August 2024

South of England

3w family venture exploring places in the south of England in 2024 Read more

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Trip start
August 3, 2024
South of England Tiefkühlpizza
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Day 1
Saturday, August 3, 2024
🌬 21 °C
Altitude: 8 m
France Outer Harbor 50.974497, 1.87318550°58’28” N 1°52’23” E
Ferry to the island
August 3, 2024 in France ⋅ 🌬 21 °C
Straight drive without any traffic jam leads us through 4 countries. Arrival at the ferry terminal in Calais long ahead the schedule - But fortunately we were able to take an earlier one 👍
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Day 1–2
August 3, 2024 - August 4, 2024
1 night
🌬 20 °C
Altitude: 118 m
England Dover Castle 51.128976, 1.32287651°7’44” N 1°19’22” E
Dover Castle
Aug 3–4, 2024 in England ⋅ 🌬 20 °C
The checkin to the Hubert guesthouse was not possible this early. So, we decided to visit the Dover castle at first.

What should I say - A great experience to feel like a fellow, coming during medieval times to the castle - Meeting the prince and wander through the pantry. Or in other times of WWII, to see the background of operation Dynamo and the rescue from Dunkirk with the "small ship" approach.

A truely historic side I enjoyed mutch!Read more
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Day 2–4
August 4, 2024 - August 6, 2024
2 nights
☁️ 22 °C
Altitude: 68 m
England Leeds Castle 51.248744, 0.62990451°14’55” N 0°37’48” E
Leeds Castle Surrounding
Aug 4–6, 2024 in England ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C
After our visit in Dover castle we travelled via Lidl 🍌, ATM 💰 and Walmer Castle and Garden to Leeds castle. This castle was used to be a (temporary) living place for kings and queens and wealthy people, whereas Dover castle was the door to England and had a military and strategical background.

So, here we watched the bird of prey center, walked along the buildings and enjoyed some cocktails in the evening.Read more
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Day 2
Sunday, August 4, 2024
☁️ 21 °C
Altitude: 6 m
England Walmer 51.200615, 1.40206151°12’2” N 1°24’7” E
Walmer Castle and Gardens
August 4, 2024 in England ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
In the middle, between Dover castle and Leeds castle, we had a look to this original coastal fortification build in the 16th century. Starting in the 18th century it was used as residence and is known for their garden nowerdays. The duke of Wellington (he defeated Napoleon in Waterloo) died here in 1852.Read more
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Day 3
Monday, August 5, 2024
⛅ 25 °C
Altitude: 73 m
England Leeds Castle 51.248925, 0.62990851°14’56” N 0°37’48” E
Leeds Castle
August 5, 2024 in England ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C
Today is the day - We are visiting Leeds castle. One of our highlights in the trip planning. And the day started with a highlight already - Blueberry pancakes with greek yoghurt and maple sirup - Yummy!

The castle itself is great. It's enclosed by water and has a medieval and a current history. The medieval history was already mentioned before - So, let's come to the current one. This period is connected with Lady Baillie and starts in the 1920s. Lady Baillie bought the castle and organized in the following 5 decades festive events and house parties - "... we sunbathed, overate, drank champagne, gossiped all day." After Lady Baillie's period, it was opened for the public.Read more
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Day 4
Tuesday, August 6, 2024
☁️ 20 °C
Altitude: Sea level
England Eastbourne Pier 50.766322, 0.29410350°45’59” N 0°17’39” E
Meeting the seven sisters
August 6, 2024 in England ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
After Leeds Castle we planned to travel direction of Weymouth with some stops in between. The first night we stayed in Eastbourne - A city with a nice victorian pier. Here we booked in Chatsworth Hotel, built in 1905. This hotel created a feeling to stay back in the old times, being a grandseigneur doing his or her activities. Even the elevator was out of these times. A great overnight stay!

