Deepest Dorset

For this Autumn’s outing with the caravan we went to Moreton, close to Dorchester. We stayed on the Camping and Caravanning Club site  which stays open until early next year.

One of first outings was to Weymouth, see below, it was a lovely day and it was unseasonably warm. There is plenty to do and see in Weymouth, but my biggest gripe is the cost of parking which is astronomical – do they really want tourists?

Weymouth Harbour

 

 

Bathing Machine – Out of Use

 

The Church of St Nicholas and St Magnus was a normal little church with the usual amount of local history attached to it until it was hit by a fleeing German bomber in WW2. Once rebuilt, the stained glass was not replaced – instead a series of spectacular engraved glass windows were created by Laurence Whistler, brother of Rex Whistler.

T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) is buried in the churchyard which is just up the road.

      

On a rather dull day we went to Portland. Looking out over Chesil beach.

Portland Stone quarry – quarrying has taken place here for 2000 years.  In 1619 when Inigo Jones chose Portland Stone to rebuild first the Banqueting Hall, London and then the original St Paul's Cathedral quarrying became very important for the area.

Portland Bill – it was rather windy and very bleak

 

Dorchester was founded by the Romans and by about 60 AD a town (mainly wooden structures) had grown up. It was called Durnovaria.

In the 2nd century AD stone buildings were erected. The town was fortified with a ditch and an earth embankment, probably with a wooden stockade on top. The town had a forum lined with shops and public buildings. There were also public baths. Water was bought into the town by aqueduct. Some rich people had mosaic floors and even a form of central heating.

Sue at the Roman Villa

 

Mosaic floor

 

Roman villa remains

This clock tower can be found in the Borough Gardens – it was presented to the Borough in 1905 by Charles Hansford Esq.

The gardens were really well kept and we thought a little gem being so close to the town centre.

 

No trip away happens without geocaching. We wanted a nice circular route which was not too demanding so we attempted these 5 geocaches called the ‘Shitterton Stroll’. Yep, you read it correctly!  We managed all 5 caches despite a rather demanding hill en-route.

The road sign for Shitterton became rather collectable and it kept disappearing, so various people clubbed together to have this immovable sign made in Portland stone.

 

Towards the end of our visit to Dorset we had some very interesting weather which rattled the caravan around during the night. Following this we had a day of sunny weather so we took the awning down. It is now packed away for the winter.

On the Tuesday the weather forecast was for rain so we went to the Tank Museum at Bovington camp, only 10 minutes drive away.

Inside a WWI tank

Read this – double click to enlarge

 

If you look closely you can see where the shells have passed through the tank.

 

Whilst in the museum there was some filming taking place – presumably in preparation for Remembrance Day.

Sue exiting from the tank – it’s very tight in there.

We were interested in this graphic which shows the demarcation zone between East and West Germany prior to The Wall coming down. We were in Berlin many years ago and we went up to the demarcation fence (The Wall) only to be shouted at by West German police. Apparently we were well inside East Germany and this graphic shows that we were 100 metres inside. Oooops!

 

We returned home on the only good day of that week so we were very lucky.

On arrival at home my newly repaired computer was waiting for me. After sending Dell a threatening letter they collected, repaired and returned the computer free of charge. The motto here is if anything breaks down out of guarantee and is still reasonably ‘new’ use the Sale of Goods Act 1979 to get satisfaction.

And finally – we have a new shop in the centre of Ringwood which certainly brightens it up…..

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.