We left Grafham water site and I headed for the M1, M25, M3 towards Winchester. Nikki went a different way to avoid the motorways. Surprisingly all the motorways were flowing really well even with the roadworks and being down to 50mph. So a good journey and made good time.

The first afternoon is always a lazy one after a drive, so we just chilled out and decided to go into Winchester the next day on the bus. It saves the trying to find somewhere to park stress, and more importantly if we decide to have a drink in a pub we can both have one instead of more decisions as to who is going to have a drink and who is going to drive.

The bus stop is a five minute walk away and costs just two pounds each to hop on and hop off where ever you like. We hopped off in the town/ city and wandered up the high street through the street markets and wished we had not had lunch before we came out. Reason being a lot of the market stalls were food from all over the world and I was starting to dribble.

I wanted to get some photos of the cathedral so back through the food stalls and down a small alleyway led us to Winchester cathedral. All decked out with poppies ready for Remembrance Day.

Winchester cathedral was built between 1079 and 1532. Thats years not the time. At 170 metres long it’s the longest medieval cathedral in the world. We didn’t go inside and one side had scaffold up so pictures were hard to get.

As usual before getting here I had done some research and I found a pub I wanted to visit. I know that you’re thinking no surprise there. The pub is called the Black boy and I just had to go there to see the inside. Full of memorabilia and stuffed animals and all sorts of weird stuff. And some nice real ales and wine for Nikki.

To get to the pub we had to go through the street market again only this time we could not resist the tempting offers and opted for a samosa each off an Indian stall. And yes it was very nice. I also spotted a lovely old clock in the high street, well to be honest it wasn’t that hard to miss being so big but was high up and looked fantastic.

The pub did not disappoint. A proper old pub with beams and small rooms dotted about, a mish mash of furniture and the decor was so interesting. The barman told me he had worked there for a few months and still sees stuff he hasn’t seen before. To be honest I could have stayed in there for the evening and I think if they did food I would have but it was only 3pm and we had to get back to home to eat. The food stalls on the market would have shut up by the time we left the pub.

We decided to catch the five pm bus back to base. What a mistake that was as the bus stop was full of students catching their bus home. From Winchester the bus goes to a small town called New Alresford and not a lot in between. So I thought the bus would stop just down the road out of Winchester to let off all the students even though it’s only a ten minute walk why would they walk when they can save their legs and travel for free with their student pass. I was wrong, they were all going to New Alresford.

It was dark now and not knowing when to press the bell to get the bus to stop for our stop Nikki asked a young girl next to her if she knew the route. She didn’t but another young girl behind us said she did and will press the bell for us. As the bus stopped I thanked her for helping the aged. We know to stay in the pub longer now so all the students have gone home and the bus will be quieter.

A couple of days ago we had a walk up Morn hill which is next to the huge cemetery. Morn hill is where there used to be some camps during the First World War. Now it’s just fields and a nature reserve but there are some information boards and reading them you relized how lucky we are and how hard it must have been for those poor soldiers. Many who lost their lives.

Yesterday I went out on my bike. There is a cycle route called the South Downs way which goes from Winchester to Eastbourne. It’s about 100 miles. No I didn’t do it all but I did some of it being off road and some on the back roads away from the traffic. The first time out I did 16 miles and yesterday 24 miles.

I went to Hockley railway viaduct via back roads and cycle route 23 The viaduct sits near to the M3 and still has one of the old signals on it. The walls to it are high so you can’t see over the top but at one end is a barred piece so you can see below.

After leaving the viaduct I went on some back roads which took me through a lovely old village called Easton and then on through Avington estate onto some off road trails. Past some sheep which looked like teddy bears but sounded like sheep. Past a couple of nice looking pubs. The bike handle bars went strange then pulling towards the pub but I resisted and managed to get them in a straight line.

I passed an old house I would love to own with all the grounds and barns. Just need a lotto win and time to get it done up. Then we could move in. The nice pub is only a mile away also. Off to get a lotto ticket now.

So that’s us for almost the first week here. We are here for another two weeks. Tomorrow we are off to Reading to see some friends for the day. They are into the Hot Rod scene also so we will be talking a lot about cars. The sun is actually shining now but it’s cold.