Shuttleworth

A couple of snapshots of what we've been up to of late.


It was Chant's birthday recently, and we celebrated at Aunties thai restaurant. Seems to becoming a bit of a tradition. That dish on the cast iron plate in the foreground above is a "weeping tiger". It arrives on your table hissing and sizzling... top notch nosh.


Al and his Thai friend.


Al recently purchased some rugby balls which we took to the village field for initiation.


Me thinks this looks more like ballet than rugby. This may be the first record of "bugby". Sure it'll catch on.

The highlight of late was a bank holiday weekend at a regional conference for the local New Frontiers churches, held at Shuttleworth, an old manor estate. Over 1000 of us camped on the grounds.


The old manor house (now used as an agricultural college).


The marque where we has our meetings. Some great teaching, mostly from a guy called PJ Smyth from JHB.

Putting up the tents. Campers do not escape the Health and Safety regulations. All tents have to be minimum 3m from their neighbour (as designated by the red pegs above) and all tents have to have a bucket of water outside in case of fire.

Queueing for the hog roast on night one. It was well worth the wait.

Mitre kicked that one too hard Al.

Most of our English friends had not seen a skottelbraai before and it generated a fair bit of interest. Reminded me of the Gods Must be Crazy and the coke bottle.

Dan introduced me to a Speckled Hen (an Ale (a flat beer)). It's actually not too bad.

Our enviro team at work took a days "green leave" recently and went to help cut reeds in an overgrown wetland at the local nature reserve. The manual labour was good...

... the smell of bush fire was better.

Clearing a wattle stump from the reedbed.

Finally, G and I took a drive up to the north Norfolk coast a few Saturdays ago, and stumbled on a tiny town called..... Pidley.

Interesting coastline... the silted coastline means at low tide the sea is about 300m from the beach!

Germany

Well we finally managed to get over to Germany for a week of sightseeing and to catch up with the Roomes. South Germany exceeded all expectations. Absolutely beautiful!!

Mark and Liesel's apartment has a brilliant view looking out of the village below and the Schonbuch forest. Mark waisted no time introducing me to the Schonbuch wheat beer (weizbier).

On Day 2 we explored the town of Herrenberg where the local summer festival was underway. Loads of wursts and pork steak rolls on sale (and plenty beer). The food (including the Italian ice cream) was excellent.

On Day 3 we headed for Stuttgart. You can't help but notice how different the architecture is from that in England.

We came across this display of painted bears holding hands, which has apparently travelled around the world. Each bear has been painted by a different country, apparently symbolising harmony between nations.

Gaylene discovered, and fell in love with buttered pretzels.

Sampling more of the local cuisine: lunch consisting of wiener schnitzel and maultaschen (pasta filled with spicy meat, served in a broth), apparently a speciality of the Baden-Württemberg region.

Day 4 we did some shopping in Sindelfingen where Mark introduced us to Pfefferweise (sp??) (pepper sausage). Morish.

And to continue with the food theme, and since we were just a stone throw away from the Black Forest, we tried our hand at making Black Forest Cake. Despite whipping the first batch of cream into butter (pretty good butter actually), the cake was a resounding success.

Day 5 was spent at Europa Park, Europe's biggest theme park. Really good. Each section of the park is themed around a different European country, with matching architecture, food, entertainment etc.

Plenty of rides for the thrill-seekers. The capsules on this roller coaster rotate as you go along, so you don't know whether your going to be taking the big dive facing forward of backwards. What a rush!

Mrs Fyvie was in her element at having discovered the biggest sweety pie ever.

Levi and I checked out the balloon swing ride. No fear in this little guy!

And here it is....the main thrill attraction, the Silver Star, the highest roller coaster in Europe. At 73 m high, it is apparently classified as a hyper-coaster. The initial drop just never ends. You don't think about it, you just do it... only problem is that the 30minute queue kind of forces you to think about it.

On Day 6 we headed south into Bavaria towards the Bavarian Alps. Our mission was to get to Hohenschwangau, an alpine village from where one can visit the Neuschwanstein Castle, the most photographed building in Germany and apparently the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty castle in Disneyland. We followed a route called the Romantic Road, which wasn't very romantic, but the the trip was well worth it. The castle, perched high up on a ridge surrounded by forest covered mountains, is breathtaking.

Hohenschwangau Castle, right in the middle of the town.

This basically means "no more 120km/h, so klap it as fast as you want". Most guys just cruise around at about 160km/h.

Day 7 we headed for the city of Constance on the shores of the "Bodensee" (Lake Constance). The city was a real surprise... loads so street-side cafe's, beautiful buildings and well geared towards water sports and life in the summer sun. The lake is huge (over 60km long).

Went for a nice little boat cruise.

I liked this... people just parking off drinking their coffee under the tree, cyclists cruising around.... all very relaxing.

Having not swum outside for more than a year, and with the temperature hitting 30 degrees, we couldn't resist the call for a goof. We drove around onto the Swiss side, and found a great swimming spot in a little town called Romanshorn.

Day 8 was G's birthday, so she was treated to balloons and Black Forest cake in bed.

We spent the rest of the day walking in the neighbouring village of Kayh before heading off to Nagoldtalsperre, a dam tucked away in the middle of the Black Forest where more swimming was in order.

Day 9 we returned to Nagoldtalsperre to capitalise on our swimming and tanning opportunities before having to head to Basel airport, and back to the UK.

Thanks to Mark, Liesel, and Levi for a brilliant few days, for lots of good fun, food, sun, and laughs. Let the dieting begin!