The next day we continued our traveling and stopped to see the Seven Sisters - an impressive coastline in East Sussex. After a short walk we had a good overview from a spot called South Hill Barn. But to identify the family you need some imagination...

The highlight of the day is still coming. Have a look to the next story!Read more
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Day 4
Tuesday, August 6, 2024
☁️ 20 °C
Altitude: 27 m
England Brockenhurst Railway Station 50.817597, -1.57646450°49’3” N 1°34’35” W
Wild Horses
August 6, 2024 in England ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
Did you ever hear about wild horses in the UK? I was not aware about this detail till Tanja stumbled about this fact in our travel planning. In the New Forest National Park live around 5000 of them. We realy looked forward to see them and we did it! On this day the hotspot for us was Brockenhurst and Burley. But also thereafter we saw horses on the road and alongside. In the towns many resident have cattle grids in their drive way to prevent the horses to access the properties. The horses move completely free and to see this in reality was a realy nice experience - My highlight of the day!Read more
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Day 4–7
August 6, 2024 - August 9, 2024
3 nights
🌬 18 °C
Altitude: Sea level
England Portland Light 50.51383, -2.45661450°30’50” N 2°27’24” W
Weymouth, Island of Portland
Aug 6–9, 2024 in England ⋅ 🌬 18 °C
Leaving the horses we went to the island of Portland, close to Weymouth in Dorset county. What a difference in comparison to the days before! The first days we travelled through lovely landscapes with a rich nature, now coming to a rough, windy surrounding with a sparse vegetation. We booked three nights here - Hopefully we will survive...

The end of the island is a perfect point for a lighthouse. In the 18th century the first Portland Bill Lighthouse was ordered and built to make navigation in the tidal waters around Weymouth easier. Nowerdays it is a well known viewpoint with the chance to visit the top of the lighthouse. We were at this spot during great weather conditions and enjoyed the view.

Also a great view you can enjoy during a hike at the coastal path. This path is following the cliffs and provides almost a viewpoint after every corner. Here you can find some quiet spots to relax together with the seagulls in the wind. One, more public, part of the path presents a sculpture of the olymic rings, indicating that Weymouth was the city for the olympic sailing competitions in 2012.

Nice sidefact - on the island of Portland the Heli Operations company has their aviation business. Part of this business is flight training on helicopters. We saw for example a flying Chinook helicopter - Stunning!Read more
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Day 7–16
August 9, 2024 - August 18, 2024
9 nights
⛅ 20 °C
Altitude: 8 m
England Swanpool Beach 50.140857, -5.07731650°8’27” N 5°4’38” W
Falmouth
Aug 9–18, 2024 in England ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
Our stay in Falmouth was the heart of our "South of England" journey. We spent 9 good nights at the southcoast of Cornwall - And that also means 9 beautiful days! Days with a visit in the local lifeboat station, with a kajac trip along the coast, with great (sea)food and many things more.

We did feel us comfortable with the mild temperatures and the rich mediterrane vegetation. Also, this part of Cornwall is that far southwest that you can drive to the opposite coastline within 30 minutes and experience 2 different kind of beaches - More rocky ones in the south and beautiful sandy ones in the north.

Enjoy some impressions of these days which are shared in the next footprints.Read more
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Day 8
Saturday, August 10, 2024
☁️ 19 °C
Altitude: 21 m
England The Island 50.214765, -5.47872450°12’53” N 5°28’43” W
St. Ives
August 10, 2024 in England ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
This beautiful village at the northern coastline of Cornwall is directly connected for us to the Rosamunde Pilcher books and movies, e.g. "Die Muschelsucher". It is the inspiration for the fictive place Porthkerris (acc. to some wikki information) and only 10 minutes away from Rosamunde Pilchers birthplace Lelant.

So, based on that expectation, St. Ives was one of the first places we explored - and we found an ambivalent location. We arrived at a giant parking place, were transferred to the vilage center by a bus full of people and found ourselves again in a big crowd at at a narrow harbour street. Our mood was near sea level.

