Wednesday 31st October 2012

After leaving Knighthayes Court at Tiverton we headed for Bristol where we had booked two nights at the Caravan Club site at Baltic Wharf. From the site a gate lead straight onto the quayside and then after a short walk to the many attractions of the Bristol Harbour, one of which was Isambard Kingdom Brunel's SS Great Britain.

Propellor (replica of original design) and rudder of SS Great Britain

Stern above the waterline showing the glazed panels that keep the rain from the rest of the lower hull

Detail of stern port quarter showing decoration details

Interior of hull towards the bow showing some of the many rust holes in the wrought iron hull.

We visited this vessel on the Thursday and were fascinated by the story that unfolded about it and its long life. A lot of work had gone into reconstructing the interior to what it looked like before the ship was scuttled in the Falkland Islands in the 1930s and it was very graphic the way that the story was told.

After touring the ship we had a walk into Bristol along the dockside then returned to the van before going to a nearby pub on the quayside by the site for an evening meal.

On the next day we returned to Whimple where we went to a site on a farm about one and a half miles from where our home used to be and we had a peaceful night there before exchanging our motorhome for our car.

We took More Time back to the compound and got into the car before driving to Eastbourne to visit my Mum as it was the last chance we had to see her before going to Spain. She is 96 at the end of November so any visits mean a lot to her and we spent several days with her before driving to visit Sues sister in London. 

After a night in a Travel Lodge in Basingstoke we came back to the farm after collecting the motorhome so we have both vehicles for a while which makes visiting people a bit easier without moving the MH.

One thing we have noticed while travelling around the country recently is the changing nature of the trees. When driving from Stafford to Shrewsbury we were amazed at the brilliance of the Autumn colours on the trees. In Sussex they were very dull and quite bare in places yet heading over Salisbury Plain the colours were back and brightened up a rather dull day nicely.

Colours of Autumn

When next Wednesday arrives ( I try to update the Blog once a week on a Wednesday) we will be just one day before leaving for Spain. It is currently 7degrees here and 26 degrees where we are heading to on the Mediterranean coast.