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| Paris In Sites Newsletter Direct From France Edited by Linda Thalman Travel & Leisure Articles |
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Dieppe to New Haven, Brighton, Portsmouth, Isle of Wight, Winchester &
Darwin's House Kent UK
April 2009 By Linda Thalman
How about a mid-week get-away trip to England?
Well, that's just what we did. My oh my the ferry times were a challenge.
Departure from our favorite Normandy port city, Dieppe, at 5 in the morning.
So we dragged ourselves out of bed at 3:15. It was just a 5-minute drive to the ferry
terminal for the 4:00 departure time - French time.
With bikes on the back of the car, we were headed for a three-day driving and biking excursion.
There were a few glitches to come.
We got on the A road... but heading east rather than west. A u-turn solved the problem.
In the UK you find M roads which are motorways/freeways and A roads which are either
dual carriageways or not. Except for motorways you have roundabouts just about every couple
miles. It really does seem to slow down your road trip, plus driving on the left keeps you
on your toes.
Drive left, look left, stay left.... it's a challenge with a left-hand drive, which is 'normal' in
continental Europe where we drive on the right, i.e. the "right/correct" side of the road.
Yes, Britain is still using miles rather than kilometers for distances and speed limits. Another challenge is
to keep to the speed limits in miles when your car shows kilometers. Not easy.
We did another u-turn and drove along the Brighton seafront, admiring the splendid buildings.
Going just a bit further west along the coast road with Portsmouth plugged into our GPS we tooled along nicely.
The first century AD mosaics are beautiful, the museum ever so well organized and has friendly, helpful, smiling staff.
Lunch time and the cashier in the gift shop was absolutely spot on in suggesting we eat at the Bulls Head pub in
Fishbourne.
Pierre and I both had potato jackets. That is: baked potato with a 'stuffing'. I had bacon and brie and
cheese and onions was for Pierre. He also had a brocolli and Stilton cheese soup starter which was delicious.
Food in English pubs with 'home cooking' is pretty darn good, let me tell you.
Continuing on, Tina, our GPS lady, kept us mostly on track and low and behold we found the closest parking lot to
the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
Have you heard of the HMS Victory? If not, get yourself to this national museum and see one whale of a ship!
Well, I'm not at all in favor of war, but this is one impressive historic ship.
It is on this ship that Admiral Lord Nelson fought the Battle of Trafalgar. And... drum roll, a French musketeer on the
Redoubtable mortally wounded one of Britain's most famous figures of marine history: Admiral Lord Nelson.
Tip: See the film "Master and Commander" with Russell Crowe. Fascinating film and it gives you a feel for the
period...1805 during the Napoleonic Wars.
On board and in all the museums in the complex there are volunteer guides
who are more than eager to answer any questions and share their knowledge.
I was sincerely and exceptionally impressed by all.
Note: Visiting the ships in the dockyards are not really suitable for very young children or
'kids' of any age that are not up to negotiating the steep and narrow steps up and down the various decks.
It being a rainy day, we rushed from ship to ship and museum to museum under umbrellas in this large complex.
We also visited the Mary Rose, which is 'under water' literally. She is "undergoing an active conservation process"
and also had a good look at HMS Warrior.
The Mary Rose is, and I quote "The only surviving 16th century warship on display anywhere in the world,
[...and she] was one of the earliest ships to carry heavy guns."
What better than to be indoors while it's pouring outside? And then, around 16:00 the sun came out
and all was golden with gorgeous sunbeams. Who says it always rains in Britain? Not true!
We purchased our day trip tickets to Isle of Wight on the spot for a 18:00 departure with a Super Saver Fare
of 60 pounds... cheap? Nope! It only cost 98 euros for a round trip Dieppe/Newhaven/Dieppe.
The round trip Portsmouth to Rade and then Yarmouth to Lemington was not even 2 hours and the transmanche
crossing took 5 hours each way.
Pricey for a super saver price... but the Isle of Wight is lovely.
Note: IOW is what one often sees to indicate towards the Isle of Wight - and also note: it is Wight and White.