But then we started exploring the harbour at low tide, saw the beautiful beach and walked a bit away from the crowd where we observed how an original cornish pasty was made. Our mood was back at an average english cliff level high.Read more
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Day 9
Sunday, August 11, 2024
🌬 21 °C
Altitude: 56 m
England Pendennis Castle 50.147218, -5.04815750°8’50” N 5°2’53” W
Pendennis Castle & St. Mawes
August 11, 2024 in England ⋅ 🌬 21 °C
Falmouth city is located at the mouth of Carrick Roads, a large bay at the cornish coast. On Falmouth side there is Pendennis Castle and counterpart on the opposite coastline is St. Mawes. In the 16th century the canons were not able to cover the complete coast to coast range, so 2 castles, a bigger and a smaller one, were built to guard this significant seaway. Nowerdays they are connected by a ferry line.

As member of the english heritage organisation we could access both places for free and found again 2 nice historic places, grown during the centuries and their happenings. In the bigger Pendennis Castle you can see classic canons, and after crawling through narrow windows (to save time to go arround) you stand at WW1 and WW2 coast artillery infrastructure. The smaller St. Mawes scores more with the nice landscape around and the small village close to the castle.Read more
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Day 10
Monday, August 12, 2024
☁️ 19 °C
Altitude: 9 m
England Perranporth Beach 50.347423, -5.16127250°20’51” N 5°9’41” W
Perranporth
August 12, 2024 in England ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
Some places at the northern cornish coast were explored without the family, who were chilling some days at home. On one of these days I found Perranporth Beach - One of the highlights of the journey for me where I hope I can see it a second time somewhere in future again.

Perranporth beach is a dream like sandy beach seamed by rugged cliffs in the distance . Nice waves coming in continously, offering you all possibilities from swimming over bodyboarding to surfing.

In addition you can hike on the coastal path along the cliff and enjoy the view. For me that is the perfect opportunity to search also for a geocache. Most of the time this activity offers you hidden places you would otherwise don't see. This time I discovered a smuggler cave. After an adventurous rabbit path down the cliff I ended up some meters above sea level where some holes invited me to have a view inside. Created by a combination of nature and quarrying, some of these caves are used ages ago to hide some smuggled goods. Today I found a great photo spot and my geocache.Read more
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Day 11
Tuesday, August 13, 2024
🌬 19 °C
Altitude: 28 m
England St Michaels Mount Castle 50.11624, -5.47830750°6’58” N 5°28’42” W
St. Michael's Mount
August 13, 2024 in England ⋅ 🌬 19 °C
There was a day, the morning was cloudy and rainy, a light spray of water everywhere - Days where the choice is to stay at home or to not set a food outside - And the decission was to visit St. Michaels Mount, a tidal island southwest of Cornwall.

Fortunately this decission was not that bad as it sounds because the weather cleared up and the location was very interesting. Durring mid tide we arrived by boat in the small medievian harbour and at the end of the day we left the island via the footway which is only accessable during low tide. The castle itself is built on the mountain and has therefor many different levels. It was constantly in use and has a rich history. Besides the building is a small garden going down to sea level which is also worth to see.

A legend about St. Michaels Mount is telling a story about a fearsome giant and his defeat. All that remained was his heart in stone. The legend continues that if you put your ear near enough to the heart of stone you will hear the giant's heartbeat...Read more
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Day 12
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
☀️ 19 °C
Altitude: Sea level
England Gylly Beach 50.14386, -5.06787150°8’38” N 5°4’4” W
Falmouth Week Air Show
August 14, 2024 in England ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
Part of the annual Falmouth week ist the Falmouth air show. We went from our Swanpool home to Gyllyngvase Beach and saw some nice maneuvers in the blue sky. Respect to the pilots! Also respect to the view point choise of some residents...Read more
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Day 13
Thursday, August 15, 2024
🌬 21 °C
Altitude: 41 m
England Helford 50.105087, -5.12222250°6’18” N 5°7’20” W
Trebah Garden
August 15, 2024 in England ⋅ 🌬 21 °C
Trebah Garden - What a beautiful place! During our journey we saw some palms on the streets, sometimes some very nice front yards and in St. Michaels Mount also a remarkable garden area - But Trebah Garden, a valley full of rich mediterranean nature, maintained in every corner, leading down to the ocean, is the top highlight out of this stuff!

