The Queen's Norfolk Retreat

We arrived on Sandringham Caravan Club Site at about 1:00, we had a nice welcome from the wardens and drove round the site to choose a pitch. The weather was great with a lovely warm sun, and due to the volcanic ash from Iceland there weren’t even any vapour trails from planes, so we had our lunch sat outside the van before taking the dogs into the massive open woodland next to the site.

Linda was very excited the next morning and woke up early because her Mum and Dad were arriving today. It was a scorching hot day, so after taking the dogs for a walk in the forest we had our sandwiches sat outside the awning in shorts and t-shirts before relaxing in our chairs reading books/newspapers while the beef and ale casserole was cooking in our electric oven (Thanks Jude and Steve!). Linda’s parents landed earlier than expected (thanks to David’s lead foot), so we settled in to enjoy the casserole.

The next day we headed for Kings Lynn, and because David knew it so well it was decided we would follow him there. We ended up following him round the whole town, turning round several times and getting beeped at by angry locals on more than one occasion! Still at least we found the free car park that they knew about. Oh no, I lie, we didn’t, we parked on the market square for some extortionate sum! After having a look at the river Great Ouse, which is much more picturesque than it may sound we had a walk around the town centre and ended up at the Tower Garden where we had some coffee. The tower is the Greyfriars Tower, and is the only above ground remains of the 13th century Medieval Franciscan Friary, and is the finest example of a medieval bell tower left in the country (there are only 2 others in England). After a walk back through town and a quick stop in a few shops (and Gregg’s café for tea and pastys) we headed out of Kings Lynn up to Hunstanton, where the Parry’s were staying. On the way there we stopped at a few pubs to check their menu’s for this evenings tea, after following Mr ‘I Think I Know Where I’m Going’ for a while and turning around a few times, we’d been in more pubs than you can shake a stick at and not had a single drink! We eventually arrived at Hunstanton and drove past the B&B they were staying in before parking on the sea front so that we could take the dogs for a bit of exercise. We walked past the disused lighthouse (now a house) and down to the beach at St Edmund’s Point, a huge expanse of flat sand meant that Prince and Smudge got a great run around before we headed back to the van to freshen up for tonight’s meal. We ate at The Plume of Feathers in Dursingham Fantastic steaks, rare breed pork burger and scampi ensued until we were all stuffed, and after drinks and scintillating conversation we headed to our separate residences for bed.

We headed out to The Wash this morning to go for a walk along the sea defence. We drove past Kings Lynn and over the Great Ouse and then headed out on lanes that were steadily getting narrower and narrower until eventually it turned into a dirt track up a steep little bank, we drove up it and spotted a tiny car park on the other side (as the OS map had promised), so we parked up and headed across the field towards the sea defence (a huge long mound of earth!).

Once we were up on the embankment the view opened out even more than it had already and we could see right across the mud flats to the hills of Sandringham and even Hunstanton up the coast. We walked along the sea defence for a total of 4 miles before we headed back to the van. Once at the van we decided to pack some butties and go for a walk in the Sandringham estate, past the other campsite and up the road we were soon at the front gate, we weren’t allowed in with dogs, but were allowed to the church, so we walked up the path to the front door where the lady inside said we could take the dogs in, a new experience for them! Inside the church it was very ornate with a lovely polished alter and lectern, quite a surprise compared to the unassuming exterior. We carried on our walk past the visitor centre/shop and stopped by the woods to have our sarnies. We carried on enjoying our walk through the estate past a viewpoint (a wooden structure opened by Her Majesties Agent) and past ER’s gates until we were back at the campsite, 4 miles walked again! Then it was out again to the Plume of Feathers where we had burgers, and fish and chips with Linda’s Mum and Dad.

The next day we met Linda’s parents again and headed out to Wells-Next-The-Sea (although nowadays its not so next-the-sea as the tide brings in more and more mud and sand), we parked up alongside a lovely little grass square surrounded by houses and 3 pubs. We then followed a little path out to the sea front and walked along a path that follows the route of the miniature railway, looking back towards Wells it gave us a great view of the little fishing harbour with the boats rowed up and the busy shops on the front. We had a walk back along the front before heading back to the car to drop the dogs off so that we could get some lunch. Back at the sea front again we hot-footed it into one of the fish and chip restaurants where we had a great lunch if not great service from the not-so-over-enthusiastic staff. Then it was back to the cars to continue up the A149 to Blakeney, which we drove through, turned round and drove back! We did see a wildfowl sanctuary, and a nice looking pub though! We drove on along the lanes until we got to the little village of Letheringsett, there is a working water mill here which we stopped at and we all bought some freshly ground flour. In the shop you could hear the mill working away with all the heavy machinery operating and the millstones constantly grinding. Back at the van the dogs had some bones we had got from the butchers on the grass in the sun and we sat out reading with a brew!

