England (and accidentally and momentarily Wales) for business and pleasure

Greyrocks started this phase with an act of characteristic meanness! We arrived at Calais port ludicrously early (having passed and viewed with compassionate amazement "The Jungle"). We were offered the next ferry at just 20 (pounds or euros?) and refused - opting instead for the one after that (still a change!) for nothing more. The down side was that the waiting area had very basic amenities: just a toilet block and a vending machine, but nice cleaners supplied a drink and then we fished out the folding chairs and wine box and the hours in the sun flew by!

Part 1 

The itinerary for the month began in Canterbury as Yvette had to have an immediate MOT to stay legal. The attempt to find the Travelodge just outside the city wall put Canterbury first on a list of "English places Greyrocks has no desire to drive in"! The hotel is not the group's best:- old, no lift, terrible parking, and then on top of that it poured with rain! Next morning Bob got lost taking the car to the garage, but got a lift back and we started routine shopping until the car could be collected and we could get out of Canterbury and drive just into Sussex to meet old friend Josiane for a late lunch and to visit the grave of her late husband (in a very soggy cemetery). We stayed two nights and were stranded by appalling rain, but did manage to take them out to a nice country pub for dinner before heading South. The next two/three days were dedicated to sorting a variety of issues for Ruth's Dad who is moving into residential care and needing to clear the house. (Bob also took a completely fruitless trip by bus to Portsmouth to try to organise a blood test. A few weeks later the news was that Portsmouth NHS Trust is officially a shambles.. not a surprise to us!)  Then it was back up to South London, where were given a bed for four nights with Neil and Maggie. Significant events there were Sunday lunch with them and other old Labour Party friends, sight tests, new laptops from PC World with a rude salesperson, and a day out "up town" with a five pound bus pass each. It was a bit cold and Ruth's other knee was playing up so we did a lot of bus travel on that Tuesday seeing the sights and much of South East London too!

Wednesday was the start of South West London with two nights in Balham so that we could meet our new (Lithuanian) tenants, get all of our clothes out of the loft and into the charity shop, have a visit to the solicitor in Putney, tour IKEA and as usual take our old neighbour and gardener out for a pint or two. This was all to be done whilst keeping our parking legal, Unfortunately the weather was not kind and so loading, sorting, pruning, and delivering the vast load of stuff was done in torrential rain! There were other disappointments too beyond the weather: no films worth seeing on a wet afternoon and the Wetherspoons pub being too full for us to go there for Curry Club!

Next it was off to East Anglia, with a stop for lunch near Ipswich with John and Carol who are also part-year Corralejo residents! Confusion over joining the A14 meant two unnecessary traverses of the Orwell, wasted diesel and a late arrival. Ipswich was added to the Greyrocks list mentioned above! A jolly few hours and improving weather!

In Suffolk we were staying in the house of a cousin who works off-shore and was away, We met up with other members of the family and went to see the resting place of Ray, who had died over the winter. This led to Tony - the genealogist - taking us to some churchyards with family history. By now the sun was truly shining and we saw some glorious countryside at its best.

Wheels, spirals and strange encounters in Yarmouth!

On the Sunday we felt drawn to Great Yarmouth! So did many, many others! We parked up and rode the bikes along the sea-front. We stopped at Britannia Pier to pay homage to "The Snails" - a ride much used when  Chloë was young! whilst we were dithering over safely taking a photo we heard a call of "Bob and Ruth!" and saw a leather-clad and beer-bearing individual racing towards us!

Chris and Jann are September Paleo people (see last year's September post)! They live twelve miles away and had come out for a trip on their magnificent Harley-Davidson trike. Needless to say Greyrocks spent several sunny hours with them, meting other owners, and seeing a posse of classic scooters also on a jolly! We had to - reluctantly -  turn down the offer of an evening barbecue as we were to head North next morning!

Monday to Friday was spent with Chris and Penny in York. They were freshly returned from a rail trip to Russia and Scandinavia, so many travellers' tales were shared along with good real ale, old films, nostalgia and short circuits by foot and cycle around the city. We also went together for a day in Leeds - primarily so Ruth could go to a branch of Bravissimo! It was a very wet day! We went by bus - sitting front top-deck like kids, but seeing very little through the rain. Sight-seeing was curtailed too, but Bob got to Lock 1 of the Leeds and  Liverpool Canal. Culturally we went to City Screen to see the new Le Carré film, and to the theatre on one pound tickets to see "King Lear". Greyrocks loves York!

