The Buchans 2006

New Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 16:21:00 GMT

As we move into 2007 the blog will also move to

http://thebuchans2007.blogspot.com/

Sue and I hope that you have enjoyed this years read.

Christmas 2006

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 20:00:00 GMT

Christmas morning with Sue opening her presents helped by Tara.

I took Maggie, Andy and Tara on a walk before Christmas dinner. This was to check a walk I am leading later in the year. We were also using my new mapping software (an early Christmas present) to help us get around. I did go wrong once because I wasn't looking at the GPSr.

Sue had remained behind to produce this sumptuous feast after our extra long walk of 6 miles.

On Boxing Day we went down to Avon beach for a walk followed by lunch at Jane and Ron's. This is an annual event which we greatly look forward to.

Jane - the chef!

Oooh, that's a nice one!

Christmas Begins

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 17:14:00 GMT

Jane, Ron and Margaret (Jane's Mum) joined us for a pre Christmas meal. When it came to the chocolates after the meal, the chocolate box was empty. There was only one suspect her name beginning with 'S' and ending with 'e'. Not even one choc was shared with yours truly. Anyway she says that she is on a diet, some diet, I'm joining her.

We had a walk in Moors Valley park and went to see Mike Read's photos of wildlife which were excellent. Whilst there we also had to have some refreshment.

Remember the DIET - hot chocolate with lashings of cream, chocolate flake and mini marshmellows!!!!

Christmas Newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 10:34:00 GMT

To read these letters click on the actual page that you want to read. The page should increase in size, also look for the increase/decrease symbol in the bottom right hand corner and click this to increase/decrease size. If that doesn't work; you've got a problem.

Wild Weather

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Fri, 8 Dec 2006 11:11:00 GMT

In between the wild weather we have had some very nice days and this was one of them. Here you can see me at Avon Beach just east of Christchurch.

Using the new camera I took this shot into the sun, an interesting photo. If you think you can see a UFO in the top right hand corner it is actually the kite which is attached to a kite surfer.

I know we have had some tornadoes recently, but this is the result of deforestation by the Forestry Commission. They are getting rid of the fir trees from the forest because they are not indigenous to it. At the same time they are trying to recreate the bogs and mires of old. I think the money would be better spent on more cycle tracks and bridges over some of the streams.

Most of the fords have been flowing with lots of water recently and this seems to be the best and safest way of crossing some of them.

The Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 17:32:00 GMT

Wet, wet, wet is the weather at the moment. At the beginning of the ramble on Saturday it was raining and we had a clap of thunder overhead, this prompted two ramblers to depart before the ramble.
Fortunately it didn't rain too much during the ramble, but we still got wet. Normally the numbers are around 20, but we were down to six hardy walkers on Saturday. Here we are at one of the footbridges.

Sunday morning loomed with sunshine and black skies - this is a photo out of the back of our house.

Dot and Phil Snell came for Sunday lunch. They arrived after a nightmare journey through all the bad weather we have been having. We had a great day catching up on all the news.

New Camera

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 16:19:00 GMT

I've been promising myself a small camera that is easy to carry in my pocket or in my cycle bag. I bought a Canon Powershot A530 from Amazon.com. I ordered it on Monday and it arrived Wednesday, not bad for free delivery. You might have guessed you are going to get some photos to see. I have to say I am very pleased with the quality of the photos. If the composition is iffy blame me.

Linford Bottom, New Forest

Bailey - the Vizsla from next door

Longslade Bottom - I had just been rambling in this area of the New Forest

Jane and Ron kindly invited Sue and I to the Chewton Glen. In the morning I played tennis with Ron while the ladies did a little shopping at Castlepoint. We had a very pleasant lunch overlooking the gardens followed by swims and soaks in the spa. It's all very luxurious.

Stuart and Ron

Jane and Sue

Well I hope you think the photos are as good as I do (ignore the composition).

Oxford Caravanning

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Wed, 8 Nov 2006 13:32:00 GMT

Half term is over so we are off with the caravan to the Camping and Caravan Club site on the outskirts of Oxford. It describes the site as a little noisy from the nearby road, but they didn't mention the mainline railway. Here is a shot of the night sky coming in over the campsite.

The site is within walking distance of Oxford city centre. Our first afternoon was spent walking into the centre along the Thames. It was Sunday and so there were lots of eights doing there stuff. It looked like a lot of freshers trying their best, but the eights usually went their own way.