After walking the dogs the next morning we headed to Sandringham House for a look around. We got an ice cream each before paying our £10 each to go into the gardens and house. The gardens were lovely, and just coming into spring a lot of the trees and bushes were in bud if not in bloom, we decided that Queenie must be quite pleased with her gardeners. The tour of the house was brief, but interesting, we got to see the Queen’s sitting room, dining room, office and ballroom all of which were as grand as you might expect with not a single comfortable sofa to loll in. Out of the house we had a walk to the stables where the museum is housed. Lots of old cars, trinkets, collections and thingymebobs kept us entertained for a little while before we were back out and strolling in the grounds again, this time we walked to the 2 lakes and then around the front of the house and had a lie on the Queens lawns before heading out to the car and back to the van.
We met Linda’s parents in the Coach and Horses, Dersingham this time, a very warm welcome, and after some great beer and a great meal we were all convinced to have a pudding! It was a really great way to end a lovely visit, and we said a slightly tearful goodbye to Linda’s parents in the car park before heading back to the van. On the way we went via the Sandringham Forest drive, a very narrow one way forest road which takes you through a quiet part of the estate, at this time of day it was silent down there and we felt a bit sneaky as we drove through, we did catch a brief glimpse of a deer in the road before he ran off.

We have now moved to a little 5 van site just outside Louth in the Lincolnshire Wolds

Norfolk Broads

Broadlands Caravan Club site is a lovely place, just yards from one of the Broads rivers, and a pub within walking distance! A little drive down the road was our nearest town, Wroxham. On arriving in the little town centre, which was heaving with tourists, we were a little worried about the dominance of Roy who seemed to have taken over the town centre. Who is Roy you might ask, well it made us wonder too as he seemed to own most of the town. We parked in Roy’s car park, got the dogs out by Roy’s garden centre, walked past Roy’s department store and went for a little walk in Roy’s small park next to the river, we crossed the road and passed Roy’s fishing shop and Roy’s Toy shop before dropping the dogs at the car and doing our shopping in Roy’s supermarket. Weird.
We managed to tear ourselves away from Roy’s World and came back to the ‘van where we packed a picnic and headed out of the site up the road to the river. While it is called the River Ant it looks much more like a canal, and there doesn’t appear to be much water flow in it. As it was such a sunny day there were lots of boats moving around on the river today so we headed along the footpath for around a mile before finding somewhere to sit with our feet dangling over the water to eat our picnic. The picnic also contained 2 bottles of cider so as those went down our waves to the passing boats became more and more enthusiastic up until the point where a lady waved at me and when I waved back she quickly looked away in case she attracted more of the lunatics attention!

We’ve also been into Norwich, a lovely old city with lots of character, we headed to the castle first and had our lunch sitting on the grass in the castle garden, while we were sat there we spotted the no dogs sign, so had to tell Prince and Smudge to do their best human impressions while we finished our picnic. We then headed around the castle keep with a great view over the city before heading into the town where we had a walk around the cathedral and the narrow streets, as well as having a look around the permanent market square with its tiny stalls squeezed into tiny spaces.

We had decided the night before that we were going to do a walk across the broads today, and so we planned a route along the Weavers Way, it was a circular route that was around 8 miles.
We drove to the village of Halvergate and parked Tonks on the road before heading out on a farm track. As expected the walk was extremely flat, as the whole route only passed over 2 contour lines on the OS map. It was a beautiful sunny day, and the view was fantastic, but early in the walk I did comment that it was unlikely that the view would change. It didn’t, as we moved on it just meant we were looking at stuff in the distance from a slightly different angle! The closer scenery did change frequently though, and we saw new born cows and sheep, lots of swans and other bird life, several farms, lots of windmills in various states of repair, lots and lots of water (ditches, ponds, rivers, sea) and even a pub! Around half way we crossed a level crossing and went up an embankment to reveal a great view of Breydon Water (the river Yare’s estuary) so we sat on the river bank and had our picnic with a great view watching lots of river boats passing us by. We carried on along the estuary until we came across a small pub in the middle of nowhere, the Berney Arms didn’t look very appealing from the outside, but we gave it the benefit and had a pint and a half of what tasted like cats piss! Wish we hadn’t bothered! We swiftly left and had a quick walk around Berney Arms Mill, a well preserved black mill with huge white sails, before carrying on the return journey to Tonks. At the next level crossing there was a tiny train platform which services the pub and the visitors to the mill. Phil posed for a photo on the track and was lucky not to be killed by the many trains wizzing by, we then carried on along the flats, past some more cows fields and back on the farm track to a welcoming Tonks! 9.7 miles in total meant we were all tired when we got back, and both of us a little sun burned, after a well deserved shower we had a barbeque for tea.


