Jun 16, 2013 - Race 2

RACE 2 We had a lazy morning at the hotel as the race wasn't until 4:25 in the afternoon. We got to the circuit and spent some time prepping the car, checking tire pressures, torquing wheels, cleaning windows etc. 40 min before the race starts the cars leave the pits and head to a staging area. Here they form up in grid order behind the pace car, and wait to go out on the track. One of the sponsors of the Ferrari championship is Triton O-Rings and they had a couple of models walking past the cars getting pictures taken. As the proud...

Jun 15, 2013 - Qualifying and Race 1

QUALIFYING: Saturday was qualifying day, and after getting the car prepared it was time to get Richard strapped in and out for his 25 min session. As there are two races, the two quickest laps determine pole position for the two races. This weekend also saw the Classic series share the track with the full Open series cars, so the grid went from fully race prepared 458s down to Richard's stock 308 GT4, with 8 classes in total. It had rained before qualifying, so it was on a drying track that the cars went out... Pole position for Race...

Jun 14, 2013 - Driving the car at last!

So the trip is officially underway! We landed at Heathrow at 11:00 this morning and were met by my sister and my niece. They drove us to a quiet car park where the 550 was waiting for us. After swapping our bags we were off! The car is great, and it was an easy drive to Silverstone. We met up with family there and Richard passed tech and is good for qualifying tomorrow. Now for some sleep...

Jun 11, 2013 - Suffolk

British Airways sent me an e-mail last night advising me that my flight to Paris had been cancelled which wasn't very nice. A few weeks ago they’d offered me a cheap upgrade to Business Class, which I’d accepted, so it was easy enough for me to book on another flight tomorrow although it leaves Heathrow an hour earlier so I will have an even earlier start. I spent some time this morning sorting my gear & packing the stuff I won’t need until I get home. I’ve got a night in Paris, then the plane trip, then a night in Melbourne so I need a...

Jun 10, 2013 - Sutton Hoo

The owners of the apartment finally came home last night & while I was talking to them to get the Wi-Fi password, she mentioned that Sutton Hoo was only about ½ an hour’s drive north of here. It’s the site of a very famous collection of Anglo-Saxon royal burial mounds, most of which were plundered by grave robbers in the 1500s but they missed one particular grave which held the body & treasure of an Anglo-Saxon king who was buried within an impressive burial ship about 640 AD. The reason the grave robbers missed this treasure was that at...

Jun 10, 2013 - Inbound, home, the end,

A quiet start to the morning, the wild ones were still screeching at 0100, we are talking 5 years olds, even the noise from the cranky Air Conditioning could mask that. It's the start of the holiday here including the Sardines. So the city is dead this morning A very quiet breakfast before checking out and heading to the airport, which is easy to navigate, security and passport control very efficient, and by the time I get to the departure lounge the plane has arrived. (G EUUI) another airbus 320 boarding swift and early departure, a bit of...

Jun 10, 2013 - Going to Cornwall

Gatwick waiting 20 mins for airport security to come to take handover papers and so let us out of the plane into the terminal. Another 20 + to walk to border control. Through that within 10 (must be a record?) Picked up by B&B car Had trouble sleeping without rocking boat and noise of engine! After a big full English breakfast it was off to the station and with Jenny and Bevans 'how to' information, got myself a Senior rail card. The girl said she was going to get me through fast so I didnt miss train to Reading as it went only once an...

Jun 9, 2013 - London to Hadleigh

I ordered a taxi for 10:00am to take me to Hertz at Heathrow to pick up a car for 3 days. I set the alarm for 9:00 as I was very tired & it was quite late when I got to bed so I was afraid I’d oversleep. Fat chance! I woke up at 6:00 so I’m still tired tonight. Everything went smoothly. I was upgraded to an Audi automatic because they didn’t have any 4 door compacts left so it makes driving a little easier. I think it’s the first time I got away from Heathrow without making at least one wrong turn & headed north to Hatfield House, home of...

Jun 3, 2013 - Outward

A bright start, the sun is out, perhaps a good sign, A relaxing day for a relaxing journey, taking all day to get there and the first leg takes me to the airport, which is terminal 3 at Heathrow, not many operators fly to Lisbon, as other destinations preferred. As I write this, I am enjoying coffee of the train, feeling relaxed, sure I am excited, but I am always at ease and confident with my travel, I guess it's what I do.. Transfer to Heathrow was quick, and was in Terminal 3 in 45mins, from my train arriving at Euston. I am slightly...

Jun 3, 2013 - Walwick to Once Brewed

Now we get to the part of the wall that is most visited. Probably because there is actually a wall here! It was just too remote for as much scavenging. And, most importantly, a nearby landowner named John Clayton in about 1830 saw that the wall and forts would disappear without action. So he bought up as much of the wall as he could and employed people to do excavation work. His name is in every story about the wall. The terrain to the north is pretty desolate. Very windy, but as a farmer told us, "It keeps the flies away. If we didn't have...

Jun 2, 2013 - Corbridge to Walwick

Beautiful day of weather. We tried to find a church nearby but could not. We walked to Corbridge (off the Hadrian's Wall path). It was a gorgeous walk around a Halton Castle and down country lanes. There we toured Corbridge Roman Town, our first English Heritage site. They had trouble dealing with our internet-purchased pass but worked it out. There was an excellent audio guide and you could climb over everything so I though it would be a good place for kids. Then we walked into Corbridge where I thought we would do some shopping in the...

Jun 1, 2013 - Heddon-on-Wall to Corbridge

Walked today through the English countryside. Very pretty but not much of Hadrian's Wall. The wall was under the road we walked along (nicely preserved for future archeologists according to my guidebook). On the N side was a ditch and on the S side a "vallum" which is a flat-bottomed depression 20-40 ft wide which was a "no man's land". There is a nice example in the picture. I'm standing on one of the many steps going over fences. It's fun to use these ancient solutions. There are also clearly marked walking paths and "bridleways" that go...