River Cottage Cafe

We didn't want to stay at home all holiday, so planned a trip down to Devon to sample the River Cottage Cafe in Axminster and get to the beach. Alex dropped out at the last minute to stay round a friends house so it was just Vanessa, Neo and me.

A 4.5 hour journey saw us a little grumpy and starving to have a late lunch of crab meat on toast at http://www.rivercottage.net/canteens/axminster/ so we didn't get any pics. Sated, we headed 5 miles to the coastal town of Lyme Regis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyme_Regis

The Cobb harbour, low tide.

So sunny we had to squint.

Sunset.

Rainbow.

Everyone was promenading around the Cobb.

We stayed the night in a 16th century coaching inn, The Hunters Lodge. I won't post a link as they have cheesy piped music on each web page which has got on my nerves. However it was free to stay and we had a superb meal and some tasty Otter Ale. We woke up very early.

Before the day had dawned we had decamped and headed back into Lyme Regis. We had the beach to ourselves.

The Cobb harbour, high tide.

Neo enjoyed the walk.

Lyme Regis is part of the Jurassic Coast, 95 miles of coastline stretching from Exmouth in Devon to Swanage in Dorset with rocks recording 185 million years of Earth's history. A walk along the beach has you literally stumbling over fossilised remains. Lots of pictures were taken, as the good fossils seem to be found in rocks too big to carry home.

Time for some more van shots.

The ticket in the window was a common feature, cost a fortune in parking!

As none of the beach cafes were open by 9.40 in Lyme Regis we headed back to River Cottage Cafe for a cooked breakfast, then home by 2.30.

Wild & Woolly

Boxing Day took the Ford and the Barefoot families into Market Harborough for the Wild & Woolly charity motorcross race. A great laugh, we came back covered from head to toe in mud from where the bikes threw the mud up. Next year I'm wearing a boiler suit!

The Wild and Woolly charity moto-x is the longest running motorcycle race in history. The event has been held on Boxing Day (26th December) in Northamptonshire on land loaned by various kind farmers or land owners since 1917.

The race consists of an hour and one lap around a gruelling grass circuit with stream crossings, mud holes and hills which get in some seriously muddy conditions deeper into the event.

Proceeds from gate collections go to local charities such as such as St John Ambulance. The event is organised by the Northampton Motorcyclists Club.

North Norfolk Coast

After considering a campervan for over a year we finally purchased a 1990 VW T3 Westfalia. This is the factory conversion campervan, freshly imported from Germany so LHD. The VW seemed the best package of big on the inside, small(ish) on the outside and the Westfalia-Werke conversion a better layout and finish than after market conversions. And it looks a little bit like The Mystery Machine.

Our first trip out was to the North Norfolk Coast, staying at Deepdale camp site http://www.deepdalebackpackers.co.uk/ We (C,V&A) arrived as it was getting dark so no pictures of dog walking on the edge of the salt marshes at night. It blew a gale in the night, but apart from being a bit noisy it was cosy in the van. The next day dawned sunny and bright, with another T3 in the field.

After a kedgeree breakfast in the Deepdale cafe we drove along the coast to Hunstanton for a beach walk, and some van pictures.

It was a bit windy!

The kite surfers were out enjoying it.

And then to Gedney for a delicious roast lunch.

A Week to Go :-) and Machu and Huayna picchu await

I've been really slack in blogging this year, it's been so busy with other things. Preparations are well underway for next Friday's departure despite the flights being slightly less attractive timing than we'd been led to believe. Originally we were to have left Heathrow late afternoon but now we have to be the at 3.30 a.m. We then fly to Charles de Gaulle for a 2 hour 45 minute stop over then on to Lima (12.5 hour flight), staying in a hotel in Lima overnight then and early morning flight to Cusco = knackered before we start.

Ongoing boot trauma has resulted in Chris buying me my 4th (yes 4th!) pair of boot in order to alleviate the foot pain and blisters I've been suffering with the last few months. The new pair are lovely and (finger crossed) very comfortable. Boots have not been the only expense this year. I have been umming and arrring about buying a new coat for a while as mine does not have 'pit zips' - I cannot tell you how important it is to have adequate ventilation when you're walking in damp and rain. It makes such a difference to your comfort so a new coat has been purchased.

By far the biggest outlay, and the most exciting purchase, is my new camera. I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy a bridge camera which will take better photos than my compact but not be as heavy and bulky as my SLR. After a lot of research I have bough a beautiful piece of kit - a Nikon P500 which has the most phenomenal zoom ever. I look forward to posting the photos when I return.



The REALLY exciting news is that we have the opportunity to climb Huaynu Picchu (young peak) which is the peak you always see behind Machu Picchu in the photos. The rules have changed to enable purchase of a licence to climb before arriving in Peru - the number of climbers is very restricted due to both the conservation of the buildings and terraces on it and the precariousness of some parts of the climb. This will be a real challenge for me as you have to go through a tunnel at one point and I'm very claustrophobic. I'm sure the view from the top will be worth leaving my bed at 2 a.m. for :-).

France

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