Back in UK

The ferry from Dieppe took us into Newhaven which is on the south coast of England between London and Portsmouth. Our plan was to drive back to Portsmouth and stay with my Aunt Sheila again while we fixed the bumper of the van which had been “Crunched” in Portugal.

The white cliffs, but not of Dover, these are near Newhaven.

Aunt Sheila welcomed us once again and her Son in Law Robin was kind enough to lend me tools and run me round to the Auto Parts stores to get some fiberglass, paint and filler.

The weather decided NOT to co-operate and I ended up getting soaking wet and taking a day longer than planned to finish the job. As soon as it was finished we drove back to Weston Super Mare where we bought the van and took it back under their “Buy Back” agreement.

I was quite stressed out about this, I was convinced in my own head that they would try and knock the price down. In the end my repairs helped when they glanced over it and gave me the full agreed amount! Which meant that the cost for the 2 1/2 months we had the van was about $4000 including repairs, insurance, tax etc. Which compared with the $1000 A WEEK it would have cost to rent one was a good deal and we didn’t have the hassle of selling it privately.

Next order of business was getting a rental car and loading all the equipment we’d bought for the trip into it. We were going to donate everything either to our daughter Sally if she wanted it, or to a charity store.

After some LONG delays due to a wreck near Weston Super Mare we finally got on the road to see our friends Graham and Elaine who live near Lincoln in the East of England, North of London.

Lincoln Cathedral from Lincoln Castle

Lots of catching up was spread between dinners out, trips to Lincoln castle and cathedral, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and a wonderful Country Fair/Show. Lots of fun was had and lots of memories shared.

Lincoln Castle

The city gate which dates back to the Roman era

The Country Fair had so much to see

Sheep dogs herding geese!

Our good friends Graham and Elaine

Barbara’s Brother Stu and his wife Linda live a little way South of Graham and Elaine so we spent the rest of the first week with them with more dinners out and more catching up together with a trip to the Shuttleworth Trust.

This was to have been a picture of Stuart and Linda until Holly decided she was the star!

Shuttleworth trust and a very rare Kirby Kite glider

WW2 Hurricane fighter

1909 AVRO triplane.

Shuttleworth is a great collection of airplanes, cars and motorcycles that began as the private collection of Richard Shuttleworth in the 1930’s and which was carried on by his family after he was killed in a flying accident during WW2.