Month: July 2017

Back home. Hoooooray.

To be continued.

Well I headed back to Wells!!!! Got there around 9am which was very early. Not many folk around. Just the odd coffee drinker. I managed to have a walk through the narrow streets heading towards the cathedral. Stunning building with pleasant surroundings. People starting to attend the early morning service. All old!!!!!

it started raining as I left towards Bath. It got more heavy as i travelled. Got to the city centre car park but no chance of getting out of the van. Tooooooo wet.

So I moved up to Tewksbury. Chaos at the campsite when I got there. Too many people trying to book in at the same time. Tewksbury has a really nice abbey. Not sure what the difference is between a cathedral and an abbey.  Lots of interesting Elizabethan buildings. At least it had brightened up. Very busy site though.

After a heavy nights rain I travelled up to Minehead on the Somerset coast. Nice seaside town with surrounding hills. Good beach. Local steam train. Butlins right on the beach. Overvto Watchet about ten miles east of Minehead. When I got there the steam train was in the station. Small harbour with the tide out. All the boats were flat bottomed. Did not stay long.

Id booked into a campsite in Cheddar so Glastonbury and Wells. I could not park in either so will go back to Wells to visit the cathedral tomorrow. Cheddar is only a small village famous for the gorge. I’ll visit that in the morning.

Rain Rain Rain all day. I’m struggling to get into campsites now the school summer holidays have started. It’s getting harder by the day so I’ve decided to cut my losses and head for home. Should be back on Monday.

Today I headed over to Lyme Regis. Small narrow streets on the way down to the harbour. Quite busy. Lots of stalls selling seafood. The wind was up and people surfing and wind surfing. Ideal conditions I would have thought.

From there I headed north on the way to Somerset. Camped at Dulverton on the edge of Exmoor.

Great overnight stop with the Bithell’s. Boy to they travel. Frank had recommended to go over to The Old Harry Rocks near Swanage. You could make them out from their apartment. Went there via Sandbanks!!!!! Now if you want to see money that is the place to visit. Truly spectacular.

Old Harry Rocks are a chalk pinnacles off the mainland and definelty worth a visit. Quite a walk from the car park but the views are terrific. Like it.

From there headed across the Portland Bill which offer great views up the coast called Chesil Beach. Quite a few people there looking over the coast east and west. Lots of war shops in the harbour.

I headed out through the New Forest towards Milton but the weather was not so good. Managed to see some wild ponies amongst the gorse which was nice. About 20 grazing beside the road. I stopped off at Hythe which is a small village on Southampton Water. There’s a ferry there across to Woolston. It’s well offshore and is serviced by a small electric railway. Rattled a bit.

On through Beaulieu and the car museum but did not stop.  Through Lymington and onto Milton on sea where there was a good walk along the coastal tide defences. Spotted a few birds.

Id arranged to stop the night with Frank and Hillary Bithell so made my way over to Bournemouth. They live in an executive style apartment overlooking the sea with the pier over to the right. Lovely setting and brilliant apartment. Good hosts and great to see them again.

First stop today was Chichester about ten miles away. Parked up in a short stay car park and headed into the city. The pedestrian roads are in the form of a cross: north street, south street etc. leading into a small round tower in the centre. All looking the same. Stopped there for a while before moving on to the cathedral. Free entry!!!!!!! When I came out I’d completely lost my bearings. Was I on north street or east street???? Not a clue. Tried them all and got nowhere close. Went back to the tower and bumped into a council helper. He was brilliant and helped a lot. I must have come across as a complete idiot. Anyway he took me to all the Inner car parks before we eventually found the right on. It was roasting hot as well so lathered in sweat. Not a nice experience but Chichester was excellent.

On to Portsmouth to have a look round the port. I did not do too much as it was so hot but looked at the historic harbour where they had the HMS warrior for 1860. Cool ship. Also the Sky tower which has a glass floor at the top. NO THANK YOU. I may go back for a longer look at the harbour tomorrow.

A guy suggested I visited Arundel on the way down to Bognor so I headed over to there in the morning. It’s one of the nicest villages I’ve visited on my travels. It’s got a large castle sitting on the hill with a cathedral a little bit beyond. The village is full of antic shops, restaurants and coffee houses. There’s also a 14century C of E church you can visit. Definitely worth a visit if you’re passing.

From there I continued down to Bognor Regis. It’s a typical south coast sea side town with a small pier and a couple of amusement arcades. Pleasant though. It’s also got a Butlins holiday camp right on the beach. You could tell who was resident by the wrist bands they were wearing.

Its been mega hot today. Awning out when I got to the campsite. Lots of washing to do and a shower!!!!!!

Good start to the day. I managed to get a couple of shots of the woodpeckers that were beside the van early in the morning. Well pleased!!!

Both Sophie and Louise came to visit today. We had a nice tapas lunch followed by a walk along the Worthing sea front. Nice to see them both.

Day out in Brighton!!!!! Got there about 10ish and parked on the front up from the pier. Expensive for sure, £6:20 for 4 hours. Walked back along the front admiring the Georgian architecture on the way. Some beautiful buildings, all four or five stories high. Nice.

One of the piers had been destroyed by a fire many years ago. It’s supposed to be the gay capital of the country and there were certainly some bright colours about. Also loads and loads of hen parties in various dress states!!!!!!!

I had decided to visit the Brighton Pavilion and this was a mistake. The gardens were full of foreign students. Mostly queuing to enter. The building itself was very tired with paint peeling off the roof. They need to spend some of the entrance fee on some refurb work. Not impressed.

From there when to visit an area called The Lanes which is full of narrow lanes with lots of small shops. Some very interesting. There were quie a few buskers in this area. One in particular was an elderly guitar player who was making a fortune mainly from donations from young people.

On the way back to the van stopped to take a photograph of the pier with a fun fair in the foreground.