Burning Daylight

Summer Holiday - August 2008

2008-08-17T15:39:00.000+01:00

Oxford & Wales, August 11 - August 16, 2008

Monday, August 11 - Took us an hour and a half to get to Oxford, then another hour to find the hotel in the annoying one-way system - complemented by a lack of useful signage. At one point, Rachel was ready to give up and go home!

Eventually, though, we found the hotel - a converted Victorian prison, next to Oxford Castle - and after checking in, we went for a walk around the city and stumbled upon the shop where Alice Liddel bought sweets as a child!

Back at the hotel courtyard, we enjoyed a pizza at Prezzo before hitting the streets again for another short jaunt.

Tuesday, August 12 - After a very expensive breakfast, we went next door to the castle for a tour. The castle had been built in 1071 and was converted to a prison by the Royalists during the Civil War. It remained a prison right up until 1996.

At mid-day, we got in the car and headed on to Wales; the moment we saw signs for Wales it started to rain! It rained on and off as we headed through beautiful wooded hills to get to our hotel.

We checked in and were immediately overawed by the stunning views from our room across the River Usk.

Before dinner we drove out to Tretower. Although the court and castle were closed at that time, we saw chickens, a horse, ducks etc and then drove on to Llogers(?) and its nameless lake. The heavens opened as were preparing to leave, with a mist settling on the roads as we headed back into the hills to our hotel.

Enjoyed a posh dinner that evening - had pigeon pie for starters and followed it with duck and mash. Rachel had goats cheese followed by beef rostie.

Wednesday, April 13 - Woke up early for breakfast and was greeted by torrential rain. Had a filling breakfast and then - despite an upset stomach - set off for Cardiff.

Eventually (after several stops) pulled up outside the Red Dragon Centre in Cardiff Bay to see the Doctor Who Exhibition before wandering around Cariff Bay, having some snacks and revisiting the Doctor Who exhibition.

That afternoon we visited Caerphilly Castle, a very well restored Medieval castle right in the centre of the town. It rained heavily as we drove back to our hotel.

We tried to go for a pub meal at the nearby Lamb & Flag, but after waiting almost 30 minutes for service, we instead went into Abergavenny and picked up pizzas from a takeaway that Rachel knew of old. We ate the fabulous pizzas back in our hotel room.

Thursday, 14 August - An overturned oil lorry in Abgavenny scuppered our plans to go to Raglan Castle and brought most of the area's roads to a grinding halt. Instead we decided to go to Tretower Court and Castle. This was a lovely Medieval manor house with a castle in its garden. The house suffered from minimal signage, but it was in such good condition that it didn't really matter.

When we arrived there were two other cars in the car park and one man in front of us in the queue to get tickets. The lad manning the kiosk apologised because things were so "manic".

Back at the hotel we were met by Aime and her dad. They took Rachel to Hereford for a dress fitting (Rachel is bridesmaid at Aime's forthcoming wedding), while I stayed in our room watching the Olympics and reading Devil's Cape.

When Rachel returned, the two of us went to Abergavenny to have a look round, then drove up to Sugar Loaf mountain - to a car park Aime had told Rache about - with amazing views over the area.

In the evening Aime and Gareth took us out to a lovely country pub. It was very small and local, serving the largest meal portions either of us have ever seen (for very economical prices). The outside loo though left a lot to be desired, though - the gent's was basically a trough in the ground in an unlit shack that stank of piss. The lady's was much fresher and illuminated, so I used that instead.

Friday, 15 August - After another hearty breakfast, we headed to Raglan Castle which was a grand ruin, then across country to White Castle.

This latter castle was hidden down a warren of back lanes on a hill top, where its ticket office was manned by an elderly chatty old woman in a kiosk.

As with most Welsh castles, there was lots to see but minimal informative signage. It didn't matter though as it was a wonderful sight and great to explore.

We took a brief afternoon nap back at the hotel, then went to meet Aime at her mum's, had cake and saw their menagerie of animals: Aime's horse Santa, three cats, a field of sheep and a large dog called Angus.

Aime then took us to see the new house she and Gareth have just bought, before the three of us went to the nearby Harvestor for a meal.

More pictures of Welsh Castles...
Yet More Pictures of Welsh Castles...

Oxford Prison pictures.

More pictures of Wales.

