Sadness Followed by Rain!

Yesterday was the first day of the competition and both of our girls were competing.

There was a big delay to the start as a horse collapsed and died on the walk into the arena.  As you can imagine it was a sad scene so must people just walked away for an hour or so until it had all been sorted out.

This was our view of the arena.

It was a very different day from Thursday, it was cold and wet, but we managed to get undercover.  

I didn't get a shot of Tiff jumping as her horse refused a couple of jumps and was eliminated.

Niece Kimberley completed the round but had a few points against her so didn't finish in the top placings.

The rest of the day was spent avoiding the rain and cold ... nine people make the van nice and cosy.

At 19.00 there was a demonstration by Ex Olympic showjumper Geoff Billington, who did a good entertaining job in awful wet and windy conditions.

It was too wet to cook and sit outside so Elaine and I looked after the four dogs whilst the others ate up the local pub.

Our two visiting dogs, Elsa and Ella were pining for their owners.

Today the sun returned albeit a bit on the cold side.

Only Kimberley was competing today.  She was tearing around the course and heading for first place but the horse just clipped the twelfth and last jump and received four points.  It was a real shame as the time was a cracker. 

Elaine gave the them a pep talk on the way back to the stables.

Garbos and Horses.

We left London Wednesday morning.  Once again we had a lovely time but as we both have been feeling a bit under the weather we didn't do half as much as we wanted to. Never mind it was still good.

We witnessed what could have been a very nasty incident on the drive out of London.....we were following a garbage truck through some heavy traffic when a kid on the pavement lost control of its scooter.  The girl's mum chased after the scooter as it was heading for the side of the moving garbage truck!  She stopped it but then tripped and went under the truck!! The very very alert garbo must have seen her as he hit the anchors before the rear wheels went over her.  All she hurt was her ankle as she tripped!  It's quite amazing when it happens in front of you - it was like slow motion.  All ended well though thanks to a very alert garbo.

No probs after that.  We stopped at an Aldi at Luton to stock up the van with food and booze.

Another hour or so north and we arrived at Stoneleigh  Equestrian centre, which is close to Warwick.

We were here to watch my niece Kimberley and her friend Tiff compete in the showjumping.

We are the mothership in the motorhome, so all we had to do was erect 3 tents around us! 

Away we go girls.

Whilst we were playing tents the two girls went playing with the horses. 

After a few hours the camp was all set up. 

There weren't too many people setting up last night, now it is packed. 

Once the sun went down it was pretty cold.  We felt so guilty being nice and snug and warm in the van!!

Today was only a practice day and both horses and riders competed well. 

Elaine giving Robbie some last minute tips. 

Then it was Neeko's turn for a whisper. 

On the way to a clear round. 

Well done girls, the serious competition starts tomorrow. 

Double Decker Dogs!!.

This morning we set off for a touristy day in London.

The No 3 bus from Crystal Palace passes past the entrance to the campsite and goes all the way to Oxford Street.  It takes about an hour but passes some of London's famous landmarks, so it is always a good trip.

The dogs really do enjoy going on the bus and if we can get the prime position on the top deck we are all happy!

Today our luck was in.

Brixton is always a buzzy place to go through ...

Next across the Thames, always on the lookout for passing narrowboats ...

None today :(

Past the Houses of Parliament ...

Big Ben is always a favourite ...

Horse guards ...

Trafalgar Square comes into view and its time to jump off ...

We walked back along Whitehall where they were changing the guards on horseback in the sentry boxes, they were all female soldiers ...

We had a break in St James' park ...

Then off to the Palace ...

Around the corner they were having band practice.  The dogs are used to all different sorts of situations and noises but the noise of the band totally freaked Sammie out ...

So, it was back to the Palace ...

Time for a quick selfie ... 

We spotted a very pro UK lady ...

We then walked through Green Park and thought we would pop into the Ritz for a drink, but it's not dog friendly - shame !

By now it was getting into rush hour so rather than get the bus back to base we caught the tube then the overground to Crystal Palace.

Bombo and El in the very hot tube ...

Sammie and Bombo completely crashed out on the overground ...

We have both been feeling a bit out of sorts the last couple of days, so by the time we got back we were totally cream crackered.

I think tomorrow is going to be a rest day!! 

I Love A Sunburnt Country...

 We have been a bit quiet on this London trip as I feel a bit grotty, we have still been getting out and about but nowhere near as much as we usually do in the worlds best city.

Friday was a very lazy day, but we did manage to go for a Friday arvo drink down the local pub, only problem was it was the last day of school so the parents had bought hundreds of of little Tarquin's  and Arabella's. 

We did manage to find a quiet corner though.

Back at the van we could hear some music emanating from the park that backs onto the campsite, so we took a walk down there to check it out. There was an open air cinema going on so we sat the other side of the railing and watched it for free. The film was Labyrinth a favourite of Elaine's. 

Unfortunately we didn't bring any coats of blankets so we started to get too cold and and to go before the end. 

Yesterday we went for a walk around Crystal Palace, its not a particularly attractive suburb, but it pretty close to the city.   

Now the sunburnt bit.....I cant believe the state of the parks and peoples private gardens down south, they are so burnt, no such problem up north where it rains for 364 days of the year. I can understand the parks not having watering systems but why don't people water their lawns, back in Oz where it was a lot hotter, I watered the lawn before I went to work and when I got back as did every other bugger. Perhaps the pom logic is you know it will rain sometime so why bother. 

Last night we left the dogs in the van and headed down to Southbank to catch up with Elaine's niece Josie.

Southbank was going off big time, every restaurant was packed.

We had a good catch up in a couple of pubs and finished up in an Italian restaurant.

Trains, Planes, Boats and Buses!

We started off the day walking across Crystal Palace park to the railway station where we caught the overground train to Greenwich.

We then jumped on the Emirates Airline cable car across the Thames.

You get a nice view of the Thames barrier ...

And the Thames of course ...

Elaine was nervous but the dogs had no such qualms ... 

It must be interesting when a plane flies over the top to land at the City airport ...

They have done some fantastic redevelopment of the dock areas ...

After our 'flight' we then walked to the DLR to go into the city but decided instead to jump off at Limehouse to check out the boats in the basin.

Nice flowered up barge ...

By now it was early afternoon so we popped into the Grapes for a drink ...

Evidently Ian McKellen owns this pub ... so if you look closely you can see Gandalf's staff displayed behind the bar!

We even managed to get a seat out on the deck ... 

The dogs felt like they were on a boat again! 

There is a Gormley statue just off the deck ...

It is such a great place to have a drink and watch the river traffic ...

A nice chap took our pic for us ...

It's a lovely pub if you are down Limehouse way ...

We then walked back along the Thames path to Canary Wharf.

Love these private decks connected to the units ...

Then it was on board an Australian built Thames Clipper for a high speed run down to The Embankment ...

Must have a pic of Tower Bridge ...

We then walked up to Whitehall and jumped on a No3 bus back to the campsite. It stops outside which is very handy.   It's a long bus ride but it goes through lots of tourist spots in the city and then interesting bits along the way, like Brixton, which is always fascinating!

We had such a great day ... now where shall we go tomorrow?!!