Us heading off in caravan and car

Paris in Spring
Paris is hectic. Navigating is difficult in right hand drive car, driving on the right. Traffic is not too bad as it is holidays and most Parisiens have left town. Ron lived out all his boy racer fantasies. He particularly enjoyed the Arc de Triomphe where 5 lanes of traffic circle with no lane markings. I only spat the dummy once as navigator, then we got the satellite navigation to work. “She” ( the sat nav) is a bit bossy but is damn good at directions and we thank Bernie for giving “her” to us.

Paris street scape

Arc de Triomphe

A few chandeliers in Versailles Palace

Delivered Heather safely to the Mecure near Gare du Nord. It was a bit more up market than camping in the Bois de Boulogne.

Caravan with annex in Bois de Boulogne

Saw Otters in Bois de Boulogne pond.

Sorry Janet while we missed the otters in the wetlands in Singapore I saw one otter in a large pond in the Bois de Boulogne (which is the very large park 845 Ha in the middle of Paris) I just couldn’t believe it.

Mont Dore

We were pleased to leave Paris and headed south for the Central Massif to a very small village called Mont Dore. It is a ski resort (skiing lasts here for 6 months a year and only stopped last week) and it is also a health resort with spa etc. It is really really beautiful and very quiet at this time of year. There are no other tourists and we haven’t heard anyone speaking English. The walking is fantastic. There is still snow on the ground in places. Birds are great.

Mont Dore If you look carefully you can see our caravan

Mt. Sancy Ski mountain at Mont Dore, if you look carefully you can see chair lift station at the top of mountain.

Ron catching chairlift

Us walking around Mont Dore

Ron picking wild daffodils

Springtime in England

Whilst the thermometer may not have risen above 6°C today it is still springtime in England and the spring flowers are magnificent particularly the daffodils.

Martlesham Heath near Ipswich Suffolk

Obligatory weather report: freezing cold and windy, the east wind blew in a foul stench from Belgium, Germany, Holland (they’re all getting blamed) that spread over SE England. The smell is reminiscent of manure spread over a paddock.

Even still we had a lovely time

*Visiting Pauline and Bernard,

*Eating fish and chips on the East Anglia coast,

*Observing serious beach erosion in Dunwich ( they have been losing 1 meter per year since the 1300’s)

*Visiting Sonia and Chaz

*Bird watching along the Martlesham Creek seeing red knots, knots, red shanks, godwit, pied oyster catchers, shelduck, cormorant, grey heron, swan, woodpigeon, blue jay, robins, grebe, swallows, house martins, green finch, blue tit, great tit, chaffinch,

*At Sutton Hoo where an Anglo Saxon burial site including a boat has been discovered from the 600 hundreds.

Heather and I found this shop in Aldeburgh on the Suffolk Coast. Generally it could be said that "shopping is naff in Australia" when comparing to Singapore, England and France but some Aussie brands make it here. There were no surfers in sight on the freezing day that we were there.

Best of British birds

Showing great restraint I have included the best pics I have taken of birds and other wildlife. Spring has proven to be a good time for seeing birds.

Ornithological note: since my visit in 2002 I have noticed a difference in bird abundance. Using the feeder stations at Kathleens and B and P as my surveying points I have noticed that the populations of woodpigeons, magpies, robins have increased and the starling’s population has decreased. Tits, finches and black birds seem to be about the same. Still no signs of woodpeckers and nightingales.

Great Tits

Blue tit

Blue Tit

Great Grebe

Robin

Chaffinch

Wood Pigeon

Swan

England Tunbridge Wells

Obligatory weather report:
We have been here for three days. It has been sunny but very cold. Yesterday only saw a top of 10 degrees.

Heather enjoying a brisk walk.

Royal Tunbridge Wells

The Pantilles

Heather (colour coordinated) and Kathleen

No trip to Kent / Sussex is complete without lunch at the Brown Trout

Hever Castle ( the home of Anne Boleyn)
The Castle, Heather taking photo

The moat

The courtyard

The water maze, C and J do you remember this??

PS Note no bird or animal included in this post Angie

Singapore

Our stopover in Singapore has come to an end. Highlights of our few days here included the fantastic food, the Asian Civilization Museum and the Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve.

Arriving

Singapore river bum boat

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

Mangroves

Yellow vented bulbul

Malayan water monitor

Mud skipper

Squirrel

Common redshank

Little egret

Unidentified snake

Fresh water tortoise