Disneyland Europe, November 2007

2007-11-19T14:40:00.000Z

Summer Holiday - July 2007

2007-07-31T22:02:00.000+01:00

Bracknell, Berkshire - Friday, July 27 - Tuesday, July 31

More Bekonscot pictures here

More Legoland pictures here

We drove down (across?) to Bracknell on Friday evening, listening to Chris Evan's Friday Request Show on BBC2 Radio 2 (so Rachel could get a taste of my "old man's music" rather than her usual "kid's" music from Radio 1), eventually arriving at the Travel Inn for a meal with Rachel's friends Aime and Gareth. We were all gathered for the wedding of their old university friends Jacqui and Adam on Saturday. Bracknell seems like a nice place its outskirts - with some really large, posh homes - but it's centre is a mass of identical roundabouts flanked by bland, identical office blocks and supermarkets.

On Sunday, after the wedding, Rachel and I made the 40 minute drive to Bekonscot Model Village in Beaconsfield, Buckingshire. This is the second time we've been here and, if possible, it was even more entertaining than our first visit! As the world's oldest model village, Bekonscot never stands still - having sprouted several new buildings since our last visit - but still manages to encapsulate 1930s England in glorious miniature.

Even though it was the start of the school holidays, I imagine Bekonscot is always a big draw for children and the narrow paths between the tiny houses and Gauge 1 railway tracks rang with the thunder of children's footsteps as they raced the trains to each station, greeting them with cries of "train in station!"

Originally we'd planned to go to the cinema in the evening, but I was still feeling pretty rough from Saturday (I'd wimped out of the wedding breakfast after two courses, feeling quite sick and dizzy). We were both very tired and wanted to make sure we had as much energy as possible for Legoland on Monday, so it was a meal at the Travel Inn's restaurant then a reasonably early night.

While the food varied dramitcally from pretty good to awful (and hot drinks were virtually undrinkable), if there is one thing to recommend the Travel Inn chain it's their amazingly comfortable beds (and reasonable soundproofing) that really does guarantee a great night's sleep - as they promise.

On Monday, it was a short drive to the posh village of Windsor and Legoland. While there is more to Legoland than just Miniland (the 1:20 scale reproduction of key cityscapes and countryside from various European countries ... and NASA in the United States), that was the main draw for Rachel and I. And by the time we left, it remained the highlight of a long (and expensive) day.

I really hope that one day the powers that be at Lego decide to expand Miniland so we can be treated to Lego brick versions of the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids etc The other rides in the park are pretty much what you would find in any theme park - but Miniland, made up of over 40 million little plastic bricks, is uniquely Lego and triumph of patience and design.

Honeymoon - May/June 2007

2007-06-04T09:41:00.000+01:00

Little Ann, Hampshire, Saturday,
May 26 - Saturday, June 2.

More honeymoon pictures.

After our wedding on May 25 - which had been perfect, we should have known that the fantastic weather wouldn't last. In fact it poured hard for the first few days we were on honeymoon and then intermittently for the rest of the week! Rachel and I had hired a thatched cottage in the village of Little Ann in Hampshire, purely on its brochure description of having a river running through the garden - we thought it would be nice to sit out in the evenings, sipping wine and nibbling snacks. The weather soon put paid to that idea!

The cottage was also cursed with eccentric plumbing - but once we got used to that (one of the toilets didn't flush, a wash basin didn't drain, no running hot water in the kitchen etc), we had an amazingly relaxing time.

On Monday, we went to the Museum of Army Flying ...

... and Danebury Hill Fort (although Rachel stayed in the car for this one and I braved the wind and rain to explore the Iron Age fort on my own).

On Tuesday, we drove to the nearby - and awesome - Stonehenge. The last time I'd seen in person I'd been about four and, I think, at that time you could still go up to the stones and touch them. Because we could only see it from behind a rope barrier, Rachel felt it was "smaller than expected", but I still found the whole experience quite moving and can't recommend it highly enough for anyone wanting a sense of historical perspective and the insignificance of modern man.

Following on from Stonehenge, we drove to Bath. But because it was half-term there was nowhere to park, so after a futile hunt for car park spaces we turned round and headed back. This echoed earlier attempts to visit nearby Andover, where we were twice defeated by the impenetrable one-way system.

Wednesday saw us head for Basingstoke - to visit Milestones, Hampshire's Living History Museum, and then went to the cinema to see Pirates of The Caribbean: At World's End. On Thursday, we went to one of my old university haunts - Poole in Dorset - to visit my 'comic supplier' Andy at his shop, Paradox. Not only did this give me the opportunity to stock up on the latest deliveries, but was my first chance to introduce Rachel to someone as "my wife".

For the final day of our honeymoon, Rachel suggested a trip to Longleat Safari park - a stroke of genius! We had monkey's scampering over the car ...

... and leaving muddy paw prints across the windscreeen and bonnet; saw baby wolf cubs and meerkats; rode a boat out among the sealions and hippos; ate overpriced hamburgers; and generally had a great time. A brilliant end to a great week; I suspect we will be returning to Longleat soon to do all the things we didn't have time for in the five hours we were there.

