Bob and Rick's Believe It or Not!!

Yes, folks believe it or not, I am attempting to finish off the blog as part of my New Year's resolutions, and I am even getting a bit of a head start, as it is still just New Year's Eve!  Bob takes full responsibility for the lack of postings and hopes that Rick learns that nagging doesn't always speed things up!  :-)

So, back to our holidays.  When we last met, we had just finished our day at the White Cliffs of Dover and Dover Castle.  The next day took us, by train, to Portsmouth.  Rick has a fascination for all things naval, so this was his day to explore to his heart's content.  He had figured on a couple of hours of sea-faring sightseeing, and then a wander about town.  We ended up spending over 4 hours just in the historic harbour area, exploring mighty ships, seeing ancient relics and generally immersing ourselves in naval lore and history.  It was a wonderful way to spend the majority of the day, after which we did do a bit of a wander over to very old part of town that used to be quite notorious for its questionable services and clientele.  We had a lovely mid-afternoon rest break, did some more exploring, and then caugh our train back to Brighton feeling very content.

Wolfie, Alfie, and Teddy enjoying their train ride to Plymouth.  Having to pay for 5 tickets total is really outrageous!!

The HMS Warrior, England's first steel clad war ship from 1860.  Such was her power and might in that day that, even though she protected England's shores, no shot was ever fired from her. 

We saw many a ship's figurehead in the museums there, but seeing them on the actual ship really puts things in perspective.  He does look all warrior-like, we would say!

Lovely wood and brass work, but what we would like to know is...

...why exactly the princess was much pleased! 

Brass runners on the decks to allow the guns to be swung into action.

The step on the right might give you a sense of scale of the size of the chains used aboard the ship.

The kitchen is designed around this central stove.

Meal time aboard.

And once you finish your meal, it is off to bed, sleeping above the table at which you just ate!

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the ship and higher in the ranks, dinner time takes on a whole different "flavour!"

Then off to a quick relaxation in the lounge, where we are sure many cigars were smoked and drinks consumed.

There are a lot of ranks on these ships, so somewhere between the two extremes shown above were those who at least had a wee cabin.

HMS Victory!  Not a replica of the HMS Victory, but the actual battleship upon which Admiral Nelson met his fate.  Neither of us knew that it survived up until this day and that you could board it.  What an exciting find!!

The stern of the ship, with the Admiral's quarters.  While it may look crooked, it was made this way.  The craftsmanship that went into this construction - making windows that fit the angle of the stern, for example - was impressive, to say the least.  What a beautiful ship.

The bow of the Victory.

Quarters fit for an Admiral.

There is no truth to the rumour that Nelson actually slipped on this plaque on the floor and died from those injuries. 

The ship's kitchen, which is noticeably more "rustic" than the one aboard the Warrior. 

Sleeping quarters of a sort.  This is the hospital bay of the ship where, it would appear, if you succumbed, they just wrapped you us in your bunk and probably tossed you overboard.

Below deck - very low ceilinged.  This gives you an idea of the construction involved.

And now for something completely different - the Mary Rose!  While it may not look like much, this was an important find, as it is one of King Henry VIII's ships, discovered underwater several decades ago.  We learned that, if you should find a ship underwater, as one tends to do, you can't just bring it up and let it dry, as the wood cells are hollow and it would just collapse.  What they have done here is penetrated the wood with a substance that will keep it from collapsing, all the time keeping it wet.  The black tubes are now very slowly drying what is left of the ship.

One side of the Mary Rose was sunk into the sand sea bed, so was preserved as the other half of it disintigrated under the pressure of tidal movements.  While it is hardly "ship shape," it is fascinating to see a ship that is 470 years old that is  relatively well preserved.

Marking the harbour of Portsmouth is this tower, topped with viewing decks.  We couldn't pass up this opportunity.

The view is green, as the glass is quite thick and adds the tint.  The ship in the foreground is the HMS Warrior, seen earlier in this post.  Portsmouth has a huge harbour, which of course is why it is so famous.

