A Virtual Break!

"It's been a while since you last posted something" said my regular reader. 

I have to agree, but life has been a little busy of late. Just after we returned from our trip to the Isle of Wight written about in the previous post, Ann was diagnosed with breast cancer and immediately started on chemotherapy. Receiving such a diagnosis, especially when it affects someone who is your entire world is absolutely devastating, but the chemo has worked well and has recently successfully finished. 

Then, a few weeks ago, I eventually gave in to constant nagging to get my back problem looked at. Long story cut short, I spent 2 days at the local A&E and was transferred to the Spinal unit at Southampton for emergency surgery. Again, this was successful and I now find myself on a fairly long road to recovery. It is quite frightening at 2 o'clock in the morning to be told by the consultant surgeon who is going to be performing the surgery that you are a couple of months away from complete and permanent paralysis from the waist down. So in view of all that has been happening, we decided to put all our plans on hold for a few months.

And then came Corona Virus. So "a few months" might well become a year or two.

All the book writing commissions have dried up for the duration with the publishers that I work with noting that the publishing business has become very tight of late and being cautious of adding to their catalogues. Fortunately, all my existing titles are continuing to sell in reasonable numbers with the royalty cheques dribbling rather than rolling in and I have a couple of "treatments" as they are called ready to go as and when the publishers are eventually interested, but for now books six and seven in the series remain on hold. I can't even get out to do any photography at the moment as my camera bag is now too heavy for me to carry! You have to be a committed photographer to understand why I need to carry so much stuff around with me on the off-chance that I might need it. Even though I know that I probably won't.

A Day at the Watercress Line

I was able to sneak out for a day just before Ann's chemo started. It was another photo charter day giving line side access across multiple locations and exclusive use of the line for the day. I'm quite pleased with a few of the images that resulted from the day:

loco 506 was the subject for the day. recently restored and returned to traffic, it has been painted and sign written in the final style used by the Southern Railway just prior to nationalisation. In an otherwise inaccessible location, the blue sky and autumnal copper colours in the tree make a fine contrast to the black engine

these photo charters tend to start early in the day, in the case of this one it was just after 6 o'clock in the morning. About an hour later, we're heading from Ropley towards Medstead and overlooking glorious Hampshire scenery

same location as the previous shot, but taken from the other side of the track and now with the sun shining on the train. everywhere else in the UK, the lamps or discs on the front of the loco told the running staff and especially the signalman what type of train it was. On the Southern, it indicated the destination or route

we swapped our passenger carriages for a goods train after lunch, here seen making an enthusiastic start away from Ropley

The 2020 Holiday That Isn't To Be

We like France. We like the weather, the food, the wine, the good, empty roads and the people. The fact that I can speak passably good French probably helps and I have been told by several native French people that they can't hear an English accent when i am speaking French. Or perhaps they are being polite!

We had originally planned to have our honeymoon in France, but a complete lack of money put this on hold for a year. So, in the summer of 1981, just before our first wedding anniversary, we bundled our tent and camping gear into, on and around our trusty Ford Escort Popular and headed to Carcassonne. we took the morning ferry from Portsmouth to Cherbourg and being lazy, we decided to look for an overnight hotel, rather than put the tent up for the night. That strategy backfired a little; we left it too late to start looking and ended up in a shabby B&B or Chambre d'hote as they are called in France. It was grim, but only cost us 50FF (then about £4) for the night. The second night, we did the same but found somewhere much nicer just south of Cahors and then spent 2 weeks on a camping just outside Carcassonne. 

Viking Victory - the original ferry that ran between Portsmouth and Cherbourg (not my picture)

For the return, we planned to do the same thing, hopefully returning to Cherbourg for the ferry with just one overnight stop. Same problem finding somewhere, but eventually fond somewhere very nice in a small village astride the N20, the main road between Toulouse and Paris. I asked for a room for the night and was answered with the usual Gallic shrug, but told that they did have just one room available; would we like to see it? Well, naturallement, we would. Monsieur le Patron took us across a garden into a stable block and showed us into a suite of rooms at the top of the building. Bedroom, sitting room, hallway, toilet, bathroom and balcony. the rooms were decorated with silk tapestry and were exceptional. "Very nice", I think "I be we can't afford it...". I asked how much, the response was 200FF, or about £16. We took the room! But there was a snag; for that price, we were obliged to have dinner in the restaurant. Which was again exceptional. 

