Oxford

It was Bevan's third day in the UK and I had entered him and I into a 10km run in Oxford on Sunday morning. It was an early start to catch the train and a mad dash to the start line but we made it in time. We both made it round in respectable times, for the record older triumphed over younger, but not by much.



Bevan enjoying a well earned drink, and struggling to stand up straight, in the oldest pub in Oxford.



The rest of the day was spent wandering round Oxford with flatmate Clare and her friends, and a highly amusing attempt at punting down the river. How we managed to stay dry is a miracle.



We got a bit tangled up in some nasty foliage from time to time.....

Catch up with the Cuzzies

Dion and Rosiland were in town for a few nights at the start of their big trip so we met them for a wander through Hyde Park and a Pimms in the garden bar while everyone else yelled at the TV watching the FA Cup final. Brad was unable to attend due to an unwelcome dose of chicken pox.

Lords

It was the first test of the English summer, England vs West Indies. Both teams were coming off poor displays at the world cup, had new coaches, new captains and injury worries so they had a few points to prove. Hamish and I were lucky enough to get tickets to day one so we packed up a picnic and got there in time for the first ball, following a delayed start because of rain.



It was a bit of a frustrating day, mainly because England weren't bowled out within the first hour in conditions which should have assisted the swing bowlers. There were also a couple of delays for bad light which was complete rubbish and the crowd wasn't happy. Nonetheless, we saw 60 overs of cricket, watched Alistair Cook get a hundred, ate and drank exceptionally well all day and even saw the Queen (we were at the other end of the ground though).



A week later Bevan and I went back and did a tour which was really good. We were walked through the famous Long room, taken into the dressing rooms, saw the Ashes, walked around the grandstands and taken into the media centre. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos of anything in the old Pavillion, or even from the balcony and of course you can't take photos of the Ashes or it would shatter into a million pieces..... nontheless we managed a couple of token shots around the ground.

Dorset

It was the first bank holiday weekend in May. The weather had been outstanding so I decided to jump on a train and get out of London. I didn't really have much of a plan other than I wanted to camp at a place called Swanage. So I trained to Poole, had a look around, bused and ferried to Swanage, went for a walk, checked out some cliffs, tested my new tent (which was a bit lucky given that the camping ground apparently had no tent sites left) and that filled in Saturday.

Swanage beach front



Limestone cliffs



Bit of a dicey walk out on this little path...



There were even some animals. Thanks to the pleasant English haze, you probably can't make out Bournemouth in the background, but believe me, its there. You can see the boats though, the entire area was buzzing all weekend with various watercraft.



Swanage had a very cool steam train. I really should have gone for a ride on it but was quite content to listen to it and watch the smoke pour out of it. Unfortunately this photo doesn't do it justice but it's pretty hard to get a good one when it is in full operation and covering you with smoke. You would have loved it Dr.



And one could not help but be intrigued about what this shop had to offer.... with a name like that the shop must do a roaring trade.



Sunday wasn't such a nice day so I caught a different bus back to Poole which worked out well as it went past a castle, unfortunately it was raining so it wasn't great viewing. I stopped in at Bournemouth on the way back which had a very long beach and not too much else and arrived home at about 9pm on Sunday night.

Kite surfers at Bournemouth.