#although tbf i think it's safe not to buy it most of the time

[lungfuls]

People who flex their moderate relationship with alcohol annoy the shit out of me. No one has ever asked and it's sort of a cruel thing to flaunt if you don't know whether the people you're talking to have challenging relationships with booze

[troop2017]

The UK is not only our home, it’s also a very beautiful island with so many beauty spots, amazing beaches and interesting attractions in every nook and cranny of the country (in both rural and urban settings).

Here I’m collating some of my favourite photos from our travels around the country over the years.  I’ve tried to include slightly less well known places (although it’s impossible to not include some of the big hitters!), and tbf the majority of the photos are from our travels in 2017 – I think I’ll have to do a separate post for ‘all other photos’!

Maybe this could give you some ideas of places to visit or walks to take in the coming months of staycationing – some of the places I show may well be within striking distance for you to take a daytrip for your regular walk.

However you use this post I hope you enjoy the photos, and perhaps are able to find a new favourite place to visit 🙂

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We loved old Hastings.  Obviously much of what we experienced (such as the cliff trams and the fisherman’s museum) will not be open in the current environment.  However, you can still walk and see much of what we did.  The country park at the top of the cliff provides a delightful walk and is well worth the effort 🙂

See my original posts on the area for more detail (such as what the structures behind the boats are)

Hastings

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Battle Abbey is an English Heritage property whilst Bodiam Castle is National Trust – if you are taking a prolonged trip around the UK (when we are able to again) it’s worth joining both organisations;  It saved us a huge amount of money on our 2017 trip 🙂

For more detail see my original posts:

Battle

Bodiam

Steam Trains

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No photos of Dover Castle??!!  Well, when you can Dover Castle is an absolute MUST visit (English Heritage).  However, as promised, I’ve gone with a couple of lesser known sites.  The sound mirror is visible on a walk along the top of the cliffs – those steps leading towards it on the left-hand side of the photo?  They are really steep!  I was literally clambering up them (and was quite (okay, very) scared at times…)

Ringwauld was a little further around the coast – we spotted the church and turned around.  We had a little walk round and discovered a bit of history 🙂  We also followed a small sign (again, almost missed) near the castle to see the plaque dedicated to the first cross channel flight.  Again, easy access and a short walk is possible here.

More detail available in my original posts:

Dover

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The Battle of Britain Memorial at Capel le Ferne, nr Folkestone is a wonderful visit.  I think the memorial will be accessible even when the visitor centre isn’t (it’s certainly worth checking) and a short walk is possible here.  Wonderful views and plenty of history too 🙂

There is a long seafront promenade at Sandgate which takes you past a small castle.

More detail in my original Dover post

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Rye is a beautiful town and Dungeness is a very unusual English landscape.  Both are well worth a visit and lots of walking is possible.  Rye Harbour is a nature reserve with plenty of paths to walk or cycle with several points of interest along the way, such as the haunting Mary Stanford Lifeboat house.

We found the Brightling Follies walk in one of our walking books, ‘The AA 100 Walks in Southeast England‘ – again something you can follow during lockdown 🙂

More detail in my original post:

Review of Charming Rye, East Sussex

Dungeness

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Winchelsea is a tiny town with a massive history.  There is a clue is the size of the church, even without taking into account the ruins surrounding the current structure.  There are regular tours of the Winchelsea Cellars (not all 51, but apparently different ones feature in different tours).

We also took the opportunity to visit an English Vineyard; Carr Taylor was a few miles down the road from where we were staying.  Offering a tour of the vineyard (you can go anywhere!) for £2.50 (including wine tasting and information).  We could have paid a little more and enjoyed a ploughmans lunch as well – we didn’t go for this though as I don’t really enjoy that sort of lunch!  The tasting was very informative and really rather enjoyable (I wasn’t driving so was able to make the most of it!)  Our favourite was the sparkling rose which was the best I’ve ever had (proven by the fact that we went away having spent about £130 – I think I’m splashing out if I spend £5 on a bottle….)

More detail in my original posts:

Winchelsea

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Other visits included Scotney Castle & Sissingshurst – both National Trust properties.  Both were lovely but I think we both preferred Scotney Castle – there’s quite a story to be told here and the gardens are beautiful (as they are at Sissinghurst).

More detail in my original post:

Sissinghurst

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The Rough Guide to Kent, Sussex and Surrey detail the medieval churches of the Romney Marshes.  One cloudy afternoon we decided to try to visit the 5 they recommended.  (Our copy is from 2013 – there has been an update since with a new edition due out on 1st June.  We find these books invaluable when touring).

It appears that I didn’t write about this when we visited (I shall keep looking!)

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Another day we found Sandwich – a beautiful little town with plenty of history, a town trail to follow and, of course, a world-renowned golf course.  And also 3 sets of alms houses 🙂

There is a great deal of Roman history in Kent, including monuments and crosses by the side of the road and also the Richborough Roman Fort, run by English Heritage.

More detail in my original post:-

Sandwich

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On our 1st visit to Canterbury the price to visit the cathedral put us off, but we went anyway on our 2nd visit – and were glad we did 🙂

We stayed in Herne Bay and were able to cycle along the promenade to Whitstable.  Plenty of walking and cycling opportunities here.

More detail in my original post:

Canterbury Herne Bay/Whitstable

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In North Kent we visited Rochester, Chatham Docks, Whitstable and the Isle of Sheppey (we won’t go there again…) from our base in Herne Bay.

We absolutely loved Rochester – the only problem being that we didn’t put enough money in the parking meter and had to abandon our visit to the town museum about halfway through 😦  It was one of those really informative town museums that very few people think to visit.  The castle, cathedral (the UK’s 2nd oldest and one of the smallest) and the museum all absolutely worth visiting.

