Holiday Blog With entries by Capper (Colin),
Muffin (Annette), Nina (Catriona), Twiggy (Rhiannon)
Friday 28 July 2006
Capper
Ah well home again, I doubt
we’ll get out
Muffin
TO BE UPDATED
Nina
Today we are back home (at last J)I really like being home.
Twiggy
Today we are just in the bus and on the road and just sat in the car driving along the road bored out of are skulls and drove home
Thursday 27 July 2006
Capper
Leicester - -
Muffin
TO BE UPDATED
Nina
Remember how Elma went on a rollercoaster yesterday? Well today she was to afraid to go down a 20ft blow up slide .I loved it though . We even went to the JORVIC J
Twiggy
today
we drove to
Wednesday 26 July 2006
Capper
Well after a night in a style that I could become accustomed to we went off back down through slough and Windsor to Legoland interesting place, and contrary to what others may tell you I didn’t really play with the bricks, I aided Catriona with the construction of something that would stand up to an earthquake (in the bit that shakes buildings) and I helped Rhiannon build 1 model I did however shock myself by taking the girls on the big roller coaster there. The dragon’s lair and everyone knows what a big feardy I am when it comes to roller coasters and such
Well Rhiannon loved it
laughed all the way through, I sat not trusting the safety bar But it didn’t break and I was quietly
glad it was just a short run More Driving in the evening stopped in
Muffin
Yes Colin did play with the lego, infact he managed to show just how good Scottish engineering is by building an earthquake proof building. It is just a pity that Egyptians and the Mayans discovered is first.
Legoland was fun, even though I am not one of these people who given a bucket of lego can in 20 minutes build a scale model of the Eiffel tower, more like a scale model of a Tate gallery
exhibit.
Nina
Today I went to LEGOLANDJ and I went on a big roller coaster and even my cousin Elma (who is scared of a lot of thingsL) (even heights) Went on it ,it was so fun.
Twiggy
Today we went to legoland land land and it’s really fun .And guess what Elma did, Elma went on a adult rolercoster and I just laughed all the way through it.
Tuesday 25 July 2006
Capper
Well that certainly was a day You’ll recall we started in Southhampton well we headed off to brighton and got there just in time for the lunchtime rush MY god the traffic there is insane tried to find a hotel via tourist information and was charged for the privilege went to the hotel they booked for us to be told the only accepted credit card bookings, we decided to tell them to stuff their rooms and left
Got dinner ( Frankie and Bennie’s) then saw a mini sailing tour round both piers best bit of brighton J after getting fed and having a trip on the water we decided descression and all that so bid a not so fond adieu to Brighton and headed for Legoland
Found a likely hotel but it didn’t have rooms to suit so they Phoned all the other 5 star hotels in the area (Buckinghamshire) and negotiated a rate for 2 connecting rooms (together bigger than chateau Capper) at a reasonable price but damn this place is up market. Tomorrow it’s Legoland so I’m quite looking forward to it.
Muffin
I am not someone who
instantly hates thing readily and it is usually with a good sound reason, but I
have discovered that I hate
Firstly we decided to to actually be sensible and go to the tourist information centre to get help with finding a hotel that would take 2 adults 3 children 8-10 respectively, and a toddler . At first the woman looked at us as if we had just dropped in from mars, then proceeded to find somewhere for us, this took a little time, but finally we paid the deposit and the finders fee that tourist information centres charge for finding hotels for you and were given an hour to find said hotel.
The hotel was near the marina and at first
glance was alright, till we got to reception.
So far on this trip the hotels have been fine about taking cash, this
hotel only wanted us to pay by credit card, and if they did lower themselves to
taking our dirty cash, would have to take a £100 deposit. That was when my limited patience blew, I was
not paying close to £300 for one night in a corporate version of backpacker hostle, with drift would powerpoint and rocking plastic chairs. So we left
Finding Legoland was easy, finding a hotel. I managed to find a place called the bellhouse , being to exhausted we just headed there, only to realise that this was a 4 star hotel.
Alarm bells started to go off in my head, but we found ourselves pleasantly surprised, no problems about paying with cash no problems about the rooms. Infact the rooms were bigger than out sitting rooms at home so we managed to relax before hitting Legoland.
Nina
Today we went to
Twiggy
Today we went to
Monday 24 July 2006
Capper
Well as promised,
yesterday ended up going to the cinema last night we ended up in the cinema
(Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - Dead Man’s Chest (Quite good but not as good as
the first, the Girls All Liked it) anyway onto Today… Oh the joy of waking in a
decent bed… anyway we left Cardiff and headed east, got to longleat
about Lunchtime and had a lovely time (at least until there were dangerous
animal enclosures then we got a little heated (32c + magnification of glass + 6
Bodies + no Aircon then after taking he non stopping
lane to have person in front of us
acting like they are in a queue with a the car in the stopping lane Got past
them and through the wolves to longleat house
and grounds . it was interesting ( the
house it’s self is like Callendar house at Falkirk
but with shops and cafés inside, and the butterfly garden was like a small
version of the butterfly farm at Dobbie’s down toward
Dalkieth so the overall feel was very nice but
nothing that hadn’t been done better locally ( and that includes the Safari
Park). Left the park about 6pm and drove south to Bournemouth to look for a
Hotel somehow we didn’t stop and drove on to Southampton where we eventually stopped ( I do believe
that I may be pushing the travelling too hard but find it hard to stop when
greener pastures are just 10-15 miles further on, I Must work on that , I know
it’s no fun for those in the car though I find that I do enjoy the drive).
