Wednesday 25 July 2007

Walkies

At this time of year I lead a few rambles for Verwood and New Forest Ramblers. With the very wet weather it is best to walk the route, before the ramble, to check that everything is OK. On the first walk from Linford Bottom I was accompanied by Bailey, next door's, dog. I walked 5 miles he must have done 15. Here he is at Greenford Bottom.



A very friendly foal. He approached me so he is obviously used to people. Maybe he had been fed in the past. Bailey did a runner.



Checking the second ramble Sue and Bailey came this time. This was from Anderwood car park.




Tuesday 24 July 2007

RNLI Open Day

The RNLI HQ is in Poole and they had their Open Day last weekend. Sunday being the better (weather wise) of the two days we went then. Here you see a demonstration of the the capsize and righting of a 'D' class lifeboat with three crew members. All this was done in the inside pool. The pool has a wave machine which can produce a variety of different waves.



This is a demonstration of an experimental lifeboat which is powered by water jets. It can spin on the spot and can decelerate from full power in two boat lengths!



The launching of the 'D' class lifeboat. We also had a flypast by the coastguard. I'm surprised they had time on such a busy weekend (flooding in the Midlands). Some of the demostrations were cancelled because many of the lifeboat crew were on duty helping out with rescuing people cut off by the floods.



If you look hard enough you will realise that this is a model, and an exceptionally good one at that.



The beach was brought in for sandcastle competitions. The kids enjoyed it and also some of the Mums and Dads.


Friday 20 July 2007

Summers Showers and More

I thought I would change the fonts to something a little brighter to make summer a little better than it is at the moment, raining!

We had a week away, albeit a couple of weeks late, near to Wokingham. It was late because we had postponed due to the inclement weather.

Before going with the caravan I had searched the internet for things to do on wet and dull days. So here you will see that we did plenty of visits.

The first was to the REME Museum at Arborfield.

Here an oil painting, in the museum, depicts Corporal Fred Comber dismounting from a Challenger Armoured Repair and Recovery Vehicle with three other military vehicles in the distance and a background of black smoke.




Another display showed what school pupils thought the Army should be wearing these days. It's worth clicking on the picture so you can see and read what is there.



Needless to say the Museum is full of kit large and small, some of it which I recognise from the Army workshops that I visited. Here is a Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicle (BARV). The design attached a boat shaped superstructure to the top of a turretless Sherman, enabling it to wade in over nine feet of water. It weighs in at 28 tons and does .75 mpg.



On another day we went to Brooklands famous for its banked motor racing track. There is now an extensive museum of old vehicles and aircraft. Here is an old MG in a garage setting. I'm reluctant to say that I recognise some of the items in the garage.



This photo is for Pete Morgan, it's a 1937 three wheeler Morgan.



This is part of the banked track that still remains.


Concorde, G-BBDG, is one of the features at the museum. It is being tidied up by a group of volunteers and they are doing a very good job. Although it costs extra to go in Concorde it is well worth it.



Concorde's cockpit - it looks a bit tight to me.



Yours truly outside one of the Brooklands workshops.




Last October Mercedes Benz opened their multi million pound M-B Experience. It's a fantastic building and every conceivable MB car is there for you to see. It is possible to get into every car bar four and these are Maybachs and SLR McLarens. Sue and I sat in a few and couldn't decide which ones we liked so didn't buy one or two or .....


This is a view of the skid and test track from the Gallery.



This is the M-B SLR McLaren, it's a gullwing car with loads of umphhhhh! The cost £328,952.47 a mere snip.



Last year we visited The Vyne, National Trust, in the rain so we didn't get to see the gardens. It looked as though the weather would hold this time so we came again.
The Vyne was built in the 16th century for Lord Sandys, Henry VIII's Lord Chamberlain. It then became home to the Chute family for more than 300 years.
There is a large country-park with gardens, lake, meadows, woods and wetlands. The photo below shows the walled garden.




This is the summerhouse which is in the process of being refurbished. We were able to go in, but only with hard hats.



Sue in the garden.



One of the entrances.



This Magnolia Grandiglora flower is one of the largest in the World.


Although the weather was mixed for our week away we managed to get out and about. I went on a couple of cycle rides in Swinley Forest and altogether we did about 11 geocaches. The last of which was 400 metres away from Broadmoor Hospital for dangerous psychiatric patients. I was pleased to see that the place looked very secure.

On our return home we cleaned the caravan and returned it to storage and the following day the heavens opened and parts of UK were flooded. I think our timing was just right for a change.

Sunday 8 July 2007

07 07 07 Weekend

This weekend is a very lucky weekend hence the number of weddings. Wait for 08 08 08 which is even luckier. I suppose getting a weekend with little rain is lucky.
I went on a very good ramble with the New Forest Ramblers on Saturday afternoon and Sue did some retail therapy in Ringwood.

On Sunday we went to Avon Heath for a Classic Car and Coach Rally and then on to Stapehill Abbey for a Steam Engine Rally.

Here is a Wolsley 1500 is pristine condition - I learnt to drive in one of these cars. What's really annoying is that it is so old it is not subject to road tax!


Below is the Crazy Party Engine - now used for Hen Nights, Kids Parties etc.


Reflection.


Took this photo for a laugh - do you think he/she is serious?


Guess Who?


Health and Safety - forget it!


Both of these were made in Leeds.

This is how it was done. Anyone got a carrot?

Thursday 5 July 2007

Nelson Returns?

I didn't know they had cameras in Nelson's day! It is also remarkable that the other guy looks just like Roy.





Photo reproduced with permission from Roy.

Tuesday 3 July 2007

Is this Summer?

In between all the showers we managed an outing to Christchurch and Mudeford. I needed to collect a new TV/monitor for the house and it will double up for the caravan.
Here we have a photo of The Run which empties Christchurch Harbour. The tide was going out with the wind behind it so the water it was really flying out.


With the high winds the kite surfers were out in force.


Nearby is this unusual post box. After a little research it turns out that this is a Victorian fluted box from about 1856. Did you know that there is a website for UK post boxes?