Cornwall- 21st -26th April

 For the Easter break we stayed in Cornwall.   Our campground was just south of a town called Bude (pronounced by us as “BUDE!”, in the manner of surfer “Dude!”).  It was another of those slightly underwhelming paddocks off the side of the road but actually turned out to be great- not too crowded, lovely view and the best showers yet!  

We managed to have a relaxing time and see very little of northern Cornwall during out time there.  On the Saturday we drove the van into Wadesbridge.  From there we cycled along the Camel Trail from Wadesbridge to Padstow.  This is part of a network of cycle ways, which have been created along the paths of the old railway lines.  The route to Padstow was gorgeous- running most of the way alongside the water.  It was a really nice, thankfully flat, 5 mile ride…and I didn’t fall off once!

Padstow- if it exists it's probably owned by Rick Stein

 In Padstow we met up with our friends Marnie and Sam who had come down from London for the weekend.  It was so lovely to see them!  We had a great lunch at Rick Stein’s fish and chip shop, a lovely stroll on the pretty Padstow beach, and some locally made ice cream.  

Catching up with the lovely Marnie and Sam on Padstow beach

Lovely views of Padstow harbour

Crazy people

Morgan decided NOT to order the rabbit

A sleeping shelf above the bedroom of a 14th century house- the single females would sleep here to protect their virtue...hence if they didn't get married they were "left on the shelf"!

On the Monday we went to visit Tintagel.  This is sold to tourists as the possible birthplace of King Arthur, although the very first information board you read says that this seems “extremely unlikely”  Regardless, the ruins of the castle, which were on this very rugged bit of coast, are pretty impressive and the views along the coast itself are gorgeous.

Tintagel Castle ruins

Cornish coastline- views from Tintagel Castle

Steep steps up to Tintagel ruins- it's steeper than it looks....Mum would have loved it.

Easter Sunday was my birthday and after a sleep in and a gorgeous cooked breakfast we took a lovely walk across the countryside and down to the nearest seaside village, Crackington Haven.  The coastline here is very dramatic, all cliffs and great slabs of black rock.  Despite my earlier mocking, Morgan’s “seaside identification chart” turned out to be of great use in our never-ending quest to complete our rocky shore assignment.  A post walk bottle of Verve and lots of lovely birthday wishes from friends and family completed a really lovely day.

View down into Crackington Haven

Honest to god thatched roof- cute as

Crackington Haven

We had a lovely, fairly relaxed time in Cornwall.  We’ll definitely go back at some point to see a bit more but for now….off to the Isle of Wight!

Bath- 18th - 21st April

We spent the three nights before the easter break in Bath.  We stayed at a lovely campsite a few miles out of town but handy to the Bristol-Bath cycle-way, giving us a chance to try out our brand new bikes.  While Morgan was clearly at ease it was a bit of a learning curve for me, as the last time I’d been on a bike was during my elective in Rarotonga (more than 10 years ago!).   Our first ride into Bath went okay but on the way home I managed to fall off into a large bed of stinging nettles!  Yes there had been wine involved, but unfortunately not enough to anaesthetize me from the massive swelling and pain that followed.  Even sadder my new bicycle basket was squashed beyond repair L

Bristol-Bath Cycleway

 Aside from that incident we had a lovely time in Bath.  It’s a busy little town that even on a weekday was buzzing with tourists.  It’s got a lovely vibe and we found plenty of great pubs as usual, but also a few nice delis and café’s, which have been lacking in some other British towns.  We had a particularly nice meal at a place called The Circus, sitting outside in the lovely long twilight.  Morgan exacted revenge by ordering stinging nettle soup- delicious by the way.  Failing to find a café here that does something other than eggs for breakfast, I finally cracked and cooked French toast for myself at home- delicious!

Morgan contemplating....something I'm sure

Jane contemplating...the enormous meals!

 Our first major tourist attraction in Bath was the Abby.  We took the tour, which was well worth it.  We got to go up into the bell tower and see the ropes the bell-ringers use and see the actual bells themselves.  The view from the top was definitely worth the 212 narrow winding stairs.  My highlight was the bell-ringers peep hole- a tiny hole in the vaulted ceiling that lets them see the aisle of the church so they know when to start ringing the bells.

Bath Abby

Ceiling of Bath Abby

Walking the rooftops 

The inside of the Abby clock

Views from the Abby turret roof

We did a lot of walked around Bath- the highlights include The Kings Circus (a circular row of terraced houses, which happens to be the same diameter as Stonehenge) and the Royal Crescent (which is designed to look like a palladian palace). 

Streets of Bath

The Kings Circus

A pretty street leading off the Kings Circus

The manner in which Jane wishes to travel from now on...not sure who's going to man the other end but...

