MOG 2000 ADVENTURE
PAGE 3Day 2 The next morning we awoke to a big English breakfast and a warm sun
that quickly burned off the mist. We packed up the car and drove to
Beaulieu home of the National Motor Museum, undoubtedly England’s best collection of antique cars. The cars are displayed in a modern building in the middle of an entertainment park. There are over 250 cars at the museum, many of them British, and some dating to the 1890s.From Beaulieu we went to visit some friends in the New Forest. A brief visit turned into a five-hour stay, and we were late for the next leg of An American in Canterbury. Our next stop was on the moors of Dartmoor National Park, and the was an eerie thought of wandering the selfsame moors at night.
From the MSCC Email Discussion Group Ed, Judy & Squeaky came into the center of the forest this morning and managed to find our remote cottage. They left Brockenhurst 1600 (UK Time) setting course towards the setting sun to hopefully end up on Dartmoor tonight and then will be heading for Bath. Ed certainly enjoyed the short run out in the Le Mans. Ken & Janet Hill
We found our B&B just as the night mist closed over the rolling hills of the
ancient moors. We awoke to find ourselves in heart of the wild and mist- sodden, bleak and isolated open land that provided the strange background for "The Hound of the Baskervilles". It was a patchwork of green on green with outcrops of granite, crossed by hedgerows and dry stonewalls, doted with grazing sheep and cattle. The small winding country roads pass by prehistoric villages still trapped in a different time. This gently rolling terrain captures your heart like no place else. As the local are fond of saying, "You may leave the moors, but the moors never leave you."
From the MSCC email Discussion Group Reports from the Dartmoor area indicate a red & silver +4 DHC stayed overnight in Devon. It is believed to be now heading SW towards the Cornish coast.
Keep your eyes open in the area, she is on a Maryland plate: registration 1958M. Reports to the DG welcomed.
Quentin & Ann
Days 3 & 4
From the gruff hills of the moors we traveled to the polished garnet walls of the city of Bath. We went up the A road, and through the small towns of middle England. There in the postcard town of Brampton we found a pub for a pint of bitters and one of the best meals of our trip. We rolled on to the shining streets of Bath in the early afternoon. Our B&B was a beautiful Georgian town house dating to the 18th century just off the famous Circus, and the management arranged to have Squeaky park in front of the door because she drew as much attention as the building.
The Romans transformed Bath into England’s first spa resort. The ancient Roman Bath is still the center of the city. In the 18th century the city was rebuilt by famous architects James Wood the Elder, and his son James Wood the Younger. It stands today, on the river Avon, as the greatest example of Georgian period, when England did indeed rule the world.
Judy and I spent Sunday seeing the sights, walking the streets, riding
the tour boat up and down the Avon, while Squeaky guarded the rooms.
Today, Sunday, was the only day we had rain, a warm drizzle fell all day. But, we strolled through the Roman Bath, the old Abbey, and took the double-decker bus tour of the city, and of course we sat on the top deck. We found a small restaurant, in one of the tall stone town house, mannedby a chief and one waitress. It had just six tables, all done in elegant white table clothes. The waitress was a young college girl at her first nights work. She apologized for everything till it became a joke between Judy and I. We left a large tip, by English standards. After all, it’s not often you get a good meal and entertainment. Sunday in Bath passed too fast, and that night we left the windows of our room open just to hear the street sounds. In the morning it was the highway again.