Fighting tiger, not-so-hidden Waky

After an epic time in London watching Romare, playing snooker and catching up with Andy and Inci for dinner, the reminder of the bank holiday weekend took a much more relaxed pace as we headed down to Somerset to visit Longleat Safari Park and photograph some wildlife. Well, it was relaxing until we got covered in monkeys, pecked at by ostrich and witnessed brawling tigers only 100ft away!

Longleat was great fun though and the monkeys seemed very taken with Owlly and Pilkington but I got the impression the feeling wasn’t reciprocated.

We managed to perfectly time a loop of the park before it shut. Then off to Stone Henge campsite for the night. We were a little limited on places to stay, given it was still so early in the season. The campsite was not shy on facilities but did feel a little sterile, although it was fine for the night. We lit the fire and tried to keep warm under clear skies. Hot beans and sweet potatoes helped but after a long weekend we retired for a fairly early night.







The next morning we stayed put for breakfast of sloppy eggs and bagels before heading home to give Waky a good clean and potter until pub time!

Anniversary #2 Glastonbury #3

Waky’s third anniversary was spent in Glastonbury, making use of our campsite voucher from last time. Leaving straight after work was a little easier as I was no longer working in London. What didn’t help was the fact we’d left Waky’s interior light on and his battery was flat. Oops! But the problem didn’t last long as Pumi came to the rescue and we were soon on the road.

We arrived at The Fields of Avalon fairly late, but early enough to make a dahl and have a gibber. We woke to a beautiful sunrise. There is something very peaceful about this part of Glastonbury – maybe it’s all the crystals! We are always treated to interesting weather down this way and by breakfast time, we had already been hailed on. We still risked climbing the Tor. We saw some impressive cumulonimbus in the distance but above us were bright blue skies. We took some photos of the local wildlife and then headed down the hill to the pub where we managed a pint outside. In January, boom!













However, at the realisation that the starling mumaration started early evening, rather than at dusk, as we believed, we got a move on to Ham Wall in the hope of seeing the amazing spectacle

Disappointingly, we were met with crowds leaving the area. We could only assume the show was over. It was a beautiful walk nonetheless. However, we then overhead a group who were walking toward us who appeared equally as disappointed? As it turned out, the show hadn’t even started and they believed it probably wouldn’t. Then we saw a starling. Then a small group of starlings. Then before we knew it, the sky was inundated with them. It appeared almost carpeted with little black specks, cheeping, swooping, incoming on mass, stretching as far as we could see, forming incredible shapes and making their way to a central location, the middle of a field, where they were roosting. It was like something from a Studio Ghibli movie. A thunderous mass of black. Coming and going in flocks, all aware of each other’s movements. They were so loud. It was incredible and I could only laugh hysterically at the sight – not quite being able to believe what I was seeing. We photographed them until the sun went down.

The anticipation, reward and pure shock of what we saw gave us a feeling not unlike that after a storm chase and we soon realised, probably partly due to the adrenaline rush, that we were incredibly hungry. However, before we ate, we had the important task of Blind Beer Test Chapter 2 to participate in. We stopped at a spar shop and gathered as many individual beers as we could before heading back to camp to perform the experiment, the aftermath of which is to then drink a lot of beer, hopefully of a variety that you have now identified as your favourite. We accompanied this with special beans and maybe some wine, but I can’t really remember!



















The next day was rainy, as expected, but we took a trip into Street, picked up a few new items of work clothes and some tracky bums (which are, so far, the best tracky bums I’ve ever had) before not so much surfing, as being stuck in the cold front for a long rainy journey home. One of the best weekends though, without a doubt.

Last of the Summer Prosecco

It was late in the season, but hardcore camping buddies Sam & JC agreed to one last weekend of New Forest fun before camping was off for the winter. They arrived slightly earlier than us and reserved a space in the nearer field. We parked up, donned our waterproofs and headed to Chequers where we’d booked a table. Before we knew it, we had devoured much food and wine! When we got back to Waky, a few late night tipples were consumed and we danced to some new Spotify tunes whilst sipping on whiskey.

The next day started with a statutory yummy breakfast and then we jumped on the bikes for a glorious ride in the sunshine. We chose a route using the new forest maps as a guide which initially took us through Sway (where I found a mushroom), then through some woods where there were some ponies, then along a track where a very friendly pony took a liking to JC’s saddle, and then out to a clearing near the road where there were even more ponies. But this last group of ponies had a very prominent head of the herd who warned us to back off on our approach, so I stood up to it and whooshed it away, protecting my own herd!

The ride was amazing and we saw deer, a hawk, found some beautiful paths including an old railway where we encouraged each other to cycle down the really steep bit. As the weather started to turn we picked up the pace and made it to The Rising Sun pub for scampi and to wait for the rain to pass.

We cycled back in the dark, stopping on route for some Prosecco. When back at camp we made baked potatoes on the fire, with beans and danced to amongst others, ‘working in a coal mine’, until bedtime.

































The next day, we decided to do another ride on the bikes, but this time we started from Burley. After initially sheltering under a tree from the rain we set out on a cycle loop taking us past great houses framed by rainbows, more gorgeous tracks, fjords, sandy paths and river ways. It was another stunning loop and we couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. We rewarded ourselves with a scrummy lunch at The Queens Head in Burley – famed for its veggie & vegan options. It was even the popular choice of a man and his parrot who are regular guests there apparently. Before heading back there was time for one last scavenge in the woods – and you wouldn’t believe what I found?!

Poole Reccy

We decided it would be a good idea to check out our wedding venue – The Partyfield. We thought it would be an even better idea to take Waky and make a weekend of it! The Partyfield site was epic – better than we ever could have imagined and to add an even more personal touch, it was where we found the first mushroom of the season!





After casing out the venue, we trundled into Poole where we had a wander around, looked at The Guildhall and then found a brewery to sample some farty larger – that luckily wasn’t that farty and has since became the chosen premises for the post wedding meal.

After this we headed towards Corfe Castle to find a campsite and explore the area. The campsite was beautiful – it was more ‘commune’ than ‘campsite’, with vegetable patches and a make-shift restaurant that cooked up really fresh tasty smelling food like mussels. We were immediately taken with the place and decided this was where we should spend a few days for our honeymoon. However, before settling down for the evening, we took a trip to the local nursery/farm shop to pick up supplies and then into Corfe Castle town for any extra bits. Although when we got back to the campsite we realised we didn’t have any foil – a BBQ essential, but I did my best to swap the newly found mushroom and a beer for some foil. I successfully returned to camp with all 3 products and had managed to make some friends along the way who had a bright orange camper with a black and white checked floor who apparently had clocked Waky and was in love with him already quoting him ‘Turquise’ – Brazilian for Turquoise.

Once we had all we needed, we cracked open the prosecco and prepped the food. The site was so peaceful with distant views across the woodland as the sun set.







In the morning we made a wedding list and chatted out a few ideas before heading off to explore. We were blessed with hot sunny weather so there was little stopping us from going to the beach; first stopping for an ice cream though of course in a perfect spot with views across Poole.

On the way home we paid a little visit to The New Forest where we searched hard for even more mushrooms. Although lucking out on this front, we found some beautiful forest paths to walk down and some really friendly ponies. However, as the day was growing late, any further New Forest fun would have to wait until next month!