London

A quiet night in old London Town! Warm, and awake early.

Away early to purchase tickets for a show tonight - Dirty Dancing! But not with Patrick Swayze I hear Helene complain!

... at the Picadilly Theartre

Later took the underground to Pimlico for the Tate Gallery. Still an outstanding museum and perhaps my favourite had to be The Flatford Mill by Constable.

Tate Britain

Returned to Fann Street for lunch with James and later for a delightful walk around the Barbican complex. The residents of this magnificent t development have a keyed-access to private gardens within the complex.

Barbican Lake Terrace and St Giles Cripplegate

An exhibition in the Barbican demonstrated - for a fee - 3-D printing!

3-D printing at the Barbican

Later returned for a bite before heading off to the Piccadilly Theartre for the performance of Dirty Dancing.

Piccadilly Theartre

London

The dog-walkers of Cookham were out early this morning. But what an interesting walk for all - along the Thames towpath.

Away at a leisurely pace to re supply before visiting  Osterley House and before doing battle with the London traffic. 

 Ivory carved Chinese junk

Osterley is a little oasis situated near Heathrow airport - the former residence of the Child family who made their money in banking and controlling the East Indian Company's  trade into England.  Many of the items on show in the house were of East Asian heritage. The ivory carved Chinese junk, the large Chinese vases, the Japanese screens, the silks and cotton drapes, all reflect this trading activity of the 18th century.

Osterly House

Later in the afternoon we set out on an 8 mile journey into The City - exactly two hours later we arrived at our destination.I understand   why we don't do this lightly! 

Night out in Angel

Caught up with James shortly after arriving and later enjoyed a very delightful Italian meal up in Angel Islington. What an alive and vibrant part of London. A lovely summers evening evening and London with the able population out enjoying the last throws of summer! Home to bed by midnight after a night-cap o Jaegermeister with James.

Bampton

How long can this wonderful weather last! Another beautiful morning with sun reflecting off the Thames as canal boats smoothly cruise by ... but we must leave!

Thames at Bampton

Breakfasted and then move on to Farringdon - a village steeped in history with every era of British history being reflected in the town from Alfred the Great having a place here, the Baron's War in 1135, Charles I's defence line here etc. now a quaint market town.

Corn market - Farringdon

Later visited Bampton, the village used in the Downton Abbey drama. A busy little village of the mellow stone build houses. You can see why a TV company would choose it as a setting for a series - but down the road a little there was another village that equally could have been a location!

Bampton Church

Bampton

On to Ashton to the pottery works - nothing special but seems to be very popular.

Onto  Abingdon, another Thames town worth a visit! Perhaps you can become a little braise about how gorgeous some of these villages and towns are - but being on the Thames there is a little more incentive to be cute and cuddly! 

Because we are lining up to go into London tomorrow afternoon what better place to stay overnight than at Cookham - so that's where we ended up!  Beautiful village with a  lovely walking track along the Thames.

Buscot

You can often forget just how important a river like the Thames has been throughout history. The area by the Thames that we are staying at is a long way from the wide bustling river you see in London but nevertheless it was vital to the old community around Buscot. The clearing where we staying is known as the Old Cheese Wharf - a location where the Thames winds its way through a large agricultural area with mellow stone villages dotted along the river. From here cheese was one of the important trading products of the area, and this was collected by the barges plying along the waterway.

Cheese Wharf - Buscot

Thames at Buscot

Opposite us is an old WWII pill-box, one of many along the northern bank of the Thames, built in 1940 as a defensive line against an invasion by the Germans. Keeping an enemy on the southern side of the Thames was thought to be a very effective defensive strategy back then! The pillbox is heavily marked because of the artillery practice target it became in 1944!

Overnights!

We took ourselves along the road this afternoon to Buscot Park and house. We were quite surprised at the extent of the art work in the house - the Faringdon Collection.

Burn-Jones' 'The Rose Bower'

 The grounds were extensive with an Italianate water garden and many other features to keep a visitor interested 

Buscot  Park

We returned to the Cheese Wharf Area via a visit to the Buscot village and weir. A pleasant and relaxing day.

Highclere

Left Upper Clatford for our van's MOT in Andover this morning. We had no issues with any problems with the van but MOTs can be a little tricky for the mechanics go through a thorough check list for legal requirements. No further follow ups were needed.

MOT in Andover

From Andover we ventured north to Highclere Castle - the castle used for the Downton Abbey production. An interesting place - not quiet as glamorous as it looks on TV. It was interesting to note that when we asked how much of the castle was open for visiting, the reply was only the first two floors because the third floor was still derelict.  Nevertheless, interesting.

Highclere Castle of Downton Abbey fame!

Is Earl Grantham at home?

We then headed for the upper reaches of the Thames at Buscot where we parked up on the banks of the Thames for the remainder of the afternoon and evening. 

Upper Clatford 3

A other great night sleep - very quiet and peaceful. Breakfasted and away on a morning walk around the village walking tracks. Some of the tracks run along the back perimeter of the village and have been walked for over a thousand years.

Ancient pathway along the back of the village.

View from pathway.

Visited the 11th Century church before returning for a coffee.

12th Century Church - Upper Clatford

Some beautiful blackberries were crying out to be picked - so I obliged with a lovely bucket full to enjoy later in the day. 

Beautiful blackberries

Helene off to help Fran deliver the village monthly news.

We were invited to lunch at Liz and Peter's home in Andover  - friends of Fran. What a lovely way to spend bank holiday Monday! Fantastic people, very welcoming and fun to spend time with.  Left late and spent our last night with Fran.