We also visited Felbrigg Hall, a country estate which was only handed over to the National Trust in 1967 by it’s then owner Robert Windham as he had no benefactors. The Trust have since kept it exactly as Windham had left it, which makes it feel unusually lived-in.
First we took the dogs around the grounds and did around 4.5 miles in 2 circuits, first we did the woodland walk which took us through Felbrigg Great Wood, a place mentioned in a book Neil and Nicky bought us about beautiful countryside (and it was), back at the car park we saw our neighbours from the campsite who were also walking their dogs before going in the house. Then we did the church circuit which took us past (and for a quick peek inside) the estates church and then on to a man made lake before returning to the house. After stopping at the café for tea and cake we put the dogs in the car and went for a wander inside. First was a look around the walled garden with its pristine borders, exotic plants and unusual layouts. We then headed into the house where we wandered around the opulent surroundings and amazing collections of paintings and artefacts, the rooms were very grand as you would expect, but it did look like the Squire had just left it as he’d lived in it.
We then drove up the road to Sheringham Park, where the National Trust also own and manage a vast area of woodland and countryside, the hall however is still in private ownership. We did one of the many circular walks, a 3 mile loop that took us through the woods past the grand looking hall and up to a “Gazebo”, a huge platform in the woods that towers over the trees and gives you fantastic panoramic views of the area. Smudge didn’t like the steps on the way up as they had gaps so she took a lot of encouraging to get up there! On the way back we passed the front of the Hall again before coming to a small temple which liked like a cross between an eccentric folly and a tiny bandstand.
We then headed on to Mundesley where we took the dogs onto the beach. Prince went mad, running up and down like a mad thing chasing stones and having a great time, don’t know where he got the energy! We had a quick walk up and down but as it was now a bit cold we didn’t hang around any longer. Once back in Tonks and on our way back we spotted Stow Hill Mill just outside the village of Mundesley, with a sign saying ‘open to the public until dusk’. We quickly pulled over for a look, it is a great big corn mill which has been painted black with white sails, entry was a bargain at £1.50 and at the time we went there was no-one there and you just pop your money in the honesty box. Inside the mill is a fascinating history of the mills use, and subsequent fall into disrepair, and then details of its recent regeneration in 2002. As you climb up the narrow staircases you see more and more of the mills interior workings and the views from the windows get better and better. A real gem of a find that we were glad to stumble across.


First stop the next day was Hickling Broad, the largest of the broads, and only up the road from us, it was recommended as a place to visit in our Readers Digest beautiful countryside book. When we got there we found there was nowhere to park, but we did find a nature reserve car park, they wanted £3.50 and wouldn’t allow the dogs in so that was that. We later found out that the best (only) way to see the broad is by boat! We continued up the road to Sea Palling, a small village next to a huge beach, we walked over the dunes and down to the beach which is protected from the waves by some huge off shore rock barriers. After a bit of a play on the beach we rejoined Tonks, and a bit further up the road spotted a huge thatched barn with a sign saying café open, not ones to turn down some tea and cake, in we went!
Tea and cake duly consumed while sitting in the sun we went into the barn for our free audio tour, it was interesting to learn that the huge Waxham Barn had been built as a sign of wealth by the landowner, and only had to be so big to gain one-upmanship over his neighbours. The barn had lost its roof in the 100mph winds during the storms of 1983, which caused substantial damage. During the more recent restoration the new thatch roof took a year to complete using 15,000 bundles of reeds! The original beams were used where possible, and you could still see that some of them were made up of salvaged ships masts.
We carried on along the lanes until we reached the national Trust owned Horsey Mill, a water pumping mill which suffered extensive damage, again in the 1983 storms, after which the Trust took ownership and have restored it and opened it up to the public. Whilst the mill no longer operates, a lot of the machinery is still in place and you can get a real sense of how it worked, pumping water out of the fields and into the rivers to make the land dry enough for farming. There are still hundreds of these disused mills all over the broads, now replaced by diesel and electric pumps, and one board in the mill explained easily how they work: The mills pump water from the ditches by the fields into the higher level waterways of the rivers and canals, imagine it as water on your bathroom floor, being pumped up into the bath and then being released down the plug hole (into the sea).

