August at Home

Joan and Udo came to stay close by in their caravan at the Caravan Club Centenary site.

Tasting the water at Irons Well Earthcache

 

Nearby we saw plenty of deer, this one had a good set of antlers. I was glad he’s going away from us!

Another find – this one was hanging around in the tree.

Coffee and tea in Christchurch and then a wander around

  

The River Stour

 

Moriconium Quay – Christchurch

BBQ at the Centenary Site                   Udo

 

Sue and Stuart at the Blackwater Tall Trees Trail – the two trees behind Sue are the tallest in the New Forest at about 150 feet. They were planted in 1859.

  

The Steam Fair in Ringwood

That is some caravan

Fun for all

    

Carousel

Sue wanted to take this – I don’t know why.

 

Food for thought!

Some of the old Ringwood cottages we passed on the way home from the fair

 

 

Not sure what flower this is, but it is very impressive.

Does anyone know what it is?

We visited Tony and Ellen in Portsmouth and had a geocaching walk by Langstone Harbour

Bournemouth Air Festival – Friday 29th August
Little space left on the beach and prom

Grob G115E Tutor               Eurofighter – very noisy

 

Prospective Red Arrows pilot in all his kit

  

The Red Arrows had to do their flat display because of the low cloud

Not that way – this way!

Ups and Downs

Follow me!

Oldie Photo:

1977 Prague, Czechoslovakia – The River Vltava is about to flood and we are in the way. Car and tent on the right – you can just make out Sue at the car.

July Tour - Dursley

This is the last stop of our tour. We decided to stay on a Certificated Location (only 5 caravans allowed) close to our friends Maggie and Andy in Dursley, Gloucestershire. On the first afternoon I went geocaching whilst Sue stayed at the caravan because the hills would have been too much for her. They were very steep and nearly too much for me. The views made up for the effort expended in getting to the top.

One evening M&A came to the site for a meal and as you can see the weather was superb. We went to them for an afternoon and Andy took charge of the BBQ. Needless to say Maggie was working hard preparing the rest of the meal. Thanks for your hospitality.

 

This was a very, quiet rural site especially when the ewes and lambs had been moved out of the adjacent field.

M&A kindly took us to Sharpness Docks for the morning. When there we were entertained by SARA (Severn Area Rescue Association) who were on manoeuvres.

 

   

Walking along the Severn Way there were lots of narrow boats and other types of craft. Here is just one of them.

 

After four nights in Dursley we then headed home after three weeks away.

July Tour - Dolgellau

We went to Dolgellau after Shrewsbury. This meant we had to go over some serious hills towing the caravan. We did get over, but the automatic was in bottom gear and I was a little sweaty at the top. Just before the caravan site we had a 1 in 7 to contend with plus a brand new road surface that morning.

We met up with Neil and Jen in the afternoon and went to the New Precipice Walk which gave us some super views.

 

Local residents – there were plenty of them!

Cader Idris 2927 feet (892 metres)

Our pitch at Cefn Maelen – fortunately we were not at the top of the hill because it would have been a long walk to the facilities at the bottom.

Stuart and Neil on a bike geocaching trip along the Mawddach Trail.

View towards Barmouth across the estuary

The old station at Penmaenpool – the toll bridge (toll still required -70p for a car) is in the background.

Photos taken whilst cycling below Cader Idris. Most of the morning was uphill. The weather was superb.

The ladies catch up with us just before the lunch stop – they had the food and drink with them – glad they made it.

   Barmouth in the distance

Cregennan Lake

Top of the hill

Panoramic view

Back in Dolgellau was Roberts hardware store which has been converted into a very quaint café, not much of the internal fabric has been changed. They do a very good cappuccino.

 

A couple of stone buildings in Dolgellau – The Royal Ship Hotel used to be a coaching inn so what has it to do with ships?

Wine shop

On a bike ride up to the gold mines we crossed this bridge. If you just look under the bikes you can see the old collapsing bridge.

On the way down we stopped for a ‘selfie’. In this area there are lots of mountain bike routes the hardest is known as ‘The Beast’ we didn’t bother with that one – maybe next time!

 

St Mary's Church, Dolgellau – extract from Wales Directory website
’The church is on an ancient site and there are records of it in 1254. The current church is Early Georgian and was completed by 1723. Both the style of the church and the materials used to build the church are unusual for this part of Wales. Dressed slate stones have been used to construct the nave, and a mixture of rubble stone and slate for the crenellated tower. The large arched windows have a distinctive style with the corner stones lapping each other log cabin style. The tower was probably begun in 1727, it has two stages with arched openings similar to the windows of the nave. The interior is notable for the quality of the stained glass windows and the eight timber pillars. The huge mast-like timber posts were hauled over the hills from the forests of Dinas Mawddy by teams of oxen.’

Sue and I were interested in the fact that the slate headstones looked like new despite being over 200 years old.

Bi-lingual sign brought a smile to our faces

We had a lovely time here and the sun shone most of the time which we were told was unusual for this area – lucky us.

Thanks to Neil and Jennie for looking after us so well.

Oldie Photos: Summer 1979

Sue on a campsite in Southern Germany

 
Stuart on the quay at Bardolino, Lake Garda, Italy (I think)