Days 30 - 34 Last week in the UK before cruising!

June 23^rd – Did the chicken cross the road?

A return trip to Birmingham airport was fortunately trouble free outwards (we were half an hour late leaving – not our fault), but a bit slow on the return.  A farewell to a sleepy grandson as we dropped him and Manu off for their trip to Brazil, then an evening out with Richard and Sue at the Unicorn, down alongside the River Trent at Gunthorpe.

It should have been great food by all accounts, based on the fact that they had two menus to peruse.  One was pretty much the standard pub fare type of menu, but with two chicken curries to whet our appetite.  The other was a full menu extolling the virtues of their rotisserie chicken.  We’d noticed people on the next table tucking in to half a chicken each.  This was at 7:15pm – so pretty early.

Our waitress returned with our drinks and told us with a straight face, “Did you know we’d run out of chicken?” 

“Yeah, right…”

“It’s true!”

“OK, so you are telling us no starter plate or chicken goujons either?”

“Correct.”

“Chicken curries?”

“’Fraid not.”

Well that must be a first.  A restaurant specialising in chicken and they had run out early on a Monday evening. Like any restaurant with a speciality, the other options were somewhat thin, but thankfully, the company was good.  As I said earlier, Rich and I have been friends now for 60 years and have always had the same sense of humour, so the waitress returned after the main with the dessert menu.

“So, what flavours of ice cream do you have?”

“We have vanilla, chocolate, raspberry ripple, coffee, toffee, lemon meringue (etc. etc.).”

The response as one voice from the two of us, “No chicken?”

 

June 24^th

Into the city for the morning for a wander around the shops (after a Costa’s coffee). Then on the way home, I picked up a bag of mortar and a bag of sand for Stewart.  The sand was quite wet (no idea why) and it leaked about half a pint of water out, but fortunately, I had it in a box in the boot of the car.

We then went over and collected our senior cousin of the family, who is now 81 and brought her back to Dave and Sue’s for tea.  Dave had volunteered to return her whilst we went up to Stewart’s and made a start on patching some rendering on the outside of the kitchen wall, feasting on takeaway Indian afterwards.  Interesting to note that the dishes were twice the price of what we usually pay in NZ as they didn’t include rice.

 

Day 32 - June 25^th

Another friends catch up today midday.  Paula made a start on her packing.

We took Dave and Sue out again to the Tree Tops, plus Stewart this time.  Whilst the others walked home, Stewart and I had a go at seeing if we could strip some sticky acrylic paint off some interior woodwork, using the new hot air gun and a scraper.  Success – but slow, tedious work.  All this manual work - I’ll be needing a holiday soon.

 

Day 33 – Thursday June 26^th – Sadly, our last day in Nottingham.

Brother Dave’s usual skating session, but this week, on the large arena rink.  Sadly, we missed the opportunity to see if he’d raised his standard, as by the time we arrived, he’d had enough anyway.  Fortunately the cafe was open this time so we had a nice coffee and a panini there, before heading out to the larger B & Q home supplies establishment.  We were mainly looking at kitchens, but they had a good display of flueless gas fires - which was somewhat better than the single option we had in NZ.  

We then grabbed a drink/snack on the way to a very pleasant walk at Colwick Park – the site of Nottingham’s horse race course and bordering the River Trent, just across from our visit to Holme Pierrpont a couple of weeks ago.

Back home and whilst Sue slaved over a hot stove doing another excellent turkey roast dinner, Dave was joined by Stewart playing blues guitar.  Very impressive!

A sad farewell to Stewart and with the packing all finished (phew!), we retired for our last night in Nottingham.

Sue and Dave have been marvellous to us and saying cheerio tomorrow isn’t going to be any easier than normal. 

 

Day 34 – Southampton via Brookwood

Friday dawned somewhat damp and drizzly but no complaints from us as we have had good weather for most of our UK time. Car loaded OK, with two cases in the boot and two inside, plus two hand luggage bags and the computer in the backpack. Big hugs from Sue and Dave and away 9:01 – to miss the 9am school rush.

