The Travels Of The RJs

Thursday 29th August - Buckingham / Chelmsford (UK) - Epernay, (France) (Day 227) Departure day.  After a relaxing 2.5 months across Buckingham, Chelmsford and Mynytho it’s time to hit the main road again.  Everyone has enjoyed homely living and spending much more time than we’re usually afforded with parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, cousins which has been very rewarding.  But after 7.5 months away from Sydney, our country count is "only" 5.  So on to Europe to boost that number a little whilst continuing our slower travel.  Sienna and I are dropped at Milton Keynes station whilst Kate and Seb board their train in Chelmsford, we meet them at King’s Cross St Pancras, boarding the Eurostar to France.  Kate and I both fall asleep before we hit the tunnel and when we wake up we’ll be in France. After snoozing on the Eurostar as we whizzed through the English countryside, we awaken in France.  It’s a change at Lille for a direct TGV to Charles de Gaulle airport where, offsite,

Tuesday 27th August - Buckingham / Chelmsford (Day 225) One of the areas of fascination for Sienna and Seb is the model railway set up in the loft on a 2.5m by 1m board. Much of it is dad's from when he was a child.  To add a few more pieces, mum, dad, Sienna and I head off to Upper Stowe and end up with a cinema, bookshop and tobacconist, along with some deer and cattle.  After lunch next door at The Barn we detour via Stoke Bruerne canal with the dogs, reliving walks we did as children in the mid 80’s. The excitement of helping push open and close the locks is now transferred to Sienna, along with some blackberry picking along the way.  It’s thirst quenching work so we have a canal side beer at the Newington Inn in the late afternoon sun.  Kate insert: post schoolwork Seb, Ethan and I head over to Grandma and Grandad’s. I’m there to put the pond fence back up (recently taken down to replace the fence alongside the neighbours), Ethan is there to entertain Seb and Seb is there as h

Sunday 25th August - Buckingham / Chelmsford (Day 223) After an early solo dog walk, Corinne and the girls arrive mid-morning.  The impromptu obstacle course reappears in the back garden along with bubble blowing entertains all big and small.  Kate and Seb head back to Chelmsford after lunch for the last few days, Sienna and I remaining in Buckingham.  Corinne, Lucy, Sienna and I venture into Buckingham to catch a bit of Bandjam, a series of free sets from local bands in the marketplace - which Sienna and Lucy sitting together on the curb watch with wonder. Monday 26th August - Buckingham / Chelmsford (Day 224) Monday - the August Bank Holiday - is a case of 2 festivals / fetes of differing scale.  Again with Corinne and the girls we meet in a field in Winslow, for a raft of goings on from the dog show in the middle, old tractors for sale, a sheep show, dog agility racing and various craft, food and fundraising stalls. A very English summer’s day experience enjoyed by all.  At the oppo

Thursday 22nd August - Buckingham (Day 220) With Corinne and the girls here plus our 4 it’s a busy house and Lucy especially is enthusiastic about building an obstacle course in the garden using the slide and then various planks of wood and stools.  Amidst all the races Angela the hairdresser arrives to cut mum’s, Corinne’s, dad’s, Kate’s and Sienna’s hair one after the other. Seb meanwhile goes under our clippers and stands in the bath upstairs. Friday 23rd August - Buckingham (Day 221) I venture out early on Friday morning to give both myself and Buddy and Ollie a walk around Maids Morten.  Once the week's schoolwork is complete our 4 plus mum and dad head out to The Riverside Hub in Northampton, the kids devouring a burger and nuggets beforehand from McDonalds whilst the adults have homemade sandwiches instead.  Inside the Hub, a large indoor play area the kids have a blast for 2.5 hours tearing around the 4 storey soft play climbing frame, playing football, ‘racing’ (slowly) on

Tuesday 20th August - Chelmsford / Buckingham incl London (Day 218) On Tuesday (Day 218) Corinne brings the girls around to Hilltop where they’re instantly at home with both the dogs and a mixture of new and old (i.e. mine and Corinne’s old) toys.  Late afternoon I take myself off to train from Milton Keynes to Euston, walking onto Covent Garden to catch up with both Rich Campo and Fergus at the Nell Gwynne pub, just another 400 year old pub hidden down a narrow alleyway. Conversation flits between our university hockey days and the 7 children between the 3 of us today, before a late night train back home.  (The grainy photo up top from our UEA days: players from left to right, bottom row, myself, Campo, Fergus, Chris, Dave and Teen in goal - all have seen or hoping to see on this trip)  Kate insert: After schoolwork, Gwyn takes all four kids to Play in the Park, whilst I hop on a bike and head into town for lunch with Matt (tennis Matt as my family like to call him) at Giggling Squid.

