Greetings from the World Heritage Rock Climbing Centre..

Avebury
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Avebury! Hehe, actually you aren't strictly supposed to climb on the rocks, but that's blatantly what this site originally was. You just have to look at all the chalk all over the floor - it was the world's first outdoor rock gym!

We fancied a bit of a mini holiday yesterday, so we set off for a day trip to Wiltshire! The weather was a bit rubbish, but we thought we'd risk it anyway - it turned out to be such a cool day out! It was drizzling a bit when we arrived at Avebury, but it wasn't long before it cleared up and we had a bit of sunshine! We walked all around the whole stone circle, it's such an amazing place. It's apparently one of the largest and finest Neolithic monuments in Europe, around 5000 years old, older even than Stonehenge. It's a very interesting area, just a few miles away you've got Silbury Hill, and West Kennet Long Barrow, and within 20 miles is Stonehenge! There is lots for archaeologists to have fun with there, we saw loads of them with their Indiana Jones hats! =)

I read an interesting theory that the stone circle was used for ancestor worship, with the tall thin rocks representing men, and the short fat ones representing women. Isn't that charming?

Here's a bit of the circle..

Avebury
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Lots of nice hand grips..

Avebury
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

DO NOT CLIMB ON THE ROCKS!

Avebury
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

There were so many thatched cottages in Wiltshire, beautiful..

Avebury
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

There's a strange circle on this one, I wonder if it was carved in, or just a freakish natural feature of the rock..

Avebury
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

A settee?

Avebury

Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Check out that weather front - I think we were pretty lucky!

Avebury
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

We got back to the shop just as it was starting to drizzle again, what a good excuse! =) And I was glad there was, because I made a super-lucky find..

Polish chess board
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

The Polish chess board I wanted!! Some kind soul had brought it all the way over from the Tatra mountains for me to pick up! The giant one for £30, not bad at all considering the price of the ones on the Internet!

When we were heading back to the car, we were wondering how far away Silbury Hill was.. and then we looked up to see..

Silbury Hill
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Oh! Not very far then! We drove over to take a look, and then headed off to Stonehenge..

via Woodhenge!

Woodhenge
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

(I think the wooden stakes were originally a little more impressive, but if you will make a henge out of wood, what do you expect)

Stonehenge
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Skywatch Friday: Beautiful day!

Dorking
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

I was starting to think I would never see the blue sky again, but it has come out to celebrate Skywatch Friday! Woo! Blimmin cold though! It hasn't stopped raining since last Sunday I think, and we are due even more rain until Tuesday if Yahoo! weather is to be believed. I don't think I have ever seen Horsham so flooded, there were actually queues up to the station because of all the flooding in the road, and whole new lakes seem to have sprung up in the fields all around!

We went for a walk around Southwater after work this evening - you can see how much the water level's gone up - you can normally read both those signs, and the water normally ends at those logs!

Southwater
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

We thought we'd take a look at the Southwater Watersports Centre while we were there - what with the rock climbing success, we were thinking it might be fun to try out kayaking on the lake when it gets a bit warmer. We'll see! I think pottery might be on the horizon at some point too, if we can find someone to teach us! Ooh so many hobby possibilities..

I meant to blog about getting stuck on top of the rock archway at the Salfords climbing wall on Tuesday, but I couldn't find a photo, doh! I will be sure to take one next time we go, and then I will tell you all about it!

As for tonight, we are just settling down for a nice healthy Dominos pizza and our latest film from lovefilm - Starter For 10. Let's hope its good!

Southwater
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Skywatch Friday: 5 minutes of blue!

Dorking
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Well I am amazed I managed to get this photo today! It was supposed to snow again, and there was really thick grey cloud all day, but just as I slipped outside at lunchtime to grab a photo I managed to catch 5 minutes of blue sky and sunshine! Yay! I am starting to really not like boring grey days on Skywatch Fridays!!

Location: View towards Denbies Vineyard, Dorking

Box Hill

Box Hill
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

James picked me up from work this afternoon and we decided to get a nice burger from Rykers (for bikers), and then go for a walk up Box Hill. They do the best veggie bean burgers, James kept nicking bits of mine! They come with added pineapple, and 2 burgers come as standard.. good old biker portions! =) We just about caught the sunset by the time we got up to the top, good timing! It's so nice to see some sunlight after work now! We walked along to the cafe/shop hut at the top, and it appears they're doing a bit of a revamp. There was a lady on a ladder hand painting a gorgeous mural covering the whole front wall! I managed to get a photo of the bit she'd done earlier..