With known massive road works on the A453 – the shortest route, we headed slightly north and had a good run so we passed that A453 motorway junction 30 minutes later.  The weather got worse.

By the time we reached Leicester, it was hosing down but then it started to ease off.  The sat nav failed (though we didn’t need it for directions, but good for time estimations). For some reason, it wouldn’t charge from the car socket, so we plugged it into the USB port of the laptop!

It still wouldn’t charge, but it did work. We aimed for Pirbright in Surrey where we were due to rendezvous with the next cousin down the line after me on the paternal side of the family, Aly.  Spot on time, but we didn’t fancy the menu prices, so we headed just up the road to the Brookwood cemetery, where Aly’s older brother, who died 39 years ago, is buried.

A few years ago, I tried to find the burial plot and failed, as the cemetery is enormous and I didn’t recognise it.  When Aly turned left off the main road at the entrance and we’d previously turned right, it all made sense.  What we didn’t know was, that as a sectarian location, the signpost at the gate said “Muslim” – but the minority (these days) “Methodists”, adjacent, didn’t warrant a sign.

Anyway, a good catch up and Aly passed over a pile of photocopies of census entries relating to the family after we’d eaten at Farnham.

On then to Southampton via another long-time friend at Fleet, leaving her at 4:30pm. A steady but slowish journey at times as southern England wound down for the weekend.

The Premier Inn at West Quay, may be nearest to the dock, but like Doncaster, no on-site parking, which is frustrating, as the extra parking charge on top of a bed price which was already high, made this a doubtful option for the future.

Too tired to venture out, we ate on site.  A long wait for our meal – but at least we got it, which is more than can be said for several others, as they only got their entrees, before the chef went home sick…

Tomorrow we cruise!  Yeeha. We know that check in and therefore boarding has been delayed for two hours as they are doing a deep clean on the ship, but our hire car has to be back before 12.00 anyway.  No problem as the car hire depot is the same postal code as the terminal, so we’ll just drop off the luggage, walk back, check in and relax.

For those blog followers and potential cruisers who do not know me, it might now be a bit more interesting - but don’t hold your breath.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Days 22 - 29 Still in England...

Sunday June 15^th

Nottingham’s past reputation to those who have never been, generally extends to Robin Hood, maybe Trent Bridge, Nottingham Castle and a distant memory of Olympic skaters, Torvill and Dean.  Sadly, that is about it. Football enthusiasts would be aware of Nottingham Forest and a few older ones, Notts County, the oldest football league club in the world - but with few successes in recent years.

As England’s sixth largest city, or thereabouts, it largely sits under the radar when it comes to tourism, as visitors to the UK are so besotted with London, the Lake District, Cornwall, Stratford upon Avon and maybe York, that Nottingham is usually by-passed altogether, which is a great shame. 

Many in the UK are aware that it is one of the best city centres for shopping and being pedestrian friendly, but few tourists are aware.

Historically though, three international companies really did put Nottingham on the map and there would be very few people who have not heard of John Player cigarettes (they were one of the first major F1 team sponsors, with the Lotus F1 team, their cars painted with Gold Leaf and then JPS brands).  The second was Boots the chemists, now with branches all over the world.  The third, Raleigh bicycles.

Sadly, two of the three are no longer either major employers or even city based, but the history is well known and much of the city’s wealth came from the sheer diversity of industry. The West Midlands (Birmingham, Coventry etc.) was, and still is a to a degree, dependent on the motor industry, but Nottingham’s diversity probably explains why it had a lower profile and weathered various economic hiccups better than most.

The city’s secondary industries included the famous lace manufacturing, still using the original Lever’s machines (Nottingham is still known as ‘Lace City’) and the huge textile, knitting and clothing trades, but these were decimated when large companies such as Marks and Spencer opted to get their clothing manufactured overseas, wiping out many companies in the early 1980s.  Although some companies were fairly large, they weren’t in the same league as Raleigh or Players.  Other secondary industries, again, vast numbers but smaller companies, included a large mining industry (now gone, with just one pit remaining), printing, electrical/electronics and even transport and the railways.