Next we had a trip to Thetford Forest Park, where Phil went off for his ride and Linda went walking the dogs. Phil did a 17 mile ride which incorporated the “Black” route, I put black in quotes because it can’t really compare with any other black I’d ridden, and most people with any degree of bike handling skills could manage it, it was good fun though and nice to be out on a track where I didn’t have to worry about navigation, I’d say the track was like Cannock Chase trail, tight, twisty and lumpy singletrack but with none of the uphills and none of the downhills of Cannock! While out I met a couple of lads on the only downhill section so we had a chat and I did a couple of runs down with them before heading back. Linda followed one of the waymarked walking routes through the forest, it was quite busy with other walkers, and the dogs were chasing occasional squirrels, 6 miles in total meant the dogs were tired out when she got back.

Next up was the mandatory trip on a boat! The guy on the desk slipped us some life jackets, gave us the briefest of briefings and we were off, accelerating out of the harbour and under the Wroxham bridge as fast as out boat would carry us (about 4mph). The 2hrs gave us plenty of time to head to Salthouse Broad, so that’s where we headed, past all the lovely riverside properties on the outskirts of Wroxham, and out into the heaths and broads. Phil was captain of the ship to start, and we soon came upon Wroxham Broad, a large lake where we spotted a mooring at the side so we decided to attempt a stop. Phil wiggled the steering wheel in a random fashion which somehow made the boat bump into the side where Linda deftly threw a rope over and hopped on to dry land. She then jumped on to the front of the boat to grab the other rope just as it started drifting out again! Somehow, through a great deal of luck and no judgement Phil managed to get it back to safety and Linda tied the front on. We stayed there for a few minutes and had a drink looking out on Wroxham Broad before Linda took over the captaincy and we continued on to Salthouse Broad. A much smaller lake, Salthouse had a few day hire boats and a few holiday boats on it, Linda managed to avoid the slow motion melee and turned us around for the return trip. On the way back we went across the middle of Wroxham Broad, which was much busier with faster moving dinghy’s whizzing about (don’t know how you do it Mike!), we got shouted at once by one of the instructors before hot footing it out of there. Phil became el capitan again before we reached the end of our trip and after a botched first attempt at reversing the owner shouted a few instructions and we glided back into dock with the greatest of ease and grace and only a minor shunt. After that excitement we needed a calm down so we went to Woodford’s Brewery and Pub where we had a quick look in the visitor centre before going to the pub for some good grub and beer.

Next morning Phil suggested going to the café up the road for a cooked breakfast which Linda thought about for half a second before agreeing! We sorted the dogs out and then headed down the road to the café at around 11:00. There was only one other couple in there who were just finishing a coffee, so we grabbed a table and ordered our breakfast! As we ate 2 other families came in, one of which had a father who loved the sound of his own voice, and could be clearly heard over the noise of the mini digger outside! Once we’d finished we popped into the art shop and gallery next door, we had a look at a good few of the pictures before we got chatting to the artist Linda H Matthews. She told us a fascinating story about her previous career and how she took up art and set up her own studio and business, and is now working on books and DVD’s as well as doing evening classes, an interesting and inspiring story. That afternoon we had a walk to Salthouse broad along a lovely woodland footpath and boardwalk, as well as getting to know our neighbours Vic and Veronica, who we shared storied and a few drinks with, and Vic gave us some useful tips which we put into practice when moving to Sandringham site the next day, thanks Vic!

Sunny Suffolk.

We arrived at Polstead Camping and Caravan Club site to a great welcome from the owners, Greg and Karen. They have only owned the site for 18 months and have made some great improvements, including a facilities block which was fab, only 4 weeks old and one of the nicest we’d been in so far.

