Sunday, July 24, 2011

Liphook, Day 1

Lovely Liphook

And now we’re back in the UK! Yesterday, Jean-Jacques and I got up early and left Orval at around 8AM to drive to Caen so we could check-in our rental car. Before we could return the car, we had to fill it up with gas, but it took forever to locate a gas station and we almost missed our drop-off deadline; however, we did managed to get it in on time. 


We then took a taxi to the Brittany Ferries, where we caught a high speed catamaran across the English Channel to Portsmouth (where we saw the HMS Victory). Once on land, we took a train from Portsmouth to Liphook, where we’re staying for three nights in a lovely B&B.


Today we walked about two miles to a steam-powered amusement park called Hollycombe with traditional carnival rides and organs. We went on the Ferris wheel, but Jean-Jacques was terrified during the entire time, so I went on a couple of rides on my own. There was a restaurant on the grounds, so we had lunch and cream tea. Also, there was a beautiful garden that we sat and read in for about half and hour. On our way "home", we took a forest trail instead of walking on a teeny road without a shoulder and got lost for a bit, but eventually made our way back to Liphook. 


Train at Hollycombe
For dinner we got Chinese take-out and watched TV to relax after our busy day. 
I’m not completely sure what the plan is for the last day of our trip, but we might be going to tour the HMS Victory in Portsmouth. Or maybe we’ll do something completely different!