Over time, what most are totally unaware of is the part that Nottingham played in other areas and in that respect, a visit to the Industrial Museum, situated within the city boundary at Wollaton Park, would be an eye opener. So it was that we headed there on an overcast day and handed over our £2 entry fee.  The museum is by no means large and is situated almost alongside the wonderful Wollaton Hall that sits proudly overlooking a vast park within the City boundary, where deer still roam free.  Film fans of the Batman genre would recognise the hall as it was used as “Wayne Towers/Mansion” (or whatever) in the recent Batman film.

Even though I knew a fair bit of Nottingham’s industrial history, it was still a fascinating and informative visit. Brough Superior cars and motorcycles I knew of, but I didn’t know that Del Boy’s Reliant 3 wheeler or even Princess Anne’s  Reliant GTs had a strong Nottingham connection.  Reliant came into being when Raleigh aborted their foray into 3 wheeled cars to concentrate on bicycles and the components (already stamped with the letter ‘R’…) were purchased by a Raleigh employee (the designer) who moved to Tamworth and set up there.

The museum also has what is believed to be the only prototype of the Celer motorcar and the car has recently managed the London to Brighton Veteran car run.

Also new to me was that the first ever commercial video recorder was designed and built in Nottingham way back in 1964/65, with a capacity to record about 20 minutes of black and white TV.  It was not a commercial success.

A thoroughly enjoyable visit. Later in the day and after another excellent home cooked chicken dinner, we caught up with two new Cruise Critic members – Tony and Sheila, who will be on the Emerald Princess for the Baltic’s cruise.

Tomorrow we go wandering again…

 

June 16th – Day 23 

Whilst Dave and Sue headed off for their Monday line dancing class, we threw a few bits into our overnight cases and headed south east. First call was at Melton Mowbray (yes, the Pork Pie centre of the universe) but not to sample the local wares, but to rescue the remnants of my Scalextric slot racing set which had been in the guardianship of the Nottingham Sport Car Club’s Mike Mayfield, since I left England’s shores in 1983!

Mission accomplished we continued down the A1 via a traditional greasy spoon café breakfast towards Cambridge. This was our intended stop and we thought we’d give the Hop-On Hop-Off bus a crack. But, we set the sat nav for the City Centre and as it was drizzling, we just didn’t see or find anywhere convenient to stop, so we continued on to Ely – a place we’d been to before.

Still a bit cool, we parked the car and wandered around but although I’d charged up the camera battery the night before, it was totally flat! At the information centre we enquired about the location of the nearest ‘Premier Inn’, but that was in Thetford – the location of much of the wonderful ‘Dad’s Army’ filming.  So we headed there and there was space so we booked in.

Not exactly cheap, but the rooms are nice and after Paula had managed a home hair colour top up, we ate on site. Also not cheap, but a nice meal anyway. Paula had the macaroni cheese whilst I opted for a chicken curry – and we shared a dessert.

The room was quite warm and there was no air conditioning but there was a portable fan supplied.

 

June 17^th – Catch up with friends.

The main reason for heading south east was to catch up with two lots of friends who conveniently, aren’t too far from each other, so after the ‘all you can eat breakfast’ we toddled off to see the Deputy Mayor (again!) of Downham Market and his Lady and then on to Mepal, to Paula’s school friend Fiona and hubby Geoff.

We thought we’d head for the Premier Inn at Huntingdon (no reservation) and on arrival, it was full! They checked ahead for us and all 4 at Peterborough were also full and so it was that we headed for Grantham.

Unlike the other Premier Inns, this one, in addition to the standard menu, had an Italian buffet night. Once again, I probably ate too much…

Incidentally, the Premier Inns is now a massive chain with over 600 establishments and we are more than happy to stay there though prices can vary.  What also seems to vary is the attached food outlet – with their own loyalty cards.  Two of the three were one chain (‘Table Talk’) and the third was ‘Brewer’s Fayre’.  Although breakfast seemed to be standard, the basic menus are slightly different – and the former is being rebranded ‘Beefeater’ June 21st.  Not the cheapest places around by a long way, but convenient – though the advertised ‘Costas’ coffee was from a push button machine or filtered, not an espresso.