You can see different greens of palm trees and fern, bambus and gras. You walk under giant rhubarb, some meters high, to make you feel you are back in prehistoric jurassic times. You walk down the water garden and hear the flow. You swim through an ocean of white and blue hydrangeas (Hortensien). You smell everywhere the fragrance of the flowers. You can stay eye to eye with a sea monster in the pond. And at the end you reach a kind of private beach where you can sit and relax before you are going back to leave this garden paradise.Read more
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Day 14
Friday, August 16, 2024
☀️ 17 °C
Altitude: 3 m
England Peal Rocks 50.069235, -5.71754950°4’9” N 5°43’3” W
Land's End
August 16, 2024 in England ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C
Large distances in England can be described by the term "from Land's End to John o' Groats". This range is the traversal of the length of the island of Great Britain between two extremities, in the southwest and northeast.

We visited the southwest point on a cold and foggy day. There was no lighthouse, no cliff, no ocean - only a big white nothing with a Land's End marker and a realy good indoor minigolf course. We played the course and took a photo at the signpost. That's all we did.

But one question remains - Maybe for the future - Will we ever made the 874 road miles from Land's End to John o' Groats?...

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land's_End_to_Joh…)Read more
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Day 15
Saturday, August 17, 2024
☁️ 18 °C
Altitude: Sea level
England Penzance Wet Dock 50.117159, -5.53008250°7’2” N 5°31’48” W
Penzance Wildlife Cruise
August 17, 2024 in England ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
One of the days in Cornwall we did a wildlife cruise in Penzance with Mermaid Pleasure Trips. We were just curious what we will see and hoped for some dolphins. And indeed, pretty early we saw 2 of them swimming around our boat for some minutes. A nice experience!

Thereafter we drove a large round through the bay. We met some cormorants and passed St. Michaels Mount by boat on the coast side - Seeing the footpath under water.

Sidefact - Jakob was the captain of the boat for a short time. Handling the steering wheel and (a bit) the throttle was great.Read more
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Day 16–19
August 18, 2024 at 3:00 PM - August 21, 2024
3 nights
☀️ 22 °C
Altitude: 4 m
England Torre Hill 50.46074, -3.52950°27’39” N 3°31’44” W
Torquay
Aug 18–21, 2024 in England ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
Torquay, the birthplace of Agatha Christie, was our homebase for the next 3 days. The city slogan is "The heart of the English Riviera" which creates some expectations we did not find during these days. But we enjoyed the small things on the way like minigolf.

A nice experience was Jakobs first drive in a ferris wheel and looking over the harbour from the top. Here we spotted also the Little Pearl - Maybe it is the little sister of the Black Pearl from captain Jack Sparrow? You never know...Read more
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Day 16
Sunday, August 18, 2024
⛅ 20 °C
Altitude: Sea level
England Falmouth Harbour 50.156114, -5.06774750°9’22” N 5°4’4” W
Seagulls
August 18, 2024 in England ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
No journey in a coastal area without being supervised by the seagulls. Some impressions of the french fries lover in this footprint.
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Day 16
Sunday, August 18, 2024
⛅ 18 °C
Altitude: 27 m
England Pen Diu 50.668192, -4.75947450°40’5” N 4°45’34” W
Tintagel Castle & Merlins Cave
August 18, 2024 in England ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
Tintagel Castle - According some legends the place where king Arthur was procreated and wizard Merlin lived in his cave. Leaving Falmouth and heading to Torquay we decided to make an excursion to this magical place at the northern coast of Cornwall.