Charles, Fran, Nicki, Jim, Peter, Helene and Lizzie.

Upper Clatford 2

Must be getting close to the end of our trip - the disciplined approach to the blog is slipping a little! This is a day late!

Had a sleep-in and listen to the rain on the roof - how lovely. So a late breakfast followed before we joined Fran late in the morning to spend the day with her. 

Later in the afternoon I did some repairs on the van before the MOT on Tuesday. A tail light needed fixing and the electrical connector for a trailer needed replacing. All completed successfully - now just hope the MOT is successful too! 

Another lovely meal with Fran before retiring for a good night sleep.

The classic English pub in Upper Clatford!

Upper Clatford

Raining again this morning but still a delightful view down across the valley.

Near Winchester

We were in the area of the world motorcross championship so traffic was starting to build up. We made our way to Winchester and then to Andover. 

Later in the day we arrived at Upper Clatford to visit Fran for the long-weekend. Great to catch up again. 

Quaint and beautiful Upper Clatford

Had a lovely evening with Fran and other friends. Home after midnight.

... and good company

South Coast

Off for an early morning walk along the beach. A very pleasant part of the country.

Goring by Sea

£25000.00 for this beach shed!

Nothing much of a day except for a number of traffic jams on the motorways! This is a continual way of life for a lot of Brits - the radio is full of reports of hour long traffic jams on motorways and other roads. Too many people  with too many cars trying to get to too many places too quick - and yes we can be accused of the same!

Spent most of the morning trying to organise our storage depot for the winter. We think we have located a suitable venue in Harrow. 

Later in the day we located our overnight at Cheesefoot Head viewing area in Temple Valley. We watched a farmer late into the night trying to get his wheat harvest finished before the forecast rain came - which it did during the night.

Passed Arundel Castle on the way.

Bodiam

Rained most of the night and again this morning. Still, a great view across the English Channel whilst enjoying breakfast and a slow morning.

An old Victorian water tower - now converted into a home!

Left for Rye mid-morning and then onto Bodiam and the famous castle.

Bodiam Castle

Old portcullis at Bodiam

Weather had cleared by the time we arrived at Bodiam Castle. A large number of visitors already there but we were surprised by the numbers arriving after us. We could see how quickly the car park filled. 

Bodiam

Later in the afternoon we moved on to the south coast to Goring-by- Sea for our evening and overnight stay.

Folkestone

Arrived in Dover at 12.00am! First off the ferry and headed straight for Marine Terrace in Dover - parked and into bed within minutes! A d a good night sleep as well.

Arriving in the UK by ferry

Took an early morning walk along the Dover beach front and was away shortly after nine.

Dover esplanade 

Folkestone was our first call - needing to sort out our SIMM card and recharge it - actually it was easier to get a new SIMM. Took a walk along the Folkestone cliff tops. 

Folkestone 

A Victorian invention - the water-gravity shuttle car

Checked out the area before moving driving to Hythe - where a Venetian festival was happening - and then onto the seaside village of Littlestone-on -Sea. A beautiful day with the coast of France being visible right along this southern coast.

Littlestone on Sea

Spent the afternoon and the evening here enjoying the day and the wonderful panorama on offer from the walkway.

Calais

Last day in Europe. Departed after farewell g our French neighbours. Made our way to Calais to stock up on supplies at The Cite supermarket.

At overnight in Belgium.

Later move on to the esplanade along the boardwalk in Calais. A beautiful day and the French and the tourists were out in force until very late in the afternoon. 

At Calais beach front.

Relaxed and had our meal enjoying the beautiful sunshine before heading to the wharf for our crossing to Dover.

Waiting for the ferry!

Ghent

Tomorrow night we catch the ferry  from Calais back to the UK.  So with a little time up our sleeves we thought that a day in Ghent would be worthwhile ... and yes it was!

We left early, by our standards, for Ghent, stopping off at a service station to end the saga of the Dresden gas crisis! We had left the refilling of the cylinder until we were out of Germany - it was thought that the German LPG gas system might have been different from the rest of Europe. The refilling went ahead without a hitch - no leakage at the end of the filling! Phew!!!!! But out of the saga no accolades for Gas-It, the supplier of the cylinder - after two emails inquiring what might have happened  - NO REPLY! And, Belgium gas is only €0.56 a litre!

Our first impression of Ghent was that is very forgiving - after driving into vehicle restricted zones and slowing traffic through some  careful decision making as to where to park!  Parked centrally with good access to the old  town.  

Ghent 

Ghent is often thought of as the poor relation to Brugge. Where Brugge missed much of the industrialisation of the 19th century  Brugge didn't  getting the dark coatings on all its medieval buildings. This has started to be rectified and Ghent's  old buildings are coming back to life as there were five hundred years ago. 

Some of the famous Guild-Houses on the Graslei in Ghent

Ghent was once one of the most important cities of Europe. It was larger than London with only Paris being larger.  Given that it received very little harm during the wars a wonderful legacy has been left to the world.

We visited most of the historic sites during the day but the highlight perhaps was the guild-houses on the Graslei - this is where the merchant ships would dock and unload their merchandise. The Cooremetershuys (guild house of the grain weighers), the guild house on the free sailors and the Het Spijker  ( a granary) are all impressive reminders of the city's economic growth.

There is something inspiring wandering the streets of a town with such history. Ghent is a town worth visiting.

Moved onto Veurne by the canal for our overnight - along with about 20 other motorhome - but not gypsies!

Ghent Town Hall