South England

Hi all, quite chuffed to see we had over 300 page views, either someone is reading it alot or there's a few of you out there! We've bought bikes... Now we can explore all those little villages and lanes that are too scary to contemplate in the campervan - as it is we often have to stop to let a car through one-way places - and they often stop for us. We've found the drivers extremely courteous here - much better than at home, even in heavy murging traffic everyone seems to give way, would be hopeless otherwise I suppose.

The lighthouse at the castle predates the castle by about 1000 years, built in about 100AD!! Don't know how this worked in those days as a lighthouse but still amazing to still be standing.

The castle itself is a maze of spiral staicases - bit scary for me but at least they have hand rails now - not in the days it was built I'm sure. In the photo I've let go of the hand rail - trying to show my bravery! There are 4 storeys, at the bottom are the kitchens, on 2nd floor the spare bedrooms and banquet hall, 3rd floor main bedrooms and then the roof - I stood up there but not to close to edges - Gus got right to the walls and played at being an archer. Funny story, when I was in banqueting hall (by myself) I was imagining all the feasts I'd read about, then walked into next room where there was a bedroom set up - suddenly one of the displays moved and starting talking - I jumped 3 feet - she was only a guide - I think I've read too many books!! After the castle we went down into the tunnels used in WWII (also used in WWI and as Napoleanic was barracks). In WWII it was where Churchill and his generals planned the evacuation of Dunkirk - very good displays. 60% of Dover was destroyed by bombs in WWII, the most heavily hit town in England. The guy taking tour hasn't moved on and was criticising the French people in general, and even giving some Americans that were with us a hard time for not being involved at this stage of the war - they were about 30 years old so not much to do with them!!

Drove on via Hastings which is a really busy city right on the waterfront - too busy a city to be bothered stopping there - quite different to our own Hastings... Stayed at a camping ground near Slindon, in South Downs National Park. The lady at the camping ground was very grumpy because we arrived at the ungodly hour of 5.30pm - she'd already turned off her computer and tilled up and was now trying to cook her supper... All the literature says you can come in until 8pm. Anyway her husband was of a much friendlier disposition and asked if it was ok if we paid in the morning and showed us to a site. We hope this isn't you in 20 years time, Fiona! In the morning she was in a much better mood and even pointed out that the following weekend is a bank holiday so will pay too book in somewhere - good advice! In the morning we got first rain but decided to go for a bike ride anyway. Pretty little village and farming area (inside the National Park). Narrow lanes and rock wall, even had a wander round a church yard - old graves next to new ones...

Drove on to Salisbury and Stonehenge. Incredible the way it just appears in a paddock, doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for it being there. Weather was appalling by now but we donned wet weather gear (and I put on Karen's knitted scarf, gloves and socks) and we had a good look around. The blokes amongst you would be particularly interested to see how it all holds together - there is a knob left on top of each rock to help hold the lintel block in place, quite incredible engineering. How they got them there and lifted them etc is still a mystery but must have required alot of skill and knowledge especially considering how long it's been there.

Went into town to go to Salisbury Cathedral (on which the book Sarum is based) but it closed being Sunday morning - Gus not keen enough to go to the service! Anyway had a good look around - walked through the cloisters which are covered passages next to the cathedral - inside the square the building forms - quite beautiful in their own right.

Drove through Dartmoor to Tavistock (where we are now staying), constantly amused by the familiar names and how different the places are to their namesakes in NZ. Dartmoor National Park also includes villages and farms but we managed to find a real back road right through the middle and up into the moors - country very bleak, a bit like the Tongariro area - no steep hills though. Expect Heathcliff to come striding across at any time - definitely too many books!! Some of the sheep are a little different to ours, they seem to have writing on them rather than earmarks, and the Dartmoor bridge looked a bit washed out. But even in this area it's not far between villages and more importantly, pubs... Weather appalling so hope it stops raining soon - Gus bravely went for an hour's run this morning but too wild for me.