Trains and Boats ......... and The trip back to Cornwall

Part of the tour was to take some steam train rides and a boat trip on the Norfolk Broads.

 Norwich station - the start of our train travels.  We took the commuter train that took us to Shringham via Cromer both on the North Norfolk Coast

 The main Street in Sheringham

 The Sea Front in Sheringham

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheringham

 Sheringham Station - the home of the North Norfolk Railway (or Poppy Line)which took us to a small town called Holt

 The Steam Engine that pulled our train being brought round and coupled up.

 http://www.nnrailway.co.uk/page.php?pid=25

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Norfolk_Railway

The heritage bus that ran from Holt Station to the village

 Dereham Station - home of the Mid Norfolk Railway

http://www.mnr.org.uk/about/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Norfolk_Railway

 They were having a 1940's Weekend on the day we went and here are some of the vehicles on display - a Citroen above

 Again the engine being coupled to our train

 One of their diesel engines

 Disembarking at Wymondham Station

 We then went for a ride on the Bure Valley Line on a miniature steam railway which ran from Aylsham to Wroxham on the Norfolk Broads

As you can see the carriages were a tight fit!

http://www.bvrw.co.uk/visitors/guide.asp

 At Wroxham we joined this trip boat for a cruise on the Norfolk Broads.  It rained for most of the cruise!  The photo above is not one of mine, but taken from the Broads Tours website

http://www.norfolkbroads.com/boating-days-out/river-trips/wroxham/broads-tours-wroxham-1706.html

 These are some of the Waterside properties at Wroxham

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wroxham

 One of these properties was reputed to be the holiday home of George Formby - a singing star of the 1940's

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Formby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfmAeijj5cM

 A Norfolk Wherry once common on the Broads

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk_wherry

 Boats on the Broads

Bird life on the Broads

 A boat convoy heading back upriver

Richard Crangle -  our entertaining and efficient Treyn Holiday Tour Manager

Crosskeys Swingbridge at Sutton Bridge in Lincolnshire.  The only notable site on an otherwise uneventful drive across the county

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutton_Bridge

The entrance gate to Hardwick New Hall in Derbyshire

 Hardwick Hall built by Elizabeth of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury, one of the most powerful women in Elizabethan England

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bess_of_Hardwick

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardwick_Hall

 Hardwick Old Hall - Next Door the the new Hall and also rebuilt by Bess of Hardwick on the site of her family home

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/hardwick-old-hall/

In the gardens at Hardwick Hall

 The National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas in Staffordshire which has been set up as a memorial to those that fell in modern wars

The arboretum was opened in 2001 and states that:

The National Memorial Arboretum honours the fallen, recognises sacrifice and fosters pride in our country. It is a spiritually uplifting place and is emerging as a world-renowned centre for remembrance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Memorial_Arboretum

 Looking towards the Merchant Navy Convoy memorial dedicated to the officers and men of the British Merchant Navy

 The Master Mariner's Sundial

 The memorial to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Ship Sir Percival sunk during the Falklands War

 The memorial to the old boys of HMS Conway an old wooden wall battleship that served as a school ship and was moored in the Mersey for many years.  My father Philip was educated on this ship in the 1930's
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Conway_(school_ship)

 The memorial to the Ships owned by and also managed by the Elder Dempster Shipping Company that were sunk in the Second World War

 My father served with this company through the war years first as a Cadet and then later as a 3rd Mate and then as a second Mate until he left the company in 1948.

He was serving aboard the Adda as a third mate on 8 June 1941 when she was torpedoed by the U Boat U107

http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/980.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-107_(1940)

The memorial to those who served with the Reardon Smith Line.  My uncle, Alan Philips served with this line through the war.  Later he served with BP Tankers and was a Captain with them until his retirement in the 1970's

 Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire at different times owned by John Of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster and father of King Henry IV and Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester a favourite of (and reputedly a lover of) Queen Elizabeth the first

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenilworth_Castle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Gaunt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Dudley,_Earl_of_Leicester

 The remains of Robert Dudley's Great Hall

 The remains of John of Gaunt's Keep

 The only part of the castle not in ruins - the Elizabethan Gatehouse

 The Elizabethan Gardens - recreated by volunteers

 Inside the Earlier Keep

Inside Robert Dudley's Hall

 We stayed on our last night away in Gloucester and the next morning we visited the dock area which is currently undergoing regeneration.

http://www.gloucesterdocks.me.uk/gloucester/forvisitors.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloucester

 Approaching Goodrich Castle in Herefordshire near the Welsh border

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodrich_Castle

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/goodrich-castle/

 The castle and the moat

 The barbican and entry

 The Great Hall

 In the moat looking towards the 17th century stables

The older (and shorter) Servern Bridge which we had just crossed from Chepstow