A pilgrimage across southern England

[malmomike77]

^ You'd better save more as you'll have to pay for her husband too at 40 (and possibly the kids), or wife in this inclusive age, or her they?

[Reg Dingle]

Got me thinking about what I'd do with my daughter in the UK and I reckon 2 days in Norwich with a day trip to Yarmouth included in that would be enough. The rest of the time being a tourist in London.

What about Alton Towers, Legoland, Gullivers Kingdom,West Midlands Safari Park, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Whipsnade and Twycross Zoo, Norwich and Somersets Tractor worlds?

[Reg Dingle]

What would Mendy do?

[hallelujah]

What about Alton Towers, Legoland, Gullivers Kingdom,West Midlands Safari Park, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Whipsnade and Twycross Zoo, Norwich and Somersets Tractor worlds?

And Greggs.

[armstrong]

They have amusement parks and safaris in Thailand, Legoland in Singapore, or is that Disney. We can do tractor world on our ONE DAY there.

She just needs to see where the queen lives, where I grew up, how cold it is and a wetherspoons.

[Joe 90]

What about Alton Towers, Legoland, Gullivers Kingdom,West Midlands Safari Park, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Whipsnade and Twycross Zoo, Norwich and Somersets Tractor worlds?

They'll have to remortgage their houses for that lot

I'm taking mine wild camping on the west coast of Wales next week.
No arcades, no Ice cream, no fun fair, just a bbq the sea, beach and nature.
Not even gonna pay for a campsite or parking.
The petrol bill to this isolated paradise will probably set me back a £100.

[Joe 90]

What would Mendy do?

Clean his toenails with it?

[Reg Dingle]

They look cleaner than mine in one of the pics on here

Many years ago I used to come up to this part of the Mendips with my uncle, a keen herpetologist

Eddie mentioned he has a few genital warts that need looking at.
Is he cheaper than Red Cross, Bangkok?

[malmomike77]

What would Mendy do

He'd not go to the foot specialist to get the early on set bunions sorted but then again i don't think he'd wear the heels that caused them in the first place

[Reg Dingle]

^ From 15 years of wearing flip flops to a cruel shift to work issued steel capped boots.


Had to get them to order me some extra wide but still rub.

I have pics somewhere of huge blisters, bunions and calouses with big bits of skin hanging off, around the time Mendy started that show us your feet thread. Unfortunately my phone camera was playing up

[Reg Dingle]

[Joe 90]

Did you have difficulty adjusting to walking normally from dragging your feet.

You can tell the Asians that have spent the best part of their lives in flip flops over here by the way they walk.

They struggle to lift their feet or lift them too much, basically they look out of sorts.

I expect Mendy is tucking into the full Sunday Roast!
I'm cooking a full roast in the dry airfryer, shouldn't be long now.
Hank marvin after a one hour walk in the rain with the dog.

[Mendip]

What would Mendy do?

Didn't your mum tell you not to bite your nails?

If I was on a plane the obvious thing to do would be to stand next to the fork, bend down and pretend to re-tie my laces while palming the fork and pocketing it later. That doesn't really work with flip flops but to be honest I'm not really interested in Wetherspoons cutlery anyway.

No arcades, no Ice cream, no fun fair, just a bbq the sea, beach and nature.

... and three bottles of rot gut brandy!

No ice cream would be a red line for us I'm afraid.

Sorry, but WTF???

This is a family thread.

I expect Mendy is tucking into the full Sunday Roast!

Uncanny Joe...

Me mum's a bit stingy with the peas but I didn't say aything.



Other than that it's been a quiet day. I spent a couple of hours this morning scrubbing my ammonite, and no, that's not a euphemism.

A few days ago I picked up a Monopoly set from a charity shop for 65p and after Sunday roast we decided to have a game. We discovered it's not the normal one and have been trying to get to grips with it... but it's pretty shite I reckon. And I'm 2-1 down.

[Reg Dingle]

Me mum's a bit stingy with the peas but I didn't say aything.

And carrot... but look at that stuffing. Have you Southerners not discovered Yorkshire pudding yet or gravy?

Looks a winner though

[Joe 90]

65p bargain!!

It's nice to have someone else do the cooking hey.

My Sunday dinner looks crap compared to yours...

Dry airfryed..

My youngest will only eat sunday dinners when they're presented like this, 6 baby Sunday dinners...

This has to be the worlds smallest Sunday dinner!!

My abortion...

You taken mini Mendip out BlackBerry picking yet?

Loads up here this past week, gonna make a crumble for dessert!

Custard or cream??
That is thy question...

[Mendip]

^ That's strange, all the blackberries I've seen are still green or red and nowhere near ready to pick yet. Isn't September normal?

How come yours are ready already with all the shite weather you get oop norf?

^^ Yeah, a single piece of carrot! What's that about?

[Joe 90]

How come yours are ready already with all the shite weather you get oop norf?

Those two hot days were the catalyst, the bushs are laden down with them now.

