25/9 - Bournemouth Pier - early morning shortly after breakfast
A view of the beach with our hotel marked - a great room (6th floor) with superb views over the beach. We have stayed with mostly hotels of the Premier Inn chain - excellent value GBP60 - GBP80 per night for all, with cheap breakfasts too
Stop off at Stonehenge. Vicki's comment - "Is that it?" Its a lot smaller than what you would imagine, but still facinating.
Excellent audio guide machines provided with your entry fee gave a great commentary on the site. Not exactly spiritual (as Anfield was!).
Lunch stop was Brighton - here is the Brighton Pier
We had to check out the attractions on the end of the pier, before travelling on to Hastings for one night
26/9 After a quick stop in Dover (so Vicki could get her hair done), we headed up the coast to Deal - here is the pier
Followed by a tour of Deal Castle
Another view of the Deal waterfront, looking North
A missed turn on the GPS, but it lead to the White Cliffs lookout over Dover
A view down on the port where we will be leaving from in two days to cross to France. There is more ferries coming in and out of Dover than that which crosses the Auckland harbour!
We explored Dover Castle -here Vicki is at the top of the Keep
A later view of the castle from Dover main street. The tour of the Secret Wartime Tunnels was interesting
Someone had emptied soap into the fountain, which the kids had fun with
A view of one of the P&O Ferries we will be crossing on. We were fortunate to witness a wonderful firework display lasting over 15 minutes with fireworks launched from the Castle, Pier and boats crossing the harbour, all timed to music.
27/9 Connor's Birthday and our trip to Diggerland, Strood (45 minutes from Dover). Its a theme park based around earthmoving equipment - JCB's, Dumper Trucks etc
Even using a JCB for a thrill ride called Spindizzy
The best part was controlling the diggers to pick up objects, knock over skittles...
And of course dig holes!
Not to mention driving dumper trucks too! A real fun day with heavy machinery
After Diggerland we headed for Canterbury
Where we of course looked through Canterbury Cathedral, whose origins date back to 597 A.D.
A truly magnificent building
Finally, the view from our hotel out through the port of Dover from which we will be sailing to France tomorrow. This will be the second time Ian has left England, and both by boat!

And that was England. We covered 2587kms here, and Ian enjoyed over 15 different Ales Highs? The History, some of the pub meals, the bigger A roads, and cruising at 130kph on the motorways. Definitely the theme parks, especially Pleasure Beach, Blackpool, and those beautiful Cornish villages by the seaside. And of course visiting Liverpool, Anfield, Deal and Dover. Not to mention the various Steak & Ale Pies The not so Highs? The scary B roads where both wing mirrors were catching the greenery either side of the road. Some of the pubs not licenced for children either after 8:00pm or some not at all! Missing the GPS instructions and headed down those dreaded B roads! Now on to France

INDEX

..On to France...