Chalky’s birthday approached and, unbeknownst to him, Tigger was planning something extra special and extra Whoey. In collaboration with Shirt, Tigger was planning to take Chalky to Amsterdam for the day.

But not for them the wonders of the capital normally visited by tourists - Anne Frank’s House, the canals, not even Madame Tussauds. No, Tigger was taking Chalky around something far more exciting - the locations from Arc of Infinity!

(Chalky had guessed all this a couple of weeks before the trip, but remained reticent to share his idea in case of it being complete and utter tripe!!)

At a completely ridiculous hour of which Chalky had never known existed before, Chalky and Tigger rose from bed to drive to Gatwick Airport.

Bleary eyed (but a little excited), the couple arrived at the airport, parked the car (after getting honked at by some impatient businessman probably off on an illicit ‘business trip’ with his secretary) and checked in. Of course, by now, the Amsterdam destination was official (being as Tigger could hardly hide the fact they were checking in at a desk with the word ‘AMSTERDAM’ emblazoned above it on a monitor).

After faffing around in Departures for a while, they finally boarded a plane and were on their way (Chalky being ever so slightly nervous of air travel, he spent most of the journey checking for engine fires, wings falling off, mad terrorist etc).

Halfway through the journey, whilst Chalky was gazing in wonder at the world above the clouds, Tigger presented him with a guide to their forthcoming day. Chock full of Arc of Infinity pictures, moveable planes and TARDISes and fuzzy maps, Chalky became ever more excited. Tigger confessed to the assistance of Shirt in compiling the book and apologised for the incompletion of the tome (with a mystery quiz still remaining a mystery at the time of writing).

Tickets bought from a nice man who spoke English (thank goodness) Chalky and Tigger found the requisite train platform and boarded the exciting double-decker train which pulled in a few minutes later. The train set off and the couple stared out at the wonders of the Amsterdam suburbs.

Eventually reaching Amsterdam Central, the couple disembarked and made for the courtyard in front of the station. Heading straight for the tourist information, Tigger proceeded to stand in one queue only to decide to try a different queue only to be told the tram tickets she wished to purchase were only available from the queue she had been in, in the first place. Tram tickets bought, the couple moved back outside to take photos of the station forecourt…the Location Spotting had begun!

1) The Station forecourt where the Doctor and Nyssa fail to use a phone and JNT fails to stay out of shot when moving on a passer-by. The only phones around were clearly modern replacements, but Chalky photographed them anyway, as well as the front of the station itself.

Chalky convinced Tigger that a tram was unnecessary for their next destination, as the map seemed to indicate it was only just down the road. After a few more consultations of the map Shirt had provided against the map they had bought at Gatwick, Chalky confirmed he was sure it wasn’t far. Tigger agreed, although reminded Chalky that they had bought tickets for tour buses in Bath a little while ago and then failed to use them due to Chalky’s insistence of ‘it’s just round the corner, it’s not worth waiting for the bus’. Chalky had been duly warned.

2) Bob’s Youth Hostel stood in it’s inconspicuous glory and Chalky proceeded to take a photo whilst not looking like some perv taking pictures of the young women standing in the window (NO - NOT THAT KIND OF YOUNG WOMEN!!!!).

Moving on, Chalky had convinced Tigger he had command of the map and their directions.

Unfortunately, he had bugger all command…

After photographing a street and canal which may or may not have been in the story, Chalky realised he had been following the wrong road on the map and that the photographed street and canal had nothing to do with Doctor Who (apart from the possibility that Gary Downie and JNT had wandered down there at some point). Having walked for at least ten minutes in the wrong direction, Chalky and Tigger had to walk back for ten minutes before being back on track.

3) In quick succession, the couple found the flower stall that provides comfort for a crying lady, the street where the Doctor and Nyssa knock over some poor lady with her shopping and a non-descript street and canal that they chase Omega down at some point in the final episode.

Chalky and Tigger were most entertained by the man who dropped a bag of liquorice allsorts almost exactly where the lady drops her oranges in the TV story. Undeterred by strange looks from passers-by and dodging speeding cars, Chalky took a photo of the allsorts on their brand new instant sticker camera.