The location is remarkable - The ruins of a medieval castle are located at a very exposed position on top of the coastal cliffs. The ways around the castle are steep and you go over a high bridge connecting the castle ruins with the island behind. There you find a ghostly male figure wearing a crown and holding a sword - Commonly called the "King Arthur statue".

Beneath Tintagel Castle you can find Merlins Cave passing completely through Tintagel Island on sea level. At low tide this cave is accessible and a nice experience. Opposite to the main entrance is also a small waterfall which completed the impression that magic exists on this place.Read more
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Day 17
Monday, August 19, 2024
🌬 18 °C
Altitude: Sea level
England Torquay 50.454232, -3.51894250°27’15” N 3°31’8” W
London Bridge Arch
August 19, 2024 in England ⋅ 🌬 18 °C
Close to Torquay exists an natural stone arch called London Bridge Arch. Perfectly matching as destination for a coastal path hike in the afternoon. It was a little adventure to find a good photospot but at the end it worked out.Read more
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Day 18
Tuesday, August 20, 2024
☀️ 20 °C
Altitude: 37 m
England Paignton Zoo 50.426942, -3.57956450°25’37” N 3°34’46” W
Paignton Zoo
August 20, 2024 in England ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
Paignton zoo is showing some interesting animals. Jakob always likes the cheetahs and I'm interested in the giant tortoises. Also the tropical house with a small waterfall inside was nice.
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Day 19
Wednesday, August 21, 2024
☁️ 19 °C
Altitude: 104 m
England Stonehenge 51.178918, -1.82614851°10’44” N 1°49’34” W
Stonehenge
August 21, 2024 in England ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
Stonehenge is a prehistoric temple where the stones are aligned with the movements of the sun. The construction started 3100 BC. The place itself seems to have a unique meaning for our ancestors too, because there are also some other burial mounds in the area around.

The opinion how interesting this place is, differs within our family but we visited this place and enjoyed it the one or the other way.Read more
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Day 20
Thursday, August 22, 2024
☁️ 19 °C
Altitude: 41 m
England Windsor Castle 51.483632, -0.60553251°29’1” N 0°36’20” W
Windsor Castle
August 22, 2024 in England ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
Windsor Castle is a place with living history from the 11th century till today near the river Thamse. A place where the the current british monarch is living and the national anthem God save the queen!/ God save the king! is played as alarm clock melody. OK, the last statement has to be checked, but this place was a highlight where the complete family was looking ahead.

One important thing was to attend the guard change which happens 11am. So, in the morning it was not enough time for the castle itself and we started with a visit in the St. George's Chapel, where many royal services, weddings and burials took place and where the tomb of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip can be found.

Thereafter we went to the guard change in time and saw an interesting and colorful ceremony based on grown traditions and designed for the public.

Last but not least we went through all the rooms, chambers and floors in the castle, saw the welcome gifts of several international guests, heard some stories from the past and were exhausted at the end of the excursion from the amount of information.

A great day!Read more
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Day 21–22
August 23, 2024 - August 24, 2024
1 night
🌬 21 °C
Altitude: Sea level
England Folkestone Harbour Railway Station 51.077269, 1.18960651°4’38” N 1°11’23” E
Folkestone and the ferry back to Calais
Aug 23–24, 2024 in England ⋅ 🌬 21 °C
The overnight stay in Folkestone was the last for us in England during this journey. Close to the ferry is it a quite better place to sleep as Dover itself. The city has a nice promenade and is located on top of the cliffs. On sea level below is a nice garden strip. Here you can go for a nice walk, discover this way or that way and found also Leas Lift - a small historic funicular railway lift.

In the morning the day after we checked into the ferry and left Great Britain. Our 3 weeks roadtrip was over and left very nice memories. A second stay in the united kingdom could be possible...Read more
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Trip end
August 24, 2024