First holiday blog
The holiday started on Thursday the 9th of april in the evening. The first stage was Martin picking me up and driving to Belgium to spend the night with Koen. I still wasn't feeling that well and had an emergency fysio session in the afternoon to make sure I had do everything I could. In Belgium we spend the night on airbeds and that was not too uncomfortable.
Up early the next day driving to Dunkirk. The sailing was smooth and so was the first part of the drive to Basingstoke. We learnt of a traffic jam on the M3 and decided to take detour on the A3. Of course we missed a few turns and ended up in Basingstoke itself and not the hotel as planned. So we decided to visit our friends at Basing House first. Dru unfortunately was ill, but Robert, Chris and Sarah were there. As they were organising the event they were pretty busy however and we didn't spend too long with them. We promised to be back at ten the next morning and drove to find the hotel.
It was an amazing location. Some old manor house made into a hotel, set in the middle of countryside. The rooms were not big but very well furnished with
a private small bathroom. They had made a mistake in the bookings giving us two double rooms instead of seperate beds. But we got an extra room at no cost at all. Very great service as the rooms were not expensive to begin with.
After a good breakfast and checking out we were back at the battlefield location at ten as promised. Robert and Chris were running late so we spend some time talking to one of the vendors. Then it was picking out kit. The jacket was a bit too big, but the trousers fit very well. Getting dressed in a small tent was
a bit of a challenge and I was glad the shoes I had bought at the last moment did fit. Dru had given me a hat to borrow in case it got sunny. I can't manage normally without sunglasses but the brimmed hat did help a lot. We went to the field itself were the boys got a lot of dril in how to use the pike. I think they drilled for about 5 hours! There was not much for me to do. Dru was still ill. Sarah was drumming, Robert and Chris were busy with the organisation of the event. To be honest I did feel lonely and bored that afternoon. So much that I tried drumming when Robert suggested it. He picked out the smallest adult drum for me. And it seemed to work out, didn't seem too heavy and I did enjoy the practice. When I had to join in with dril and drum while walking.... well that was a challenge and I didn't pull it off too well. We left the field around 7 in the evening to check into the cottage
we had rented for the week. It was in Winchester and meant about half an hour's drive on the M3. The lodge was on the middle of a golf course. A very nice location just out of the town. It was completely of wood with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, so plenty of room for all of us. We unpacked and I crashed for the night pretty soon after dinner. I think we were all exhausted.
TBC
Up early the next day driving to Dunkirk. The sailing was smooth and so was the first part of the drive to Basingstoke. We learnt of a traffic jam on the M3 and decided to take detour on the A3. Of course we missed a few turns and ended up in Basingstoke itself and not the hotel as planned. So we decided to visit our friends at Basing House first. Dru unfortunately was ill, but Robert, Chris and Sarah were there. As they were organising the event they were pretty busy however and we didn't spend too long with them. We promised to be back at ten the next morning and drove to find the hotel.
It was an amazing location. Some old manor house made into a hotel, set in the middle of countryside. The rooms were not big but very well furnished with
a private small bathroom. They had made a mistake in the bookings giving us two double rooms instead of seperate beds. But we got an extra room at no cost at all. Very great service as the rooms were not expensive to begin with.After a good breakfast and checking out we were back at the battlefield location at ten as promised. Robert and Chris were running late so we spend some time talking to one of the vendors. Then it was picking out kit. The jacket was a bit too big, but the trousers fit very well. Getting dressed in a small tent was
a bit of a challenge and I was glad the shoes I had bought at the last moment did fit. Dru had given me a hat to borrow in case it got sunny. I can't manage normally without sunglasses but the brimmed hat did help a lot. We went to the field itself were the boys got a lot of dril in how to use the pike. I think they drilled for about 5 hours! There was not much for me to do. Dru was still ill. Sarah was drumming, Robert and Chris were busy with the organisation of the event. To be honest I did feel lonely and bored that afternoon. So much that I tried drumming when Robert suggested it. He picked out the smallest adult drum for me. And it seemed to work out, didn't seem too heavy and I did enjoy the practice. When I had to join in with dril and drum while walking.... well that was a challenge and I didn't pull it off too well. We left the field around 7 in the evening to check into the cottage we had rented for the week. It was in Winchester and meant about half an hour's drive on the M3. The lodge was on the middle of a golf course. A very nice location just out of the town. It was completely of wood with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, so plenty of room for all of us. We unpacked and I crashed for the night pretty soon after dinner. I think we were all exhausted.TBC
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