October 2010 – Out and About

Sue and I visited Kingston Lacy on a beautiful afternoon for a walk around the grounds. It was a Monday so the house wasn’t open (National Trust properties are rarely open on Mondays). We almost had the place to ourselves. The house used to be the family seat of the Bankes family. They owned huge tracts of land in the area.

On the following weekend we visited Maggie and Andy in Gloucestershire. They took us to Westonbirt Arboretum on the Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately it was dull and so we didn’t see the colours of the trees which are magnificent on a sunny day.

Sunday we did a circular tour to Newnham, west of the River Severn and Lydney where the Austin 7 club were having an outing. The car below, with the decal on the side, was driven from Peking to Paris in 2007. Not bad for a car of that age.

     

Austin 7 – Ulster Replica

The weather perked up on Sunday afternoon and we had a very nice lunch on the patio. A great weekend.

      

Throughout October there has been some very good summery weather and we have tried to be out and about on the better days. There has been a preponderance of fungi this year I spotted this ‘fly agaric’ on Holmsley caravan site.

View from a very small beach near Stanpit Marsh.

New Forest ramblers, on a sunny but chilly day, at Hengistbury Head. Julie, spot your sister!

 

I wanted to go geocaching and Sue wanted to go to Bournemouth (shopping?)so we split up for a couple of hours. I learnt from the geocache that Mary Shelley author of Frankenstein is buried in a local churchyard.

Wooooo!

The Bournemouth balloon and the French market.

      

In the afternoon we went for a walk along the prom by Branksome Chine. These sculptures are in Cliff Gardens. The one with the hat on is me – just in case you were confused.

 

I’ve had a bit of fun and games with Dell computers recently. The screen on the laptop went blank and stayed that way. It is only just over 2 years old. Looking on the internet it is a known problem with the graphics chip overheating. I wrote to Dell – no reply. I wrote again threatening them with my solicitor (next door neighbour) sending them a County Court Judgement – result. They phoned within 24 hours and the laptop has been collected for repair. The only problem is that they replace the chip with a similar one so the same thing could happen again. Watch this space!

We took delivery of a new car at the end of September. The Volvo had served us well, but it was time for change. We wanted something a bit more substantial that could cope better with the potholes and standing water that one encounters in UK from time to time. Also it has to be heavy enough to be safe pulling the caravan. So here it is a Honda CRV.

Le Mans

The Old City (Cite Plantagenet), just behind the cathedral, is a large and nice example, with many houses and buildings dating back from the late middle age. We spent quite a lot of time exploring the streets, there is lots to see. We had with us the Lonely Planet guide to France and there was hardly a mention of Le Mans. Sue and I thought  it was probably one of the best mediaeval cities in Europe.

   Maison des Deux Amis

      

 

City walls                   

       

 Saint-Julien Cathedral, located in the heart of the town, is a magnificent example of middle-age building. With its reversed rounded arches, it is one of the most impressive religious monuments in the area, and one of the largest cathedrals in France. Its building started in the XIth century, spanning over 500 years.

 

As usual we were geocaching our way around the area. Whilst trying to find a cache we bumped into these geocachers from Wilhelmshaven, Germany. They showed me where this cache was and I reciprocated later on by helping them find one that was very well hidden.

Sue checking the time against this very elaborate sundial.

 

We were in Le Mans on the Heritage Open Day weekend and as usual we made the most of it and visited loads of places. The most interesting visit was to a calligrapher who wrote on parchment using quills. These photos are of the shop window, unfortunately they wouldn’t let me take any in the shop. 

        

Caen

We cycled from the campsite, in Benouville, to Pegasus Bridge (about 10 mins). This was the bridge which was captured by Major Howard and his troops, on the 5th June 1944, his Horsa glider landed about 50 metres away from the bridge in the middle of the night. We had a drink at Cafe Gondree which was in the middle of the fighting on that night. Since then the cafe has collected lots of memorabilia which takes up half the cafe itself.

 

Major John Howard               Cafe Gondree

    

Le Memorial Museum Caen

A Museum for Peace

Sculpture entitled ‘Non-violence’

The American Garden

In the grounds of the museum. A very tranquil place. There were other gardens including a British one.

Caen - Founded in the 11th century by William the Conqueror, Caen was subsequently sacked and torched on 26 July 1346 by invading English armies, who killed 3000 of the town's residents. King Edward III led the invasion, hoping to loot what was at the time the richest town in Normandy.

The Basin in Caen

 

 3rd Division memorial outside the castle walls Caen.

Most of the holiday went off without any major problems until it came to getting the ferry for our return. We arrived at the port at 0530 (very early for me) to be told that the French were having yet another strike and so the 0830 was not sailing and would we like to be booked on the 2300. Yes please! We returned to the campsite for the day and got the 2300 sailing and arrived home 18 hours late. Brittany Ferries were great because they gave us a free cabin for the overnight journey.

To finish the blog on a light note I saw this street advert for the Cora supermarket. It made us laugh.

 

La Rochelle

After La Palmyre we moved to a caravan site about 3 miles out of La Rochelle. We enjoyed La Rochelle so much last time we wanted to visit again. There is lots of history here and it goes back to the 10th Century. Much of the architecture dates from the 18th Century when there was considerable trade in salt and wine with England, Flanders and the Baltic countries at that time.

The Chain Tower with the St. Nicholas Tower behind.

 

The Lantern Tower – is 70 metres high with an octagonal Gothic spire. It has served as both a lighthouse and a prison. Hence the presence of some 600 graffiti left by British, Dutch and Spanish military prisoners. The Lantern Tower is the last medieval lighthouse of the Atlantic coast.

Bikes For Hire – has Boris had a hand in this?

More modern graffiti.

The indoor market

 

Coffee not a regular occurrence because it was quite expensive.

The ‘porches’.

 

The harbour at very low tide.

Generation Generation by Bruce Krebs

Plaque attached to La Rochelle town walls

Port du Plomb close to the campsite.

 

Port du Plomb

Submarine pens, built by the Germans during the second world war.

Île de Ré

We were very close to the Île de Ré and so had a day out there.  It is very flat hence a cyclists’ paradise.

Street music  -  I don’t know how he got his piano there

          Tile plaque                La Flotte  -  street scene

   

The Phares des  Baleines lighthouse – 51 metres high

  

Clocher d’Ars  -  built in the 15th Century. The black and white steeple helped in ship navigation.

 

Now onto Le Mans