Our first full day in Ireland. When we arrived yesterday we heard from thecottage owners that there was to be a classic car rally today at nearby WellsHouse at which they would be exhibiting their own vintage vehicle. Since it was only a couple of miles down the road we decided to go. We got to the house quite early whilst the classic cars were still arrivingand had a look around. There were actually plenty of other attractionsincluding formal gardens
Category: Holidays
Isle of Wight 2022 Day 1
We had an uneventful crossing on the Wightlink ferry from Lymington to Yarmouth. It was so quick and easy that we really couldn’t understand why we hadn’t done so before. It was a relatively short drive to the cottage near Brighstone (but then everywhere is a short drive on the IoW) and we arrived soon after the check-in time. The cottage was clean and reasonably spacious but was one of these places with mean owners who can’t part with a
Lincolnshire 2022 Day 2
Today we drove over to Skegness to see their seal sanctuary. It is more of a mini zoo with a collection of other animals including penguins, reptiles, butterflies, goats and an aquarium. I will admit to a fondness for seals. Their rotund forms and tendency to laze about waiting for the next meal appeals to me! Overall it was worth the entrance fee and the lunch we had in their cafe was perfectly acceptable for such an establishment. It wasn’t
Lincolnshire 2022 Day 1
The first day of our short break in Baumber, Lincolnshire and we started with a trip to the local town of Horncastle. Sadly, many shops in Horncastle are closed on Mondays, but we managed to sample a number of charity shops. One had a nice selection of copies of Railway Modeller, mostly from the 1990s, so I bought a couple for 50p each. We then wandered into a junk shop in the old Coop building. The first room was as
Bigbury Day 6
Our last day in Bigbury-on-Sea. Due to “additional Covid cleaning measures” we were required to leave early on Saturday so instead we chose to pack up and leave after lunch today. With just the morning available and the weather remaining poor we chose to stay local and just go and have a look round Burgh Island. The tide was out so we didn’t need to use the sea tractor. The weather as we walked along the beach was grim with
Bigbury Day 5
We started the day with another windy walk along the beach, this time heading up-river. As usual, the rocks sea heavy seas had dug large depressions around the rocks. It was interesting to observe how much these differed from one day to the next. As we walked upstream there was more seaweed, presumably because the rocks are better protected from the heavy seas and this allowed some interesting rock pools to exist. We turned over a few rocks and found
Bigbury Day 4
A quieter day to rest in the middle of the holiday. In the morning Mum and I had a walk along the beach as far as Burgh Island. It was still wet and windy and on the way back the heavens opened and we got rather wet. In the afternoon and wearing dry clothes we took a short trip over to have a look at the village of Aveton Giffard. It was pleasant enough, but we didn’t venture too far
Bigbury Day 3 PM
Some background: Very many years ago someone bought me a copy of Paul Karau’s excellent “Great Western Branch Line Termini – Volume 2” (I never had volume 1). Reading this inspired me to the idea of one day modelling Princetown station in Devon. With retirement now not that many years away, I have started to embark on this project and am currently in the “historical research” stage. A key task for the holiday was to visit the site of Princetown
Bigbury Day 3 AM
I started the day with a bracing walk along the beach to Burgh Island and back. The cliffs are well worth a closer look with a wide variety of different rock formations and several small caves. After a short break we all set off for a walk over Folly Hill and down to the Avon on the far side. The views from the top across the mouth of the river were well worth the climb although the route down the
Bigbury Day 2
In the morning we drove over the Bantham on the opposite bank of the estuary. Parking was a whopping £6.50, but fortunately I noticed that parking restrictions 100m back up the main street ended on the 30th September! We walked around the headland and then up above the cliffs. It was still very windy, but the sun came out occasionally. In the afternoon we drove over to Kingsbridge. By the time we got there it was getting towards the end