Our total bill when we checked out in the morning for room, dinner and breakfast was in the region of 400FF. I handed over my credit card. "Mais, non... Pas des cartes". He would only take cash. We didn't have any; it was Monday morning and in 1981, the banks in France didn't open on a Monday morning. We negotiated with our reserve fund of sterling and with the banks being closed I think we got a pretty poor exchange rate and were left penniless. So we drove as fast as we could - or at least as fast as an overloaded 1100cc Escort could manage to Cherbourg where we just missed the overnight ferry. It was a wonderful holiday; we've been back to Carcassonne several times and have often looked for the hotel along the N20, but have never found it again.

the original tent, but a later holiday as the car parked alongside is not the Escort. Notice the empty wine bottle in front of the tent

La Cite - the Medieval city of Carcassonne. It isn't entirely original having been rebuilt many times.

inside La Cite. Lots of souvenir shops selling suits of armour and restaurants providing the local dish of cassoulet. Delicious!!

The plan this year was to be much the same. Ferry from Portsmouth to Ouistreham, overnight stop at Falaise in the grounds of William the Conqueror's castle, a second night between Tours and Chateauroux, a third night on the edge of Cahors and then two weeks just to the north of Carcassonne. The return would be two overnight stops and the afternoon ferry back to Portsmouth to get us home in the evening.

I suppose we could haul the caravan out from storage for a few nights in June, park it on the driveway, set up the barbecue for some entrcote frites one night and cassoulet another night with croissants for breakfast and just pretend. If I speak to everyone in French for a few days, please excuse me...

A Trip to the Island

Us Hampshire Yokels always refer to the Isle of Wight as simply "The Island". We are not too polite when referring to the natives on the island, sometimes calling them "Caulkheads", a term that is said to refer to caulking being a major trade of Islanders. Caulk was the substance that was forced between ship's timbers to ensure that they remained water tight. The basic material was stripped old rope and apparently mixed with something called "chalico", the primary ingredient of this being animal manure. There are other words that are used to describe people that you might meet on the Island:

GROCKLES - GROCKLES are tourists, usually on holiday for a week or two, but especially day trippers. It is commonly used in the area around southern Hampshire, Dorset and the Island. We love tourist's money, but we get a bit frustrated when we find that we cannot move due to congestion between Friday lunch time and Sunday evening.

EMMITS - EMMITS are people who have moved onto the Island from the mainland and who have no family connection. It probably takes 3 or 4 generations to shake off the Emmit tag.

Despite living within a few miles of the ferry terminals to the Island and having been across for many day trips, sometimes for pleasure and frequently when working, I'd never spent a holiday there. Probably because it is so close. The other consideration is, of course, the reputation of the ferry crossing as being pro-rata on a mileage basis the most expensive car ferry in the world. It is a reputation that is well founded, but a bit of advance booking and a willingness to give up any flexibility in crossings can result in a fare that is just expensive. And if you are taking a caravan, as we did, the return fare starts at £500 if booked directly at short notice with maximum flexibility and can be reduced to around £150 as part of a package.

Travelling in the first half of October, we were equipped for poor weather. Just as well as it was to prove to be a little wet. Our stay for the week was at the Southlands Caravan & Motorhome Club. I'm sure that this is a lovely location in the summer; during a soaking wet October, it is not at its best - but we managed.

Waiting to board the 12 noon ferry "St Clare" at Portsmouth. Navigating a relatively large car and caravan around the Island is a challenge in places - a full size articulated lorry like the one we are parked next to must be frightening!

We had very little idea of what we would do for the week. Ann has always wanted to visit Osborne House and there is a steam railway, so that had to be on the agenda. Other than that, it was just a case of fitting in with the rain. But to start with, there is the obligatory trip to the Needles. In the past, the Isle of Wight suffered from absolutely appalling road surfaces, but the local council have been engaged in a programme of improvements that has resulted in smooth roads with few pot holes. The down side is that the work is done mostly outside of the peak holiday periods, specifically the week we visited! We did eventually find our way around Newport and heading towards Alum Bay, following the brown tourist signs that took us along the "Old Road". For "road", read "very narrow village lane". Eventually, the 3 large coaches that seemingly had not seen the large NO COACHES signs managed to squeeze through. 