First off we decided to head to nearby Sudbury. We found a car park and took the dogs to Sudbury Common, passing some lovely old black and white buildings on the way. Sudbury Common is a flood plain which in the summer is lovely meadow land with paths and streams criss crossing it. Prince had a bit of a swim in the river before we headed into the town and had a stroll around the open air market.
Next up was Lavenham, a lovely medieval village with lots of very well preserved old buildings throughout the village, we had a walk through the village surprised that a lot of the little boutique style shops were open given that it was a bank holiday Friday. We had a wander up to the square where the Guildhall takes centre stage. Unfortunately it wasn’t open to visitors today but it was nice to have a walk around. We’ve also visited Colchester; quite a bustling town centre with lots of your usual high street shops, we spotted a bakers with some great looking cakes, so we had to have one each! We then followed the signs for the castle; it is a roman castle which has had subsequent improvements over the centuries. We had a walk around the castles keep until we found a bench where we could sit and scoff our cake! Cake duly scoffed we headed into the castle gardens for a look round, lovely planted gardens and rolling lawns, which we enjoyed until we saw a no dogs allowed sign! We thought there would be no warden today so risked walking back through the park to the main entrance, which was when the warden noticed us! Phil pleaded innocence and we made our escape. When we got back to the site reception was still open, so we called in and ordered our fish & chips just in time, the site owners order the chips and we had them delivered to the van!

The next day we followed one of the Country Walking routes from Dedham to Flatford Mill. The area is famed as the artist Constable’s inspiration for many of his famous works, including the Haywain. The car park was chocca when we arrived and the footpaths were very busy, on the way we crossed a field with a lot of bullocks in it, and on one of the small footbridges we stopped chatting to an elderly lady who told us her friend once had her ribs broken by cattle in a field she was walking through (then she seemed to forget what she was talking about, so we gave up and carried on) We went to the spot where the Haywein was painted and took some photos. There was an exhibition of constables works in the visitor centre which we both had a mooch around before continuing our walk past Flatford locks and across the fields back to Dedham and into the Sun Inn for a drink. It was so nice we popped into the next pub, the Malborough Head, where we could only afford a half each. We managed to get some seats on the sofas by the fire. Cosy.







Next day we went out towards the coast to do another of the routes out of Country Walking magazine, it’s a 5.5 mile loop that starts in the village of Chelmondiston. We parked on the main road and soon found ourselves out in open countryside with the farmers busy at work ploughing their fields, it was a lovely day with a few clouds being pushed along by the light wind. We carried on down a lane where we popped out by a house on the estuary, we found an ideal spot where we could sit on the grass bank with our feet dangling and we had out picnic while watching some of the yacht’s coming and going. Then we carried on to the tiny village of Pin Mill where there is a boat repairers and lots of house boats moored on the estuary. We carried on across some fields and through some woodland until we came to Royal Harwich Yacht Club which looked very posh with loads of yachts moored up in the marina. We then carried on past Woolverstone church and the very grand Ipswich High School before coming back to the village and into Tonks. We then drove down the road to the foreland where we had a 2 mile walk out on the sea front. The views were fantastic as we could see the Harwich international ferry port, with a ferry waiting to go. We also saw 4 of Trinity House’s floating lighthouses, 2 were in the estuary and 2 moored up on the other side. As we walked around towards the marina we spotted 3 massive container ships on the other side at Felixstowe, they dwarfed everything else out on the estuary and one was busy being loaded while the other was being unloaded! We carried on around until we reached a beach which could be accessed by a 5ft drop. After little encouragement Princey jumped down and had a play on the beach, but then had to be lifted back up by Phil, he climbed out only for Prince to jump back in again!

We decided that we should go in the car and visit some of the local villages recommended by the campsite owners and, so we set off relatively early and headed to Kersey. This is a beautiful old village squeezed into a small valley with a ford running through its centre. We had a little walk through the village and over the ford before heading up the hill to the church, the view from the church looking down on the village was great, and a few photos later we were heading back down and driving on via the lanes to Monks Eleigh. Before we got there we spotted an English Heritage sign for St James’ Chapel at the side of the road, no sign of a chapel though, so we pulled over and got out to investigate, a small footpath took us round the back of someone’s garden with a small ancient building that looked more like a barn. Inside it was lovely with all the original beams on the roof and little alcoves where the priest would keep his stuff (or something like that). When we did get to Monks Eleigh we discovered another lovely village with a large village green where there is a restored water pump in the centre, Phil gave it a go but someone had disconnected it so that curious tourists didn’t empty water all over the place, how inconsiderate. We carried on down the lanes again until we reached Long Melford, a village/town with a very wide main street which reminded us of Broadway in the Cotswolds. We stopped in the car park of the National Trust owned Melford Hall and had a little walk around the grounds, not far though as it was closed until tomorrow!
Then we headed back to nearby Hadleigh again where we parked in the Town Council car park, and followed the riverside walk which follows the River Brett, we popped out at the other end of the high street so a little walk back along there saw us get some supplies before we were back at the car and heading back.

