Archive for Holidays
Woodstock House Hotel
Over the previous weekend we visited the Woodstock House Hotel in the village of Charlton, near Chichester. It’s such a lovely place that I feel compelled to recommend it to everyone. 
The village is small and picturesque, and nestled in the heart of the South Downs, and there are three good pubs within a mile; The Fox Goes Free, the Partridge Inn and the Star and Garter.
The staff at the Woodstock were very friendly, and served us complementary tea and cake on arrival. They were also kind enough to phone the local pubs for us to book a table for our evening meal, and even phoned a second pub without complaint when we changed our minds about which one we wanted to visit.
Our room and en suite bathroom were lovely and clean and included a small flat screen TV. We were able to order a newspaper for delivery to our room on Sunday morning, and a very tasty full English breakfast is also included in the price of the room.
It was a wonderful friendly place and I’d definitely visit again, as well as recommend it to anyone who would like to get away for a relaxing weekend break without travelling too far.
Canal Holiday 08
Just like last year, I went on the canals for my summer holidays this year. We followed a partially similar route to last year, although we didn’t have time to do the entire four counties ring. Instead we set off from our base near Shardlow on the Trent and Mersey canal, reaching Penkridge on the Staffs & Worcester canal by Wednesday, and then turning around and retracing our route for the remainder of the week. Click on the thumbnails below to see a selection of photos from the journey.
I enjoyed it just as much as last year – the canals are such a relaxing holiday. I feel I should also draw attention to The Bridge Inn at Branston, Burton-upon-Trent (seen in one of the photos above). It looks like just another pub from the outside, but they offer a wonderful Italian menu. Well worth a visit if you’re passing by on the canals.
Damocles Gulf Crusade – The Movie
Behold, the video of our trip to Nottingham, courtesy of Graham.
Hmmm, ok, embedding the video isn’t working…but the link is here.
The video from the year before last can be seen here.
Weaselfest 07
This weekend saw the birth of a glorious new festival to rival Glastonbury or Download – Weaselfest! Ok, there might be a degree of hyperbole there, as what Weaselfest actually involved was 30-40 of us hiring a rally filed at the Roundhill campsite in the New Forest, near Brockenhurst.
However, it’s no exaggeration to say that a good time was had by all; we barbecued, drank, played cricket, generally sunned ourselves (three days of cloudless blue skies) hiked through the forest by day and went exploring at night.
1. Saturday night’s BBQ in progress.
2. Handy traffic-stopping ponies assisted our cross Forest hike (photo by Sarah).
The only slight downer was the campsite wardens coming over to tell us to keep the noise down on Friday night. They were alright about it, but we’d hired the rally field to specifically be away from the family area so we wouldn’t disturb anyone. It’s not our fault if they’d changed the rally field so it was nearer the other tents! I think we all found this a bit annoying. 
But other than that, it’s quite a nice site, although I suspect we’ll go somewhere different next year if there’s a Weaselfest 08. Which I really hope there is!
Canal Holiday 07
As regular readers may have noticed, I’ve been a bit quiet recently. That’s because we’ve been away on the canals again for a 12 day holiday (last year’s adventure can be seen here). It was quite a gruelling schedule; we began our journey from the town of Shardlow (in Derbyshire), travelled down the Trent & Mersey canal, joined the Four Counties Ring, sailed all the way around, then returned to Shardlow via the Trent & Mersey.
This is quite a way to go when you’re tootling along at a few mph on a narrowboat, so we did some 10, 11 and even 12 hour motoring days for the first week. But once we’d gotten around the Ring and onto the home straight we were able to take a more leisurely cruise.
The weather wasn’t too great, varying from sunny with patchy showers to torrential downpours. Thankfully this didn’t really dampen our holiday spirit (ok, except the day when there was a bloody freezing wind as well) – it was all part of the fun.
So now onto the photographs, just click on the thumbnails for a closer look:
Becky and Sven loading up ‘The Deblin’ at the boatyard. We rented this boat from my boss, who had it built only recently, so it was a lot nicer than the hire boat we had last year. It looked so shiny when we first saw it, we were almost frightened to step on board for fear of getting it dirty. 