The Royal Crescent

The Avon River

Bath, the home of the Bath bun or Sally Lunn- we didn't have one

Pulteney Bridge and water feature- strangely mesmerising seagulls

Sausage fest...erm

Flower shop on Pulteney Bridge- you could see right through to the trees and river on the other side

Underground spring at Roman Bath's

 We spent a morning at the Roman Baths, which aside from slightly scummy water, were quite impressive.  Quite amazing to see the buildings from different ages layered one on top of the other.

The Roman Baths- complete with weird dude in costume at the end of the pool

Medussa's head

On our way out of Bath we stopped in Wells to see the Wells Cathedral.   Even after seeing quite a few churches this place took our breaths away.  Your first view is of the West Front, a massive wall of mediaeval sculpture, which took approximately 300 years to complete and dates to 1230.  The detail is incredible.  Inside the level of detailing is just as impressive.  In the center of the nave there’s an enormous set of scissor arches, which look extremely modern but were actually built in 1338 to deal with subsidence.  We also saw a clock which is the second oldest running clock in the world and the oldest with its original face.  After this we braved the Easter traffic and headed off to Cornwall with the rest of England…….Easter update coming soon! 

The West Front of Wells Cathedral

The beautiful nave of Wells Cathedral, with "scissor arches"

Stained glass window

Wells Cathedral ceiling

12/4 - 18/4 A Bit All Over The Place

The past week has been all over the show, without a central theme – as it were.

Jane had organized a surprise birthday dinner out for me in London, so we used the opportunity to take the motorhome back to Cranham’s and get some upgrades fitted (safe, TV and bike racks) and get some minor quibbles attended to (water pump filter blocked and one door hinge unstuck).  We left the van there and stayed the night with Sarah (bless her)

In London we had a look at the V and A Museum (amazing, and free!) and then Jane took me to Benares. I love Indian food, and this is the first in the UK to get a Michelin star. We had the ‘grazing menu’ (lots of little dishes) with matched wines and definitely one of the best meals I have ever had.

After that, we picked up the van, stayed put for a couple of days and did some house (van?) work  - and then went to pick up bikes. Unfortunately they take a day to get made, so rather than stay in the same place for another night we drove to Colchester.

This is the UK’s oldest town – established by the Roman’s in 46 AD. We only had a morning there, and it wasn’t enough, it is quite lovely.

Colchester Castle - the original Norman keep was three stories tall, and the brickwork you can see is recycled from an earlier Roman fortress. The tiled roof and dome were added in the 18th century.

Look at the cute furry thing, and a squirrel.

We also went and visited Kelveden Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker, which is the strangest place we have visited so far. It was designed to keep 600 people safe from nuclear attack underground for at least 6 months. It was completely self contained, and had communications equipment linking it to the other bunkers and all allied countries. It has never been decommissioned, so is theoretically still in working order. Interestingly, when they closed down the nuclear bunkers, the communication infrastructure formed the backbone of the World Wide Web.

Best of all, the inside looked like a set from a bad 70's science fiction movie, and it was run on an 'honesty box' system.

The front entry to the Kelveden Hatch nuclear bunker, yes, REALLY!

After you go through the front door, you take a couple of turns and then go along this 100m long tunnel into the hill.  By the time you get to the end you are on the bottom of three levels, with a massive amount of dirt and concrete on top of that.

You don't want to know about the 'Adult Wands'...

Jane wondering what that thing on the table is, she doesn't normally see patients.

We then made our way south and east to Bath. We spent one night in Kent where we saw Igtham Mote (most complete Medieval moated house in the UK), and Stonehenge. We were planning to stay somewhere else along the way, but the enormous traffic jam around Stonehenge sapped our will to live – so we just kept going.

Next installment…Bath!

One of these is old and rock hard....

We were impressed when we learnt how old this is - it was built in stages from 3000 BC. It was slightly less impressive when the mind numbingly boring audio guide told us this current version was built at the same time as the Pyramids

Perhaps not the best photo, but the best view of Stonehenge was coming down this hill - very, very slowly. The lady in that red car in front of us got out, and got their picnic lunch out of the boot.

Igtham Mote. Mote is old skool for Moat.

Inside courtyard - that is a heritage listed dog kennel on the right. I don't know why I am staring at the wall...

The main hall, they found that suit of armour in the moat. Or mote.

This is a 'squint', for when you are so lazy you can't be bothered leaving the living room to listen to the church service in the next room. Just open the small door thing and pretend to pay attention.

.......and look at the latest additions to the van.

Have you seen the 'My Family' stickers on the back windscreens of cars? These are from 'My Australian Work Family' - I'm the one on the left. I don't see the resemblance, it's much too cold to wear a leather vest at the moment.

A charm for transportation safety that Berin bought us from a temple in Nikko

Our TV - it looks a little daft but the location actually works well.

I needed a single duvet because it was a bit cold, and this was the cheapest cover they had.....honest!

Bike rack - I have deduced by the fact the bikes are still there that I put them on correctly. The instructions were a bit poo.

Our washing machine - wash cycle on the left (15min) and spin cycle on the right (3min).  The white disk holds the washing down in the dryer. The hose poking out the top does nothing.