The Needles is now an "Attraction" and is owned by the same group who own the "attractions" at Land's End and John O'Groats. So have your wallet / purse handy! Although, it isn't quite as bad as expected with parking being a reasonable £5 for the day (with free returns on certain days of the week) and the various "attractions" are paid for as you wish to visit with a discount being available by purchasing a carnet of tickets. Brought back memories of travelling on the Metro in Paris.

We took the chair lift down to the beach, timing it completely wrong on a stormy day at high tide, so there was little beach and the sea was too rough for boat trips to the rocks.

The famous chairlift descending the cliffs at Alum Bay

So the cliff trip was a descent, a quick walk around getting splashed by the large waves, a few pics of the Needles and a quick ascent.

Looking at the Needles rock stack from the base of Alum Cliff. The lighthouse is no longer manned and the helicopter platform makes a nice nesting site for the local wildlife

Back at the top, the glass works are worth a visit and we contemplated a walk to the Old and New Batteries. Not Batteries in the sense of Duracell, but bases to station guns as part of the defences for Portsmouth Harbour. We decided to defer that to later in the week.

OSBORNE HOUSE

We've seen Osborne House from the water many times, but this was our first opportunity to visit. It's an English Heritage property and we are lucky to have a complimentary membership so get in for free. There is, of course, a cafe doing lunches and teas; I think on balance the National Trust does this better, but it is perfectly acceptable. The house is about what you would expect a country retreat owned by the Queen to be like. It is full of presents that Victoria and Albert bought for each other  paintings, statues, etc, all a little dark both in presentation and subject and very Victorian in nature. But what would you expect? The grounds are peaceful and in summer, I would imagine that you could easily spend several hours just walking the gardens. There is a set route around the house with stewards in each room. Again, I find that this is something that the National Trust does better - I thought the stewards were more like "guards" ensuring that we didn't help ourselves to the exhibits or touch anything! The highlight has to be the last room on the tour - a massive dining room decorated in colonial Indian style with many artefacts displayed reminding us that Victoria was the first Empress of India. not something that he inhabitants of India had a vote on,of course...

The large dining room at Osborne House. Just look at the plaster work in the ceiling

Now outside, dodging the rain, we could easily be looking at an Italian villa

Walking down the terraces a little, there are numerous statues. Looking at the statues at Osborne House, the vast majority of which are nude studies of human anatomy, it is hard to see how the Victorians gained their reputation for being prudes.

BRADING ROMAN VILLA - AND RECHARGING THE BATTERIES

Close to the village of Brading on the main road between Ryde and Sandown, sits a Roman Villa. In fact, it is less of a villa and more of a farmstead built by the Romans during their occupation of Britain. It looks as though there had been friendly relations between the Island residents and tribes from continental Europe for thousands of years and when the Romans came, the local Iron age residents happily embraced the Roman way of life. Given the choice between a drafty mud hut and a centrally heated Roman villa, who wouldn't? The visitor site is compact with very good explanatory panels and helpful guides. It's about a half day trip to visit.

We also went back to the Needles to visit the Batteries. Built during Victorian times by Lord Palmerston to keep out the French, they formed part of the defensive shield around Portsmouth, then as now, the premier Naval base. They are about a mile's walk uphill from the car park at the Needles and being exposed, you can expect it to be a bit windy. We set off in somewhat inclement weather and arrived in time for a spot of lunch at the tearoom inside a 1940s building that looks like an airfield control tower. It is a little incongruous inside a Victorian gun battery, but the site found further use during the Second World War as a searchlight base. In fact, it was not a great success as a gun battery because as the size of guns increased during Victorian times, the recoil seriously damaged the earthworks resulting in a new battery being built close by. 

I was looking forward to walking through a tunnel that would reveal perhaps the best view of the rocks at the Needles. Afterwards, we planned to visit the New Battery that found further use in the 1950s as a rocket testing base for the Ministry of Defence in connection with the UK's space and guided missile programme. But, it wasn't to be. During lunch, an alarm went off which turned out to be an indication of a total power failure. There was no choice other than to close the entire site and abandon our visit. At which point, it began to rain. I said the site was a little exposed - a 40 minute walk over an exposed headland in torrential rain was not exactly enjoyable. It took 3 days for our clothes to dry out!  

