The Olympics and some Autumn trips.

The London Olympics.

Just a quick word on the Olympics (and Paralympics), held here in the UK last summer. Well, I had my doubts about them - would they be a success? Would anyone care? etc etc...right up until about ten minutes into watching the extravagant opening ceremony on BBC1. Then I was hooked and got into the whole thing! Danny Boyle's cinematic opening show was simply *magnificent*; one of the best pieces of television I've ever seen was the 'Industry Changing Britain' section. Wow, the look and sounds of those towers raising and the flying and exploding Olympic rings over the stadium were stupendous. Plus we also got to see James Bond aka 007 and The Queen parachute into the stadium, Mr. Bean's musical talents, the sci-fi esque lighting of the torch, and Kenneth Branagh in a tall Victorian hat. Class.

Of course, it was great to watch some of the sport as well, especially the women's beach volleyball which was a blast. Seemed like it was daily party down there in horse guards parade! Also, I loved the stadium and park, put together very efficiently and well, I thought. The future of that part of east London looks positive. Closer to home, it was fun to see the Ricoh Arena stadium at Coventry used for some of the football games. The bunting on the stadium front looked very impressive!

The olympic rings come together and float over the Olympic Stadium during the impressive opening ceremony.

A day out in Evesham and Alcester.

Together with out pal Toria, we had a drive around these two pretty towns last Autumn one day, and it was especially pleasant as the weather was cool but very clear and sunny. Evesham features some very nice old buildings in the main town centre and towards the river around the old abbey. The park by the river is lovely to walk around. Also, it was fantastic (for me at least as I'm a cinema fan) to pay a brief visit to the old Regal Cinema (now renovated and running successfully.) I will definitely be back to see a film there and have the tour one day soon! Alcester was also great to go visit on the way back home, as it contains more lovely streets of old buildings and has a nice feel.
 

Abbey bell tower, Evesham.

River Avon, Evesham.

High Street, Alcester.

A trip to the North-East: Durham, Stockton-on-Tees, and Newcastle.

We'd been meaning to go up to this area for some time, and so decided to have a look at a new (well, new to us) part of England. We were lucky enough to find some accomodation at Durham Castle for one evening, and then stay with our friend Trudi in nearby Stockton-on-Tess for two more. We had an enjoyable time in the area, and saw some great stuff. Durham is a very interesting and pretty 'university' town, with some fabulous sites to visit such as Durham Castle, the Cathedral, the green, and the gorgeous river walk. Oh, those lovely trees by the river! Also, we found a fantastic noodle bar there so it was definitely a case of "om nom, nom"! :)

Durham Cathedral, Castle, and River Wear.

Newcastle was fun place to visit on a busy Saturday, and its an easy city to navigate around and drive into. Spotted The Angel of the North statue on the way in and back, as it is just off to the East of the A1. In the city, the castle keep is a must to visit, as is the waterfront where you can see the famous bridges, including the new Millenium Bridge. We also discovered some of the old town walls on our walk abouts. There is a popular market in the city as well, selling some very tasty food items!
  

The Tyne Bridge, over the River Tyne, Newcastle.

Carla and I on the Millenium Bridge, Newcastle.

Me at the top of Newcastle castle keep. Fine views over the whole city! St. James' Park stadium is in the far background.

Trudi and Carla at Newcastle castle keep.

Looking towards the Gatehouse at Newcastle castle keep.

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Pembrokeshire holiday, Ross-on-Wye weekend etc

Back after a break of not typing updates! Bad me. :(

We went over to southwest Wales for a holiday back in May (to help celebrate my 38th birthday) which was wonderful. A week of doing our usual stuff: country and coastal walking and exploring pretty towns and villages and castles, and in that area of Britain (the county of Pembrokeshire) that's easy to do! We stayed in a pleasant cottage in the countryside north of St. David's (Britain's smallest city - beautiful area around the cathedral and Bishop's Palace) which is located in the extreme west of the county. Every day we saw impressive countryside and breathtaking coastal scenery, and our walks were great fun. I think the highlight of the trip was exploring the lovely village of Solva, and taking in the stunning views of the bay from the top of the cliffs in the gorgeous sunshine. We were lucky enough to have great weather - it only rained for five minutes on the whole trip!

