Alton Towers Theme Park with Duncan & Tracey

 Alton Towers Theme Park 

There was a real party atmosphere as we entered the park. We couldn't wait to spend two days having fun and thrill seeking. 

First we took the Sky ride, a cable car taking you into the heart of the park and offers you the best views. We decided this would be a great place to start as it would help us get the lay of the land from above. As we got off, we found ourselves at the edge of the haunted woods so dared ourselves to take a walk through in search of the Congo River Rapids. Along the way we met two talking tomb stones who were amusing themselves by telling each other ghoulish jokes and came across two eerie looking tombs which we quickly regretted looking in! When we got to the Congo rapids, we all got onboard a raft and rode the turbulent waters down to the end of the river. It was great fun and though we got a little wet we didn’t mind as we knew we would soon dry off in the lovely sunshine. 

After the rapids we decided to step things up a bit and ride our first roller coaster, The Runaway Mine Train which was much faster and more thrilling than we had expected it to be. With our adrenaline now really pumping we headed to Mutiny Bay for some swash buckling fun! We jumped on board Heave Ho which gave us the sense we were on a real pirate ship travelling across the high seas in some very stormy waters. 

Then we took a spin on Marauders Mayhem which left us feeling a little dizzy! We stopped for some lunch before hitting the big time as we offered ourselves up for sacrifice to the giant Wicker Man. The ‘chosen ones’ climbed on-board the Beornen’s works train passing further into their secretive world, splintering around a labyrinth of twisted track. The burning embers light the path as the train hurtles towards the six-storey high flaming effigy. Speeding towards the Wicker Man, he spectacularly ignites into flames as the train bursts through his chest three times. Wow! What a thrill seeking ride! After the Wicker Man had chewed us up and spat us out, we took a ride on Spinball Wizard, which turned our legs to jelly. 

Next, it was time to take a ride on the world famous Smiler- the world’s first 14 loop rollercoaster. It’s twisting track combines the world beating 14 loops with a speed of 85 km/hr. Strangely this terrifying ride still has the ability to make you smile all the way around. 

Day two and we decided we would not mess about as we were determined to ride on every one of the parks flagship rides as well as some of the other less well known ones. As soon as we arrived, we decided to head straight for Oblivion to get obliterated! So, we jumped in the queue and were soon 20 metres up staring down into the black, smokey abyss into oblivion. After a few terrifying seconds the ride was over, and we had lived to tell the tale! 

it was time for another adrenalin rush so we headed over to the eye watering Rita (Queen of speed). This ride has an incredible top speed of 100kmph and pulls a whopping 4.7g’s as she flies around her 647-meter track.  We weren’t about to slow down just yet and we headed straight over to 13 which as the name might suggest is a super spooky roller coast with an unexpected twist or two. The ride started and at first after a few thrilling twists and turns seemed much like any other roller coaster until it came to a sudden halt and we found ourselves in complete darkness. We then noticed we were surrounded by ghouls and ghosts everywhere we looked. This was just a brief distraction though as all of sudden the ride unexpectedly plummeted free fall of five metres down in complete darkness then suddenly the ride was flung backwards and hurtled around the track in reverse in total darkness before mercifully being released back out into the light again. 

After such a rush we thought we would calm things down a little and stepped into the imagination of comedian and author David Walliam‘s. We took a ride on Gangster Granny one of the authors best loved characters, which told the story of gangster grannies criminal capers which seemed quite in keeping with the Queens Jubilee celebrations this week as Gangster Granny stole the Queens Crown Jewels! ff and steadied ourselves for a choppy ride on Blade. It was then time for the big one! The most adrenalin inducing, intense ride Alton Towers has to offer….Nemesis! 

This morning we decided to head to Matlock Bath home of the amazing Peak District Mining Museum. Inside we learnt all about the process of mining lead and how water was a huge problem when digging mines and how it was dealt with. We also learnt about what an incredibly hard and dangerous job the miners had extracting the lead out from deep inside the hillside as there wasn’t such a thing as health and safety in those days! 

The museum was really interactive, and we had lots of fun trying out some of the equipment and even got to sit in an excavator cab and also dress up in Victorian clothing which was really funny. 

 For the second part of our visit to begin which was a guided tour of an actual lead mine! We met our knowledgeable tour guide and he took us up the hill to the entrance of Temple Mine which is relatively young, turning 100 years old this year! Mining of lead in Derbyshire dates back to Roman times where there was as many as 30 thousand mines operating in the area. Before going inside the mine we had to put on a safety helmet as the roof of the mines passages was quite low in places meaning we had to stoop quite low and needed to protect our heads from hitting against the hard rock above. As we walked through the mine, we learnt about the different kinds of minerals that could be seen in the walls, including calcite which is used in all kinds of every day products including toothpaste! We were able to see lots of interesting geological features including an ancient lava flow which appeared as a dark band heading diagonally down the shaft and naturally formed cavities in the limestone which have been formed over thousands of years by water eroding the rock. We were told about how the miners would have drilled and used dynamite to extract the lead out which would have been an incredibly labour intensive and dangerous process. We really got a feel for what a hard life the miners must have. 