BEER BUSES AND TRAINS

Although we didn't plan it, our visit coincided with the annual Beer and Buses Festival. This has grown from the original Isle of Wight Bus Museum Running Day. My regular reader will know that I have more than a passing interest in historic buses and so, as we were there, it would have been rude not to have visited, wouldn't it? When the running day turned into a beer festival, I have to admit I had my doubts. My suspicion was that rather than bus enthusiasts, the event would now attract visitors for the beer for whom the travel experience on a historic bus would be entirely secondary. I think I was right. Although the numbers were hugely increased on previous years, the behaviour of some that we saw was quite appalling. Carrying full glasses of beer onto a vehicle that may have taken 20 years and cost £50,000 to restore is not good, neither was some of the behaviour exhibited to the owners and volunteers. And there is really no excuse to be falling down drunk and needing to be held up by others at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Let's just hope that the money made from programme and timetable sales made up for it.

The final iteration of the traditional Southdown bus. I don't recall ever seeing one of this type on the Havant & Emsworth school bus; they were mostly reserved for the long distance service between Brighton and Southsea.

London buses show up everywhere. Despite what is commonly thought, not all London buses were Routemasters - this is an RT and although it was originally red, it now represents a country area vehicle

I was also able to fulfil an ambition to visit the Isle of Wight Steam Railway -something that has eluded me for many years.The Isle of Wight once had an extensive and self contained railway system developed by independent companies and brought under the control of the Southern Railway in 1924 before nationalisation in 1948. Little changed - it remained in essence a Victorian backwater with no modernisation before 1967 when electric trains replaced steam on the one remaining line from Ryde to Shanklin. Even then, the "new" electric trains were former London Underground trains dating from the 1920s and these remained until more recently replaced with newer 1938 Underground trains of the type used on the Northern Line. These are now long past their best before date and will shortly be replaced with newer hand me downs. but at least the service remains.

Meanwhile, a section of the Ryde to Newport line was preserved and now forms a heritage steam railway. It boasts a number of genuine locomotives and carriages that ran in service on the Island, including an Adams Class 02 and a couple of A!X "Terriers". Those of a certain age will remember the A1X locos running on the Hayling Billy line. On our visit, we experienced much more modern motive power in the form of a 1950s LMS designed tank engine. The justification for using these locos is that there had been a plan to introduce them to the Island to replace the life expired Victorian locos - but in the end the decision was made to electrify.

1950s built tank loco hauls Victorian coaching stock away from Havenstreet Station. It was the one day during our stay that we saw sunshine (above & below)

Ann, as we know, has been thoroughly - and quite rightly - spoilt over the years and only travels first class! We have exclusive use of an exquisitely restored First Class carriage.

Our return trip was on board the newest Wightlink ferry "Victoria of Wight" that is advertised as being a hybrid and therefore green vessel. It departed on time and arrived on schedule, so we couldn't ask better than that. We were home indoors within 20 minutes of arriving. 

So, that's about it for this entry. Various health issues have jumped up and hit us of late, so I'm not entirely sure when the next trip will be, or where it will take us. So I might just write something a little different next time.

Two Weeks in Cornwall

For many years while Ann was working as a pre-school teacher, we were restricted on when we could take our holidays. Now we're able to escape at any time we like, it's good to get away outside of the main school holidays. It's not so busy (or expensive) and it takes pressure off those who have no choice other than to holiday when the schools have broken up.

We've not been to Cornwall for a holiday for many years, so booked ourselves two weeks on a site located on the Roseland peninsula just to the south and east of Truro during September. The journey there was unexciting - other than the final few hundred yards to the site entrance which was along a narrow lane with a 1:6 hill. When I say "narrow", I mean about 2.6 metres wide between mud and stone banks. The caravan is just under 2.3 metres wide, so we had just a few inches clearance on either side. Not for the feint-hearted.

The site, though was one of the best we have stayed at. A fully serviced pitch with manicured lawns, clean and tidy washing facilities for when we didn't want to use our own and a small shop along with visiting take away food a couple of nights each week.

All set up for a couple of weeks

Our plan was mix lazy days with going out days and over he course of the two weeks, we managed to visit all of the places that we'd planned. We arrived on Thursday and Friday was our 39th Wedding Anniversary, so that called for a meal out in St Mawes, the nearest town of any size.

