2003

Another year has passed, and it is again time for the annual Christmas missive:

2003 began cold and clear, and soon lt was time for Phil to start the journey to Sweden, Phil with the loaded car, took the ferry from Newcastle to Gothenburg.

Lin followed a couple of days later flying out from Heathrow. It ended dramatically, when, instead of descending gently to Landvetter (Gothenburg), it made an emergency decent to Ålborg, in Northern Denmark, accompanied along the runway by Fire Tenders etc., due to a strong smell of burning in the rear of the cabin, with Stewardesses carrying Fire Extinguishers down the aisle. Lin decided that her Mobile Phone was the most important object to keep if disembarking in a hurry! The problem was later traced to a faulty extractor fan in the galley (burnt toast??)
We were finally reunited in the early hours of Friday morning, outside a cold and icy Landvetter airport (-10C).

The journey north to Kläppen was a good one, the weather being crisp and sunny (a great improvement on the snowstorms of last year).

We arrived a little later than anticipated due to a long detour around an accident but were soon settled in cabin 144.
The weather was sunny all week, and there was plenty of snow on the slopes, and some fantastic frost on the trees!
New this year were snow scooters which we just had to try: Lin drove, while Phil filmed the journey from the back.
The trip was a good long run out into the forest to a wooden hut where Erik provided sticky buns and hot chocolate (because the English do not like Swedish coffee)

Easter was late this year, and Lin took the opportunity to spend a week on an archaeological excavation organised by
Kent Archaeological Field School (KAFS) which was continuing excavations at the site of a medieval manor at Teynham. The week started slowly excavating walls; we found plenty of roof tiles, and number of glazed floor tiles, some of which were patterned. Midden pits soon began yielding up pottery, and by the end of the week there were enough pieces to consider attempting reconstruction.

The weather on the whole was sunny, and there were a couple of days when it was worth watching the skies to check for flying tents(!) and on the second evening there was a dash into town in search of hot water bottles!
May Bank Holiday saw Lin back in Kent excavating a possible bronze age burial.

As the weather grew warmer works progressed on Lin`s Garden Railway: The trees bought for last year�s card were finally planted out, some established plants were re-sited, and tracklaying commenced on the Satellite Extension Railway taking the trains down the north side of the garden, looping back under the dishes (hence the name).

Tracklaying had to be temporarily suspended when Amanda returned from two years in Central America.
We collected her from Heathrow and, after a few days with her parents in Barnstaple, she returned, staying with us and working locally before securing a new teaching position in Spain.

June saw the arrival of the long awaited fifth book in the Harry Potter series. An engrossing if weighty tome - yet another good read. It kept Phil quiet for a week, and the book was then available for Lin to take on holiday.

The summers excursion to Scandinavia began this year on the Fjord-Line ferry from Newcastle to Bergen.
The weather by this time was well into the hot and sunny that was to last long into the autumn.

A smooth crossing saw arrival in Stavanger at breakfast-time. The rest of the day was spent �cruising� up the western Norwegian coast stopping at Haugasund en-route to Bergen. The weather was so fine - there was a BBQ on deck.
On arrival we headed inland, spending our first night on a small campsite at Eidfjord.

The next day we drove south-east along the old road to Oslo, where we found a large municipal campsite overlooking the city. In Oslo we visited our friend Louise, greeted Uni�s cat (very friendly), and sampled the already warm swimming lake at Bogstad.

After a couple of days we set off again south into Sweden stopping en-route at Munkedal for waffle and a ride on the steam train. Then it was on to Vänersborg and a pitch alongside lake Vänern.
The water here was cooler but very pleasant, and the sight of the lake emerging from the mist in the morning delightful. We made a return visit to the aqueduct at Håverud, and rode the Dalsland railway in a vintage railbus.

We managed to spend time with Ulf and Gunilla in Gothenburg, when they returned from caravanning in the north of Sweden. Polly (the parrot) was very happy to be home, and made great play of her freedom in the garden and the plentiful supply of fresh fruit.