Chatham Docks – I missed out on the Call the Midwives tour (an extra cost but 1 that I was willing to pay!!)  The ticket is expensive but lasts a year (great if you live in the area – not so good if you don’t).

Below are some links to posts not mentioned above but that may cover more detail of this area.  Also a link to my campsite reviews for this area.

My next post will deal with photos from our time in East Anglia.

Keep safe and I really hope to start posting new content again soon 🙂

East Sussex, Kent & Surrey

Our 1st 3 months away in the UK in 2017

Back on the Road – 2017

Easter Weekend – 2017

Campsite reviews – East Sussex & Kent

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Around the UK: a Photo Diary #1 Kent, The Garden of England The UK is not only our home, it's also a very beautiful island with so many beauty spots, amazing beaches and interesting attractions in every nook and cranny of the country (in both rural and urban settings).

[smoothshift]

I test drove the Tesla Model 3 Performance, here are my impressions. via /r/cars

I test drove the Tesla Model 3 Performance, here are my impressions.

I test drove the Tesla Model 3 Performance (P3D) over the weekend, since I was seriously considering it as my next DD. Here are some of my impressions. I gave a review of the LR Model 3 before so I'm not going to cover areas such as interior tech or Auto Pilot, as those remain the same with P3D. This post will be focused on driving dynamics.

Background: I currently daily drive an F80 M3, which according to Elon was the benchmark when Tesla was developing the Performance Model 3. I've also had some experiences with the other cars in this segment, but nothing too extensive.

Disclaimer: This post isn't meant to be an objective analysis of the car. I'm neither a professional journalist nor do I have extensive track experiences. All following opinions are personal and are formed from a 25 mins long spirited (but within safety limit) test drive session on public road. If you aren't interested or don't find this useful feel free to downvote and move on :)

Drivetrain:

Without a doubt the best part of this car, and for many the sole reason for buying a Tesla. As expected it's lighting quick and gives you the uncomfortable feeling from acceleration just like the other Performance Teslas. What also impressed me was the state of the art traction control and how easy it was to put the power down. On a not-perfectly-paved public street I think the P3D can reach 30mph before my M3 can even grab traction. For stoplight drag races or zooming around the town the P3D will curb stomp any competition in this class (or even ICE cars from classes above) any day of the week and twice on Sundays. At 40-50mph+ the magic wears off a little, and I think my M3 is a bit quicker from that point on simply due to better power/weight ratio, but it's still way faster than anyone's daily needs.

Oh did I mention how easy it was to abuse this power? No downshift, no launch control, just jab the throttle. You can do it repeatedly like turning on/off a light switch. The beauty of EV at its best, which makes it a much better daily driver in traffic than my M3 as well (ok tbf due to that DCT even a Prius is better than my M3 for daily traffic).

But for people who are into cars, they know M3 isn't known for drag races, which brings us to:

Steering:

I really enjoyed the steering of the LR Model 3. The P3D is definitely differently tuned from the base version. The steering ratio felt quicker, and most noticeably, the steering weight was heavy in Sport Mode. It felt even heavier than M3's Sport+ mode, which is commonly criticized for being artificially weighty. Although the steering was quick and precise, unfortunately it offered a lot less feedback when compared to my M3. My gut feeling is that unlike the M3, the P3D uses the exact same hardware setup for steering as the regular Model 3, but with different software tuning for weight. It's quite good, but half a notch below the best in this class.

Handling:

The upgrade in tires from the LR Model 3 made a huge difference here. With the base version even though there isn't much body roll, the car would start to slide like a dead penguin on ice when pushed closer to its limit (and the limit was quite low). The P3D actually comes with the same tires as my M3, and I can now safely say nobody should have any real issue with the handling/traction on public roads.

However the car is heavy, and the weight was constantly felt. My M3 has been feeling like a minivan ever since I drove a Porsche 911 GTS with all wheel steering a couple weeks ago, but after driving the P3D i truly appreciated again how "light' my M3 feels. In addition to the chassis not giving much feedback, the car just feels less "lively" and playful. It's highly capable (and I wouldn't be surprised if it's faster than the M3 on shorter tracks), but quite a bit more sterile as far as driving experiences go. This is mainly the reason I think I'll still enjoy my M3 a lot more on Skyline Blvd.

Oh btw, even though I'm not sure how this car will do on the track, I have a feeling it will be an auto cross monster.

The Whole Package:

But the big question is, is the car worth the $10-15k premium over the non-P AWD Model 3? A bit of comparison here, BMW charges about the same for a M3 over a 340i. But for that price you get not just faster/bigger engine, you get completely different suspension and steering hardware, way better brakes, carbon fiber roof, best leather interior BMW offers along with the best sport seats, and not a single body panel is shared between the M3 and a regular 3 series. It looks and feels special inside out.

The P3D, however, doesn't feel (or even look) much different from a LR Model 3 when you are not flooring the car. My Sales Advisor even had trouble finding the car in the lot amid a bunch of other Model 3s. So it's almost like the whole premium is for the acceleration performance (and the better tires if you get the Performance Package). To me it's not a very good value proposition especially since users are reporting the AWD Model 3s feel just as quick in 0-30ish, but for many who just want the best acceleration money can buy at this price range, then it's still unbeatable.

It's a fantastic car, not perfect by any stretch, but if I can only own one car at a time, the P3D would be the way to go. But personally I am leaning toward non-P dual motor one and save $10-15k. That should be enough to get me heated and powered seats on the Porsche 718GTS I've been configuring for a while now...