The Last Post

Left Heathrow 8pm after managing to get ourselves to the right terminal via train and bus from Sth West England. Now on final stopover in HongKong for a few hours. The weather in England far exceeded our expectations and we finished with one last bike ride in the morning to Winchester and back on A272 ..a road we were told about by the local Ducati dealer. No bags on board, just minimal gear and sunny, sunny morning. Some of the names of these villages...Ramping Down, Badgers Copse and Poor Jacks Wood make you laugh and no matter how tiny, there is always a red phone box...I wondered how many murders there had been in each of them that Insp Barnaby had solved. A great way to finish the adventure and prepare for the dreaded long flight home after 6300kms of fantastic memories.

Au revoir and see you all soon, x R&R

English Tea

I have been told "no more gardens" after this was the last straw...Ron not impressed with my choice for afternoon tea...it was pretty funny..

This was called the Secret Garden....I think Ron would be more than happy if it remained a secret

Brockenhurst Revisited

After the Cranleigh experience we were on a roll, beautiful sunny Sunday, zooming along through tunnels of oak and walnut trees, everything just so lush and green. These country lanes or A roads are really lovely. Traffic really heavy going the other way though as the end of half term break and everyone heading home Sunday night.

We arrived at the hotel we were looking for and it being quite a lot above our budget asked if they had a special rate for Sunday nights. They did! which was awesome as this particular hotel is now a Spa Hotel but 100 years ago, was where my grandfather George Gower was one of the doctors stationed in the hotel after it was commandeered for the 1st NZ General field hospital during WW1. They basically shipped the whole lot from NZ...medical staff, nurses, theatres and supplies. The building shape is pretty much as it was with interior upgrades....now somewhat more luxurious than when he was there i suspect.
After cheekily getting a great price for the room, I explained why we wanted to stay there and next thing we know we are given an upgrade to the best suite...(thanks for that Grandpa ;)
They gave us a brochure on the history of the hotel which had stories of the locals pushing hospital beds straight up to the hospital from the railway station...about 1km. By the end of the war they had treated 21,000 wounded there. The brochure also said that some guests had reported seeing a ghost at various times..wearing white and complete with stethoscope! it was a special time there...NZ did some great things during those dreadful wars.

The links to home did not stop there though. we went into Brokenhurst village for a look around and sit (and maybe a drink) in the pub that was there 100 yrs ago. the barmaid picked the accent and said "where in NZ are you from, I come from a small town called Te Awamutu"....Nearly dropped my Pims! it was getting more than spooky by then...given TeAwamutu is my hometown and, as it turned out, I went to school with her father and aunt!

Cranleigh

Stayed the night in Tunbridge Wells in the middle of Kent, watched a large group heading off to a wedding from the hotel all glammed up, hard case English accents, they don't seem to have any use for some  letters ..'nice otel dis int it?'
We suspect the only reason most of them turned up for breakfast next morning was because it was included in the price...very subdued and hungover but stoically wearing shorts and t shirts cos its summer int it...

Anyway...some more recent family history...decided to drive through Cranleigh and see where Ben had spent a 3 month rugby scholarship / exchange when he was 16yrs. We knew at the time it was a fab opportunity to spend 3 mths in an English boarding school but didn't quite appreciate the scale and facilities of it all. 100 acres of manicured grounds, golf course, stables, hockey turf, squash courts, all the sports pitches and courts you could think of, all amongst very grand old trees and buildings. very beautiful place. Had a coffee in the village at a pub that I am sure Ben would not have gone into as was too young??
Unfortunately it is mid term break (or fortunately for Ben) so there was no-one about at all...we were keen to see the NZ Schools rugby jersey on the wall somewhere that he wore to play against England Schools at Twickenham the following year. Cranleigh School had asked for it along with the team photo and apparently have it framed up on display.

Even though no-one anywhere, we parked under a sign that said 'students and parents cars only'...haha...well he was there for 3 months! Just think, in 100 years time one of our descendents (of which there are currently none!) might be touring around Europe and will visit Cranleigh school and say we had a relative there.

Sissinghurst garden...but wait theres more..

The white cliffs of Dover

Bit sad to leave the continent after such a great time and so much freedom. The ferry trip from Calais to Dover is only 1 1/2 hrs so before we knew it we were tieing up beneath the cliffs.

Arrived about 7.30pm, found a guest house (really cheap) all rooms full and off street parking so bit lucky there. unloaded gear and went in search of a pub for a snack. Found the White Horse Inn which had been operating as a pub since 1329...hmmm..bit hard to comprehend that. Had our meal of sausages, mash and peas. 

So Kent is all about gardens...as Ron was to find out. Sissinghurst garden has been a favourite for so long, it was very cool to finally actually go there. Arrived as it opened at 10.30am after about 50km ride through country lanes on the LEFT hand side of unmarked roads.Ron did well!

no English country garden is complete without a fete going on in the field

Parlez-vous francais....Au revoir la France

The last two days of this fabulous time in France has been spent around the coast of Dunkerque and Calais. It rained a lot overnight so everything pretty wet and misty during the day. A highlight was standing at a hotel desk and being asked to translate for a bunch of 7 blokes from England who had just arrived on their Lambretta scooters not getting very far with the room requests and the hotel clerk looking desperate. It was great fun organising them into rooms and realising I actually could speak way more French than when we arrived 4 weeks ago. Their scooters were pretty cool..they looked like little ducklings next to the Ducati though.

Stayed a night in Dunkerque and went through the museum which is built under the sand dunes of the beach that was Operation Dynamo. Watched a film on the miraculous evacuation of 328,000 allied troops back to Britain (ww2) over a few days using anything that could float across the channel from frigates to private trailer sailers...nothing short of a miracle that they all got away due to the foe being held back along a strategic 10 mile corridor to allow the numbers to get through to the beach. Some rusting sunken ships still visible at low tide. The English commander went back for the French troops stranded in Dunkerque two days later and successfully got 130,000 of them away before France became fully occupied.

Time to leave France and return to England so off to Calais for the ferry...

The Somme

After Paris and then a rainy day spent in Chantilly (horse racing) town we moved on to the wide open fields of northern France. Checked up on a Great-uncle CDGilroy Fowler killed in action on the Somme in 1918 aged 26. He is buried in a military cemetery in a spectacularly peaceful field in Bertrancourt, there is nothing around for miles, just fields but they have planted a small stand of trees along 2 sides of the cemetery so you can only hear birds and see sky amd green fields. Talk about RIP. There is a little brass cupboard containing a register and all the information available about the battle etc. 25 other NZers there of 386. There are over 1000 of these sites in the Somme, every one of them immaculately kept. we left a message in the visitors book 95 yrs on.

We left the Somme to go north, northeastwards along a road which is built to follow the 1916 frontline. Memorials all the way, sobering but very worthwhile. it is all so well looked after and respected by the French.

Random pics of the trip

Gardening in ancient village

Some great ways to get around

you can get 

Hot chocolate or baguettes from vending machines

French life

Stayed a couple of nights with family.....and various others that drift in from Aus and NZ. gorgeous French home north of Paris. We had fab meals on the terrasse, Ron loved helping the builder screw down the new decking around the pool...got a power tool back in his hand...while the girls caught up on a lifetime ago. It was so good to be in a home and speak English non stop, lots of fun. The pics are of their tiny village (156 people) and the big chateau is the golf club..the fields around (17500 hectares) all belong to one family for last 300 yrs. they continue the tradition of a party for everyone in the village every season's change...magical.

Family photo