Nice one Harry.

Well I might be sitting at home after a long flight with little sleep but I do need to complete our Blog, The day before we left England was the last day to fill in with something exciting and as we had tickets to Warner Bros studio tour of Harry Potter I guess this will do. 

Having seen some of the movies I guess we weren't what you would call die hard fans of Harry and co, but we do dress up and face paint so there is a connection. the tour can take between 3 to 5 hours depending on how slow you want to walk through. 

starting with a run down of what to expect and a few simple rules it then went onto a mini theatre for a history on the stories. From there the big doors were opened and in we went. 

The first room is the great hall filled with all the trimmings expected with Hogworts.

Finished off the day with as little bit of shopping. if you get the chance it is well worth it. amazing, this is the last posting for the blog we hope you enjoyed our holiday. now back to reality.

Time's nearly Up

3 days have flown by and it's almost time for us to fly. What have we done, well we spent some time in my town Reading, shopping at the Oracle a shopping centre straddling the Kennet Canal, before having a look around the town.

 mum and dad wouldn't recognise the town centre and I have a few pics to show them later. Our 2nd thing on the list to do today was to take in a game with Reading playing Norwich. Rich made it up from Portsmouth to spent a little more time with us. so the 5 of us entered the stadium ( 4 of us not feeling that confident ) and true to form Reading lost 2-1, sack the manager and deduct wages from the players and give them community service. No not really, the game had it's moments and it was still nice to go to a football match with a bit of atmosphere. 

a pre match shot. pitch in great condition, players have no right to complain about conditions they play under, try a sodden stadium ground in the middle of winter in Te Awamutu with well known bobble or two. 

Sunday was to be a more leisurely day and we headed down the motorway to find Kintbury, to the Kennet Horse Boat Company. A delightful way to spend a couple of hours cruising down the canal pulled by a shire horse. 

As you can see the horse wasn't bothered by any of us. 

the boat is pulled into the lock by hand while the horse gets to watch. 

After a lovely lunch at the Pub next door we headed for a less likely place to look at. Greenham Common, once made famous for Nuclear Arms and the Women's protests. Andy took us on the way home, for a walk around part of the remains, some of which is still closed to the public. 

Bizarrely this place is listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, not sure it could be on the same page as Stonehenge. It's good to see that nature has slowly been reclaiming the base. It was an interesting look at something that historically didn't happen that long ago.

London's Calling

So the time has come to hit the big town. leaving the car in storage with Andy & Lisa, we get dropped off at the railway station in Bracknell, on we hop and away we head to Clapham junction and a change to Victoria station. well that was a bit of a culture shock. the people and noise of the station was a little overpowering to the senses, leaving Victoria station we used the GPS to help us find our accommodation. As per usual she takes us on the long way round.

    As we were early we dumped our bags and headed to Westminster Abbey ( strictly no photo's) never mind. So much to take in it was an eye opener into history, well worth using the audio device to get the facts on different parts. Big Ben has been turned off for 4 years to undergo restoration work ( 60 Million pounds worth) so got to take photo's of my favorite thing Scaffolding. The evenings event was Phantom of the Opera so we booked a Taxi for the trip, our driver was a lovely man originally from Ethiopia who gave us a guided tour on the way to Her Majesty's Theatre. we booked him to collect us as well. Jacqui really enjoyed the show, I found it a bit heavy at times but you can't take away the fact they were talented performers. The reality of London kicked in at 5am with international flights starting to land. Today we are off to Greenwich village. A return to the Cutty Sark, last time I saw it I was 10. 

 it is now suspended in a drydock with a cafe underneath which is kind of cool, I have to say it was more exciting as a 10 year old, but its history is well worth a look. we followed this up with a long walk upto the Royal Observatory. Jacqui's standing where time starts

we take it for granted what we have in our lives, so going through places like this really brings it home that these were very clever forward thinking revolutionary people. people spent a lifetime figuring things out so that we have it very easy.
walking back towards the underground we found Greenwich Market but with our bags already bursting it was a look only, some amazing stuff for sale with loads of bric a brac, our next port of call was Ripleys Believe it or Not, unfortunately it's been shut down and is due to reopen at a new venue later in the year, Bugger. so in its place we went on a Tuk Tuk ride to the London Eye, yippee I love heights. 

to be fair it was well worth the ride with some amazing views.

back to hotel and we collapse with sore feet. 

Friday and its off to the Natural history museum and back to Bracknell

A bit of tube music to get us through the day. Shopping and Football to come tomorrow, bring it on

Churt Sculpture Park

Times moving fast as we head into the last part of our holiday. Anyway Churt Sculpture park. Have you ever heard of it ? well we did as we dug it out of the internet. 

A 2 hour walk through woods with over 800 sculptures on show, what an amazing place.

You get given a ref book telling you who made it, what its made of and the value, yep they are pretty much all for sale. if you get the time check it out its well worth it. 

