Blogs from England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 2260

Geo: 50.9614, 0.732113Bakers... read more

At 16 you haven't really done anything in life but I knew I wanted to do a skydive from a very young age, the youngest legal age to skydive in the UK is 16 so I thought what better way to celebrate then to skydive, I looked into how to book a skydive and found that I could raise money for the National Deaf Children's Society at the same time. Sponsorship raised, date of the jump booked and I got up early to go to Headcorn, I chose the wrong time of year to do it, it was October when I eventually got around to booking it and when I got there I waited for a few hours only to be told the weather was too bad and we wouldn't be able to jump today. I ... read more

My friends took me for a walk today. Well actually, I chose it from four sea-view walks they had picked from a book of walks. We went to the url=https://www.discoveringbritain.org/activities/south-east-england/viewpoints/folkestone-warren-viewpoint.htmlFolkestone Warren. It wasn’t until after the walk that we got a clear explanation of the formation of a warren. Water gets into cracks in the chalk relatively close to the front of a cliff, and eventually the front breaks off, creating a new cliff face with a lot of rubble at the bottom. Trees and bushes grow in the rubble creating the warren. It’s a natural process that never stops. Steps have been taken to slow the erosion by the sea at the foot of the cliffs – at least to curtail damage to the rail line that runs at the bottom of the cliffs through ... read more

Free day today. So, I went off to do what everyone said I must do, which was to see Osborne House. Queen Victoria and her family stayed there, and it was design by Prince Albert. I caught the bus exactly as advised by Betty Wood, a wonderful character aged somewhere between “71 and over 80”, depending on which bit of gossip you listen to. Only Jacob had the nerve to ask her, and got the “71” answer, but she said something about the war, imply she worked then. She did work for 45 years as a military history researcher. On our walks, I began taking advantage of her flawless knowledge of botany. She also knows a lot about the Isle of Wight from coming here often, and lots more from travelling all over England. This she ... read more

We started off near a prison today, in Parkhurst Forest. From how people refer to it, I assume the prison is a major establishment. Certainly the “forest paths” are wide enough to take a vehicle if needed. There are narrow, untended paths angling off this maintained one. Betty Wood volunteered to be “back marker”, to keep track of stragglers. As I was videoing flowers, I asked her if she knew the names, and she did – every one. This made an interesting walk for me, although the others may not have enjoyed it too much because there was very little to see. We walked quite a way through a town – quite ordinary, except for the piglets that looked so cute. After this we tramped along various types of paths to the River Medina . Here ... read more