Action Packed Days

We went to Poole quay to watch the RNLI go through their paces. This year they set light to a tramp steamer (not really) and had to rescue the sailors, who just happened to be wearing dry suits. The day went very orange for a while.

     

Later that week this area hit the headlines for the amount of rain that fell on Thursday. This was the first day of the Air Festival at Bournemouth – they haven’t had much luck over the past few years. At home I managed to get to our garage which is all of 5 paces from the front door. It was a horrendous day. Here are a couple of pictures from the Bournemouth Echo.

         

In contrast the weather on Friday was superb and just right for the Air Festival. We bagged our free parking spot at 1000 in Boscombe and walked down to where the show was going to be. The council had done a marvellous job of clearing up and the only problem we could see was that part of the beach had been washed away by the flood.

There was a good crowd on the beach and there were a few warm up events before the start at 1330.

 

The Memorial Flight – Lancaster Bomber, Spitfire and Hurricane

Breitling wing walkers – spectacular stuff

         

Red Arrows - as usual fantastic

         

Sadly, the following day, Red 4 crashed after the show, killing the pilot

On the way home – Sue at Boscombe beach huts

Quite some time ago I had been asked by Sally, in the turquoise, to lead a ramble for some of her family when they were staying in Fordingbridge, for a family celebration. Graham, in the yellow, had asked me about geocaching, as it happened we were passing one of my caches so I gave them the task of finding it. Sally, with a little help, found it.

Sue and I had been well looked after, by Sally and family, and had a really good breakfast. Sue had come along, but was returning by bus which stopped close by. We spotted the bus stop on arrival, BUT when she went to leave, the bus stop had been decommissioned. With 5 minutes to go to the bus arrival there was nothing Sue could do, but wait. The bus came, Sue thrust her hand out and low and behold the bus stopped.  The driver said ‘ If it had been tomorrow I wouldn’t have stopped!’

Another ‘oldie’ taken at Prince Rupert School Mess in 1972 or 73.

Salisbury - Caravanning

Unusually for us we went away in the caravan in the middle of the school holidays. We only went up the road to Salisbury, but this enabled us to explore north of Salisbury and to have a better look around the city itself. The Salisbury website describes it as’ 'The city in the countryside', the magnificent medieval city has it all: historic streets and alleyways, charming half-timbered buildings etc.’ At its centre is the medieval cathedral with its 404 foot spire. Below are photos of the spire and cloisters.


      

In and around the cathedral are 20 sculptures by Sean Henry. Sue is pictured with the ‘Walking Woman’. The little girl in the left hand photo is real the rest is all sculpture.


    

Whilst in cathedral close we visited Ted Heath’s old house, Arundells. Only 12 people can go around at one time and it has to be booked in advance. We found it very interesting and most enlightening, well worth a visit if you have the time. Also in the close was the ‘Constable and Salisbury’ exhibition, although good we thought it rather expensive for what it was.
We visited Stonehenge, on the Saturday morning, unfortunately the weather was damp and overcast. At 0915 in the morning it is busy with tourists, but when we left at 1030 queues were everywhere.  HINT: visit early.


  

Close to the campsite is Old Sarum, this is a huge Iron Age hill fort where the first cathedral once stood and the Romans, Normans and Saxons have all left their mark. On the day of our visit they were having a medieval jousting festival. This is all very dangerous and lances are regularly broken. If you look hard at the larger photo you can see the lance strike and break away.


    




There were quite a number of other attractions – medieval music and singing – falconry display  - medieval food tasting, we didn’t risk it.


    

An owl in the display

The countryside north of the city is superb with some lovely villages. We are having sandwiches in St Andrews churchyard Great Durnford during a geocaching expedition. The church dates back to the late 12th century.

 

A surprise en route was a collection of ‘exotic’ animals at one of the manors. Here is an alpaca there was a also a Bactrian camel (two humps). The River Avon flowing through Little Durnford Manor.

Trish and Colin visited us at the campsite on our last evening there.

Medieval Fun at Old Sarum

Another oldie – our 25th Wedding Anniversary in Barbados 1994

Fougères

After Quimper we moved to Fougères. The only campsite here is the municipal site on the edge of town. It is very pleasant and not too busy. Although it was quite basic I did get an extra which was a mouse in my shower one day.

Fougères' major monument is a medieval stronghold built on a granite ledge, which was part of the ultimately unsuccessful defence system of the Duchy of Brittany against French aggression.