Looking back to St Mawes from the Falmouth Ferry later in the week

Crossing the River

On Saturday, we thought that a visit to Trelissick House and Garden would be a good day out. The option was a 30 plus mile drive round through Truro or a much shorter trip taking in the King Harry ferry. This is chain ferry in the style of the old floating bridge that some of my age or older may remember operating across the River Itchen in Southampton, but instead of being 20p single, it is now £8 return

It did the job, the waiting was manageable and it saved us 50 miles on the round trip. Trelissick House is just along the road and at 11 am it's already busy. It's another National Trust property, so we have more than paid for our annual membership. The house has only been open to the public for a few years and is a "work in progress" with just the ground floor open currently for visiting. It is set up as a series of rooms with themed displays, but the highlights are the views overlooking the river and the music from the volunteer pianist who during our visit was playing a selection of jazz piano numbers from the swing era. The gardens are spectacular and there's around 300 acres of estate for the energetic. Getting a view of the house is a bit of a challenge as the estate to the front of the house is farmed and therefore inaccessible.

The front of the house, overlooking the river. It bears a similarity to my old school 

Looking from the terrace, overlooking the river.

Crossing back on the ferry, we headed into St Mawes to visit the castle. This was one of many built during Tudor times to protect England from invasions from the French and in conjunction with the similar Pendennis Castle at Falmouth, its primary purpose was to protect the harbour at estuary. From the landward side, it is quite unimpressive and almost invisible, but that changes once inside and viewed from the business end.

The original Tudor castle from the lower level. The drawbridge giving access is visible on the extreme right of the picture on an archway.

Later developments, mostly Victorian to ensure that the original purpose of the castle continued into more recent times

And finally, a view from the sea showing the Victorian enhancements at he base of the castle

More Gardens

We took in a couple more garden themed places. The obvious place to visit, especially on a wet day is the Eden Project. It being a wet day, I think half the visitors in Cornwall had the same idea. It's interesting, but expensive and has become very commercialised since our last visit not long after it first opened

The biomes at the Eden Project, in the rain with raindrops on the camera lens filter

We also paid a visit to Glendurgan Garden. Very hilly, but with a splendid variety of plants to look at and featuring a large maze on the side of a hill. I have to admit we gave  up...

You'l'll be a mazed! Just behind the maze  and the pond is an enormous Gunnera plant

Another "must see" garden has to be the Lost Gardens of Heligan, near Mevagissey. Quite how a garden could be lost is hard to imagine - but the gardens were lost in the sense that they had become thoroughly overgrown, mostly with rhododendrons, and have now been extensively restored.

This enormous bush is a rhododendron, which shows just how large they can grow. Given the correct conditions, they are very invasive and therefore, technically, a weed. 

There's a very attractive Italian Garden. I'm not too sure about the water management regime in the pond as there was no circulation and to prevent weed growth, the water has been dyed.

One of the themed areas is a jungle zone, including a rope bridge to cross

And We Found a Steam Railway!

You'd be disappointed if we didn't! Bodmin is home to the Bodmin & Wenford Heritage Railway and is based at the old Bodmin General station. The location is unusual in that it is at the end of a branch line from the GWR mainline at what is properly called Bodmin Road, now renamed Bodmin Parkway. It is also at the end of another short branch railway that joined onto the Southern Railway's own line from Wadebridge and Padstow to their own terminus station in Bodmin. The heritage trip takes you to both Bodmin Parkway and to Boscarne Junction, where it joined the Southern line. If you time it right, there is a chance to visit the tea room for a sandwich between trains. The gradients are steep and the small loco was being worked hard to pull its short train during our visit.

Our train for our trip. It's a Great Western 0-6-0 Pannier Tank, so called because the water tanks are hung on the side of the boiler like pannier baskets. There were large numbers of these little engines built between 1929 and 1950, the most famous probably being "Duck" who works on the Island of Sodor.

Across the Water to Falmouth

All other things being equal, we would have met up with my cousin Sue who lives in Falmouth, but she was away in Uganda on a business trip. So we went to the Maritime Museum instead. And a very enjoyable time it was. the highlight for me was a display of artifacts connected with the sinking of the Titanic, something that has been of interest to me for many years. And the highlight of the highlight was these two posters shown below, published by the White Star Line:

As you'll see, the artwork for both posters is the same. "Olympic" was the first of the new class of three ships built for the White Star Line by Harland & Wolff in Belfast and was identical to her sister-ship, Titanic. As you can see from the top poster, the two ships were identical. After Titanic was lost and having spent a great deal of money on the posters, rather than just throw them away, the posters were overprinted to remove any reference to Titanic.