EuroDisney - November 2006

2006-11-18T17:17:00.000Z

Wednesday, 15 November - Welcome to EuroDisney...

One day until I turn 40.

Today was the day I received my best birthday present ever: four days in the Happiest Place on Earth (no, not the Playboy Mansion) - EuroDisney, thanks to my beloved Rachel. We arrived in Paris, France, at 1.30pm, having travelled up to London Waterloo International Railway Station in the morning commute (I just don't know how people can do that every day!), then caught the connecting EuroStar service through the Chunnel - which was fast, smooth and not too crowded.
Rachel and I got to the Park by 2pm; our bags having been checked in at the station and shipped direct to our hotel for collection on our arrival there. It took a while to adjust to the fact that everyone was speaking French, but eventually I found myself murdering their language at every opportunity with my pidgen-speak!

We wandered aimlessly around beautiful Main Street, Frontierland and parts of Adventureland and had a pizza for lunch, then went to our cowboy-themed hotel (Cheyenne), checked in, made reservations for dinner in their restaurant tomorrow (my birthday!), looked over our room and then headed back to Disney Village - an area of shops and restuarants outside the two parks (Disneyland Park & Disney Studios).

Dinner was had at King Ludwig's Castle (research for my tower project!) - a brilliant mock-mediaeval dining hall where I devoured Weisswurtz for starters (a pair of small, albino saveloy!) and Oktoberfest chicken & chips for the main course. Rachel had the chicken as well, followed by apple stroodel.

My stomach started to play up after I went on the driving games at the nearby video arcade, so we went back to the hotel for a bath and some much needed sleep.

Thursday, 16 November - Gepetto's Busy Hands ...

MY 40TH BIRTHDAY!!!!

Eventually crawled out of bed at 8am and opened my last presents from Rachel, then we took the free bus to the park (literally a couple of minutes away) for our "character breakfast". This was awesome and turned out to be one of, if not the, highlights of the holiday for both of us. Rachel met Mickey Mouse, which she was very excited about, and we both met Goofy, Chip & Dale, Pinnochio (who got Rachel in a choke hold!) and a very frisky Gepetto (who was rather "over friendly" with his tickling and hair stroking!).

In the Park proper we queued to have our picture taken with Winnie The Pooh (one of our heroes), then went on a few awesome rides - Peter Pan, Pinnochio and Snow White - which were all quite gentle (although the bars across my stomach caused me some discomfort when the carriages we were in lurched forward), then got some free tickets to see the Legend of The Lion King show. However, next we took in the "Honey I Shrunk The Audience" 3D show on a whim. It was very clever and funny, but the shocks and shaking floor made me feel sick, so we caught the train back to Main Street and went back to the hotel for a nap.

We were back in the Park by 5pm, in the dark and the rain, and wandered in and out of the shops of Main Street before I led Rachel into the Western Fort in Frontierland where I almost died slipping down the wet steps from the top of the parapet! Word of advice: avoid wooden forts in the dark and rain ... and certainly don't walk backwards when getting into position for photographs...

The rain got heavier as we took our places for the Fantallusion Parade, which was all lights and such, and was very beautiful and moving - the stuff of fairy tales. One of the most unique and visually appealling events of the holiday.

By this stage I was getting very tired and hungry and almost passed out from fatigue before we made it back to the hotel for a 30 minute snooze. Then it was off to the Chuck Wagon - the hotel's BBQ "restaurant" ... which was more akin to a free-for-all, anarchic school dining room. The so-called reservation was pointless, but it was a laugh, so we didn't care.

Back to the room by 10pm, thoroughly exhausted and a year older!

Friday, 17 November - Day of The Parades ...

Breakfast at The Chuck Wagon was a minor nightmare, but not as bad as last night's dinner, and we saw Pluto and Minnie Mouse in the hotel foyer - so that made up for it!

Bus to Walt Disney Studios. First stop: Cinemagique - an excellent interactive cinema show, starring Martin Short, Julie Delpy and a host of other well-known faces (we got rained on in the cinema and splashed when the Titanic hit the iceberg!), that saw Martin Short's character stepping in and out of the screen ... while hunting for his lost luggage. Excellent!

Then we went on the "Behind The Scenes" tour, which was a bit rubbish - no disrespect, but Rachel didn't pay all this money so we could look round a display of crappy kid's art. Sorry, Walt, your people dropped the ball on this one, but they made up for it with the high speed, high octane, high volume stunt show which followed and then the cinema parade, which, as with all Disney parades, was very good and a great chance to see the characters we all know and love "in the flesh".

