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SAlisbury Cathedral
We picked up our home on wheels from Reading, a Mercedes Sprinter conversion and set off to visit High Clere Castle, the residence used for the filming of Downton Abbey, one of our favourite TV series but unfortunately it was closed to the public which was a bit of a bummer as we were right at the gates and so close! Then as it always does in England it started to rain heavily with lightning filling the sky just as we headed towards Stonehenge, something that has been on my bucket list for a while. The distance on the road maps between towns takes next to no time to travel and before we knew it we were zooming past these impressive stones watching people staring at them with the rain bucketing down so I quickly agreed with Pete that I had seen them and didn’t need to get any closer and we simply drove on!
We then found a quiet semi private car park to spend the night and pulled up next to another motor home. It wasn’t long before we had invited the lovely guy over to join us for beer and wine and we had a great evening
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Cheddar Gorge getting to know the ropes on how to free camp in the UK as he had been on the road for 3 years.
Next stop was Salisbury cathedral which was beatiful and we enjoyed reading one of the best preserved original parchments of the Magna Cartna too. We then headed out towards our next intended destination but instead ended up driving on very very narrow country roads not designed for motor homes but fortunately came to a halt outside a quaint pub full of loud locals with funny accents and had a great night there. Next night was not so hot as we were camped on top of a cliff and it came up very windy so we decided to move spots in the middle of the night as we were scared we may get blown over. Not good! We then explored Padstow the home of Rick Stein the celebrity chef, very quaint.
Got to Land’s End, the UK’s most western point and well worth the visit although very touristy with sideshow amusements for the kids etc. Tonight we are spending another night behind a pub sampling the local cider once again! We just love the Cornish pasties
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Port Isaac - Port Wen to Doc.Martin followers! down here too and so hard to resist as every other shop sells them and I think we have had more than enough!
The island castle we visited today, St Michael’s Mount was amazing. We went over by boat but were able to walk back as the tide was out. Our next stop was Lizard Point, the U.K.’s most southern point where it was very windy and rugged and so glad we have windbreakers to stop the cold, cold wind from freezing us to death!
We toured around a mansion house with a real upstairs and downstairs scenario and walked around the old parts of Plymouth and then lo and behold we ended up outside yet another pub where we joined another couple to enter in their quiz night which we happened to win after much ribbing about being from Darwin! It is so good too when we only have to walk to the car park and be tucked up in bed within 5 minutes!
We visited Sir Frances Drake’s old house today which was fascinating as I could just imagine him walking around the huge mansion in his tights and pantaloons! We then drove over the
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Cliff where we thought we may get blown over! barren moors of Dartmoor spotting plenty of wild ponies and their cute colts and fillies.
We walked along the pier in Paignton with its huge array of slot machines and arcade games but instead of the penny I used to put in as a kid they are nearly all One pound! Inflation! Lyme Regis, another seaside resort on the South Coast was still touristy but still old and quaint and without the crass but very steep and a good place to keep fit!
After driving through the New Forest in all its greenery we stopped at a quaint cafe and finally ordered scones with clotted cream and tea which was so delicious and at a fair price and not the exorbitant price that Devon and Cornwall had been demanding! Yum!
Portsmouth being our next stop was fantastic as we arrived in time for a very interesting boat tour of the harbour with plenty of ships to learn about. After a night in a busy pub car park by the sae the next day we visited the HMS Victory, Nelson’s ship, which was well worth exploring.
We then boarded the hovercraft for the Isle of Wight and
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CUte Bird spent the next 7 hours hopping on and off buses to visit an old windmill plus the chalk cliffs and points called the Needles so all in all a very long day, finally parking the night in a huge shopping mall car park.with lights on all around us all night! We certainly can sleep almost anywhere these days!
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Mandy Milesma
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Everything is going well.Dot sold her house in Auckland.,last month.Dot is moving into over 65's not far where she lives.Getting cold here have had our first frost.Mandy &Nail