Damp August 2008

Well there has not been too much to report of late. We have been pottering which means we have doing things around the house. I have been painting parts of the downstairs so that it is fresh for the arrival of new carpets in late September. Sue has been taking up the new curtains which were good value 80% off!
I've lead some rambles and we having done a few geocaches, some good some iffy and some no finds!
We are off in the caravan tomorrow for about 3 weeks.

During our preparations outside we have been kept company by the young blackbird. She eats the berries off the shrimp plant outside and gets sozzled, so she doesn't manage to fly away.

Also all we had our France Photo Competition 2008.
All the photos can be seen HERE
The last photo shows the winners in the categories.

Bygone Days, Ibsley Weekend

Bygone Days at Ibsley put on some super shows especially the flying from the aero modellers. One chap, who was said to be a champion flyer, could do just about anything with his fixed wing model. It was quite spectacular. Here are some of the models.

Maggie, Andy and Tara came to stay for the weekend so they accompanied us to the show. There was a dog show, but Tara wasn't bothered about entering.


Some joker with a new Beagle space machine. It looks a little heavy to me.


On the way home, at Moyles Court ford, we encountered these ladies wandering home. Luckily they were friendly.


Recently it was Maggie and Andy's 30th wedding anniversary so we had a little celebration.


On Sunday morning we went to Stanpit Marsh, Mudeford for a walk. It looked like every other dog walker in the area was there. Unfortunately we could not do a circular walk because of water across the path.



After the weekend I was pleased to see that one of my photos had made it into the top 50 photos out 7413 photos entered the week before on the Geograph site. The photo in question is below. I wish I could say that I had come first (no prizes), but I didn't come close.

Fritham - New Forest

I subscribe to the magazine Webuser and it must have saved me a fortune in costs over the years. Those people who know me well know that I rarely spend money on software. There is lots of free software on the net which is excellent. Why am I burbling about software? For the first time ever I am writing the Blog offline using Windows Live Writer (free of course). This software was mentioned in Webuser so I have to practice with it. Apparently I can insert photos, video, tables, hyperlinks etc. all offline. So here goes.

I am leading a ramble starting at Fritham, in the middle of the New Forest, and I needed to walk it beforehand. I persuaded Sue, with the promise of a lunch at the Royal Oak, to come.

 

Sue and Bailey (next door's dog) standing by the old post box for the Schultze Gunpowder Factory, which operated for about fifty years in Fritham. The factory was based at Eyeworth Lodge, just down the hill.

Although gunpowder for sporting guns had been made at Eyeworth from 1859. It wasn't until Edward Schultze, an artillery captain in the Prussian Army, took over the factory in 1869 and made the first successful smokeless powder that large scale production commenced. At its height the complex comprised some 60 to 70 buildings and employed around a hundred people.

The most substantial relic of the factory is Eyeworth Pond, created in 1871 to provide water for the works.

Bailey by the pond.

The walk we did was about 5 miles and the pub lunch was half way round. It was excellent.

July 2008

Since our visit to France we have been catching up with (old) friends. We invited Brian and Julia over for Sunday lunch, but in his email Brian warned me that Nog and Karen lived 'dangerously close'. I wouldn't say Portsmouth was that close, but close enough to join us on the Sunday.


The last time we saw Nog and Karen was 9 years ago at JHQ. They haven't changed a bit.


Nog in full flow. He's not asleep - honest!


We were invited to Sue Jones's 60th. Here she is at Eastney Cruising Association for lunch.


Here we are at ECA. The meal was great and the 'dinner' ladies always provide an excellent lunch.


I managed to get out into the forest on my bike early one morning. This pool at King's Garden (no King's or garden here) always has water in it even during the driest periods so it remains a good watering hole for the animals. This time the pony was enjoying the water lilies.

The Red Arrows - this was a surprise. We had gone to Mudeford Lifeboat Funday and the Red Arrows who were off to Swanage, for an air display, were persuaded to overfly Mudeford in the afternoon.


This is a shingle bank about 50 metres offshore. For the Funday some joker had put a For Sale sign on it. The white bit underneath the sign says 'Seaview'.



The 'Mudeford Servant'.

The Atlantic 85 is a rigid inflatable lifeboat, introduced in the latter half of 2005 as the latest development of the B class. It has a manually operated self-righting mechanism and is capable of being beached in an emergency without sustaining damage to engines or steering gear. The Atlantic 85 is fitted with radar and VHF direction finding equipment and can be operated safely in daylight in a force 6/7 and at night in a force 5/6.

