See Y'All Later!!

Wow guess what! We are going to FLORIDA tomorrow!!!

How the hell did that happen?? I am not entirely sure myself.

To backtrack....

We ended up taking a week and a half out at Leni's place. It was just so lovely there and they are both so incredible welcoming and chilled out we just couldn't tear ourselves away. We eventually did on Sunday afternoon and did a big old drive up to between Stoke on Trent and Derby, to a little town called Uttoxeter. For those who care, it is famous for its racecourse and we stayed in a special Caravan Club site which is within the racecourse. First time we've stayed in a Caravan Club place, the people are a little bit overly nosy. But hey ho its cheap.

The great thing about it was that it was only 7 miles away from Alton Towers, which is where we spent Monday and Tuesday of this week. It is so huge you really do need two days to do all the rides, and that was with the fast track tickets as well. The scariest ride by FAR has to be Oblivion. Oh my GOD I couldn't speak for screaming but literally the funniest thing I have done in years. You sit firmly strapped into this rollercoaster seat as it winches you slowly up an immense slope. By the time you reach the top plateau it is really peaceful and the view is breathtaking and you are lulled into a lovely comfortable revery, and then... you PLUNGE literally vertically downwards into a huge gaping hole in the ground and by that point you realise you are screaming like you have never screamed before. Highly recommended but I couldn't go on it twice.

The Air ride was also very good, but my favourite was the Spinball Whizzer, which is a fast rollercoaster with spinning seats, so you are thrown backwards, sideways and forwards at a huge rate of knots. We both loved that one.

So after 2 silly days we left and drove here to Dunham Massey near Manchester which is where our friends Catherine & Damian live in a beautiful cottage within the grounds of a National Trust house with Damian works as the gardener. There are deer wandering around and it is generally all very Jane Austen. It is lovely. But Nick has had really apppaulingly bad hayfever the last few days which is what inadvertantly led to the Florida escapade.

It was yesterday afternoon and for fun we started looking online at cheap last minute flights from Manchester airport (as its only a 15 min drive from here) and we found a ridiculously good deal to Orlando. OK it is rainy season so we might get a bit damp but we really couldn't say no. We fly tomorrow very early morning and we have a hire car and a hotel which is on a bed & breakfast basis. It's right on Universal Drive I believe, so USA here we come! Its strange - with only 2 days notice you really don't have time to get excited. We spent all of today adding extra security measures to the camper which we found at B&Q as we have to leave it in an airport carpark for a week. Hopefully it is now Fort Knox.

I do have some photos but none of the camper, weirdly. It is a Hymer S630 if you google it? Nick has put some on his facebook page. When I have more time I will load some on here but I have just realised how long this blog entry is and I need to go and do something else now! Next time I blog it might be from the States!!

Chilling out in Suffolk

We have been in Suffolk since Thursday and I just feel like I could stay forever. We are parked up at Leni & Dom's place on their whopping drive and have been relaxing loads. I have a slight throat infection and unfortunately had a weird funny turn when we were out at a pub in Stowmarket last night but apart from that it is amazing here. Our friends live in a little cottage that they are about to extend and they have around an acre of land which is given over to apple trees, chicken coops and tricking brooks. There is countryside all around and birds sing constantly in the trees. They have a mentallist cat called Squeak that attacks anything that moves and their baby boy Huckleberry is 4 months old and a very happy little fellow.

We are off to a farmers market in a bit then I think we are going to pop in and see Leni's folks as I haven't seen them for years. We are trying so hard to keep to our daily budget but it is very difficult. Not as hard as London though, that is such a pricey place to visit.

The camper is working out great so far - it's really feeling like home as we sleep in it every night and have the awning out so can sit outside and keep dry if it's raining.