 

June 18^th – Day 25

I definitely ate too much (again) last night so not the best of nights.  Premier Inns guarantee ‘a good night’s sleep, or your money back’.  I didn’t think the guarantee covered over eating but I thought I’d ask anyway.

We skipped breakfast and trundled around Mrs Thatcher’s home town, but with double yellow lines absolutely everywhere, we didn’t see a suitable parking spot so we headed back to base, via another Costa’s coffee at Mapperley.

Back down then to Morrison’s supermarket and the nearby Tescos for a few odds and ends – including a 10 pack of Carling cider for £7.  At 70p each ($1.40NZ) that seems to be worthwhile and the cans are more my size than the larger Bulmer’s cans. I packed it into the Scalextric box.  Will it get through the Princess system?  Wait and see.  The intention is to keep it for the Dawn Princess cruise back, so if it isn’t confiscated, it won’t be opened on the Emerald Princess anyway, where we expect the weather to be relatively cool.

 

June 19^th – Day 26^th

Thursday.  Dave’s skating day – but when we got to the rink, the café was occupied by the sponsors having a meeting, so we missed out.  On to Castle Meadow area (Costa’s, of course) then a walk into town along the canal.

Another of Nottingham’s surprises, easily missed.  We didn’t need to go right into the City centre as our destination was the City Archives, trying to establish the exact date of passing of Grandma Green. All we know is that it was September 1952, but have been unable to pin down the exact date.  We still don’t know.

Further along the canal to have a look at the recently revamped Midland railway station.  Most impressive. The Nottingham tramway currently has one north/south line only, that also terminates above the station. They are busy extending it further south and also west so it is good to see this extensive modernisation of the transport system, but a rail ticket to London for a single, is still more than hiring a car for the day. For two people or a return ticket, no contest.  OK maybe if you booked in advance or got a deal, but for two or more people, a hire car is still cheaper.

For our evening meal, once again we took Dave and Sue out to the ‘Toby Jug’ where a good carvery meal is just £5.99.  Excellent value and makes the food at the Premier Inn establishments decidedly pricey.

England’s soccer loss looks as though it will be their speediest exit since 1958.

 

Day 27 – “I got your number NB!”  

A local day with the first call, a new watch battery for Paula – and we just happened to speak to the watch rep who was stock-taking, so we ordered Paula’s birthday present.  Across the road to Costa’s (of course) then down to Arnold to the motor accessory shop to get a number plate made up for NZ.  So, if you know who owns ETD366 and who keep covering their rear plate with bicycles, problem solved - so that is his 60^th birthday gift sorted and we won’t even be on the hired party bus to celebrate tomorrow.

Apart from a new suitcase (for the goodies or old Scalextric bits?) and a bit of general shopping, the excellent cream cakes were an indulgence – again.

With England now knocked out of the football World Cup, we will no doubt see heaps of discounted merchandise around…

 

Day 28  – Dratted sheep…

This was originally one of the few planned in advance days.  We were heading for Doncaster for the Chris Barber Jazz concert and a night in yet another Premier Inn.

The day didn’t start too well with an email from home citing the saga of number’ two grandson and his tangle with the law regarding a hooning offence!

Anyway, after the coffee and toastie, Stewart wasn’t back home from a visit to the vet with a cat (or maybe both cats?) so we headed north to Doncaster anyway.  We found the Premier Inn easily enough, but we couldn’t find a car park or vehicle entrance.   It was market day in Doncaster and as the Inn was alongside the market car park, which was full we couldn’t work out how to get to the front door.

About 45 minutes later after driving around we parked in a loading bay and I approached reception.  Had I read the booking confirmation properly, I would have known there was no car park…  Anyway, I booked in and managed to dump the bags before heading off to the shopping centre car park.  A quarter mile walk back to the Inn via the market, dumped the stuff in room 606 and we then went out again. 

Once again, the aroma of fish and chips was irresistible so I succumbed…  Cod this time.

We were pleasantly surprised with Doncaster centre and thoroughly enjoyed our walk around.

