Last full campervan day

We faced a day of mainly driving today to get us back near to our campervan drop-off point. We had about 150 miles to cover, mostly on dual carriageway road and motorway thank goodness. The M25 was chocka but moving well – I can’t imagine what it would be like on a summer weekend or during rush hours? We got back to our original campground about 2pm and immediately started doing laundry! About 4, we headed into London to see the Christmas lights on Oxford Street and also look at Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus. It was incredibly crowded and very cold but the lights were very nice.Today was our last full day in the UK, tomorrow we’re off to Paris on the Eurostar at 189mph under the English Channel. Today was its first day of operation from St. Pancras Station which has completed the new high speed connection to Europe.

The day we went to geevor

Juliet had recommended that we visit the Geevor Tin Mine just over on the Atlantic coast from Penzance. It’s a mine that has been operated for about 300 years, for copper originally, then tin. It closed in the early eighties when the (controlled) tin price dropped from 10,000 pounds/ton to 3,000. Prior to that supply exceeded demand. With the boom in China at the moment, world demand has increased by about 50% and the price is apparently at about 8,000 pounds/ton and a nearby closed tin mine is about to re-open at a cost of about 50 million pounds.
A group of ex-miners have formed a trust and raised money to restore the old mill and mine buildings. They’ve converted the offices into museum space. They also do an underground tour which was reasonably interesting. To be honest, it was good to see from a research point of view but wasn’t particularly interesting and the kids got bored pretty quickly.
There are lots of Pumphouse-like buildings along the coast in various states of repair which would make an interesting place to walk and explore in the summer.
We did a runner back toward London in the afternoon and made it about half way back before dark. The roads are really crowded and narrow and difficult to drive in the daylight – and they’re just downright dangerous in a camper after dark.

Eden Project Day 2

I met with Georgina and Juliet from the Eden Project in the morning to discuss the Post Mining Alliance and the case study they are drafting about Waihi and the closure of Martha. We also discussed the development of tourism projects as an alternative economic driver for a mining region.
We finally got a good wifi connection at Eden so spent a chunk of the afternoon in the café catching up with banking and emails. We then headed south to Penzance to look for a place to stay. We were all feeling pretty weary and cold so decided to indulge ourselves in a room at the nearest hotel. We all had hot baths and Shari got a weeks worth of washing done.

Arriving in Eden

We managed to get away relatively early so decided just to head directly for the Eden Project at St. Austell. We managed to stay on good roads all the way so progress was far better than yesterday. We found a wee Inn about a kilometre from Eden so checked in and then proceeded to the attraction. We spent the whole afternoon there looking through the biomes and in the interactive shelter. Afterwards the kids said they weren’t that impressed but they stayed occupied and engaged for about four hours so it must have been OK. I thought it was pretty good, and certainly a novel and courageous way to rehabilitate an old china clay mine.
Today was much better day in terms of getting to accommodation in good time without getting lost.

West to Cornwall

We had no cash and no food on Saturday morning so we spent the first part of the day finding a cash machine and supermarket. Dinosaur Isle was just down the road in Sandown so after breakfast we navigated the narrow streets to find the attraction. Adam was quite “underwhelmed” by it but Reid thought it as pretty cool. It certainly pushed all the right buttons as far as modern interpretation and interactivity went. It was reasonably small but only thirteen pounds for a family pass so pretty good value for money – it’s a pity that the ferry ride to the Isle cost fifty four pounds return!

After a late lunch we headed back to Yarmouth to catch the return ferry via the south coast road – the road quickly deteriorated into a very narrow “track” and were forced to re-think our route and return via Newport where the roads are at least nearly one normal lane wide. After the half hour ferry ride to Lymington we tried to find our way to a campground in a forest near Wareham. Unfortunately it got dark sooner than we expected because it took so long to pick our way through the traffic and tiny roads and we lost our way. Luckily a kind gentleman set us on the right track to another campground and after an hour of shagging about in the dark we finally settled in for dinner. The drive was a shocker – and we’ve concluded that England is no place for a campervan unless you know exactly where you’re going and you intend to stay put for a decent length of time.

Heading south to the Isle of White

We had an even slower start to Friday – we all slept in till 9.30 but managed to get away by 10.30. The temperature had plummeted overnight and it was still only 5 degrees as we pulled out. The bloke managing the campground has a bother living in Rotorua who rides motorcycle trials, and his 9 year old son does too – I suspect Gazza knows him? What a small world. We also discovered that the bloke we hired our campervan off has a sister-in-law who is Principal of Pahoia School and she lives in Katikati.
It was good to be heading away from London and away from the crowds. We arrived at Stonehenge about noon and had a wander around in the freezing wind. It hasn’t changed at all since were there in 1994 – I guess if something’s been there 3000 years then it’s probably not going to alter much in just 13 years.
We needed to get to The Isle of Wight for the night so we could get to Dinosaur isle on Saturday, which meant scampering down through Salisbury and on to Lymington to catch the Ferry. It was just a half hour ferry ride and then half hour drive on to Apse Heath to a campground. Shari asked the question “I wonder if it would be possible to live on the Island your whole life and never go to the mainland – after meeting the “good old boys” managing the campground it appeared that it certainly would be possible. We could hear the banjos playing as we approached and we’re locking the doors good and tight tonight!
We started to notice a bit of a knock in the front-right wheel assembly of the camper late this afternoon.

England is a big, big place...

Hi there everyone.
Adam and Mr Fuzzles here, we've had a very good time here in England. Sorry we haven't been in touch, its just that we haven't had very good internet connexions, we've only found it twice! After the london eye day we went to Trafalgar square, tower of london, tower bridge and the london dungeons. Next day we went to the science museum and later that night we went to the lion king show. The costumes were amazing!!!!! The next day we drove down to the Isle of Wight stopping at Stonehenge on the way. At the Isle of Wight we went to a place called Dinosaur Isle which is a small museum all about the dinosaurs found on the Isle of Wight and their ancestors. We then took a ferry back to the mainland and found a campground, we stayed there the night. Yesterday morning we and drove and drove. We found another campground and then went to Eden Project which is where they are growing lots of different types of plants from all over the world in an old closed mine. Today we have returned to the Eden Project where dad has a meeting and Mum, Reid and I are going to walk around and do the entire thing again.