Oxford is full of geocaches so we were out and about doing them. We were sorting out the clues in one of the parks when this cygnet wandered up. It was obviously used to people and just hung around in case we had some bread. We hadn't.
The geocache we were looking for was attached with a magnet to the underside of a park bench. Being a very nice day the bench was occupied so we decided to have chat with young lady who appeared interested in this unusual hobby. We signed the log and returned the cache and left the lady in peace.

This is our new lightweight awning. The main awning weighs a 'ton' and takes ages to put up. We had seen these on our visit to France and I thought this would solve a lot of problems. Anyway we managed to put it up in an hour and Sue and I were still speaking at the end. Anyway it's great so it should see plenty of use next year.

We had a walk around Trinity College one afternoon. £1 entry, 50p for the over 60's (Stuart) it does have its advantages being old. There was a Japanese student playing the piano in the chapel and he was superb, we wish we could have stayed. The dining hall was all laid out for the evening meal - about 5 courses - they do things in style!

This is the frontage to Christ Church. There was a queue so we didn't go in, but it's quite impressive from the outside. I believe some of Harry Potter was filmed here.

This is Christ Church from across the meadows.

Walk in the New Forest

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 20:33:00 +0100

Despite the terrible weather forecast there was blue sky and sunshine here on Friday morning. Sue and I went out to check half the ramble I am leading next week.
Here are some photos I took near to Smugglers Road car park.

France - September 2006

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Sun, 8 Oct 2006 09:19:00 +0100

On the 1st September Sue and I set off for France with the caravan. This was the first time we had used Brittany Ferries - Poole to Cherbourg - we enjoyed our trip and would recommend them. Our first caravan site was only 5 miles from Cherbourg so our first days travelling totalled about 20 miles.
Below is a photo of Barfleur a picturesque fishing port close to Cherbourg. I'm sure it would look better on a sunny day.

This year we wanted to continue our tour of the D-Day beaches. Here I am at Utah Beach where the Americans came ashore.
We went around the museum and I was very impressed with the diaoramas which showed the assault on the beaches. I hadn't realised that many of the American parachutists drowned, as they landed, in the marshes which the Germans had flooded.

Here is Sue at the entrance to the museum in Ste-Mere-Eglise. The parachutist hanging from the spire can just be seen.

The parachutist on D-Day was stuck on the spire for 2 hours and played dead because there was a German sniper using the spire as a vantage point.

Dinan and The Rance

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Sun, 8 Oct 2006 08:21:00 +0100

Our third caravan site was close to Dinan, not to be confused with Dinard. It was here that we met up with David and Carol Wordsworth. Our first outing was to Dinan. A very old town with ramparts that tower above the River Rance.

As you all know the Rance Estuary has one of the largest tidal ranges in the world. The French have built a barrage to harness the power of the tides to produce electricity. Here are the locks that allow access to the sea for small boats. The second photo is of the turbine hall within the barrage.

Plancoet and Carnac

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Sun, 8 Oct 2006 07:06:00 +0100

Carol and Sue can be seen here in the local park at Plancoet. It was a pretty village, but there was not and awful lot there.

Peacock Butterfly (Inachis io)

The small town of Carnac in southern Brittany is world-famous for the long rows of standing stones stretching over a mile or so in a north-easterly direction to the north of the town.

St. Nazaire - WWII submarine pens

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Sun, 8 Oct 2006 06:44:00 +0100

In the New Forest there is a building called the submarine pens. It is here during 1942 a concrete structure was built so that the Tallboy Bomb, 10,000lbs, could be tested to see what effect it had on a strong structure. After the test a couple of corners had been knocked off and the structure still stands today as do the pens in St. Nazaire.

A photo of the pens with 2 U-boats

The pens today

These pens took 2 years to build. The walls are 3.5 metres thick, the roof slabs are 4 metres thick. The whole structure is 301 metres long, 130 metres wide and 18 metres high. 480,000 cubic metres of concrete was used. That's got to be quite a few tons.

The roof - this was built in such a way that if a bomb hit the destructive power would be dispersed.

Fortified lock seen from the top of the submarine pens.

There are 14 pens in all.

Stuart's Birthday Bash

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Sun, 8 Oct 2006 04:33:00 +0100

Most people arrived at St Hilaire-de-Riez on the same day as us. Trish and Colin arrived a couple of days later. They had been stalking us across France, but never managed to catch up.

