Short post for Sunday. Breakfast and check our of Venton Vean (which is Little Spring in Cornish). Then about a five hour drive to Poole.
We decided to stop at Clouds Hill, T. E. Lawrence’s (Laurence of Arabia) little getaway, supposedly near the small town of Wareham. No signs as we approached Wareham, a cute town in its own right. It was lunch time so we had beers and panninis in the Red Lion Inn in town.
The bar tender told us Clouds Hill was five miles down the road in Bovington, near the UK Army Tank Museum. Proceeded there and found no signs for Clouds Hill. We did find the tank museum and drove around the area and, totally by chance, saw a sign for Clouds Hill car park. That was the lone sign! Shame on the National Trust.
Laurence of Arabia’s little getaway is tiny but superbly interesting. We toured the house and read all about his time there.
Then on to hotel in Poole just 10 miles away. Alas, road closure, making it almost impossible to find the hotel, the Premier Inn Holes Bay (sort of a Days Inn chain). But we did. Bitchy receptionist. But the room is OK and the ferry terminal is just 1.7 miles away. We have to be at the ferry by 7 AM for our four to five hour boat trip to the Isle of Jersey.
We had dinner in the hotel restaurant. No reservations, but an elderly British couple adopted us and invited us to eat with them. Average food but great conversation. He was born in Egypt and she once stood for Parliament as a Social Democrat.
Off to bed for an early rise and the ferry to Jersey.
See you tomorrow.