Sunday 18th August - Chelmsford / Buckingham (Day 216) Entering the last 10 days or so we’re dividing to conquer, so for now the kids stay in Chelmsford with Kate while I say my farewells and thanks to the Watts side of the family and head off to Buckingham.  Not really on the way I go via Kingston to meet up with Ali, my old boss from both our time at Coke and at Petbarn. From being young, free and single since I last saw her a couple of years ago she’s now married to Simon, with 4 month old Mason and also Bentley the dog to keep her on her toes.  They’ve just moved into a tall terraced house, all the houses painted a different pastel colour in this semi-private enclave. All 5 of us enjoy lunch at one of their new locals The Pottery out the back in the courtyard, before also reminiscing in their back garden.  Then on for me to Buckingham. Kate insert: the RJs left behind help clear out the summer house, Sienna super keen having gotten a liking to a Stacey Solomon clear out show. We bi

Thursday 15th August - Chelmsford (Day 213) Gwynneth and Graham kindly take Sienna and Seb to Jimmy’s farm in Ipswich for the day where the kids have a great time amongst the meerkats, polar bears, butterflies and Arctic foxes.  Meanwhile Kate and I take ourselves for a bike ride out to Hylands House and to Roxwell, back to Writtle for some scones, jam and cream at Tiptree Teahouse. Only just able to find a free table in between all the slightly more serious and slightly older cycling groups that had taken over the quaint spot.  Still full from that we take Euan and Ethan out for lunch at Queenies in town. Thankfully Kate and I share a meal, as the portions are huge. Euan, fresh from receiving his excellent AS level results this morning, sees off his burger, but Ethan is outdone by his chocolate freakshake (complete with doughnuts) and his bacon maple syrup pancakes. Friday 16th August - Chelmsford (Day 214) The treats keep coming for Sienna and Seb, Friday (Day 214) Pete and Sonia tak

Tuesday 13th August - Chelmsford / London (Day 211) Tuesday, after school work is completed in the morning we head round to Hannah and Dan’s house. Sienna and Seb are very keen to play with Holly and Charlie again (and not just to play Switch). Hannah has kindly found some old packed away toys that ours enjoy and the two elder kids graciously join in and play with them.  Another glorious day and we enjoy lunch in the garden. After going through some old photos in Buckingham and also in Norwich, more trips down memory lane as Hannah digs into the archives of our younger selves.  We all head out to the local park to walk Pepper and give the kids a run around. Kate insert: the kids are introduced to a game called London - only slightly dangerous as one person walks around the play park with their eyes closed trying to find the others. The others can move freely but if caught on the ground when the person seeking shouts ‘London’ they are automatically out (although a slight honesty system

Sunday (Day 209, 11th Aug) is Grandma’s birthday for which we bask in the sunshine (or hide in the shade) in their back garden while demolishing some takeaway and a giant three tiered spectacular looking Victoria Sponge Cake made by Sonia.  Kate gets a rare moment to herself joining some of the girls (Vicky, Elaine, Hannah and Michelle) in Chelmsford town centre for drinks and dinner. Kate insert: starting off at The Woolpack in the garden, Elaine is only 15 minutes behind everyone - clearly it’s a special night.  We then saunter through town to The Cosy Club for dinner, an upstairs venue near our old drinking haunts (some of which have survived although changed hands and names several times). The night is still young and we head to Boom Battle Bar (a new addition to Chelmsford - well at least new in the last 2 yrs being home) where we play augmented reality darts.  The skill level of each of us is like a roller coaster in the hour we play due to experience or lack of, competitiveness