At the viewing deck, there is a section of clear glass floor over which you may walk if you take off your shoes and don't have a fear of heights.  These are Bob's feet being featured in a photo taken by Bob.  What a brave little soldier!

And speaking of brave little soldiers, here is Rick near the edge of the viewing deck.  Considering how he feels about heights, this is a major event.

What better way to calm those nerves that a nice cider and a bag of crisps.  That is Bulmers Cider in the Peroni glass, just so you don't think we mix our drinks!

Rick enjoys he treats as he relaxes in the sunshine.

The point of land where this pub is located is at the entrance to the harbour, so it was a great place to watch the comings and goings of the day.

It also gave us a lovely view of the tower we had visited earlier, and some of the other harbour development.

A bit of a wander later took us to this view where there is a lovely contrast between the old and new architecture.

A ferry leaves the harbour, and what a rather large ferry it is!

Once again enjoying the scenery on the way back to Brighton.  We were happy, tired and a bit sunburned.

And Now...a Little Holiday Fun

Hooray!  We are back and settled in and, while we miss a lot about Edinburgh, it is nice to be in our own home.  The following posts will be about a few holidays we took toward the end of the school year - well, there is the Easter holiday that wasn't quite so near the end, but let's pretend it was, shall we?


The Easter Holiday - Day One

After ensconcing the hound in his kennel/spa, we enjoyed a short and uneventful flight - the best kind - down to London, where we picked up our rental car and headed to the south of England, a new and exciting landscape for us to explore.  We were given a very nice and very peppy Renault Clio to drive and quite enjoyed it.  Oddly enough, it had no CD player - just a radio and inputs for devices.  In my life now I have gone through cars having radios, 8-track players, cassette decks, CD players and now we are back to radios only.  Ah, the circle of musical life!

Our first stop was Brighton, which was our home for a few days, as it is quite central to some of the things we wanted to see.  It turns out that Brighton isn't necessarily a place one might want to see, as it is, how shall I say this, a tad run-down and tatty.  I hear that about most Victorian Era seaside resorts, so I guess it is just one of the many.  The beach, however, is lovely, if a bit stoney, and we did have a great time walking along looking at all the amusements, vendors and having a stroll on the famous pier.  It's once you get away from the main promenade that you begin to notice the wear and tear on the city.  Still, we found a great restaurant for supper, so all was right with our world.

Brighton train station.  Our hotel was just across the street, so would be a great place to stay if one was travelling by train.  We had to cut through the station to walk down to the beach.

The beach.  As you can see, it is made up of small stones that made walking on it very difficult.  Don't be misled by the people who seem overly clothed for a beach - the weather was lovely and warm.  Maybe being Easter time they all felt it a bit to early to start their sunburning!

A look the other way up the beach.  The boardwalk/arcade is just at the top of the beach, where you can buy candy and ice cream and floaty devices and art and craft and, well, just about anything you might like.  On the upper left is the corner of some horrible brutalist architectural nightmare that someone allowed to be built along the seafront.  Can you tell we don't like it?

The boardwalk/arcade area, which actually doesn't have any boards upon which to walk, now that we think about it.

Every beach should have a lovely old carousel.

The beach end of the pier, complete with ferris wheel to compliment the carousel, I guess. 

The seaward end of the pier where there is an amusement park.  It is hard to get a sense of the scale of this thing, but if you notice that it has two rollercoasters and other rides, you will get an idea.  The red, blue and white ride in the foreground is a Helter Skelter, where when you get to the bottom you go back to the top of the slide, where you stop and turn around and go for a ride, 'til you get to the bottom and...well, you get the picture.  Beatles rock!!

An iconic place!

At a pub on the pier.  Bob enjoys his favourite cider, Bulmers Pear, while soaking up the sunshine.  Rick was having what he thought was his favourite cider, but that was about to change in a few days!  Stay tuned.

