St Albans, the Midlands and now Bristol

The iconic library, Birmingham City Centre

We left St. Albans and returned to the Midlands, once we’d got word that Laura and Rich had safely landed. Pottered, booked Halfords to come and fit mum a new car battery and went to the Red Lion for dinner.

Tuesday general pottering before meeting John for a pint or three at The Crown. We’d already booked it but after waking to the 4th attempted break in to get the keys to steal his car he definitely needed a pint!

Wednesday we had to go into Birmingham for our interviews to volunteer for the Commonwealth Games. It was a great experience, though I’m not sure how well I did. It’s a very long time since I had an interview. From 25000 applicants they want 13000 volunteers, so the odds aren’t great and we won’t know till January or February so time to blank it from our minds! We then went to Denise and Paul to have a look at the damage caused by a leaking washing machine. They’d dealt with everything except getting a piece of plinth off. A good excuse to see them anyway and go out to dinner at The Drum and Monkey.

Grand Central railway station, Birmingham or, to us locals, New Street Station!

On the 'beach' at Clevedon with the pier behind

Thursday we’d offered mum a day out using her and Brian’s bus passes, but she said she’d rather go to the seaside. We considered north Wales and South Wales, finally deciding on Clevedon on the Bristol Channel. We set off in mizzle which cleared by the time we arrived, after a detour to a craft centre we saw signs for on the way in. Elevenses in the form of cream tea called to us, jolly good too. On arrival at the seafront it seemed to be Christmas, there was filming for BBC kids TV going on so decorations had been sprinkled about. We went down the pier, the only grade I listed pier in the country, and onto the beach, though with the tide going out the mud prevented paddling until we got to the lido where it just had to be done. Fish and chips on the seafront rounded off a grand day out.

Us with Jackies mum, Pauline walking along the pier at Clevedon. Interesting story about the pier that I'd like to share with you: Built in 1869 and partially collapsed in 1970 during a strength test for insurance purposes. Huge bags filled with water were placed on each section and left there for an hour. The first six sections were OK, but the seventh section collapsed into the sea taking the eighth with it and leaving the pier head stranded (see photos below). It remained like that, gradually deteriorating until, 1985 work began to rebuild it, having been taken over by a trust. The decking was stripped off down to the support frames and it was decided the pier head, by now completely derelict, should be dismantled and shipped to a repairer in nearby Portishead. It was broken down and floated up the Avon where work started. Unfortunately the company doing the work went bankrupt, leaving Clevedon with no pier and no contractor! It was eventually taken over by another contractor in 1988 and opened in 1989 to great fanfare with a temporary access to allow ships to berth there, fully open a couple of years later. It was awarded Grade 1 listed building in 2001 and 'Pier of the Year' in 2021. Not bad for a pier that Clevedon council wanted to demolish in 1970!  

Friday dentist and shopping before off again, almost the same route as Thursday, to Bev and Iain in Bristol. Sadly four cats from two years ago has now gone to two. The passing of Mr. Pickles was not a surprise, but it’s still sad to come back and find him not here. We had a lovely evening before waving them off on Saturday morning. Shopping then (fortunately not for fuel, we’ll worry about that in a bit) and Brian bought a new phone, his battery has been getting worse and what with his long walk coming up, that’s not good. Setting up the new phone took most of the day, and is still ongoing.

Sunday we walked along the river into Bristol, a nice walk, except for my Achilles. There doesn’t seem to be any logic as to when it hurts. A relaxed lunch before getting the bus back, with Brian finally getting to use his bus pass!

Photos of Clevedon pier taken from a display at the pier head showing the collapsed sections in 1970

Repair work underway

Grand reopening in 1989

Pauline goes paddling!

Clevedon Marina Lake. People pay a lot of money to swim in an infinity pool and here's one for free! It's filled by high Spring tides overflowing into it

And, of course, no visit to a British traditional seaside resort is complete without fish and chips on the seafront!

And so to Bristol to look after Tinsel......

....and Millie

Our walk along the River Avon into Bristol, a distance of over seven miles, but it was a nice day and fabulous scenery. See our short Relive video with photos by clicking here

As we got into the Avon Gorge proper we came upon the crags, very popular with climbers and ones Jackie and I, along with my old climbing partner Phil have been to many times. This is the Sea Walls crag and we've done virtually all the recognised climbs below E1 grade here and have many, many stories to tell. Here Rob and I climbed an HVS after weaving our way through the gypsy camp at the base. He fell off, pulling a huge block off. I held him and he suffered just a ripped jacket. On starting to climb again the gypsies ran over to us and asked whether they should move their caravans in case we fell off again!