[Reg Dingle]

Did you have difficulty adjusting to walking normally from dragging your feet

You see that photo of Mendy, precariously wading out into the Atlantic Ocean, near ball deep, all tensed up, knuckles dragging on the sand? Like evolution in reverse.


Nah it was nothing like that, I had a few pairs of sneakers in Thailand.

[Reg Dingle]

That's strange, all the blackberries I've seen are still green or red and nowhere near ready to pick yet. Isn't September normal?

How come yours are ready already with all the shite weather you get oop norf?

I think you answered your own question there

It's there Autumn up there now.

I'm sure the wife was eating the last of her/our home grown strawberries this week. Every time one ripened she'd be there fukkin scoffing it. I had at the most 2 of the fuckers this summer.
They were good too, really flavoursome and succulent. Didn't look as good as those big bastard imported ones you see but the taste was amazing.

She's grown all kinds of shit in the garden in pots this year, I'll have to do a guess the plant thread.
She's also made the garden look like her home in Isaan with loads of bamboo knotted together with plastic bags and left all of my emptied beer bottles and cans in a pile in a plant pot in full view, bless.
We're just missing the cherry Fanta and spirit house.
The soils like clay so trying to persuade her into some decking and a Honolulu style bar shack.
Any chance if I drop her at the airport of doing like you did in Munich and g a Thai how to get back home?

[Joe 90]

Any chance if I drop her at the airport of doing like you did in Munich and g a Thai how to get back home?

[Joe 90]

Hey Dill how many have you had today?

Mendips had 2 bottles of crippled cock at £3 a pop.FFS

Get on the Ale Mendip!

It'll put hairs on your chest

Cheap as chips here as well...

[Mendip]

^^^ Yeah, no problem but I get the aisle seat.

Maybe she could babysit my daughter in Bangkok for a couple of days when we arrive? I have some business to attend to.

[DrWilly]

^^^ Yeah, no problem but I get the aisle seat.

Maybe she could babysit my daughter in Bangkok for a couple of days when we arrive? I have some business to attend to.

doesnt take long for those passports, eh? :lamo:

The Sunday roast looked good.

Joe, your Sunday roast looked good for the dog. I suggest you go to a Wetherspoons

[Mendip]

Yesterday started out a bit drizzly but I didn't want to waste a day inside so we went for a walk in the woods. For many years I've only walked through these woods during our winter trips and the greenery in the summer provided a stark contrast to the browns and greys of the winter.



King's wood is an ancient woodland that has been managed for centuries.



The idea was that the canopy would keep the drizzle off us, but the sun soon came out anyway.





It's nice to see that the wood from fallen trees is harvested which enables the survival of the woodland.



We went in search of a badger set I remembered from years ago but it appeared to no longer be in habitation. Somerset is sadly one of the few counties in England where badgers (a usually protected species) are exterminated by gassing in the very unsubstantiated belief that they spread TB to cattle. I hope that wasn't the case here... I find the practise abhorrent.



Moss was everywhere in the half light of the wood.



This tree appeared to be growing out of a loose limestone boulder.



I'm guessing this tree would be centuries old to grow so massive.



This spectacular looking tree appeared to have grown along the old dry stone wall.



I don't know which type of tree that was... MalmoMike?



All stages of blackberries here but none ripe enough to eat. It's a mystery to me how Joe can be picking ripe blackberries at this time of year up in the cold and bleak north.



We eventually broke out of the woods onto the slopes of Wavering Down. By now it was a full sunny day... we're having a wonderful summer in England this year.



Our destination was a signpost halfway up the hill before descending back down to the car. the daughter has become obsessed with money lately and bet me £2 she cold beat me to the top...



I decided to teach her a lesson... oh dear!



We walked (staggered) up along this ridge.



Crook Peak in the distance to the west but not our destination this time. They say Crook Peak was used as a beacon site to warn in case the Spanish Armada headed up to the West Country and you can see why. It can be seen for miles around.



One of Somerset's famous right-angled cows. It is wonderful to see farm animals enjoying a free life.



And our destination. As I stood back to take a photo the daughter ran past me and was the first to touch the post... and claimed her £2... the little bugger.



Young acorns forming.



There's always something to spoil the mood... b@stards...



Lords and Ladies... highly toxic. I wouldn't mind force feeding a few down these bloody cyclists...





It was thirsty work, so on our return to my mum's house we took a walk down the village.

Past the 15th Century church, although we walked through the graveyard to say hello to my dad.



And on to the only surviving pub in the village. There used to be four pubs in the village, two while I was growing up, and now only one. A sign of the times.







How wonderful to find a pub with no less than five draught ciders. What I'd give to have even one draught cider available in Korat!

From left to right... Inch's, Thatchers Dry, Thatchers Gold and Thatcher Haze.



And last but not least... Hedgers Mendip Shine. (I didn't get to try this one this time, as I was responsibly taking care of my daughter - I think it could be trouble).



They say that everything is bigger in Somerset... if you know what I mean.



You don't get much bigger than this!

[DrWilly]

Fantastic day out. What did you eat for lunch and did the Irish wolfhound steal before you could scarf it?