We have now reluctantly said bye to Greg and Karen and their lovely site and have arrived at Broadlands Caravan Club site in the Norfolk Broads.

The Big Smoke

Sorry if this is a bit of an Epic entry, but we did rather a lot in London!

We had decided that for our first day we would take the dogs on a short train journey to Greenwich and have a look round there, then we would have an idea of what the transport was like for dogs. Linda had rang a local vet the day before who said there were no kennels locally so it looks like we will have to take them round with us. The dogs were fine on the train, and weren’t bothered by it at all. Once we came out of Greenwich station we could immediately tell that we were in a more affluent area of London to Abbey Wood, clean and tidy with nice looking bars and restaurants and some expensive looking buildings. We followed some finger posts to Greenwich Park, a lovely royal park set on a hill with the observatory at its heart. It was very busy with coach loads of tourists so we walked up one of the quieter paths where we saw a cross country skier making his way around the park on wheeled skis! We walked around the back of the observatory and towards the front where there is a great viewpoint over London, as it was a mostly sunny day we could see the London Eye, the Gherkin, Canary Wharf and the Millennium Dome (amongst others) quite clearly. The observatory was free to get in so decided to go for a mooch around one at a time while the other walked the dogs in the park. They had a display on solar activity which had a lot of interesting facts and photos about what we know about the sun (so far). Linda had a go on one of the interactive gubbins in the solar exhibition and will now be emailed a link to the solar scientists website and will be helping the scientists to identify solar storms in the near future! The other area of the museum was about the Meriden and how Greenwich became the centre point for global time, there were lots of early clocks on display, as well as modern ones. There was an feature that explained that because of so many shipping disasters a method of measuring longitude was invented to aid navigation, and this is what we still use today. There was also a walk around the observatory through the old kitchen, sitting room and bedroom and right up into the giant telescope room at the top. After this we headed down through the park towards the maritime museum and college, with lots of foreign tourists taking photos of Prince, The Maritime museum was also free to get in so Phil sat outside while Linda went in first to look at the displays of new and old boats. While she was in there a chap came over to ask what breed Prince was, it turned out he lived in London and worked as a tour guide in Greenwich, when Linda came back he told us that the area used to be a hospital for the navy and a brewery was built, this has recently been reinstated and we should visit the bar, but not before he whisked us off to show us where the painted hall was, which we must see! (This was before Phil got chance to go in the museum!) After he pointed out the hall and left us to it we went inside for a look. What a great recommendation, the room was amazing with every wall and its huge ceiling painted with a massive mural, it was finished around 1800 and took Sir James Thornhill 19 years to complete, very impressive and well worth a visit. Prince got some love outside from a New Zealander who was missing her dogs and we continued to the brewery. Phil went in for a pint and a half of Porter which came to £10.40!

We knew London was expensive but didn’t know it was going to be that bad! But Linda then discovered that Porter was by far the most expensive of their vast ale selection and anything else would have been much more normally priced. We then headed round to the Cutty Sark which was unfortunately still wrapped up due to fire, so we went for a walk along the Greenwich foot tunnel. This is a fantastic, ornate tunnel built in 1902 which takes pedestrians and cyclists under the Thames to the Isle of Dogs, where the business district of Canary Wharf is and the troubled Tower Hamlets estate. The tunnel was very busy with commuting cyclists rushing to get away from their daily grind in the city. When we surfaced on the other side we walked across an area of parkland next to Tower Hamlets where we discovered Mudchute City Farm. We had seen this on TV a few months ago and it was very strange to see it for real, you could walk freely around the farm and touch the horses, cattle, sheep, pigs and even camelids! And right next to it all were the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf, surreal.
Back through the tunnel we decided it was time to call it a day, so back to the train where the dogs fell asleep.


