Day 316 Fri 24 August Sutton Coldfield to Southampton to Broadhemston, Devon

An early start to beat the traffic and get to Southampton in time for the car to be loaded. It turns out to be an easy relatively traffic free run and we approach the port by 11am. Fortunately the place we have arranged to pick up a rental car is directly opposite the port gate and there are few formalities in delivering the car to the shippers. By now its driven 50,913km since we left Sydney so it deserves its five week sea cruise. Hopefully HM Customs won’t want to take it to pieces as they did in Pakistan.

After the usual hassle with the car rental company we pick up a fat-arsed Renault Megane and set off to explore Dorset and its world heritage Jurassic coast. We stop for lunch in Dorchester, exploring the corn market and Bloody Assizes and visit the Hardy monument on a hill high above the town. We are surprised to find that it’s a monument to Thomas Kiss Me Hardy the Admiral not Thomas Mayor of Casterbridge Hardy the Author, but nevertheless it has splendid views over the coast and Chesil Bank. It’s now a beautiful warm summer afternoon and instead of pressing on to Devon where Anna and David are expecting us for tea, we tarry in Lyme Regis where people are actually bathing in the sea. We reach Broadhempston through the maze of narrow lanes with high hedges just in time to be whisked off to the Dartington Rockshop finale concert, the culmination of the week-long music workshop led by some very talented musicians which David and daughter Louisa have been attending. The evening ends around 2.30am with some 100 participants, family and friends dancing to aspirant rock star Louisa’s rendition of Born to be Wild.