These signets wandered out of the bushes while we were going though a lock. With no sign of any angry parents, Sven and I took the opportunity to grab a few snaps.
When we got to the small section of the Trent & Mersey canal where it joins the river Trent itself on the second day, we found it was closed for a few hours. Heavy rainfall had caused the river to become faster and more treacherous, so we dutifully joined the queue of other boats waiting for the water to subside.
Unfortunately our position was less than ideal due to shallow water and stinging nettles (we had to get the gang plank out). So we decided to make the best of a bad situation and deploy our BBQs. The photo on the right shows the river Trent as we crossed it; the weir is to the left of the picture and the river bends to the right.
Shots from the back of the boat. The midlands seem to have a lot of power stations, we saw several like this during our travels.
Left: An aqueduct takes the canal over a road.
Middle: Sad looking cows shelter from the rain under a tree.
Right: An unusual bridge with some sort of telegraph pole in the middle.
Left: Sven does some photography from the front of the boat.
Right: Looking down “Heartbreak Hill”, a stretch of the Four Counties Ring that has 29 locks in close succession. That was a very tiring day, although we only managed about 23 of them before giving up for the night.
Left: A “friendly” swan follows the boat for a little while.
Middle: A massive salt refinery. We did a small section of the Ring last year, so we’d seen this before.
Right: We stopped at the village of Weelock again this year, and just like last year we were foiled in our attempts to have a pub dinner here, and the same thing happened this year. So we went to the village’s Chinese takeaway again, recreating this photo from last year (they seem to have had a bit of a redecorate since then).
Harecastle Tunnel, a 45 minute sorjon into the dark depths of the Earth…erm, sort of. British Waterways staff were stationed at either end to make sure people boats only went through in a single direction at any one time.
Left: Looking back out of the boat at the entrance, having just gone in. There were no lights in the tunnel, other than those on the boat. Believe it or not, Alex is in this picture.
Middle: The tunnel ahead. The halo of light is from the single lamp mounted on the bow of the boat. Stalactites could be seen forming overhead.
Right: The entrance recedes into the distance to our rear.
Left: Sven attempts some time lapse and long exposure photography. The shaft of light is from the boat’s headlamp.
Right: Inside the boat, still in the tunnel.
Left: The canal reaches suburbia. I can’t remember exactly where this was.
Middle: This picture was taken from the boat’s kitchen (or should that be galley) window. We fed this swan family a few slices of bread.
Right: A nature reserve near the town of Branston, home to many aquatic birds. You’d have thought we’d been sick of them by then, but we all took photos anyway.
Left: The inclement weather bought down several trees and large branches across our path. Here’s one that we’ve just dodged past.
Right: The walk to the final lock before the boatyard. Unfortunately that lock was closed as a flood prevention measure to protect Shardlow. Luckily they decided to let a mere four boats through just as we arrived, so we were able to make it down to the boatyard.
So ends my holiday tale for another year, and a great time was had by all. For an alternative view of the trip, check out Sven’s Blog. He posted regular updates via his PDA/phone throughout the holiday.
Isle of Wight Festival – 2007
It should be obvious from the title, but we paid a return visit to the Isle of Wight Festival this year. We had a three-day weekend ticket and Bex was kind enough to put us up again; the proximity of her flat to the festival fields making this a stupidly convenient arrangement.
It was easily as cool and well organised as last year, with a lot of good acts and some blisteringly hot weather. Bands that put on a especially fine show where as follows: Groove Armada, Wolfmother, Snow Patrol, Keane (the bits I saw), Muse (apart from the encore – more later) and of course the Rolling Stones (even if I did only recognise about 4 or 5 songs). I’m not sure what else to say that wouldn’t just be repeating last year’s account, or reiterating what other people have already said. So I think I’ll take a brief photographic interlude before I mention the one or two minor bad points.