We opted to walk over to the ‘Cast’ where the Chris Barber concert was on, but the hall wasn’t very well signposted at all. 

Fortunately we were early. To the desk to pick up our tickets, only to be told that the concert had been cancelled.  The story we were given was that Chris Barber had been knocked over by a sheep…

Back to the Inn for a dessert and coffee and to watch three 2004 episodes of ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ which I can’t remember having seen before. Not quite the entertainment we had planned.

A week today and we are cruising and the real blog begins.

Days 15 - 21 Less travel - but just as much food.

 

After gallivanting around last week, this was a week based locally, but no less interesting or enjoyable for that.

 

Sunday June 8^th

 

At long last, we are sleeping in to a respectable time – for retired persons. After a walk out first thing for a paper, Paula and I went out for a Sunday treat – a very nice eggs Benedict at a local Wetherspoon’s establishment.  Over the last few years, the growth in places like this has been spectacular and no longer can people moan about a lack of cheap, decent food in the UK.  This particular establishment is just one of about 15 within a matter of 200 yards.  A common topic of conversation has been the number of eateries and pubs around now compared to what was available in our youth, when there were just three – Beardsley’s takeaway fish and chip shop and Gilberts tea gardens plus the Plainsman pub.

Now there are three pubs, three coffee bar/cafés, the same fish and chip chop, one Indian restaurant and one takeaway, two Chinese restaurants and a takeaway, one Italian restaurant and pizza takeaway and a French sounding restaurant.  Pretty good really - and the place is alive.

Brother Dave suggested we head out to what was, until the 2012 Olympics, the National Watersports’ Centre at Holme Pierrpont, alongside the river Trent.  Off we went and as soon as we’d parked the car, we spied the Segways…  Dave and I were keen, Sue less keen and Paula not at all keen to give it a go.  I managed very easily and Dave had been on one before and Sue soon learned. Paula was in charge of the camera…

Off then to watch the kayaks on the man-made white water rafting course.  Very skilful.

We then had an enjoyable time watching four inflatables with crews of either four or six inexperienced paddlers plus an instructor, come to grief!

A chance then to fly Dave’s stunt kite which was a bit of exercise for the arms – and a stiff neck…

Out on the Trent, we spied the Nottingham Princess.

A quick catch up with Stewart and Noah who were just heading back from the park.  Home for a turkey dinner and to watch the Canadian F1 GP – which of course is televised at a reasonable hour in Europe.

Paula is looking forward to shopping with Sue tomorrow.

 

June 9^th

Dave and I did our thing whilst Sue and Paula blitzed the shops.  One of the things we wanted to do was to sort out a headstone for the family grave.  The headstone suppliers rang the cemetery for us and apparently we were limited (due to the local Draconian regulations), to a stone no larger than 18” x 18”…

After a few other calls (and brunch at Morrisons...) we headed back home and took Dave and Sue out for a meal at night to “Tree Tops” an ‘Eating In’ establishment, a few doors away from the old family home.  I ate far too much…

 

June 10^th

Not a comfortable night – see the last sentence above.

Paula and I went across town to what was Nottingham’s first true super store 40 years ago – ASDA.  Apart from a pack of socks, my major purchase will have to be kept under wraps until we board the ship.  

On then into town.  The first call was Costa’s for a coffee.

BBQ time tonight. Dave had bought me via Ebay, an electrical consumption meter which will obviously be interesting to use in NZ…

 

June 11^th

Paula and I ended up at B&Q today, shopping for Stewart.  It’s tough for him not having had a Dad around to show him how to do various jobs that need doing or to use birthday and Christmas money to build up a decent set of tools.  So as we walked around his house the other night, we made a list of what might be needed – but he had the list, so the shopping was from memory…

When back home, I wasn’t at all impressed with the hose reel I’d bought as it seemed very flimsy when I assembled it.

After Sue had cooked another nice dinner, we shot up to Stewarts’ and whilst Paula chatted to Manu, Stewart and I unloaded the car and opted to give the water blaster a maiden run.  It was fine - but as I suspected, the hose reel fell apart and the hoses kept blowing off, so I put it back in the car!