On the Saturday we were off into central London on the train, so we got up early(ish) made butties and off we went.
Walked down to the train station and bought a travelcard which allows travel anywhere within central London. Dogs were fine on the train and we arrived at Tower Bridge station with no hiccups. Then we were on foot and off over Tower Bridge via HMS Belfast which is moored by the bridge, once we had walked over the bridge we stopped on a bench outside the Tower of London and had our lunch with a great view down the river. After that we had a walk round the front of the tower which was heaving with tourists and then on down the Thames Path towards London Bridge. We eventually reached Millennium Bridge and could see St Paul’s Cathedral, so we went up for a closer look where we met 2 mounted police. One of the horses was called Ken and the other was Sally, so Prince said hello to both of them and we were back on our way over the Millennium Bridge. From there we had a great view of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and the Tate Modern which we walked past the front of and stopped for a pint at the Young’s pub. We then carried on along the Thames path ( by now we were getting used to all the attention Prince and Smudge were drawing with people taking photos and patting - some asking, some not, one Spanish/mexican couple asked for photos with Prince and then asked to buy him!!) until we got to the OXO tower where there was a small beach with lots of kids on it, so we took the dogs down (mainly because Prince pulled us down there!), the Thames is very mucky though so we didn’t spend long there. On past the National Theatre and the South Bank Centre where we briefly stopped to watch some amusing teenagers falling off their skateboards and BMX’s on the skatepark, before heading over the Hungerford Bridge towards Charing Cross Station. Once there we walked along the Embankment with a great view of the London Eye before crossing the road to get a glimpse of a very crowded (and sealed off) 10 Downing Street. We then walked down the road between the Treasury and the Cabinet War Rooms and into St James’ Park where we saw some of the pelicans they have on the lake. We decided that before going through the park we wanted to see Big Ben, so we went back down Parliament Square where we got a great view of the clock tower and the Houses of Parliament as well as Westminster Abbey, then it was back through St James’ Park to Horse Guards. We were lucky to get there when we did as we sat under cover on some steps as a torrential shower arrived, we stayed a while and watched the tourists having a field day laughing and teasing the poor guard who was trying to do his marching up and down. After the rain stopped we continued through St James’ Park to Buckingham Palace, which again was heaving with tourists, so we did a few photos and carried on through Green Park where we decided to call it a day and get the tube ready for home. Once we got in the station we found that access to the line was via escalator and following Phil’s call to the helpline the previous day we were told no dogs allowed on them unless they were carried, so we asked a member of staff who promptly got one of his colleagues to take us into a temporarily disused station (where the escalators were switched off, so we were fine and walked down) and then out to the final escalator which he had switched off for us! Now that’s customer service! The tube was no problem for the dogs apart from a bit of overcrowding when a group of Germans squeezed on when there was no room (and nearly got their heads cut off in the doors!) and we were at Tower Bridge station before we knew it. We quickly jumped on a crowded train which soon emptied as it went through stops, and a couple of young drunk lads made friends with Prince and Smudge, we overheard them saying they had been in a bar when their mate chucked a drink over someone and they all had to scarper!


On Sunday we were up and out by 10, wanting to go and see some more of the Royal Parks. We went to London Bridge station and then headed down the stairs to the underground station where we took a relatively quiet tube to Westminster. Once we popped out we got our bearings and headed through Green Park again, past Buckingham Palace where we noticed that The Mall and Constitution Hill had no traffic. We thought there must be an event going on which we assumed was confirmed by the number of cyclists we were seeing, this was proved to be wrong later in the day when we found out they are closed every Sunday! At the top of Constitution Hill we walked under the Wellington monument, which we spotted was run by English Heritage, and not ones to turn down free entry we flashed our cards and went in (one at a time, of course). There is an exhibition which shows how the monument, a huge arch, was built as a second entrance to Hyde Park to replace the old turnpike wooden gate, and it was previously in line with the existing entrance to Hyde Park. However, once the road system started to get busier the arch proved to be in the way of the traffic, and the only acceptable solution was to move the arch. It was moved about a hundred feet away and turned so that it now faces Constitution Hill. As part of the visit you get to go out on the top of the arch where there is a great view of the park and the back of Buckingham Palace. We then headed into Hyde Park where we walked along Rotten Row, the horse ride, and then continued along the edge of The Serpentine until we came to the Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain. This is a beautiful elliptical floor level fountain with water continuously rushing round over varying degrees of smooth and rough surfaces. We then continued our stroll into Kensington gardens, up to the physical energy statue and then to the Albert Memorial, a spectacular, golden monument which has recently had a £11.2m refurbishment and was sparkling. We also had a good view of the Royal Albert hall on the opposite side of the road. We then continued through Kensington Gardens to Kensington Palace where Linda popped into the garden to take some photos before we carried on up to Bayswater Road. We walked along the pavement where we could admire some of the artwork of the many vendors that display their works there. One set in particular stood out as there were some very striking scenes of a lighthouse which looked like the one we had seen at Dungeness, we asked the artist who was stood nearby and he confirmed that it was, and said that he had a half share in a holiday cottage in Rye, he wanted his work to capture the eerie mood of the place and we certainly thought he had done it well. We re-entered Hyde Park at the Italian Gardens and walked from there to Marble Arch, after giving the dogs a drink we decided to walk along Oxford Street for a bit before taking a few side streets to end up at Piccadilly Circus. We decided to take the tube from here back to London Bridge, but when we got down there was nothing but escalators, so we asked a less than helpful member of staff who said “no, there’s no stairs” and that the nearest accessible station was Covent garden, we then asked a much more helpful information assistant who told us we could get a train direct from Charing Cross, so off we headed. We went via Trafalgar Square and stopped for some photos amongst the throngs of other tourists, and before we knew it we were at the station. We jumped on the first train we spotted which was headed to London Bridge, until we heard an announcement that this train is cancelled, we got off and jumped on the train opposite (also going to London Bridge) before we heard another announcement that the train on platform 2 was going to Abbey Wood! A quick run round and we had claimed a seat on that train and settled the dogs down, they got lots of love on the way with a lady telling us how well behaved they were and a chap next to Linda who said he also had a German Shepherd


