quite amazing to imagine what might have happened there so many years ago, and as there aren't many records of what actually did happen, imagination has played a key part in the story.
After all that, we decided to enjoy a Sunday roast lunch at the 1066 Hotel (yum!) and then we drove South. We stopped at Pevensey Bay, which is where my Mum used to go for holidays when she was a child. We went up to the 'beach' which consisted of pebbles, but for a change, there were a few good waves :) The pebbles must be a killer on bare feet though!
The rest of the day was spent driving around, finding a place to stay for the night, and that was about it due to the rainy weather. We ended up staying up in Offham, just North of Lewes.

author Tim	location Alkham, Kent, England
posted 20:58 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 1 ( all photos )

Country Kent, Dover ( 21 photos )
(Continued from London 2)

Finally leaving the noisy shackles of the B&B at Beckenham, we headed in a general South-East direction.
First stop was the little village of Plaxtol, buried in the middle of semi-rural Kent. This was where Margaret's mother was brought up. We saw the chapel where she got married (now a house), as well as where the farm used to be that she lived on. Quite a nice little town, and good to wander around on the narrow country roads.
Slightly hungry by this time, we headed over to Sandwich for a sandwich. We fed the ducks, and were perplexed when we couldn't actually find a sandwich shop.
Heading further down the coast, we spent an hour or two at various stops near Dover - famous for it's white, chalky cliffs. The weather was once again in our favor today, and we had a great time wandering around what was a suprisingly well-organised area. We had a great view down to the huge international ferry terminal, the main one to France.
Speaking of France, as we drove towards the coast, or phones beeped at us, saying "Welcome to Vodafone France!" Suprised to say the least, we could actually see France across the water, and found that we could tune into their radio stations too!
After a little driving around some random back areas looking for B&Bs to stay in for the night, we have ended up at the "Owler Lodge" guest house, in a little village called Alkham, three miles North-West of Dover.
Dinner was at a fish and chip shop in Dover (Liz gets things in her head and there's no changing her mind), before returning for a drink and dessert at the local pub in Alkham.
We're watching the Rememberance Day concert at the Royal Albert Hall on TV. Since the Queen is there, Margaret discovered yesterday when she wanted to go in for a look around that the security has been pretty tight.
People singing in memory of those injured or lost at war seems quite surreal given how strongly the government here seems to be wanting to go to war with Iraq.
I've nearly convinced Liz and Margaret to do some website updates, so stay tuned!

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