 

June 12^th

Getting up later and later!

Dave shot off to Nottingham’s Ice Stadium and we followed at a more leisurely pace to see him ‘perform’.  Honest as we are, we handed over the £2 spectator fee, only to find out that if we’d gone to the café, we could have just walked out the other side and down to the ice for free!

As I was taking a couple of pics of Dave doing a very poor imitation of Christopher Dean, a lady came down, brandishing a copyright form she wanted me to sign and pay for… We managed to talk her out of that and she let us off  - but the camera battery was getting flat anyway.

A coffee and  a toasted panini and whilst Dave and Sue headed for home, we went to what was the city’s first major shopping centre, but not happy as the new mushy pea stall in the Victoria Centre’s market,  seems to have closed down already!  The centre is being refurbished – again so the famous Emmett’s water-clock had been taken away and will no doubt be back again later.

We called at Morrison’s supermarket and couldn’t resist a chocolate covered, cream filled choux bun (known in some places as an elephant’s foot…).

I swapped the rubbish hose reel for a sturdier model then managed – at the third attempt – to catch my school buddy in.  We have been friends now for 60 years.

A successful day.

 

June Friday 13^th – Day 20

A bit of a drive around via the ‘Woodthorpe Top’ for another eggs benedict with Wiltshire ham off the bone (under £4 or $8NZD…) and a call in at ‘Patchings’ art and craft centre and on then for another Costa’s at Mapperley.

After dinner, I popped up to drop off the hose reel to Stewart where Manu had her sister, with her two plus Noah, causing mayhem – mainly Noah!

 

June 14^th

We headed up to see Stewart and Noah and they accompanied us to Costa’s and we made short work of toasted sandwiches…

Back to Stewarts then we all headed out to Ikea, but en route, Paula and I got caught in a road works traffic jam!   Stewart managed to catch a warning sign and missed it.

We didn’t buy much at Ikea yet Paula did. She  managed two Teflon cutting boards – for 80p each.

Stewart and Noah came back with us to Dave’s and they dragged out the guitars and had a bit of a session, whilst Noah accompanied them on the guitar tablet app.

After dropping them off, I called at what was Beardsley’s fish and chip shop to bring back our dinner.  Bearing in mind there were four of us, the two portions of chips were still too much and one portion was more than ample.

With England’s opening World Cup soccer match at 0-0 after half an hour, even though it was a good match, I opted for bed.

Days 6 to 14 England's green and pleasant land

Our time in England started off with us both still feeling a bit dopey.  Nothing much to report for Friday other than a re-acquaintance with a Morrison’s big breakfast at a very reasonable £4.75.

On the Saturday (day 7), brother Dave led us on a walk up to Mapperley Top  (the capital ‘T’ is a local addition) via the small street on which I first lived, many years ago.  A coffee and a breakfast, then after the downhill walk back, we drove down to Arnold (“The Valley of The Eagles”) where we noted that it has gone downhill since our last visit.  It didn’t stop me copping a nice sweater for half price…

I then went with son Stewart to see one of his favourite musicians, Martyn Joseph, at Darley Dale in Derbyshire.  Excellent fish, chips and mushy peas at Matlock Bath on the way through.

Come Sunday, I was getting a bit of a headache at times, which is unusual for me, but the problem was solved when brother Dave informed me that the copious mugs of coffee he’d been plying me with, were in fact decaffeinated!  Withdrawal symptoms…

We gave one of the local garden centres a try (Brookfields) and the car park appeared very full, but the range of stuff available was massive.  The café was also impressive with the chicken curry more than acceptable, especially the portion size.  The general shopping area had a fascinating range with lots of stuff from smaller suppliers, ranging from clothing to toys to sweets, biscuits, chutneys and even cards and books.  NZ manufactured RJ’s liquorice too.

Stewart dropped off Noah for a couple of hours and half way through the DVD Garfield, he was fast asleep - and snoring…

 

Day 9 – Monday

Paula joined Sue and Dave for a line dancing class and I caught up with them at Morrison’s supermarket, where the £4.75 beef and ale pie lunch went down a treat.  Paula and I then returned to Brookfields for a bit of shopping.  For the evening, we had a nice carvery meal at the Toby Jug at Colwick.

