Our flight south for the winter

So in recent times Nicky and I have flown south for the winter and we are pleased we have as we have finally been able to shed the thermals and raincoats required in the North.  Conditions improved after we visited Liverpool where we saw Anfield (home of Liverpool FC), the childhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the Cavern Club and a couple of museums.  While in the area we went to watch Preston North End play Sheffield Utd at Deepdale unfortunately Preston lost 2-4.

We have begun wildcamping in the van a bit since obtaining our porta potti near Southport.  We stayed very close to Royal Birkdale for any golfing enthusiasts. While in Southport we had a quick try in the amusements another English institution.

So continuing into Cheshire we began to dry out and defrost from our Summer in Northumberland.  It actually has been quite pleasant for a bit recently.  But I’m told normal service is due next week.

So anyway enough tangents in Cheshire we visited Chester which has probably the most intact city walls of any town in England, you can pretty much walk around the whole town on them (we did) and it is a very attractive city.  It has a quirky feature of also having first floor shop fronts with their own walkway in front, accessed at various points by stairs.

Cheshire is where we watched the All Blacks in the Final.  A pub called the yew tree inn near Bunbury.  They let us stop in the field next to the pub for two nights and I had a couple of beverages with the locals and a lovely breakfast for the Rugby (rather stressful).  Relief more than anything at the end, no time to dither though as we got back on the road shorty after as the itenary was full, with Moreton Corbet Castle, Wroxeter Roman City & Stokesay Castle having missed Much Wenlock and its’ priory due to a wayward GPS.

After stopping for the night at the base of the Shropshire Hills we took a short walk in the morning to get a feel for the countryside before visiting Shrewsbury the main town and Attingham Park, where we bought a readers digest touring guide to Britain from 1993 which is assisting us in our planning.  A stop at Much Wenlock en route to Hereford completed the day.

In Herefordshire we visited Goodrich Castle, Wye Valley butterfly zoo and St Briavels Castle before heading off to the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire to spend the night amongst the trees.  This had the unfortunate side effect of having conkers falling on the roof of the van during the night.  

After a slightly unsettled sleep I had to drive nearly 4 hours to Brighton because Nicky got a trial at a Café in Brighton.  We spent the night on the foreshore just along from the Pier.

Nicky’s trial was on a Friday so we decided to go into London for the weekend and catch up with Matty and Amy and Gunam and Sunita.  So Friday, Saturday, Sunday nights were spent parked up on the street in London.  Despite being well past peak hour the traffic in London was horrendous and we were 1.5 hours later than expected.  It was also the most difficult driving of my life.  Give me the M1 any day now.  I’m accustomed to the motorway driving now, it is the inner city or fiddly country lanes which cause much more stress these days.

We have just been in Winchester and are currently just outside Oxford but I’ll leave that for next time.

Once again don't forget my FLICKR and YOUTUBE

Thanks for listening, see ya later.