1. Arrival. 2. Looking for a good spot. 3. Groove Armada.
4. Friday night crowds. 5. Snow Patrol 6. Jimi Hendrix sculpture.
7. The Red Arrows treated us to a fine display on Sunday afternoon. 8. The waiting crowds. 9. Keane (I think).
10. The Rolling Stones. 11. The Rolling Stone again. 12. The festival funfair at night.
13. The Rolling Stones once more. 14. The firework finale.
Don’t get me wrong, I had a very good time and will definitely go again next year (if Bex will put us up again ), but a few minor things bugged me about this year’s festivities. Firstly, where did all the chavs come from? There seemed to be a load this year for some reason. Here’s another question; why pay £105 to walk around a field without a shirt on, ignoring the bands, getting really sun burnt, drinking cider and generally looking pissed off? Couldn’t they do that in a local park for free? Bloody chavs, I hope next year they spend their ticket money on a ‘Bullet in the Head’ voucher (redeemable at all good gun shops) instead.
Secondly, people seemed to be a lot more careless with their rubbish this year. There was so much spread across the grass by the end of each day, it made sitting down a little risky once night fell and you couldn’t see anything. There were large red wheelie-bins spread liberally across the site, and if you can’t spot a huge red oblong then, erm, how do you make it through a normal day without dying?
Of course you’ll notice these two complaints were about the other people there – I can’t really fault the festival itself. My final whinge regards Muse’s ridiculous half an hour encore. Great for Muse fans I’m sure, but when you’ve been in a field for nearly twelve hours and they won’t open the Newport exit next to the stage until the band is done, it gets a little annoying. So you’ve got a distortion pedal for your guitar? Well aren’t you the f**king king of all things musical? Now get off the stage, we want to go home! :p
It may seem like I spent more time complaining than praising in this blog entry, but I really did have fun. If I haven’t mentioned some aspect of the weekend, just assume it was awesome. 
And on that note, I’ll see you all there next year (hopefully)!
Camping Weekend
I enjoyed a weekend of camping with Alex and Sven this Friday eve, Saturday and Sunday. I had planned to do a photo blog and give a full review the venue, but forgot to take any photos, apart from this one of our breakfast on Saturday, so you’ll have to make do with this I’m afraid (yeah, I know “call myself a blogger?”).
You can see details about ‘The Lillies’ campsite here. It was just a few minutes down the road from the Barnham Trading Post – handy for stocking up cheap on camping supplies – and only a short drive to Bognor Regis.
It was a pretty nice place with a decent toilet/shower block and a few other facilities like a (very) mini-laundrette, washing-up facilities and a small children’s play area. On the down side the field we pitched on was quite small and the allocated pitch areas would probably be a little on the, erm, optimistic side when the field was full. Thankfully most of the half-term holiday crowd had departed when we got there, and by Saturday we pretty much had the place to ourselves.
Despite this minor space-related niggle, it was a cool weekend, although we’re thinking of going somewhere with more basic facilities next time, as at £14 a night, it was a bit of a waste not to take full advantage of them (which we didn’t). But the main aim was to test out the equipment (some old, some new) in preparation for longer camping excursion later in the summer, and I think this is something that we certainly achieved.
Another Breakfast At Swansea
Earlier this week I took a road trip to Swansea, taking my friend who lives there home after her Christmas visit to Gosport. This was of course a good opportunity to revisit the Uplands Diner for a hearty breakfast, but in the end we decided to try somewhere different.
And that somewhere was Papa Hilz Cafe in Gwydr Square, Uplands, just around the corner from the Uplands Diner. I had the Large Cooked Breakfast (there were only two options, large or small), which included all the normal gubbins – bacon, sausages, beans, fried eggs, a hash brown, mushrooms, a mug of tea and and extra side plate of toast. Every one of these ingredients tasted fresh and well cooked, so there was no fault there. All this clocked in at £3.65 – cheaper than the Uplands Diner breakfast but lacking in chips and shear mass.
Regarding the non-food elements of Papa Hilz, the place was very clean and tidy, and the staff were smiley and friendly.