Fascinating and Intriguing look through the eyes of an Artist. Some are just plain weird, some are hard to figure out which I suppose what art is about, stretching your thinking. We sort of figured we are more realism when it comes to sculpture.

Castles to Creatures

Well time is starting to fly by and the program is also starting to tell a little bit, cramming in as much as we can and today is no different. 1st off we head to Bodiam to see the castle. 

And WOW what a Castle, just like we would imagine a Castle with a full moat. the insides made be a little ruinous but the magic is still there. It was a delight to walk around and through, once again our timing was pretty good because just as we were finishing a school day out arrived and the carpark was filling up fast. If you get the chance check it out. 2nd on today list of things to do was Birling Gap, I have always wanted to get up close to the white cliffs and we are close enough to visit.

Spent a bit of time enjoying the view from up top and on the beach. 

3rd on the list and high on Jacqui's list was Drusilla's and a possible encounter with a large spider or snake. most would have seen the photo's on jacqui's facebook page of the experience. Jacqui certainly got more than we expected due to the fact it was very quiet, with a guided tour of the backrooms and the knowledgeable James giving a running factual and fun facts. Drusilla's is a wonderful zoo and although most would see it as a place for the young we found it very relevant, informative, educational and a fun place to walk around.

Ice cream on the Brighton Pier

Well to finish off yesterday we got back to our hotel stripped for Bed and Bang the fire alarm goes off, all the fire automatically close and were are thinking, O! 4 floors of stairs to get down. so throwing some cloths on away we toddle. No Panic its a false alarm. We found out later someone had overdone the cologne to close to a sensor. Nice to know the systems work, Strange thing is of the entire number of quests only 3 rooms bothered to come down. 
Anyway back to today's ramblings. Up early and out by 9 am. Our destination a village named Alfriston, to get there the plan was to go through Brighton and enjoy a quiet stroll down the beach and the pier, then onto Lewes to check out Antique shops and then onto our Hotel. Well Brighton certainly put paid to the quiet walk. The whole population seemed to be out, add the Labour party conference and several hundred protesters and this created a interesting atmosphere for the day.

I know it's sunday but the number of people seemed to be large, we also figured out that Newcastle were playing Brighton so the also increased the number.

We liked Brighton, it was buzzing, even with the crowds. We had a ice cream on the pier and took in the sights sounds and smells of the arcade rooms and checked out the rides. I was still recovering from yesterdays ride so they weren't happening today.

this pier obviously didn't have enough fire systems in place. The police were out in full complete with a couple on horseback to keep the protesters in place. It was nice to see people proactively have their say on issues that they felt strongly about. 

After a Cuppa we decided to move on, our 3 hour 4 mile walk was starting to take it's toll on the fee.

our next stop was Lewes, unfortunately it being a sunday afternoon most shops were closed but we did go through the Lewes Castle.

The Castle has a number of parts that can still be accessed but is not a complete castle. it has a facinating history as most do and was well worth checking it out.

This is the Fifteenth Century bookshop.

The final push was to end in Alfriston, a unknown village that we plucked off of Booking.com. we were well surprised at what we saw driving through and look forward to having a looksy tomorrow. what we saw as a pub to stay in turned out to be a rather posh hotel. not sure whether Shorts, Tee shirt and Jandals will cut it in the Dining room

Spice Island & Carriers

After a well needed sleep in we had a cruisey morning before meeting up with Rich, Jo and Winnie for brunch. Another busy day was planned and first up was a trip up the Spinnaker.

 So beating off the Tourists we got in and up we went, I have always struggled with Heights so it was another test but I was glad to make it because the view was well worth it. Jacqui pushed it to the limits by laying on the glass just to wind me up, but I did get a photo.

As I said the view was amazing and this is just to prove I was there.

Our 2nd port of call was the Harbour Cruise, getting up front and personal with the Navy, and just to show who's the boss our Boat was 15 minutes late due to traffic holdup on the Harbour, the captain had to wait for clearance. It was an interesting trip in and around the ships with a running dialogue on Navy & Portsmouth History facts.

The new Beast on the Block. pretty impressive stuff. 

like a kiddie in a sweet shop I couldn't get enough of the ships, I have loads of pics to edit when I get home.

It would of been rude not to call in here for a drink after the tour , so we did. After our little tipple we took a walk down to southsea, on the way we stopped at the amusement park to remind us of how old we are,

 As we walked in I spotted the Waltzer and knew in a instant that Jacqui would want a ride on it, yippee speed and spinning here we come, i had forgotten how they make you feel, add in a beer swilling in the tummy and it ain't good.  

I got to see how it feels a little later when Jacqui & Jo decided to have a go they certainly look like they are enjoying a spin on the Waltzer.

Jacqui & Richard looking pleased with themselves for completing the roller coaster that looked like it was made of broken scaffolding.

By the end of the day someone had a new friend, surprise surprise I always said Jacqui should work with children.

we had a fabulous day connecting with Rich Jo and Winnie and finished this day at a restaurant for dinner before having to say the farewells as we move on in the morning taking some cherished memories with us.