Off to Engerland

At the risk of jinxing this whole house selling thing, I've booked a flight to Engerlandshire on Tuesday September 27, with a return on Thursday October 20. This time I plan on doing the south, which I've sadly neglected so far on my numerous trips to Ole Blighty. Apart from a weekend in Eastbourne I haven't really been much south of London at all.

This is my itinerary so far. If you have any tips, hints, ideas please share in the comments section. I'm especially looking for stuff in Cornwall, Chester and the area between Chester and Crawley (yeah, I know... not very specific).

9/27: Arrival at Gatwick in the evening. Pick up rental car & spend the night in Crawley.

9/28: Maybe start the day with a quick detour up to Gravesend to catch the Pocahontas memorial. On to Canterbury to see the Castle and the Roman Museum*. Also the City Museum*, maybe next day.

9/29: Sometime before noon make my way to Dover to see the Castle.

9/30: On to Hastings to see the local Castle* and take in Battle, where the actual shit went down in 1066.

10/1: On to Pevensey Castle, then Lewes Castle*. Spend the night in Chichester.

10/2 & 10/3: Isle of Wight. Take a ferry from Portsmouth, then stay on Wight for two nights. I got two things on my list - Osborne House and Carisbrooke Castle. Probably spend the rest of my days there just walking and driving around.

10/4: Ferry to Lymington, then drive north to Salisbury. See the local museum* plus maybe Old Sarum.

10/5: North to Stonehenge, then southwest to the Exeter area where I'll spend the night before entering Dartmoor National Park.

10/6: Here's where it gets cloudy. I'm planning on driving through Dartmoor and into Cornwall. I have six days to do & see Cornwall before I hit Devon again, but I haven't booked a single hotel room between the 6th and the 12h. I have a rough list of things to see in Cornwall, most of them connected to English Heritage properties, where I can get in for free due to my Life Membership in Historic Scotland (insert mad cackle):

St Catherine's Castle, Fowey
Restormel Castle, Lostwithiel
Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro
St Mawes Castle
Pendennis Castle, Falmouth
Lizard Point
St Michael’s Mount*
Chysauster Ancient Village, Newmill
Land’s End
Wayside Folk Museum, St Ives
The Arthurian Centre*, Camelford
Tintagel Castle
Launceston Castle

10/12 & 10/13: Drive up to Ilfracombe in Devon. Spend two days there, probably doing Exmoor National Park.

10/14 - 10/16: Long ass drive up to Chester, which is almost in Wales. Spend the weekend, meet an old friend, do the town.

10/17 & 10/18: No idea. Prolly make my way south again.

10/19: Maybe do Ashdown Forest, which was the inspiration for A. A. Milne's books about Winnie the Pooh. Anyway, I gotta make it to Crawley sometime during the day.

10/20: Fly out from Gatwick in the morning.

(* = Places I will have to pay actual money to get in, which will probably cause me to cry blood from my beady little eyes)