Well..we ended up buying a car for 250 pounds (a cute little 990cc run-about). We have wanted to travel up to manchester (two friends highly recomended it) and now we had the transportation. With our tent and a few clothes along with the remainder of our canned food we set of in our little car.

Wednesday 9th

First up, we drove to notingham. The actual trip was unexpectantly quick. It almost took more time getting out of london. We took longer than expected finding a campsite, but eventually we found a quaint little site 13 km from the city. Upon exploration of the campground we discovered the facilities were not the same grade as the grounds we had frequented on our travels around europe. The bathroom facilities consisted of cold showers and toilets. There were NO cooking facilities, totally ruining our 'canned food' principle. We Ended up eating dinner at the nearby local pub (blowing the first 2 days budget) There was a heated swimming pool on the grounds which happened to be freezing cold. We tryed it out anyway and Paul regreted the whole experience.

We had been noticing that everyone we met or heard was speaking German. Being in the middle of rural england, we found ourself slightly paranoid. A middleaged woman from down the road then spoke to us. She and her husband were hosting a german ohm-pah band. What luck! There were about 50 of them and they had brought in several kegs of their local german beer which we were invited to share. Many many drinks later we were both engaged in conversations in german not caring that we had no idea what was being said. A great night drinking till 3am had us waking at 7am, freezing cold and with hangovers to crush any though of driving to another destination.

Thursday 10th

At about 11am we had the heads and stomach to set of on our random drive. We drove to sherwood forest (had to be done) and stopped of at the free(and very tacky) Robin Hood park. The forest has been chopped down over the years and only small sections of it are left now. But in it's time it covered a vast area. Not many place left for robin to hide were he alive today.

It again took us a great deal of time to find a site to pitch tent. The first two were run by weird rednecks. Neither would accept 'non-locals' but the third one was a piece of land at the end of a farm. We set up with out even having to talk to someone. The facilities there were minumal. Toilets only. To it's credit, there was an open tap. We had drinking water at least.

That night Paul had terrible dreams of Nuclear war. He was in a foul mood when he woke at six, cold and sore and the tent was covered in slugs and early morning bugs and critters. Both of us were up by 6-15am, quickly we packed everything into our little car and we spead off...stoppoing only from tina's guilt as to not paying. After taking our inner city car up a broken dirt track to the farmhouse, Tina went to pay the 3pounds. She was welcomed by a rather suprised woman who said "Thanks...most people don't bother paying". Feeling a liitle poorer, but morally superior, we drove off once again. We stopped for an early breakfast at the Little Chef. More precious money gone...

We drove for about 2 hours before hitting Manchester. After getting stuck in the central city traffic, we headed out into the suburbs. The first 'random' site we stopped at was crap and we pushed on. After a great deal of aimless searching we phoned up the local university hall of residence. We got two single rooms and relaxed for a while. There was only a few people on the premisis. Later that night we headed into town to check out the canal area. Had some beers and then went clubbing at Essentials. Agreat night of hard partying. We got home at 4am and hit the comfy beds.

Saturday 12th

Woke up at 2pm and spent most of the day chillin in the hall tv room. Got a few drinks and watched stargate. We met a few germans and french couple who had just arrived, but all were pretty much confined to their rooms or the TV area as a wedding hparty had booked the dining area. The sounds of revellers were long lasting and included another ohm-pah band. Hit the beds before midnight.

Sunday 13th

Having run out of money, we were now left with a few can of spaghetti and a quarter tank of gas. Fate had left us with no choice but to head back to London to await the start of work.