Walking to the tram stop for their next location Tigger asked Chalky if he had seen the ‘lady’ in the window. Chalky hadn’t.

So he dashed back to have a good gawp!

Lunchtime was approaching, but after hopping on a tram and managing to get their tickets stamped with a mixture of hand signals, English and the universal look of a foreigner, trundled on to the centre of Amsterdam.

Again, Chalky was confused and started to try and look for Frankendahl - the house featured in the story with the ‘crypt’. After a bit of fruitless searching from the couple they realised that they were in the wrong place again, but that there were supposed to be a couple of locations in this area. Failing to find one of the more obscure locations, Tigger decided she needed the loo (not unusual really) and a quick visit to Burger King was followed by Chalky managing to slip out without paying to go, as is the custom in these continental places.

A decision was then made not to bother finding the other youth hostel from the story, the couple preferring to sit in the park and eat the delicious lunch that Tigger had prepared. Chalky took the opportunity to check location details in his newly acquired Doctor Who On Location guide (which Shirt had managed to surreptitiously borrow on the pretence of checking the Lanzarote locations for his forthcoming trip to the island and then passed on to Tigger, all without Chalky’s knowledge).

4) Moving ever onwards and after another tram trip, Chalky continued to wet himself with excitement on finding the bridge Omega fails to run over and the jetty on which he meets his ‘final’ end. After trying to take a photo which didn’t include a whizzy little tourist boat (and failing miserably) the couple moved on again.

Wandering up a street apparently featured in the chase sequence, Chalky and Tigger failed to recognise the passageway that Omega hides in at one point. Tigger’s assertion to ‘just photograph that one’ because it looked a bit like it fell on Chalky’s deaf ears.

5) Jumping on and off the wrong tram, Chalky and Tigger eventually got one in the correct direction and proceeded to find the flower market and clock tower scene at the opening of the story and later during Omega’s chase scene.

Pausing from location spotting to buy presents for friends and relatives, including authentic tulip bulbs, a wooden windmill and a fridge magnet, the couple then took time to decide on their next move.

6) Another tram journey, and the couple arrived on Dam Street just down from Dam Square - another scene of Omega’s escape.

A few photos taken, the couple checked their schedule and the time. It was decided that time would only allow one more location and that they needed to set off for Frankendahl now if they were to get back in time for their flight. Frankendahl, it had been realised was much further out from the town centre than any of the other locations. Deciding to omit the police station from their jaunt, the couple set off for Frankendahl - famed location of the fake crypt and iconic image of Arc of Infinity.

After a longer tram journey they hopped off and went searching for Frankendahl. A wild goose chase behind blocks of flats led nowhere so they decided to try a large park area opposite. Chalky was adamant they could find it because he knew in the TV story there is clearly a small canal running along in front of the house, and they were standing next to a very similar canal, albeit with no sign of the actual house or crypt entrance.

Chalky and Tigger proceeded to wander around the park, up and down paths until eventually they found a large sign detailing building works to the area. A house which looked just like Frankendahl stood at the edge of the illustration and, despite the fact it was all Dutch to him, Chalky decided he knew which way to go to find the house.

7) Thankfully, he was absolutely correct. Following a tree-lined path, the couple finally found Frankendahl complete with fake crypt entrance. Chalky crept behind the crypt for a photo ever mindful that the owners of the house might emerge at any moment to swear and scream at yet another sad Who fan trespassing on their property.

Checking the time, the couple realised they’d better make a move if they were to make their flight. Jumping back on the tram, they got off a little before the station having just enough time to wander in and out of some shops.

Hopping back on the train, they made their way to Schipol Airport. Chalky had just enough time to take a photo of the wrong part of Arrivals that Tegan didn’t arrive through at the beginning of Episode 2 before the went through to departures. Struggling to find a Dutch version of The Hound of the Baskervilles or The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes for Shirt, the couple realised he would just have to make do with the Muppet key ring they had found in one of the shops.

Plane boarded, Chalky and Tigger were back in the motherland by 9.00pm and tottered along to a nearby Harvester for sustenance and gazing in adoration.