Although it was sunny, it was no day for sitting on the beach – there was an icy wind blowing.

I noticed that the East Cliff funicular railway is due to re-open this month after being closed for a long while – I’ll have to make a return visit as I don’t think I have ever been up in it.

Sadly, the pier remains closed and in the ownership of a disinterested offshore company. Hopefully it won’t suffer the same fate as the West Pier in Brighton.

After visiting Hastings I made a brief stop in Battle.

A pretty village, steeped in history, there is a walk that takes you around the battlefield and to Battle Abbey.

The event included a guided tasting with their Master Brewer and we got to sample some great beers.

They are all 10/10 so I have ranked them in the order of my preference.

1. Brewer’s Reserve

2. Gales Prize Old Ale

3. Vintage Ale 2005

4. Vintage Ale 1999

6. London Porter

7. 1845

8. ESB

9 Vintage Ale 2009

10. London Pride

11. Discovery

I’ve one more beer to try from the evening – we were each given a bottle of a one-off special beer brewed specifically for the occasion. Apparently limited to just 100 bottles. I plan to keep it a few years before opening it.

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The highlights were definitely the Top 3

Vintage Ale 2005 – Beautifully rounded taste and clearly demonstrates the benefits of age when compared to it’s younger sibling

Gales Prize Old Ale – An old friend I haven’t tasted for more than 20 years – Definitely different to the original Gales Brewery version, but still very special.

Brewer’s Reserve – Like no beer I have ever tasted – the flavour from the Malt Whisky Barrels give it a unique and very special taste.

The whole evening was most enjoyable – the brewery is run by people who are passionate about beer.

In theory it should be a lot more straight forward on the Server version of the operating system as everything you need is pre-installed. In practice, once you know what you need to do, it’s quite simple – but finding these things out is not so simple. In the hope this will help others here is my 4 step plan for getting Snow Leopard Server ready for Wordpress.

Step 1 – Enable Short Open tags in PHP – otherwise you will likely see blank screens in your Web browser and errors like this in your Apache log: “Parse Error: syntax error, unexpected $end in …..”. Search for “short_open_tag” in /private/etc/php.ini and change it so it reads “short_open_tag = On”

Step 2 – Enable MySQL – Although it’s pre-installed, it’s not running by default and it’s not necessarily obvious if you are new to Snow Leopard Server, what to do to enable it. Open Server Admin and make sure your server is selected. Then click on the [+] icon in the bottom left corner and choose “Add Service”. Find “MySQL” and select the check box then press [Save]. After this if you click on the triangle next to the sever name it should expand to show a list of services including MySQL. Select MySQL then the Settings Icon. Here you can enable network access, set the Root password and finally click on the [Start MySQL] button at the bottom of the window.

Step 3 – Enable re-writes – required for Permalinks to work. Still in Server Manager – click on “Web” in the list of services and then click on Sites. if you are not using Virtual Hosts – just select the default site, otherwise create your virtual host and keep that selected. Next, click on the “Options” button for your site and check the box next to “Allow All Overrides”, then press [Save].

Step 4 – Enable PHP5 – Still on the Web Service in Server Manager, select “Settings” and then click on the [Modules] button. Scroll down and find “php_5_module” and click on the check box to enable it. Press [Save] and then stop and start the Web service using the button at the bottom of the window.

And that’s it – your server should have everything it needs to install a working Wordpress Blog

Notes:

This will allow you to get Wordpress running on your server but there are other things that you should consider that are out of scope of this post, like NOT using your root user in MySQL for the Wordpress database.

if you didn’t enable the Web service or SMTP mail as part of the install – you can enable them in the same manner you enabled MySQL.

First stop at the Gorge was Gough’s cave where there are lots of very impressive formations to view.

Further down he Gorge there is Cox Cave – a bit twee, but still worth it.

At the exit of Cox’s Cave are 274 Steps to the Lookout Tower at the top of the Gorge. The lookout Tower has another 60 steps, but you do get rewarded with some great views

After the Gorge I headed off to Dyrham Park.

The guide books warn that the road to Dartmouth Castle is narrow and that there is limited parking – they are not kidding – I don’t think I would like to try this in the high season. There is only space to park around a dozen cars – as an alternative you catch a boat from the town to the castle.

After Dartmouth, I headed for lunch in Brixham. When I last visited here, four years ago I ate in a restaurant in the harbour called Shores and had some very good meals. I was pleased to find the place still there and run by the same people so the meal was as good as I had hoped.

After the meal spent the time walking around the town an out to the half mile long break water – all very nice.

I started the day at Lydford Gorge, on the north east side of Dartmoor – I last visited it 5 years ago and then it was quite an overcast day, so it was great to have sunny weather for this visit.

I started at the visitor’s centre and walked along the one side to the other end of the gorge. This undulating path runs along the top of the gorge with a steep drop to one side. It is very wooded and there are lots of steep climbs to tackle.

At the end of the gorge, you descend to the bottom to reach the Whitelady Waterfall.

From here you can take the treacherous path back along the other side of the gorge. This is a very different walk to the other side – for much of the time you are almost at river level but the path is very narrow in place with over hanging rock above and a slick and slippery rock surface below. If it wasn’t for the hand rails you would stand little change of making it.

After Lydford, a short trip through Dartmoor to the Finch Foundry – a working waterwheel powers a Forge, yes “Forge” – despite the name, apparently there is no evidence that it has every been a foundry.

On Thursday I happened to have a meeting in Leeds that I had to attend so I drove from my home in Sussex to Leeds (5 hours), attended the meeting and then drove down to a hotel in Radstock, Somerset. (5 hours). This left me in the perfect position to start my Holiday on Friday – just a few miles from Longleat.

