TheBuchans

The culmination of this week was the school reunion. If you didn't know Sue and I were at De Burgh in Tadworth, Surrey. What I hadn't realised until 3 years ago was that the average age of the staff when we were there was about 26. This means that quite a lot of the staff turn up and they hardly look older than the past pupils. Glenys, Sara, Ray and others had worked hard to put on a super spread.
We met up with lots of friends and renewed old acquaintances and a good time was had by all.

Polesden Lacey is a Regency villa and estate set in amongst the Surrey Hills. The views from here are spectacular. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother spent their honeymoon here in 1923.
For more info click on Polesden Lacey at the top.

As usual with our trips away, I had quite a few geocaches printed out to do. We never manage to do them all, but there is a choice. One which was close to a car park we did with difficulty, there was too much tree cover so the signal, for the GPSr, cannot penetrate the leaf cover. We found it eventually then went off to find the semaphore tower about a mile away. We weren't expecting to find it open, and it wasn't, but there was a very helpful lady who gave us the pamphlets and guide book.
The house, photo left, is Hatchlands Park, another NT property. Here there is the Cobbe Collection, the largest collection of keyboard instruments associated with famous composers.
For old times sake we had to visit Epsom, Sue for shopping me to check the emails and log geocaches. We had our sarnies on Epsom racecourse, photo right.

Clandon Park is home to the Gubbay Collection of porcelain. It is also full of expensive furniture, tapestries and carpets. In the cellar is the Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment Museum this is small, but very well presented. In the grounds is the unique carved wood Maori Meeting House.

Dapdune Wharf is a National Trust Property, on the River Wey, on the edge of Guildford. This is where the Stevens family built Wey barges for many years. There is plenty to see and for a little extra money a barge trip is available which takes you into the centre of Guildford.

A forthcoming school reunion gave us the excuse to take the caravan away to Surrey. Our usual site was full for the Saturday night, the night we really wanted, so we joined 'The Camping and Caravanning Club' and stayed at East Horsley. We are glad we did that because this site is in a lovely location, as can be seen from the photos.

To make a comment (nice ones only please) click on the word comments. You will then be invited to post a comment and then asked to copy some letters into a box - you are given the letters, this is called 'word verification'. It's very simple, honest!
Why do this? There are people out there who are sending automated spam to the blogs and it takes me quite a time to remove it. So far it has only been adverts.
If you are having problems - are you scrolling down to the bottom of each pop-up box?

We went over to glorious Gloucestershire for the weekend to stay with Andy and Maggie and attack dog Tara (you actually get licked to death).
Andy had promised Sue some flat walks with small inclines. On review the inclines were hills, but Sue managed them. It was all worth it because the views were fantastic.
The first photo is of Andy at Devils Chimney I can see the chimney - Can anyone spot the Devil?
The other two photos were taken in the Forest of Dean overlooking a meander in the River Severn, very impressive.
As usual we were well fed and watered and we had a great time. Thanks!

After Angers we moved onto Le Havre to do a little shopping before getting on the ferry. The P&O ferry which we travelled on finished service on the 30th Sept. so next year we will probably have to canoe across.
That's it folks hope you enjoyed our travels.

The fortress in Angers was built in the 13th Century. Over the years it has been added to and changed to suit the circumstances of the day. We enjoyed our visit and it was even better when we found out that it was the weekend of the 'open door' where entrance is free.
It is best to walk around Angers, a car is a liability because parking is at a premium and the streets are very narrow.
Angers is a very arty town so there are museums and art galleries. Even I enjoyed looking in the shops which are quite up market.
The photos are of the fortress, a sculpture and one of the older timbered buildings.

A challenge was issued to friends at the St Hilaire de Riez campsite to enter a holiday photo competition. This adds another perspective to ones holiday and you go rushing around to get that special photo. This competition will be based on another blog site and all will be able to view it. The blog should be ready about early Nov.
At the time of writing there should 48 photos in 4 categories. Neutral judges will appointed.
Prize: What prize?

We stayed at St. Hilaire de Riez for two weeks. In that time we saw Glyn and Sue Jones, David and Carol Wordsworth and Sybil and Roy Liddington. All arrived and left at different times due to different commitments. At the time of writing the Wordsworths are still there soaking up the sun - they have even negotiated preferential rates.
Much of the time at the campsite was spent swimming, walking, cycling and having drinks at each others caravan. Altogether we had about 4 meals out at the campsite restaurant which was very good.
Following this are a number of photos that recorded these events.

After Ponterson we travelled for half a day to St. Hilaire de Riez where we were due to meet various friends. The first to arrive after us were Sue and Glyn Jones who pitched next door but one to us.
We had a day out at Noirmoutier En L'Lile which is a an island just to the north of St Hilaire and has a bridge to make access easy.

Lunch out - it's a rather yellow because the canopy was yellow. We had some rather nice galettes, pancakes to you!



















You don't buy salt here you extract your own!



























The local river - don't know the name it's not on the map.

We moved onto a very nice caravan site at Ponterson, which is 5 miles south of St-Michel.
The site is run by a very pleasant French family. We were allocated a huge plot which is a lot better than having to squeeze in. There was a super swimming pool on site.
The main reason for coming was to see the Abbey which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is all very impressive especially when you think when it was built and the tools that were available. The Abbey was begun in 708.

The first photo is of the narrow streets and the second of the whole Mont. One morning I cycled most of the way to St-Michel from the campsite, about 12 miles return.