As Sue was in town on business, we met up in Twickenham and so began our road trip to Bournemouth. With fancy dress masks on, good tunes blaring and a lot of off key singing, we took to the road hoping not to scare too many of the locals. Yes, this is how we roll when we road trip. We had a lot of catching up to do so in no time at all we had arrived in Bournemouth and checked into our hotel. After a quick change and a welcome drink we headed into town. We began our night of revelry at O'Neils, where a live band was playing and the crowd were already merry. Feeling quite drunk and very hungry, we went in search of food, as no night is complete without a chicken kebab and chips. Re-fuelled and slightly more sober, we were ready for round two so we went into Le Chic for a boogie and a few more drinks. The walk home was a bit of a blur but we managed to stumble back to our hotel in one piece. The next morning we allowed ourselves a bit of a lie in followed be the obligatory fry up after a boozy night. Once we returned to the land of the living we set off to find Bournemouth pier. It was an extremely windy day and the beach and pier seemed small and desolate, not quite how I remembered it. Well, that was because we were at smaller Boscombe pier. We decided to take a day trip to visit Corfe castle and on the way stopped at the Halfway Inn, which seemed to be in the middle of no where. It was a quaint and pretty Inn, a perfect place for a break and a hearty pub lunch. With our bellies full we were back on the road, driving through beautiful country scenery. Whilst listening to Frank Sinatra's "I did it my way" we turned a corner and there before us, perched majestically on the mountain top, were the ruins of Corfe castle. We were in awe of it's incredible beauty, set against a backdrop of green hills and blue skies. It was so unexpected and amazing that we spent over four hours lost in the ruins, completely mesmerised. Once we had taken every photo imaginable we had tea in the gardens and enjoyed our final view of this magnificent piece of history. On the way back, we were bubbling with excitement. We had clearly unearthed a need to feed our souls with more treasures and submerge ourselves further into historic finds. Who knows what tomorrow may bring. We drove back to our hotel in the afternoon to freshen up and have a few pre-dinner drinks at the bar, when we happened to bump into Cruella Deville and her Dalmatians. Not literally, but in the form of a group of lads celebrating a friend's birthday in fancy dress. Without fail, our cameras were out snapping away, trying to capture the hilarity of the moment. In high spirits, we strolled down to Bournemouth pier for dinner and cocktails and ended the night back at O'Neils for a few more drinks before bedtime. On Sunday morning, before heading back to London and inspired by our fantastic outing the day before, we stopped at Arundel to visit the castle and gardens. Once again we were impressed by the beautiful surroundings. Arundel castle is more intact and larger but it is still lovely. We were completely engrossed in the gardens and the sheer variety and gorgeous colours of all the flowers. It was magnificent, a horticulturists dream. We had ample opportunity to take more than a few photos, with such willing subjects. Grudgingly, we made our way back to London and back to reality. We had a brilliant time and it was fantastic to spend it with such an amazing and wonderful friend like Sue.