France - a dodgy start

What a start to the French trip. We arrive at Portsmouth to be told that the French fishermen are blockading Cherbourg (where we are going), do you want to go to St. Malo? We didn't have a choice so instead of a 5 hour crossing it was 9 hours and put us 100 miles and 2 days ahead of schedule.
Here we are leaving Portsmouth, on a Condor Ferry, in the gloom.

The first main campsite we stayed at was Les Brunelles, Longville-sur-Mer. It had all mod cons many of them new and a super swimming pool complex.

This is the reception area.


The pool complex.


The beaches in this area go on for miles so they are never crowded.


This is the harbour of Jard-sur-Mer a small seaside town close to the campsite.

France - megaliths and more

Just inland from the campsite were various megaliths (standing stones). Most of them are upright stones, but this is a fancy one with a balancing rock. We than went to Avrillé and had little wander around the town with the aid of a map from the tourist office.

In the centre of town is the covered market which has a superb vaulted roof.

This is the King of Standing Stones (7.02 metres high) in the park behind the Marie (Town Hall). Yes, that is me holding it up!

Not far from the campsite were beaches that stretched for miles. We had just walked from the site along the beach and decided that we deserved a little refreshment.

We spent some time people watching and wondered if they were pushing this guy off on a transatlantic voyage.

La Rochelle

The port of La Rochelle has been standing here since the XIIIth century.
It was very likely fortified from the beginning. The towers date back to the XIVth and XVth centuries. They outlived the destruction of the ramparts after the Siege of 1628. The St Nicolas Tower, the tallest, and opposite the Chain Tower (on the left) both a lighthouse and a defence tower which used to be linked to the latter by a defensive wall.

La Rochelle possesses a commercial harbour in deep water named La Pallice. The large submarine bunker built during World War II still stands there, although it is not being used. La Pallice is equipped with oil unloading equipment and mainly handles tropical wood. It is also the location of the fishing fleet, which was moved from the old harbour at the center of the city during the 1980s.
La Rochelle also maintains strong links with the sea by harbouring the largest marina for pleasure boats in Europe at Les Minimes and a rather rich boat-building industry. This where we started our ferry trip from.

One of the arcade shops.

The arch covered streets are the real charm of La Rochelle. Shopkeepers used to display their merchandise under these porches giving shelter from the sun and rain. However, they had to pay a licence to the town for that purpose.

We parked the car a 15 minute ferry boat ride away from the centre. The return journey was quite eventful. The wind and swell had risen so the small boat bobbed around like a cork in the washing machine so it was as good as a ride at Disneyland.

Close to the campsite were these fishing piers. A square net is lowered into the water and after a while it is raised, hopefully, full of fish.

La Palmyre

The church at Les Mathes close to the campsite.

Geocaching close to the Phare de la Coubre. David found the cunningly hidden cache.

Apéritifs on the campsite.

A cycle ride to somewhere quiet.

This is Palmyre harbour. There is a café overlooking the harbour which we can highly recommend.

Palmyre has plenty of cycle tracks and pedestrian ways. It is well geared up for the tourist.

We had some very iffy weather whilst at Palmyre. On one occasion we had a tremendous thunderstorm. Luckily we were on sand so there was no problem with flooding. A wet evening in the caravan.

Spot the mock crocs that have shrunk! They are mine off course. I left them in the awning one afternoon when it was very hot and the uppers shrank. What do you expect for £2.99. Of course I'll be taking them back on our return to Ringwood.

The ones 2nd from the right are mine!

Ste Hermine and Angers

Here I am with Sheila and Geoff. Sheila and I used to be in the same class at De Burgh Secondary School, Tadworth, Surrey. They have settled in France, close to the medieval village of Vouvant. We had a lovely lunch at their house and a very long chat.

On our arrival back at the campsite that day the Campbells and Bristows had arrived. A cool afternoon and a wet evening.

Carol and David had to depart, but left us with something to do. One was eat the geriatric jelly babies called Jellyatrics (get it!) and to race the 'Racing Grannies'. Well you can see that Sybil enjoyed it. Isn't there a law against ageism?

We had a group outing to Fontenay-le-Comte. Unfortunately it rained and the round the town walk was curtailed. It must be a nice place on a sunny day.

Sue and I have moved on to Angers now where there are plenty of cycling paths. We cycled beside the River Maine to do a geocache. The Maine itself is wide but a little further along it joins the Loire.

Sue at the bottom of the steps to Saint Sauveur, Angers.

La Maison d'Adam can be found in the centre of Angers. It is 16th Century.

At rest on our way into Angers.

Here is the massive Castle of Angers (early 13th century), with its moat and soaring towers. We didn't go in this time.

There was a geocache close to the entrance of castle. It took a while to find. It was a 35mm film container tied to the ivy using gardening wire.