Poole

Left Scotland at lunchtime on Sunday (21st) for another 5 hours on trains to get back down to Derbyshire. The train from Carlisle to Birmingham was absolutely chock-a-block, so I am glad I had booked a seat. It was a very pretty trip through the Penines and Yorkshire Dales again but this time bathed in sunshine. We went via Penrith, Lancaster, Preston, Warrington and Wolverhampton, then I had to catch another train from Birmingham up to Burton- on- Trent. My last train trips for a while, thank goodness!
This afternoon(Monday,22nd) we travelled down to Poole in thick fog.We met Angie in Winchester, where I had a quick look around the cathedral.It is an enormous Norman Cathedral which was consecrated in 1093.It is full of ancient graves, including those of Canute and Jane Austen. We had dinner with Angie in Southampton and arrived in Poole about 9pm.Ali and Steve have a really lovely apartment here near the quay.
Today (23rd) we went to Hengistbury Head near Bournemouth on the little green train in the photo! It is a bird sanctuary on a sand spit and had the cutest little beach huts all the colours of the rainbow. We drove past Sandbanks, apparently the third most expensive real estate in the world,also built on a sand spit with the sea on both sides. Also Compton Acres, reputedly one of the loveliest gardens in England.Weather grey and drizzly but winter is a' coming in England.