By the numbers
16,936 steps
12.68 kms
The night has warmed up and I knew from the news that there
will be heatwaves in Europe that is heading over to the UK by Saturday. Not
really what I needed to know when I have already been knocked around while in
Weymouth several days before. I decided to bring out the big guns in my epic
wardrobe in the big. I did bring along an older wide brim hat. I had been
wearing for the last few weeks a cap that had not bought me problems as the
weather had been mild until this week. I think in a way I have been lucky that
the heatwave started while I was in Dorchester. I most likely come home pretty
tanned now. More so than I have in the last few years. I headed to a place
where I would get a decent breakfast that would last me for most of a day. I
got myself two bottles of water, although I knew I would not need both, so
headed back to the room to leave one there.
Once I got to the train station I got myself tickets for the
train as I was heading two stops away into Wool for the Tank museum and the
Tank festival. Friday was the dress rehearsal for the weekend and I wasn’t
expecting too many people there being a Friday. I knew the time I had to catch
the train and it wasn’t a long wait as I only needed to go two stops away. I
was feeling pretty good and when we pulled into Wool, I had to find where I
needed to go as I wasn’t sure where the museum was apart from a short walk
away. There was apparently a bus, but I didn’t see anything on the board that
was going towards the museum. I started walking and there were a few others
doing exactly the same thing and a few of them knew about their tanks. I don’t
as I just wanted to see the museum as I had read about it in my university
studies. That included some WW1 tanks, but I only changed my itinerary around
after I found the tankfest.
It was around a half hour walk to the museum and I soon
realised how much people loved military
armoured vehicles as the place was filling up pretty well. I even had to have
my bag checked as I went through. My bag was cool as I opened it and they never
looked any further . Not even in the other zippers. I had ordered a program
too. Even though I had no access to a printer I was able to save the email to
my phone and I learnt how to access the folders on my phone. I did look around
some of the static displays and a chat about some of the guns. I never knew
these guys were so knowledgeable. One of the chats I wanted to listen to was.
There were several that I planned to go to one being from a Hollywood stuntman
who was talking about his experiences on set with tanks like Goldeneye, Fury
and even Saving Private Ryan. He did ramble about the movies including movies
that were not about tanks. The other chat was about battlefield archaeology,
but that was cancelled later on as there had been problems. I thought I was walking
to the museum, but got caught in the normally closed off restoration area.
There were plenty of tanks there and even though some had labels on what they
were I didn’t know what they were.
I realised the actual museum was further on and I should
follow the arrows to the museum. The museum was actually pretty big and went
through the history of the tank from the beginning of World War 1 onto what
they were using now. There were tanks that were built, but never ended up being
used as they could not get past the testing stage or never ended up in combat
like a remote controlled explosive tank or even a one man tank that was a
flamethrower. There were quite a few people within the museum walking around
and taking pictures. I don’t think I got to see everything, but there were even
German Tiger tanks that were used during World War 2. The Tiger tanks had
veterans on both sides talking about the experiences on either driving them or
the people who came up against them. Some of the machines were now outside on show
over the weekend. They did have some engines on show too. I was wanting to get
to see the speech that was on that I didn’t know was not happening. I thought I
would get some food and got bamboozled by the lady that served me in one of the
food vans. She gave me old notes that could not be used anymore and she told me
they had come from me. Come to think about it I did look and I somehow already
had an old one in my wallet, but I still think it was either from the bank or I
got scammed. I honestly do not know. I was told I could exchange them for new
notes. In thinking about it the old notes I was told by the pub I am staying at
are in good order especially when I seen them in a museum in Lyme Regis the day
before. It has fossils and Charles Darwin. The new ones do not.
Since the talk was canned, I went to watch the display shows
before going home. The program was for practice with one of the tanks in combat
conditions, which included soldiers getting in and out. Then the D Day vehicles
that were used with one guy telling us what they were all about and when thery
began. It did seem that the commentator knew what he was talking about and
people were invited to let him know if the information was incorrect. The
bigger Cold War tanks were next and some you could feel the rumble of their
engines go right through you and they were loud. This was basically the last of
the show and I wanted out of the sun as well. I was really happy for the fact I
had on my wide brimmed hat as it covered my face from the burning sun. It was
actually worth going to Tankfest as I got to see tanks running instead of being
a static display in a museum. They are not my thing, but I had to experience
that for once. The walk back to the train station was meant to be half hour and
I made it before a train that was meant to arrive. I even got my ticket checked
as there were others who had the same idea of returning. I think most were
going to Weymouth.
Tomorrow I head to Portsmouth for half the weekend, which is
part of my short trip like I did in York and Cardiff. Portsmouth is the last of
three locations, I will be staying at in the UK before heading to Singapore and
home. This trip has been full of memories and experiences so far and I wouldn’t
change anything except for not losing my cards. That was not the easy part of
the trip as I was making sure I didn’t spend too much money.
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