A bit further down and this is Main Wall. Again we've done most climbs below E1 here with, again, lots of stories to tell. I did my very first HVS lead here - very scary at the time! There are actually people climbing in this photo, in the shadowed part on the right. Zoom in and see if you can see them. We've done that climb a few times

A bit further along the gorge again and here we are near the iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge. Centre in this photo is a vertical arête called Giants Cave Buttress, picked out with a slight shadow (just right of the Giants Cave opening, you can see the yellow railings three quarters of the way up). That ridge is one of the finest climbs in the Gorge. It's a VS three star and it deserves every one of it's stars, it's magnificent! Any climbers are on show from people walking over the bridge. I've done it twice with Phil and thoroughly enjoyed the tremendous exposure of seeing the ground several hundred feet below your feet!

And next door, beneath the bridge is Suspension Bridge Buttress, more magnificent climbing in a hugely exposed position. Sadly you can't now climb onto the bridge, abseil points are fitted so you climb up to near the bridge and then abseil back down again. Nothing below HVS grade on there

Approaching Bristol centre now

This is the lock gate that keeps the river level constant in the harbour whilst the Avon rises and falls with the second largest tide in the world 

And there's the SS Great Britain in it's dry dock in Bristol Harbour, the same dock in which it was originally built. We visited it in June, you can read about it by clicking here

And so to Sunday lunch in Millenium Square, Bristol

St Albans and, whatever happened to de Havilland, part of Britain's aircraft heritage?

Who was/is Big Kev? We don't know, but we did enjoy his bench

We leave St Albans tomorrow and head back to The Midlands for a few days before going to Bristol for our last planned housesit of the summer. But whatever happened to De Havilland, a Great British aircraft manufacturer? Read what Jackie has written below and photo descriptions to find out:

Tomorrow we leave little Tatty and big Max, we shall both be sad. I had to work quite hard on Tatty who was very shy to begin with, but has spent a lot of time on the bed. A comment yesterday from Laura, after I sent a picture of Tatty on my lap on the sofa, that it took Rich about three years to get to that stage made me feel much better. Max was our friend from the beginning, but has still changed, he can now throw Brian to the bed when he wants fuss which is a bit of a novelty.

A breakthrough with Tatty cat. Three weeks ago she wouldn't come near us, now look

The unlikely location for the excellent Cafe Sen 

Our last week, again, we’ve only taken the car out twice, once because we decided to take ourselves to Bletchley to go climbing (and to have another bowl of yummy Vietnamese Pho), and the second time to visit the de Havilland museum. We haven’t been climbing indoors, just the two of us since we started travelling, so although we really enjoyed it our arms didn’t last that well! We are hoping we can get a climb in when we are in Bristol too.

The de Havilland museum was interesting. They made the mosquito, a wooden plane, that flew high and fast during the Second World War, before moving on to passenger planes. The museum seems to be mainly run by very enthusiastic volunteers, keen to talk, but also work on projects. All over the place there is building and maintenance and ‘things’ in progress. You really just want to have a poke around. Not to mention we were all welcomed by Larry, a cat from the neighbouring farm, who has realised that fuss and snacks are freely available just next door!

But look at the food! Beef Pho cooked by Ho Chi Minh City ex pats and took us right back to our three month trip there four years ago. It's on an industrial estate near to Big Rock Bond climbing centre in Milton Keynes and attracts many employees from surrounding businesses

More than that we’ve continued running, when my Achilles has felt up to it, and walked when it hasn’t. We’ve also continued eating our way around St. Albans with visits to Thailand, Vietnam, Turkey Morocco and Mexico.

What to say about Britain's lost aircraft building industry? It was established in 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland a true entrepreneur who innovated and designed many aircraft before and during WWII and, for other companies during WWI. His early designs were biplanes, the Moth, Tiger Moth and Gypsy Moth (flown by Amy Johnson solo from England to Australia in 1930). Prior to WWII he was working on the Mosquito prototype and, as aluminium was in short supply due to the war effort, he made the decision to make it in wood, readily available as were the cabinet making craftsmen. The MOD turned him down so he went on using his own money to develop a plane that had a decisive impact on Britain's war effort and, in 1943 was the fastest plane in the world, setting a speed of 493mph. After the war he concentrated on commercial aircraft, developing several jet aircraft, the Comet being the centrepiece. Problems with metal fatigue and several breaking up in flight with large loss of life set the company back. By the time of Comet 4, Boeing had their 707 and DC-8, both of which were faster and more economical. The company was eventually sold to Hawker Siddeley in 1960 where de Havilland's last designed aircraft the Trident was finally produced (photo above). Hawker Siddeley was incorporated  into BAE Systems and, in 1993 aircraft production in Britain came to an end. Today the de Havilland name lives on in Canada, originally a subsidiary, then owned by the Bombardier company and, since 2019, new owners Longview Aviation Capital Corp. renamed it De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd and still produce the Dash 8 aircraft

