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.
No comments:
Post a Comment