MX-5 Valentine Weekend

Today is the start of the MX-5 Valentine Weekend in the New Forest. The day began at 6.30am when the alarm woke me up. We had to be at Fraddon for 9.30am and with the car to pack and Hamish to walk we needed plenty of time. Five cars gathered and set off with a loo stop planned at Sourton Services. As I took a photo of the cars I missed the sight of Rhona exiting from the Gents!

Apparently she'd been chatting away on her mobile and had just gone in without realising where she was going. The sound of male voices was a bit of a giveaway but she came out quite oblivious! It was hilarious and she'll never live it down. Hamish settled down on the parcel shelf ...

The next stop was at Exeter Services where we met up with the group from the east of the county and then we drove to Lyme Regis where we were having lunch at The Cobb Arms ...

Hamish had had a bath for his holiday and so I was gutted to find him sitting next to the fireplace and getting a black tail and bottom from the soot on the grate! He was not Mr Popular. After lunch we went for a walk on the Cobb ...

I've been to Lyme several times but never made it down to the Cobb before. It was very foggy but still very impressive. Back to the cars and on to Lyndhurst in the middle of the New Forest. On the way we drove through Chideock where the protestors were crossing the road with their placards ...

They have been trying to get a bypass for many years without luck. We finally arrived at the Ormonde House Hotel ...

and were shown to our room ...

While I took photos Mike made us a very welcome cuppa ...

The group met for dinner at 7pm and we left Hamish on the bed (covered by a sheet we always take with us) and the television was on for him as company.

The food was fantastic and I ate far too much!

Dog-Sitting Fred

Yesterday Jo contacted me and asked if we could pop in to see Fred some time during the day as they were off to Somerset to view some cars. I immediately said yes of course that was no problem but why didn't we pick Fred up and he could spend the day with Hamish. So this morning after we'd done our Tesco shop we drove home via Jo's and collected one dog, dog bowl, food, towels and treats! It looked as if he was staying for a few days! Fred was very excited and jumped into our car - he seemed to know exactly where he was going.

When we got home Hamish was leaping about as his friend had come to play and with some difficulty I managed to get Hamish's harness on (Jo chose this very inopportune moment to ring and give me an update on the first car!) and then we set off for a walk round to see Pam. We then made our way home and the two pals settled down or should I say Hamish settled but Fred wanted to play ...

With Hamish ignoring him Fred decided to attack the toy-box and began looking for his favourite plaything - a ball ...

He sat himself up on the arm of the sofa and looked out the window in the hopes that his mum and dad might be coming ...

but he soon realised that he was here for a while and when it was lunchtime they both tucked in even if it was a case of swapping food - well the other person's lunch is always more interesting than your own!

A quick visit outside ...

then time to sit on the sofa with me and check to see what was happening in the harbour ...

They were such good boys and they look like little angels ...

The best news of the day came when Jo rang to say they'd found a car which was perfect for them. They arrived here late afternoon with all their news of the day to find two dogs very excited to see them ...

and to see Hamish looking at all his toys spread over the floor and thinking 'I don't make a mess like this!'

We had a great day and if you need us to dog-sit again Jo you only have to ask!

Birds and Building

Okay so there's no connection here with the birds and the building but there's so little happening at the moment and they don't really warrant a thread each!

We've had very active seagulls in the harbour for a couple of weeks now and it's all due apparently to herrings. Each day a shoal has come in the harbour and the birds think it's their birthday and Christmas all rolled into one. They feed non-stop and make a racket to boot! We have loads of dead fish on the seaweed when the tide recedes and they get caught in the pool at the pinch ...

When the tide comes in then they're milling around outside our house ...

Building work has started at Rose Villa farm which is just as you enter Portreath and opposite the Junior school. Planning took ages to be approved as the local residents were all very anti the new houses however they finally got it passed and so now we're seeing the work commence ...

It will be interesting to watch it progress.

Eden at Night

It's that time of year when a trip to Eden and paying just £5 means that you get a pass which will last for the year. The only catch is that you must be a resident of Devon or Cornwall and photo/address proof is required. So this afternoon Jo and Paul picked us up and we all drove over to Eden to get our passes. It was very quiet in the car park so we were able to park quite close and as we strolled down there were many visitors leaving. They really should have stayed to see the place lit up as it was so pretty ...

There were white lights along the walkway ...

and when we reached the bottom we found blue lights in all the trees ...

We could hear the music coming from the ice-rink so popped in to have a look ...

On the wall there was a line painted which showed how far up the floodwater had reached when Cornwall was hit by the floods last November ...

We then made our way into the tropical biome and it very soon began to get quite hot! Mike took his coat off but the shades had to stay as the lights were really bright ...

We could just about see the balloon ...

but it was quite dark in there and my photos didn't come out too well ...

True to form we lost Mike! Jo and I stopped for a drink of water and to remove our coats and when we got moving again Paul was there but Mike had disappeared! He'd chosen the spot where the route split to do his vanishing act so I went looking in one direction and Jo and Paul went the other way. I passed the waterfall ...

and then finally got down to the lower level having got caught up amongst American and Japanese tourists but no sign of Mike. Jo and Paul found him and we all met up just outside the biome where I was waiting in the cool air which was heaven. It's mega hot in there! We then went over to the Mediterranean biome which had lovely food smells wafting up to us. There were stalls set up providing Spanish food for the visitors but apart from Paul none of us fancied what was on offer ...

The restaurant area had been caught by the floods and was still closed ...

but we knew that there was a cafe at the exit so planned to eat there. We then headed off to The Core passing this beautifully lit shelter ...

If you look really closely you can see Paul doing his version of a pole dance! The bridge was visible in the distance all lit up with blue and white lights - we'd be up there soon ...

Then we entered The Core to an almost deserted building ...

It was so different being here at night! After passing the wall of handprints ...

we took the lift up and then the next lift took us right up to the bridge ...

We could look down on all that we'd seen and it was generally agreed that it had been a brilliant idea to come at this time of day ...

As we walked through the cafe we found that there wasn't a great choice of food so the suggestion of returning to the Portreath Arms was made and unanimously voted for! The Arms was very quiet and so no problem getting a table where Jo and I enjoyed salmon, chips and salad and the men had steak and kidney pies. All very yummy and a great end to the day.