The museum is stacked full of really enthusiastic volunteers, devoting all their spare time  to renovation old de Havilland aircraft. Here a volunteer is producing a full sized replica of an early design

And here's what we came to see the Mosquito. Fast, adaptable and loved by the pilots who flew them. It had a decisive impact on Britain's war effort. This on is the original prototype and one of three preserved in this hangar 

Just look at that poking out of the open hangar door!

So much to see, so many different deHavilland designs and so many incredibly enthusiastic volunteers to talk to

Not forgetting Larry, the deHavilland museum cat

They even have an original prototype bouncing bomb. This one was the 'Highball' spherical bomb developed to attack shipping (particularly the German Tirpitz), although never deployed, unlike it's cylindrical sister used by the dambusters. This one was used as a prototype and was launched from a Mosquito over Loch Striven in Scotland and bounced across the surface before sinking. It was raised by a team of divers and donated to the museum

We've been for a few longer walks this week, in preparation for Brian's six day hike along The Ridgeway (87 miles) in early October. This is Redbournebury water mill the only one still working of originally 11 mills in the area. See our short video with a map and more photos by clicking here 

You don't see this often - warning: hedgehogs!

Our other walk was an 11 mile walk through and round St Albans. This is the Ver River valley. See our short video with a map and more photos by clicking here

And this might look like a pile of rubble, but it's the remains of the London Gate and is in Verulamium Park

Here's what the experts think it looked like. Watling Street, the London to Chester road ran right through here. It's now been diverted a couple of miles away. Zoom in on the photo if you want to learn more

Part of the original Roman wall built in 3rd century. Most of the old town and walls were broken up to build the abbey and other housing in the area but it is thought this survived as it was deep in a wooded area 

This is a ditch! Not just a ditch (and bank) but one built by iron age man, pre the Romans. It surrounded their original city that the Romans destroyed. The Romans utilised the defensive nature of the ditch and bank and built a city or wood. That was destroyed by Boudicea (various spellings exist!) in AD61 along with Colchester and London. It was rebuilt in stone and a wall constructed around the original bank

Look at this for a cozy evening photo. A cat each, what could be better!

Look at this interesting caterpillar we found crawling across a roadway. Nasty looking spike on it's back! It's apparently a Hawkshead and will turn into a moth 

Food photos I know, but this was Sunday lunch today in Al Farid St Albans, 2 minutes walk from where we're staying. Bottom is Chicken Tagine, top is Chicken Shish. Both were fabulous! Swilled down with an excellent bottle of red, we haven't felt like doing much this afternoon funnily enough, other than write this! 

St Albans, London, Harpenden and pussy cats!

With Gina and Stephen in Camden Lock Market

Monday and Tuesday were hot, so we went walking. No I don’t understand either! Monday for a change we thought we’d get the train back, which sort of worked, except that the train was a bus, but apart from that that!

Wednesday was even hotter, so we did very little. Brian had wanted to go into London, but I’d managed to get it postponed to Thursday as someone on the TrustedHouseSitters forum had posted they’d be in London and would love to meet some other sitters. I’d said “what about us?” And so a plan was hatched.

This was a photo from our walk on a very hot Monday. Knowing she wasn't very keen I picked a nice stroll along the river Ver, a lot of it in the shade. It was a mere 6 miles (could have made it much longer without telling her) and I planned a nice trip back on the train after a lunch out. What could be nicer? Unfortunately no pubs serving food were open on Monday on our route, but there was a fish and chip shop! Sadly we had to pass the train station to get to the shop and, there found the next train was in 10 minutes time. Why does it say 'Bus' under the train announcement? Ah, that'll be a bus replacement service while they do work on the line. 'Didn't you check this beforehand' she asked: No! However, it worked out well and we got back to have lunch in St Albans a bit late

We met Gina and Stephen, an American couple who have sold up to travel for at least a year. They have a 19 year old son, a dog, and Gina a wish to start her own business so the travel may be indefinite or it may come to an end. They did a couple of months in the US in their jeep and R-Pod (American in size for car and caravan I think!) before coming to Europe to walk the last 100km of the Camino de Santiago, Housesit in Ireland, Scotland and Guildford, and now return to Spain for a sit in Madrid and some Workaway in Morocco.

