Keeping Left

We have been in the UK of GB for more than a week now, undergoing vehicle repairs, dealing with foul wet weather and less in bloom than we had hoped for, pondering where to go and what to do--here and in Ireland--in the next 2 and a half months. Also keeping left and enjoying being among the Britons once more. We've camped at Canterbury, on the beach at Seaford, at a lay-by north of Robertsbridge, and at Wealden Forest Park, near Herne, and we have seen old favorites Canterbury, Sissinghurst, Scotney, and Petworth. As I write, May 11th, we're holed up in the municipal carpark at beautiful Midhurst, near Chichester, awaiting fairer weather for some garden walks. The crossing from Calais to Dover was unremarkable, fortunately, and my Mal de Debarquement Syndrome seems no worse for the short voyage.

Squealing began as we approached Calais; when we drove off
the boat in Dover, it became a clattering and then a grinding;
we limped to a Fiat dealer in Canterbury, and by the time we got
to an independent mechanic 3 miles away, we'd lost the brakes;
when they put the vehicle on a lift, the rear driver's wheel
careened and nearly fell; that's brake fluid all over

Stub axle, remains of brakes, bearings and brace mutilated;
interestingly, the shop in Amsterdam had just replaced the rear/
driver bearings, they said, and charged us a good bit, and then
certified the vehicles a "fit"; 400L later, we are lucky but not
happy campers; the matter is under review

Colin and his team at Brambles, at Wealden Forest Park, fixed
us up; since our vehicle was undrivable, he let us stay on the
premises two nights, while parts were ordered, delivered, installed

And thus, staying on the premises, we learned about Bang
Racing; two of the team, Lewis and Jordan, are avid Bang
Racers, and work on their vehicles after hours

Lewis' girlfriend watches as they lift the Bang Racer up via
the tow truck

And Lewis deftly removes superfluous parts, like mufflers, etc.
Check out Bang Racing at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbil5qS3_-Q

Wealden Forest Park had many other businesses of interest, not
least this British tent store

Here we are inside one of the tents, a colossal one that has, count
'em, four sleeping chambers; the Brits are really into this
style of camping, together with their caravans (trailers)

In the cathedral gift shoppe, one of the better ones

While the RV was being worked on, we visited
the "Super Stores" to re-acquaint ourselves with
British cuisine

Marmite crisps...taste like crunchy shoe polish

Yum

Royal road-kill

Actually, British cuisine, judging from the restaurants and supermarkets,
is getting increasingly international--far more so than the US--

At a Lidl, Jambon Serrano, 29.99L a leg; does
Trader Joe carry this?!

Vicki admires the ingenuity that goes into European campers...
oven, microwave, 3-burner range, bath with shower, sleeps 3, 22
feet long, diesel, all the usual amenities,86k USD,  including all 
taxes...

At one of the better RV/camping stores we've encountered (open
on Sunday with free grilled hot dogs and drinks...just like See Grins
in Gilroy)

When a Lotus 7 parked next to us outside the
Halford's in Newhaven, I knew we were back
among the Britons...

Continental Out-Takes

Just a few, as we left the Continent...

Another Bosch image that appeals

God as air traffic controller

All kinds of traffic

A Jordaens piece, originally identified as a lost work by
Michaelangelo de Merisi, known as Caravaggio, also known as
Mr. Fruity Butt Pants

In late Medieval/Renaissance eschatology (look it up), tooting
was associated strictly with the damned

Millet, Scene in Antiquity, with Fly-By

Brussels' Mannequin Pis in a clever disguise

Nice ghost sign

Horta gets a restaurant, not a shopping center

In Flemish, duvel means devil

WWI French hand-gun practice target...early in the war

In De Vrede

Our long range plans do not call for our being in this part of the world again for a few years, so a return to St. Sixtus Abbey and its restaurant/visitor center In de Vrede was in order. As in past visits, there were pleasant surprises, and we got away with a few more souvenirs. See my previous post http://roadeveron.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/best-belgian-beer-ever-so-far.html or Wikipedia's good article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westvleteren_Brewery.

In the abbey's visitor carpark

#12, just as great as I remembered it; we had lunch, and then
another, just for good measure

The abbey is very popular with bikers

Perhaps a bit less so with cyclistes; it's way out in the boonies,
a few miles from Poperinge, the hops-growing center of this
beeriest of nations

Mostly what you see, this time of year, are locals, and beer
tourists from all over the world

Flanders fields today

Of course, if you care to look, there are ample
reminders that this is an abbey and not a
brewery; "We brew beer in order to be monks."

The abbey is now down to 20 brothers (Vicki
asked), which ought to concern discerning beer
drinkers everywhere...

In Flanders Fields

En route to Calais, we stopped in Ypres to make good on our vow last year to see the In Flanders Fields museum at the Cloth Market.

Another canal-side camper-stop (improvised)

The Cloth Market; rebuilt in the 1920s and re-opened in 1932; the
original, centuries old, and one of Europe's very greatest buildings,
was destroyed by the Germans quite early in the war; In Flanders
Fields is in the Cloth Market

Last good days, 1913

Depicting the first battle of Ypres (there were several)

Most of the death and carnage was caused by artillery

And machine guns

The Germans initiated the use of gas warfare at Ypres in 1915

The countryside is dotted with beautiful little ponds like this;
enormous craters resulting from underground warfare...dig under
the enemy's lines, set a charge, blow him up; one was so large
its detonation was heard in London

Ypres...early in the war

A Canadian enlisted man's kit

German

American...Ypres was contested throughout the
war, as armies advanced and retreated over the
same ground for 4 years; the Americans didn't
arrive until 1918, but some of the worst of the
fighting remained

French (somehow I missed the British)

Ypres by 1916 was a wasteland

After the war, temporary housing; Churchill had proposed leaving
Ypres as it was as a memorial to the hundreds of thousands who
died in its precincts; the Belgians refused this and rebuilt

Memorials

One exhibit simply names and identifies all who were killed
here

A sad long list of all the wars since "the war to end all wars"

McCrae's famous poem