Soon we were heading north again this time to Värmland, a campsite alongside the Klarälven at Stöllet, from which we watched the log rafts drifting past. The river flows at 2km hr, and it is possible to build a log raft and spend a week floating down the river on it!

From here we visited Kläppen, our winter haunt, for a revealing view of the ski slopes without their cover of snow, before heading back into Norway in search of mountains and fjords.

A quick stopover on Dovrefjell before driving west to the fjords, north of Dombas. A wet night saw the end of our small purple tent, as the flysheet known to have perished, finally split across, and it spent its� final night underneath its groundsheet!

Fjords and ferries took us further west, to a camping hut in Åndalsnes where we took a ride on the Raumabanan: a modern tourist train that runs from the fjord town up the beautiful Romsdalen onto the fells.

We departed up the famous Trollstlgvagen. Our journey continuing through the beautiful scenery via ferry, mountain road, and tunnel to a campsite at Geiranger, at the head of Geiranger Fjord.

Departure on a tourist ferry to Hellesylt provided ample time to view the passing scenery: Waterfalls dropping from the mountains, deserted farmsteads perched high above the water, large cruise ships heading in and out of Geiranger and acrobatic seabirds who would take titbits direct from an outstretched hand.

The drive to Stedje on Sogndalsfjorden took in more fabulous scenery.
From here we visited the Norwegian Glacier Museum on the southern edge of the Jostedalsbreen National Park.
We drove the mountain road up Hornadalen and down into Flåm, where we took the train up to Myrdal, including a stop to see the Sirens at the waterfall. We returned to Stejde via the new 20km Lærdalstunneln.

As we started packing-up the tent for the return journey, the rain started, and followed us all the way back to Bergen. We arrived in torrential rain, and managed to book a Hutta for our final night. Next morning, the rain cleared as we revisited a model railway shop near the harbour that we had found many years before, whilst waiting for the ferry.
The return trip was calm and sunny, but without the BBQ on deck.

Sadly soon after our return from holiday Robin (Lin�s dad) passed away.
His funeral was followed by a celebration for family and friends in the garden of his bungalow.
Lin is still in the throws of finalising his estate.

September saw Amanda setting off to Spain (Ecijo in Andalucia), as well as Garden Rail days and BBQs.

It saw us again in Amsterdam, camping at Gaasperplats, renewing aquaintences and attending the exhibition.
The weather remained dry and warm, we took the Sunday off to visit a nature park with restored windmills,
and a Steam (Water Pumping) Museum which had many stationary steam engines, several in steam.
Our return journey to Hoek van Holland took in a number of model shops.

As the summer extended towards autumn, railway running continued. Lin�s membership of the G-Scale society, enabled us to visit a number of other garden railways locally. The layout aquired 2 engine sheds and a signal tower.
Running has continued long into autumn, with the donation of numerous sacks of leaves (leaves on the line) to the local tip (4 sacks a week)

Phil�s layout has not been forgotten either, this year, with a progressing conversion from Zero-1 to DCC control.
Lin�s LGB also uses (MTS) DCC control: The combination of multiple trains running on the tracks at the same time, hauling passengers painted by Lin, in coaches lit by Phil, to the authentic sound of digitised steam has kept visitors occupied outside until late at night! Lin is still busy on a range of buildings for next year.

Re-Cue had an outing to the Computer Show in Guildford in November, and while the show was not as exciting as last year, it was declared a success by visitors and exhibitors alike, and Phil just had time to buy some upgrades at the end.

Phil has continued to undertake some training for Grass Valley (Thomson Multimedia), and, with Tom, has recently agreed to cover some training at Ravensbourne College (Two days a week until the end of the Spring term).
Lin continues working out of the B&Q office in Eastleigh at least until the Spring.

best wishes from Phil and Lin, December 2003