And then we went out on Tuesday, again in the hot sun, but this time mostly in the shade. This is the remains of Sopwell Nunnery in St Albans after Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. I planned to follow this with a boardwalk amble through a nature reserve along the river Ver all in shade. However it was closed due to maintenance work so we did a big detour to follow another path mainly in shade for some distance until she decided lunch was calling in St Albans centre

Back to London and the filming location of Sherlock

We met outside 122B Baker Street, or actually outside 187 N Gower Street Which was used as the outside for the Benedict Cumberbatch version of Sherlock Holmes. We then walked to Baker Street to find that where 122b should be is an office block, but a little bit further on the Sherlock Holmes Museum has randomly claimed 122b out of sequence! We then walked to Abbey Road recording studios, via the outside of Lords Cricket ground, to recreate the Beatles walking across the zebra crossing. We weren’t the only ones irritating the traffic, but we were the only ones who gave Brian’s camera to some innocent bystander, who just couldn’t make it work. Fortunately Gina got some good pictures on her phone! Through Regents Park where we nearly got rained on, fortunately it was only a very brief shower so we continued to Camden Lock Market. I’d been reading about the food options there, how would you manage a metre long hotdog? We never found that so we didn’t have to decide, but we did all find something very yummy. Lamb jalfrezi burgers for Stephen and I, beef rendang for Brian and some Argentinian beef for Gina from the Yorkshire burrito stall, she didn’t fancy the beef dinner wrapped in a Yorkshire pudding....

And here we are in the real Baker Street at the Sherlock Holmes museum that claims to be at 221b, they even have the number on the door. However, it's between numbers 237 and 239 as the correct location is within a huge building called Parkview Residences covering the numbers 215 to 229, but it doesn't seem to upset anyone and most people probably wouldn't notice. We didn't go into the museum, too many other things to do!

We’d walked and talked for nearly 5 hours, and our time was almost up, Gina had a business call at 16.00 so we walked them down Camden High Street to the tube station passed all the weird and wonderful shops. We had a lovely time with them, whether we gave them any useful information or advice who knows , but we thoroughly enjoyed our time and hope we can meet up again, somewhere sometime.

We went past Lords Cricket Ground, home of the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club). We couldn't get in, there was nothing on on that day, I'd checked. Anyway, we were too busy!

We then walked back to Camden Lock to look at the market before walking along the canal back to Kings Cross to look at platform 9 and 3/4 important to lovers of Harry Potter (actually between platforms 4and 5) and the outside of St. Pancras. We then got on the train back to St. Albans after a great circular walk of about 20km, some great free sights, yummy food and some brilliant company. The only thing missing? The vagina museum, it had jumped off the map at me, when Gina had said they wanted some cheap hidden gems, it’s free and in Camden but sadly only open on the weekend. She’s booked tickets for the Friday!

So then on to Abbey Road and a recreation of the album cover of the same name by the Beatles. Unfortunately I was the only one of the four of us around at the time it was made and the initial reaction from them to do this was mediocre at best. I did insist however and we had a thoroughly enjoyable visit. I even removed my shoes and socks, as Paul McCartney had done in the original. We had to have several attempts and a lot of photos, this one being the best. Much traffic was held up in the process, not only by us, but the many other people there doing the same thing

If that wasn’t enough excitement for the day, Thursday was the only day Dream Horse was showing at the Odyssey cinema and we really wanted the experience, and it sounded like the best film. It was a thoroughly enjoyable feel good film, and the experience was grand. Comfy chairs, nachos, dips and olives delivered to your table and a bottle of wine!

Here's the original. We were close!

Friday I stayed in with the cats who obviously needed me, to watch them sleep, while Brian went on a long walk. He has a thing about long distance walks, I also have a thing about them. My thing means I think the idea ridiculous and have no interest, while his thing means he wants to do them! He’s decided on the Ridgeway, it starts from Avebury (relatively close to Bev and Iain our last Housesit) we walked part of it when we were in Faringdon, and it finishes on the Ivinghoe Beacon very close to Jonathan, Lucy, Charles and Caroline.

And here's the actual Abbey Road studios where not only the Beatles but many other bands such as Pink Floyd have recorded there

He thought that a long day out, after a long day out made good sense so he walked to Hatfield and back, it wasn’t far enough so he walked there and back for a second time!

