Saturday, August 9, 2003 (Near Birmingham –
Herefordshire/England)
There is just
so
much history in this country. Heading into the Forest of Dean and yet more
historic sites of interest. Some campsites are better value than
others.
Day 150. Another day and another couple of
ancient historic sites kept us occupied today. I had a crack at trying to empty
the waste water lines of whatever it was that was causing the water to drain so
slowly. Alas the problem is greater than my ability to fix it with the limited
tools that we have with us. When we get back to Holland, I will have the water
lines replaced and re-fitted.
When we
checked into the campsite yesterday evening, the nice old lady that parted me
with the £10 campsite fee gave me all sorts of useful information about
things to do in the surrounding area. Chief among these suggestions was to visit
the Forest of Dean that is just a few minutes away. We headed in this direction
after leaving the camp and spent about an hour or so driving around within the
forest looking for a good place to stop and have lunch. We stumbled upon an old
mine and cave site that had been converted into a tourist attraction. It seemed
like a reasonably nice place to visit so we stopped off and toured the mine for
an hour or so after fixing lunch.
We
left the forest and headed towards our next English Heritage site that was in
the general direction of our progress towards Coventry. Goodridge Castle is
neither a complete ruin nor is it wholly in tact either. The audio tour provided
the usual, fascinating insight into the castle’s history and design and we
examined the site both inside and out thoroughly. We finished off our visit with
our now usual ice-cream treat and set off again in a Northerly
direction.
The last attraction on the
agenda for today was Whitley Court. The outer façade of this huge stately
home is mostly all that remains now. The surrounding grounds and fountains,
however, are still as magnificent as any time in their past and the whole place
was nicely complemented by the gorgeous English summer’s day weather. We
arrived at Whitley Court rather late in the day and were a bit rushed in getting
to see everything before closing time at six o’clock in the afternoon.
Despite the time pressure, however, we did manage to see everything that was
worth seeing.
We spend the next hour
trying to find a campsite to set up for the night. Although they are everywhere
in this part of the country, we struck out at the first two that we tried as
they seemed to only cater to permanent mobile homes (somewhat of a contradiction
in terms). We ultimately found a nice campsite situated close to the River
Severn. At just £6 for the night with electricity hook-up, it’s the
best value so far.
I spent some time
chatting with our new, temporary, neighbours about television antennas the pros
and cons of getting a satellite dish before finishing off the evening playing
bingo with the rest of the campers at the nearby social
club.
As ever, we are still unsure of
what tomorrow will bring but there is a historic battle re-enactment event
taking place in Coventry this weekend so we may head over there to check it
out.
Posted: Sat
- August 9, 2003 at 01:10 PM