I find the myths and conspiracy theories surrounding the sinking to be fascinating. I doubt that the full story will ever be known. But some of the stories are interesting.
First, the ships were never said to be "unsinkable". But the original design meant that they could be their own lifeboat and remain afloat if damaged until help arrived. This plan fell apart when for cost saving reasons, the waterproof bulkheads were redesigned.

Where there enough lifeboats? While it is true that there were not enough places in lifeboats for everyone Titanic carried more lifeboat provision than the law required at the time which was based on the ship's size and not the number of persons that could be carried. The muddle between "Women and Children First" and "Women and Children ONLY" meant that many lifeboats left carrying less than half their capacity.

Then there are the other construction stories. Was the steel of poor quality and were the rivets inferior? It is documented that the steel was the same as used at the time, but it was different to what would be used for a similar ship built today and the effect of immersion in icy cold water on the brittleness of the steel was not so well understood. There is in my mind some doubt over the rivets, which are documented as being "best" quality. Which doesn't mean what you might think. In the same way that the smallest packet of washing powder or breakfast cereal is labelled as "large", at the time, rivets were graded as "best", "best, best" and "best, best, best". So "best" rivets were not exactly the best available.

And so to the Conspiracy Theories. Was there a fire in the coal store? Almost certainly there had been, but was this extinguished, or at worst under control by the time the ship left Queenstown in Ireland for the Atlantic crossing. There are authenticated reports of large numbers of the engine room crew deserting the ship at Southampton because they were unhappy with the ship and being replaced with a scratch crew recruited locally at short notice. The maiden sailing came during a coal miners' strike; coal was in short supply and many ships were tied up. Coal had been transhipped from some of these tied up vessels and the laid off crews were happy to get a berth on anything sailing.

Was the Master incompetent? Captain Smith was the Commodore (ie senior master) of the White Star line. Some reports indicate that he may have been a little cavalier, but that was not unusual at the time. And he had recently been involved in a little incident with Titanic's sister ship, Olympic

Was Titanic switched for Olympic in an insurance fraud? I rather like this story. There is just about enough of it having an element of truth to be believable.  we have to go back a little to an early voyage of Olympic. At the end of Southampton Water, there is a large shallow area called The Brambles. Ships leaving Southampton traditionally turn to port and sail around the Isle of Wight irrespective of their intended direction along the English Channel. But to safely pass The Brambles, it is necessary to first turn to starboard and later make a 180 degree turn to port. In the process of so doing, RMS Olympic was in collision with HMS Hawke. Looking dispassionately at what happened, the accident was probably a result of a miscommunication, but despite Hawke ramming Olympic, it was found that the Master of Olympic was at fault. And who was the Master? A certain Captain Edward Smith. 

White Star line underwrote their own insurance, meaning that as well as having to pay the Admiralty for repairs to Hawke, they also found themselves with a seriously damaged flagship that needed to be towed back to Belfast for repair. Olympic was docked next to her sister ship Titanic, which was in the final phase of fitting out. Remember, both ships were identical, although "Titanic" was modified prior to sailing.

The story goes that an identity switch was carried out with Olympic being patched up and masquerading as Titanic while the real Olympic was repaired. Having been hit with eye watering costs to repair the damage from the earlier accident, White Star Line had now taken advantage of commercial insurance. The plan was then to run into the ice field and cause "Titanic" to sink while a rescue ship from the same line would be conveniently close by to act as a rescue ship. The plan went wrong when "Titanic" ran into ice in the wrong location and the rest, we know, is history.

This story falls apart in a number of areas. Could enough of a muddle have been caused when both ships were docked together to allow the names to be switched - it was just a paint job, but could it be done with no-one noticing? Titanic and Olympic were actually very slightly different - the Promenade deck on Titanic had been panelled in to make it more comfortable while sailing across the Atlantic and while this was intended to also be fitted to Olympic, it may not  have been completed at the time that one of the ships sailed in April 1912.

I don't suppose we'll ever know - but it is a conspiracy theory that has more likelihood of truthfulness than the moon landings being faked, or the 9/11 disaster being the result of maverick operators within the CIA.

Lanhydrock House

Everyone said "You have to go to Lanhydrock House while you're in Cornwall". So we did. Positioned close to Bodmin, it is a large estate house rebuilt in the Arts and Crafts style after a disastrous style that destroyed almost all the original house. Naturally, it is set in a huge estate that includes a formal garden close to the house.

