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.