Anyway it’s
Muffin
Today we have travelled
out of
I am beginning to wonder just where in the world we are. As a Scot I can naturally put up with a couple of good days, but this constant brightness and heat has me a little on edge. I find my self looking for a break in the weather. I know what has brought this on, its going round a safari park at 5 miles an hour in a Sharan with no air conditioning on one of the hottest days of the year, especially going through the tigers and lions where having the windows rolled up is mandatory, by the time we were half way through the tigers the kids were ready to jump out the car, pity any lion or tiger that got in their way.
Thankfully? The safari part is not to big so we managed to ditch the car and have a good wander around the house and grounds and fall pray to all the other wolves. Actually I must admit it is a really nice place and I can now boast that I did the maze and managed to get to the centre (ok I took the quick exit), this is coming from someone who cannot find their arse with a map, gps and a pack of girl guides.
Nina
Today we went to Longleat safari park I saw a Wolf Cub it was sooooooooooooo cute! We ended up in a hotel called Hotel
Ibis. Tomorrow we are Going to
Twiggy
Got a hotel to sleep in again and it is called Hotel ibis and today we went to LongLeat the safari park. I got a bit angry coz I needed the toilet . I did go to the toilet but in Lord Bath’s house. I got two soovineers one was a pen and the other a catchabubble.
Sunday 23 July 2006
Capper
Drove back across
We noticed that Wales’s border rushes up to Meet you got to Cardiff abut noon and after visiting the Dr Who Exhibition we found somewhere to eat and a hotel to bed down in (the Future Inn beside the Welsh assembly and Dr Who Exhibition) Plan to go bowling this Evening or maybe the Cinema. Where we went will no doubt start tomorrow’s entry, the weather remains bloody hot
With Luck We’ll Get a New Camera tomorrow Even a 1.3 megapixel will do to let you see what we get up to
Muffin
Trying to sleep in a Sharan is bloody uncomfortable, but I suppose the good side
of is that I got to see the sun come up.
The sun came up at 4 30 this morning in
Well this trip is certainly teaching us a lot, Another thing that we have discovered is that I cannot navigate, though I did know that we were going through Wales, so I guess a point to me Well one way or another we have ended up Cardiff, a nice city. Place of pilgrimage for all good Who’s, here to stand and preach in tones of revanance, awe, and just damn smugness that, just there is where the doctor did something in order to save the earth again from what ever it was. So says the hypocrite in the corner who secretly thinks David Tennant is to paraphrase someone. Just knicker wettingly scrumpsous( I am so going to get it in the neck when Colin reads this.), and has read all the new series books so far.
Well the elusive Time Lord was no where to be
seen, so had to make do with an exhibition on at the Red Dragon Centre. So far from what little I have seen of
It is a really nice place. Exhaustion is getting the better of me so
will leave
Nina
Today we Found a hotel called the Future Inn. I like this hotel. We also went to a bowling place and it had a Crane Machine Game . I won a little orange snail.
Twiggy
After we slept in the van
we headed down to
And the time was dun dun dun 5am.Luckully we got a hotel and I was sooooooo happy!
Saturday 22 July 2006
Capper
Left home 9:00 am after packing the car last night
Dropped Mia at the Kennels
in Rosewell just to the south of
Down the A701 through Penicuik (Non stop) down to Moffat
Found out the camera we had taken with us was burst and that aside from a few new houses, Moffat still essentially the same as it was when Annette last saw it in 1990
Next was down the M74
until we saw signs for
Got to
Drove through every town
and village trying every hotel we could find and ended up in a car park in
Bangor North West Wales just Before Midnight (Just beside
So day 1 was good but certainly had its down points
Muffin
We needed to start late, so we were early, the kennels that we had booked Mia into opened at 10:30 we arrived at 10. I think that the sense of the ridiculas followed us, because driving down to Moffat on a road that normally finds me turning green around the gills I was enjoying every moment of, while the back row were producing a mixed bag. On arriving at Moffat I misplaced a building, I was looking for the once renowned Moffat Pottery, only to discover some one had put a co-op up instead. So decided to go and see the man who owned said pottery.
It is amazing what time does to your memory, it puts a soft fuzzy coat on the past, rather like mold. You know that what is under that fuzz should be left well enough alone, but still. That is exactly the situation I found my self in going to meet, an old family acquaintance. When I last met the man, he was, I think the best way to say, veering. Only now 16 years later do I get to see just where it has taken him, happy in himself and with his life where he can happily boast that he was SAVED by GOD in the local pub. Now there is a boast that few if any can make!
Moving swiftly away from memory lane we bound for places new, actually we end up somewhere we have already been in the past namely Blackpool giving it a dry run before we decend apon it in August.
I now hate, Golf. I now hate students. Just
how is it possible for just one tournament and a few graduates manage to tie up
every single reasonably priced hotel, services
and every other place that had a vacant bed for about a hundred miles.
From Liverpool at nine o’clock at night, till we finally called it a night at
almost one in the morning in
Nina
Today we went to Moffat and I saw the Boating Pond in the park. The only
problem was all the hotels From
Liverpool to the end of
Twiggy
Slept in van and everyone was angry but everyone got to sleep in the end except for me! But I evensuly got to sleep but before that we were at Moffet
And me Nina and Elma each got a Gobbstopper!