We had a most lovely stay at the St Andrews Hotel with a lovely breakfast, glorious sea views and a very warm
welcome and local advice on where to have dinner.
The Mill Bay Inn dinner was good value for money, with again, friendly service, and a great location right on the sea.
We had to race off in the morning, negotiating the very narrow country roads. We stopped at the
Garlic Farm. It is literally in the middle of nowhere but we found it and bought a few items from their quaint shop.
Racing off again, through Newport, the capital city of the island and then on to the Needles, a National
Trust site, on the west side of IOW.
Pierre managed to bike 20 minutes to see the Needles, but my back brake was messed up and so was the
front steering... So I sat by the sea and enjoyed the sun and cursed bike racks.
We nearly missed our ferry back to the mainland as the Yar Bridge was closed; the GPS didn't know this,
unfortunately; locals did! So we took the long way round and rolled on the ferry a few minutes before
departure. Ouufff.
Heading north to Chippenham to go to the super modern archives for the county of Wiltshire. Pierre's was
researching relatives from the area and he spent a couple hours looking at blurry microfiches.
Since we were not too far away, we headed for Winchester, famous for its cathedral.
A very confusing one-way street system had us tied in knots. So: let's stop at a pub and look at the maps.
Even better: I asked the owner of the Jolly Farmer if she could suggest a B&B or hotel. "We're
completely turned around after three tours of Winchester, exhausted and need a place to sleep" I said.
She pulled out the phone book, made a call and in 3 minutes we were booked for the night.
Even better yet: the lovely house was literally 3 minutes away by car. Thank you Jolly Farmer.
The owners of the B&B Sycamores in Winchester, Vera and John, welcomed us, got us settled,
then pulled out brochures and a town map. John suggested where to park in town and ideas for dinner in the city center.
Arriving around 21:00 we just made it in time for dinner at the Old Vine. Perfect location, nice wine and
food.
Again and again and again, the nicest, friendliest, kindest people helped us all along our trip.
Going the long way round we stopped in Eastleigh for photos of where family had lived nearly 100
years ago and then headed for Down House, the home of Charles Darwin in the village of Downe in Kent.
Biking back to the car I lost the key to my lock... another biking goof.
The rest of the afternoon was spent driving to Brighton for dinner before getting our return ferry to
Dieppe.
Biking disaster again. The Lanes underground car park access was only 1.95 feet high; the bikes hit the
barrier and nearly fell off. The five cars behind us did not honk or get mad.
We backed up, very red faced, waved to the polite drivers who were probably saying "Crazy French" due to our car plates.
Well, that cured us for good. We straighted the bikes up and then found a place to take them off and
stuff 'em in the trunk/boot of the car! Oh, bikes... great for biking, but lousy for transporting on the
back of a car.
A quick walk around "The Lanes" in Brighton - old Brighton, which is full of restaurants and fewer
quaint shops than I remember from a visit about ten years ago.
The Agra Brasserie offered a pleasant Indian meal for our last evening in England on this trip. Great
service, a wide choice of dishes and walking distance from the car park.
A return ferry at midnight is not all that much fun, but we'd had a very full three days.
Typically, we probably tried to do too much... but we'll be back again.
Tip: do be sure to visit the UK and take in the beautiful countryside, the pubs, museums and
sites that are not in London. London is great, but don't forget the rest of the country.
And, of course, combine that with a trip to France, too!
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On to the ship right on time and after checking out the 'boat' we found more or less
comfortable chairs and slept until 9:00 British time.
Having picked up a 'Sussex Top Attractions' brochure, I suggested a stop at the Fishbourne Roman Palace, just west
of Chichester.
It is, according to the brochure, "the oldest commissioned warship in the world"...
Well, then the bike rack and bikes fell off going at one mile per hour in the parking lot... there was a
slight bump down from pavement to the gravel parking area and boom.
Parking 500 meters from the house, we biked to Darwin's abode and visited the house and gardens.
Nice presentation, and amazing to be in the Darwin's study... you could feel history.
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Linda Thalman
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Email – Linda@wfi.fr
Web Address – http://www.parisinsites.com/
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