 

Day 10 – Tuesday – touring

We headed south after the morning rush, straight down to Bournemouth to see brother Malc.  Sadly, we were unable to catch up with our Sydney cruise buddies who were heading east, to Brighton.  We hadn’t seen this brother since 2010 so good to catch up, but it was rather cool after our sea-front walk - and the camera battery was flat.

 

Day 11 – West to Exeter

We left Malc’s place before 8am and headed west.  Initially we were going to stay at Exmouth, but on arrival it didn’t appeal.  We accidentally found a very nice Morrison’s at Bridport (another nice breakfast and very friendly staff) and found a leaflet about the Haynes International Motor Museum back near Yeovil. I had known about this museum for years so we headed there.  Wow!  This proved to be an excellent stop with a most impressive display over 8 halls.  Even Paula enjoyed it - especially the red hall as she was dressed for the occasion.

We continued to head west and opted to stay the night at Exeter.  We followed the brown heritage/feature road signs in the middle of town and ended up at the St Olav’s hotel.  The building used to be a merchant's house and had an enclosed courtyard area with ample parking. 

Luckily they had an ensuite room spare and so we booked in.  After a wander around the town, getting cooler, we were ready for a shower – but it was on the blink, with no hot water…  A plumber was called and arrived just after we’d gone to dinner.  A bit pricey but nice enough.  A comfortable room and a large bed with zero noise from outside.

 

Day 12 – The Eden Project

After an excellent breakfast we headed further west to north Cornwall and to the Eden Project near St Austell.  Our Tom-Tom sat nav turned us off the road where there was no Eden signpost and we were immediately stuck behind a large truck that couldn’t proceed down the narrow road until a 4WD coming the other way had squeezed past.  Whilst stationary, we opted to turn around and return to the main road.  Sure enough, the sign posts were further down the road again.  Moral.  Trust your instincts rather than the sat nav.

Google the “Eden Project” as I couldn’t possibly do it justice here.

Eco friendly doesn’t cover the half of it as they even have a tropical rain forest under one of the biomes (bio-dome I presume).  Up to 38C and 86% humidity, with the option to purchase a babob (sp?) smoothie which we shared - and enjoyed so much, we had another!  The staff were extremely helpful and friendly and the project has a lot of on-going research into all sorts of areas.

We spent about three hours at the project and then started heading back towards Nottingham, but with an overnight stop on the way but nothing booked.

We hit the M5 north OK, but not before the sat nav had once again sent us via a narrow lane.  Bearing in mind we were often travelling at less than 20mph, on a single vehicle width road, we found it hilarious that the open road speed limit of 60mph/100kph applied.

The weather was still good and we thought we’d try Bristol.  Bad choice on two counts.  The first was the terrible traffic which didn’t seem to move very quickly and the second was that we never passed a hotel, other than one Travel Lodge near the water but with no car parking - and looking decidedly grotty.  So, we hit the road again heading towards Stroud.  We found The Clothier’s Arms advertising accommodation and decided to see what it was like, expecting the worst, but as it was about 7pm, we were ready.

The charming young lady showed us the one vacant en suite room (two thirds the cost of Exeter) which was upstairs and apart from the pub area and well insulated from internal noise.  It was very well done so we accepted.  We even had our own patio area.

Having noted the sandwich board outside saying ‘chef required’, we weren’t at all sure about eating there.

Having been to Stroud in the past and it being Thursday and the Wetherspoons pub chain's 'curry night', we thought we’d head for the town centre.  It (Wetherspoons) seemed to have gone, so we headed back to the Arms and settled for a meal there, not expecting too much, though there were several locals obviously enjoying the place.  The same young lady from earlier was our waitress and just as we’d ordered, I made the passing comment that it was a pity there was no curry on the menu.  Apparently there was - until 7pm - and we’d missed it! However, she volunteered to check with the chef and returned very quickly to say that we could have the chicken curry.  It wasn’t long in coming and was a massive portion of quite spicy jalfraize, complete with naan bread, poppadum and a side of excellent mango chutney.