In conclusion, if you want a reasonably priced and satisfying meal, then Papa Hilz is a good bet. But if you’re looking to be completely stuffed – or simply for a gastronomic challenge – then the Uplands Diner is still king of the breakfasting venues in Swansea, at least until I find somewhere better.
The Netherlands
Last week was half-term, a time when those who work in further education seem to whiz over to the continent (for some reason), and I was no exception, taking the opportunity to visit Sven in the Netherlands for a few days. Flying with Flybe out of the conveniently located Southampton airport, it was just a short one hour hop across the channel to Amsterdam airport. From there it was a relatively quick train ride aboard a double-decker tilting train making our rail system look Neolithic compared to The Hague, where Sven is based.
Navigating the Dutch public transport system was made easier by the fact that Sven was actually with me for the journey (he’d been home to England for the weekend). I’m sure I could have managed it by myself – all the natives I encountered had an excellent grasp of English – but his presence made the journey a lot speedier.
Right, enough of the block prose, time to launch into the photographic record of my break:
Netherlands 001 – This is the funky glass mosaic mural in Sven’s apartment, dividing the kitchen from the living room. I think the pattern on the right is a woman on a sail boat, and that’s the sun in the centre. Not sure about the object on the left though!
Netherlands 002 – We bought a keg of Heineken (8% in its country of origin), and although the Co-op checkout girl was able to tell us in good English that we needed a discount card to get the reduced price on the kettle that Sven also bought, she was unable to warn us that the keg was for use with a specific pump system. As the picture suggests, we managed to force it open with a wooden spoon. We would not be denied our larger!
Netherlands 003 and Netherlands 004 – The beach and pier, a brief five minute walk from Sven’s apartment. The pier housed a casino and a bungee-jump tower, neither of which we partook of. The building on the beach in the right of picture 004 was a seafood restaurant. There were several actually on the sands of the beach; according to Sven they completely dismantle and remove them during the stormy season and its accompanying high tides.
Netherlands 005 – A view 90 degrees to the right from 004, showing a small sample of the numerous restaurants that lined the beach-side boulevard. There were so many, I’m surprised they all managed to stay in business! However they did all have something different to offer; Tahiti, Mexican, Seafood, British, French, erm, Dutch, you name it.
Netherlands 006 – Madurodam a popular tourist attraction in The Hague is a model village comprised of scale models of Holland’s most famous landmarks, plus a working train track. This is some cathedral or other, I took the picture because I was impressed with the model’s detail, rather than any significance of it’s real-life counterpart.
Netherlands 007 – Madurodam again. It may look like a real street scene at first glance, but real full sized people can be seen in the top right if you don’t believe this is a model.
Netherlands 008 – Fountains in The Hague city centre. Jets of water intermittently squirted from holes in the flagstones in different patterns and intervals. This is the sort of thing you often see in America, or at least this is where I first encountered them.
Netherlands 009 – Still in The Hague, this was the exterior of the Escher in the Palace exhibition. I’m very glad we got to go to this, as MC Escher is one of my favourite artists!
Netherlands 010 – I think this was the Royal Palace in The Hague (just around the corner from the art exhibit), but I’ll need to check this. The way I understand it, The Hague is the political capital of the Netherlands, while Amsterdam is the civil and commercial capital. If anyone knows different, or wants to expand on this, corrections are welcome.
Netherlands 011 – One of Escher’s most famous works; “Relativity”, on display at the Escher in the Palace exhibition. Pictures 011 to 017 inclusive are all from the same exhibition.
Netherlands 012 – Another of Escher’s most famous works; “Ascending and Descending”.
Netherlands 013 – The gallery was illuminated by many unique chandeliers, specifically designed for the exhibition. These skull and crossbones were my favourite.
Netherlands 014 – I’m not sure what this one was called, but it might have been “Regular Division of a Plane”.
Netherlands 015 – This is a close-up of the amazing detail around the edges of “Circle Limit IV”. The way the angels and demons seem to become infinitely small is pretty amazing, IMO.
