Friday, Sat 15th and 16th

We left Folkestone and travelled to Royal Tunbridge Wells. Had no idea exactly where we were going once we arrived so parked and went on foot. We did lots of walking and saw the Pantiles and decided after a while that we would cancel our B & B and tell Stew we were coming to stay the night if that was ok.

In the end we picked Matt up from work, went to his and Jana's new flat for dinner with them and Maxi and then home to Stew's for the night.

Sat morning we went into Kingston for Stew to buy some fun stuff for Matt to wear for his buck's night and then back to get our car and head on over to Wimbledon to the house we were staying in.

Short catch up with Kath, Dave and Mackenzie and checking out the place then we all went our separate ways to take both cars back.

2& 1/2 hrs for us and 3hr for Kath and co. We were all glad to have arrived back. But 1/2 an hour later we were back on the road. Kath, Mackenzie and I to Jana's hen's night and one of the girls picked us up which was lovely and the guys to meet up with the boys at a pub for dinner.

Jana's friends had done a lovely job of decorating for the hen's night and we had a lovely time and the boys seem to have had a fun time also. Matt had been dressed in a kids tutu, bunny ears and had to wear a sign and beg for money for his honeymoon. Believe it or not he actually made 30pound!!

I am sure I will be able to get some pics soon.

Jana's was a little bit more sedate but fun. A lovely bunch of girls. Another one of which gave us all a lift home.

Thurs 14th

The main reason for being in Folkestone was a railway not far away which is a one-third scale steam railway. It operates from Hythe through Dymchurch, St Mary's, New Romney and on to Dungeness. We were the first in the carpark which is unusual for us and had to wait an hour till it ran and by that time the Kids starting arriving. The first group were so excited. It was an hour ride to Dungeness which is also where there is a nuclear power station now but it is on an area that used to be underwater eons ago and it is very flat and nothing but pebbles but never the less people have homes out there a bit more sparse closer to the end of the peninsula. There wasn't a lot to see there so we caught the same train back. It was there for 20mins. We then got off at New Romney to see a model train exhibition and arrived back at Hythe around 2.30. Again by this time it was time for a siesta, but of course I am writing this instead. Not sure where dinner is tonight.

Wed 13th

Today we headed north from Canterbury to Whitstable on the coast and followed the coast through Herne Bay, Reculver, Margate, Ramsgate, Sandwich, Deal, Cover to our 2night stopover in Folkestone at the Clifton Hotel. Stopped in a few spots along the way. Went to a cliff top cafe at Capel Le Ferne for a cuppa and bite and then arrived at Folkestone around 2ish. Owen had booked this place from Aus and asked for a sea view room. It is a lovely big room with a couple of lounge chairs and bay window. The room has floors that are up and down and creak like crazy so you can't creep around the place. It is a little tired in some ways, especially the bathroom and could do with the tv being upgraded to a digital but over all it is ok. We went out for a walk along the Leas along the promenade. It was cool but was a good walk. Owen had wanted to stay at the Grand but it was just a bit pricey but it is a lovely building. Lots of nice old architecture around the area. We had dinner in the hotel restaurant which was nice and coffee in the lounge.

Tuesday 12th April

Decided to leave Stew's when he left for work. So we were out the door by 7.45am. Needed to get fuel and also get Jane to work. JANE is the lady who speaks on our GPS so when you read about Jane that is who we are referring to. Took a while for Jane to fire up and find the satellites as she was last used in Aus, but we also had to remember how to put her on to the UK maps. We hadn't had breakfast and decided to find somewhere along the way. Why can you never find something when you need it, or find it when you are in the wrong lane. We ended up eventually at a Sainsbury's superstore, which is a very large supermarket which also had a cafe attached. Bye this stage it was 10am and we needed a drink badly. Eventually sated we headed on towards Leeds Castle. Over here it is school holidays also and by the time we got there, I counted at least 10buses and oodles of cars with families, or grandparents and kids. Not so bad once inside the castle as a lot of them went for the maze and other areas. Beautiful castle which we missed last time so glad we found it this time. It has a large moat and beautiful grounds. They are going to put up a large screen in the grounds so people can watch the Royal Wedding on Friday 29th. From there we went to Canterbury but by this stage we were starting to feel very tired again. We parked outside the Cathedral walls and finally got a connection to book a B&B in Canterbury. We had planned to go further on but we decided to plonk there. The Canterbury Cathedral is massive. Lots of tourist too. Remember it is school hols but also lots of European bus travellers. Lovely cobbled streets in the surrounding area and we would have liked to spend more time be we had had enough. B&B was nice, walked to a pub call "Ye Old Beverley" and had a lovely meal. Crashed early and had a nice full english brekky. I have to stop having them. I already feel fatter.!!!!

UK Trip 2011 for Matt and Jana's wedding

Hi folks, we made it to London ok. On time, but we missed our "looked forward to welcome from the boys" as they were late, and we were unable to phone them as Owen's phone had died for some reason. We had to get picked up from Heathrow to where we had booked our car from as we had found somewhere much cheaper than the usual car hire places. Whilst there we plugged in the phone to ring the boys and made arrangements to meet at Stew's house. We arrived about 10mins before them. Luckily we had looked at his place on google earth when he moved or we would never have found it. It was great to see the boys and finally meet Jana face to face and also Jana's mum, Maxie. It was Owen's birthday so we went out for dinner beside the Thames and it was nice. Got to bed around 9.30-10pm and by that time we we were struggling to keep the eyes open. Conked out immediately. Plugged in our phone