Carol kindly cooked bacon buttees for everyone on the 26th.

Colin with his bacon buttee breakfast.

Everyone gathering for bubbly and cake in the afternoon. The caravan was decorated while Sue and I were out buying the cake in the morning.

Cutting the cake - it was rather hot so it had to be eaten quickly. The apple tart lasted a bit longer, but not much. The bubbly was courtesy of Maggie and Andy who were still in UK, thanks to them.

In the evening we had a meal out at the campsite restaurant.

Sybil and Stuart

Sue and Glyn

Holiday Ending

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Sat, 7 Oct 2006 11:55:00 +0100

Trompe L'Oeil - this we found in the back streets of les Sables-d'Olonne. It covered the whole side of the house and went around the corner!

An explanation - Trompe L'Oeil...the name given to the style of painting
which achieves the sense of being three dimensional. In other words the
painted object is suppose to "trick" the viewer into believing the object
is actually real. From the french word Trompe L'Oeil,
pronounced "trum ploy" its meaning translates "to deceive the eye",
literally "to trick the eye" or "to fool the eye".

On our return to Cherbourg we stayed at Haliotis where we had stayed the year before. We had another visit to Mont-Saint-Michel, but didn't go in.

A view of Cherbourg from the Barfleur. Our car and caravan can be seen in the bottom left hand corner.

The raiding party didn't materialise.

Throughout the holiday there was a photo competition going on. The competition winners will be announced in November along with all the photos.

Summer Ends?

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 13:08:00 +0100

The weather here in Ringwood, recently, hasn't been bad, but then it should have been better. All the painting is done, the garden is tidy and the caravan is clean and raring to go.
We are off to France to meet up with friends on various campsites. Hopefully, the weather is better there and that the wine is good. This note is really to say that the blog will be on hold for a while, unless I can find a computer that is easy to use. Remember French computers have different keyboards and can be very frustrating to use.
There will be a photo competition for everyone to look forward to on our return.
Au Revoir

Classic Cars on the Prom

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 20:21:00 +0100

On Sundays there is a classic car show on Bournemouth prom. There wasn't a large selection of cars, but there were some interesting ones and others that I can say 'my Dad had one of those'.
The blue car here is a home made one with one wheel at the back and a spare.

This is a Ferrari. Most cars have a sheet attached with all the information about the car on it. The one with this car makes a good read.

If you can't read it left click the picture to enlarge it.

A Roller in superb condition.

Bisterne Scarecrows

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 21:06:00 +0100

Bisterne is just south of Ringwood and in August they have a scarecrow competition.
Here are four of the scarecrows.

The titles haven't come up on the photos so in order they are:
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Me and My Flatmate
Shepherd and Sheep
Beekeeper - this won first prize

Funny Postcards

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 13:25:00 +0100

Here are three funny postcards two of which are directed at caravanners. I wonder why we received them? I hope you find them as funny as Sue and I did.

Weekend Visitors

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 21:33:00 +0100

Maggie, Andy and Tara came to stay for Saturday night. We should have gone to them, but I had double booked and was leading a ramble this Saturday. The ramble went well with 21 ramblers turning up for the 5.5 mile walk.

Maggie and Andy with aperitifs.

Sue, thinking of all the chocolates the Pedder's had brought.

Tara

Di and Peter joined us for dinner.

Testing a link

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 16:51:00 +0100

This is testing a link to Bubbleshare where you can upload photos to so other people can see them. It's an online photo album.
When we are in France this September we will be having another photo competition, so you might be seeing the photos on Bubbleshare or this Blog or both.

If this works there are 8 photos 4 of them mine and 4 Roy's. Here we go!

This album is powered by
BubbleShare
- Add to my blog

Hope you like it.

Sunday Lunch

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 13:33:00 +0100

The one day we wanted some decent weather was Sunday for the visit of the JHQ lunch group. Unfortunately the sun didn't come out, but it didn't rain in Ringwood. Elsewhere in UK there were downpours.

David, Clarissa and Rae - Clarissa was staying with Rae and Don and was enroute to Ipswich.

As usual the life and sole of the party - groan.

Hilary

Don came ready for the hot weather which never arrived.
Jennifer and Brian

Sue managed to sit down for a few minutes.

Where does the time go?