In the Magic of Animation section - which somehow we managed to do backwards - we made our own zoetrope and put our voices on an Aladdin cartoon, which was very cool, then saw a couple of film shows. The first was a sweet compilation of Disney 'best bits', for the second an animator talked us through the creation of the dragon in Mulan. This was rather chaotic as it was delivered in several languages simultaneously (the headphones not quite blocking out the voice of the presenter in the auditorium).

We then brought a Roo-headed Pez dispenser and went out to the Disney Village for lunch in the Rainforest Cafe. Without a doubt the best meal we had during our stay and the best themed restaurant - elephants, monkeys and lizards ... oh, my!

Back to the Park for the Christmas Parade which, in Rachel's words, was "fantastique!" We both took loads of pictures during this one and then went for a stroll around Adventure Isle, and in the caves, until it got very dark and we made our back over a rickety bridge to see the lighting up ceremony for Sleeping Beauty's castle before going back to the hotel for a rest ... although that wasn't the end of our day!

Friday, 17 November - Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show ...

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show is one of the most heavily advertised - and expensive - events at EuroDisney, but, boy, was it worth it!

We were shown into an arena with tiered seating (Rachel and I rode up in the lift because of the "power of the stick" - my disability having previously got us priority seating at Cinemagique and the stunt show - although it did come out in the kitchens!) and our food was brought round as we sat and watched the live action show.

The lighting was such that you couldn't really make out what you were heating, but basically it was the usual BBQ chilli beans, potatoes, slabs of meat and sausages, followed by ice cream and apple crumble.

But the main attraction of the show on the sawdust floor - from the phoney trick shooting of Annie Oakley to the herding of real buffalo (which I thought were an endangered spieces), horse races and mock cowboy and Indian fights, building up to a stagecoach hijacking - this was pure Hollywood Wild West all the way ... and I loved it (even if I felt a bit uncomfortable about the circus-like nature of some of the animal acts - altough they were clearly well cared for and in no danger).

Yeehah! And we got complimentary cowboy hats (which were waved vigorously during the show to cries of "yeeeeehahhhhh" and clanging cutlery!)

Saturday, 18 November - It's A Small World After All ...

Au revoir, Disney!

Our last day at the Parks. We slept in - as we couldn't face the mayhem of breakfast at the Chuck Wagon and knew we had a long day ahead of us, and an emotional farewell to this incredible place. We checked in our luggage at the hotel, so that it would be at the railway station when we had to catch our train, then took the bus to the Park for the final time.

Being a Saturday, we suddenly realised how spoilt we had been the previous days when we could just get on rides without queuing or get our photos taken with characters without being trampled by hordes of children and their short-tempered parents. Weekends at Disney are a claustrophobe's nightmare and I found it very bewildering quite quickly. We had a check list of things to do, but dropped some immediately when we saw the crowds.

Breakfast was taken at the Hyperion Cafe, where the airship from the Island At The Top Of The World stands proudly overhead and you can watch the Lion King show (which we'd missed a few days earlier). Then we queued for about 20 minutes for the It's A Small World ride, which is the epitome of cuteness, but still very enjoyable (even though I am convinced that the glass-eyed dolls come alive at night and devour any interlopers hanging around in the park).

After that, with the time ticking away, we found Mickey's Winter Wonderland, a great live show with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Chip & Dale and some others enjoying the "snow", skating, ice fishing etc and still finding the time for several jolly old singalongs.

We left the Park regretfully as it was starting to get dark and grabbed a quick meal in Planet Hollywood, in the village, having given our tickets to a pair of young French girls who seemed delighted that would be able to enjoy a couple of free hours of Disney magic.

Our Planet Hollywood meal was strange in that we were seated next to a "private area" where a visiting country & western band - Burrito Deluxe - were preparing for a concert in the village later that evening, with their friends and families. To be frank, they looked more Darby & Joan than rock'n'roll, but it was another brush with fame - so who were we to mock?

Finally we had to drag ourselves back to the train station and a tedious train journey back, which was nowhere near as relaxing and enjoyable as the journey there.

EuroDisney was great - if you put aside your typical English cynicism and can look past the fact that every other building is a retail outlet and every restaurant has its own shop as well - it's just wholesome, clean, family fun ... and you don't have to buy toys at every stall (although I would've if I could have afforded to and had been able to carry it all home) nor any of the well-made clothing (which again I had my eye on, but couldn't really afford). EuroDisney is about atmosphere and entertainment; an antidote to mundane reality - and what's wrong with a bit of that every now and again?

Hopefully we'll go back next year :-)