The weather had given heavy rain for Monday but it seemed to have cleared by lunch so we headed down to the station and got on the train to Charing Cross. From there we walked down to Covent Garden and had an amble through the busy market hall and out to where the street performers were earning their crust, we then walked down to Leicester Square where there was a lot of work going on setting up some stage and scenery area for the premier of Clash of the Titans at the Odeon. We continued to amble into Chinatown where some German chap shook his brolly at Princey so he growled at him, only to get run into by a lady with a pram because he was looking at the German and not where he was going…. Prince didn’t like Chinatown. As we were leaving we spotted a shop with some brightly coloured little cakes in the window, so Linda went and got us a couple and we pottered on into Soho. We had a bit of a laugh at some of the goods available in the sex shops, masks, Viagra, stimulants, poppers, books on big willies - you name it, it was there. We carried on until we found a little square where we sat on a bench and ate our wonderful cakes and enjoyed the relative peace that the square offered, then we continued our walk to Tottenham Court Road tube station. Once we got to the underground station we followed the signs for the stairs which led us to a wonderful spiral staircase which must have been part of the original underground system but was now somewhat forgotten due to the escalators and lifts available instead. The stairs were metal and the wall was lined with tiles all the way, it was great to have them to ourselves and we commented how peaceful it was amidst all the chaos. We got off the tube at Bank station where we asked a member of staff if there was stairs or a lift, she got on her radio and said someone would be at the lift waiting for us, so we followed her instructions and spotted the guy in the crowds, he took us to a set of public lifts and up we went. When we popped out onto the street the place was buzzing with commuters who had just finished in the finance district for the day, grey and black suits accompanied by grey and black faces was the order of the day, all rushing to get to the nearest train or tube. We continued walking in the rain (it had started while we were underground) to London Bridge station.


Again, we had a lazy morning on Tuesday, mainly because the rain was lashing down on the van roof, when we did get up the rain had stopped and the sun was trying to break through. We decided that on our last day we’d like to see the Thames Barrier, so after we’d had lunch we headed down to the station where we bought a return to Woolwich Dockyard. The barrier was a 2 mile walk along a main road and on the way it started raining, we walked through a little park area and up some steps and there was the barrier in front of us. It was built in 1982 following the North Sea floods of 1953, the gaps between the navigation spans are designed to be as wide as the opening at Tower Bridge so that boats can still navigate the river. Tidal floods in the area are caused by a combination of seasonal high tides and surge tides in the English Channel which cause a sudden rush of water up the Thames, when this happens the barriers can be raised from the river bed and prevent the tidal waters rushing up into London. We headed to the information centre, but they wanted £3.50 per head and dogs were not allowed in the building, so as it was raining heavier we decided to give it a miss and headed back through a bit of a rough estate with high rise blocks. Back at the van we had a brew and settled in for the night listening to the rain on the roof. Phil couldn’t help himself watching 2 episodes of The Wire, so Linda was fast asleep by the time he got to bed!


Move day today! We are both glad to be leaving London, despite having a nice time, we’re not city types! So once the jobs were done and the awning was down we were off. It was very easy getting out of London, with the only delay being the tolls at the Dartford Tunnel, after about an hour and a half of driving we arrived at Polstead Camping and Caravan Club site. A lovely site with a brand new amenities block in a lovely area, so we’re looking forward to spending a few nights here.