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 19:20:00 +0100

I did the last blog on about the 22nd July and we have been so busy since then we have hardly sat down. Most of the business was not worthy of the blog - gardening - painting lots of it - shopping (ugh!). The most noteworthy happening was the return of the Volvo. There is no need for a photo because it is as good as new, the coach works had done an excellent job on it.
We were invited to Glyn and Sue's wedding anniversary bash at their sailing club. This meant that we met up with old friends, some of them very old (I know Roy reads this). We had a great time and on the return to G&S's we went via Portsmouth Harbour and took this photo of the Spinnaker Tower.

Sybil, Roy and Glyn, Glyn is doing the BBQ in his laid back manner. Sybil managed a smile despite her visit to the dentist.

John and Sybil

Sue and Chris

On Friday evening Ron, Jane and Jane's Mum, Margaret came for a BBQ. It was a lovely evening so we managed to sit in the garden, but the temperature could have been a few degrees more.

Visit to Trish and Colin

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 21:41:00 +0100

We were invited to Trish and Colin's new house in West Winterslow, east of Salisbury. En-route we visited a few places that we hadn't been to before. The most interesting was the church and hospital in Farley.

In 1681, Sir Stephen Fox, Farley’s most famous son and loyal companion to Charles II, endowed Farley Hospital. He also commissioned the building of the Church, both buildings attributed to Sir Christopher Wren. The Church, Hospital, Wardenry, Primary School and Reading Room now form the historic core of the village and attract many visitors. Farley Hospital still provides accommodation in 6 almshouses and 2 cottages.

North of here in the village of Pitton this wall with its own thatched roof caught my eye. The wall was of chalk so without the thatching wouldn't have lasted long.

Eventually we found ourselves at Trish and Colin's - what a house they must be the 'Lord and Lady of the Manor'. One side of the house is glass which is great for seeing out of. It will take some cleaning though. It was a very pleasant evening weather wise so we had a BBQ ably cooked by Colin.

Thanks for a great time!

Crowthorne and Ashwell

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart) — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 13:05:00 +0100

We chose Crowthorne for a visit with the caravan because it was close to Sue's sister and some friends in Godalming. The cycling in the Bracknell forest promised to be good, albeit they charge by the day. As it happened I was out of the forest before the centre that collected the money was open. Hence it was free.
The campsite was in a forest so walks and biking were possible without taking the car out. Here is a photo of the local lake.

What we hadn't realised that the most infamous place in Crowthorne is Broadmoor, home to many people you have read about in the paper. Broadmoor Hospital is a secure mental hospital. It is the best known of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, the other two being Ashworth and Rampton. The complex houses 326 patients – of whom about 49 are women, although work is currently under way to expand capacity elsewhere so that women no longer need be admitted to Broadmoor.

We had made arrangements to meet Dot and Phil at The Chequers, Well. We were down to 20mph on the M4, heavy traffic, so we were a little late. It was a hot day so the dense shade in the back garden was very welcome. It was some time since we had seen D&P so there was lots of news to catch up on, especially as they had just returned from a holiday in Canada.

After Crowthorne we moved on to Ashwell, Herts. This is a very pretty village with many old buidings. The creation of present-day Ashwell was probably in the early tenth century. By 1086, when the Domesday Book was compiled, it was the most important settlement, being a borough, a market town, in the area. The market place would have dominated the town and brought the wealth that is reflected in the number of quality medieval buildings, including St Mary’s Church, that still exist today.
Here you can see the Lych Gate.

Before we went away we had heard a programme on 'pargeting'. This is where the lime plaster on the outside of the house has a pattern put into it. If you look hard enough you can see the pargeting on this white house.

This is the Guild House with a sculpted plasterwork frontage.

On the Saturday we visited Carol and Clare Pillinger, who we were with in Germany. Other visitors were Simon, Amanda and little Jack. Natalie (nee Morton) and toddling Finlay were visiting from Dubai, you don't just pop in from there.
Simon and Jack

Clare and Simon doing a great job on the BBQ. Natalie is in the foreground.

Aperitifs on the campsite with the Wordsworths.

The last few days of the holiday were spoilt by a prang in the Volvo. Fortunately no one was hurt. The door still closed and locked in that state. On the day it happened the Wordsworths arrived on site so they acted as chauffeurs for the rest of our stay, thanks! If you are thinking of using Saga for your car insurance - DON'T.

That's the last of our travels until September. We have painting to do, many visitors, rambles to lead and of course Sue's yoga and my badminton. I'll keep you informed about the painting and how dry it is.