                                  

After we had finished our tour, we headed outside to try our hand at panning for gold which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it wasn’t real gold although the mine is said to hold rich deposits of gold. We were allowed to keep what we found and take it home which was a treasure to us as it will be a great reminder of our time at Temple Mine. 

When we weren't busy loop the looping we enjoyed chilling out in our on-site swimming pool and sauna or doing our best Robin Hood impression down on the archery range. 

Warwick Castle & Museums with Darren & Marguerite

 Warwick Castle & Museums 

Warwick Castle and the sun was shining for us. Warwick castle is a medieval castle, originally built by William the Conqueror during 1068. 

Our historical day included watching the Falconers Quest and what a show! Featuring owls, vultures and eagles all swooping, looping above our heads with wingspans of up to a whopping 9ft. At one point there was up to 60 birds taking flight, it was truly amazing and really breathtaking to watch. 

Inside the castle was spectacular. We could experience the Victorian high society depicting a weekend house party with the elite, Winston Churchill and of course the Prince of Wales who would later become King Edward V11 were amongst the guests. We wandered slowly around the State rooms which tell the story of the castle’s ownership. Queen Anne’s bedroom was magnificent, her bed was cloaked in red velvet and gold silk curtains, the exact bed that she died in, in 1714. The Great Hall is the largest room in the castle and displays the Earls armour collection. 

We were off to the British Motor Museum in Warwick to explore the world’s largest collection of historic British cars. This museum holds over 400 British classic cars and celebrates the past, present and future of British motoring. The museum has many different zones and we began our journey in the motoring cinema where we watched footage from the archives about the evolution of the Landrover and why it’s the Royal families favourite mode of transport. We walked along the ‘time road’, a century of motoring history beginning in 1896 and we could see how motoring has changed over the years, even the roads, cars and fashions. The sports car section was a huge favourite of ours, we marvelled at the Lotus and the Aston Martin and loved to pose for photographs next to them. 

The Film and TV cars were fantastic to see especially the replica of the DeLorean from Back to the Future 2 and the Pink Fab1 from the Thunderbirds which many of us remembered. There were period displays to look at, John Carters garage representing a 1930s independent garage and the office of the car magnate William Morris, which the museum has preserved all the original contents and reconstructed it as to how it was on the last visit by himself. After lunch, we walked across the road and into the Collections Centre, a huge building housing about 250 cars from the reserve collections of the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust and the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust. 

A morning was spent at the Sealife Centre in Birmingham. Gentoo penguins were the first to greet us, they dived into the icy water and swam up to the window to say hello. They looked very happy in their cold, icy house. We ventured into the UKs only 360 degree ocean tunnel and marvelled at the sharks, rays and hundreds of tropical fish swimming over our heads and underneath us as we walked through. Molokai, the giant, green turtle was awesome and bigger than we expected weighing an impressive 20 stone. It was a fantastic sight. The Jelly Invaders zone was magical with all different types of jellyfish dancing in their illuminated tanks. 

Our next adventure was a cruise on a canal boat with live commentary on the expansive history of the Birmingham canal network. This was very relaxing and a great way to sightsee! 

 

We jumped in the Jolly bus and made our way to The National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull. This museum is recognised as the finest and largest motorcycle museum in the world and opened its doors in 1984 with a collection of 350 motorcycles on display. It now has over 1000, all fully restored to the manufacturer’s original specifications. Martin was in his element, he was very knowledgeable about some of the bikes and loved chatting to the volunteers who spend their spare time cleaning and polishing the bikes, revelling in their favourite hobby. We ambled through the different halls, it was great to see a replica motorbike that Barry Sheene raced on in the Grand Prix and also to see how much motorbikes have evolved through the years. 

It was then onto  Coventry Transport Museum where we lunched first before entering the museum that houses the largest collection in public ownership. The collection consists of motor cars, cycles, commercial vehicles and motorcycles. Most of the collection exists through the outstanding generosity of individual donors. The museum is laid out as a journey through time. We wandered 19^th century streets and discovered the first bicycles, carriages and cars, explored the first car factories and witnessed their wartime destruction in the blitz experience.  Finally, we came face to face with the world’s fastest car- Thrust SSC. What a unique experience and a fun museum.

The interactive gallery was fantastic and Wayne and Neil raced each other to change a tyre in a ‘pit stop’ and Mai and Simon took a spin in a drivers practice car.

An exciting trip to Cadbury World in Birmingham was enjoyed. Our chocolaty adventure began in the 4D cinema where we sat on motion seats and dived into a bowl of liquid dairy milk, rode the crunchie rollercoaster and took to the skies in a Cadbury crème egg airship piloted by the caramel bunny. This was great fun and caused lots of laughter. Next, we collected our free chocolate bars (yummy) and travelled 1000 years back in time to Mexico and walked through the tropical rainforest of the Mayan Indians discovering the origins of the cocoa bean. We listened to the Cadbury story and how the business was established. 

We then got to have a go at tempering, a technique shown to us by a Cadbury’s world chocolatier and also doodled our names in chocolate at the demonstration tables. Simon made this look really easy! We jumped into a Beanmobile and rode through a chocolate wonderland and of course remembered to smile at the camera for a photo memento. The interactive purple planet was great fun, we grew our own cocoa trees, danced in chocolate rain and chased crème eggs.