Thanks to the great British weather and the wonderful people at the Piers Society we had a second appointment with Bournemouth pier before we could continue our journey Eastwards.
Apparently you can't do Bournemouth Pier without doing their zipwire ride (their words, not mine) so we found ourselves back on the pier first thing in the morning with a harness wedged so far up my backside I was having trouble walking.
After ascending the tower, which sways quite violently in even the slightest breeze, I really wasn't enjoying the panoramic views that it afforded. I absolutely hate heights and could get a nosebleed just standing on a chair. But a promise is a promise. Sam on the other hand was loving every minute of it and launched herself from the tower with great gusto and was half way down the zip line before I had embarrassingly dangled myself over the edge. Once airbourne I did enjoy the ride but I won't be rushing to do it again unless they have someone push you off the tower at the start and they make it about 150ft lower! Sam on the other hand would have gone straight back up to do it again if we'd have had time.
With Bournemouth well and truly crossed off the list it was time to head to Hythe for the 15th pier of our trip.
Now here's a pier with the kind of high adrenaline ride I can handle. An electric train that chugs along at about 5mph. The lovely woman on the cash desk charged us just £1.60 for 3 return tickets and held the train up as we jumped onboard. We enjoyed a short but very pleasant trip to the end of the pier and having seen a number of plaques along the railings as we went up we decided to walk back and read what they said.
On our return to the start we took our selfie and had a bag of chips in a lovely little park overlooking the Solent. If you've never been to Hythe before then I strongly recommend visiting it if you get the chance. It's a charming little village with cheap parking, friendly people and a lovely pub on the banks of the river.
Unfortunately we couldn't stay too long as we had somewhere else we needed to be at 2pm.
Although it might seem that way, this trip isn't all about piers and we've tried to add a few stops along the way to break them up a bit. On this occasion this meant a trip to Stonehenge for the afternoon as it's a place Dylan has always wanted to go.
After a tortuous journey and a bit of a mix up with the sat-nav (who we've named 'Bossy' Brenda) we eventually arrived an hour later than our time slot. With hundreds of people queuing and milling around I was hoping we wouldn't have to join the end of the line. I needn't have worried as most of the people queuing hadn't pre-booked and there were just a handful of people waiting to cash in their online tickets. After a look around the exhibition centre we hopped on a bus to drive a couple of minutes down the road to the world famous heritage site. Why they decided to build the reception building a couple of miles away from the site I have no idea but the system seemed to work okay and there was no waiting despite it being the busiest day the ticket woman could ever remember.
Due to vandals, preservation and other problems the site has experienced over the last 4500 years (yes really, it's that old!) you can't get very close to the stones anymore. The high-tech security system employed (a rope around the perimeter about 50cm high) was working well with no infringements that we saw. The place was full of tourists and English heritage were having a good day on the cash tills but you do rather come away feeling that you've simply paid good money to stare at a load of rocks in a field. Oh well, at least Dylan has crossed another 'must do' off his list.
We headed back to the car and had Brenda guide us to our next hotel in Southampton, ready to catch the early morning ferry to the Isle of Wight
Distance travelled so far: 682 Piers visited: 15
Apparently you can't do Bournemouth Pier without doing their zipwire ride (their words, not mine) so we found ourselves back on the pier first thing in the morning with a harness wedged so far up my backside I was having trouble walking.
After ascending the tower, which sways quite violently in even the slightest breeze, I really wasn't enjoying the panoramic views that it afforded. I absolutely hate heights and could get a nosebleed just standing on a chair. But a promise is a promise. Sam on the other hand was loving every minute of it and launched herself from the tower with great gusto and was half way down the zip line before I had embarrassingly dangled myself over the edge. Once airbourne I did enjoy the ride but I won't be rushing to do it again unless they have someone push you off the tower at the start and they make it about 150ft lower! Sam on the other hand would have gone straight back up to do it again if we'd have had time.
With Bournemouth well and truly crossed off the list it was time to head to Hythe for the 15th pier of our trip.
Now here's a pier with the kind of high adrenaline ride I can handle. An electric train that chugs along at about 5mph. The lovely woman on the cash desk charged us just £1.60 for 3 return tickets and held the train up as we jumped onboard. We enjoyed a short but very pleasant trip to the end of the pier and having seen a number of plaques along the railings as we went up we decided to walk back and read what they said.
#15 HYTHE PIER (BUILT 1881)
On our return to the start we took our selfie and had a bag of chips in a lovely little park overlooking the Solent. If you've never been to Hythe before then I strongly recommend visiting it if you get the chance. It's a charming little village with cheap parking, friendly people and a lovely pub on the banks of the river.
Unfortunately we couldn't stay too long as we had somewhere else we needed to be at 2pm.
Although it might seem that way, this trip isn't all about piers and we've tried to add a few stops along the way to break them up a bit. On this occasion this meant a trip to Stonehenge for the afternoon as it's a place Dylan has always wanted to go.
After a tortuous journey and a bit of a mix up with the sat-nav (who we've named 'Bossy' Brenda) we eventually arrived an hour later than our time slot. With hundreds of people queuing and milling around I was hoping we wouldn't have to join the end of the line. I needn't have worried as most of the people queuing hadn't pre-booked and there were just a handful of people waiting to cash in their online tickets. After a look around the exhibition centre we hopped on a bus to drive a couple of minutes down the road to the world famous heritage site. Why they decided to build the reception building a couple of miles away from the site I have no idea but the system seemed to work okay and there was no waiting despite it being the busiest day the ticket woman could ever remember.
These tourist attractions are never as big as you imagine!
Due to vandals, preservation and other problems the site has experienced over the last 4500 years (yes really, it's that old!) you can't get very close to the stones anymore. The high-tech security system employed (a rope around the perimeter about 50cm high) was working well with no infringements that we saw. The place was full of tourists and English heritage were having a good day on the cash tills but you do rather come away feeling that you've simply paid good money to stare at a load of rocks in a field. Oh well, at least Dylan has crossed another 'must do' off his list.
We headed back to the car and had Brenda guide us to our next hotel in Southampton, ready to catch the early morning ferry to the Isle of Wight
Distance travelled so far: 682 Piers visited: 15
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