First view of the house having walked from the car park and entrance about half a mile away

First room on the tour is the dining room in full Arts & Crafts style

There are loads of trophies scattered about the house. This moose had several people commenting about Sybil catching her cardi on it

We were told that the Long Gallery was impressive. We arrived at this room and thought...  yes, it is impressive.

Then we arrived at the next room. This IS the Long gallery and has the most amazing ceiling. It is the only part of the house to have survived the fire

Having explored the house and the obligatory National Trust tea room for lunch, we explored the garden.

And then finally, we decided that we needed a break from houses and gardens, so on our final day, we headed off to the former industrial area of Cornwall at Camborne to visit East Pool Mine.

The mine visit covers the above ground works, or at least, what remains. We had a tour with a knowledgeable guide who explained the history of the site, which was part of the complex of the last working mine in Cornwall. As a sign of the times, the site is now mostly a Morrisson's supermarket and car park..

Another enjoyable holiday finished. That was going to be it for the year, but the temptation to go away again for another week was too much. Our next trip will take us on a ferry trip departing from Portsmouth. Where are we going? You'll find out in the next installment.

Bringing Home the Bacon

It was my brother's birthday last weekend (27th July) and so we arranged a joint caravan trip. Not too far this time, just to Calne in Wiltshire. Hence the title of this post as Calne was for many years a major processing town for bacon. In fact, it was the major industry in the town and the premises of Messrs C & T Harris & Co Ltd was once a major landmark on the A4 road from London to Bristol. The town was bypassed for long distance traffic by the M4 many years ago and the bacon factory has now closed with the building demolished and replaced by a modern shopping centre and library.

With my interest in railways, I was interested to read that Calne once had a branch line built by the Great Western Railway from Chippenham. This short line had an unenviable claim to fame in Dr Beeching's report where it was reported as having the highest loss per mile of any line on the British Railways network.

But, back to our weekend. Along with barbecues, birthday cake and an obligatory trip to an outdoor bar for a celebratory drink or three, we found a few places to entertain ourselves for the weekend.

Bowood House

Not far from Calne lies Bowood House, home to the Marquess of Lansdowne and designed by Robert Adam with grounds by Lancelot "Capability" Brown. Pedantically, what remains is just a small portion of the original house as it fell into dilapidation and was mostly demolished in the 1950s. Nevertheless, it is Grade 1 listed and part is open to visit, as are the gardens. Part of the gardens contains a large adventure playground that attracts many families, bringing in the cash to maintain the rest of the estate.

One side of the remaining house, seen from the garden below the terrace

The outstanding feature of the garden is the Italian style terrace that features perfect symmetry in its construction, as can be seen in the three images below:

The large garden features a substantial lake and in the distance, a summerhouse built in the style of a Greek temple

The lake with Greek temple summer house in the distance

And, naturally, with so much water to play with, you'd expect a waterfall. And you won't be disappointed!

A Car Museum!

As I'm sure I've said before, I can usually find a car museum or a heritage railway on our trips. This time,we were just along the road from the Atwell-Wilson Motor Museum, a small privately owned museum that has an interesting collection of historic cars, some of which are not the usual stuff of museums - which just goes to add to the interest:

Just inside the door we found this early 1930s Standard Light 9. It is similar to the car owned by a friend, other than his car is blue and is a "Heavy" 9.

From a distance, you might think this is an MG-B, but something just doesn't look quite right about it. The bonnet badge gives the game away - it is actually a Datsun Fairlady and dates from 1965. I wonder how many of these there are in the UK?

We all know that this is a Triumph TR7, painted in Persian Aqua metallic paint. It looked to be in good condition - but with some of the usual TR7 rust spots being obvious. I wonder if the headlights work together. Or even at all!

1966 Vauxhall FB Victor 101. The FB version of the Victor was a big seller for Vauxhall in the mid 60s with the 101 being a later revision to the model. It was reputed to be the first production car to feature curved glass in the side windows. Lots of chrome, as was the fashion at the time. Vauxhalls of this period had a justified reputation for rusting away at a horrifying rate, which is probably why we don't see many

Another Vauxhall dating from the 1930s. The chromed bonnet flutes were a Vauxhall feature and only disappeared in the late 1950s. This one appears to be part of the wedding fleet.

A right hand drive Buick convertible with a straight 8 engine dating from 1936.