Box Hill
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Computer Engineer Barbie!

Haha, I don't believe it! Check out the one on the right.. due to popular demand, Barbie are introducing Computer Engineer Barbie! How cool is that?! What a good career choice! I just love the binary t-shirt.

Tree heart

Tree heart
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Valentines Day flowers!

Valentines Day flowers!
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Yay!! Look what James surprised me with this morning! =) I got the best husband ever! <3 Choccies, Starbucks for breakfast, purfume and a new Danny Wallace book too, I am spoilt big time! XxXxXxX

Monkeys in a dinosaur play area

Monkeys in a dinosaur play area
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

We just received our latest batch of nephew art, and I just had to share this one.. just look at the smiles on those dinosaurs! =) Smiling dinosaurs and a long weekend, you can't beat that!

Skywatch Friday: Uh-oh

Dorking
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

I think I may have tempted fate a little bit talking about Spring coming last week on Skywatch Friday! Today has been nothing but rain, and very cold rain too! Brr! I'm just glad there's no snow yet though (although there is still a stack of it left in the car park from a month ago?! That's Dorking for you!). Needless to say, I did not eat my lunch outside today.. in fact I completely forgot to eat my lunch at all, until about 3 because I was too busy trying to break websites! Thanks to Will's parting gifts though, I am now full up of yummy sweets from China! =) ..and I am wondering where I am going to find some more of that warm coconut drink!

Skywatch Friday: Spring is coming!

I can't believe it, I am actually sitting outside, eating my lunch in the sunshine without a coat on! It's actually quite a nice day for Skywatch Friday! This morning I even did a bit of gardening before coming into work.. It's definitely getting warmer and lighter now, finally!

Location:Box Hill, Dorking

That's about right..

I've just finished reading 'Are You Dave Gorman?' by Dave Gorman and Danny Wallace, so sad! That's the final Dave Gorman book now, what am I going to do?! I've really got into these books since I randomly picked up 'America Unchained' a few months ago. Each book is a true story about some crazy drunken-bet induced adventure Dave Gorman has got up to in his not so distant past. He certainly is an admirable procrastinator, I would love to have the time and lack of nagging conscience to be able to dedicate a year to hunting down something completely pointless, for no particular reason. It sounds like lots of fun! To weave a career out of it too, it's brilliant!

There are three books, which I actually ended up reading in reverse order:

-'Are You Dave Gorman?' in which Dave's flatmate Danny, in jest, bet him that he wouldn't be able to meet 54 other Dave Gormans.. little did he know what kind of housemate he was dealing with.. for the following 6 months he would be dragged all around the world to prove himself wrong!

-'Dave Gorman's Googlewhacking Adventure' in which Dave was supposed to be a grown-up novelist now, and putting all that crazy adventure business behind him, but instead ended up getting obsessed with Googlewhacking, spending his publisher's advance on travelling around the world to meet other Googlewhacks. This time, his friend Dave Gorman (from the first adventure), bet him that he couldn't find a chain of 10 Googlewhacks before his 32nd birthday. Tense, compulsive, and hilarious is all I can say.

-Finally there is 'America Unchained' in which Dave Gorman decides to travel coast to coast across America without using a single chain store, no chain store petrol, food, hotels or anything! What a nightmare!

One thing you learn about Dave Gorman is that he never turns down a challenge. Particularly if there is tequila involved.

Now, this is something I totally didn't realise -

We went to see the Jim Carrey film 'Yes Man' last year, it's all about a guy who decides he's going to make a positive change in his life, and from then on will never turn down a single offer of anything. He decides that whatever he sees advertised, whatever he is invited to, whatever he is offered, he will respond 'Yes!' and deal with the consequences. Sound familiar?

Well, this morning, I was looking at Goodreads to check whether there were any more Dave Gorman books for me to read, and low and behold, up popped 'Yes Man' by Danny Wallace! I had no idea the original novel was written by Dave Gorman's flatmate, but it totally figures! I think that will be the next thing to be added to my reading list..