Denbies and Stepping Stones

Having only had a few days holiday this year so far (my plans have been falling through all over the place), I booked a day off and headed to Denbies Wine Estate for the day. I got the bus there so I could properly enjoy myself. 

I did the indoor tour in the morning with a tasting, though they were fairly stingy with the number of wines we tried. Still the cellars were cool.

After lunch (and a glass of wine of course), I took the outside tour in the 'train' - a landcover towing some couches. 

Heading out. 

View back to Denbies.

This was the Sparkling tour, which includes a glass of bubbles at the top.

I wanted to go for a hike afterwards so went over to the Stepping stones walk by the National Trust. It looked pretty simple on the map, but they really need to work on their signs. 

I thought the walk was called the Stepping Stones due to the stones across the river. 

After the stones, I followed the signs and headed along the river. Because the sign said so. Turns out, the signage was wrong and this was the wrong path. Still it was a nice little walk until I turned back and found the right one again.

Awesome tree.

Entrance to a WWII bunker.

When I got back to the right path, it was all uphill. 275 steps apparently. Though some of them were knee high so I would realistically estimate twice that. So maybe the walk was named after this. (It's my own fault. I wanted to see Box Fort, which obviously would be on a hill but this escape my notice until it became painfully obvious. And I do mean painfully!)

Still the view from the top was great. And there was a cafe there too which I fell on like I hadn't seen civilisation in a year. 

The fort was really disappointing. It didn't really look like the Roman fort they claim. More like a 1950s bunker covered in graffiti. 

Box Hill Fort

View over Denbies vineyards.

I did find a really nice sit down at the top in the sun and peace and quiet.

After making it down again, I had a restaurant booked at the bottom (score for planning) and had packed a change a clothes so I didn't stink out the restaurant. I got there early and enjoyed a nice glass of wine beforehand. The food was nice but I was quite disappointed in the size of their 'large' plates. I was still hungry but the place was getting packed and noisy thanks to a wedding party coming in. So I got the bus home and an early night. 

Chestnut Sunday

Thankfully we get a lie in on Sunday morning. Sunday was the Chestnut Parade inBushy Park. I did go last time so we grabbed the blanket and got a place by the parade route.

Waiting. 

There were a lot of military bikes and cars, as well as a parade of old cars which made Craig quite happy.

This dog was loving life.

Old taxi.

Banger!

There were also some interesting bicycles.

We walked through Bushy Park into Hampton Court and started to over heat. We wanted to find a deli to get a picnic, but that prove surprisingly hard in Hampton Court. I had expected to find quite a few but there was nothing. We eventually found a grocery store with enough to make us happy and a shady spot to have a picnic. 

Starving.

Kingston

The past month has been a bit nuts. I was supposed to be going on holiday with mom and dad. But mom broke her ankle a few days before hand and ended up in hospital for over a week, mostly waiting for an operation (when she does something, she really likes to do it well and needed pins and plates to put it back together). I went home for a weekend to see her and cheer dad up. 

The weekend after Kerry and Craig come down to enjoy the weather and cheer me up. So Kerry decided on Saturday morning we should do the Park Run 5km. At 9am. On a Saturday morning. 9am! 

It was packed. We started off well, but within a few minutes I stood on the end of a large branch which, in true comic rake style, flipped up and smacked me on the knee. I thought I had imagined the noise it but no. Apparently everyone heard the very loud thump. I did manage to finish and came 1472th. Out of 1479 so I was not last! :)

After this and a long shower, we went to Kingston for brunch (the best part of doing a 5km). And then we headed to the park by the river to a sit down.

Sunny!

After a very nice sit down, we got the river boat back down to Hampton Court for an ice-cream, and another walk through the gardens.

River trip

Bushy Park.

This walk did include a stop off for a quick beer/cider and some more sitting in the sun. :)