Next stop was Coventry. Not an obvious choice, but in making a change to the plan we found that we could catch Fairport Convention there on the Sunday!  They were playing at The Albany Theatre, about which we initially knew nothing except that it is close to a Premier Inn, so we booked two nights there! (En route we stopped in a suburb and balanced a sunny pub garden drink with getting our washing done!) On arrival we discovered that the two are in the same beautiful old building, which was once the technical college. It was not too far to walk into the shopping and historic parts and it didn't rain, so we got to see some sights. Fairport was exceptional and the audience very old. "Meet on the Ledge" had extra poignancy as we all knew former-member Swarb was close to death (and did in fact go to the ledge within ten days). At the other end of the spectrum Greyrocks was much amused by this Steeleye Span pastiche! Next day before leaving Coventry we looked for the place where Bob had lodged in 1965! We found it but not before hairy moments on the ring road and confusion with one-way residential streets! "The List" grew:

Canterbury, Ipswich, Coventry .. and still ten days to go!

Part 2

.. but this was only the start! We were doing well (and avoiding the M6 toll) until we came to the outskirts of Lichfield. It was Bank Holiday Monday and there was a significant (and still unidentified) event on in the (small) city causing complete traffic meltdown. Attempts to avoid it resulted in another Greyrocks navigation crisis and late arrival at our destination  and lunch appointment.
John and Tracey (Goa and Fuerte) had come from Derbyshire to meet us at our next port of call. This was a country inn almost beside the Trent and Mersey Canal and not far from Rugeley and the Armitage-Shanks factory (as in W Cs!) The accommodation and food we had for three nights was excellent. All very relaxing and time to ourselves. After the lunch we four walked down to the smaller pub which was right beside the canal and gongoozled! The sun shone, but it was not warm!

The choice of location for a three-night stay was to give an opportunity for some canal-side cycling; but we had not done enough research! Whilst UK canals will always have a towpath there is no guarantee that it will be properly prepared for cyclists.We set off eastwards and it was all there:- moored and mobile boats, wildlife, pretty roads and bridges! But it was cold and the path was just a rough gully in which Ruth felt unsafe, so she ended up wheeling the bike and retracing steps back to base. Bob continued to Alrewas and beyond. It was re-think time - made yet more necessary when the rain came, so it was drives out to notable canal-side spots- all delightful, from Burton-on-Trent to Stone. The latter is a charming little town where we wandered the streets as well as visiting the famous Star pub.

Burton was rather different! It is - of course - famous as the home of British brewing, and Ruth remembers mooring there in the seventies, but all we found was poor signage, unhelpful traffic systems and grim industrial estates. We put the place on "the list" and left, needing to use the A38 which is also most unpleasant and has peculiar interchanges! We went to see the waterfowl in soggy conditions. Ah the delights of a British May!

But even though the rain was never far away we found Fradley Junction and a great place for real ale and gongoozling. This, with Great Haywood and its farm shop/ cafe was worth the trip.

We left Handsacre on a gloomy day having checked traffic conditions, for what seemed a simple M5 journey down to Bristol. There was big trouble between two junctions, but we thought we could see a short diversion. and that is how we ended up in Wales crossing and re-crossing the Wye in order to reach the Severn Bridge. (For which we were expecting to pay a toll, but they let you out of Wales for free). The day was further complicated by an incident near Leominster. Suddenly Yvette tells us she has "Engine Failure". There was no obvious problem but we had to make contingency plans for Fiat garages in every town we passed through. The problem was rectified next day by a great dealer in Bristol; but the the whole journey goes down in Greyrocks annals as wasted hours and nervous energy,

We stayed once again at the Premier Inn at Cribbs Causeway, which is sensible if not exciting, meeting Chloë and Jack for dinner at Cafe Rouge. Next day we dealt with the car, shopped in the city centre and then went to Easton for dinner chez les amoureux.  Ruth's birthday was a series of treats, starting with brunch at the Easton Thali to which we invited her niece and family, then a train trip with Chloë and Jack to Cotham and a walk for a view of the Suspension Bridge and a drink on the terrace of the bar of the Avon Gorge Hotel. In the evening we met again with Jack's parents for a very posh meal at the Hotel du Vin. 

The penultimate leg in this mammoth trip was back to Hampshire to spend a  a bit more time helping Ruth's Dad prepare for his move. Tt was a textbook drive on a sunny Sunday with a family meal and we then spent a couple of busy days before the ferry back to Calais.

(Summary: 30 days, 60 per cent wet, about 1600 miles!)