{"id":3437,"date":"2015-04-12T17:15:18","date_gmt":"2015-04-12T16:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/?p=3437"},"modified":"2026-05-22T09:55:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T08:55:27","slug":"odyssey-number-four-begins-here-we-go-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/2015\/04\/12\/odyssey-number-four-begins-here-we-go-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Odyssey Number Four Begins; Here We Go Again……"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we wander and as we beam, we find a world not previously seen\u2026\u2026..<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The
The Camel Estuary near Padstow<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

As our plane crossed the English Channel and over southern England, we had no idea of what was below. The clouds were thick with no gaps, no cracks, no breaks, just thick grubby white fluff. So as we came into land we finally saw what was under the clouds. It was England and it was raining. It was also rather cold, but it was lovely to see a bit of sunshine later in the day. It was also lovely to see Eileen sitting in Lynda and Mark\u2019s garden when we arrived at East Grinstead. She may have been rather a slimy green on the outside, but inside she was ready for us to move in, no dust or damp and everything in place. It wasn\u2019t so lovely when she wouldn\u2019t do more than splutter,\u00a0as Rodney tried to get her started.\u00a0 But Lynda\u2019s jump leads, Neil\u2019s car and Rodney revving, got her going and the boys went off for a drive around Sussex.<\/p>\n

The next day, Neil drove us over to Royal Tunbridge Wells in his car and we discovered that it really is a very upmarket place. As we came down the staircase of the car park, a tramp was busily chatting on his mobile phone. Posh place, innit?\u00a0 Our lunch was eaten in the poshest Wetherspoons in England; it\u2019s an old converted Opera House and definitely worth a visit if you\u2019re ever in the area. On returning to the car park we couldn\u2019t find the car; none of us had made a note of where we left\u00a0it and we were probably not concentrating due to chuckling about the posh tramp. We finally realised we weren\u2019t even in the right car park and then, on finding the right car park, we couldn\u2019t find the correct level; between us it really was a comedy of errors. Posh tramps can be such a distraction.<\/p>\n

\"Not
Not sure the train is going to be coming anytime soon in Wheathampstead<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Our
Our first full English breakfast at Neil’s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

From East Grinstead we covered a fair bit of southern England visiting family and friends in Polegate, Horsham, Hertford, Baldock, Watton-At-Stone, Harpenden, Haddenham, St Ives, Kettering, Nailsworth, Compton Martin and Padstow. In the first six days we had slept in five different beds and not one of those nights was in Eileen. \u201cIt\u2019s funny what you think about in the night\u201d – a quote from Auntie Sylvia (97).\u00a0 What I find funnier is waking up in the night and having no idea where you are, or where the bathroom might be!\u00a0 Rodney was jetlagged for ages and changing the clocks to British summertime after\u00a0five days in England definitely didn\u2019t help his body clock.<\/p>\n

\"Strolling
Strolling Minchinhampton Common with Honor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Netball
Netball shooting with Honor and Max<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Travelling around England we were very well fed with lots of fabulous meals cooked for us by family and friends; thank you to everyone who kept us so very well stuffed.\u00a0 As for Eileen, you would think she would be fully stuffed after\u00a0three years of us adding bits and pieces\u00a0on and in\u00a0her, but we still managed to add more. A new door-catch, a replacement bathroom fly screen, two new stools, a smaller steamer and a bright yellow egg box.<\/p>\n

Rodney enjoyed his Hertford Grammar School Old Boys annual dinner catching up with\u00a0a lot of\u00a0old friends.\u00a0 This year’s guest speaker was a former head boy\u00a0Michael Dobbs (Lord Dobbs of Wylie) who is now an author of many novels, including \u2018House of Cards\u2019 which was made into a TV drama back in the eighties and has just been updated with another TV series starring Kevin Spacey.\u00a0 He was also\u00a0a Chief of Staff to Margaret Thatcher\u00a0that is, until a difference of opinion caused his departure. Prior to the Old Boys dinner, he had generously completed a 180-mile charity walk to raise money on behalf of an ex-pupil\u2019s son who had broken his neck whilst playing rugby.\u00a0 Apparently the\u00a0meal in the evening\u00a0was very tasty and Rodney managed to wash it down with a few good pints, in between all the talking.<\/p>\n

\"4a<\/p>\n

Michael Dobbs completing\u00a0his charity walk<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The weather for the first two weeks couldn\u2019t have been much colder and when it was windy it made my bones ache.\u00a0 Feeling the sunshine actually warm our faces on Easter Monday, felt like a real treat and then it started to warm up\u2026\u2026.a bit, before it turned cold again, then another warm day on Thursday and then cold again on Friday, by which time we were ready to find a warmer country. So after\u00a0nineteen days in England, we boarded the ferry to Santander in Northern Spain on Sunday April 12th.\u00a0 Here we go again……..<\/p>\n

Adventure awaits. Never stop exploring.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Eileen
Eileen in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Meldon
Meldon Reservoir, Devon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Meldon
Meldon Viaduct, one of only two surviving Victorian iron viaducts of this style in Britain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Fisherman
Fisherman at Meldon reservoir<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The
The Daymark at Stepper Point, Cornwall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we wander and as we beam, we find a world not previously seen\u2026\u2026..   As our plane crossed the English Channel and over southern England, we had no idea of what was below. The clouds were thick with no gaps, no cracks, no breaks, just thick grubby white fluff. So as we came into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3437"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8308,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3437\/revisions\/8308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}