I wanted to visit Longleat for a long time but usually the only times I was in the area, was on a Saturday, and I didn’t fancy the crowds. So a Friday, at the end of the summer, was ideal.

For a fairly modest sum (around £23) you get a very full days worth of attractions. The whole place is very slickly orgainised and of a very high standard.

We chose to begin with the Safari Park – This includes Lions, Tigers and Wolves – normally you would also see the Monkeys and Deer but both these parts of the park were closed. One monkey appears to have herpes and the deer are rutting – it would have been nice to have seen these too, but didn’t detract from the rest of the experience.

After the Park, there are lots more attractions. I only managed a few before I had to head off to Devon.

The Lake Cruse, where you see the Sea Lions, Gorilla and Hippos.

The House – as good a stately home as you will find

The Maze – Amazing – Really – it’s huge and difficult.

The location couldn’t be better – it was great to be able to walk down to the beach – I’ll definitely be making a return visit.

So I headed off a 6am and the first stop was breakfast at the Eype Services – Much better quality and value than the motorway services. Full English, Tea and two rounds of bread for £4.20 – the equivalent in a Moto Service station would be over £10, and wouldn’t taste half as nice.

Next, the last visit of the Holiday, Portchester Castle.

Great little castle with views across to Portsmouth from the top of the keep. Also, it seems that someone was in a hurry to get there as this car was wrapped around a tree in the grounds.

I have tried to limit the amount of driving I do this holiday and this day is no exception – just a short trip along the coast to Trevaunance Cove.

Even though it was still early the sun was a little hot to be climbing up the steep cliff paths – I managed though.

After a couple of hours I turned around and took an inland route back to the start. On the way I passed the Blue Hill Tin mines.

I had last passed this way in 1999 and at that time you could see a lot of the workings from the public footpath. I had always meant to pay a proper visit but for years, I couldn’t remember what the mines were called and where they were. Things have changed and they are now more prepared for visitors – there is now a high fence that means you can’t see anything from the public footpath. For your £5.50 you don’t get an awful lot but I’d still say it was worth it.

After the walk I planned to have a nice meal and a pint in the local pub/restaurant – the place looked pretty empty and I wasn’t too sure it was even open – the person on the reception desk said it was and to take any table and a waitress would serve me. Well I found a table in a prominent position and waited, and waited, and waited. After nearly 10 minutes I gave up and walked out. I then walked down to the cove and decided to settle for a sandwich in the cafe- no luck best they could offer was a rather basic burger. Things really fall apart in these places at the end of the season.

So I ended my final day as I had ended most days this week – on the beach.

The tides had been perfect all week but today high tide was at 16:00 forcing a slightly earlier finish to the day – coincidently the sun decided as it had been good all week it would have a early finish and disappeared around 17:00.

Started off in Padstow with breakfast at Rick Stein’s Cafe where you are always guaranteed an excellent Kipper. Next a walk along the coastal path to Hawker’s Cove – it was one of the lowest tides of the year so most of the walk was along the beach.

Next I took the boat trip around Newland – I’ve taken it before but this was the first time I had to catch the boat from the north beach,

The sea was a little rougher than it had been on previous visits and I got pretty soaked at one point – but the hour’s trip is well worth the measly £5 they charge.

After a very nice lunch in Padstow, the weather meant that there was nothing for it, but more beach, so I headed off to Trevone Bay.

With tide right out it was the ideal time to walk along the beach at Carnewas and see each of the steps.

There were only a handful of people on beach so the sand was pristine.

After lunch I headed back to base for yet another afternoon on the fabulous Crantock Beach.

This was my 5th visit and there is always something new to see – this time, these bunny heads!

Then back to Crantock to spend some more time on the beach before heading back to the caravan.

Every evening in the field outside the caravan the cows disappear and are replaced by rabbits.

So I ended up at Perranporth – first a wander around the town then a walk along the huge beach. Then I headed back to Crantock for a wander into the village – only then did the sun manage to poke through the clouds.

Hopefully we will get a clear sky for the sun set, as we have on the previous two nights.

It wasn’t half as bad as I remembered it – I don’t know if the town’s had a face lift or it was just because it was a gloriously sunny day – but it was actually quite pleasant walking through the town. Like many towns it bears the massive scar of the abandoned Woolworth store.

Next it was time to go do what I had planned for this day – beach time.

Now I have lost count of the number of times I have visited Cornwall, but as far as I can recall, this was my first visit to Crantock. What a great beach – it sits on a estuary and is surrounded by sand dunes – it is formed of fine white sand – with plenty exposed even at high tide. The weather was perfect for a long stay – a cloudless sky, but because it is quite late in the year – the sun doesn’t get too hot to bear.

Then I queued for ages through the roadworks on the M5 finally arriving at my base for the week at Crantock Beach at 6 pm.

Now it may not be my choice of decor, but the view is perfect.

I set out a 08:00 and it’s only 3 miles to the summit, but it took me 4 hours to get there. The route starts off easily enough but soon the path become pretty treacherous, climbing steeply and formed of very loose slate.

Closer to the top, the path becomes less distinct and the way is not always obvious – you need to follow your map carefully or you will easily go astray. There are no way-markers or signs to help you.

The final stretch involves clambering over boulders, but once you reach the summit, the views are spectacular – unfortunately this photo does not do it justice

I survived the accent unscathed, however my camera didn’t – it just died half way up and seems to be a lost cause. I had to rely on my iPhone for the photos.

So my Lakes holiday draws to a close – it has been everything I hoped it would be – it was great to leave the car behind at the cottage for 4 out of the 6 days.

Tomorrow I set off on my Holiday to rest from this Holiday – Cornwall here I come.