This one is a 1931 Riley 9 2-seater, but with 2 further occasional seats in the boot. These were always called "Dicky seats" in the UK

Rootes Brothers were masters at badge engineering. Humbers were posh Hillmans and this Sceptre is a tarted up Hillman Super Minx

This could be a period used car lot. In the front, we have two Wolseleys. Nearest the camera is a "Four / Forty Four" - a nicely upmarket but expensive car from the early 1950s.  Next is a Wolseley 1500, from the end of the 1950s and using many parts from the ubiquitous Morris Minor. In best BMC manner, the Riley "One Point Five" was almost identical and sold in competition. Hiding at the back is a poverty spec "sit up and beg" Ford Popular and just visible is an early Ford Consul

Here's a rare one! This is a Lea-Francis Four-light saloon , a model built between 1946 and 1950. An upmarket car of the period, it would likely appeal to you if you were an accountant or a solicitor

There are barn finds... and there are barn finds. Here is a genuine, original and completely unrestored as found Triumph SD motorbike and Hopley folding sidecar that originates from 1923 and which slept peacefully from 1932 until acquired by the museum. The engine is of 550cc capacity and was one of the first machines to use a chain drive to the rear wheel in place of the leather belt that had previously been used.

Think of a 1950s fire engine and this is what comes to mind. Built by Dennis, this is their model F and they could be seen all over the country, but especially in major cities. Power came from a 120bhp six cylinder Rolls-Royce engine, this was once the local machine. It still boasts many of the original features, including the leather strap to ring the bell

Coded ADO16 (Austin Drawing Office 16), we know this better as the Austin 1100. If you didn't own one, someone in your family did and over 2.5 million examples were built between introduction in 1962 and the final car coming off the line in 1974. The mechanicals and general layout were designed by Alec Issigonis using the principles developed with the earlier Mini, suspension design was by Dr Alex Moulton and the styling was by Pininfarina in Italy. You could have an 1100cc or 1300cc engine, two doors or 4 doors in saloon form or a 3 door estate. You could have a Morris, Austin, Riley, Wolesely, MG or Vanden Plas badge, all with differing states of engine tune and plushness of interior.

Bedford had an advertising slogan - "You see them everywhere". At one time this was true of the small CA van which was the default choice for a small van for a trader or builder until Ford came along with the Transit. It formed a good basis for conversions to a camper van with many being so converted by the Kent based firm of Martin Walter who gave the vehicle with the raised roof their trade name - Dormobile.

Another Riley. This time it's a 1950 RMB. The RM model was available with either a 1.5 or 2.5 litre four cylinder engine. The RMB was fitted with the larger unit and a traditional leather and wood interior. Semaphore trafficators were fitted as original equipment, unusually, these were located not on the door B post, but behind the rear doors. In 1949, one of these would have cost you £1224 0s 0d including tax, the equivalent of about £42,000 in today's money.

Lacock Abbey

With the help of our National Trust guidebook, we found that we were close to Lacock. This is a small estate village that was given to the National Trust in 1944. It includes the Abbey founded in the 13th Century, later becoming a Nunnery and after the dissolution of the Monasteries, it became a private house built over the original cloisters of the Abbey.  Eventually, it became the home of the Talbot family and in the early 19th century, the home of an amateur scientist William Fox-Talbot. Hence my interest as he is credited as the inventor of modern chemical photography. Not that we use chemicals for photography any longer, but before the advent of digital images, we all used developer and fixer where today we just use Photoshop.

The village has been preserved as a typical English country village. The houses remain as private houses with numerous shops and pubs, but it is rather busy being a very popular place to visit. It is also a popular location for period film and TV - and especially for Harry Potter films . Several scenes in the films were shot here and there's a guide available to help you locate these as well as other productions filmed here such as Downton Abbey, Cranford, etc

Lacock Abbey from the outside. It was one of these oriel windows that formed the famous Fox-Talbot photograph, taken from inside the house

A different view of the house with the window nearest

As close as I could get to the first photograph. Fox-Talbot's exposure took several hours using a pin hole camera that he made himself. Mine was 1/160th second using a Canon EOS 7D mkII camera. His equipment cost pennies and I'm not admitting in public how much I have spent over the years!

A typical street scene in Lacock. Other than the cars and the modern fashions, we could be in the 18th century

That's another trip over. We're away again in early September, next time to the Roseland peninsula in Cornwall. Might find something to write about in the meantime, though...