Edengate, Lymington, Hampshire (continued)

Gary, Susana and Gabriel, visit. Gary has to attend a course in Southampton, tomorrow (Monday), so they have come to stay at a hotel in Lymington for a couple of days.

We visit the Isle of Wight, on Sunday.

Edengate, Lymington, Hampshire (continued)

Wednesday, (23/05/12) superb weather, we catch the bus to Christchurch, a few miles along the coast towards Bournemouth, very upmarket.

There is the inevitable ruined Priory, courtesy of Henry VIII.

Kathleen never tires of railing against him, and I never tire of correcting her biased (Catholic) view of history and pointing out, that, perhaps it was the Pope who was the baddy, by playing Politics with Philip of Spain.

I have to admit, there is one plaque dating from that time, in the church, which is particularly gruesome. It concerns the Countess of Salisbury (Lady Pole). Her youngest son, Reginald,  (an Archbishop at 17, bit of favouristm perhaps?), wrote a critical article about Henry. Henry was not happy about this, and with Reginald safely out of reach in Padua, not to be outdone, Henry ordered his relations in England to be executed. Lady Pole (over 70 years old at this time) was executed at the Tower of London. It is said, she refused to put her neck on the block, so, the executioner hacked off her head where she stood.

Enough of that gruesome stuff, isn't this a picture of Englishness, a couple of teams of Pensioners having a game of Bowls?

Takes you right back to Francis Drake, doesn't it?




Thursday, and I have to eat my words, Kathleen is raring to go on a bike ride. Naturally, she does not want to follow the route I scouted out a couple of days ago, so off we go via another route, which is (hopefully) small and quiet roads.

We actually cross "my" route after about three miles, and then follow it to the coast and along to Milford-by-the-Sea. A very pleasant 16 mile round trip, along quiet country lanes.

Edengate, Lymington, Hampshire

Monday 21st May 2012

Edengate is a CL, ie a small 5 van site.

The photographs of the site, on the website, flatter it in real life I think, but I am sure we will be fine here.

When we arrive, there are three other caravans here, it is certainly peaceful, but I am not sure how near we actually are to Lymington.

The facilities do not impress from the outside, but, inside they are well kept.








We do a little exploring on the bikes, initial impressions are not very satisfactory, the road is not very wide, and reasonably busy.

Instead we take the bus into Lymington, which is a pleasant place, with a particularly quaint area around the habour.

In the evening, I explore a bridle path, near the site, it takes me all the way to the coast, more or less without going on any busy roads.

Nine miles there and back, not sure I will be able to tempt Kathleen with this. 

Wood Farm, Charmouth, Dorset, continued

A bus trip to Weymouth, we caught the "express" bus, there, but it still took almost an hour and a half to get there. Not worth the wait. Weymouth was clearly once a very attractive place, but it has definately seen better days.  We came back on the "normal" bus, via the "scenic" route. This passed through a place called Poundbury, one of Prince Charles developments and very nice too.

Saturday, we catch the bus a few miles along the coast to Chideock, and then walk back to Charmouth, along the coastal path.

It is far from flat!

and, in some places, disturbingly high.

Where, there are cliffs, there are hang gliders.



Wood Farm, Charmouth, Dorset

Wednesday 16th May 2012

The sun is still shining!

The site appears to be excellent, we are at the top of a hill, with excellent views.

I suspect this is not going to be cycling country, too hilly, so we will have to get our walking shoes on.

During our exploring of Charmouth, we come across a speciality Chocolate Shop. They are advertising "healthy chocolate, fat free and sugar free" We buy some. I am wary of this, based on my experience of low fat biscuits (which are like eating beer mats). The "healthy chocolate" does not disapoint, take my advice, don't bother, it is just like eating candle grease.

Thursday, we decide to walk it to Lyme Regis.

Looking at the map, it is about 1 mile west along the coast. But, the footpath is closed due to a landslide, so we have to take the inland route, through the woods.

A very pleasant 2.5 mile walk, a bit hilly, well, to be honest VERY hilly.

We will have to repeat this walk, probably, on Sunday, since the Catholic Church is in Lyme Regis. There is a bus service, which we discover will stop for you just outside of the campsite, even although it is not an official bus stop.

Minnows Caravan Park, Tiverton, Devon, Continued

Sunday, so that means only one thing, Kathleen is off to Church.

Up sharp, and we cycle along the canal to Tiverton.

While Kathleen does the God thing, I explore Tiverton on foot.

They have built flood defences along the river in the centre of town, not very scenic, but better than being flooded periodically, I suppose.

There are the usual information boards about flooding hundreds of years ago, and information about very cold winters when the river froze over and people ice skated on it. Clearly, climate chnage must have been caused by horse droppings, or some such, then.

The view up river shows flood defences too, but a little more scenic ones, in my view.

Have you noticed something else about these photographs?, yes, the sun is still shining, we are now on for a record third day of sunshine!

After I collect Kathleen from church, we visit the tea shop by the canal at Tiverton Basin.

I can recommend the Apple Pie with ice-cream, oh, yes, I had a cup of tea as well.

They had this rather impressive show of teapots on the wall of the house attached to the teashop.

Then we cycle back, and go to "The Globe" in the village for an excellent Sunday lunch. We even get a 10% discount, because we are staying at "The Minnows", oh how Kathleen loves a bargain, that makes her meal taste even better!

Monday morning, and it is raining again.

Kathleen is cross, moaning about the bread (which she chose), the slices are too thick, she says. You cannot taste the filling in your sandwich because there is too much bread.

My solution, increase the amount of filling.

This is not well received.

Sun appears again after lunch, thank goodness.

The question of sandwich fillings is resolved, and the rain has stopped, we explore the canal towpath in the opposite direction.

We come across this dedicated mother swan, patiently sitting on her eggs, father swan is off feeding his face, further along the canal.

Then we come upon this happy little family of eight cygnets, this father has obviously attended the parenting classes, and is doing his bit.

Tuesday, panic takes over.

Kathleen thinks she has lost her purse.

My suggestion that perhaps the Greeks have stolen it to pay off their National Debt, is deemed, not amusing.

Calm is restored, the purse id found.

It was in the coat she wore to go to church on Sunday.

It has been there, untouched since then, it is almost lunch time Tuesday now, need I say more?

Minnows Caravan Park, Tiverton, Devon

Friday 11th May 2012.

It has stopped raining, we are amazed!

But, today, we are scheduled to leave Baltic Wharf. It is a place we would come back to, but this visit has been marred by the appalling weather.

We pack up and head off for Tiverton, Devon, who knows we might even have some good weather at long last.

As soon as we are parked, Kathleen takes up her fairweather pose.

The site is right alongside the Great Western Canal, it is close to a village called Sampford Peverell and about 7 miles from Tiverton (via the Canal towpath).

I manage to drag Kathleen out of her seat, once I have finished getting everything set up and we get ourselves out in the freshair and sun.

This is real "Midsommer Murders" country!, the village could be the setting for the show.









Saturday, the sky is blue, the sun is shining, and it is even warm!

We pedal off, along the canal to Tiverton.

This, is Tiverton Basin, with a floating Bar and Coffee shop.

Kathleen accomplishes her mission and finds the Catholic Church, in preparation for going to mass, tomorrow.

On the way back, we encounter this horsedrawn barge, now adapted to carry tourists of  course.

A brisk pedal back, to complete the 15 mile round trip, and we catch the last of the sun.

Then we buy our evening meal from the Fish and Chip van which visits the site on Saturdays.