Netherlands 016 – All is not as it seems in this picture. If you know us, then you’ll know Sven is a good head taller than me. The room isn’t actually as symmetrical as it appears; it’s actually diagonal, so Sven is stood further away from the camera than me. Still, it’s a cool optical trick. If you’re wondering why this room was in the exhibition, it’s because Escher was famous for dealing with perspective and optical illusions.
Netherlands 017 – This is the main stairwell in the exhibition hall, featuring another unusual chandelier.
Netherlands 018 – Back on The Hague seafront, around half a kilometre south from the pier in pictures 003 and 004, there’s a sculpture park created by artist Tom Otterness. As far as we could tell, the theme was fairy tales. As you can tell from the passing car, this sculpture wasn’t small!
Netherlands 019 – The rear of the sculpture from picture 018. Notice how it seems to be bending the railings; I thought this was pretty cool.
Netherlands 020 – Another sculpture, even larger this time!
Netherlands 021 – This sculpture was small when compared to the others. Its finger was plugging a leak in a dyke; water constantly trickled from the hole.
Netherlands 022 – Heh, I’m sure I’ve seen this sign in the I-Spy section of Private Eye. Apparently in this context, “Bad” translates as “Bath”, as in “Spa”.
Netherlands 023 – Onwards to Rotterdam! This is the Erasmus Bridge, the largest single-span bridge in the world.
Netherlands 024 – A small harbour along the banks of the Nieuwe Maas, the river that runs through the heart of Rotterdam.
Netherlands 025 – The Euromast, a tall tower offering scenic view of Rotterdam. If you look at the white mast, you’ll see a thin black ring around it. This was actually a circular room that slowly rotated as it climbed the mast, offering 360 degree views with commentary in both Dutch and English. Although this feature had a short queue, what struck me about it was that it was free. In England, I’m sure you’d have to pay extra for this (e.g. the scenic lift on the Spinnaker Tower). Another nice touch was “Knocking on Heaven’s Door�” playing in the lift on the way up. Entry was 8 Euros.
Netherlands 026 and Netherlands 027 – Two views across Rotterdam from the main observation platform of the Euromast. The Erasmus Bridge is visible again in picture 027.
Netherlands 028 – As well as a café, the main observation platform of the Euromast contained two apartments that were apparently available for overnight rental. This was the entrance to one of them.
And thus concludes my photographic record of the Netherlands trip. Any questions?
FOOTNOTE: Sven insisted that I refer to the Netherlands as, well, the Netherlands, rather than Holland. Apparently Holland is the northen region of the country. You learn something every day, huh? Still – as I pointed out – saying Holland was technically accurate for us, as The Hague and Rotterdam are in the north anyway…
Summer Mini-Break
I spent this weekend just passed was spent camping – the good kind with tents – at Birchwood Tourist Park with Alex and the Wilkie’s in attendance. Our chosen venue was near Wareham, in Dorest. Actually it was slap-bang in the middle of Wareham Forest.
The campsite was good, I can envisage us returning with a degree of certainty. The link above will take you to their web site for a full run-down of facilities, so I’ll just highlight those I was most impressed with.
- A clean and well-maintained toilet/shower block, with adjoining washing-up facilities.
- A car number plate recognition system attached to the entrance barrier that informed you how long you have left of your stay.
- Friendly staff.
If there was a downside, it was the slightly crowded nature of the site and nocturnal noise issues. But then again it was a visit to a family camp site during the school summer holidays, so we couldn’t expect isolated peace and quiet!
Photographic evidence of this event follows below. We took Alex’s parent’s tent (if you should run into the 80s, and they say they are looking for us, please do not tell them where to find us, as we wish to use the tent again) as well as a pup tent. The first image shows our mini-encampment from outside, the second is a view inside the main tent.
Camping 2006 01 – Camping 2006 02
The weather was so-so, oscillating between downpour and bright sunshine, but we managed to fit in a rather successful BBQ, some less successful drinking, and a walk through the surrounding woodland. I enjoyed it, at any rate. My closing tip – should you visit the same site – is to turn left out of the main entrance and stop at the ‘Silent Woman’ pub a little way down the road. The food there was good.
