It was a nice feeling to drive off the ferry and back onto the left side of the road, and suddenly we could read all the signs.!!
From Dover we headed west along the coast, exploring the town of Battle near Hastings, scene of Williams's famous victory over the English in 1066.
Next stop was the English seaside resort of Brighton, where we saw the palace and the famous pier, but alas it wasn't a beaching day.
Dorset was our destination for the night, and after a long drive, and then a long search around the pubs, we finally found a lovely pub with family rooms and they poured a great pint !!
The next day we drove down to the coast through the beautiful village of Lulworth, and spent a lovely few hours exploring the beautiful coastline and features such as Durdles Door.This section of the coast is called the Jurassic coast due to the large number of prehistoric remains and fossils found here.
In Lulworth nearly all the cottages have thatched roofs, and Jennie managed to get a thatching lesson from a real thatcher who was part way through putting on a new roof.
In the afternoon we headed to the famous tank museum (one of the worlds largest), where they were putting on live displays and mock battles. Jennie managed to get shot at for being cheeky to one of the drivers.
We also managed the Royal signals museum at Blandford, where we learnt all about communications in the armed forces through the ages; we emerged at 5pm to complete darkness, a big surprise after France.
That night we moved to another lovely pub , "The Frampton Arms", where we yarned to the barmaid at length about NZ, as she had visited several times ands was a big fan.
Liam and I were out early the next morning for a run in the lovely Dorset countryside before driving north to my cousin Katie's place, exploring Stonehenge on the way.
Hard to believe that these 4 ton stones were all arranged here 5000 years ago, after being carried somehow from Wales where the stone was sourced, and nobody knows why?
Vanessa in particular had been hanging out for this visit, as Katie and her partner James are keen Polo players and have a large number of horses on the farm at Adderbury.
Vanessa had a great time helping with and riding the horses and we had a lovely time catching up, and hearing all about Polo and life on the farm.
Katie very kindly helped me get Vladimir listed on Autotrader, as I had been having real problems because you had to pay by credit card, but the card had to have a UK address!!!
By the time we drove down to London the next day I was fielding calls from keen car buyers, and the next evening a guy had driven down from York with the cash, and we were carless again.
I had a tear in my eye as he drove our beloved Volvo Vladimir off, as he had been such a workhorse packed with gear for the last 7 months and 30000 km, and had never missed a beat, and had averaged an impressive 44mpg.
We had booked an apartment in docklands in east London online, and were very impressed, especially when they gave us a free upgrade to a two-storey duplex.
The apartment was right next to the Excel exhibition centre, a new development around the old Victoria Docks. The Excel centre was huge, car parking for 6000 cars, and apart from our car and a few staff it was empty. Signs of the recession, the big events were just not happening. And all the bars and restaurants were empty, don't know how they keep going !!
Liam and I spent the first day getting Vladimir cleaned up for sale, and Jennie and I drove around east London till we found a community group to give all our unwanted camping gear and belongings to.
We spent a final day in the city, shopping (buying extra suitcases)and taking in the sights.
Docklands is serviced by the DLR (District light Railway), which is very modern and air conditioned, and links directly with the tube, so its a great place to stay even though its miles from Heathrow.
On our last day Liam and I decided to go to the Rugby and see Harlequins play London Irish, I couldn't believe it when we got there after nearly 3hrs on the tube and busses to find the ground full! But we managed to get two single seats near each other. The Rugby was ordinary, but the experience was great fun.
While we were at the Rugby the girls took in Camden market, and Canary Wharf shopping.
The next morning we were up at 5.30, and off to Heathrow for our flight to San Francisco. It seemed like only yesterday we were arriving in London, time has just flown by!!
Its a good thing we are flying home through the States, as our luggage allowance is 46kg per person, and I think we might need it all by the time we get home !!

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