On our way to find supper, we passed this rather lovely fountain.  See, not all of Brighton is tacky.

We were lucky to come across this lovely restaurant, where we had a great meal.  Bob had a halloumi burger.  Halloumi, if you don't know, is a very strange cheese that can be grilled without melting and squeeks against your teeth as you eat it.  It is very salty but oh so tasty!

Day 2 - The White Cliffs of Dover


And yet, no bluebirds.  Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn?  Pink Floyd rocks!  We did see some gulls and crows, but I guess they were less melodic.

It was a surprisingly long but scenic drive to Dover, where we got to see where the Chunnel begins (or ends).  Dover itself didn't strike us as much ado, so we carried on through to the cliffs.  We thought that we would be able to walk along the bottom of the cliffs and look up, but you really just walk along the top and look down, which isn't great for those of a fear of heights nature.  My, they are high - and white!  Sometimes things do live up to their name.  We had a great if somewhat hazy view of the ferry harbour, and it is easy to imagine just how impressive these cliffs would look upon first coming into sight.  There was a lot of walking involved along the cliff tops, but it was worth is as the view is stunning.

After managing not falling off the cliffs, we headed to Dover Castle, about which we knew little, only to discover that it is a very interesting castle indeed.  Despite its precarious position along the south coast during the war, it escaped unharmed and is in impressive shape, given its Norman age.  A pleasant afternoon was spent wandering about and chatting with the employees, one of whom told us that royalty used to carry all their belongings - beds, chests, almost all furnishings - with them from one castle to the next as they visited each.  Even all their money was carried from location to location (and we thought not being near an ATM was a bother!).  It must have been quite a spectacle, as it would require a huge entourage to move all that.  If the royal wasn't in residence, the castle was virtually deserted, other than someone to be a caretaker.  Did not know that!

Our first glimpse of the White Cliffs of Dover.

A horse, a harbour and a ferry to Calais (new from CS Lewis!).

Ok, perhaps we lied a bit.  If you are so inclined, and steeply inclined at that, you can hike down this switchback trail to the beach below and look up at the cliffs.  We didn't, as we are not totally stupid.

Someone (not saying who) was not happy with someone else (not saying who) being that close to the edge. 

For a sense of scale, notice the wee folk on top.  To be clear, they are not "wee folk" as in the Irish tales - they are normal sized folk who look wee.  And, to the best of our knowledge, no actual weeing was going on.  Next photo please!!

There are sections where the cliff face is beginning its break away from the land.

Not for the faint of heart or weak of knees.

First glimpse of Dover Castle.

And a much better glimpse of the castle, which really is an outstanding example of Norman era castle architecture - very angular and rigid looking.

A lovely old church within the castle grounds.  It, too, is very angular and rigid looking.  The more "organic" looking structure on the left is the dovecote.  Just how old is that church, you ask??

Well, actually, quite old.

Let's have a wee peek inside the castle, shall we?

Probably one of the best preserved castle keeps we have seen on our journeys.  Go on, guess its age!

You must admit, it looks pretty spiffy considering this date! 

A view of the kitchen, which is very large and probably housed a lot of employees in its running.  And to think, we were annoyed at not having a microwave when we first moved to Scotland.

The other half of the kitchen.  The butchering table was a tad disgusting.

However, those consuming the food had little worry about the kitchen staff.  On a winter's eve, a table in front of the fireplace would be welcome, until you combusted.

The bright colours of the banner are something we are quite used to seeing, but it was the almost gaudy appearance of the furniture, like the chair, that surprised us.  It turns out that wealth needed to be shown (surprise!) so, contrary to what we tend to see in sepia toned films, furniture was painted brightly because the colours used in the paints were rare and expensive.  Bling, you could say.

Who's got a lovely brightly coloured and expensive room, then???  Eh???

Dover from the rooftop of the castle.

Rick once again showing his total conquering of heights!

Bob showing his utter disinterest in heights.

That is about it for now.  There will be more coming soon.  Time for a Guinness!!