The wall in front of the studios. John Lennon recorded his album Imagine here

Saturday, obviously, was a chilling day, though we did manage to book ourselves on a Tudor tour of St. Albans for an hour and a half in the afternoon which was very interesting. It ties in nicely with the cathedral tours that we had done, not to mention King Henry VIII who we’ve been following through the Mary Rose and our trip to Winchester. Thought we deserved a pint and we hadn’t been in the pub, a minute away, at the end of the road, seemed rude really. Had a lovely pint from the Tring Brewery, that wasn’t there when I grew up in Tring!

Here's the zebra crossing from the other direction and, oh look, there's someone else recreating the walk! I said to the lady taking the photo 'I hope you got a good photo', 'I do too' she replied looking nervous!

Sunday we got the train (or actually bus) to Harpenden for a Highland Gathering, well we had to really. Stalls, snacks, ferret racing, Highland games (though only four competitors doing all the activities) Scottish dancing and pipe bands. Who knew that, Harpenden, Bedford, Nene Valley, Milton Keynes and the 5th one I’ve forgotten, all had drum and bagpipes? A lovely day out, mostly for its weirdness.

So today we’ve been for a run, I’ve written the blog on the bed with Tatty, while Brian is upstairs with Max but we are now looking at rooms along the Ridgeway. It’s all looking quite expensive!

After our visit to Camden Lock Market we strolled down Camden High Street to look at the outrageous shop fronts down there. It's worth the walk just to see them. All too soon it was time to say goodbye to Gina and Stephen. We hope we will met them again somewhere, we had a lot of fun

We caught the train to St Pancras and it was here, between platforms 3 and 4 apparently that a scene for one of the Harry Potter movies was filmed. We don't know, we've haven't seen any of them, but Gina and Richard mentioned it

I have to put a photo on of the fabulous front of St Pancras station, which really is amazing for a railway station. It's a time lapse panorama with lots of vehicles going past, hence the bits of vehicles you can see

We came back from London and, in the evening went to the Odyssey cinema in St Albans, an old traditional cinema that's been completely restored to its old glory days with soft swivel armchairs and tables with a bar and serving food

Ready for the movie with wine and snacks. Good film too, Dream Horse, we had a great night!

My long walk. I won't bore you with the details, it was along an old railway line, now a cycle path between St Albans and Hatfield. I like this sign, it's pointing to an old station, now just a platform by the cycle and walkway. They've called it a ghost station. I wanted to walk 19 miles to make sure I could still walk that far after walking 12 miles the previous day. I managed it ok in just under 6 hours, feeling quite tired at the end but reasonably OK the next day. On the strength of that I'm going to do the Ridgeway trail, a 6 day 85 mile walk along a way dating back to pre-Roman times. 4th October is my start date! The walk here from St Albans to Hatfield is only about 5 miles, so I walked to Hatfield, back to St Albans and then did it again!  

This was on our guided walk through St Albans on a busy Saturday, pointing out all the Tudor buildings. Our guide was very knowledgeable and gave us a fabulous tour and talk. Have a look at our short Relive video containing more photos and info: https://video.relive.cc/9357236806_underarmour_1631379113221.mp4?x-ref=site

This picture I like, also on our guided walk. The narrow street in front is just off the main street in the town and was the original main road between London and Holyhead in Anglesey, Wales. Apparently Elizabeth I would have travelled up that road

Finishing with a lovely pint of beer from the Tring brewery at our current local, the White Hart Tap 

Our Sunday trip to Harpenden and the Highland Gathering (who knew!). I won't put on the video with sound as you either love it or hate it. We did find in really quite nice and there were all very professional and good. It just seemed a bit weird when they announced the 'Milton Keynes Pipe Ban'. Should they at least have called it the McMilton Keynes Pipe Band?

There's ferrets loose! Better scoop them up and get them into those tubes for the racing!

Sitting on the grass in front of the stage waiting for the band to come on, the Wight Hot Chilli Pipes' all the way from the Isle of Wight. Due on at 2:30 they eventually got it together just after 3:00pm. They were OK, we watched a bit but then wandered off

Here's a man in kilt throwing a big 58lb weight. And here you can see what a Scotsman wears under his kilt! Hope he lets go of it in the right direction!

Here's another one on the same event, the weight a blur in the sky

Caber tossing. Here is is taking the weight and trying to get his balance right. A little tip forward, run with it and toss it...

It supposed to hit the ground and the top carry on over. This isn't going to make it - fail!

This is how it's done, but sadly the caber broke in half as it landed!

I did say I wasn't going to put any bagpipe music on, but this is just a little bit to put you in the mood!

Not forgetting,, of course, the reason we are in St Albans, looking after fluffy Tatty cat, who has finally got to know us...

And Maxy boy!