Fougères also has one of only three belfries in Brittany. Its location serves as the centre of the weekend market, which we visited. The belfry, built 1397, has symbolic importance: funded by local merchants it allowed ordinary people access to timekeeping previously the preserve of the church and nobility.

The Belfry

In the gardens behind Eglise St. Leonard

An English lady offered to take our photo and we asked ‘How long was she staying here for?’ She replied’ I’ve lived here for 15 years!’ must be nice then.

There was a wedding at the Eglise

                        their car                                   the happy couple

    

Fougères fortress – the largest fortress in France

 

Fougères Castle is an amazing monument of medieval military architecture, but also considered one of the best preserved fortified castles in Europe.

Today the castle has been preserved in its authentic form, as it was constructed during the last half of the 15th century. It has a structure, which is made up of three main parts and is a very good example of a medieval fortress.

The first barrier of Fougères Castle serves to protect the castle and is the central place to attack enemies. The second barrier was the place in those centuries where everyday life was bubbling. This area is also used to shelter people in case of attack on the fortress. The third barrier was fenced to protect the entire fortress. Then followed the main retaining walls before the trench was excavated. In cases of attack it was filled with water for better defence.

     

       

Buildings in Fougères

  

Lavoir du Nançon – the old laundry

Altogether we were away 4 weeks and travelled about 950 miles in total. We returned by Brittany Ferries on the Caen – Portsmouth route. For the first time ever we stayed on the docks overnight in amongst other Brits – we felt quite safe and didn’t have to travel too far for the ferry in the morning – 200 metres. Also there was not strike to hold us up like there was last year. A good holiday all-round.

 A new gizmo

Collage creator for some of the photos seen and not seen 

Oldie photo – 1982  Island of Thassos, Greece

This is before our caravanning days, here we are on the way back from Istanbul.

Quimper – Brittany

We moved on to Quimper next and stayed at Camping Orangerie de Lanniron, this is part of the Castel Camping group which are the up market campsites in France. At the time we visited we were not paying up market prices.

This property belonged to the bishops of Quimper, counts of Cornouaille, for thousand years:  some charters of the 13th century were even signed here. In the 15th century, Lord Bertrand de Rosmadec erected a new manor which his successors used until the end of the 18th century either as a permanent residence or a summer residence. In the 13th century Lord François de Coëtlogon extended the property. He will be remembered not only for his great deeds as a bishop but also for creating wonderful gardens.

The campsite was situated in the gardens behind the chateau, by the number of apples on the car in the morning we were in what was the orchard. The swimming pool complex is new this year and very smart.

    

We had made arrangements to meet Joan and Udo, at the campsite, here who had driven from Northern Germany, about 650 miles, a rather long way. Here we are on one of geocaching adventures along the Odet River.

    

Notre-Dame des Carmes church (1383-1420) is in the Gothic style with many old statues and a very nice rose window over the high altar that is considered the loveliest in Bretagne. I thought this tower was very impressive.

More geocaching along the coast. We bumped into another geocacher who was organising a Mega Event and thrust a card into our hands advertising it.

  

Concarneau - Its main attraction is the walled town, with its character houses, built during the 17th and 20th centuries by lawyers, tradesmen, painters and sailors. Concarneau from the 18th century onwards became a major fishing and trading port, specialising in sardines. The canning factories prospered (there were 31 in 1930, but only 4 remain today).

Inside the walled town. It’s very picturesque, but also full of tourists. A welcome break.

   

Quimper is the ancient capital of La Cornouaille, Brittany’s most traditional region, and has a distinctive Breton character. Quimper was originally settled during Roman times. In the 11th century, it was united with the Duchy of Brittany. During the civil wars of the 14th century, the town suffered considerable ruin.

The town has a rustic atmosphere with foot bridges spanning the rivers. The Cathedral of Saint-Corentin, with its Gothic-style façade, was constructed between the 13th and 16th centuries. It is the oldest Gothic structure in lower Brittany. Its two towers are 250 feet tall; its spires were added in the 19th century. The cathedral is dedicated to Quimper's first bishop, Corentin.

         

Out and about in Quimper.

  

Traditional Dress – if the photo looks a bit iffy it is! It is a photo from the side of a van.

Another oldie photo from 1970’s. This was taken on Brunnenstraße in Berlin. The Berlin Wall is to the right. The guy with the hair is Stuart.