We also managed to visit four castles: two on the way over (Caerphilly and Coch) and two on the way back (Pembroke and Carew). I think my favourite was Caerphilly - those seige engines (which I remember seeing on the TV series "Castle") were ace! Fantastic towers too (see pic.) Various castle links are here.

A week or three later we had a long weekend in Monmouth and Ross-on-Wye (where we stayed) on the English/Welsh border, having liked the area from our drive over to St. David's. We did lots of walking in the lovely countryside around both towns and also briefly visited Tintern Abbey, Goodrich Castle and Raglan Castle, the latter of which was an amazing place! Great to visit the Savoy Cinema in the middle of Monmouth as well. Would love to see a film there one day, or a burlesque show. :P



I watched most of the World Cup finals which this year were held in South Africa. Funnily enough we got to see the England v USA game on the first night in Ross-on-Wye, on the tiny TV with poor reception in our rented holiday flat (very well located in the centre of town though.) Not a bad tournament, although the horrid vuvuzelas were bloody annoying. Sounded like angry bees to me. The highlights were Spain winning the thing (definitely the best overall team, although Germany were very formidable in a few games) and Paul the psychic octopus! It was funny to see that rather exotic bird snoozing on the goal crossbar during the England v Algeria game! I think he was the best player....

As for films, we saw "Inception" at the cinema the other day, the latest blockbuster from Christopher Nolan. I have to say it was *excellent*; definitely one of the more interesting summer blockbusters I've seen in a many a year and it looked fantastic. Leo gave a good performance again. The latest "Tron: Legacy" trailer has now been released as well. Awesome! Can't wait to see it 3D+IMAX in December! Thankfully our 'DVDs-to-watch' pile is gradually going down. Highlight so far has been the series boxset of "Kolchak: The Night Stalker". Great stuff, if you like 70's TV and cheesy horror that is!

Finally, I managed to go to some film/TV collector shows recently: The London Film and Comic Con, Collectormania Milton Keynes and Memorabilia (at Birmingham's NEC). All good fun. Got a couple of nice autographs and saw friends there. Best buy: an Aleksandr Orlov meerkat. Simples!

Various summer stuff (a catch-up!)

Just thought I would do a round-up of a few bits we've done over the summer.....

We did a couple of visits to places in East Anglia to tie in with staying with my mum and dad, the first being a few days break in July. On the way to their place we went to the impressive Framlingham Castle in Suffolk, then onto Saxmundham. The next day we went to the stunning North Norfolk coast, a definite favourite of ours. We drove up through the county in rather windy weather, first to Cromer to sort out a walking map and to have a look around (we adore Cromer!), then onto Wells-Next-the-Sea to have a look around the old harbour area. We then went back along the coast through the pretty village of Stiffkey and stopped off to do a circular walk from and to Blakeney Harbour, through the saltmarshes and via Cley, where there is a famous windmill. Shame about the rain that came on at Cley, but never mind -it was a showery day. Lastly, we stopped of on the shingle beach at Salthouse and then onto Sheringham before heading home.

The next day we did a coastal walk from Gorleston-on-Sea to Lowestoft which was wonderful. We started the walk from Gorleston-On-Sea cliffs and then down to the beach, and headed south along the coast. Between Hopton and Corton we had to leave the beach due to coastal erosion, and then head along inland, via Corton's partly ruined church. On the other side of Corton we found a nice area of protected woodland right next to the Pleasurewood Hills theme park (you could hear the screams from the rides!) It was really fun exploring that, especially when we found the lovely pond with the ducks. We found ourselves back on the beach and walked along this for a while before making our way into Lowestoft town centre, first to do a bit of shopping and then catch the bus back to Gorleston. Great walk of about 7 miles on a lovely day!