Having thanked the chefs, it turned out that the vacancy board was because they were so busy – and deservedly so.

No problems with the shower this time and a TV set and set top box with loads of channels that initially didn’t work.  It did once I’d connected the scart plugs at the rear…

 

Day 13 – Back to Nottingham – Friday.

A good night’s sleep now the body clocks have readjusted and based on the excellent meal the night before, maybe it was a mistake to not accept the breakfast offer.

About 10am we headed off towards Stratford Upon Avon, for no reason other than it was on the way – more or less.

About Evesham, we opted to have a bite at a “Table Table” next to a Premier Inn. We were staggered to find the car park teeming with Immigration Officials and police with about 8 vehicles including two vans.  Not sure whether or not the place had been raided and the chef carted away,  we went in anyway, only to find that breakfast had officially just finished at 10:30am and there was a 50 minute delay before lunch. 

Once again, great staff who said we could raid the remnants of the continental table (fruit, cereals, fruit juice, yoghurt etc.) and she’d ask the chef if it was OK for the cooked breakfast.  It was.  You could have what you wanted for the fixed price, so another enjoyable, well priced meal.

We thanked the staff and chatted for a while whilst paying by Visa, then headed off for Stratford, about 15 miles away.  On the outskirts, the road was suddenly blocked so we turned off via (yet another) Morrisons and opted to fill up with fuel.  When it came to paying, I found that my credit card was still at Evesham…

We skipped Stratford, rescued the credit card then just headed for Nottingham again.

 

A good trip with a lot of travelling but what great people at every place we stopped at either for accommodation or for meals.  The underpowered Vauxhall Astra was driving me nuts, as it is the only car I have ever hired over the last 30 years, where I had to change out of top gear on a motorway to get up one or two of the hills and even then, I couldn’t hit the 70mph in 4th.

 

Day 14 – Selfish Saturday

A day at Donington Park for the Aston Martin Owner’s club race meeting was my personal indulgence and although overcast, arrival at the track about 7:30am was a bit too early for the ticket office, so I had to wait a couple of minutes to get in at the paddock entrance.  A matter of £15 later I was in…  As usual, a wander around the paddock and garages, taking pics and a programme purchase at a further £3 - then it rained - hard!  I dived into the café for a cooked breakfast whilst the competitors hurriedly put up umbrellas and tried to keep their cars dry.

It is a while since I had been to Donington and was annoyed and frustrated to find 12ft high catch fencing everywhere. (A relic of the failed bit to host the 2010 F1 Grand Prix.)  After watching one practice session from a covered grandstand, being cheeky, I ventured towards one of the hospitality suites and brazenly walked straight through and on to their covered terrace! I even scored a cup of free filter coffee from the lady who wanted to see my armband, but even when I failed to produce one, she gave me a coffee anyway…  

After a couple of practice sessions there under cover, it had dried out a bit so I went via the tunnel to the infield.  Not easy to find photo spots but eventually I found a gap in the fence just as the rain started again.  I also found a covered golf buggy used normally by the staff and sat in that between sessions, leaping out clutching my camera with one hand and the brolly in the other.  But, it was rather cool, wet, and very miserable so I headed for home before the final practice session for Sunbeams.

At the Donington café on the way out, I warmed myself with a bowl of soup and a roll before the run back.

I had well over 300 decent photographs, so I was happy enough, but typically, just as I got home and after a welcome warm shower, the sun came out and stayed out.

 

Over this last week or so, the temperatures have been all over the place.  A high of about 24 degrees down to a low of 11 degrees during daylight hours.  Rain and sun alternating.  That is England...  Green and pleasant it may be, but never trust the weather.  Plenty of warm friendly people and in the main, courteous drivers, though we have noticed that there are fewer than on previous visits,  based on how long you have to wait at a side road before a motorist on the main road flashes to let you in.

Three weeks to go now before we hit the Baltic's cruise and a genuine return to a blog that may interest casual visitors and those potential cruisers/travellers keen to learn about the places we visit, as opposed to our own friends.