July 19 Delights of the A34

Pick up car at airport.  Head for Coventry and cathedral.  Head off towards Selsey.  South of Newbury call in at Sandham Memorial Chapel.  Organise ourselves at Selsey.

After reading a book on Frances iPad for an hour I went back to sleep about 4am.  I woke again about 4:45 and decided that as it was daylight and I had had about 12 hours sleep I might as well go for a run.  What happened was more like a stagger than a run but I picked up and put them down broadly in a circuit of the National Exhibition Centre.  A few additional birds, and an amazing number of rabbits, were seen here.

By the time I had  a shower we were ready for the buffet breakfast which took in enough calories to last us for most of our trip.  A wonderful meal.  Then off to Europcar to get some wheels.  As we walked in we were amused at the sight of this hire car driver - possibly he'd call himself a chauffeur - changing a wheel, wearing rubber gloves to keep his hands clean.

While typing this I have have recalled the line in Lonnie Donegan's song "Putting on the Style" referring to  ".. driving like 'e's mad, wiv a pair of Yaller gloves, e's borrered from 'is dad."

The car turned out to be a petrol Polo manual without cruise control rather than the automatic diesel something with cruise control which I would have preferred).  Check out was easy and off we went towards Coventry.   Cutting to the chase for the car, it did the job.  It:

• could go at the speed limit (and more when needed on motorways)
• gave us about 45mpg; 
• carried all our kit; and 
• fitted into English country roads.

However it was incredibly noisy when pushed and certainly didn't have the grunt of Frances Jetta.  Also, in about 4 months of having automatic vehicles I have got out of the habit of shifting into top as soon as possible.

I'm not sure if we got into Coventry the easiest way and it was by now 8:15 so peak hour.  Also, as usual the Cathedral was on all the signposts until close to it.  After a few laps of the bus station we found somewhere to park and just as we were printing the ticket a local told us that the ticket machine in a nearby park was broken so parking was free.   Buggah.  Perhaps that is the tale behind this graffiti?

We then asked a passing lass how to get to the Cathedral and she didn't really know but then recalled the steps beside a pub which worked for us.  We went by the Priory Gardens which were pleasant

and then found our way to the Cathedral.  It was an omen that the Visitors Centre didn't open until 9:30 (and it was by now 8:45).  Going slightly forward, we found that the 'new' Cathedral didn't open until 10, which was a nuisance, at least until a skivvy for the Cathedral told us that the Bluecoats School had taken the place out for the morning for their end of year service.

BUGGAH!!! I then persuaded someone setting up the sound for the school to let take a photo but that didn't come out properly.  So we took some other snaps around the place noticing that quite a bit of old Coventry seemed to have survived the firestorm. 

This memorial is to fire fighters who didn't survive.

By dint of sticking our noses and my camera into various places I did get quite a few shots which hopefully give an idea of the Cathedral and its setting.

This is part of the remains of the old cathedral.

This sculpture was presented by a group from Dresden which was flattened by the Allies in retaliation for Coventry.

 Another Epstein, titled "Ecce Homo" .

 The huge etched glass window which allows folk inside the new cathedral to see the ruins of the old.

 An astonishing stained glass window with the sun coming though it.

 The altar hanging and the organ.

 Yet another Epstein, hanging on the outside of the Cathedral.  This one dpicts St Michael dealing with Satan.

We then hit the M40 and then A34 South, getting used (again) to the fact that many Poms – particularly those driving German performance cars - regard the 70 limit on motorways etc as a guideline.  As I sat on about 70mph (and I have no idea why the Poms have metricated liquid measures and weights but not linear measures)  my estimate was that a lot of cars that overtook me were doing close to, or above, 100mph.

Whatever, we poddled down to Newbury and 4 miles later took the turnoff to the Sandham Memorial Chapel.

This is now owned by the National Trust (NT) and is well described by them (photos are not allowed.).  A magnificent work by  Stanley Spencer commemorating the death of his sponsor's brother (and Spencer's friend) as a result of WW1.  The entire work took him 5 years and as some of the themes (eg horses being reincarnated) were offensive unto vicars (at that time, perhaps less so now) and had to be done after the chapel was consecrated. 

In true NT fashion the grass was not mown to encourage the butterflies.  There were certainly a lot of Six-spotted burnets around.

After viewing the Chapel we headed for the nearby Beacon Hill which we scaled to see the views across the Downs.

As we started we noticed a sign forbidding hang-gliders and on the top with a steady breeze could understand the appeal of the place for people who like that sort of thing.  We added a few bird species to the trip list and saw a model glider – apparently not banned. 

On, on down the road marvelling at how a caravan can screw up the traffic.  We found our way to Selsey, a little earlier than expected so went to look at La Manche (aka the English Channel) and then to buy some groceries (especially in bottles).  The first place we went to was appalling: all the wine was Australian and all brands we wouldn't cook with in Australia!  I then found an Off-license which provided (what has turned out to be) a very potable bottle of Argentinian Malbec.  Surprisingly the label didn't refer to the sinking of the General Belgrano, nor make any other reference to Las Malvinas.

We then found Gull cottage

and dumped off our kit.  To keep ourselves awake we went for a walk along the shingle.

adding several species of Gull to the bird list.  We could see how a 16 year old Pommie blonde might find the town “a hole” but we reckoned it was OK as a base for a holiday – just the visitors a tad declassé.  This group were in traditional style hiding from the wind behind a groyn while scoring some rays from the sun.

We had tea - I can't remember what -  watch Le Tour highlights, drink some Theakston's Old Peculier, and head for bed about 8:30 Selsey time.

Bird of the Day:  Black-headed Gull

Building of the day: Coventry Cathedral is the only real contender.  Saltham Memorial Chapel gets a "mouse that roared" award but it really was punching above its weight.

Garden of the Day: The front yard at Saltham.

Bad taste of the Day: The pink pom parade at Selsey

View of the Day: The Downs from Beacon Hill

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