On the following Sunday, having driven back home the day before, we went over to Shropshire to climb the Wrekin Hill (near Telford.) It was a lovely walk through the trees to the summit, where there are good views over the countryside. We hope to go back there one day, as there are many more paths to explore. Then, as a 'spur of the moment' choice, we drove over to Ironbridge. Having eventually found a parking space, we got out and had a look around the town, and (of course) photographed the famous bridge in the hot afternoon sun. The town was packed with day trippers - not surprising really, as it is a world heritage site and definitely on the tourist trail.

On our second trip to my parent's, we were able to visit Burgh Castle - the site of the Roman town - near Gorleston. Looks like we could do some good country walking around there on another trip.

We also did another fun country walk locally one weekend in the summer, in the countryside outside of Nuneaton, to Caldecote Hall and back along the Coventry canal. We were also lucky enough to visit the Battle of Bosworth re-enactment day again this year.

In August, we went for a little summer break on the Yorkshire coast. We stayed in a fantastic apartment in a converted barn on a farm near to Bridlington. It was so quiet out there! We did a lot of country walking on the trip, the first being around Flamborough Head, a very scenic area of coast that juts out into the North Sea near Bridlington. This was wonderful: a quiet coastal path, lots of sea birds, stunning views along the cliffs, fresh sea air, and bright skies. We also visited Whitby (what an amazing and interesting town that is - doing the Dracula walk was brilliant!) and then walked back along the clifftops to Robin Hood's Bay along the Cleveland Way. It was a gorgeous day, very hot and sunny and the North sea was a clear deep blue. The cliff views were stunning - shame about the bugs though! Robin Hood's Bay is quirky place, an old fishing village that marches down the steep cliffs to the sea. We also went to Filey Bay (good to walk along the Filey Brigg, and the town was great,) Bempton Cliffs (alas, no puffins on view!) and to Scarborough town and castle - bought some seaside rock for my work pals. Another walk we did was in the countryside on the edge of the North York Moors just outside Scarborough, which was fun even though the weather was very up and down. A pretty wooded river valley, open countryside and sheep!

We also visited Castle Howard (on the way up there) and Bolsover Castle (on the way back) I liked both, but I think Bolsover had far more character, maybe because it was partly ruined and older. Also, on the way back we stopped on in the market town of Beverley (very pretty and surpisingly olde worlde) and then had lunch by the river in the village of North Cave. What a wonderful trip!

A couple of weeks after that we went back up to Derbyshire to visit Hardwick Hall and gardens, which were very interesting, but disappointing, as the hall's very famous windows (rare at the time of construction in the 1500's) were partially covered up to protect the tapestries! Oh well. The walk down to the fish ponds was good, and we got some lovely photos.
Oh, the Mrs. passed her driving test first time, and drove us up to Hardwick! :) Well done, Carla!
There are some photos of this on Carla's blog entry here.

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I went to the London Film and Comic Con at the end of July, which was great as I got to catch up with some old friends amongst the film and TV celebrities and stalls selling merchandise. I managed to get some autographs for a friend. Then, the weekend after there was the annual "Star Wars" fan 'park meet', in London's Hyde Park. Not a big turn out this year, but a fun and relaxing time had by all. It was good that Carla was able to come with me this year.

I haven't seen many films at the cinema since "Transformers 2", but I did go and see the excellent "District 9" when I was at my parent's place the other weekend. I went with my pal Kevin who (like me) enjoys his sci-fi movies. We saw it at the Hollywood cinema Great Yarmouth. I loved the film and was particularly impressed with what they did with a small budget - the animation on the aliens was brilliant. The week before, Carla and her work pals went to see "Julie and Julia" which she enjoyed. See here, and Joe's review here.