Having looked at the order of play we were lucky to see a clump of matches following each other which had players we wanted to see. The likes of Lee Westwood, Phil Mickleson, Tom Watson, Darren Clarke to name but a few.
We could choose to follow one match and walk the course with the growing crowds but this would restrict the players we would see. Or we could stand at some point along the course and watch them go by or we could look for a seat in a stand at one of the greens and settle in for the duration while the players played their approach shots and then putted out and moved on.
We opted for the latter and found ourselves a couple of good seats on the 2nd green and zipped open the picnic bag.
The atmosphere was quite calm early on and each set of players was greeted with polite applause as they approched the green. Lee Westwood's appearance raised the noise level a little but his dropped shot made for subdued exit applause. Especially as his dropped shot followed a brilliant birdie by Jim Furyk from exactly the same place. It gave us a bad feeling for Lee's game - he just wasn't on form.
After a couple of hours we decided we would have a wander around a few different holes, find somewhere for a coffee and decide where to settle next. The obvious then came into mind - where were the toilets? By now the crowds had grown considerably and I anticipated a long wait in the queue for the ladies. As we approached the block of toilets I could see that there were 4 ladies and 4 gents - but oddly enough no queue.
As I opened the door I was amazed to see behind it not a single toilet but a whole block of them - at least 40 cubicles stretching ahead of me. The organisers had certainly got this aspect right.
Within minutes I was back in the sunshine, coffee cup in hand. At £2.40 for a paper cup of coffee we were glad we had taken a picnic lunch and decided to find a new perch where we could watch some more golf while tucking into lunch.
We found we had walked to the 15th green and decided we would sit there for a while. Once seated we realised that in a few minutes the first set of players we had watched on the 2nd would begin to come through the 15th so we managed to catch up with the progress of them all once again.
There was a continual migration of people onto the stand and off again as those that were following one match took their seats while the players putted out and then moved on as the players left the green.
When we booked the day 12 months earlier we had chosen the Friday for one very specific reason. We would be able to see all our favourite players who were taking part before the cut which narrowed the field for the weekend play. That was the sole reason for not going down at the weekend. And it meant that out of 4 days play we were there on the one day when they had warm sunshine and not cold torrential rain.
By the end of the day my face was the colour of a lobster and I knew I needed lots of 'aftersun' to stop my skin peeling too badly. But, I'd suffer that any day rather than spending 8 hours in cold, driving rain as there is only so much rain waterproofs can keep out.
Early afternoon we walked over to the 1st tee to see Rory McIlroy tee off. By now the crowds around the tee were 20 deep and there was a huge wave of people walking along the fairway as he followed his tee shot - his was going to be a busy match and we decided we would not join in the melee.
We decided, instead, to go and browse around the 'merchandising' area. We needed some little trophy of our day out and so we 'ummed' and 'ahhed' over ball markers, bag tags, towels etc and finally settled on a bag tag and towel for Neil and a pitch repairer and golf shirt for me - all badged and logo-ed up with the 2011 British Golf Open. If nothing else, they will impress the Americans when we visit later this year.
And so, 8 hours after arriving, over another cup of coffee, we decided we had seen enough players and experienced enough atmosphere and we would make tracks back to the Park & Ride bus to start our 4 hour journey home.
Again, by leaving early we missed the crowds and within half an hour we were back in the car and on the road heading towards London. We had no choice but to do the Dartford tunnel. The traffic warnings meant any idea of going the long way round the M25 to avoid the tunnel just wasn't going to work.
This time though, traffic moved well and there were no hold ups and so we even managed to miss 5pm Friday madness on the roads around London.
By the time we got home we were both ready to collapse. It had been a long, but enjoyable day and we were both glad to kick of our shoes and relax.
We watched the final 2 days play on the TV and I lost count of the times I said how glad I was not to be there on those 2 days because of the rain. I doubt I'll go again now I've been once. I'm happy to watch it from the comfort of my settee but I'm so glad we went - just for the experience.
Saturday 23 July 2011
Saturday 16 July 2011
A Grand Day Out
In July 2010 we sat watching the British Open Golf Championship on TV and decided that one of the benefits of moving back to the UK was that we would now be able to go and watch it live.
A quick Google and we found out that this year's Open was in Sandwich - a good 4+ hours drive away. We would need an overnight stay. And so plans began to form.
If we went down on the Thursday afternoon for an overnight stay we would be close by for Friday's play, and could spend the whole day there before driving home.
1st task - find somewhere to stay.
Not as simple as I thought. A few hours searching the internet and I found everywhere was already fully booked. The plans looked as if they had stalled before they had even got off the first base.
Then I realised that Travelodge were not showing dates for July 2011. A little more digging around and I discovered that they only release their rooms 12 months in advance and so, July 2011 rooms would be released in August 2010.
I had only to wait a couple of weeks and we were in with a shot of getting our overnight stay which would put the ability to see the Open live back on track.
I put a reminder in my diary and on August 1st 2010 logged on to the Travelodge website and saw available rooms. Now, we all know that big events influence prices. Our Travelodge advert claims rooms available from £19.00, but of course we were going to pay a bit more.
Well actually quite a lot more. Infact, 500% more. Yes, we got our little basic travelodge room for one night in the week of the British Open Golf Championship for the princely sum of £95.00
It didn't matter, without the room the whole trip wouldn't happen. Credit card in hand the room was booked.
