West Meon with Steve and Valerie

Hi

The fuel guys came at eight and are just finishing up for the day now at 5 PM.   They will return tomorrow to finish up and put all of the tanks back together with some new bolts and such.  We will remain at the work dock to avoid moving back to our berth this afternoon and then back to the work dock tomorrow morning.  If the weather is pleasant I think I’ll go into Eastbourne town tomorrow.

Ru

Visit with Valerie and Steve

I think we first met Steve in Terengannu when he helped us get our shore power working as the marina office was closed as that time.  We were in other places at other times, but it was in Kota Kinabalu that we met Valerie who had come to join up with Steve.  Valerie still wasn’t ready to stop working and didn’t really enjoy passages.  So Steve either single-handed or arranged for crew.  Then Valerie would come meet him.  They also lived for a while in Hong Kong for Steve’s work.  

When they saw we’d be only about 90 minutes away from their home in Fleet England, they emailed and said they would come get us and show us a small English town with lovely thatched roofs.  And that’s exactly what they did.  We will meet up again when they visit with us in London and we see them in Fleet  or  somewhere in the middle.

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Our first stop was the parish church, where lucky for us, they were doing tea and cakes!

http://www.wilfrid-meon-pilgrimage.co.uk/

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Front of the church

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Organ with lovely pipes.

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Looking back to the baptismal font that has a cover over it which is lifted with a chain

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Hard to choose, but I did and it’s that small aptly named cupcake on the plate. 

Butterfly cake it was called because …….

http://www.cookuk.co.uk/children/butterfly_cakes.htm  will explain why.

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It was just lovely sitting there having tea and cake.

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Thatched-roofed home

   “This Hampshire village has a history dating back to the Iron and Bronze Ages.  Evidence of the Meonwara tribe living in this northern most part of the Meon Valley has been found locally.  In Lippen Wood there are the remains of a substantial Roman Villa. The village features in the history of the English Civil War being near to Cheriton and the churchyard is the final resting place for some well known names of English history.  Among them Thomas Lord the founder of Lord’s Cricket Ground, and another less celebrated figure from the 20th century, the spy Guy Burgess.”  http://www.westmeonpc.org.uk/index.php

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I believe this was the Community Theatre building where Calendar Girls was being performed.  But it might not be….  It does look like the community theater building in Roanoke!

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Mullioned windows and flower gardens.

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England is definitely the place for walking.

Steve was explaining to us that if a path ran through farm land or fields, no dangerous animals were allowed to graze there and stiles had to be maintained for climbing over fences.  If no one walked a path within a certain specified time limit, the path could be disbanded so the walking groups keep track and make sure the paths are walked at least once each year and then recorded.

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The path went past this home and through the field where a path had been cut through the taller grass.  I walked over and pat the horses behind the fence. 

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The field was just beyond this shaded road.

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Valerie and me; I definitely need a hair trip and shape.

The it was time for Steve to dare Randal to try some British beer.  Valerie and I took a pass, though I did taste Randal’s and it was quite nice. 

http://doramac.blogspot.co.uk/2008_07_01_archive.html   from the DoraMac archive tells my adventures in KK with Valerie.