0442 Around UK during March

March 2016
Funerals, friends, and family

Since arriving back in the UK in mid March, I have been running around the SW of England. I only have a month or so until I ship the car so I wanted to spend some time with some long-time friends (not allowed to call people "old friends" anymore !), and generally take time to prepare everything for the next stage of my trip.  

I had a couple of days with my sister Margaret down at Milford on the coast to the SW of Southampton,  and although it was bitterly cold in the mornings, it was fine, and we were out riding along the beautiful coast, looking across to the Isle of Wight and the Needles.  Margaret's house is only a 5 minute ride from the beach, and then there are paths or little roads all along the coast line for as far as you would want to go.  I usually ride down around Keyhaven, along the marshes and wetlands which team with all sorts of bird-life, and then back through Milford - It all depends which way the wind is blowing !

After a couple of days I headed up to good friends John & Di up near Guildford.  They had a birthday celebration to go to up in London on the 16th, so I was the chauffeur to the station, and later when they came home and needed a driver !   Then the next morning we headed off towards Bath - Sadly Alan Holly, a long time friend from there, had recently died, and most of his friends, including those I was with just a couple of weeks ago in Spain, joined together to farewell him.  While it was sad to say

goodbye to Alan, it was a wonderful opportunity to catch up with many people who I had not seen for some time.  Afterwards, I took some time to drive down into the Monkton Combe valley where I was at school for some 10 years of my life - I couldn't believe how narrow the roads were past the school - I am sure they used to be much wider !  And I drove up Brassknocker hill, right outside school, where Marcos used to test its sportscars back in the days when that was still allowed on the roads !  And then a quick drive up to Winsley where John Skidmore grew up - That seemed a lot smaller too, while the Seven Stars pub that we used to go to looked positively tiny !

Friends Graham & Annette kindly invited me to stay with them overnight in Trowbridge, and then the next morning I set off to stay with another long time friend that I knew in Exeter, Julie. I used to know her brother through motor racing, and we have remained friends ever since.  She now lives down in Cornwall, near Newquay, with her 3 dogs, and I usually try to get down to see her when I am in the UK, although it is a long way down to Cornwall !  But when I left Trowbridge it was a lovely sunny winter morning, and as I wasn't in a hurry I decided to take a roundabout route down memory lane and go across Dartmoor.  I grew up in Plymouth and went to college in Exeter, so Dartmoor was somewhere we visited frequently as children, and I haven't been back since. 

Crossing Dartmoor in the sunshine, I had to remind myself how bleak it can be there in the winter time.  I stopped at Postbridge for a couple of photos - This is an old clapper bridge built in the 13th C to allow pack horses to cross the river and get to the markets in nearby Tavistock.  Even the current narrow road bridge which is beside the clapper bridge was built in the 1780's, so there is a lot of history here, and it was beautifulin the sunshine.

From there it was on to Princetown - Famous over here for its prison, from which, due to the remoteness of the town and the hostile environment in the middle of Dartmoor, few prisoners ever escaped. It was actually built in 1806 when England was at war with France, and it was built to house the French POW's who were previously held in old derelict wooden ships in Plymouth.  The French prisoner's were later joined by 6500 American naval POW's from the war of 1812, and although after the end of the war in 1815 when the prisoners were repatriated it remained unused until 1850, it has since been used continuously as a convict prison. It brought back many memories of family trips up on to Dartmoor and Princetown and nearby Widdecombe in the Moor (Widdecombe Fair ?  Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all...?) many years ago.   Sigh............

It wasn't far from there back to the A30, and then on down to St Columb, and Julie's old house and nearby fields.  She has had a new roof installed since I was last there, so it looks a lot smarter.  It was great to catch up with her, and go for some walks with her dogs in the surrounding countryside - Balu her great dane is a vbit bigger than her two Jack Russells, but they all seem to get on pretty well together ! 

After a couple of days at Julie's, it was time to head east again.  Graham and Annette had kindly invited me to share Sunday lunch with them and their family in Trowbridge, and knowing how good Annette's roasts are, I was never going to say no !  So it was a very pleasant aftenoon with them, and then I was off down the road towards Shrewsbury to spend a couple of days with another "long time"

friend from Yorkshire days, D, and her husband Jamie.  They live in a delightful thatched cottage in the countryside south of Shrewsbury, and it was great to catch up with them. In addition to a beautiful and very affectionate cat they have a Working Cocker Spaniel - Which seems to mean that it cant stop running around looking for game !  I have never seen a dog that can run non-stop so far, so fast, for so long, and never get tired - She is always ready for another walk, even 5 minutes after the previous one !   Fortunately D and Jamie are surrounded by fields and walks, and with the sun shining while I was there, it was just magnificent.

The next day they kindly took me exploring down the Dorset coast to Burton Bradstock, where we first when for a walk towards West Bay - The amazing scenery unfortunately scarred by about 100 trailer vacation homes set up - Fortunately almost hidden in the valley until you are almost on top of them. Then it was back to a small restaurant for a yummy fish lunch before heading down to the beach for more exercise (for the dog !).  Then we drove back along the coast past Chesil Beach.   This beach is one of 3 major shingle structures in Britain, and while in

total it is some 29 kms long, it is the sorting of the shingle by the currents that is amazing - At the western end it is pea sized, while at the eastern end it is the size of oranges, and all perfectly graded in between !  It is said that the smugglers who used to land there in the dark of night could tell exactly where they were on the beach from the size of the shingle !  This Jurassic Coast is an intriguing part of this country, and one could spend many days fully exploring it.

The next morning I was off again, after a very pleasant couple of days with good friends.  With Easter approaching, I was off to have a few more days with my sister, and to spend time over Easter with her children and grandchildren.  While the weather did its best to spoil our outdoors fun and cycling around the area, we still managed to have fun on the trails on bikes, and fun playing with a rugby ball on the pebble beach (hard to run on pebbles !).  But I also had a lot of "work" to do - Working out details for shipment of the car from Antwerp, sorting the car out and starting to get it packed for shipment - Not straightforward as everything has to get locked away out of sight in the back so nothing gets stolen, and a wire mesh screen has to be bolted in place behind the drivers seat.  


Rest of the pics are here :- https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0442AroundUK?authkey=Gv1sRgCMK1z7P634OzHA