And so, some 11 months and 2 weeks later we found ourselves on the long drive down to the Kent coast. We would have made good time except for an hour and a half's delay trying to get over the Dartford Crossing. What a complete nightmare that was, and try as we might we could not see any reason for the hold up other than sheer volume of traffic trying to get south of the river.
We finally arrived at the Travelodge at 8pm and checked in. We were asked if we wanted a Continental Breakfast in our room, but we thought with a long day ahead of us a full breakfast in the nearby Little Chef would set us up for the day, so we declined the offer.
As we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere, we decided we would just go to the Little Chef for dinner. They're not the greatest place to eat but they are consistent and you know what to expect.
While in there we saw a number of groups of people who had obviously spent the day at the golf - a great telltale sign was those wearing their golf shoes. Daft as it sounds, they really are the best footwear for watching golf as well as playing and we had ours packed ready for the following day.
We got into conversation with one couple who gave us great information about the facilities and the Park & Ride we would be using the following day but the best piece of information was to get there early. Earlier than even we had been planning. Play started at 6.30am so it would be well under way by the time we got there. We asked what time the Little Chef opened and when they said 7am we began to think breakfast in our room may be something to consider.
And so we found ourselves up at 5.30am, with breakfast at 6 so we could be on the road by 6.30am.
The route into the Open was very well signposted and despite the previous night's conversation, we were pleasantly surprised by the lack of traffic. Within 20 minutes we were pulling into the Park & Ride field and 20 minutes later, after passing through security we were on a double-decker bus heading through the narrow country lanes around Sandwich.
By 7.30am we were entering the grounds to the Royal St George Golf Course along with a few hundred more people. The sun was out, the sky was blue and we knew that we had chosen the best of 4 days, as far as the weather was concerned.
Program and map in hand we set about working out our strategy for the day.
A quick Google and we found out that this year's Open was in Sandwich - a good 4+ hours drive away. We would need an overnight stay. And so plans began to form.
If we went down on the Thursday afternoon for an overnight stay we would be close by for Friday's play, and could spend the whole day there before driving home.
1st task - find somewhere to stay.
Not as simple as I thought. A few hours searching the internet and I found everywhere was already fully booked. The plans looked as if they had stalled before they had even got off the first base.
Then I realised that Travelodge were not showing dates for July 2011. A little more digging around and I discovered that they only release their rooms 12 months in advance and so, July 2011 rooms would be released in August 2010.
I had only to wait a couple of weeks and we were in with a shot of getting our overnight stay which would put the ability to see the Open live back on track.
I put a reminder in my diary and on August 1st 2010 logged on to the Travelodge website and saw available rooms. Now, we all know that big events influence prices. Our Travelodge advert claims rooms available from £19.00, but of course we were going to pay a bit more.
Well actually quite a lot more. Infact, 500% more. Yes, we got our little basic travelodge room for one night in the week of the British Open Golf Championship for the princely sum of £95.00
It didn't matter, without the room the whole trip wouldn't happen. Credit card in hand the room was booked.
And so, some 11 months and 2 weeks later we found ourselves on the long drive down to the Kent coast. We would have made good time except for an hour and a half's delay trying to get over the Dartford Crossing. What a complete nightmare that was, and try as we might we could not see any reason for the hold up other than sheer volume of traffic trying to get south of the river.
We finally arrived at the Travelodge at 8pm and checked in. We were asked if we wanted a Continental Breakfast in our room, but we thought with a long day ahead of us a full breakfast in the nearby Little Chef would set us up for the day, so we declined the offer.
As we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere, we decided we would just go to the Little Chef for dinner. They're not the greatest place to eat but they are consistent and you know what to expect.
While in there we saw a number of groups of people who had obviously spent the day at the golf - a great telltale sign was those wearing their golf shoes. Daft as it sounds, they really are the best footwear for watching golf as well as playing and we had ours packed ready for the following day.
We got into conversation with one couple who gave us great information about the facilities and the Park & Ride we would be using the following day but the best piece of information was to get there early. Earlier than even we had been planning. Play started at 6.30am so it would be well under way by the time we got there. We asked what time the Little Chef opened and when they said 7am we began to think breakfast in our room may be something to consider.
And so we found ourselves up at 5.30am, with breakfast at 6 so we could be on the road by 6.30am.
The route into the Open was very well signposted and despite the previous night's conversation, we were pleasantly surprised by the lack of traffic. Within 20 minutes we were pulling into the Park & Ride field and 20 minutes later, after passing through security we were on a double-decker bus heading through the narrow country lanes around Sandwich.
By 7.30am we were entering the grounds to the Royal St George Golf Course along with a few hundred more people. The sun was out, the sky was blue and we knew that we had chosen the best of 4 days, as far as the weather was concerned.
Program and map in hand we set about working out our strategy for the day.
Tuesday 12 July 2011
And finally we are connected to the outside world again.
Changing Internet providers is never an easy task. Changing them while changing houses is even worse. We have now completed our 7th house move in 6 years. 6 years ago we hadn't anticipated most of the moves but things change and plans change.
Hubby has suggested that (if) there's a next time he's going to buy a caravan. That way he doesn't have to pack and unpack boxes again, if the need to move arises he can merely drive to another street and park up.
One day maybe, I'll find we've finally taken root somewhere. At the moment that situation seems a long way off!
Hubby has suggested that (if) there's a next time he's going to buy a caravan. That way he doesn't have to pack and unpack boxes again, if the need to move arises he can merely drive to another street and park up.
One day maybe, I'll find we've finally taken root somewhere. At the moment that situation seems a long way off!
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